Chapter 8 – June 1822 to May 1823
After all the activities on the diplomatic parquet during the last period, things slowed down a bit. However, differences were not solved and actually the trenches between the fractions were getting deeper. So maybe this period was just the silence before … .
PRUSSIA
Prussia tried to calm down the situation after the Hannover deal. She got in contact with the small countries trying to appease their angers and their fears. However, the King of Prussia made it very clear that there was way to soften the treaty with England.
Prussia also started the integration of the new province. One focus of the Prussian government was the enlargement of the Prussian Army.
AUSTRIA
Austria was still angered. Although Vienna hesitated to challenge the Prussian rival, Metternich also got in contact with the small countries as well as the neighbors in the east and west. The results of diplomacy were not published, but the Austrian efforts were probably not in vain.
Austria increased the tariffs on goods from England, but also signed a treaty with Amsterdam to lower the tariffs for raw materials like silk and cotton as well as a trade agreement with the Ottoman Sultan.
The most important meeting, however, was the Conference of Venice, where Metternich met the Lords of the Italian countries as well as observers from the German states (except Prussia) and France. Metternich used this meeting to demonstrate that the King of Sardinia was one of the most important allies of Vienna and that Austria intended to align her Italian policy with him.
The meeting lasted two weeks and in the end, all Italian countries agreed to cooperate and to align their Italy policy. The most important result was an agreement to lower tariffs of some goods between Italy and Austria and to increase tariffs on imports from England, which, however, was not signed by Sardinia. Austria made a similar agreement with Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Saxony. These four countries also agreed to improve the trade roads.
Although the meeting of Venice was running rather good for Metternich, it ended with a disaster, questioning all results of the meeting. After the official banquet the participants of the meeting made a parade in decorated gondolas in front of the population of Venice. The procession, lead by the Austrian Kaiser and his guest of honor, the King of Sardinia, was all over sudden stopped by the sound of shouting and shooting. The political police finally pushed back the frightened crowd and ended the confusion. What they then found was a really bloody scene! Four men of the guard of the Austria Kaiser were killed, Kaiser Franz, himself wounded by a graze. Beside him lay the King of Sardinia, the white uniform spangled with red blood. He was perforated by the bullets of a shotgun. He died before one could get him out of the boat.
Security forces shot one assassin. During the next hour about thirty suspects were arrested.
In an open letter Kaiser Franz and the princes condemned the cowardly crime. The corpse was sent to Savoy.
Austrian authorities declared that the murderers were Italian nationalists, possibly incited and supported by English agents.
FRANCE
France condemned the occupation of Hannover as a violation of the treaty of Vienna. The French King put an embargo on Prussian goods and increased tariffs on British goods. Furthermore King Louis offered to help the Spanish King against the Spanish usurpers.
According to an agreement with Bavaria, the French administration started to build an “express” road to Munich.
King Louis gave orders to increase the army.
Due to the bad economic situation of the country, many people left the country to start a new and better life.
ENGLAND
The English Prime Minister Lord Canning had other things to do than to care about the political confusion on the continent.
One more urgent issue was the Ireland revolt, where the rebellion was still going on. During summer, England sent new troops to the island and in autumn they started to push back the Irish rebels. The operations continued throughout winter and the British acted with outmost brutality. British troopers did not make prisoners and they cared little if they killed rebels or innocent citizens. During spring, the defense of the Irish patriots melted away like snow and when the lilies of the valley were in bloom, the last rebels were encircled and killed.
Right after the victory, the British governor started the punishment of the Irish people. Lands of all estates over 20 acres were seized and given to English loyalists. This new class of English landlords started to build militia to ensure suppression of the Irish wish of freedom. Although the government allowed practicing the Catholic faith, Catholics were effectively excluded from positions.
As for America, the British stopped their advance at Boston and introduced a “slash and burn” strategy. Using the strength of the Royal Navy, the British launched operations against New York and Savannah. The invaders managed to surprise and overwhelm the garrisons. Both towns were bombarded and plundered before reinforcements arrived.
The U.S. Navy tried to avoid a direct confrontation with the Royal Navy. Instead, the ships operated at the Caribbean Sea, sinking English merchants and raiding British ports.
The English send a squadron of seven ships-of-the-line and a dozen frigates to end this disturbance. Mid of November, a vanguard of four frigates sighted two ships, obviously two American frigates. After a wild race the U.S. ships were cornered and sunk, while one British ship was badly damaged and had to turn to Port Royal. The British ships also spotted more ships, but could not follow them due to the sunset. Due to the course of the American ships, the British commander assumed that the Americans were withdrawing into the harbor of New Orleans and decided to attack them there. When he reached the port, he actually found it filled with U.S. ships, many trading ships but warships, including several big pots. He decided to attack. He sent messages to the HQ and waited for the wind to turn.
The Americans saw the British armada and the American commander started to prepare the defense. Four battleships big battleships were tied in line to welcome the British ships. Three big merchant ships were set on bottom and used as artillery platforms. Others were sunk to narrow the fairway. More batteries were place along the coast, reinforced by all unnecessary guns and sailors from the ships. All day and all night thousands of men and women worked on barricades to protect the batteries and the facilities. Then, the English attacked. The first strike was against the batteries at both sides of the harbor entrance. The ships-of-the-line bombarded the American position, while frigates carried English marine soldiers to the shores. The fight went back and forth. At the right flank of the English, three frigates were sinking and the rest retreated. At the left side, however, the British soldiers reached the beach and assaulted the batteries. A counterstrike of American militia, however, drove them back to their ships.
When the British commander realized, that the first attempted had failed he set signs to regroup his forces. Now the battleships headed straight for the harbor, while the frigates kept on peppering the land borne batteries.
The British ships-of-the-line attacked, but they had to maneuver in a very narrow fairway and were welcomed by broadsides of the American battleships and peppered by numerous guns from the swimming platforms and the harbor. With a quarter of an hour, one ship-of-the-line was sunk and another one rammed the bottom. However, the British did what they could to reply the fire and the U.S. ships as well as the harbor were damaged badly. But still all U.S. ships were firing and the bombardment from the batteries did also not calm down.
The British commander had to call his ships back. Still he was decided to break the resistance of the American defense and to destroy the main part of the U.S. Navy. It was already getting dark, when the British started their third assault. This time, they had three fire ships ahead. Although the Americans managed to sink two of them, the remaining one reached the American battleships and set the middle one on fire. Now the line of American ships was broken and under the cover of smoke and darkness the British ships slipped into the battle. A wild and chaotic night battle began. Ships appeared out of the dark, immediately firing at everything and immediately being bombarded from all sides. In the flickering light of burning ships and the burning town the fighting continued and it was around midnight, when the English finally withdraw.
When the British admiral gathered the fleet, he saw the terrible result of the battle. Three ships-of-the-lines were lost together with numerous smaller ships. Thousands of sailors were missed in action. All remaining ships were badly damaged, some hardly able to stay at the surface. The admiral had no alternative but to lead the fleet back northwards. On the way, he lost another sol and two minor ships in a storm.
Although the Americans had repelled the British assault, they hardly felt like winners. The city of New Orleans was burning at different places, the French Quarter was heavily damaged, the harbor facilities useless. The fairways were blocked by sunken ships and a handful of badly damaged wrecks were the rest of the formerly proud U.S.S. Navy. The American commander sent the wounded to the local hospital and then he tried to afloat the remaining ships and set sail to reach Savanna, where he hoped that he could repair his ships. His convoy consisted of about a dozen warships and thirty merchant ships.
However, before he could enter the port of Savanna, he hit a British blockade squadron. Although the British were badly outnumbered, none of the American ships was able to fight with normal combat strength. When the Royal Navy ships attacked, the American formation broke apart and the English could get between the confused American ships. The American commander gave up the fight and ordered his ships to run into the harbor of Savanna. In the end, two battleships, three frigates and two merchant ships reached the shelter, while the rest was sunk in front of the American coast. After the battle, the English ships continued to block the entrance of the harbor.
While the English concentrated on sea borne operations, the Americans gathered their forces around Boston. The British garrison had to watch the increasing strength of the besiegers, while it was still fighting against sabotage acts inside the town.
In the Far East reports about acts of piracy became more frequent. The English started to establish patrols, but the Royal Navy was stretched too thin to give effective protection.
At China, authorities confiscated and destroyed the magazines of the English dealers. Three English citizens were wounded and ten were arrested.
RUSSIA
The Russian Empire is still suffering from the passivity of the Czar. The social and economic reforms died in the sump of corruption, moral and combat strength of the Imperial Army was rapidly eroding.
Due to the lack of political freedom and the oppressive poverty, many left the country.
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
The war on the Greek mainland came to an end. The Ottomans also regained control of almost all islands. The Turkish forces arrested all those, they blamed for rebellion. Men were shot and women and children sold into slavery.
Fighting went on at Crete. Here, the Turkish operations were commanded by the son of Muhammad Ali. The Ottomans control the ports, the rebels control the mountains. The Egyptian fleet supported the operations with supply.
The Royal Navy tried to support the Greek rebels. During February, it bombarded the port of Rethymnon, at May three frigates disembarked guns at the southern coast of Crete. After this operation, they met an Egyptian convoy, accompanied by five frigates and one cannon boat. The Egyptian warships immediately attacked the British vessels, while the transports kept on their course. During a short fight, the English sunk the cannon boat and one frigate, while they damaged two other frigates. They did not lose a ship, although all three were damaged slightly.
King Louis of France and Navarra died end of May.
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