A different congress of Vienna

I realy like a the Vienna congress as a POD. For me it signifies the end of Early-modern Europe and the start of the Modern history. The maps of Europe were almost completely redrawn and redrawing them differently could give so many interesting POD.

My question though is what are reasonable changes that can happen at Vienna (or a POD close to the congress)? So which of the folowing ideas are actual possible? Mind you, I know that every border change would have meant a compensation elsewhere, so Prussian Saxony might have meant no Prussian Rhineland. And I do realise some of my ideas are mutual exclusive. It is just a brainstorm of random ideas.

How possible is it for:
Prussia to get all of Saxony?
Prussia to gain Luxermburg?
Russia to gain Posen?
An independent Poland?
The house of Orange-Nassau to keep their part of Nassau?
The Netherlands to gain French Flanders (and/or French Hainaut)?
Savoye (or another state) to gain Corsica?
France to lose the Alsace, Lorraine and/or Brittany?
France to actualy keep Wallonia or possibly all of Belgium?
The Netherlands to gain East-Frisia?
The Netherlands to gain part of the Rhineland?
The Netherlands to gain other parts of Germany (like Cleves, Bentheim, Lingen, etc)?
The Netherlands to regain the Cape Colony, British Guyana or Ceylon?
The Netherlands to lose Dutch India, Dutch Guyana, Dutch Antilles, Dutch Gold Coast, Malacca or (part of) Indonesia?
France to lose more or all of their colonies?
Other?
 
The congress of Vienna was meant to restore Europe as close as it was before the french revolution and restore the balance of power in europe.
 
The congress of Vienna was meant to restore Europe as close as it was before the french revolution and restore the balance of power in europe.
Partly yes, but after the Vienna Congress all the eclesiastical German states were gone, the Dutch got the Southern netherlands, Prussian made a lot of gains in the Rhineland and Saxony, Sweden gained Norway, Austria gained large parts of Italy and they got rid of the Italian republics, etc. So there were a lot of changes made during the congress of Vienna and Europe after it barely resembled Europe before the French revolution.
 
How possible is it for:
Prussia to get all of Saxony?
Prussia to gain Luxermburg?
Russia to gain Posen?

Can't comment on the likelihood, but I can see this as a package deal - Prussia compensated for losing Posen by getting the whole of Saxony, forex.

An independent Poland?

I think the Congress kingdom is the best you're going to get, realistically.

The Netherlands to gain French Flanders (and/or French Hainaut)?
...
France to lose the Alsace, Lorraine and/or Brittany?

Very unlikely. One of the goals of the Congress was to shore up the Bourbons by showing them as successfully standing up for France, giving away historically French territories would undermine this. You need a different end to the war and no Bourbon restoration to make slicing off traditionally French territory likely.

Savoye (or another state) to gain Corsica?

Very unlikely for anybody except the British, who actually held Corsica at the end of the war. For the British to hold it, it all you require is for the British government not to repudiate the Treaty of Bastia.

France to actualy keep Wallonia or possibly all of Belgium?
The Netherlands to gain East-Frisia?
The Netherlands to gain part of the Rhineland?
The Netherlands to gain other parts of Germany (like Cleves, Bentheim, Lingen, etc)?

Whereas the Congress didn't want to undermine the Bourbons by giving away traditional French lands, it should also be borne in mind that the was no desire either to give France extra stuff. I'ts also worth remembering that OTL the Austrian Netherlands were given to the Netherlands in the first place because (a) Austria didn't want them back; and (b) the Congress wanted to build the Netherlands up into something more than just a speed bump on France's northern border. Still, I suppose it's possible (but unlikely) to imagine a package deal where France gets the French speaking lands and the Netherlands is built up by being given German stuff instead.

The Netherlands to regain the Cape Colony, British Guyana or Ceylon?
The Netherlands to lose Dutch India, Dutch Guyana, Dutch Antilles, Dutch Gold Coast, Malacca or (part of) Indonesia?
France to lose more or all of their colonies?
Other?

One of my favorite anecdotes from the Congress concerns the discussion of how the disposition of extra-European territories was discussed. It was very short, and essentially consisted of Lord Castlereagh (British Foreign Secretary) producing two lists - the first being a list of overseas colonies Britain was going to keep and the second being those Britain was prepared to hold back, with any attempt by other parties to discuss the lists being referred to the Royal Navy.

So, all you really need is for Castlereagh to produce a couple of different lists...
 
Whereas the Congress didn't want to undermine the Bourbons by giving away traditional French lands, it should also be borne in mind that the was no desire either to give France extra stuff. I'ts also worth remembering that OTL the Austrian Netherlands were given to the Netherlands in the first place because (a) Austria didn't want them back; and (b) the Congress wanted to build the Netherlands up into something more than just a speed bump on France's northern border. Still, I suppose it's possible (but unlikely) to imagine a package deal where France gets the French speaking lands and the Netherlands is built up by being given German stuff instead.
i always thought of this idea: Prussia gains Luxemburg (and possibly part of Namur and Liege for a nice border), while the Netherlands gain part of NW Germany as compensation.


One of my favorite anecdotes from the Congress concerns the discussion of how the disposition of extra-European territories was discussed. It was very short, and essentially consisted of Lord Castlereagh (British Foreign Secretary) producing two lists - the first being a list of overseas colonies Britain was going to keep and the second being those Britain was prepared to hold back, with any attempt by other parties to discuss the lists being referred to the Royal Navy.

So, all you really need is for Castlereagh to produce a couple of different lists...

I never realy understood why the British took western Guyana, which never had been British in the past (while Surinam had been) or didn't have a strategic location (like the Cape) or was near a major British colony (like Ceylon) and returned Dutch India (which obviously was near a major British colony). So it is in theory possible for the British to return western Guyana, while keeping for example Dutch India?
 
I never realy understood why the British took western Guyana, which never had been British in the past (while Surinam had been) or didn't have a strategic location (like the Cape) or was near a major British colony (like Ceylon) and returned Dutch India (which obviously was near a major British colony). So it is in theory possible for the British to return western Guyana, while keeping for example Dutch India?

Going by wikipedia, it looks as though British immigrants from the West Indies had been moving into Guyana from roughly 1760 onwards with the result that the (European, presumably) population of the area was actually majority British by the 1790's and not happy with Dutch rule. This is presumably why Britain retained control after capturing the territory.

As for Dutch India, I've no idea why those territories were returned unless it was because they were no conceivable security threat to Britain and it was felt the revenues from there would be a help to an ally. It only stayed Dutch until 1825 anyway, when it was swapped for a couple of British trading posts in Sumatra.
 
Going by wikipedia, it looks as though British immigrants from the West Indies had been moving into Guyana from roughly 1760 onwards with the result that the (European, presumably) population of the area was actually majority British by the 1790's and not happy with Dutch rule. This is presumably why Britain retained control after capturing the territory.

I believe the same thing is true for Saba, st Eustatius and St Maarten, at least the majority speaks English on those islands and they were returned to the Netherlands. It probably was simple imperialism using anything as an excuse.
 
I think the Congress kingdom is the best you're going to get, realistically.

What if the Duchy of Warsaw manages to switch sides, and get a guarantee of its borders and independence (or at least such independence as it can hope for with Prussia controlling the mouth of the Vistula), in 1813 while the issue is still in doubt?
 
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