The Treaty of Paris which wrapped up the Seven Years' War was something of a mixed bag with the participants swapping territory or letting it revert status quo ante bellum. Whilst Britain gained a fair amount of territory there were still those who decried the return of captured territory and called it a missed opportunity, the French certainly only considered it a pause to re-arm. By unfortunate luck, for the British at least, the negotiations for the treaty started before the successful conclusion to siege of Cassel was known and concluded before news of the fall of Manila reached Europe.
So I was wondering how much else could Britain have reasonably have gotten away with demanding? I was thinking of two scenarios - the first where the war continues for say an extra six months, so that the capture of Cassel firmly locks France out Germany and Spain learns that they have lost Manila, the second where this occurs but Britain also either never loses Minorca or is able to recapture it.
In the first scenario securing Cassel doesn't put that greater extra pressure on France except in as much underline that there's not really any advantage to continuing the war so that's probably not much change, for Spain however Manila is a much greater loss - what can they trade for it? One, possibly excessive, idea I had for it was if the British had got wind of the Treaty of Fontainebleau transferring Louisiana to Spain they could offer to swap Manila for Louisiana west of the Mississippi as demarcated by the River's drainage basin. In the second scenario not having Minorca under French control negates their main bargaining chip other than the trading posts in Sumatra, do the British perhaps keep an extra territory like St. Lucia or similar to compensate?
So I was wondering how much else could Britain have reasonably have gotten away with demanding? I was thinking of two scenarios - the first where the war continues for say an extra six months, so that the capture of Cassel firmly locks France out Germany and Spain learns that they have lost Manila, the second where this occurs but Britain also either never loses Minorca or is able to recapture it.
In the first scenario securing Cassel doesn't put that greater extra pressure on France except in as much underline that there's not really any advantage to continuing the war so that's probably not much change, for Spain however Manila is a much greater loss - what can they trade for it? One, possibly excessive, idea I had for it was if the British had got wind of the Treaty of Fontainebleau transferring Louisiana to Spain they could offer to swap Manila for Louisiana west of the Mississippi as demarcated by the River's drainage basin. In the second scenario not having Minorca under French control negates their main bargaining chip other than the trading posts in Sumatra, do the British perhaps keep an extra territory like St. Lucia or similar to compensate?