Play World of Warships for FREE here: wo.ws/3LfNjyd You'll receive all D-Day missions and extra rewards for FREE once you sign up!

Whoever made that animated map was pretty cool.

It’s crazy how being an island nation with a strong navy makes you close to untouchable

It's crazy that Napoleon literally thought about becoming a citizen of the United Kingdom after Waterloo. Imagine if his wish was granted and he even ran for Prime Minister 😂😂😂

I think one thing that this scenario misses, is that if Napoleon invades in 1806, then Prussia and Russia arent beaten at the Battles of Jena and Friedland respectivly, meaning it wouldnt be to crazy for a Russo-Prussian army to attack Napoleon's Empire, diverting his attention from his British campaign, which could be a big shift.

"My enemies are many. My equals are none."

It really was convenient that the British could always retreat to their island and try again later if their adventures in the continent failed.

The fact that Lord Nelson won the battle of Trafalgar by pulling off a fucking Leroy Jenkins is still baffling to me.

England: falls Americans looking at Canada and Marathas looking at EIC territory: *it's free real estate*

Nelson's final words: Thank God I have done my duty.

With this timeline I GENUINELY don't think there is another coalition. I personally think that the world would choose to simply wait for Napoleon to die and then rebel the moment that happens

I love the Ireland part which literally felt like a reverse peninsular war for England

People who arrived just after watching England beat Switzerland

We'll cross the Vistula, we'll cross the Warta, We shall be Polish. Bonaparte has given us the example Of how we should prevail.

Code Geas had a verry unique answer to that...

I think America would take advantage of the opportunity and seize Canada

Finally, Ireland mentioned in a video! ☘️

"Allowed it to pull an America" to a former colonial overlord of America is PERFECT!

The British could’ve avoided this scenario if they just invested more in Welsh Grandmas. (I’m not joking, one of the only invasions of the British mainland since Hastings was a small Napoleon force in West Wales that was repelled by Welsh Grandmas)

The Royal Navy panic? In that era? You underestimate how insane the marines and sailors were mate.

The Island of Great Britain is a perfect showcase of how geography defines history

Alternate History Video Idea: What if after WW1, the Entente went with France's plan of dividing Germany into several small kingdoms? (Like Prussia, Hanover, Bavaria, Hesse, Saxony were the ones I saw)

Quick correction, Admiral Nelson didn’t lose his eye, it was severely damaged but he could still distinguish light from darkness in that eye.

"GREAT YAR-MUTH" "NORRICH" THAT IS THE PRONUNCIATION 😂

How appropriate to use "foe", a word of Anglo-Saxon origin as opposed to "enemy", a word of Old French origin!

It’s wild that AHH is kinda the last of the “big” alternate history channels from the 2010’s that’s actually still doing alternate history videos.

One issue i have with this is, supply lines, no way napolon would be able to keep his men supplied especially with constant harrasmernt from the navy.

Couple things this analysis misses: The British typically didn’t defend against the French navy by guarding their coastline but instead by blockading French ports. Specifically the ports where the French navy was. The idea that the French could slip past the British navy without being noticed not just once but several times is quite far fetched. Secondly Napoleon’s marshals were notorious at being poor in independent command beside Soult and Davout. Also what lead to Napoleon defeat in 1813 at Liepzig is he threw away all his valuable veterans. Splitting up his forces in to little bit seems like it will lead to high casualties in his most valuable troops. As others have said it also seems quite unlikely that Prussia and Russia would just sit back while Napoleon devoted his best commanders to Britain.

I think what this misses is that if Napoleon was somehow able to invade Britain it would be such as massive diversion of resources that other continental powers would then try their luck, not to mention that the royal navy even if beaten at Trafalgar would still outnumber the French to the point that regardless if Napoleon could land an army supplying it would be a nightmare. There is a reason why the French/Spanish fleet didn't want to engage the British fleet in the first place.

How is Napoleon using the Danish fleet when it was stolen in 1801 at the Battle of Copenhagen? And why is Napoleon just automatically winning battles by the shore with Royal Navy ships nearby and limited supplies?

Great video! Although perhaps double check how to say “Norwich”, “Weymouth” and “Great Yarmouth”, although I don’t blame you, English place names are notoriously hard to pronounce! 😅

I'm rather dubious about the latter part of this scenario. Also the statement that the British Army wasn't meritocratic is very flawed, as Brandon F has produced an excellent video explaining. The situation is way more nuanced. Royal Navy seems to just sit on its hands later on and the critical Battle of Brighton is brushed over way too fast. Just assuming Napoleon wins when he'd be suffering naval bombardment throughout? Unlikely unless he went far more inland than the British commander would be likely to allow him for precisely that reason. Plus he's outnumbered four to one unless he breaks the siege and allows the defenders out to assist. Also where's Sir Sydney Smith in all this?

There is a great miniseries from 1974 about the entire career of Napoleon and his lovers called "Napoleon and Love", in which the Corsican is played by the great Ian Holm (who also played the Corsican in the films "Time Bandits" and "The Emperor's New Clothes") and a young Tim Curry also appears.

I'd kill for a vid on if the Sino-Soviet split never happened or was patched up in the 70s

I think it would have been a better scenario. If Napoleon won at Leipzig.

I find Napoleon forcing Britain to fight a civil war near their own country very poetic because of Spain.

Marshal Soult was notoriously cruel towards civilians; I dont think that the Irish would be too keen on him for long

I can’t see the uk capitulating as soon as napoleon gets to London. You know there’s a load of other places on this island he hasn’t captured yet and they would definitely not just give up

I love this video simply because its a group project rather than one person's scenario. The amount of data everyone was able to pull allowed them to craft a realistic scenario with battles and everything. It feels more like one of Cody's videos on actual events than one on alternate history

20:22 nice squawk from Cody’s neighbor…or an annoyed parrot

This scenario is more like Nappy's deception plans than what he actually intended. His Army of England (which became the Grande Armee when he turned east against Russia and Austria in 1805) consisted of six corps, a reserve cavalry corps and the Imperial Guard. He intended to land all or the vast majority of these experienced, highly trained and well equipped forces around the mouth of the Medway, between Sheerness and Chatham, northern Kent, then march as rapidly as only he could on London. Pillaging, plundering or raping would be punished by death, He allowed as how he might capture Portsmouth as well. His Spanish, Netherlandish and Danish allies could join in in Ireland, plus East Anglia and Northumberland, ie the new Dutch-Danelaw. Britain had more than 500,000 troops in regular, militia and volunteer units and formations, but spread all over the British Isles. They couldn't have been concentrated swiftly enough to defend London. The Leeds volunteers, for instance, had plans to hurry to London in wagons, but wouldn't have made it in time. However, holding the capital and bits of SE England, maybe parts of Ireland and NE England as well, wouldn't have guaranteed success. Guerrilla war in such a densely populated country, reliant on resupply by sea, might have ended worse than Spain, if not Russia.

I feel like this scenario is overly generous to the French. Even if we accept the point of divergence, that the British lose Trafalgar, it is still very unlikely that the French landings go anything like as smoothly as suggested. This video reads a bit like Napoleon laying out his strategy to his marshalls: an ideal scenario, in which everything goes according to plan, that was very unlikely to work out in practice. The Royal Navy may have taken a beating, but it was still the best navy in the world: British sailors could famously fire two broadsides in the time it took the French to fire one, and aimed directly into the enemies' hulls rather than at their rigging as the French did, thus maximising damage. The British also benefited from not having recently guillotined much of their officer class, meaning that there were a wealth of admirals who, even if they couldn't match Nelson's genius, were still brilliant leaders. These things combined to give the Royal Navy a distinct edge, and their enemies knew it: Villeneuve never thought he had a chance of winning at Trafalgar, and only turned to fight when his back was up against the wall. Even if Napoleon's initial force managed to land, say after luring the Royal Navy away as was his plan, they would soon return to swarm the channel, making the subsequent landings protrayed here almost impossible to pull off, not to mention the subsequent need for supplies. The Royal Navy had a track record of winning against superior numbers, and so even in its depleted state would be a formidable force to be reckoned with, especially if they have six months to re-enforce and re-organise. Without re-enforcements, Napoleon could win as many decisive victories as he liked, but he would eventually be overwhelmed. All this to say, the advantages of being an island don't stop once the enemy is aboard your shores, and losing Trafalgar is by no means the end of British naval supremacy. Napoleon was an unmatched general but he never understood naval warfare, much to the frustration of his admirals, and this would have shown during his attempted invasion of Britain.

Next you should do a vid on Joan of Arc. Without her, France wouldn't have had the morale to defeat their English occupiers, therefore the Kingdom of France wouldn't be restored and without them as a world power & having stake in the New World, they'd be in no position to engage in the French and Indian War (aka World War Zero) or support America during the Revolution (thus no inspiration for their own Revolution and then no rise of Napoleon). She's one of the most consequential historical figures

You have forgotten the most valuable British colony, India. Significant parts of India were still unconquered and actively resisting the British, with support from France. These regions included the northwestern parts, the central highlands, and the Western Ghats of India.

This is such a badass scenario Cody. Been watching your videos since 2015 and this is one my favorite alternate history timelines you've created. Would love to see this timeline continue and am excited for the future poll.

This is the earliest I've ever been to a video and I love it. The video quality was insane

There were another 300,000 British troops on British you forgot to mention. The Regiments and battalions of Volunteers and Yeomanry. These were troops raised by local landowners and rich individuals, armed and clothed similarly but not the same as standard british troops and were of varing quality. But according to "Returns Presented to the house of commons of the Volunteer Corps of Cavalry, Infantry and Artillery in Great Britian 1806" there was approximately 198,000 present under arms (excluding sick and absent) men in volunteer formations, brigaded together in mixed divisions of Regular and Militia troops across England and Wales, a further 48,000 in Scotland. In addition to these, according to the "Volunteers of the United Kingdom 1803" which includes ireland, there was an establishment (On paper) another 82,941 troops although realisically if i was to go by the same ratio as Great Britain for present under arms compared to establishment there would be about 50,000 men present under arms. Of these troops the comments on discipline about 75% are considered "Fit to Act with Troops of the Line" which is to say as Regulars, although mostly similar quality to the Militia at most. And the other 25% had comments such as "With 10 Days permanent Duty would be fit to act with Troops of the Line". So really the British had about 245,000 troops extra in Great Britain, of similar Milita Quality or would be in less than a fortnight, and Ireland had around 45,000-50,000 of the same. Which tips the balance of favour dramatically. Especially when you remember they are in mixed divisions with regular and militia troops which would help bolster their training, discipline, leadership and moral.

While interesting it honestly seems unrealistic that when the the home Island is invaded, Britain doesn't recall everybody from Ireland, so they can concentrate their forces, and put the ships assisting fighting Ireland on defending the home island. Plus this whole thing assumes that the invasion of Britain wouldn't be the perfect opportunity for continentals to strike, while the French army and navy is in the wrong place.

I love the detailed format you took here. I've seen almost all of your videos and this is probably one of the best yet.

The irony when Cody said "Reverse Normandy" Normandy, place of the French Normans whom invaded England, now being recreated by Napoleon only for it to be called "Reverse Normandy" because of the Normandy beach landings of WW2 😂

Actually, Napoleon had pretty much given up on invading Britain before Trafalgar.

>Implying that the weather stays good the whole time this is going on and no diseases or desertion or the Austrians,Prussians, Russians, Swedes, won't try to aid England and/or disrupt the french in some way.

Cody, this is one of the best videos you have done in the latter years. Congratulations! Hopefully we can see a continuation!

Hey Cody, when are we getting "What if Japan had remained neutral in WW2?" or "What if Japan had been part of the Allies in WW2?" It's very much needed and would be really nice to watch.

The man the myth the legend is back

Maybe in some lucky incident, Napoleon could land on British soil, but the army needs supplies. Locals wouldn't simply give it, and also a royal navy could have something to say about supplying troops by ships.

To describe men like Lannes, Murat, and Ney, "badass" would be an understatement.

Napoleon wasn’t short he was average height for the time!

The loss at trafalgar wouldn’t have happened. If line was organised Nelson wouldn’t have attacked head on. He was bold but not an idiot. At most he would of attacked in traditional line, or just withdrawn for another opportunity

If a part two does happen, i hope america allied with Napoleon to help him with trading and maybe military if they ally with France

This is beautiful. Love the format and insanely intricate attention to detail.

I was just watching the Independence Day video

I feel like your a great underestimating the size and skill of the British fleet. Landing and supporting the Irish seems possible all these reliability unopposed landing seem highly unlikely. Britain twice the amount of ships that France, Netherlands and, Denmark would of had together. The is also the assumption that for some reason Nelson uses the same tactics despite the battle being very different. Also im sure well Napoleon is doing this in Britain, Russia would be marching towards France

I absolutely loved this approach to your videos where you see week by week movements of armies. I hope to see more videos like this going forward.

This scenario is wildly optimistic

Why is it always "By taking London, he takes Britain!" Scotland? Wales? Northern England? Just give up?

LETTTTS GOOOO I BEEN MISSIN UR CONTENT MAN

One problem I have with this is the supply lines; Napoleon could not possibly keep his forces stocked, especially with the navy constantly harassing him.

I think this is one of my favorite videos ! Hope you continue this timeline keep up the great work!

Really appreciate the attention to detail with Ireland! Just a couple pronunciation tips: -Ballybunion rhymes with onion. -Kilkenny is pronounced like it's in 2 parts "kill Kenny" (poor Kenny 😔) -For Waterford you actually had the opposite problem, that's pronounced as one part "Wa-ter-furd".

Yes more alternet history hub 🙂

This was such a cool format to use for this video!

I’ve been a long long time fan and viewer and this has to be by far one of the best videos you’ve made! Keep up the amazing work!

Love your content ❤❤❤

What If Australia 🇦🇺 was a Green continent

That was cool scenerio! I really love it! Thank you for your hard work!

You know what this reminds me of? The Japanese plan for the Battle of Midway. So complicated, so many moving parts, so many chances for it all to go wrong. I suspect the result would have been the same, an absolute disaster for the French.

Another possible wrinkle: The Peninsular War destabilized Spain and emboldened its colonies in the Americas to rebel. In this timeline, there is no peninsular war. Spain might have held on to its colonies at least for a little bit longer. There is no need for Napoleon to invade the Iberian peninsula. The Portuguese monarchy doesn’t flee to Brazil. The history of two continents in the Americas is rewritten..

What if Britain remained a commonwealth (The restoration of the monarchy doesn't happen)?

Sequel idea, Napoleon vacations in Australia

Great scenario! Ive been hoping for so long that you would explore this topic!

One of the biggest what ifs in history I habe wondered. What if Hannibal waited until Spring to cross the alps? He lost half his forces crossing He lost 32 of his 36 war elephants All from crossing in the winter. Even with half, he was able to kick Roman teeth in at Ticino, Trebbia, and Lake Trasimene. What if he waited and didn't lose half his army? Would he have withstood Fabius Maximus' war of attrition? Or marched on Rome itself? Or would Scipio who was less than 30 miles from him before he crossed the alps discovered him, and alerted Rome to his plan the following spring?

Somehow i think you've made a Major overisght in this entire scenrio... *Logistics.* The same thing that killed Napoleon's army in Russia, would apply here as well. If anything more so. Amphibious operations rely more heavily on logistics than anything else, and are as such among the most difficult military operations to conduct. Maintaining supply lines over the sea is just as hard if not harder than Maintaining a supply chain accross the freezing depths of russia. Especially without total Naval supremacy. Im not even talking combat losses, even operational losses through frequent storms, high seas, changing winds and bad weather would be substantial in themselves. The Same thing that made Russia so Hard to invade, made Britian so hard to invade as well...supply lines and logistics. Britain and Russia are the two frontiers of Europe, bottling in any would be conquerer from the mainland. And the same thing that protected them here, protected them both right until the world wars.

Sir, this was an excellent video. Well done, can't wait for part 2!

Ireland was finally referenced in a video! 🏏

Actually starting to build my portal to teleport all of us into this utopian reality

I’m American but I can’t imagine the British surrendering their home island to the French without mustering everybody who can carry a weapon to fight first.

This has got to be one of the best videos you have produced, loved it!

How could you pronounce Villeneuve's name so wrongly at 1:12? Unlike some other names, this one is shared by a famous person from the present. Surely you've heard of Denis Villeneuve, the director of the recent Dune movies? And you've surely heard his name pronounced correctly somewhere by now, right?

Let’s vote for the sequel

This is one of your best and most epic videos so far! I liked the in-dept style

A lot of effort clearly went into this, but there is no way on earth that mainland Britain would have divided troops away from the defence of the home Isle to defend Ireland. More likely they’d have left Ireland to its fate and Naval blockaded it, possibly even engaging in scorched earth tactics. They would also have had spies in every port in France, informing them of troop movements, and also likely blockading them as well.

27 comments in 1 minute? bro did not in fact fall off

Weird how people think that all these most important wars in history could have ended differently if Britain was magically invaded and defeated.

Great job ! This is my favorite video of your yet ! You should do more videos like these.

This is the best what if video from this channel in recent time. Keep up the good work!

Cool Story Bro

Honestly this scenario became comical at the end where we just straight up ignore geography and the French just roll over the South Downs because of the "flat fields of England" despite the fact that the South Downs are practically a natural barricade and one of the many reasons why Britain was rarely invaded via Sussex, the battle of Hastings being the exception to the rule.

1:10 adrenaline in the spine of this pronunciation of Villeneuve . Probably only bc it’s association with Gilles. But only bc I would get utterly torched, here’s my obligatory cooking of your choice there

I can't believe Cody still doesn't know how to pronounce the word "Cavalry".