Britain takes the whole of New France after the Seven Years' War

raharris1973

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IDK, if the French didn't try and get Quebec back IOTL, is there any reason they'd try and get Louisiana ITTL?

It is closer to their Caribbean possessions than Quebec is and can help feed them. Basically if they get the same idea that Napoleon and Talleyrand later had

France didn't want Louisiana back at that time. Until Napoléon took over it was not a concern for the government (and he lost interest in it pretty soon, too).

Napoleon's interest was part of a concept that saw Louisiana as a complement to Saint-Domingue/Haiti, Guadalupe and Martinique. Basically Louisiana would be a bread basket (and pork & beef basket?) for Caribbean plantations. I don't know why an earlier French government could not come up with a similar plan.
 
It'd require a longer war, Spain was only willing to swallow losing Florida because it was compensated with French territory.
 

raharris1973

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It'd require a longer war, Spain was only willing to swallow losing Florida because it was compensated with French territory.

Well the OP did not specify. Maybe the Spanish retain rather than lose Florida here? Maybe any British campaigns against Florida are rather desultory, but the British do launch a winning expedition against New Orleans during the course of the war (likely sometime between the fall of Quebec and Spanish entry into the war a little over two years later)

Also, in OTL the main motive to yield Florida was to get the British to quit Cuba
 

raharris1973

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Of course during OTL's 7 Years War, Britain had alot of campaigns to run in alot of places, but would there have been anything prohibitive about them doing a campaign against New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Biloxi, Mobile in the Gulf of Mexico?

It seems to me that since the British did occupy Havana and Manila, an invasion of the French Gulf coast would have been achievable even if not the most desirable of conquests.

Your thoughts?
 

raharris1973

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Let's say Britain gets the whole of New France -- Louisiana as well as Canada -- after the Seven Years' War. How will this affect the future history of North America? In particular, if the AWI still breaks out, what difference (if any) will a British-controlled Louisiana make to the course and outcome of the war, and what difference will it make subsequently?

Looking at the Canadian/New England theatres of the war, both sides had great difficulty launching invasions from the one country to the other, and New Orleans would be even further away from the rebels than Quebec was.

Regarding the rebellion spreading, I assume the European population of Louisiana was still mostly made up of French-speaking Catholics, who, judging by Quebec's refusal to join the rebellious colonists, probably wouldn't have much interest in trying to secede.

Assuming that the US does take it... The 19th century was basically the pinnacle of British power, and there's no reason to believe the UK would be any weaker ITTL. The US, on the other hand, would be weaker due to being unable to expand westwards.

Come to think of it, a British Louisiana would put the US in a bit of a strategical bind, given that they'd now be surrounded on land by British territory. Would we see the US seeking alliances with foreign powers (Spain, perhaps, as the Spanish Empire bordered on Louisiana) to counterbalance this, or would it take the opposite tack, cultivating good relations with Britain to avoid any conflicts?

To me, this seems to set up a future where Britain tries to contain the U.S. to the east coast while controlling interior America between Canada and New Orleans. The British could aid a wider variety of tribes on a larger scale to oppose the Yanks. It could also use controlled settlement of Loyalist folk to reinforce key points between Canada and New Orleans.

The young U.S., surrounded on all sides, will likely be more militarized than OTL's. Presuming there are French Revolutionary and then Napoleonic Wars, I would assume the US would be involved in several of them on France's side. By 1815 this will have proved to be quite a bit of a drain on both sides.

The interesting thing is that a U.S. under these conditions should most logically gravitate towards Federalist-style domestic program of tariffs, industrial policy, national banking, internal improvements and a larger military, but it would also tend to drive the U.S. toward a Republican-style anti-British and pro-French foreign policy.
 
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