When browsing (the Dutch language) wikipedia, I suddenly noticed this plan (which is not the same as the Talleyrand partition plan). I thought it was interesting so I decided to share it. It was a partition proposal for belgium in 1830. The idea was that the Netherlands would keep the predominantly Dutch speaking parts, the provinces of West-Flanders, East-Flanders, Antwerp and (all of) Limburg. France would get the predominantly French/Walloon speaking provinces, Hainaut, Namur, Liege and Southern Brabant (including the Flemish majority areas like Louvain and Brussels). Luxembourg, including later Belgian luxembourg would become its own independent grandduchy within the German Confederation. See map.
Ok, so far so good. First let me extrapolate the consequences for the Netherlands (if you are not interested just skip to the next paragraph). I guess that some of upperclass French speaking people will decide to move to the French parts of Belgium, as this happened OTL in Limburg. This leads to less trouble in Belgium for the future. Still some trouble is due, even in the Netherlands a lot of liberals weren't very happy with the rule of the Dutch kings. It is possible that the liberal constitution of 1848 is butterflied away, but with more Flemish catholics and Liberals in the country and because of that a larger chance of the riots William II wanted to avoid, I doubt it. More catholics means a larger influence for the catholic faction during the pilarization, although the liberal and socialist factions have also more recruits. The only ones who probably will suffer from it is the Protestant faction, although if they don't split like OTL they will still keep a lot of influence. Economically speaking the Netherlands might be a bit richer because of the extra coal, but not that much. The rest of Dutch history will probably remain close to OTL.
Ok, now the more intersting parts: Germany and France. Will this lead to important changes during the German unification? I assume that this late in the 19th century German unification is more or less unavoidable. An independent Luxembourg will probably become part of this new unified Germany (It also depends on who becomes ruler of Luxembourg, I assume the same Nassau branch which rules them now).
It seems almost unavoidable that France and Germany will have a face of in the 19th century (and the 20th). With Wallonia in French hands, the Franco German border is a lot larger, certainly if Luxembourg ends up within Germany.
So do you have any thoughts about it?
