The French Victory at Blenheim Timeline

This is version three, but different as I think I know somewhat what I'm talking about for the first time. Any suggestions or criticism is welcome to improve the timeline. Parts are a bit of a stretch, but are largely to keep the timeline from moving too close or too far from OTL. Maps have been made (poorly) covering the period discussed and I'd like to post them along with part three.
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French Victory at Blenheim Timeline

1. The War of Spanish Succession
POD: Marquis Clerambault does not ordered additional infantry into Blindheim, allowing those troops to reinforce the French center after Marlborough’s afternoon attack. With extra infantry in support the Allies are unable to isolate the French in Oberglau. A late afternoon cavalry charge by the French throws the Allies wide open, splitting Eugene and Marlborough, who dies rallying his cavalry. Without Marlborough’s leadership, the Allied force routs. The Battle of Blenheim ends in an Allied defeat at the hands of the Franco-Bavarian force leaving the road to Vienna wide open.

Results of the War: French victory at Blenheim ends the War of Spanish Succession with a French victory. The Habsburg Empire is mostly dissolved, the Elector of Bavaria becomes HRE, and the Tories take power in England. The Great Northern War is changed by the support of France for Sweden. Augustus of Saxony is forced from the Polish throne and Sweden gains at Russia and Prussia’s expense.

For Austria: Austria is castrated as a major power in Europe. Tyrol is ceded to Bavaria, Hungary is made independent after its successful rebellion under Rackoczi, Bohemia is taken from Austria and placed under the rule of Maximilian II, and the Crown of the HRE is granted to Maximilian II after Leopold’s death. The Habsburgs are reduced to governing Austria, Styria, and Croatia.

For Spain: Spain remains as a major European power. With the early end to the war, Spain is never invaded and doesn’t suffer the destruction of eight years of war. Philip, Duc of Anjou is installed as Philip V. Spain maintains Naples, Milan, Sardinia, Sicily, Gibraltar, Minorca, and Mantua which in OTL were taken from it in the Treaty of Utrecht. Spain keeps the Spanish Netherlands and the territory grows into one of the wealthiest in Europe because of the removal of the Scheldt barrier and the opening of Antwerp to global trade. Philip also never is forced to renounce his place in the French line of succession. The asiento, which in OTL granted the British full rights to the Atlantic slave trade for 30 years, is never agreed to as a condition of peace.

For France: France is left as the pre-eminent power in Europe, ruling over a continent of allies and client states. Instead of ending the war broke with no hope of digging themselves out of debt, France’s finances aren’t in terrible order. No draconian taxes must be implemented to fund the war. France gains Savoy from the war, installing its own puppet there. They also gain territory along the Rhine, establishing buffer states between it and Hannover, Brandenburg, and Saxony. In North America, France is granted the English Hudson Bay territories and all of Newfoundland, as well as present day Maine east of the Kennebec River. France is left without a peer in Europe politically or militarily.

For Britain: England ends the war much weaker than when they began. Their great general, Marlborough, is dead. The politically influential Whigs are in shambles; their leaders replaced in power by the Tories and such leaders as Godolphin and the Duchess of Marlborough reduced to nothing. There is no Act of Union between England and Scotland, leaving the Scottish Parliament free to choose their successor to Anne. Anne herself retreats into seclusion, leaving her Tory ministers to run the country. The Old Pretender, James Stuart begins planning his restoration to power in Scotland with French support.

For Bavaria: Bavaria becomes a major player in Europe, succeeding Austria as the head of the HRE. Maximilian II becomes HRE and gains a number of Central European territories for himself. Bavaria is a staunch ally of France in Central Europe.

For the United Provinces: The Netherlands suffers a defeat in the war, losing control of a number of frontier forts to the Spanish and being forced into neutrality in Europe. The opening of the Scheldt to Spanish commerce crippled the Dutch economically, leading to an earlier fall from grace than in OTL.

For Sweden: Sweden manages to insert Stanislaw I as King of Poland in 1704. Reinforced by troops sent by Bavaria and France in 1706, Charles XII defeats Peter of Russia at a string of battles in the Ukraine, achieving control over Poland and the Baltic and forcing Peter to submit rule of those regions to Sweden. Sweden also defeats Prussia, taking Silesia for Poland and parts of the Baltic coast for Pomerania.

For Poland: Poland emerges from the war strengthened by additions of territory in Silesia and with a new king, Stanislaw I who, unlike August II, took great interest in running his kingdom.

For Prussia: In OTL, the Elector of Brandenburg was made King of Prussia to bring his army into the Grand Alliance as an English/Austrian ally. In TTL, Prussia is harshly defeated in the Great Northern War and never becomes the European power it did in OTL.

For Russia: Minor defeat in the Great Northern War to Sweden.

2. Jacobite Rebellion, Louis’s Peace
Succession in Britain: Anne dies in 1712 after long debate over who her eventual successor shall be. George I of Hannover is decided on as the new monarch, however there is more resistance to his rule than in OTL among the Tory ministers in government and when James VIII arrives in Scotland in 1713, he is crowned King of Scotland and widely supported among highlanders and even some from the lowlands. George I declares war on James and begins marshalling forces to defeat him in the north.

Jacobite War: In early 1714, English forces under the Earl of Galway are dispatched north to quell the rebellion. Fighting is concentrated on the strategically important towns along the coast - Edinburgh, Stirling, and Falkirk, and a fierce battle erupts between James’s New Army and Galway’s regulars at Dalkeith; a battle that turns in favor of James’s force. James’s lays siege to Edinburgh, seizing the city at the end of the campaign season. The French Navy is dispatched to bring arms and supplies to the New Army in the winter of 1714-1715 and a number of battles are fought up and down the east coast of Britain and in the Firth of Forth. The fighting typically results in English tactical victories, but enough arms and supplies make it in the keep James’s force well supplied for the next campaign season.

In 1715, James concentrated his forces at Edinburgh, aiming to seize Falkirk and Stirling and advance up the coast to guarantee additional ports to re-supply his forces. The New Army meets the English at Linlithgow between Edinburgh and Falkirk and the battle is a stalemate, but James is forced to return to Edinburgh while the English are ill equipped to make a major push towards the town. A further effort later in the year fails after an English victory at an engagement at Kirknewton.

In early 1716, the English win a large victory against the French navy off the coast of Newcastle, destroying a large shipment of powder, cannons, arms, and three French regiments sent to reinforce James. By April, the new English commander, the Earl of Argyll, has raised an army twice the size of James’s and attacks Edinburgh, forcing James to give battle outside the city. The English win a crushing victory as a reinforcing column of English infantry arrive late to turn the Old Pretender’s flanks. James sails from Edinburgh with a force of 7000 troops, landing at Montrose. Fresh off his victory, the Earl marches north and engages James at Forfar late in the season. Again, the Earl defeats James, forcing the King to retreat to Dundee where he engages the English for a final time and loses. He and his supporters flee Scotland soon after returning to France.

Results of the War: Three years of war have weakened England politically and militarily and much of West Lothian pillaged by the two armies. James is defeated, not permanently, but in the French eyes his star has certainly fallen. The new King of France, Louis XV (the Duc of Burgundy) commits towards rebuilding the French navy in size after its performance against the English. Scotland is forced to recognize George I as King, though an Act of Union is at least a generation away. A long term insurgency will flare against English rule in the Highlands for the next several decades which will distract the English.

Louis’s Peace: Louis XIV dies in his sleep in 1715, passing the throne to his grandson, thirty-three year old Louis XV. Louis XV has been very involved in affairs of state during the last decade and a half and had become one of Louis XIV’s closest advisors on political matters.

Following the Jacobite War, James VIII fell into disfavor with the French court and Louis XV went about securing peace with England, ensuring that another war would not be fought for at least another decade. Louis’s aforementioned naval policy was planned to supplement the French fleet with both newer and larger warships to reach naval supremacy over the English. On this token of peace with England, Europe fell into a twenty year period of peace where France would consolidate its empire, grow its navy, and become more aggressive in India and North America. All these steps would guarantee French commerce remained lively and strong.

The biggest changes wrought in France during this period were in the government and monetary policy. Louis XV replaced the ministers of state with councils of aristocrats to which he granted power over the navy, army, religious matters, taxation, law, trade, and foreign affairs. The stability of the French budget was of particular concern to Louis, and had his ministers work throughout his reign to curb inflation and pay off the immense war debts his grandfather had racked up. By his death in 1741, the France he would bequeath to his son Louis XVI had extricated itself from under a mountain of debt, developed a strong commerce stream from North America, India, and the Caribbean, developed a navy superior to any on the planet, and consolidated its hold over the nations of Europe.

3. The Bohemian Revolt, Dupleix in India, the Enlightenment
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Hmm... very interesting. A French victory at Blenheim would have had massive consequences. But do you think you may have gone a bit too hard on Austria? Seems to me that such a peace could not have been extracted from her unless French troops were occupying Vienna itself.
 
I like it so far. One minor thing I noticed, though not one that affects anything. In the beginning you said "the Tories come into power in England." In 1704, they were already in power.
 
Hmm... very interesting. A French victory at Blenheim would have had massive consequences. But do you think you may have gone a bit too hard on Austria? Seems to me that such a peace could not have been extracted from her unless French troops were occupying Vienna itself.

Not sure if I mentioned it explicitly as I glossed over the end of the war, but I imagine after such a victory and with only the Prince of Baden's force left in the field, Vienna would've been easy pickings indeed. But I went back and forth on Austria and decided it would be easier to take the worst case scenario rather then leaving them around in a less broken form.

And I appreciate you catching that. Should be fixed if I post a second draft.
 
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