As we all know, the French Republic, put in place after the revolution has remained in place after the French Revolution, has been the single most stable Republic on the European continent, lasting uninterrupted from 1792 (Year 1 in the French calendar) and is still in place today in 2013 (Year 221 in the French calendar). However, other European countries show that a stable republic is a lot harder then the French and The United States make it look. What if France had suffered the same cycle of Revolution and Counter-Revolution that other European nations did in the 19th century?
DBWI: A less stable post-Revolutionary France?
- Thread starter ArKhan
- Start date
Obviously, a less powerful France. Even with instability they're in a position to remain a world power, but I really don't see them being able to pull off things such as the Treaty of Algiers (without which we wouldn't have the French Exclave in Algiers, and my family would be homeless
) or the Republics War against Prussia.
Hell, a less successful Republics War could result in the Prussians actually succeeding in uniting Germany-and a united Germany would probably hand this unstable France's ass to it in war, unless the French managed to get some good allies to bail them out.
) or the Republics War against Prussia. Hell, a less successful Republics War could result in the Prussians actually succeeding in uniting Germany-and a united Germany would probably hand this unstable France's ass to it in war, unless the French managed to get some good allies to bail them out.
So a Monoarchist unification of Germany rather than the later Republican unification of OTL?Obviously, a less powerful France. Even with instability they're in a position to remain a world power, but I really don't see them being able to pull off things such as the Treaty of Algiers (without which we wouldn't have the French Exclave in Algiers, and my family would be homeless
Hell, a less successful Republics War could result in the Prussians actually succeeding in uniting Germany-and a united Germany would probably hand this unstable France's ass to it in war, unless the French managed to get some good allies to bail them out.
That's probably the most likely way, though depending on the butterflies a military dictatorship might end up doing it. A militaristic, more centralized Germany would definitely be more of a problem for France than the Republican unifications (I assume you're talking about the first time) or a Germany which is militaristic but in a state of civil war like the inter-Republic period.
Funny thought-an unstable France might end up uniting Germany against it if it got taken over by a military dictator who tries something as crazy as conquering Germany!
What does France have to gain from trying to conquer Germany? I could see maybe them invading some of the border states, but the whole thing? I can't see that before unification, let alone after!
That's the sort of crazy thing military dictatorships do, though. Take the German inter-Republic period I just mentioned. As we all know, the breakaway Danzig Republic was reconquered by the Second German Republic during reunification-because it's army was busy on the eastern front in their insane attempt to conquer Poland! If the Danzigers or any Germans would be crazy enough to try to conquer large chunks of Eastern Europe, a French dictator could be crazy enough to try to conquer Germany.
Looking at the experience of the other republics in Europe, the periods of instability and anarchy will be punctuated by times going in the opposite direction, where a strongman takes total control of the country and is able to direct it in less than rational directions.
Yeah that just doesn't fit the French mentality at all, and any continent wide invasion by France would receive opposition wider than that of the War of Spanish Succession. But France does have the manpower to attempt such an invasion.
France would have to be taken over by a foreign general in the name of the Revolution or something. Maybe an exiled Haitian slaveowner? Or some minor noble from Corsica? I think Corsica was owned by France back then, before Sardinia-Piedmont took it.
Now that I think of it, France loosing the Sardinian War far worse than it did in OTL might be a good starting point. If the Sardinians had been successful in their amphibious assault of the French Mediterranean coast, then they could have pushed onto Paris, overthrew the Republic and set up a puppet King.
One thing for sure a less stable France is easy to pull off. Outside the US and Switzerland is any republic as old as France?
Well Europe would be far more conservative for sure. If the French Republic fails the populist reforms that helped even out the excesses of the Industrial Revolution would never reach across the Atlantic ocean. I can't see the Roosevelt/Loubet alliance would likely never happen.
The scary things is that a less stable France would likely result in a less stable Europe and could result in war on a different scale then we saw in OTL.
The scary things is that a less stable France would likely result in a less stable Europe and could result in war on a different scale then we saw in OTL.
Stolengood
Banned
Imagine a France without Hoche! Who could possibly fill the great man's gap... without descending into rule by fiat?