AH challenge - WI France & Britain were even-handed towards the Austro-Italian conflict.
Plombieres-Turin, 1858-1860 -
what if Piedmont were unwilling cede Nice and Savoy for French support? Does Italian unification stall, or happen through a mixture of different revolutions leading to 2 or more regional regimes on the peninsula at the end of the century?
What if Piedmont had been willing to cede Savoy, but insisted on retaining Nice (Nizza). According to some ethno-linguistic maps of the situation in the 19th century or 1914, it appears that Savoy was francophone but Nizza was Italophone at this time. Could this be enough to ensure French friendship? Would the Third Empire have been willing to commit aggression to obtain Savoy and/or Nice from Piedmont?
1866-
AHC - Italy obtains modern day Trentino (less South Tyrol) or the historic territory of the Archbishopric of Trent, the northern border of which fairly closely corresponds with the ethno-linguistic boundary between German and Italian.
Are better Italian performance and more Prussian (or other) diplomatic support for Italian claims BOTH necessary for this to occur? Or just one of the two.
If Italy had Trent from 1866 would it make it more likely to stick by the Triple Alliance or more likely to avoid it altogether?
1870-1871 What if Italy joined in the Franco-Prussian war with the aim of obtaining Savoy, Nice and maybe Corsica? Could they pull off such an intervention successfully? If they did so, would French passion for revanche and reclamation of these territories from Italy have matched its passion for anti-German revanche. OTOH Nice and Savoy were only briefly French compared to Alsace-Lorraine or Corsica. OTOH all of them had been French at one time or another during the 18th century as well as the 19th.
ISTM Italy would be satiated vis-a-vis France if it won territory. If France were forgiving, I would think that Italy would be favorable to a pro-French alignment for the rest of the century and into the next, and would never join the Triple alliance. OTOH, if the Italians see France treating Nice and Savoy as sacred lost provinces, and/or there are other strong anti-Italian moves by France, such as blanket opposition to Italian colonialism, than Italy may be more stuck with an German alliance.
AHC - An Italian colony in Asia-Pacific or Indian Ocean - what would have been the most plausible candidate territories?
Plombieres-Turin, 1858-1860 -
what if Piedmont were unwilling cede Nice and Savoy for French support? Does Italian unification stall, or happen through a mixture of different revolutions leading to 2 or more regional regimes on the peninsula at the end of the century?
What if Piedmont had been willing to cede Savoy, but insisted on retaining Nice (Nizza). According to some ethno-linguistic maps of the situation in the 19th century or 1914, it appears that Savoy was francophone but Nizza was Italophone at this time. Could this be enough to ensure French friendship? Would the Third Empire have been willing to commit aggression to obtain Savoy and/or Nice from Piedmont?
1866-
AHC - Italy obtains modern day Trentino (less South Tyrol) or the historic territory of the Archbishopric of Trent, the northern border of which fairly closely corresponds with the ethno-linguistic boundary between German and Italian.
Are better Italian performance and more Prussian (or other) diplomatic support for Italian claims BOTH necessary for this to occur? Or just one of the two.
If Italy had Trent from 1866 would it make it more likely to stick by the Triple Alliance or more likely to avoid it altogether?
1870-1871 What if Italy joined in the Franco-Prussian war with the aim of obtaining Savoy, Nice and maybe Corsica? Could they pull off such an intervention successfully? If they did so, would French passion for revanche and reclamation of these territories from Italy have matched its passion for anti-German revanche. OTOH Nice and Savoy were only briefly French compared to Alsace-Lorraine or Corsica. OTOH all of them had been French at one time or another during the 18th century as well as the 19th.
ISTM Italy would be satiated vis-a-vis France if it won territory. If France were forgiving, I would think that Italy would be favorable to a pro-French alignment for the rest of the century and into the next, and would never join the Triple alliance. OTOH, if the Italians see France treating Nice and Savoy as sacred lost provinces, and/or there are other strong anti-Italian moves by France, such as blanket opposition to Italian colonialism, than Italy may be more stuck with an German alliance.
AHC - An Italian colony in Asia-Pacific or Indian Ocean - what would have been the most plausible candidate territories?
