The roots of France as an organized nation go back to the Holy Roman Empire. It had a largely uneventful history up until late 1789, during which the French Revolution occurred and the old monarchial system was overthrown and replaced by a republic under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1809, France's forces invaded Belgium, and began the Eleven Year War. Germany, Britain and Austria immediately sided with Belgium, while Spain, Portugal and Italy sided with France. The end result was France and her allies being defeated, and depopulated as well. Napoleon was shot along with most of his cabinet, and a puppet government was put in place, and many were British/German officials. It is theorized that a mystery advisor of his manipulated him to invade Belgium, similar to Rasputin in Russ