I wonder if Wessex might have ended up weaker.
The Saxons were always a fractious lot between the various tribes and allegiances (even in the confederation period the posters above reminded me of), and it's only in the last two centuries that the West-Saxons managed to unite them all (and of course, the Frisian and Alemannic kingdoms too), but their base along the Rhenus has always been a result of crushing the Franks. If the Germanic tribes are split between the Rhenian Franks and Elbian Saxons, it's anyone's guess if either of them could (or even would want to) crush the others as Wessex did during the 12 weeks war. After all the Scanians and Swedes are as close kin as the Franks and Saxons, and they would never work as a single kingdom. And Wessex never bothered to even want Bavaria, only the actual Rhenus, Weser and Elbe kingdoms that the Saxons took after the fall of the Franks.
The Saxons were always a fractious lot between the various tribes and allegiances (even in the confederation period the posters above reminded me of), and it's only in the last two centuries that the West-Saxons managed to unite them all (and of course, the Frisian and Alemannic kingdoms too), but their base along the Rhenus has always been a result of crushing the Franks. If the Germanic tribes are split between the Rhenian Franks and Elbian Saxons, it's anyone's guess if either of them could (or even would want to) crush the others as Wessex did during the 12 weeks war. After all the Scanians and Swedes are as close kin as the Franks and Saxons, and they would never work as a single kingdom. And Wessex never bothered to even want Bavaria, only the actual Rhenus, Weser and Elbe kingdoms that the Saxons took after the fall of the Franks.