For the Want of a King TL

And here it is:

Part 7: The Great European War 1795-1806 Section 3: Enter the Ottomans and Lang Lebe die Revolution:

The Ottomans had long been in a decline, with only the small victory over the Russians in the 6 Year’s War breaking up a long run of military defeats. Now the French presented Sultan Selim III with a proposal, invade the Austrians and the French will help them modernise and guarantee of Ottoman territory. Selim III eagerly agreed and in September 1799 the Ottomans began to ready themselves for war.
The Ottoman invasion of Hungary began in October 1799 as an Ottoman army, under Mehmed Hüsrev Pasha, marched into Transylvania, aiming for Klausenberg. The Ottomans army met with organised resistance almost immediately and, despite defeating a militia army outside Hermannstadt, their numbers were whittled down by continuing attacks from the Transylvanian people. By the time the Ottoman army encountered a proper Austrian army outside Mulenbach they were heavily demoralised and dwindling in numbers. That, combined with the difference in modernisation between the two forces, meant that the Ottomans were totally defeated in their first battle of the Great European War. A second Ottoman army invaded a month later, again targeting Klausenberg, but this too was defeated, this time outside Fogoras. This disastrous opening campaign disheartened the French, who promptly withdrew most of their support leaving only a handle of advisors behind. This left the Ottomans in a terrible state, they had entered the war assuming that their army would be improved to be capable of fighting the Austrians, but now they that would not be the case. On top of that the Austrians had launched a major offensive into Bosnia and Serbia, reaching Serajevo and Nissa by January 1800. That month the Poles also invaded the Ottomans, aiming to seize the Crimea. A Polish army, under Konstanty Albert Mniszech, marched on Odessa and besieged the city in late January 1800, whilst a second Polish force marched on Perekop and captured the city. The empire seemed to be falling apart in front of the Sultan’s eyes. Meanwhile, Grand Coalition diplomats and nobles drew up ambitious plans for the dissolution and partition of the Ottoman state.
 
Meanwhile things were deteriorating in Spain as well. The Portuguese were now masters of Galicia and the Zaragozan Confederation had marched on Madrid. They failed to capture the city, but were currently camped outside the capitals walls. To further compound French and Spanish worries in Spain, the British had landed an expeditionary force near rebel-held Valencia and were marching through the Spanish countryside, occupying large amounts of land in cooperation with the rebels. This army, under Edward Jenkinson Earl of Liverpool, reached Madrid in March 1800 and joined the siege. The Spanish capital fell 2 months later. The Portuguese then invaded Asturias and even the Castile region. Hemmed in on all sides King Charles IV fled to France and the Zaragozan Confederation declared the Empire of the Spanish, to distinguish it from the Kingdom of Spain that it was replacing, the Spanish colonies in South America and elsewhere, however, renounced this new nation and declared a Kingdom of Spain-in-exile with its capital in Lima. The French also rejected the Empire of the Spanish and invaded eastern Spain, occupying a small amount of Catalonia. Meanwhile the Portuguese seized all Spanish land east of the Rio Parana.

In Italy the Grand Coalition renewed their offensive in June 1800, invading Sardinia from the north, targeting Montebello and Alessandria. The Grand Coalition army, now largely made up of Italian soldiers due to the diversion of Austrian troops to fight the Ottomans, reached Montebello easily, defeating two Sardinian forces on the way, but failed to reach Alessandria. The weather took a turn for the worst and much of the Grand Coalition artillery became trapped in the mud. The bogged down Grand Coalition forces were then ambushed by a large Sardinian army and scattered. What was left of the army retreated back to Montebello where they dug in, awaiting reinforcements.
In August 1800 the Marshall Davout’s Rhine Army launched a second offensive to cross the Rhine river. They crossed the river at Cologne and marched up the river to Dusseldorf, here Davout and von Laudon renewed their rivalry. The Battle of Ekrath, a town outside Dusseldorf, was very bloody and the manpower costs for both sides were colossal. The Grand Coalition army fought valiantly, killing many of the French, but they were outnumbered 3 to 1 and were eventually over run. Dusseldorf fell shortly afterwards. The situation in the Rhineland was becoming increasingly desperate for the Grand Coalition and it was made even worse in October 1800 when several west German states ‘quit’ the Holy Roman Empire and joined the French alliance, this sates were promptly occupied by the French ‘for their own protection’. The Netherlands was now surrounded by the French and widespread discontent was spreading in the Holy Roman Empire.
The year 1801 was the dawn of a new age. One year after the turn of the century, the revolution came to Europe and the Great European War entered its second phase, the Revolutionary Wars. This period of the Great European War lasted 6 years and saw the fall of some of Europe’s mightiest entities and the rise of several new ones.

Austria was the first to experience major unrest in the Holy Roman Empire. The festering resentment against the Joseph II’s reforms, particularly the massive reduction in the power of the Hungarian Diet, in Hungary was now compounded by the dragging on of the Great European War. In February 1801 an angry crowd, led by a Dalmatian priest named Juraj Paškal Terzić Kačić, marched on the Hungarian Diet in Pressburg carrying a petition for the restoration of Hungarian power. However, the Hungarian Diet was under guard, due to the war, and the Austrian guards became nervous and jumpy as the Hungarian protesters approached. The crowd demanded to be allowed access to the Diet, but the guards denied them. Following repeated denials of access the crowd became increasingly angry and violent and began to throw rocks at the guards. Colonel Gerfried Hass, the commander of the guard force, then ordered the soldiers to fire a warning shot over the crowd’s heads. The crowd, however, reacted violently and charged at the Austrian soldiers, killing Juraj Kačić as he tried to stop them. The resulting slaughter saw 53 protesters and 4 soldiers killed and 98 protesters and 27 soldiers injured. On hearing of the, so-called, ‘Massacre of Pressburg’ the citizens of Pressburg and the wider area began to openly rebel against the Austrian government.

Over the next 3 months the Magyar Rebellion, as it became known, spread rapidly across north-west Hungary. They scored victory after victory, thanks to the Austrian army fighting on the various fronts of the Great European War, and severely weakened the Austrian war machine. In June 1801 Charles I signed a white peace with the Ottomans and recalled the Balkans Army to combat the Magyar Rebellion at home. The Balkan Army was sent to march on Pressburg, the ‘capital’ of the Magyar Rebellion, they defeated several rebels forces on their way and reached Pressburg where they met the main rebel army. The Battle of Pressburg that followed was dreadful and bloody and thousands of soldiers and rebels died, by the end of the day however the main rebel force had retreated in to the city and holed themselves up. General Johann von Klenau, of the Balkans Army, claimed victory for the Austrians, but in reality it was more of a stalemate.
With Grand Coalition forces massively depleted, thanks to the Magyar Rebellion, the French pressed their advantage and launched the German Offensive. This was based an ambitious plan by Marshall Davout to take Hannover and Prussia out of the before Austria could re-enter it. Under the Davout Plan, as it became known, a French army would march up the Ems River, then along the North Sea coast to Schwerin, a second French army would march up through Wurzburg to Weimar whilst a third and final French army would invade Hannover, aiming to conquer it. Finally all three armies would invade Prussia in a three-pronged attack to meet at Berlin. The German Offensive was launched in August 1801 and began well enough, with the Weimar Army and Schwerin Army both keeping to schedule. By October the North Sea coast and Coburg were reached. The Hannover Army was fairing less well, under Davout himself, the army had reached Detmold, where they met a considerable Holy Roman Empire force. The Battle of Detmold was long, costing the French and Germans considerable losses. The French did eventually win the day, but only after having their army decimated, Detmold itself fell 5 days later but the mounting casualties forced the Hannover Army to set up camp in Detmold and Hannover was saved. After this minor set-back, Louis XVI and his advisors decided to establish the Kingdom of the Rhine by forcefully unifying the Rhenish states occupied by the French and placing Louis XVI’s second son, also named Louis, on the throne of this new state.

In the meantime, Duke Luis Fernández invited Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este, cousin of Charles I of Austria, to come and take the throne of the Empire of the Spanish. Archduke Ferdinand accepted and on the 21st January 1802 was crowned in Madrid as Emperor of All Spaniards as Ferdinand VII, he would be known in history as Ferdinand of Austria. Ferdinand VII and Duke Luis Fernández then issued the Federalisation of the Empire Declaration, offering those in Spanish America the chance to join the Empire of the Spanish as an autonomous state within the Empire. The Declaration promised all peoples of the Spanish colonies, indigenous or not, equality, freedom, self-governance and the protection of a great power. All of the Spanish colonies promptly joined the Empire of the Spanish, with both the rebellious and those in power realising that this was the best option available to them, for now.

The whole French Alliance versus Grand Coalition war began to unravel in December 1801. From then onwards the war was between nations and rebel groups as well as between nation and nation. The Magyar Rebellion already in motion, the revolutionary movement spread into the rest of Germany. The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the Electorate of Hannover and Prussia all suffered revolutionary movements. In Mecklenburg-Schwerin an angry mob stormed the Schwerin Palace, the seat of the Duke, and burnt the Duke’s throne. In Hannover, rebels took control of the city of Celle and proclaimed the Republic of Hannover, independent of British influence. In Prussia, meanwhile, a handful of army generals, led by Major General Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, launched a coup following the death of Frederick II aged, an incredible, 90 years old 2 weeks after his birthday in February 1802. The generals entered the City Palace in Berlin seeking an audience with the, as yet, uncrowned Frederick William II (OOC: Son of the OTL Frederick William II) and, having gained their audience with the King, Blücher put a gun to the King’s head and demanded he abdicate from the throne. Frederick William refused and was shot there and then. Blücher then proclaimed himself Consul of Prussia and declared the army in control of the nation. Consul Blücher and his generals then launched a counter-offensive against the French.
The resurgent Prussian forces marched through Saxony to Detmold where the French army was camped. The Second Battle of Detmold that resulted was just as bloody as the first, but this time the, already depleted, French army was defeated. The Prussian cavalry charged the French left wing, scattering them. The Prussian centre then advanced while the Prussian left wing flanked the French right wing. The French army now, virtually, trapped by Prussian forces, were slaughtered as they tried to flee the field. The Prussians marched into Detmold, occupying the city.

By April 1802 the Great European War had descended into a virtual free-for-all that re-wrote the rules of war. There were no clear sides, with the Prussians technically Hannover’s ally but also occupied Hanoverian territory that they captured from the rebels and various rebel groups vying for control against themselves and the governments of their nations.