After the fall of Napoleon, France reeled from being the preeminent power on Continental Europe to what could effectively be called a third rate power. The French monarchy collapsed into the Second Republic, and then Napoleon III reclaimed the throne. He allied with the still powerful Austrian Empire, but when the Germanies defeated it in open war, the writing was on the wall. Soon another French government fell, and France continued to stumble into the future.
Uplifted animals help us in many ways outside the military or guard duties. One that surprised many people was their exceptional capability in the health care industry. Dogs for instance can diagnose pregnancy and mineral deficiencies with a single sniff. And many animals can help improve our healing processes just by lying down with us. Of course, they’ve been doing that as long as we can remember. It just got a lot easier once they could talk to us about it.
Our militaries deployed many ships and soldiers to the fighting in the Outer Colonies. Tours of duty out there became a prerequisite to advancement, though large warships or formations rarely showed the flag. The Outer Colonies were the province of small warships and Special Forces. When The War finally started back home, and the Western Alliance lost so much of our Core Worlds fleets, it was the experience of the Outer Colonists that turned the tide.
After suffering under French occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, many peoples protested the return of old Kings or Emperors that ruled from far away, and nationalistic refrains echoed in the streets. The Kingdom of Sardinia is famous for fighting the Austrian Empire, and numerous smaller powers, reuniting one of Europe’s most powerful realms for the first time in centuries. Of course, most people do not know that name. You see, Sardinia is now called Italy.
Uplifted animals can carry weapons into battle with us, but that is generally not their primary mission. Most animals at better at some things than we are. Both dogs and cats have spent thousands of years guarding our homes at night, whether by hunting small threats or driving larger threats away. They can see better at night, smell better than us, and generally sense things we never notice. They keep us aware of threats that could kill us.