France 1914

Sorry this is may be in the wrong place, i thought that because the origin point was pre 1900 it should go here, the subject however is post 1900.
I'll start this again in post 1900 and abandon this.

If Prussia had not annexed Alsace Lorraine in 1871, what other issue could the establishment have used to fire and bind French national consciousness in the way that recovering AL was used in WW1.
Was there anything that could be used as such and does this allow for a negotiated peace in 1916.
 
Last edited:
If Germany hadn't annexed Alsace-Lorraine, there is no guarantee the two would have still been enemies 40 years later. The French people may have simply gone on to view the Franco-Prussian War as a foolish endeavor by Napoleon III, instead of the national catastrophe that it became. I think it's conceivable that, in a scenario in which Germany is a gracious victor in 1871 and annexes no territory, the two could have resolved their differences and even gone on to become allies against France's "hereditary enemy," Britain.
 
This would certainly help relations but even so, they had plenty of reason to distrust the Germans thanks to Kaiser Wilhelm's aggressiveness. I think the Moroccan crisis in particular contributed to the dangerous levels of tension. In other words, it was a two way street.

Had Germany not taken Alsace Lorraine and had even a slightly more liberal Kaiser, the two countries could potentially have avoided war much longer and might have avoided it altogether. The best case scenario I suppose would be a gradual easing up of the complex and dangerous alliances in favor of some sort of stability. Even before the war the volatility of those complex alliances and grand imperial schemes was pretty clear.
 
Last edited:
If Germany hadn't annexed Alsace-Lorraine, there is no guarantee the two would have still been enemies 40 years later. The French people may have simply gone on to view the Franco-Prussian War as a foolish endeavor by Napoleon III, instead of the national catastrophe that it became. I think it's conceivable that, in a scenario in which Germany is a gracious victor in 1871 and annexes no territory, the two could have resolved their differences and even gone on to become allies against France's "hereditary enemy," Britain.
I disagree Germany would still be seen as a mortal threat at their border. The Franco-Prussian war was still an humiliation. I don't see their relation be any warmer.
 
I disagree Germany would still be seen as a mortal threat at their border. The Franco-Prussian war was still an humiliation. I don't see their relation be any warmer.
A country with the sort of military tradition that France has will not easily forget such a humiliation - they had to pay reparations after all. To say that relations would not be improved at all however is a bit of a stretch. Alsace Lorraine was seen as an especially grave and intolerable term of the war.

Another thing to consider is that the war was very destructive and fighting Germany once more, though it might feel good, would clearly be seen as a nearly suicidal risk. If Germany did not initiate a conflict, never mind if it displayed some degree of amiability, France would almost certainly fight alone once again.

Again, everything depends just as much on how Germany behaves towards France as vice-versa.
 
Top