WI: Napoleon successfully alligned himself with and subjugated more of Europe

The range of the most substantive coastal gun of the era was 1 mile.

The distance across the mouth of the Gulf of Trieste is 12 miles.

That’s another fail.

Not. 32pdrs had a theoretical maximum range of 2900 yards, whilst the Frog 36pdr could theoretically make 3700 yards, but both were limited in practical terms to a mile. Anything beyond that is asking too much of the technology of the day.

Hence the general process of not remaining as stationary targets, but moving around at sea and beyond the range of any land based guns. The geographic circumstances of the Gulf of Trieste are that it can be blockaded safely at the mouth, observed safely at the mouth and even penetrated in an attack down the centre.

He was able to overthrow the Mamluks and achieve tactical success on the ground. Big deal.

He had to withdraw back to France with his tail between his legs as his strategy was flawed. He could not control the sea and thus could not support his ground forces to even hold Egypt, let alone expand his campaign to India. This, Spain and Russia suggest that Bonaparte lacked a strategic logistic perspective in some of his campaigns and that he certainly did not understand sea power.

The end result of the campaign was ~30,000 casualties and the survivors surrendering to the British. That does not smack of success.

Note that 1798 is before his ‘period’. This was the leftovers of the French Royal Navy that were decisively beaten at the Battle of the Nile. It was not his purview to train them at all.

This seems to be a completely tangential issue. The French were able to conduct basic naval training without fantasies of hiding in the Caspian Sea or Trieste, but they did not have the open seas or the freedom of them. There is a reason they lost every major/significant naval battle of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars over a whole bloody generation.

He made his way on the frigate Muiron, cutting and running to leave his army behind. Whilst there is no definitive proof, there have been arguments made that the British let him through tacitly or directly.

It would end the Mediterranean campaign, return his focus to Europe and create the circumstances to end the whole French threat, not just one leader. This was 1798, not the era when Boney was unquestioned Emperor.

simon darkshade , This idea just came to me. Boney could have used the money from selling louisiana to reform the navies of Russia, sweden, & denmark-norway. Or since He'd likely be an ally of Mehmed ali (ruler of egypt) since he'd be a russian ally, and russia & Mehmed ali were both enemies of the ottomans, he could have paid Mehmed to use his navy and reform it and upgrade it