Deleted member 67076
How could France obtain and keep a border at the Rhine until the modern day? What effects would this have on the country's development? What about internationally?
One thing is for certain: if France has a Rhine border, it will have much more industrial capability. Thus, it would probably become the superior industrial nation on the European continent, even in the face of a united Germany sans the Rhineland, which would at most be on par with France. Of course, though, I doubt a France with the Rhineland would ever allow a united Germany...
How could France obtain and keep a border at the Rhine until the modern day? What effects would this have on the country's development? What about internationally?
Now if you consider the effects of France reaching this Rhine border in a monarchic dynastic regime, it will rather cool it down than increase its appetite.
It Will change nothing to France's demographic slowdown.
And if you go in the industrial age, it will just give France the heavy industry capacities that it missed so much to balance Germany. The problem of Europe is that the treaty of Vienna had given too much industrial power into Germany's borders, and especially to Prussia. Which it could know sincère there had been no industrial take-off at that time except in Britain.
Unless some marriage arrangement between future Louis XII and Mary of Burgundy has France get the Valois Low Countries, the earliest France could decently home to reach the Rhine border would be late 17th century.
At the Congress of Vienna, with no 100 days, France keeps the Rhine border and Belgium.
At the Congress of Vienna, with no 100 days, France keeps the Rhine border and Belgium.
Why exactly will gaining the Rhine suddenly make France's monarchy non-expansionary?
What were the causes of France's demographic slowdown? Was it truly inevitable?
And I'm a little unclear what the framers of the Congress of Vienna were supposed to do to prevent "too much industrial power" going to the disunited German polities (where that potential was already located): scorch the earth to devastate German potential? arbitrarily give huge chunks of German territories to France (whose power had already been a crucial problem for European peace)? give Austria territories it couldn't hold? punish the German polities financially to prevent future growth? disembowel the Prussia which had contributed in the war against Napoleon? What would you recommend?