Blown Apart

During the timeline, there is a section in November in which Jerome N. Bonaparte II (a former American soldier in the House of Bonaparte) argues Napoleon III into a pro-American stance.



In the course of this short conversation, he argues that Mexican irregulars are superior to French regulars; that Winfield Scott is utterly amazing (“The soldier of the age”), that wars cannot be waged across the Atlantic, and so on and so forth.

During this time there is a rather startling passage in which both Bonapartes agree that Americans think logically:

“Think, my emperor, think like the Swiss you were educated by – coldly, logically, and without passion.”

“Think like an American, you mean,” the emperor said disdainfully.​

And, before long, the result is that Napoleon has decided to accept an American payout to buy off Mexican debts to France (which was the original excuse Napoleon III used to justify his attempt to create a puppet empire in Mexico). The mentioned sum is 2.8 million pesos, which is far less than what the French were after as of the Convention of London (1861, 10 million pesos) let alone later (12 million as of January 1862).





As is common in BROS, a historical figure simply explains TFSmith's view of the world, and another historical figure is quickly convinced. In reality, Napoleon III was not only very much a supporter of the British but one with a very pro-Confederate court – the most pro-Union man had resigned in October and there were far more pro-Confederates – and one who is TTL actively gaining public support from the British intervention, as the famine du coton has been halted and many thousands of Frenchmen are back in work.