France annexes Belgium in 1748

How would this bigger and richer France change European and world history?
They might try to keep up the Reunion Wars (had those started yet?) until they reached and fortified the Rhine. Also might once more try for influence in Italy. They gave up their claims to Milan and Parma centuries before (From a difference branch of the Capets, so they might not even have a claim), but I imagine they would still want to get pro-Bourbon republics and relatives in charge their. Maybe move into Piedmont if they want to make themselves look even bigger on the map. It all really depens on whether dynastic, domestic, or territorial expansionist policies are consistent over the centuries to follow. And I see them having an eternal alliance against them by the Spaniards, English, Dutch, and Austrians. Maybe not too big a change there, though.
 
They might try to keep up the Reunion Wars (had those started yet?) until they reached and fortified the Rhine. Also might once more try for influence in Italy. They gave up their claims to Milan and Parma centuries before (From a difference branch of the Capets, so they might not even have a claim), but I imagine they would still want to get pro-Bourbon republics and relatives in charge their. Maybe move into Piedmont if they want to make themselves look even bigger on the map. It all really depens on whether dynastic, domestic, or territorial expansionist policies are consistent over the centuries to follow. And I see them having an eternal alliance against them by the Spaniards, English, Dutch, and Austrians. Maybe not too big a change there, though.

The Reunion Wars were in the 1680s under Louis XIV.

Don't know if Spain would ally against France here as it would mean an end to the Bourbon family compact. Austria, perhaps, but they never particularly liked ruling Belgium in the first place. England and the Netherlands, probably.
 
Would Louis XV still annex Corsica too or arbitrate to transfer it to Sardinia or some other Italian state? And if the Flemish provinces end up in France, would the Flemings integrate and assimilate gradually or will they form a strong nationalist movement and resist frenchification? What would the French borders look like in the north? Would France had annexed Zeelandic Flanders and Maastricht too, since they did occupy some Dutch land too?
 
Would Louis XV still annex Corsica too or arbitrate to transfer it to Sardinia or some other Italian state? And if the Flemish provinces end up in France, would the Flemings integrate and assimilate gradually or will they form a strong nationalist movement and resist frenchification? What would the French borders look like in the north? Would France had annexed Zeelandic Flanders and Maastricht too, since they did occupy some Dutch land too?

France has assimilated quite many culturally flaemish people that lived in its present borders. It has assimilated many other people whose original language was not french. So no doubt it would with the people who became belgians.
 
What if at the Treaty of Aix-la-chapelle of 1748, France who did occupy the whole of the Austrian Netherlands, decides or the king decides to annex them? Since the middle ages this was one of the richest regions in Europe and it was a long term policy of France to annex it. King Louis XV, out of misplaced pride, decided to not annex and say that "he is a king, not a merchant". What if he was less of a retard and got better advice and listened to it? How would French and European history evolve from this decision of enlarging France?

He had to give it back to get New France (occupied by British) back! Unless you give him money to buy it back and take the Austrian Netherlands, your POD would have to be during the war.
 
He had to give it back to get New France (occupied by British) back! Unless you give him money to buy it back and take the Austrian Netherlands, your POD would have to be during the war.

New France was not occupied. Just Louisbourg. And since Madras was occupied by the french, the ANL were not the point.
 
Would Austria sell some off the Belgium provinces les say to the netherlands and maybe some other germanic kingdoms? But throw in a promise to protect said nations if they get attacked by France?
 
Butterfly effect : the Franco-Prussian would not take place ITTL.

Not sure. This ATL France may still go through a 1789-1794 like revolution, a napoleonic empire that finally falls, and attempts to gain territory in Rhineland in exchange for accepting the creation of a Prussia-led german federation. And Bismarck may still use this to infuriate the "Gallic bull" in order to have the war that will stick the german States together if Prussia estimates as OTL that it has high prospects of defeating France.
 
Not sure. This ATL France may still go through a 1789-1794 like revolution, a napoleonic empire that finally falls, and attempts to gain territory in Rhineland in exchange for accepting the creation of a Prussia-led german federation. And Bismarck may still use this to infuriate the "Gallic bull" in order to have the war that will stick the german States together if Prussia estimates as OTL that it has high prospects of defeating France.
But at that point it would be almost impossible to estimate anything, you have so many variables at play here that it could go really either way with both a crushing defeat for Germany or France being possible outcomes depending on how the economy or internal politics play out.
 
He had to give it back to get New France (occupied by British) back! Unless you give him money to buy it back and take the Austrian Netherlands, your POD would have to be during the war.
New France didn’t worth shit to the French ruling class anyway.They always viewed it with disdain,seeing it as an unprofitable colony.
 
New France didn’t worth shit to the French ruling class anyway.They always viewed it with disdain,seeing it as an unprofitable colony.

That's simply not true. Louisbourg was a valuable strategic fortress and protected French North Atlantic fisheries. Working those fisheries maintained a substantial amount of sea experience for Frenchmen, and thus kept them competitive in naval wars. One of the reasons the war went on so long is that France wouldn't leave the AN until it got Louisbourg back, while the British public didn't like losing a heroic colonial gain for giving a Catholic ally territory back.
 
Not sure. This ATL France may still go through a 1789-1794 like revolution, a napoleonic empire that finally falls, and attempts to gain territory in Rhineland in exchange for accepting the creation of a Prussia-led german federation. And Bismarck may still use this to infuriate the "Gallic bull" in order to have the war that will stick the german States together if Prussia estimates as OTL that it has high prospects of defeating France.
That is not how the butterfly effect works. Once where is a shift in a TL, unexpected consequences grow exponentially. In our case, things are quite simple : Corsica was under attack by the Austrians, British and Savoy at the time of the 1748 peace. A TL where France kept the ANL at the price of its influence in Italy is a TL where Corsica never became french. So, there may be a Napoleone di Buonaparte cardinal archbishop of Pisa in 1811, but never an emperor Napoléon. The man will never exist.
 
That is not how the butterfly effect works. Once where is a shift in a TL, unexpected consequences grow exponentially. In our case, things are quite simple : Corsica was under attack by the Austrians, British and Savoy at the time of the 1748 peace. A TL where France kept the ANL at the price of its influence in Italy is a TL where Corsica never became french. So, there may be a Napoleone di Buonaparte cardinal archbishop of Pisa in 1811, but never an emperor Napoléon. The man will never exist.

It is not how Butterfly Effect works too, but erasing the last and boldened part of the comment could make it a good description of how butterfly works.
 
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