alternatehistory.com

One of the greater mysteries of the 19th century is the stance of France during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. Despite the obvious threat which a victorious Prussia would pose to France, the government of Napoleon III failed to ally itself with Austria against Prussia. Many reasons have been cited for this...Napoleon III's Carbonari past, for example, and the fact that France was in the process of disengaging from it's failed Mexican adventure when the war broke out. Personally, I think the latter explanation is more likely than the former.

But what if Napoleon III had pulled out of Mexico a year earlier, and threw the military weight of France behind Austria in 1866? Would Prussia have been beaten? Or would the Prussia War Machine have simply handed Napoleon III his Waterloo (or should we say, his Sedan) four years earlier? What would be the consequences of either outcome?
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