Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.
The Gates of Versailles is a Hearts of Iron IV Game Mod that is set in an alternate timeline much like fellow mods such as Kaiserreich, Red World or The New Order, where the Napoleonic Wars ended in a stalemate, allowing The French Empire and Emperor Napoleon I to spread French Influence and the Continental System across most of Europe. This radically changed the results of the first world war, with the second not far off the horizon.
The French Empire now faces threats from all sides. Their ancient rivals in the British Isles are stirring once more, the Fascist Italian Confederation is starting to make moves on the Two Sicilies, the many vengeful German states seeking retribution, the Enbitterned Unites States of America, and even a resurgence of the Jacobins as an internal movement.
This Game Mod provides examples of:
- Adaptational Badass:
- France's territory is much larger compared to its OTL borders, going as far as Sardinia, the Rhine and the southern parts of Belgium. This doesn't even touch on their massive colonial holdings in Africa.
- Mexico of all countries is significantly stronger, with its borders reaching not just to its old pre-Mexican War territories, but now land as far north as former British Columbia.
- Adaptational Wimp:
- Britain and the Commonwealth lost significant allies and colonial territory to the French. Most of Britain's old African territories such as Egypt were lost to France's onslaught, many Indian states were released from the British Raj and even Australia was split into two nations along a French east and a British west.
- German Unification was never achieved by Otto von Bismarck of Prussia in the late 19th century, so Central Europe remains divided among the French-aligned German puppet states of the west, and Prussia to the East.
- Downplayed when it comes to Japan. While they're in a relatively decent position, their territory is much smaller than in OTL, only including the four main islands and Korea. They don't even have Sakhalin like in OTL or other similar mods.
- Italy never underwent the Risorgimento, meaning the north never unified until Mussolini unified it under the Italian Confederation. The south remains under the control of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, led by an offshoot of the Bonaparte family loyal to France.
- While the United States controls a lot of what was once Canada (sans Quebec, British Columbia and Newfoundland), they lost Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Utah, Washington and Oregon to Mexico and are still sore because of the fact.
- Canada's territory is now reduced to Quebec with the rest being taken by America and Mexico. During the Great War, Canada became synonomous with military disaster for the British, their fading relevance and the horrors of war.
- The Alliance:
- The French-led Continental Alliance, mostly consisting of France, her colonies and any other nation that pays fealty to the Bonapartes.
- The Commonwealth made up of Britain and its colonies count as well.
- Alternate History: France never lost the Napoleonic Wars (though it didn't win either), and is able to spread its influence across Europe and the rest of the world.
- Balkanise Me:
- Germany never united, as Napoleon was never ousted from power, preventing Bismarck from successfully uniting Germany under Prussian control.
- Australia is split between the French-controlled Nouvelle-Hollande in the west and the British loyalists of New South Wales in the east and in New Zealand.
- Italy is divided along the north and south, with the fascist Italian Confederation in the north led by Mussolini and the monarchist Kingdom of Two Sicilies in the south aligned with France.
- Britain's colonial holdings in India have shrunk with the arrival of new Indian states in both the east and the south.
- Church Militant: The Theocracy ideology.
- Dirty Communists: As communism only caught on as a small fringe ideology, the predominant left-wing ideology is Jacobinism: the same ideology of Robespierre and his followers.
- The Empire: France. The House of Bonaparte was never exiled from France as they never led France to any major defeat as they did in OTL, and have spread their power across the world.
- Point of Divergence: The battle of Trafalgar in 1805. What was in our timeline a catastrophic defeat that scuttled the Spanish navy instead ended on more favorable terms. With his faith in his Spanish allies intact (and them still having their navy to contest the British at sea), Napoleon never launches the Peninsular Campaign to annex Spain, thus freeing an entire army in reserve for the collapse of the eastern front against Russia (which was as much a disaster as in our timeline). This allowed the war in the east to end with a peace treaty instead of a full surrender by the French, ending the Napoleonic Wars with France in control of Europe.
- Red Scare: Jacobinism. France in particular only needs to evoke Robespierre's dictatorship to shut down any conversation on the subject.
- Shout-Out: The quotes used if Britain becomes Jacobin and abolish the monarchy is... familiar.
- Vestigial Empire: France. Despite their repeated success in military campaigns, they are but a shadow of their former selves by the time the game rolls around.
