Prussian attack through Belgium in Franco-Prussian War

hello i was reading some stuff on the Franco-Prussia War & it got me thinking about if they had attacked France through Belgium like in WW1 what changes would occur? Thanks for any ideas.
 
Short answer: epic shitstorm.

Long answer: Britain won't stand for it. I am not sure they would declare war, but seems quite likely. Belgium's neutrality was guaranteed by the Powers (Prussia included) under the terms of the Treaty of London, and such a blatant breach of it would make Prussia look very emphatically BAD to everyone.
It would convey the idea that the Germans are up to shake the European balance, not to simply readjust it. The Italian support to France that was under discussion IOTL is more likelier to materialize. Austria might feel much more confident to enter the conflict (Italian guarantees that IOTL were not given were part of the conditions they had set to intervene on the French side) although the Austrians might also keep out anyway because of their internal policy issues on the matter, namely, the Hungarians being unhappy with such an intervention. IF Austria intervenes, however, Russia might cite the unjustified German aggression to eschew her secret treaty obligations to Berlin.
Basically a massive European gangup on Prussia is in the cards, and the Prussians would need a grand-scale repeat of the previous century's "Miracle of Brandeburg" to emerge the conflict with any sort of great power status.
While I don't think that a BEF on the Continent is likely, a British blockade might happen.
Even Denmark might consider settling scores in the right circumstances.

The problem of course is that this premise is unlikely. Even if no Grand European Coaliton to take down Prussia materializes, and the Prussians still somhow manage to win the war with France, Germany would have lost a great deal of diplomatic credibility and international clou, which would make any success untenable lomg-term. I don't see Bimarck not foreseeing that, since securing the diplomatic standing of Prussia and the efficacy of its alliance was a primary concern for him.
 
Between 1871 and 1914 the Belgian army had stagnated, so they were (compared to their contemporaries) a tougher enemy at the time of the Franco-Prussian war. Even barring outside intervention having to fight an additional army would have made things difficult for Prussia. Also, there was less need to use Belgium to avoid the Franco-German frontier, because it was not so massively fortified.
 
hello i was reading some stuff on the Franco-Prussia War & it got me thinking about if they had attacked France through Belgium like in WW1 what changes would occur? Thanks for any ideas.

Short answer: Bismarck won't allow that to happen.

Long answer: If Prussia attacked Belgium, Great Britain will join the war on France's side, Austria too, because it too was responsible for protecting Belgium's neutrality, and Italy will probably join the French too...

Basically, a massive European war against Prussia and the North German Confederation.
 
While I don't think that a BEF on the Continent is likely, a British blockade might happen.
In early July, in the context of a possible French movement into Belgium, Gladstone asked Cardwell to prepare plans for a British force to be sent to Antwerp. There were two plans: the first for 9 infantry battalions and 10,000 men, the second for 22 battalions and 20,000 men. In August, 20,000 additional men and £1.4m were voted for the army to support the possible deployment.
 
Why in God's name would they do that?

I mean Bismark wanted to provoke the French got called out on it and forced to watch the Kaiser apologise for the mess and then the French decided to smear dog**** in his face and declared war after he refused to thank them for it.

The Germans had a pretty good idea that they would win the war as it was fought OTL, the French had isolated themselves diplomatically and nobody had grounds to really oppose the Germans who were fighting against French aggression.

Basically invading Belgium would be pointless and throw away every advantage the French had so kindly handed them.
 
hello i was reading some stuff on the Franco-Prussia War & it got me thinking about if they had attacked France through Belgium like in WW1 what changes would occur? Thanks for any ideas.

Now, I have an alternate question for you:

What happens if, in an attempt to counter the German troops advancing into French territory, France decides to counterattack Germany through Belgium?
 
The only way it could be even plausible would be if Bismark died of something like a heart attack before the war began (like maybe a year before), and then have Prussia fall into the hands of a less capable (or more desperate) chancellor
 

Mercenarius

Banned
Prussia invades Belgium? Did you just started WWI this early?

On the other hand, this could be made into a nice TL, with Prussia being tricked to attack Belgium because they thought France may do the same.
 
Why the hell would the invade Belgium in the first place? This is not 1914, the strategic situation is vastly different, so why invade Belgium? Even if Bismarck somehow dies, which is a real possibility, even the General staff wont do it, because there is no need for.
 
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