Germany gets Briey and Longwy in 1871

CaliGuy

Banned
What if Germany gets Briey and Longwy (areas rich in iron ore--containing 90% of France's total iron ore output) in 1871, after Prussia's victory in the Franco-Prussian War?

How much will this weaken France and what will the effects of this be on developments in Germany, France, and Europe in general?

Any thoughts on this?
 

CaliGuy

Banned
Also, another question--how many French loans to Russia in the pre-WWI era were by the French government and how many by private investors? After all, the French government will have less--indeed, perhaps a lot less--revenue in this TL and thus will very likely be less capable of giving large-scale loans to Russia in this TL.
 

JamesG

Donor
It was my understanding that the mineral wealth of Briey and Longwy was discovered after 1871. Part of the logic of annexing A-L was precisely what you described: i.e. permanently crippling French industry. Considering how Bismarck already objected to any annexations, and moreso annexation of French speaking population, it would have been an even harder sell to add more French speakers yet again, and this time without the security argument surrounding Metz.

I know there's someone on the forum (one of the Napoleans, I think, but don't quote me) who is a massive nerd :extremelyhappy: regarding B-L mineral wealth, and particularly it's role in WW1.

Edit: did a quick search and there are two very similar threads from the last 6 months on this.
 
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CaliGuy

Banned
It was my understanding that the mineral wealth of Briey and Longwy was discovered after 1871. Part of the logic of annexing A-L was precisely what you described: i.e. permanently crippling French industry. Considering how Bismarck already objected to any annexations, and moreso annexation of French speaking population, it would have been an even harder sell to add more French speakers yet again, and this time without the security argument surrounding Metz.

I know there's someone on the forum (one of the Napoleans, I think, but don't quote me) who is a massive nerd :extremelyhappy: regarding B-L mineral wealth, and particularly it's role in WW1.

Edit: did a quick search and there are two very similar threads from the last 6 months on this.
Who is this nerd? Wiking?

Also, how many French speakers would annexing Briey-Longwy add to Germany? 100,000? 200,000? More than that?
 
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