Le Grand Empire Français: A French Empire Timeline

[Dylanperr]

I think the cultures of a surviving French North America would be totally fascinating. I think the culture would be a lot like Quebec, but I am also thinking it would be very much like the American south, but it would have a colder climate, be French speaking, have more industry, and be without slavery, so it would resemble the Appalachian/inland regions of the south the closest.

The French Canadians (well most of them) came from the Northwest parts of France (Bretagne, Normandy, Maine, etc) which is very similar to Western England and Wales, and the Bretons were originally from Western England and Wales themselves. Most Americans settling in the South came from the same region (Western England and Wales) that the Bretons came from. These regions, the Northwest of France, and the Southwest of England are very similar, with the major differences being different languages and a channel between the two of them.

 

[Dylanperr]

British Settlements In Australia and New Zealand​

The British have been quite well established in the Southern Hemisphere, the British have colonized Australia in 1788 and New Zealand in 1844 the British also have a strong presence in Oceania and Southeast Asia (especially around the Polynesia and Melanesia regions), where the British have taken many Dutch colonies in the region as well such as the Dutch colonies of Malaya, Malacca, and Indonesia.

The biggest British possession in the Southern Hemisphere by land area, is Australia with it being over 2.9 million square miles or around 7.7 million square kilometers, the only places that are bigger are our timelines United States, Canada, Brazil, China, and Russia or in this alternate timeline in the mid to late 19th century only Portuguese Brazil, Qing China, Russian Empire, and French Canada (New France) are bigger. The British have mostly colonized Australia in our timeline after they, as in the British, lost the Thirteen colonies, and also as a place to send prisoners due to the overcrowding of British jails and prisons in that time of the 18th and 19th centuries as well, the British in this timeline colonized Australia for much of the same reasons as well such as a place to send prisoners, but a different reason why the British colonized Australia in this alternate timeline, is to regain some glory in their empire, after the loss of the Seven Years War to the French.

The first British colonies tended to be around the coast, because that is where the ships landed, or more precisely where the ships with prisoners landed, and the coast of Australia has better weather than that of the inland part of Australia as well, and the coastal parts of Australia actually have pretty nice climates which is similar to that of the American South (Queensland) in the Northeast, or Western Europe in the Southeast (New South Wales and Victoria). So cities such as Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, and etc, are mostly going to be around the coast.

 

[Dylanperr]

I think the cultures of a surviving French North America would be totally fascinating. I think the culture would be a lot like Quebec, but I am also thinking it would be very much like the American south, but it would have a colder climate, be French speaking, have more industry, and be without slavery, so it would resemble the Appalachian/inland regions of the south the closest.

The French Canadians (well most of them) came from the Northwest parts of France (Bretagne, Normandy, Maine, etc) which is very similar to Western England and Wales, and the Bretons were originally from Western England and Wales themselves. Most Americans settling in the South came from the same region (Western England and Wales) that the Bretons came from. These regions, the Northwest of France, and the Southwest of England are very similar, with the major differences being different languages and a channel between the two of them.

View attachment 589740

That's not just the only example. Traditional Appalachian and French Canadian music have a lot of similarities as well.

Traditional Appalachian Fiddle Music.

Traditional French Canadian Fiddle Music.

They use pretty much the same instruments and they are so similar that the only major difference is basically the language they sing in. The Appalachians speak English while the French Canadians speak French.

 

[Dylanperr]

That's not just the only example. Traditional Appalachian and French Canadian music have a lot of similarities as well.

Traditional Appalachian Fiddle Music.

Traditional French Canadian Fiddle Music.

They use pretty much the same instruments and they are so similar that the only major difference is basically the language they sing in. The Appalachians speak English while the French Canadians speak French.

Anglo Canadians tend to be more like those in the Mid-Atlantic (known as the middle colonies at the time) because that was where most of the loyalists who fled the American revolution were from.

Anglo Australians are like a mix of all of them because they were descendants of excess population and prisoners which of course came from all parts of England and there was not a single region where most of the prisoners specifically came from because they were scattered all over the place, its not like the other groups I mentioned earlier where most of them came from a certain part of a country.

 

[Dylanperr]

1860 North America​

French North America: 13.275 Million.
British North America: 32 Million.

 

[TimTurner]

1860 North America​

French North America: 13.275 Million.
British North America: 32 Million.

Anglo-French race to the Pacific, anyone?

 

[Dylanperr]

Anglo-French race to the Pacific, anyone?

Hahahaha, both actually won, the British population wise and the French militarily.

 

[Dylanperr]

German And Italian Unification​

It is the mid-19th century and places in Europe are industrializing, this industrialization is improving people’s standard of living, transportation, and many other things. The industrial revolution is expanding the middle class massively which the middle class before the industrial revolution were mostly the mercantile merchant classes who were uses artisans, artists, ironworkers, and etc. Many of these improvements from industrialization and the industrial revolution, especially in transportation mean that more people will see each other easier and faster than they would before industrialization and the another thing that grows during industrialization is nationalism which grew in the heavily divided nations due to more people seeing each other but another reason for it was that Europeans thought it was their duty to civilize the less civilized areas of the world, Eg. areas that aren’t industrialized and developed which is pretty much every else outside of Europe and Japan during the 19th century, so nationalism basically grew because people believed that they should unite and protect the wealth of their own nations.

Let's go back and look at some history as in history from this alternate timeline. Austria under Maria Theresa and Russia under Empress Elizabeth Petrovna defeat Prussia earlier in 1760 rather than 1763 in our timeline. But when Empress Elizabeth Petrovna died in 1763, she Peter III as her successor and he took the Russian throne and he really liked Frederick the Great who was the monarch that ruled Prussia during that time and has Prussian sympathies and in this timeline he gave East Prussia to Frederick the Great and like our timeline Peter III would be deposed in a coup d’etat which put Catherine the Great on the Russian throne.

How would this German unification differ from ours? With Prussia being much weaker and never reaching superpower status, with no Napoleonic Wars nationalism wouldn’t be as strong but it would still develop due to industrialization. So Germany wouldn’t be as tightly united as the Germany of our timeline, but would rather be a loose federation of states and this would mean there would be no wars that Prussia waged in order to unite Germany. So the nation that would unite Germany would be Austria, so Germany would be under a loose federation under Austrian administration and leadership and this nation would likely be called the Austro-German Empire and a loose federation would mean Germany would never be the massive militaristic threat that made the rest of Europe and the United States fight against it in both World War 1 and World War 2. So France and Russia would be the strongest military powers in Europe in this timeline.

For Italy similar stuff would happen but it would be different because Italy and Germany are different nations and Northern and Southern Italy are very different in culture and almost everything and Northern and Southern Italy are only united in name only. Italy was kind of like a much smaller version of the United States during the 19th century where there was an industrialized north and an agrarian south with them being heavily divided. The French would likely take advantage of this division and likely make southern Italy a client state and probably even revive the Kingdom of Naples that was French before the Italian Wars as well.

 

[Dylanperr]

 

[Dylanperr]

Completion Of The Trans North American Railway​

The North American continent is a massive one, to be exact it is the 3rd largest continent on earth with a size of 24.7 million square kilometers or around 9.54 million square miles. With this much land you need to select a mode of transportation if you wish to navatigate it all and on foot is one of them but we all know that being on foot is way way too slow, theres also the wagon train its faster but that is pretty slow as well. But there is some really really good news when it comes to transportation there is a much faster and much more efficient way to circumnavigate the huge North American frontier and it is by the newly established rails and railways which makes traveling across the entire North American continent which spans more than 3,000-5,000 miles from west to east much more easier and efficient.

The newly established railways like all things have to start somewhere and the Trans North American Railway (What I am calling it in this timeline and I want my timeline to have some distinction from our timeline). The Trans North American railway began construction around 1826 and when it first opened its first 15 miles (24 km) of track it made a lot of people very very excited and some even visited the very first rails of what would come the Trans North American railway. The Trans North American railway would go through British North America and French North America, British and French North America probably wouldn’t be linked together by railroad until the British and French find themselves working together on something for their North American colonies.

The railroads will be very very important for getting settlers out west in the western frontier regions and to populate these regions. The railroads linked both the west coast and the east coast of North America which means that goods could be shipped much easier and cheaper as well. Places such as the Continental Divide and the Rocky Mountains were very very difficult to cross by many older forms of transportation such as the Wagon Train until the railroads came to be and building the railroads was no easy task and many people died building the railways and many immigrants who were mostly of Irish and Chinese ancestry that took jobs building the railroads were dying a lot by just simply doing it.

The railroads would be very important to the industrialization and the development of North America both British and French North America, like what was mentioned earlier the railroads linked the east coast with the west coast. The railroads would also link cities and subdivisions (provinces and states) as well so shipping something from places lets say New York or Quebec to somewhere like Tennessee would only take less than four days at most for the entire North American continent compared to a few months with a wagon train or sail ship. The fact that one could travel just about anywhere in less than four days in the United States was a dream for the time and it was inconceivable to the previous generation of Americans.

 

[Dylanperr]

1870 North America​

New France (French Canada) Population: 18,650,000.
British North America Population: 40,000,000.

 

[Dylanperr]

Growth Of Industrial Cities​

The year is around 1870, North America, both British and French, are experiencing massive industrial and economic growth, this is causing people to move into the cities, and/or people moving west and into the cities to find industrial jobs.

Map of major industrial cities in North America​

The railroads will also be very important to the growth of cities and towns, there are towns that exist and owe their existence to the railroads (Las Vegas and Reno are perfect examples). The reason why railroads will be very important to the growth of cities is that mail and goods can be shipped easier and trade is easier and so more products shipped would mean more money, and this made the railroads become a important symbol and installed national confidence in the population for the same reason, the railroads also made travel more affordable and accessible so you could take a train trip across the country by train.

The areas that are industrialized tend to be near bodies of water such as the Great Lakes, Ohio River, and Atlantic Ocean for many different reason, one reason for that is proximity towards a body of water that ships could use to transport goods from nation to nation like for example if someone wanted to ship goods from North America to let's say Britain or France they are in no way doing it by land but rather by ship and later the plane. Industrialization also used a lot of natural resources and there is no denying that water would definitely be one of them, one way industrialization used a lot of water is to cool off machines so they used water as a coolant when machines go too hot, and plus the very first engines used during industrialization were steam powered and ran off of steam and steam engines ran off of water to produce steam.

 

[Dylanperr]

French North America Act/Act de Amerique du Nord Francais​

It is November 30, 1874, the French Canadian nation has a population of just around 20 million and the French Canadian nation is getting to be hugely diverse with many of those 20 million people themselves having their own distinct French culture such as Acadian and Quebecois, many of them speak different dialects as well, and have also different ancestries with of course French and French Canadian being predominate but also there is a lot of English since a lot of Anglo American settlers that poured into French North America, which they mostly spread around the unpopulated areas near the border with British North America at the 42nd parallel (remember people don’t follow borders) and the Pacific Northwest near Washington State and British Columbia and later established their own communities in these places and thrive as a distinct culture where they are around 15% of the population. This happened in our timeline as there were many Anglo American settlers that poured into Canada and Mexico.

There are also a lot of Irish, Low Countries (Belgium and Netherlands), and German settlers in French Canada for the same reason but they also came for industrial jobs that were mentioned earlier during the growth of industrial cities. Very much like the Anglo Canada of our timeline there is also a growing amount of Ukrainian and Russian settlers that are settling out in the prairies and northern Great Plains regions which are apart of French North America in this timeline as well.

The French North America Act (French: Act d'Amérique du Nord Français) will give French North America which will be called French Canada semi-independence similar to the British colonies of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand of our timeline or the American colonies of this timeline. But they will most definitely remain apart of the French Empire and share the same monarch as their head of state (Probably King Louis number something something). The French North American nation which will be called French Canada will also have a lot of other really nice things such as their own flag, parliament, and most likely their very own military and military divisions (such as an army, navy, and later air force) will come later sometime in the early 20th century.

This is the flag of French North America and for this flag the blue represents heaven (very much like the flag of Quebec of our timeline), the red represents the honour and those who fought for French Canada, and the five fleur de lys represents being part of France and the 5 original French colonies of French North America which are Acadia, Canada, Louisiana (which despite losing most it to the British, most of upper Louisiana itself became part of Canada), Newfoundland, and Hudson Bay (which is mostly arctic).

 

[Israel_Dan the Man]

I love this timeline because I've always been fascinated by the thought of France having a strong North American presence! It helps that in my timeline I am also planning for a French American nation to be a powerhouse.

Also, I can't help but notice that French America's population is exploding, and I mean really booming. I have zero trouble with it, though, since it makes them a better rival to British America.

Keep it up!

P.S. How many people does Russian Alaska have?

 

[Dylanperr]

I love this timeline because I've always been fascinated by the thought of France having a strong North American presence! It helps that in my timeline I am also planning for a French American nation to be a powerhouse.

Also, I can't help but notice that French America's population is exploding, and I mean really booming. I have zero trouble with it, though, since it makes them a better rival to British America.

Keep it up!

P.S. How many people does Russian Alaska have?

I heard there were only 800 ethnic Russians in Russian Alaska at its peak, Russian Alaska would likely end up being its own nation mostly likely after WW1 even if there was no Russian Revolution or Russian Civil War. This timeline is a split Anglo-French North America, I might make a entirely French North America timeline but it would be much shorter to make it easier to read and write it.

 

[Dylanperr]

1880 North America​

French Canada population: 28,575,000.
British North America population: 53,225,000.

 

[Israel_Dan the Man]

I like the map, but if Alaska has only 800 ethnic Russians like you said, then how can it be an independent nation in the 20th century?

 

[Dylanperr]

I like the map, but if Alaska has only 800 ethnic Russians like you said, then how can it be an independent nation in the 20th century?

More will come, in this timeline more Russians would come to Alaska after the discovery of gold in 1896, settlers from Western North America would also increase the number to. Russia might encourage some settlement to secure an area for a warm water port, and despite Alaska having a reputation for being a frozen wasteland the Aleutian Islands and the Alaska Panhandle actually have climates similar to that of the Pacific Northwest and the Scottish Highlands.

 

[Israel_Dan the Man]

More will come, in this timeline more Russians would come to Alaska after the discovery of gold in 1896, settlers from Western North America would also increase the number to. Russia might encourage some settlement to secure an area for a warm water port, and despite Alaska having a reputation for being a frozen wasteland the Aleutian Islands and the Alaska Panhandle actually have climates similar to that of the Pacific Northwest and the Scottish Highlands.

Got it, thanks.

Also a small btw, I like the thought of the US having a strong neighbor (or neighbors, depending on how strong Mexico is) to create a balance of power in North America.

 

[Dylanperr]

New Imperialism​

The European powers, mostly England, France, Spain, and Portugal, have been very interested in expanding their empires and first discovered (or rediscovered) the Americas at around the 15th century when the Spanish sent Christopher Columbus in 1492 (Even though there were many claimants before 1492 such as Vikings, Irish Monks, Welsh Princes, etc), Western Europe's geography gave it its advantage when conquering the world because of proximity to the ocean and if you could master sailing the North Atlantic and North Sea you could pretty much sail anywhere across the world without much problem.

But the European powers aren’t in the 15th, 16th, 17th, or 18th centuries anymore they are 19th and 20th century nations with the power of being industrialized which means now have modern technologies that they could use such as Gatling Guns, Ironclads (Pre-Dreadnought battleships), and etc, this gave the Europeans another advantage when it came to colonizing other lands during the age of New Imperialism.

The Americas are already colonized and unlike our timeline they aren’t largely decolonized in the 18th and 19th century, because there is no American revolution (Happy treason day, ungrateful colonials, hahahaha even if July 4th is over, its still funny) and no Napoleonic wars which weakened Spain to the point they couldn’t even recover and hold their Latin American possessions which gave Latin American countries the opportunity to declare their independence from Spain. A stronger Spain aligned with France would mean there would be no Spanish American war, and the Americans would be part of the British Empire where they would have access to far more colonies and the white colonists in the white British colonies were treated well by the British and were viewed as New Britain's overseas.

With much of the Americas and Oceania being colonized and tropical medicine being invented due to industrialization, this means Europeans can go into places that are malarial and inhospitable for Europeans many hundreds of years ago such as the tropics and especially the African tropics and colonize them. Africa was mainly colonized for pride because the European powers put more money into Africa than it ever got out (With the exception of the Belgian Congo). Africa when colonized by the European powers after the Berlin conference in in 1884-1885 would look like this, and Southeast Asia would look like this.