Someone stopped france from taking the Rhine? Why on earth? The Ruhr Crisis demonstrated germany had no intention of honoring Versailles even before Hitler took power, and without the eastern flank secure, France would struggle to win the war
Them not having Rhenanie as a department is easily doable, since that wasn't confirmed until 1953 and a Second War to have it official, and even then you had Volkisch terrorists until the 1980s. Also required a lot of population movements that are controversial to this day. Until the War, it was entirely possible for the Rhineland to be created as it's own state like Austria and Bavaria were.
My big question is how on earth do they not have Algeria on this map? It's a key part of the Metropole, and had been since the 19th century. Also rather interesting that Pondicherry isn't a territory like French Guyana; I could see them losing it, but the Referendum to stay in the Union was pretty firmly pro; it's often seen as France's Hong Kong for a reason. I can understand Kouang-Tchéou-Wan though not being a territory, since after the failure to develop it into its own thriving port, France did consider selling it back, only keeping it when Indochine collapsed.
My big question is how on earth do they not have Algeria on this map? It's a key part of the Metropole, and had been since the 19th century. Also rather interesting that Pondicherry isn't a territory like French Guyana; I could see them losing it, but the Referendum to stay in the Union was pretty firmly pro; it's often seen as France's Hong Kong for a reason. I can understand Kouang-Tchéou-Wan though not being a territory, since after the failure to develop it into its own thriving port, France did consider selling it back, only keeping it when Indochine collapsed.
Honestly the Rhine was easily the biggest thing to me since it effectively nueters French power. Even with the terrorists, it was wealthy and a huge boon to the 3rd Republic- not to mention that it helped france resist the Blitzkrieg more than a lot of other nations. Without it in Paris's hands, it gives Germany a decent advantage industrially, and they might be able to produce enough that they can over run the gaps in the Ardense. No Rhine and the war could drag on, greatly depleting france and britain. We could see the total collapse of the French (and plausibly British- they were sidelined with the growing independence of the dominions and especially india) empires. Otl Cambodia willingly became a Consituant Republic after it became clear indochina was just "Big Vietnam." At least as a CR they have autonomy and more or less native rule- only Foreign Policy, Military, and Overseas Policy are operated from Paris. And Overseas Policy still includes the Constituent Republics since it's when France goes "Hey, we want this thing incorporated all over, thoughts?"
Maybe Algieria joined the West African CR ttl?
Edit: I bring this up since the CRs aren't France Proper and they have more autonomy than other Overseas parts of the Grand Republic
OOC: I really can't see this part make any sense given that this requires everything to happen exactly as OTL despite the very obvious crippling preventing something like this from feasibly happening.
IC: Uh... are you sure you're not thinking of the Deluge? Because the main instigator of the Second Great War was the Soviet Union, who triggered it after Japan provoked them into believing the UK was backing them over Karafuto and wanting to strike first. It's true Strasserist Germany committed some of the nastiest war crimes, but they were still a secondary foe, much like Togliatti's Italy was.
Eh,the CRs are more like the British Dominions at this point. They share the same legal systems, but barring their interdependent economies are basically free nations. That they still have the French President as their ceremonial head of state is basically moot, given that it's purely ceremonial. Heck, Laos, Morrocco, and Tunisia did away with that (mainly to put their royalty in that spot) and are still technically counted as a CR.
What you're talking about is closer to Portugal's Plurocontinentalismo with their African and Asian Holdings.
That's the most likely outcome IMO, since full independence just wouldn't be realistic without a complete collapse and a series of stupid decisions. Biggest one being no Franchise Expansion of 1925, which redefined voting rights and definitions; basically, you spoke French fluently, you were French. Widened up the Franchise a lot in Algeria and Dakar, even if the latter eventually became a CR in the '70s.
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Did somebody keep France from annexing the Rhenanie after WWI?
It's weirder that Belgium seems to have gotten a little sliver of the Rhenanie too.
No Rhenanie means no Rhenish migration to Algeria and the Polish wave which followed, so perhaps that explains why France doesn't have Algeria.
There's no Aosta, Occitan Valleys, or Elba as part of France either it seems.
Metropolitan France's population here is probably ~70m, as opposed to OTL's ~130m.
It's weirder that Belgium seems to have gotten a little sliver of the Rhenanie too.
No Rhenanie means no Rhenish migration to Algeria and the Polish wave which followed, so perhaps that explains why France doesn't have Algeria.
There's no Aosta, Occitan Valleys, or Elba as part of France either it seems.
Metropolitan France's population here is probably ~70m, as opposed to OTL's ~130m.
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Yeah i was thinking of Deluge. But the CRs do use the Franc, and have very similar constitutions- I'd say they're closer to the US's incorporated territories. More autonomy than the actual departments but still basically France
How is Belgium even a thing here? In otl it collapsed because of tensions between the Flemish and Walloons. The Netherlands and France partitioned it.
only happened in 96, entirely possible that after being liberated during ww2 a 'Belgian' identity emerged
If I had to guess the reason, maybe the UK was more reconcilliatory and that's why it wasn't occupied? I don't know why that would be the case, but it's the only thing I could think of. The only other option is somehow another major like the US or Brazil steps in, but I can't see that. The US was and remained pretty isolationist until the Second World War, and Brazil was too busy recovering from the Rubber Crash.
Haha oh wow, I just realized Belgium still exists in this map. I guess the 1995 Collapse didn't happen. Maybe they avoided the catastrophe that was Charles I, the Year of No Ministry, and the Decade long hyperinflation period they had. Seriously, there's a reason why aid efforts had to be made to what was once one of the most industrialized states in Europe.
The flood of Rhenish immigrants throughout the war was definitely one of the big reasons the Algerian Independence movement has a lot less steam now too. It's also why German is still a common language to hear in some suburbs of Constantine and Oran, as well as in quite a few rural areas. I can definitely see the population being halved though, maybe even lower if there was still a Second Great War.
And if you said that to a Cambodian, Senegalais, or Laotian, they'd disagree with that point of view. Much like how a Canadian or an Irish person would disagree if you said the same thing regarding the UK. As for the Franc, other nations use it too; Albania and Zaire both use the Franc too. The only difference is that due to being in the same market, the CR Francs are pegged exactly where the French Franc is.
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I'm not sure if the absence of Rhenish and Polish immigrants would contribute much to an independent Algeria. Algeria OTL is still a vastly Muslim majority place (and the Jews vote in lockstep with the Muslims anyways) so there's already a strong sense of Frenchness (if not mono-linguistically) in that place.
True, the Franchise Expansion helped more with sucking the oxygen out of the room in the long run, since it loosened the definition of Frenchness and gave out more rights to the native Berber and Arab peoples. If you spoke French with good fluency, you were French. It's why serious efforts to try and go independent didn't work.
The flood of Rhenish and Polish immigrants however also helped because they are why French slowly became the most commonly spoken language, with Tamazight, Maghrebi Arabic, and Tuareg languages remaining protected languages.
Yet they have Normandy... how exactly did that slip out of British hands ?
No UK of Great Britain, Normandy and Ireland ???
No UK of Great Britain, Normandy and Ireland ???
Normandy was only officially annexed in 2008. Before that it was disputed and riddled with rebels and terrorists on both sides. So in a situation where France is less devoted to the overseas areas and Germany I could see French Normans remaining there and thus it remains french
Algerian activists's success also helped push to make Breton and Occitan protected languages as well, IIRC.