What if Napoleon "cashes out" after Austerlitz and Trafalgar
The premise is that, following the victories at Austerlitz and the defeat at Trafalgar, Napoleon concludes that France and the Coalition, particularly Britain, have reached a strategic stalemate. Napoleon is Master of Europe, while Britain remains unchallenged at sea. Rather than pursuing the series of limited and ultimately temporary peace settlements like in the OTL, Napoleon and Talleyrand decide to pursue a comprehensive diplomatic settlement.
Instead of another short-lived treaty, he invites the Great Powers to a major international conference, essentially a Congress of Vienna a decade early, with the goal of establishing a durable European order.
The key terms of the settlement would be:
- Formal recognition by the Coalition of Napoleon's imperial title, France's territorial gains, and the legitimacy of the French client states established across Europe.
- French acceptance of the other Great Powers' interests and spheres of influence, with concessions designed to accommodate their strategic priorities.
- A broader commitment by all parties to preserve the new balance of power and avoid further large-scale continental wars.
Assuming such a settlement could be reached (and momentarily ignoring the main reason it didn't happen, Napoleon's unending ambition) how stable would it be? Would Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia be willing to accept a Napoleonic Europe in exchange for peace, or would conflict simply be postponed until a more favorable opportunity arose?