French borders question.

I don't think that "assimilating" the Flemings and Rhinelanders will be that much of a problem to be honest, since the centre of gravity of this alternate France will be decisively in the territory of what is today Belgium once the industrial revolution kicks in.

I would even go as far a saying that modern French itself might even gain a lot of Flemish and German words and expressions as a result of the ownership of these territories. This could especially be the case with regards to industry related words and expressions, OTL we already had Houille coming from the Walloon Hoye.

I think that a possible side effect of this "Greater France" would be a relative impoverishment of southern France to a larger degree than was the case OTL. The few coal seams of southern France will pale in comparison to what will be available in Belgium/Rhineland. So we could very well see even less industry developping there compared to OTL.
The differences between northern and southern France might therefore be somewhat more accentuated than OTL, since by virtue of geography and population this Greater France would be far more northern than southern.

Would more industrialisation lead to more population growth? Hard to say but it is quite possible since northern regions were more dynamic demography wise.

The lack of a border between France and Belgium might mean that the Greater Lille area could develop into a "French Manchester", potentially reaching into the 2 or 3 millions inhabitants eventually come the 20th century.
Paris would therefore have an economic rival, with interesting consequences.
 
I think that a possible side effect of this "Greater France" would be a relative impoverishment of southern France to a larger degree than was the case OTL. The few coal seams of southern France will pale in comparison to what will be available in Belgium/Rhineland. So we could very well see even less industry developping there compared to OTL.

That's not a given.

1)You'll still need an industrialisation of the great harbours : Bordeaux, Marseille, Toulon and their countryside.

2)It would be more efficient to use local ore and coal for that, and for devellop the west/east communications. It would be a gain of time and cost, not forgotting that some mines were already working (of course, in a really early stage) in late XVIII (10 000 tons in Carmaux's Mine in 1780 by exemple)

3)The proportion of industries passed Loire and Rhone would certainly be even more important than OTL (something like 85/15 instead of 70/30), but less because of lost of implantation in S/W than N-E potential.

4)In fact, depending of the geopolitical situation in Europe, and if Switzerland economically "surrounded" we could as well see a rebirth of the old medieval tradeways passing by Rhone's basin instead of Switzerlands and making the european metropole following Rhone/Saone/Meuse/Rhine or Rhone/Saone/Rhine. Only in the case of a dominant France of course.

In the case of a non-dominant France in this scenario, the european metropole as we know it would be still butterflied and replaced by minor, divergents ones.

Would more industrialisation lead to more population growth? Hard to say but it is quite possible since northern regions were more dynamic demography wise.
The demographic trend was already lowering in the XVIII, more for social reasons than economical. The actual demographic growth of Rhineland and Belgium could actually be lower than OTL and more following french tendencies.
 
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I don't think that "assimilating" the Flemings and Rhinelanders will be that much of a problem to be honest, since the centre of gravity of this alternate France will be decisively in the territory of what is today Belgium once the industrial revolution kicks in.

I would even go as far a saying that modern French itself might even gain a lot of Flemish and German words and expressions as a result of the ownership of these territories. This could especially be the case with regards to industry related words and expressions, OTL we already had Houille coming from the Walloon Hoye.
Most likely (unfortunately), in Belgium Flemish/Dutch had no legal status for 75 years and it took a full century to get secondary/higher education in Dutch, and that was with a slight Flemish majority*, in a France where they're outnumbered 1/10... I do think that Flemish will survive better than Alsatian f.e., being a heavily populated area.

The lack of a border between France and Belgium might mean that the Greater Lille area could develop into a "French Manchester", potentially reaching into the 2 or 3 millions inhabitants eventually come the 20th century.
Paris would therefore have an economic rival, with interesting consequences.
Not sure, on the Belgian side of the border, Mouscron already is physically fused to Tourcoing, and there's a ~12 km gap between the build-up areas of Tournai & Lille. Lille will of course have half of West-Flanders & Hainaut as additional hinterland, but that doesn't necessarily mean a population increase on the same scale.

I do see Brussels, not being a capital, being smaller and Antwerp, its port in particular being bigger since the Scheldt will both be free much sooner and partially under French control, making dredging dramatically easier. Zeebruges will probably never be developed either, to the benefit of the ports of Dunquerque & Ghent. (assuming that Ghent still gets a canal to the Western Scheldt)

* Ok, only the Bourgeoisie counted in those days, and they all spoke French, making assimilation even easier TTL...
 
I think that the numbers would make the difference. The French republic depicted here has what, 8 million Germans in a continuous settlement area? They'll be far more able to keep their ethnic identity and keep their language in everyday life, IMHO (there are, for example, several German universities). Add to that the fact that the Sarre and Cologne will be industrializing rapidly, providing the funds for local/regional politicians and schemes.

To keep them away from Germany, you'd need to prevent German unification. Without a foreign power trying to lure them away they'll get used to France. If France additionally offers more local autonomy (which IMHO would be beneficial for France, but anyway), there's no real reason for these territories to form an independent state or join one of those tiny German statelets - not to speak of Prussia.

THIS IS PROBABY THE CLOSEST TO REALITY.

As the cities of the Rheinland industrialize...They are likely to attract migrants from the "French countryside" as much as Germans...Such that you get a very hybridized French-German Rheinlander culture that sees itself as much French as it does German. A good part of the Rheinland is also German Catholic not Prostestant so that isn't an issue, even for the french conservatives. It certainly isn't for the Rheinlanders themselves.

There probably is not going to be a single overarching unified German state. In which case the Rheinlanders would be German's who happen to live in France not one of the German speaking states, who have increasingly adopted French socio-political norms over the decades. French intellectuals will alomst certainly lecture in most if not all the Rheinland Universities and vice- versa..There will be a crosspollination of socio-political thought. Its not going to be a oneway street.

At best, you might end up with something akin to a milder version of Quebec's Quiet Revolution...some Cultural autonomy calls at best.
 
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