France wins the Franco-Prussian War?

I don't know very much about this war, however I have read before that the French and Prussian forces were comparable(I plan on getting a book on it soon). What if(And someone tell me if it would take ASBs to make it work) France successfully invades Prussia/the German states and forces a favorable peace?

Could France have forced a favorable peace on Prussia? What exactly were even France's war objectives?
 
I am not enough of a strategist but I can give some ramifications.

The events leading up to the war were very complex but in the end it came down to the Third Napoleon and the Iron Chancellor. The first wanted to maintain France's eroding position as premiere Ciontinental Power, while the second wanted to unite the German States against a common foe.

Any victory for France would likely result in the Empire not beingoverthrown for a while at least. During this time some hasty democratic reforms were made, though your PoD might butterfly those away. Prussia humiliated will not stop a Deutsche Reich from forming, however the South German states may be able to retain their independence, Bavaria in particular comes to mind.
 
Some more macro knock on efects I don't think we've ever discussed.

-You might see less of a shift to the gold standard, with more of the world maintaining bimetallism. Probably a good thing for global economic growth, but perhaps not.

-Likewise, German industrialization is probably slower than OTL...
 
I was just thinking about this the other day. I'd need to dig up a couple reference books for a detailed just the Franco-Prussian War POD but as I recall the French retained the potential for victory, depending on how they used their weapons, starting positions, and manoeuvre during the conflict. However even a victory might still have caused the collapse of the Second French Empire so I'm not wild about a Franco-Prussian POD if you want to make the French the leading continental power.

Frankly victory just means France keeps going. There are a lot of problems with France at this point in time, and the Prussians are going to be really pissed off. I'd wager odds France still falls apart and Germany still comes about—just a few years later.
 
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