Napoleon II knew about colonization and its effects on the colonized people. In his previous life, he knew the French Empire would be remembered as one of the worst colonizers.
That knowledge did not stop him.
He did not dress it up as a mission or pretend it was benevolence. Colonization was extraction. It was control of land, labor, and resources, enforced by law first and force when law failed. Anyone who said otherwise was lying, either to others or to themselves.
The difference, as far as he was concerned, was discipline.
Most empires expanded blindly. They conquered first and figured out administration later. They flooded territories with soldiers, then wondered why rebellions followed. They stripped resources without building systems to replace what they destroyed.
France would not repeat that pattern.
If he was going to build an empire, it would be done deliberately and strategically.
So he looked at the map before him.
