Often you see that in a napoleonic victory timeline that France keeps the Netherlands and the large parts of Germany Napoleon annexed. I was wondering if that would realy happen in such a scenario. It is quite a large non-french speaking area (see the added map I butchered in paint for what I guess are Dutch and German speaking areas are). Would France really be able to annex and Francofy all that. Dutch in the Netherlands was already an established language, with its own litarature, history, newspapers, etc. I assume the same is true for german in these areas. I have serious doubts that France can assimilate it all. Would these areas later be released as vasal states (like a reestablished kingdom of Holland or Batavian republic) when France had won the war, keeping only the Rhine border (even though that would still be a lot of german/Dutch/Flemish area). Or would France keep it and after a while these areas try free themselves from French rule and revolt (supported by Great Britain/Prussia/Russia/everyone else who doesn't support France). Or am I completly wrong and can France easily absorb these areas.
I would like to share an amusing (but probably very improbable) idea I got about this. When I started thinking about this, I assumed that France would try to keep all this. The population of these lands resisted the French attempts to Francofy them, clinging to their old language and customs. in the meantime German nationalism rises in the German lands east of France. The Germans (and partly the Dutch and Flemish) notice this and have a lot of symphaty for it. many of them saying that clearly they are not French, they differ from them by language, but they are German as their regonal languages are a lot closer to the german language. the French notice this and are afraid things are spiraling out of control, so they start making consessions. They start to admit that the French language is not the most important part of the French heritage. the original French where the Franks a german tribe, speaking a Germanic language. So that language is also part of the French heritage. As they want to convince the 'German' speaking parts of France that they too are french and not Germans, the French decide that they cannot use standard German for it, so they need another Germanic language, that is close enough to the dialects spoken, but still recognisable different from German. They end up choosing Dutch, because Dutch already has a history of being an official language and Dutch Frankonian language, in theory the language the Franks spoke. So from that point France is a bilingingual country speaking both Dutch and French.
I would like to share an amusing (but probably very improbable) idea I got about this. When I started thinking about this, I assumed that France would try to keep all this. The population of these lands resisted the French attempts to Francofy them, clinging to their old language and customs. in the meantime German nationalism rises in the German lands east of France. The Germans (and partly the Dutch and Flemish) notice this and have a lot of symphaty for it. many of them saying that clearly they are not French, they differ from them by language, but they are German as their regonal languages are a lot closer to the german language. the French notice this and are afraid things are spiraling out of control, so they start making consessions. They start to admit that the French language is not the most important part of the French heritage. the original French where the Franks a german tribe, speaking a Germanic language. So that language is also part of the French heritage. As they want to convince the 'German' speaking parts of France that they too are french and not Germans, the French decide that they cannot use standard German for it, so they need another Germanic language, that is close enough to the dialects spoken, but still recognisable different from German. They end up choosing Dutch, because Dutch already has a history of being an official language and Dutch Frankonian language, in theory the language the Franks spoke. So from that point France is a bilingingual country speaking both Dutch and French.