Napoleon in 1812

Chapter 99

18. Reversal of alliance – 1

The era of peace had arrived in Europe, and peace meant abundance and stability. There was no longer a need for war, or exploitation to prepare for war, and the people did not fear for their lives. It also meant that they did not have to hear brutal gunfire and smell rotten corpses.

Citizens who remembered the days when war was their daily life did not think that the present era would last. They just prayed to the god they believed in every morning for this peaceful life to continue.

On the other hand, there were people who wanted to shape these beautiful present days. Artists enjoyed the present by painting peaceful city life, sculpting great figures that ended the war, or singing in the quiet morning.

The atmosphere of politics began to mix little by little with the naturalness of society. Tensions between countries had not yet been completely eased, but they could not be compared to the past brutality.

At first, peace under France’s hegemony seemed to be as fragile as thin ice that could break with one hit.

However, this thin ice hardened and increased its thickness over time. Now, the period of peace had certainly entered a stable state. Leaders from all over Europe were predicting permanent peace.

But if there was light, there was also darkness, like the law of conservation of mass discovered by the Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov and organized by the great French chemist Antoine Lavoisier.[1] Would the total amount of wars fought by mankind around the world be preserved?

While the European continent regained peace after a really long time, there were other continents groaning in blood under rough gunfire. They were the two new continents America and South Asia, with India in particular.

===

Britain, which received the Bengal area in exchange for winning the Seven Years’ War against France, gently swallowed up all of India by setting up the East India Company with tax collection, administrative, and judicial powers in India.

There was a strong backlash from indigenous forces against this, and the Mughal Empire, the Kingdom of Mysore, the Maratha Confederacy, and the Kingdom of Gorkha even formed an alliance against the British East India Company, but they could not withstand this invader who was vicious, cruel, and sneaky.[2]

The British East India Company’s army, which won a sweeping victory over its enemies, swallowed up the territories of the Indian subcontinent without hesitation. The British East India Company was progressively taking over India.

And thus a mere free trade company was steadily moving forward the unification of the Indian subcontinent, which no other country that existed in South Asia could achieve.

“The country that the kingdom cares about and checks the most is by far the French Empire, with its Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. However, even at the peak of the Iberian Peninsula War, the number of troops dispatched from the kingdom itself was greater on the Indian side than in Europe. The main battlefield of the kingdom is not Europe but India.”

This showed how much investment the United Kingdom was making to get India, called ‘The Golden Bird’ of South Asia.

If someone said ‘Shakespeare cannot be exchanged with India!’ the British would answer ‘Even 100 Shakespeares wouldn’t be enough in exchange for India!’

The majority stake in the East India Company sweeping India’s subcontinent belonged to capitalists dominating the London financial world.

Those closely connected to Westminster politics influenced the British cabinet and demanded the constant expansion of the territory controlled by the East India Company.

The cabinet also considered that the expansion of the Indian colony was in the national interest. They allowed the forces dispatched there unlimited freedom and ordered them to actively support the East India Company.

“This is to inform you that the war between the kingdom and France has ended. French ships may not go all the way here, but hostile acts against them are prohibited. The kingdom did not suffer a decisive defeat, but it is said to have yielded a lot.”

“Hmm… It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing we can do about it. The purpose of the kingdom army dispatched to India is to eradicate rebels and expand the kingdom’s territory.”

Francis Rawdon-Hastings[3], 1st Marquess of Hastings, the Governor-General of India, cut off his interest in his home country and continued his duties, which was truly what the British government and the owners of the East India Company wanted.

Armed with excellent weapons, technology, advanced systems and strong discipline, the red coats were a disaster here in India.

As if they were angry at what their home country had suffered from France, they did not stop moving forward while shedding the blood and flesh of those who confronted them or resisted.

They greedily swallowed India. In no time, the rivers that they occupied included most of the southern part of the Ganges River.

“The kingdom is conquering the world’s richest and most fertile land while the French are bustling in that narrow Europe. Wait and see! This difference will ultimately determine the success or failure of the kingdom and France!”

After winning the Mysore-Maratha War, the British East India Company, which morale had risen to the sky, launched a war again to beat Nepal’s Kingdom of Gorkha, which provided troops to the Mysore and Maratha regions through the Himalayan Mountains.

The 80,000 troops, including the army owned by the East India Company, dispatched troops from the United Kingdom, and support from subordinate countries, seemed to be able to crush the Kingdom of Gorkha at once.

However, in the Gorkha Kingdom, there was a natural fortress with an average altitude of 2,000m, and there were Gorkhali soldiers who called themselves ‘Gurkha’.

The British army, which was said to hardly have any opponent except for the French army, strongly felt the bitterness of the black assassins who roamed the highlands like it was their homes.

“Who… Who the hell are those demons!?”

The East India Company was very confused by the Gorkhali running through the red coats. And this was also announcing the birth of the legendary Gurkha mercenaries.

Shortly after the war between the Kingdom of Gorkha and the East India Company, a ship departed from India with a letter. The letter, inscribed with the signature of the Governor-General of India Francis Rawdon, was, in a word, an employment proposal for the Gorkhali soldiers. The beginning of the letter was like this.

‘In the Nepal’s mountains, we found a mysterious army that is unlikely to be pushed back even by the French Senior Guard.’

===

It was the British East India Company that was driving South Asia and the Indian subcontinent into a whirlpool of blood, but the real culprit was the United Kingdom that instigated them.

The war in North America was also one of the wars in which Britain participated. Britain was even passively intervening in the Spanish-Portuguese colonies’ independence war within the South American continent.

In the end, Britain was involved in all the big wars outside Europe, ‘as always’. And this was also the fate, or the privilege, as the world empire that ruled the sea.

The United States, which started from Britain’s ’13 colonies’ on the Atlantic coast of North America, became independent after winning the independence war. Having established itself as the first New World country to transplant European systems, technologies, and ideologies, the country began a war with Britain again in 1812.

The reason was that the forced conscription of Britain, called the Press Gang, included a large number of Americans, and that British spies tried to overthrow the United States by joining forces with Native American tribes in the New World.

The United States federal government said it was ‘a serious provocation that threatened the state’s existence’. It became the cause of war.

However, the true purpose of the declaration of war was different from the public announcements. Even though it already had vast and fertile territory, the United States coveted the northern territories occupied by Britain.

In addition, it was irritated at the native tribes who were sticking to England and sharpening their knives. Prior to the president’s second term, the government also thought that political action was needed to unite supporters.

Just in time, there was also a calculation that Britain would not pay much attention to the American continent as it was in a desperate battle against France in the Iberian Peninsula War. Like other wars, the U.S.-British War began in this way.

“But all of these predictions were wrong! The war is flowing to a point where no one can handle it! I’m so resentful of the former president Madison Jr.! How could he start a war without a plan!”

Daniel D. Tompkins[4] was the newly elected vice president of the United States. Upon taking office, Tompkins led the delegation himself to sign an agreement to end the U.S.-English War, which was the first pledge of the Democratic-Republican Party. However, the negotiations failed without erasing the disagreements between the two countries.

After returning from Montreal, Vice President Tompkins poured out criticism against the former president without restraint. Politicians and administrators who currently made up the federal government did not dare to help him, but the amount of dirt accumulated by his predecessor was large enough to make them sympathize with him.

“We should never disappoint of the voters’ expectations. Regardless of the means, the war against Britain must be ended.”

James Monroe was the leader of the ruling Democratic-Republican Party and the fifth president of the United States. He would be recorded as the one who ascended to the presidency the most narrowly in the U.S. presidential elections.

The Federal Party, the opponent of the Democratic-Republican Party, had never had a president since John Adams (the second president), and even John Adams had not succeeded in being re-elected.

However, in the 1816 presidential election, the Democratic-Republican Party secured only 115 out of a total of 217 electors, and James Monroe, who was then a candidate, won only 50.4% of the vote.

This was the lowest ever for the Democratic-Republican Party since Thomas Jefferson, when he lost to John Adams and got 46.6% of the vote.

“You’re right. We were able to win the last election because your Excellency strongly pushed ahead the promise to end the U.S.-British War as a presidential campaign pledge. If you reverse it, it will be very difficult to predict the size of the backlash.”

This promise was the reason why the Federal Party weakly got 49.2% of the vote, and why the Democratic-Republican side won the election even though the war broke out while they were in power.

It also meant that citizens of the United States were disillusioned with this stagnant war, which began in 1812.

If they did not want to see angry citizens storming into the White House to set it on fire, the members of the current federal government had to stop the war unconditionally. While everyone was worried because no one could find a way, a man revealed his presence.

“The war with Britain cannot be avoided for the national interest of the United States and for the stability of the federal government, and the British seem to have no intention of signing an end-of-war agreement… Then, isn’t it simple? We just have to completely reverse our interests.”

“Hmm… You are?…”

“I’m William Henry Harrison[5], a Democratic-Republican congressman, Sir.”

Harrison, who had intense eyes, was a former soldier and even became a major general. Then, he was elected to the House of Representatives in the 1816 election and took his first steps in Washington politics.

Several members of the House of Representatives frowned at the rude intervention of a first-timer. However, President James Monroe’s eyes shone at Harrison.

“Completely reverse our interests? Please explain in detail.”

“Since the United States became independent from the British, it has constantly repeated disputes with them. On the other hand, we established friendly relations with France and helped each other. Despite the revolution overturning the old system, the two countries remained allies and fought together against Britain.”

“!…”

“However, in international relations, there is no eternal enemy or ally. Unfortunately, a series of diplomatic actions that France has shown in recent years greatly disappointed the federal government and raised questions about the continuation of the alliance.”

While the United States was engaged in a fierce war with Britain, France made peace with Britain without any consultation with the United States. Thanks to this, many of the elite red coat soldiers tied to the Iberian Peninsula could cross the Atlantic Ocean and joined the American front.

It was embarrassing for the United States, and at the same time sufficient to hold a resentful heart against France.

Of course, the United States also had a precedent of rejecting France’s desperate requests to participate in the war when France was fighting Britain, but originally, people or countries were more sensitive to what they suffered.

A series of gold mines that appeared with huge amounts of gold in some villages in Georgia had further cooled the relationship between the two countries. Although treated as top secret, all of the top leaders of the U.S. administration knew.

The person who took over the 50-year development and economic rights of several villages in Georgia from the United States was Napoleon Bonaparte, the French Emperor, and the gold from the gold mines was flowing into the French Empire’s funds.

In international diplomacy, the victim was a fool. However, the impact was completely different for the ones suffering and the ones watching. There was only one attitude that the United States could take against France after taking such a blow.

“Why have the United States and the United Kingdom been fighting continuously? There is a struggle for supremacy in the New World and over the Atlantic Ocean, but in fact, there is a reason more important than this. It’s the friendly relationship that the United States and France have.”

Britain and France could never be on the same boat, and one of them had to be destroyed for their confrontation to end. Since the United States were France’s ally, it was natural for Britain to be hostile to the United States.

But on the contrary, if the United States ended its friendly relations with France, then Britain would probably cease its hostilities against the United States. Harrison insisted on a breakthrough that would take a step even further from here.

“Friendship with France is over. It is no longer in the interests of the United States. I would like to express my sincere opinion to your Excellency. Instead of giving up the ownership of Britain’s North American colonies, I petition that the time has come to achieve a ‘reversal of alliance’ in the Americas.”

TL notes

[1] Law of conservation of mass, Mikhail Lomonosov, Antoine Lavoisier

[2] Mughal Empire, Kingdom of Mysore, Maratha Empire, Gorkha Kingdom

[3] Francis Rawdon-Hastings

[4] Former U.S. President: James Madison, current President: James Monroe, current vice President: Daniel D. Tompkins

[5] William Henry Harrison