Third French War (Hamilton Dies)

The Third French War was a conflict between France, Spain, Venice, Florence, and the Papal States against Austria, Great Britain, Hanover, Sardinia, and Russia.

Causes
The Third French War began with the French navy sinking the Prussian ship Majestät, which was a ship bringing soldiers, artillery, and other supplies to Prussian Netherlands.

Austria sought to expand its empire, and used the sinking of the Prussian ship as an excuse to declare war on France, and its allies in Italy.

Great Britain wanted to end the Napoleonic regime, and declared war on France.

Russia saw France as a threat to European peace and attacked France; Sardinia thought similarly.

Hesse initially wanted to join the war, but was discouraged by Prussia's siezing of a Hessian trade vessel.

France and allies
The French Plan was a plan that would make the war a long war, however in the eyes of Napoleon II and his generals, the plan would lead France to victory.

Amsterdam Offensive
The Amsterdam Offensive would consist of a large invasion of Prussian Netherlands. After occupying Prussian netherlands, the French army would invade Hanover so it would have a clear path to main Prussia. After taking the Prussian capital and getting a Prussian surrender, they would march into Austria and join the forces from the Vienna offensive.

Vienna Offensive
The Vienna Offensive army would not march through Switzerland (that would be a slow and long journey, and possibly lead to destruction of the army) but instead invade through Sardinian-controlled northwest Italy. It would meet up with Italian forces and march towards Vienna, and afterwards would join with the Amsterdam Offensive to march to Moscow.

Moscow Offensive
After forces from the Vienna and Amsterdam Offensives met up, they would march towards Moscow, taking key Russian cities along the way. After reaching Moscow, they would circle around and defeat remaining lingering Russian forces.

West Invasion
The West Invasion was the name for the planned French offensive in Britain. Rather than attacking Britain across the English Channel, Franco-Spanish forces would circle around and attack Britain from the west, and would quickly march towards London.

Initial_prussian_plan_3rd_french_war.pngerrannean Offensive
In the Mediterrannean Offensive, Sardinia would attack French Corsica. Soon after, it would attack south France and attack south coastal france, before entering spain and capturing several cities and eventually Madrid.

Italian Offensive
In the Italian Offensive, Austria and Sardinia would launch an invasion of Venice, then Florence, then the Papal States.

Paris Offensive
In the Paris Offensive, Russia, Prussia, and Great Britain would send forces by land to Prussian Netherlands, as it would be safer to land in friendly territory rather than invade through France. The forces would meet, then march all the way to Paris and capture the French capital.

Actuality
In actuality, many of the plans by either side would not work.

Amsterdam Offensive
The Amsterdam Offensive was the only offensive that France planned at the beginning of the war that was a success. France quickly overran Prussian troops in the Netherlands, and then defeated forces in Hanover. The initial part of the offensive was executed with such speed (it had been planned since the end of the Second French War) that Prussia was not ready for a land invasion from the west. French forces attempted to surround the capital to get a surrender, but Prussian forces kept France from surrounding the city in the Battle of Berlin, at least for long enough that government officials and royalty could escape. Instead of going south as planned, the French forces pursued the fleeing enemy Prussians and finally got a Prussian surrender after the Battle of Gdansk. After this, French forces went south to invade north Austria.

Battles in Northern Italy
After the Sardinian capture of Corsica, the Sardinians got news that France had taken Sardinia in mainland Europe. The Sardinian forces quickly sent troops to the area, where they were met with heavy resistance and were pushed back into Austria. The rest of the war saw many battles in Venice and Florence. The Prussian alliance never saw the planned invasion of south France and Spain.

Sinking of Ships in the Battle of the Bay of Biscay
After the war began, Britain sent some ships to blockade Spain and France. They found a massive force of ships grouping in the Bay of Biscay. Britain sent an even larger force of ships to destroy the ships Spain and France were using to invade Britain.

Attempted Landing on the French Coast
With Prussia out of the war, Prussian Netherlands captured by France, and the invasion of south France and Spain as well as the Italian Offensive not happening, Russia and Britain made a desperate attempt to send troops and quickly capture Paris. The attempted landing of troops in Normandy was a disaster. Initially, it appeared that Anglo-Russian troops were successfully forcing French troops to retreat. With this in mind, the invaders marched forward, thinking they were victorious. As Anglo-Russian troops marched further inland, the French outflanked and surrounded them. The Anglo-Russian troops were not aware that they were surrounded until well after they had been taking heavy bombardment from the French. The invading troops surrendered.

Peace
After the failed landings on the beaches of Normandy, France approached the enemies with a peace offer. It was accepted, and France annexed huge amounts of land throughout Europe under Napoleon II.