France cedes Alsace-Lorraine in 1814

Giving it to another nation is probably out of question - the Prussians have interests elsewhere, the Southern German states can actually be happy if they keep what they have, after all they grew tremendously under Napoleon.

Austria could be an interesting idea, as it guarantees that both Austria and Prussia directly border France and thus are more likely to oppose a future French expansion. After all, the purpose of the Congress of Vienna was to establish a new balance of power and for that, one had to curtain France. Adding Austria to that could be sensible - but I doubt that the Austrians would have any interest in that.

So independent Alsace is the most likely solution to get it away from France. There's enough dynasties around which could get it, and there's plenty of possible PODs that allow for even more families to loose thier lands - say Murat stays away from Napoleon and keeps the Sicilies, you'd need to reshuffle Italy, probably leaving the odd Hapsburg or Bourbon sideline without lands.

As already stated above, Napoleon being more successful in his 100 days points out that France is still a threat and likely implies a harsher peace, maybe loosing parts of French Flandres, Alsace, Corsica, something of those. Even after loosing all of those, France due to its high population would still be a great power.
 
But Austria would have trouble to defend Alsace-Lorraine especially if they get into a war with Prussia or Russia latter. And giving it independence would not be viable for the same reason, who would garantee it? Britain would not be able to send troups there to save it(no port).
Austria would not be able to defend it and having a large garrison there would cost a bone to anyone. After the Napoleonic war everyone is broke.
 
But Austria would have trouble to defend Alsace-Lorraine especially if they get into a war with Prussia or Russia latter. And giving it independence would not be viable for the same reason, who would garantee it? Britain would not be able to send troups there to save it(no port).
Austria would not be able to defend it and having a large garrison there would cost a bone to anyone. After the Napoleonic war everyone is broke.

This is why I said Austria would probably have no interest in that.

Considering who defends it: the same arguments holds for Luxemburg later, and for Switzerland right at the time. My guess is however that if they decide for independence, then the new state would become part of the German confederation and be guaranteed by that - for whatever that's worth...

Considering garrison costs you should also remember that this actually happened IOTL, three several fortresses were designated for the German confederation and manned not exclusively by local troops and more were planned. If that was deemed sufficient as defense against France, it's not that unrealistic that, say, Hagueanau and Muhlhouse or nearby towns become fortresses instead of others and be manned also by Austrian troops. In fact wouldn't it be better to have fortresses ready on the French side of the Rhine, with the Rhine itself as a second line of defense to delay the French until other troops arrive?
 
I'd think the most likely situation would be that it would be given as a Grand Duchy to Emperor Francis's brother Ferdinand, the erstwhile Grand Duke of Tuscany, Salzburg, and Würzburg, in succession.

The House of Lorraine had, after all, traded its birthright for Tuscany, so why not trade it back? Tuscany could go to the House of Bourbon-Parma, which had been kicked out of Parma so it could be given to Napoleon's wife, which had briefly ruled it earlier in the decade, and who arguably had the best genealogical claim to be heirs to the Medici.

I'd think this new middle state would be part of the German Confederation, and probably within the Austrian orbit. The Austrians had a long-standing interest in the Upper Rhine, at any rate, so it's not totally implausible.
 
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