Elsewhere, Brazil decided to enter the war against Bolivia, plunging the entire continent into war: Bolivia, Chile and Uruguay against Brazil, Argentina and Peru. North Germany announced, unsurprisingly, their backing of the UK in the event of a war. We declared our support for Russia alongside Spain. The Tsar swiftly took back the territory and had the governors executed, prompting an outcry from the United Kingdom. In April the age-old issue of Poland arose again, as local governors in Russian-controlled Poland announced independence from Russia. Not wishing to be involved with another war so soon, we left our ally to their own devices. On 13th February 1875 our ally Bolivia declared war on Argentina, facing a war on two fronts against Argentina and Peru. In December, 1875, the USA purchased Russia’s North American colonies, expanding their influence even further. Our will shall continue to be carried out.” Many doubted the 18-year-old’s judgement. “We need not rule by the sword,” he announced, “but by the pen.
To the surprise of many, not least our colonial officers, Napoleon IV announced a degree of self-government for our colony in Ivory Coast. We decided to put our weight behind Argentina due to Chile’s worryingly Jacobin-leaning government. In June, Chile launched an invasion of Argentina. Under the strain of pressures from the war, Britain was forced to grant limited autonomy to its Canadian provinces as a dominion. On paper France achieved very little from the war, however our position as the dominant coloniser of Africa was for the time-being assured, while North Germany had been so vanquished that it looked unlikely to prove a threat to our sovereignty again. As part of the peace deal, North Germany relinquished all influence over the Southern German states to Austria as well as ceding to Austria the Schliesen territories. Completely overwhelmed, North Germany surrendered a day later. On February 26th, our forces driving in from Austria besieged Berlin, merely six years after the last time. This had the long-term impact of ensuring our domination in the ensuing Scramble for Africa, with one particular instance being a British supply chain along the Gambia being completely cut off. Another naval battle across the channel reduced the United Kingdom’s navy to 39 ships. Napoleon IV declared this violation of the ‘Holiest Sanctity’, but ruled out the use of force to stop Italy. To the shock of all, on 11th February 1874 Italy invaded the Papal States. By January German resistance had been utterly broken. However, he was reportedly reluctant to sign the execution warrants. On 15th December, upon the advice of the interior minister, Napoleon IV dealt ruthlessly with dissenters distributing leaflets calling for the end of a one-party state. We halted the German offensive into Austria in December and made further ground into the Rheinland. Their army counted 660,000 men while our alliance counted 810,000 their navy included 85 ships while ours contained 141. By November the southern German states had been overrun by our forces and accepted unconditional surrender. On October 21st the first major land battle began in Nordrhein, where our army of 243,000 men met the German army of 90,000. Meanwhile we launched an invasion of the North and South German states, while supporting Austrian defence along the border. By 5th October we had won a victory, forcing the British fleet back into harbour. The first major battle of the war occured along the Straits of Dover.
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