French Catalonia

1: France / West Francia does not lose Catalonia
2: France inherits Aragon
3: France conquers Aragon, conquers Catalonia from Aragon, or conquers Catalonia from Spain.
4: First French Empire remains intact, or at least the French and Catalonian parts do.
5: Nationalist Spain joins the Axis; after the Allies are victorious, Spain is put under occupation zones, France having a large one that consists of Northeastern Spain, especially Catalonia
 
Xwarq said:
1: France / West Francia does not lose Catalonia

To do that, France must not lose the County of Barcelona.

Xwarq said:
2: France inherits Aragon

The only time a Frenchman could take the Aragonese crown (to my knowledge at least) was the Argonese Crusade : had the French won, the crown would have passed to Philipp III's second son, Charles de Valois.

The problem is that the Argonese crusade will have terrible butterflies.
For one, if Philipp III doesn't die in this crusade, he will rule longer. Besides, such a POD could also butterfly the fact that Philipp IV's three sons had no surving male children and the Valois would not inherit the French crown.

Xwarq said:
3: France conquers Aragon, conquers Catalonia from Aragon, or conquers Catalonia from Spain.

That would need a huge war. Aragon, although not as powerful as France, was still quite a strong opponent. As for Spain, it became a world power shortly after being formed. On the other hand, France had just ended the Hundred Years' War.

Xwarq said:
4: First French Empire remains intact, or at least the French and Catalonian parts do.

Napoleon has to stay in power and the congress of Vienna must not happen in this scenario. Why? Because if the Spanish Bourbons are restored and Napoleon is defeated, they will ask for Catalonia to be returned to their Kingdom.

This scenario must also happens after the French incorporates Catalonia in their Empire, which was around 1810-1812 if my memorie is right...

5: Nationalist Spain joins the Axis; after the Allies are victorious, Spain is put under occupation zones, France having a large one that consists of Northeastern Spain, especially Catalonia

Having an occupation zone in Catalonia would not mean that Catalonia would become French.
 
A surviving Al-Andalus with French marches in Barcelona could end up with roughly what makes up OTL Catalonia autonomous community (or more if the French launch Crusades) as part of France.
 
Probably the best oportunity for that to happen is 1640, during the uprising of Els Segadors. Anyway, as more recent is the POD, more difficult is for a french Catalonia to have a "happy end". There is something that people often overlooks. If you want to find a place for Catalonia* inside France, you need to change France or Catalonia a lot. For starters, a region proud of his autonomy won't be never comfortable in a centralist state. So, Catalonia in the First Empire or in the IV Republic wouldn't be a good idea, besides the other practical problems stated by Yorel. Of course an option to avoid this questions is, as mentioned, West Francia retaining the Hispanic March, but many factors, from international politics to geography, were pushing towards the factual independence of the pyrenean counties.



*I mean Catalonia with its basic OTL indentitarian traits. Of course the territory itself can be in anyone's hands, the stones don't have cultural/political opinion.


Cheers.
 
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