The Franco-Prussian war was of course an astounding success for the Prussians, but I wonder if it’s success didn’t cause more problems in the long run of Germany.
The humiliation of having Paris occupied, having the German Empire proclaimed in Versailles and of course losing Alsace-Lorraine caused intense enemity between France and Germany. But perhaps more than this the rapid victory convinced much of the west’s military leaders that modern wars were quick affairs where big decisive battles should be pursued over all else. This would in turn be part of why the European powers thought WW1 could be over ”by christmas”.
Now what if Prussia still won the war, but not quite as decisively? There’s battles and sieges all over western France and although Prussia clearly outclasses the French, there’s no catastrophic collapse of resistance as in otl and peace is agreed to together with the other Great Powers in a peace conference without Paris fallen. In a less extatic feeling of victory, the more rational goals of Bismarck may prevail and A-L remain French.
How would such a peace change the latter half of the 19th century, the Scramble for Africa, european alliance patterns and eventually the events leading up to ww1?
The humiliation of having Paris occupied, having the German Empire proclaimed in Versailles and of course losing Alsace-Lorraine caused intense enemity between France and Germany. But perhaps more than this the rapid victory convinced much of the west’s military leaders that modern wars were quick affairs where big decisive battles should be pursued over all else. This would in turn be part of why the European powers thought WW1 could be over ”by christmas”.
Now what if Prussia still won the war, but not quite as decisively? There’s battles and sieges all over western France and although Prussia clearly outclasses the French, there’s no catastrophic collapse of resistance as in otl and peace is agreed to together with the other Great Powers in a peace conference without Paris fallen. In a less extatic feeling of victory, the more rational goals of Bismarck may prevail and A-L remain French.
How would such a peace change the latter half of the 19th century, the Scramble for Africa, european alliance patterns and eventually the events leading up to ww1?