AH Challenge: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's ruse

I'll let wikipedia explain:

"Von Boyneburg did much to promote Leibniz's reputation, and the latter's memoranda and letters began to attract favorable notice. Leibniz's service to the Elector soon followed a diplomatic role. He published an essay, under the pseudonym of a fictitious Polish nobleman, arguing (unsuccessfully) for the German candidate for the Polish crown. The main force in European geopolitics during Leibniz's adult life was the ambition of Louis XIV of France, backed by French military and economic might. Meanwhile, the Thirty Years' War had left German-speaking Europe exhausted, fragmented, and economically backward. Leibniz proposed to protect German-speaking Europe by distracting Louis as follows. France would be invited to take Egypt as a stepping stone towards an eventual conquest of the Dutch East Indies. In return, France would agree to leave Germany and the Netherlands undisturbed. This plan obtained the Elector's cautious support. In 1672, the French government invited Leibniz to Paris for discussion,[22] but the plan was soon overtaken by the outbreak of the Franco-Dutch War and became irrelevant. Napoleon's failed invasion of Egypt in 1798 can be seen as an unwitting, late implementation of Leibniz's plan, after the Eastern hemisphere colonial supremacy in Europe had already passed from the Dutch to the British."

My challenge to all you alternate historians is to postulate a world in which this ruse convinces France to invade Egypt instead of attacking the Dutch and creates a world significantly affected by this attempted invasion. And...BEGIN!
 
Jeez, this calls for RESEARCH!

I know nothing about how Mameluke Egypt is at this time

BUT is it not the same time period when the Ottomans reached the gates of Vienna? That would at least imply they could with a good leader go the other way and defend Egypt

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
Well, no one says it has to go well for the French. Though if the Ottomans turn south to save Egypt I'd expect the Germans to take advantage of the situation to retake their lands and perhaps start an invasion of their own.
 

Hnau

Banned
BUT is it not the same time period when the Ottomans reached the gates of Vienna? That would at least imply they could with a good leader go the other way and defend Egypt

Well, doesn't the Ottoman defeat at Vienna in 1683 actually show that a French attack on Egypt could actually succeed? That would be more European pressure on the Porte at the same time... if anything it would accelerate their decline.
 
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