Of Pride and Power - 43. Chapter 37: “Use absence to increase strength and honor”

Several favorable events occurred over the next few years that seemed to improve Anglo-French relations. First, the major port city of Le Havre and its surrounding area were officially ceded to English control by treaty as a goodwill gesture from the French royal court. Although English troops already occupied the city, this treaty formalized the arrangement. Following the brief war in France in 1558, trade with Le Havre flourished, with the city becoming a key hub for English industrial exports, such as machine tools and processed ores, which were in high demand among French industrialists.

Textile factories in Lorraine, for instance, required large quantities of belts, bolts, and composite springs for assembly line processing—materials that England, with its advanced chemical and material technologies, was well-equipped to supply. Ironically, England’s industrial advancements eventually hurt its own industries within a few years due to the competitive pressures of this trade.

Despite the profitable business, in 1562, Le Havre descended into chaos due to mismanagement by a French noble. He attempted to impose a 50% tariff on English manufactured goods to promote French and Habsburg materials. However, the French lacked natural rubber, and the Habsburg rubber supply was costly due to international shipping from Asia and the Americas. Overleveraged French importers, who had prepaid English merchants for several years' worth of materials, began to rebel against French authorities, leading to the defenestration of the French mayor from city hall. The rebels then sent envoys to England, requesting relief forces to occupy the city as part of our continental territory.

This event also occurred in my timeline, but unlike in my history, the Royal Marines and Navy managed to retain control of the major port city. With no official treaty governing the treatment of Le Havre, the city became a new flashpoint in Anglo-French diplomacy. Gaining the city officially in 1571 and securing a land route between Le Havre and Calais was one of the early achievements of Eddie, now my ambassador to France.

On October 7th, 1571, another significant event occurred that further eased tensions. Due to the Habsburgs' and Rome's poor military performance and lack of follow-up, the Russian Imperial Navy's Black Sea fleet was rebuilt within a year, thanks to their industrial infrastructure and manpower-rich ally in Ming China. By mid-1570, the Russians resumed their campaign and secured the entire coastal region from Eastern Anatolia to Acre, threatening to cut off the Habsburgs' oil supplies from their client states on the Arabian Peninsula, thereby endangering the Habsburg Empire's war effort against the Russian Empire and Ming China in East Asia.

While both sides nominally possessed technologically advanced equipment, the Russian advantage of invisibility screens was tipping the balance of power. In my history, a similar situation arose with the rapid expansion of the Ottoman Empire after their conquest of Constantinople. The Ottomans' creation of the world's first professional standing army equipped with firearms, the Janissaries, gave them a formidable land military unmatched until the 17th century in my timeline. However, since Islam had been nearly eradicated by the Russians, Chinese, Habsburgs, Indians, and Papal Rome, no such force existed in this timeline. Instead, the advent of Russian invisibility screens became the major threat to European powers and us for land battles.

In our confrontation with this technology, we used heat tracking, leveraging my abilities and core technologies, to identify and attack invisible targets. Infrared (IR) technology was rapidly being developed and produced at the Cadbury Hill and Avalon facilities. We were aware that the Habsburg Empire was researching IR technology, but they were starting from the theoretical knowledge of my timeline rather than from practical schematics and production models. In my timeline, an Indian scientist named Jagadish Chandra Bose discovered infrared in 1901, and a Hungarian physicist named Kálmán Tihanyi made the first practical breakthrough with an anti-night raid infrared camera in 1929. It took twenty-eight years of research throughout the world to develop this technology into producible equipment, which did not bode well for my rivals on the continent.

One reason the Habsburgs did not develop infrared (IR) technology as we did in England was a challenge England faced in my timeline. During their global war for factional dominance, Uber-Kaiser Charles prioritized radar development over IR. Had I not possessed the technical knowledge and blueprints for both technologies, I might have done the same. In my timeline, Frederick Lindemann, a leading proponent of IR in England, was replaced due to his stubborn belief in the superiority of IR over radar. Radar, by its nature, has more utility and applications as a passive defensive and offensive coordination tool, while IR offers a tactical advantage in active combat situations. Radar proved far more suited for the defensive war England fought in the 1940s, whereas IR became crucial for the first generation of smart weapons in wars that would take place decades later.

In a show of good faith and to counter the Russian Empire’s advances, we offered IR technology to the French royal court in late 1570, which indirectly reached the Habsburg Empire. However, we did not share our homing technology with the French, as this critical advantage needed to remain with England. Our long-range missiles were a key deterrent against the Habsburg Sky Fortresses. We did not anticipate, however, how quickly the industrious Habsburg Empire and their allies would improve upon our IR technology, as demonstrated during the decisive Battle of Lepanto.

In this battle, a fleet of 200 ships from Spain, France, and Italy, under the command of Juan Habsburg, the younger brother of Uber-Kaiser Philip II, faced off against a Russian fleet of 500 ships. The Russians were preparing to launch an amphibious invasion of Sicily from their naval base at Split across the Ionian Sea, intending to create a second front against the Habsburg-Roman alliance. Pope Peter II called for aid from Philip II, who agreed on the condition that his younger brother Juan would command the combined fleet and that certain territories in Italy and Polish-Lithuania be ceded to him. Although England was nominally unaligned, I sent the attack submarine HMS Golden Hind to the Mediterranean for observation, anticipating a confrontation based on intercepted radio traffic.

During the battle, the Habsburg Empire introduced several large steel battleships, comparable in size and conventional armament to our Dreadnaught-class warships. However, despite having sufficient cores, they could not replicate the Pluton mass-driver cannon due to material production limitations. These ships were slower than ours because of their propeller and turbine configuration and had limited weapons coverage within a 270° firing arc. This created a blind spot for counterattacks in their aft-port region due to equipment constraints. While this weakness could be mitigated with cores and radar technology, areas where the Habsburgs excelled, it was still a significant vulnerability. Traditionally, a 270° firing arc would be a technical achievement for a mid-20th-century warship in my timeline, but 21st-century tactics and smart weapon technology could exploit this design flaw.

At that time, the Habsburg navy was still incredibly dangerous, so HMS Golden Hind kept its distance. What the Habsburg fleet lacked in speed and firing arcs, they compensated for with an impressive array of radar and broadcasting equipment. HMS Golden Hind intercepted wireless data packets containing the locations of the Russian ships before the battle even began. The Habsburg Empire had developed some form of hybrid computer technology through their R&D efforts. While some of our warships had similar capabilities, England lacked many natural resources and access to rare earth minerals, making us completely reliant on our industrial and mining operations in North America, where manpower shortages kept production of advanced equipment low. An advanced military requires an advanced supply chain, which we didn’t possess. In that regard, the Habsburgs, with their decentralized global resources and centralized industrial base, were better positioned than we were. However, even with this equipment advantage, they didn’t always win battles, especially against the Russians.

On paper, this knowledge seemed advantageous to the Habsburgs, but we learned from warships secured off the coast of London that knowing the static locations of some Russian invisible warships wasn’t as useful as it seemed; these ships could easily escape or inflict serious damage on surface vessels. At Lepanto, the Russian fleet had 300 invisible fast warships, serving as the vanguard for their larger cruisers and battleships—twice as many as they had near London. Unlike the Russian navy of my era, the late 21st-century Russian fleet focused on speed, swarm tactics, and strike capacity, much like the Phantom Legion. These Russian warships relied on sea-skimming torpedoes and primitive short-range missiles, with a top speed of 44 knots (81 km/h), while the fastest Habsburg ships could only reach 23 knots (43 km/h). Essentially, this ship was a return to an older Russian design from the mid-20th century, originally codenamed Project 183 and later known as the Komar-class by their sailors and "mosquito boats" by their foes. With the addition of invisibility screens, these ships became cheap, fast, and deadly adversaries—designs I eagerly replicated and redesigned for England as our Hornet-class cutters.

The Russian navy also learned from their past encounters with our forces; they spread their fleet across 50 kilometers in three loose formations, preventing any area-of-effect weapons from being effective. As the battle began, the Russian fleet attempted to capitalize on their advantage by charging in with their Komar warships under the cover of invisibility screens. However, as they neared 5,000 yards (around 3 kilometers), Prince Juan Habsburg launched a volley of missiles from his ships. These were not standard ordnance; nearly 40% of them hit an invisible Komar. The missiles utilized a primitive IR-guidance system, a combination of the German designs from Project Hamburg and the United States’ early AIM-9A from my timeline’s 1940s and 50s. In just one year, the Habsburg Empire had used our infrared technology to develop heat-seeking guided missiles.

England developed gyroscopes and guidance systems for our missiles nearly a decade ago, which we showcased during our meeting with Uber-Kaiser Charles in the Netherlands, much to our rivals’ astonishment. In the years that followed, the Habsburgs closed the engineering gap, and the inclusion of our infrared (IR) technology provided the breakthrough they needed to create guided weapons. According to Captain Drake’s report, nine out of ten Russian Komars were destroyed by subsequent missile volleys. The remaining Komars managed to fire their payloads, destroying thirty slow-moving Habsburg battleships and cruisers. At this point, the Russian fleet should have withdrawn from the battle and sought refuge at their fortified naval base in Split, where the combined ground and sea defenses would have provided safety. However, due to radio jamming by the Habsburg warships, the Komars were unable to communicate the threat of this new weapon to their slower capital ships. As a result, the Russian capital ships entered the range of the Habsburg navy’s heat-seeking missiles.

Within just an hour of battle, the Russian fleet found itself engaged in a desperate firefight as their advantage was neutralized by IR imaging and the related heat-seeking missile technology. Several Russian battleships, powered by cores, switched from invisibility screens to active electric armor and took forward positions in a last-ditch effort to turn the tide. However, without their invisibility and with the timely arrival of Habsburg dive bombers using heavy material bombs—delivering concentrated kinetic damage like the concrete bombs of my timeline—the electric armor was rendered ineffective as well.

The destruction of the Russian Imperial fleet was decisive, and England received significant credit for providing IR technology, as acknowledged by the French court through an envoy to Calais. Although Philip II never publicly recognized our contribution to the battle, his younger brother Juan, commander of the combined fleet, sent salvage from several Russian ships as gifts to Le Havre. While these spoils of war were minor compared to the intact Russian ships we had acquired, the gesture was positively received.

Amid these events and widespread rumors of an engagement between François and Jamie, many ministers and nobles across Europe anticipated a diplomatic settlement between all the major powers. However, William Cecil, Robert, Francis, and I were preparing for betrayal. Some of these actions were unpopular with the French populace and did not align with Habsburg foreign policy, particularly with their chief advocate at the French court, Henri de Lorraine.

Before the scheduled meeting in August 1572, we made two strategic moves earlier in the year. The newly acquired territories were organized into a new duchy, Normandy. Unlike Calais and Picardy, we lacked the population to effectively administer or defend these new lands. We were short on carpenters, masons, and, most importantly, farmers. Additionally, many villages and towns were governed by French-speaking leaders who were reluctant to support English rule. Direct English governance would have been difficult, so I offered the dukedom of Normandy to Louis Bourbon, uncle of Henry Bourbon. Louis was a man of moderate disposition, but he harbored a deep disdain for the meddling of the Medici and Guise families in the French royal court. Ultimately, he was a patriot, and I believed that was what France needed more than another faction vying for territory. Calais and Picardy were more than sufficient for England’s needs. To support his rule, I appointed Gaspard Coligny, a French military leader whose naval squadron had joined the rebels at Le Havre, as commander of Normandy’s forces.

Although we provided Louis Bourbon with supplies and basic military equipment, England remained hands-off in military and administrative affairs after the transfer of power. This move earned England some acclaim and likely infuriated the Guise family, who sought to use the territorial shift as a Casus Belli. By keeping England out of French internal affairs and installing a respected French opponent of both major factions as Duke, we denied our adversaries any pretext for military action against England.

Our second move was to send Henry Bourbon back to Navarre under the pretense of attending to his ill mother, Queen Regent Jeanne of Navarre. He had stayed at my royal court for over twelve years, studying alongside my wards and young sons. Anticipating imminent turmoil in France, I wanted Henry Bourbon to be prepared for his role in history. Francis would escort him back to Navarre, accompanied by 2,000 Royal Marines and a fleet of warships. In my timeline, Jeanne died on June 9, 1572, two months after arranging the Peace of Saint-Germain with Catherine de' Medici to protect her nation and her son, Henry Bourbon. However, this time Jeanne arranged a treaty with Prince Juan Habsburg, French King Henry III, and English Edward Seymour to secure Navarre's safety and Henry’s ascension, in exchange for Henry's conversion to an Omega within five years. Although the treaty likely served as a ploy, as it did not align with Philip II’s views, it presented Henry Bourbon with an opportunity. Unlike our relations with Northern France, Navarre welcomed English troops and ships. Queen Jeanne had been gathering the names of Habsburg and Papal collaborators among nobles and merchants for years, to be used upon Henry’s ascension. Francis, in his guise as the Black Knight, and the Royal Marines under his command swiftly executed all the collaborators.

In later years, every time I visited Navarre, I brought yellow orchids, her favorite according to Francis, to Queen Jeanne’s grave. In both timelines, she dedicated her life selflessly to her nation and loved ones.

My third move, and perhaps the most important, was meeting with Margrave John George of Brandenburg in a secret conference in 1570. He was the head of the House of Hohenzollern. This clandestine meeting was facilitated by King Johann III of Sweden, whom I had met at my coronation in 1559. At that time, Sweden was attempting to establish diplomatic relations with England after our victory against the Habsburg-Roman alliance. Like his historical counterpart in my timeline, Johann stayed in England for several years as a guest of my royal court. While he wasn’t as close to my family as Takechiyo Matsudaira, as powerful as Henry Bourbon, or as charismatic as Antonio Aviz, Johann was respectful and interested in the concept of introducing omega males to Sweden. In return, I was one of the few guests at his coronation in January 1569, shortly after he killed his half-brother, the former king Eric XIV to prevent him from declaring an unwinnable war on the Russian Empire after the Russians seized the port of Narva from Sweden.

Johann was a complicated man in both timelines—courageous and altruistic at times, yet also suspicious and hot-tempered. However, we shared similar ideals, and, like my historical counterpart, we were natural allies. He helped arrange a meeting place for John George and me in Solvesborg. Using the HMS Revenge, a core-powered attack submarine from the same class as the HMS Golden Hind, I made it to the meeting with John George and Johann. The three of us signed the Baltic Accords, agreeing to counter both the Habsburg-Roman alliance and Russian ambitions for 'Dominium Maris Baltici' (Dominion of the Baltic). This laid the foundations for the Northern Pact, which will have a significant impact on future events.

When the date of our trip to France arrived, I believed we were ready for anything.