France annexes Belgium in 1748

No, I think if the entire Austrian Netherlands couldn't be taken then the French would take some parts of the ANL (Ypres, Tournai, Courtrai, Mons and parts of the county of Hainault, or maybe that entire county). It would anger the others much less to see most of the ANL remain Austrian and would be much easier to defend and incorporate into France. That's actually more similar to the way they slowly took parts of the Low Countries, bit by bit, rather than the entire region at once.
But you reach a point where the Austrian prefer to keep Italy than hold on territories they clearly can´t protect.
 
A kind of diplomatic musical chairs can always happen a la Lorraine-Tuscany. The infant Philip gets the Austrian Netherlands with the title of Duke of Brabant, under the umbrella of the "big cousin". In exchange, the Austrians put one of their own arch-dukes in Parma (not a direct domain of Maria Teresa). If we are in a big french win, he can have Parma and an other junior french prince (Condé, I think) would get the ANL. This is fig-leaf for french dominance, but it allows for more flexible talks in 1748.
 
No, I think if the entire Austrian Netherlands couldn't be taken then the French would take some parts of the ANL (Ypres, Tournai, Courtrai, Mons and parts of the county of Hainault, or maybe that entire county). It would anger the others much less to see most of the ANL remain Austrian and would be much easier to defend and incorporate into France. That's actually more similar to the way they slowly took parts of the Low Countries, bit by bit, rather than the entire region at once.

What the Brits cared about was that the line of "Barrier" fortresses was out of French hands, because once the French have those, they can easily run over the rest of the low countries at the beginning of a war. You've just given the French most of them:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrier_Treaty
 
Considering Louis XV would annex modern day Belgium and Lorraine, would he still take Corsica too? Maybe he decides that is too much or he would anger the other great pwers and in this way Napoleon and his reign and his wars get butterflied away.
 
Considering Louis XV would annex modern day Belgium and Lorraine, would he still take Corsica too? Maybe he decides that is too much or he would anger the other great pwers and in this way Napoleon and his reign and his wars get butterflied away.
It's merely a purchase. I think as long as France can, it would remain done.
Did Britain object to the purchase IOTL ?
 
It's merely a purchase. I think as long as France can, it would remain done.
Did Britain object to the purchase IOTL ?
Yes, it did, but couldn't do anything about it. Tells you about how easy it could have taken Belgium and the UK could not drive them out even if they could land an army there.
 
I wonder if a marriage would not sweeten the deal for Austria. They can't really defend the region especially if they have to fight Prussia at the same time.
 
She is not born yet by 1748, and with the butterfly might never exist.
I don't see what butterflies can stop Habsburgs from having children. Anyway Austria was more concerned about losing Silesia than about keeping the Austrian Netherlands. Neither Austria, nor Britain could drive the French out of AN and they probably would not even try. The Dutch would probably be scared into either neutrality or an alliance with France.
 
If its of any relevance France was the world's third largest producer of crude steel in 1929, making 11.7 million short tons. Adding the OTL production of Belgium and Luxembourg increases that to 18.4 million short tons, putting her into second place because Germany produced 16.0 million short tons.

In the same year France produced 55 million tons of coal, but Belgium produced 30 million tons. French iron ore production in 1929 was 49.9 million short tons and Luxembourg produced 7.5 million short tons.

Luxembourg didn't produce any coal and Belgium didn't produce any iron ore according to the source I used, which were the Encyclopaedia Britannica Books of the Year.
 
For what it's worth, according to my sources (which go up to 1977) the peak year for crude steel production for all 3 countries was 1974 when they produced a grand total of 49,700,000 metric tons of steel. Of which Belgium produced 16,230,000 metric tons, France 27,020,000 metric tons and Luxembourg 6,450,000 metric tons.

However, Greater France was still beaten by West Germany, which produced 53,230,000 metric tons of crude steel in 1974.
 
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I haven't read the thread so I don't know if it has already been discussed.

AFAIK there wasn't a major war in Continental Europe between the War of the Austrian Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. I'm not counting the American War of Independence. AFAIK what became Belgium was conquered by Revolutionary France and integrated into the French State. Again, AFAIK the Southern Netherlanders were perfectly happy with this and would have preferred to remain part of France instead of being incorporated into the new Kingdom of the United Netherlands.

IOTL it seems to me that having the future Belgium and Luxembourg as part of France for years didn't help them win the Napoleonic Wars IOTL so it won't ITTL. But will they still be lumped together with the United Provinces to create the United Netherlands. Or will being part of France for about 65 years instead of 20 years be long enough for France to keep them in 1815?
 
I haven't read the thread so I don't know if it has already been discussed.

AFAIK there wasn't a major war in Continental Europe between the War of the Austrian Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. I'm not counting the American War of Independence. AFAIK what became Belgium was conquered by Revolutionary France and integrated into the French State. Again, AFAIK the Southern Netherlanders were perfectly happy with this and would have preferred to remain part of France instead of being incorporated into the new Kingdom of the United Netherlands.

IOTL it seems to me that having the future Belgium and Luxembourg as part of France for years didn't help them win the Napoleonic Wars IOTL so it won't ITTL. But will they still be lumped together with the United Provinces to create the United Netherlands. Or will being part of France for about 65 years instead of 20 years be long enough for France to keep them in 1815?
There might not be a Revolution in the first place since the French will be satisfied with owning Belgium, thus decreasing the impopularity of the monarchy for a while.
And a stronger, richer France could repay its debts more easily. Which means no big 1789 crisis.
 
On the subject of the American Revolutionary War I've heard that the debt the French Government accumulated fighting the British in that conflict was a major cause of the French Revolution.

If that is true does having the Southern Netherlands prevent that? The same debt is supported by a bigger economy.
 
There might not be a Revolution in the first place since the French will be satisfied with owning Belgium, thus decreasing the impopularity of the monarchy for a while.
And a stronger, richer France could repay its debts more easily. Which means no big 1789 crisis.
That pre-empted the post I was writing. See above.
 
I haven't read the thread so I don't know if it has already been discussed.

AFAIK there wasn't a major war in Continental Europe between the War of the Austrian Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. I'm not counting the American War of Independence. AFAIK what became Belgium was conquered by Revolutionary France and integrated into the French State. Again, AFAIK the Southern Netherlanders were perfectly happy with this and would have preferred to remain part of France instead of being incorporated into the new Kingdom of the United Netherlands.

IOTL it seems to me that having the future Belgium and Luxembourg as part of France for years didn't help them win the Napoleonic Wars IOTL so it won't ITTL. But will they still be lumped together with the United Provinces to create the United Netherlands. Or will being part of France for about 65 years instead of 20 years be long enough for France to keep them in 1815?

We can discuss if the Revolution would happen ITTL... But if it does, and Napoléon takes over and so, the Congress of Vienna in 1815 (not 1814) decided to push France back to its 1789 limits, so if the southern Netherlands are part of the Ancien régime Kingdom, no reason to rip them from Louis' (which one ?) domains.
 
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