Comments by "Voryn Rosethorn" (@vorynrosethorn903) on "Paper Skies"
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The invasion of Russia wiped out irreplaceable veterans that were vital to the Napoleonic war machine, and allowed the states under him to rebel, the Russian Army was then a very major force in his following defeat. Likewise during the hundred day Napoleon hoped to defeat opposing armies in detail, he fell at the first hurdle, even if he had won his next opponents would have been the Austrians and Russians, and he likely would have lost again to a mixture of careful strategy and the ability of the Russian Empire to fill in for the other nations who had been seriously stretched by decades of war and devastation.
The fact that the war ended with Russia as the preeminent European power (with Britain the leading global power but much less invested in direct influence on the continent) was a major component of the shape of the post war order, France retained territorial integrity thanks to the concern that balkenising a great power would only further egrandise Russia, likewise the Austrians managed to gain assurances that in return for a pan-European alliance against liberal revolutionaries Russia would not carve up the Ottoman Empire as was a very major ambition of theirs.
I'm sorry, the WW2 bit was overstating considerably (even if the Russians relied heavily on their allies those allies would have had to fight a very different war without them, Germany was not a pushover, even if they were very much fighting against the odds), but the Napoleon bit is just plain wrong, if he had not invaded Russia the possibility of his dynasty retaining power to this day would not be inconsiderable, it was offered to him even after his winter retreat should he have abdicated (his son would be emperor and his step-son from his first marriage regent), unfortunately for him he was a gambler who's luck had run dry before his appetite for risk had.
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