Post by Catsmate on Oct 30, 2014 12:13:22 GMT
This is an expanded list based on one of my first posts here. It's part of a submission to Diary of DWRPG I'm working on.
The Napoleonic era is generally held to extend from 1799, when Napoleon mounted a coup against the Directory to
become the First Consul of the Republic, until 1815, when he was defeated at the battle of Waterloo and exiled to St. Helena, though the man himself lived until 1821.
It was a period of great changes and conflicts as Europe, and to a lesser extent the entire world, was riven by war.
The most important nations in this struggle were the naval and economic power of Great Britain, and the land and populous power of France. Almost all the other nations, including Spain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, the Italian city states, the German principalities and the Ottoman Empire were part of shifting alliances with one or the other
throughout this period.
Only once, in a short period between 1802 and 1804, were France and Britain not directly at war.
For the purpose of this list I’ve stretched the time period generally considered ‘Napoleonic’ quite a bit to cover 1791 to 1831.
Anyway here are fifty ideas to inspire adventures in the period.
1. To start with, what about killing off Napoleon before he rises to power? This will certainly have a huge effect on the nineteenth century and future human history. As a soldier he was often quite vulnerable
2. In 1793 an American named Eli Whitney developed a ‘cotton gin’, a mechanical device for separating fibres and seeds from cotton. This revolutionised the production of the fabric, entrenched the plantation slavery system in the Southern USA and was mainly responsible for the quadrupling of the slave population over the next fifty years. What if he had been prevented from publicising the device?
3. Napoleon's wedding to Josephine in 1796 was a spectacular event, but also an opportunity for an attempt to assassinate him, kidnap him for the implanting of a mind control device, or replace him with an android double.
4. A Time Meddler uses a mini-sub (or otherwise) to attach bombs to the warships of Nelson and Jervis prior to the battle of Cape St. Vincent in 1797, severely damaging their forces and killing the admirals themselves.
5. Getting away from Napoleon for a moment, what about preventing the suppression of the mutiny at Spithead in 1797, thus weakening the British navy and triggering a political crisis.
6. What if the Coup of 18 Fructidor, Year V (04SEP1797) had failed? This pre-empted Royalist election gains and gave the Jacobin faction control of the Directory and France. Napoleon’s information about the activities of Charles Pichegru
played an important part in the coup.
7. Assassinate pope Pius VI while he's attempting to flee Rome in 1798, ahead of the French forces. Blame Napoleon.
8. Another assassination, this time Ferdinand IV of Naples before his declaration of war on France in 1798.
9. What if the "18th Brumaire" coup in 1799, that made Napoleon First Consul, had failed and the unpopular and ineffective Directory had continued governing France? Would the country survive as a republic, would a monarchy re-emerge (possibly with foreign assistance) or would the nation fragment?
10. Also in 1799 during the Battle of Seringapatam one Arthur Wellesley led a night attack on the village of Sultanpettah, being injured in the leg in the fighting. What if he had instead been seriously injured, killed or captured and killed?
11. Destroy or steal the Rosetta stone at the time of its discovery (1799). This should disrupt the development of Egyptology and interest in that country's history. Or a group like the Alexandrian Society (Diary of DWRPG 21, p246) might want to steal the original and leave a copy.
12. Prevent Napoleons forces crossing the Great St. Bernard pass into Italy in 1800, for example by using explosives or gravity field generators to trigger a landslide and avalanche.
13. Disrupt the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and kill Nelson. The League of Armed Neutrality continues and Britain's attempt to check French trade fails. Better tactics and leadership, anachronistic mines or a stolen warship for example.
14. Arrange for the plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise (an attempt to assassinate Napoleon just before xmas in 1800) to succeed. With Napoleon killed the cart-bomb the French leadership lacks a central figure. Does this inspire more such attacks?
15. Interfere with Volta's experiments with electricity, either to assist his understanding (and speed the development of electricity) or to prevent it.
16. Assist the rebels led by Toussaint-L'Ouverture, against French forces suppressing the slave rebellion in Santo Domingo.
17. A stranded time (or space) traveller interferes, accidentally or otherwise, with the birth of American author Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1804. Why? What are the long term effects?
18. Napoleon's coronation in 1804 is another spectacular event, one that might attract academic or larcenous time travellers. Or just gawking tourists.
19. The duel between US politicians Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr in 1804 has numerous possibilities. Tampering with the pistols, drugging or of the participants or sniping for example.
20. What is Napoleon doing using Fulton's steamboats or submarines to attack the British navy? Has he been receiving some extra-temporal advice on naval tactics?
21. Then there's the matter of Louis Charles Capet, the disappearing Dauphin. Was John James Audubon actually the true King of France? Actually almost certainly not, but don’t let that stop you.
22. It’s 1806 and Napoleon is observing tests of the new rifled-musket and pointed bullet being introduced to the French army. Who’s behind this anachronistic development? Genius inventor or time meddler?
23. The Burr Plot of 1806. Just what were Aaron Burr and James Wilkinson planning? Conquer Spanish Mexico for the USA? Or for themselves? Or have the western USA secede and form a new nation? Many academics would like to know.
24. The Battle of Eylau in 1807 has a number of possibilities; what if the messenger carrying Napoleon's orders to Bernadotte had not been captured? What if Napoleon himself had been captured (as nearly happened)?
25. The Chesapeake-Leopard Incident between the USA and Britain in 1807 leads to war; who's egging things on? Why?
26. 1808 saw Beethoven compose his fifth and sixth symphonies and Goethe begin writing Faust. Why would someone want to prevent either?
27. A person accidentally dumped in 1809 (time vortex? wake from a passing time machine? TARDIS stowaway? Dalek time corridor?) interferes with the birth of: Alfred Lord Tennyson, Edgar Allan Poe, Felix Mendelssohn, Charles Darwin or Abraham Lincoln.
28. A perennial favourite for speculation; in 1809 the British diplomat Benjamin Bathurst disappeared under mysterious circumstances. What happened? Was he dropped into a parallel universe? Or murdered and his body hidden?
29. The madness of King George III. Was it natural in origin or part of a Sinister PlotTM involving drugs and mind control experiments? Or an attempt to isolate him for duplication and replacement?
30. 1810 saw Napoleon’s second wedding, to Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria another event that might attract time travellers, or those trying to ambush and capture them.
31. The Luddites have appeared in Doctor Who already, but the unrest of 1811 has other possibilities for slowing or disrupting the industrial revolution in the UK, perhaps aided by a time traveller with a vision of an idyllic, non-technological, world.
32. Also in 1811 William Henry Harrison, the shortest serving president of the USA (and probably the most stupid) was involved in the battle against Native Americans at Tippecanoe, Indiana. What if he was killed there? Would Clay and Webster have found a suitable puppet for their plans? And what effect on US history would the absence of “His
Accidency” John Tyler have?
33. On Barbados from 1812 onwards there were a number of Weird Happenings involving coffins belonging to the Chase family interred in a sealed family vault. Each time the tomb is unsealed for an internment, the coffins are found rearranged. Sinister Forces at work, or just variations in the water level floating the coffins?
34. What happens if General Claude Francois Malet's conspiracy against Napoleon during his absence in Russia succeeds? How would the French react to King Louis XVIII?
35. Sören Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, was born in 1813. Or was he? Then there were the births of Verdi and Wager, but who would want to interfere with the births of mere composers?
36. The "Battle of the Nations" at Leipzig in 1813 was the largest battle in Europe until WW1. What if Napoleon was killed there? What if he won?
37. The US-UK War of 1812 in a perennial favourite of alternate history writers, but then it has many possibilities, especially the Battle of New Orleans.
38, Was the explosive eruption of Mount Tambora in 1816 really a natural event? Or did someone (alien? mad scientist?) deliberately trigger the most powerful volcanic eruption of modern times?
39. The supposed death of Marshall Ney has possibilities; Louis XVII ordered his death but was the firing squad in December 1817 staged? According to Quentin Dick (an Irish MP) the body was carried away in a carriage within three minutes, without medical examination. Did the old soldier end up in as a teacher North Carolina?
40. 1818 saw the births of one Karl Marx and the publication of Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. A time traveller who wished to eliminate Marxism could try and prevent his birth but who would want to eliminate Frankenstein? Why?
41. It’s 1818 and Napoleon has escaped from his exile on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. How was this managed and for what purpose? Historically there were rumours (including a story in the London Times) that he’d escaped but it was untrue. Certainly Cochrane wanted to rescue Napoleon and involve him in the South American revolutions.
42. The future Queen Victoria of Britain was born in 1819, unless someone stops it of course.
43. It’s 1821 and Napoleon is dying in exile on St. Helena. What exactly killed him? Cancer? Poison? Medical accident? Many historians would like to know.
44. In 1825 the Stockton to Darlington railway opened, unless it was sabotaged and the disaster deterred people from trusting these newfanged railways.
45. The great Cholera pandemic began in 1826 in India, spreads from Russia into central Europe by 1831, and reaches Scotland by 1832. Was it a natural event? An attempt at biological warfare? And if so by whom?
Crashed Terileptils? Silurians? Bonus points for making your PCs stand by (or assist) in the many deaths.
46. 1827 saw the death of the British Prime Minister, George Canning. A well regarded moderate Tory he’s often considered a “lost leader” (he served as PM for only 119 days) with great potential. What if someone decided to use advanced medical technology to save the 56 year old politician? Would the Tory party have collapsed as it did historically?
47. 1828 saw the mysterious appearance of Kaspar Hauser in Nuremberg. Just who was he? 1828 also saw the births of Jules Verne, Count Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, and Henrik Ibsen, who’d be interested in ending their careers prematurely? Is someone collecting writers?
48. In 1830 Charles Babbage designed his Analytical Engine. Did someone from the future give him a few pointers? Or act to prevent the inevitable Engine driven mechanistic tyranny?
49. In the Virginia slave revolt in 1831 led by Nat Turner 55 whites die, along with a few hundred slaves. What happens if someone interferes either to assist (perhaps with modern weapons and ideas) or just to worsens events for their own reasons, perhaps to cover up something else they’re doing at the same time?
50. 1831 was also the year HMS Beagle sailed, carrying one Charles Darwin. Unless someone made sure it didn't.
Comments especially welcome. Or if anyone wants to discuss enlarging one of these ideas (I've already done Burr) feel free.
"What then is, generally speaking, the truth of history? A fable agreed upon".
Napoleon Bonaparte.
Napoleon Bonaparte.
The Napoleonic era is generally held to extend from 1799, when Napoleon mounted a coup against the Directory to
become the First Consul of the Republic, until 1815, when he was defeated at the battle of Waterloo and exiled to St. Helena, though the man himself lived until 1821.
It was a period of great changes and conflicts as Europe, and to a lesser extent the entire world, was riven by war.
The most important nations in this struggle were the naval and economic power of Great Britain, and the land and populous power of France. Almost all the other nations, including Spain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, the Italian city states, the German principalities and the Ottoman Empire were part of shifting alliances with one or the other
throughout this period.
Only once, in a short period between 1802 and 1804, were France and Britain not directly at war.
For the purpose of this list I’ve stretched the time period generally considered ‘Napoleonic’ quite a bit to cover 1791 to 1831.
Anyway here are fifty ideas to inspire adventures in the period.
1. To start with, what about killing off Napoleon before he rises to power? This will certainly have a huge effect on the nineteenth century and future human history. As a soldier he was often quite vulnerable
2. In 1793 an American named Eli Whitney developed a ‘cotton gin’, a mechanical device for separating fibres and seeds from cotton. This revolutionised the production of the fabric, entrenched the plantation slavery system in the Southern USA and was mainly responsible for the quadrupling of the slave population over the next fifty years. What if he had been prevented from publicising the device?
3. Napoleon's wedding to Josephine in 1796 was a spectacular event, but also an opportunity for an attempt to assassinate him, kidnap him for the implanting of a mind control device, or replace him with an android double.
4. A Time Meddler uses a mini-sub (or otherwise) to attach bombs to the warships of Nelson and Jervis prior to the battle of Cape St. Vincent in 1797, severely damaging their forces and killing the admirals themselves.
5. Getting away from Napoleon for a moment, what about preventing the suppression of the mutiny at Spithead in 1797, thus weakening the British navy and triggering a political crisis.
6. What if the Coup of 18 Fructidor, Year V (04SEP1797) had failed? This pre-empted Royalist election gains and gave the Jacobin faction control of the Directory and France. Napoleon’s information about the activities of Charles Pichegru
played an important part in the coup.
7. Assassinate pope Pius VI while he's attempting to flee Rome in 1798, ahead of the French forces. Blame Napoleon.
8. Another assassination, this time Ferdinand IV of Naples before his declaration of war on France in 1798.
9. What if the "18th Brumaire" coup in 1799, that made Napoleon First Consul, had failed and the unpopular and ineffective Directory had continued governing France? Would the country survive as a republic, would a monarchy re-emerge (possibly with foreign assistance) or would the nation fragment?
10. Also in 1799 during the Battle of Seringapatam one Arthur Wellesley led a night attack on the village of Sultanpettah, being injured in the leg in the fighting. What if he had instead been seriously injured, killed or captured and killed?
11. Destroy or steal the Rosetta stone at the time of its discovery (1799). This should disrupt the development of Egyptology and interest in that country's history. Or a group like the Alexandrian Society (Diary of DWRPG 21, p246) might want to steal the original and leave a copy.
12. Prevent Napoleons forces crossing the Great St. Bernard pass into Italy in 1800, for example by using explosives or gravity field generators to trigger a landslide and avalanche.
13. Disrupt the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and kill Nelson. The League of Armed Neutrality continues and Britain's attempt to check French trade fails. Better tactics and leadership, anachronistic mines or a stolen warship for example.
14. Arrange for the plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise (an attempt to assassinate Napoleon just before xmas in 1800) to succeed. With Napoleon killed the cart-bomb the French leadership lacks a central figure. Does this inspire more such attacks?
15. Interfere with Volta's experiments with electricity, either to assist his understanding (and speed the development of electricity) or to prevent it.
16. Assist the rebels led by Toussaint-L'Ouverture, against French forces suppressing the slave rebellion in Santo Domingo.
17. A stranded time (or space) traveller interferes, accidentally or otherwise, with the birth of American author Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1804. Why? What are the long term effects?
18. Napoleon's coronation in 1804 is another spectacular event, one that might attract academic or larcenous time travellers. Or just gawking tourists.
19. The duel between US politicians Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr in 1804 has numerous possibilities. Tampering with the pistols, drugging or of the participants or sniping for example.
20. What is Napoleon doing using Fulton's steamboats or submarines to attack the British navy? Has he been receiving some extra-temporal advice on naval tactics?
21. Then there's the matter of Louis Charles Capet, the disappearing Dauphin. Was John James Audubon actually the true King of France? Actually almost certainly not, but don’t let that stop you.
22. It’s 1806 and Napoleon is observing tests of the new rifled-musket and pointed bullet being introduced to the French army. Who’s behind this anachronistic development? Genius inventor or time meddler?
23. The Burr Plot of 1806. Just what were Aaron Burr and James Wilkinson planning? Conquer Spanish Mexico for the USA? Or for themselves? Or have the western USA secede and form a new nation? Many academics would like to know.
24. The Battle of Eylau in 1807 has a number of possibilities; what if the messenger carrying Napoleon's orders to Bernadotte had not been captured? What if Napoleon himself had been captured (as nearly happened)?
25. The Chesapeake-Leopard Incident between the USA and Britain in 1807 leads to war; who's egging things on? Why?
26. 1808 saw Beethoven compose his fifth and sixth symphonies and Goethe begin writing Faust. Why would someone want to prevent either?
27. A person accidentally dumped in 1809 (time vortex? wake from a passing time machine? TARDIS stowaway? Dalek time corridor?) interferes with the birth of: Alfred Lord Tennyson, Edgar Allan Poe, Felix Mendelssohn, Charles Darwin or Abraham Lincoln.
28. A perennial favourite for speculation; in 1809 the British diplomat Benjamin Bathurst disappeared under mysterious circumstances. What happened? Was he dropped into a parallel universe? Or murdered and his body hidden?
29. The madness of King George III. Was it natural in origin or part of a Sinister PlotTM involving drugs and mind control experiments? Or an attempt to isolate him for duplication and replacement?
30. 1810 saw Napoleon’s second wedding, to Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria another event that might attract time travellers, or those trying to ambush and capture them.
31. The Luddites have appeared in Doctor Who already, but the unrest of 1811 has other possibilities for slowing or disrupting the industrial revolution in the UK, perhaps aided by a time traveller with a vision of an idyllic, non-technological, world.
32. Also in 1811 William Henry Harrison, the shortest serving president of the USA (and probably the most stupid) was involved in the battle against Native Americans at Tippecanoe, Indiana. What if he was killed there? Would Clay and Webster have found a suitable puppet for their plans? And what effect on US history would the absence of “His
Accidency” John Tyler have?
33. On Barbados from 1812 onwards there were a number of Weird Happenings involving coffins belonging to the Chase family interred in a sealed family vault. Each time the tomb is unsealed for an internment, the coffins are found rearranged. Sinister Forces at work, or just variations in the water level floating the coffins?
34. What happens if General Claude Francois Malet's conspiracy against Napoleon during his absence in Russia succeeds? How would the French react to King Louis XVIII?
35. Sören Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, was born in 1813. Or was he? Then there were the births of Verdi and Wager, but who would want to interfere with the births of mere composers?
36. The "Battle of the Nations" at Leipzig in 1813 was the largest battle in Europe until WW1. What if Napoleon was killed there? What if he won?
37. The US-UK War of 1812 in a perennial favourite of alternate history writers, but then it has many possibilities, especially the Battle of New Orleans.
38, Was the explosive eruption of Mount Tambora in 1816 really a natural event? Or did someone (alien? mad scientist?) deliberately trigger the most powerful volcanic eruption of modern times?
39. The supposed death of Marshall Ney has possibilities; Louis XVII ordered his death but was the firing squad in December 1817 staged? According to Quentin Dick (an Irish MP) the body was carried away in a carriage within three minutes, without medical examination. Did the old soldier end up in as a teacher North Carolina?
40. 1818 saw the births of one Karl Marx and the publication of Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. A time traveller who wished to eliminate Marxism could try and prevent his birth but who would want to eliminate Frankenstein? Why?
41. It’s 1818 and Napoleon has escaped from his exile on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. How was this managed and for what purpose? Historically there were rumours (including a story in the London Times) that he’d escaped but it was untrue. Certainly Cochrane wanted to rescue Napoleon and involve him in the South American revolutions.
42. The future Queen Victoria of Britain was born in 1819, unless someone stops it of course.
43. It’s 1821 and Napoleon is dying in exile on St. Helena. What exactly killed him? Cancer? Poison? Medical accident? Many historians would like to know.
44. In 1825 the Stockton to Darlington railway opened, unless it was sabotaged and the disaster deterred people from trusting these newfanged railways.
45. The great Cholera pandemic began in 1826 in India, spreads from Russia into central Europe by 1831, and reaches Scotland by 1832. Was it a natural event? An attempt at biological warfare? And if so by whom?
Crashed Terileptils? Silurians? Bonus points for making your PCs stand by (or assist) in the many deaths.
46. 1827 saw the death of the British Prime Minister, George Canning. A well regarded moderate Tory he’s often considered a “lost leader” (he served as PM for only 119 days) with great potential. What if someone decided to use advanced medical technology to save the 56 year old politician? Would the Tory party have collapsed as it did historically?
47. 1828 saw the mysterious appearance of Kaspar Hauser in Nuremberg. Just who was he? 1828 also saw the births of Jules Verne, Count Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, and Henrik Ibsen, who’d be interested in ending their careers prematurely? Is someone collecting writers?
48. In 1830 Charles Babbage designed his Analytical Engine. Did someone from the future give him a few pointers? Or act to prevent the inevitable Engine driven mechanistic tyranny?
49. In the Virginia slave revolt in 1831 led by Nat Turner 55 whites die, along with a few hundred slaves. What happens if someone interferes either to assist (perhaps with modern weapons and ideas) or just to worsens events for their own reasons, perhaps to cover up something else they’re doing at the same time?
50. 1831 was also the year HMS Beagle sailed, carrying one Charles Darwin. Unless someone made sure it didn't.
Comments especially welcome. Or if anyone wants to discuss enlarging one of these ideas (I've already done Burr) feel free.
) is interested in Osiran technology and would certainly be eager to recruit a genius linguist with expertise in Egyptology. If they could swap him for a cloned substitute body just as he died, they could snatch him out of history without damaging the time line. 
