What if Bourbons and Habsburgs allied earlier -

raharris1973

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For example, in the time between the Treaty of Utrecht 1714 and the War of the Austrian Succession in 1740.

What if, after, the end of the War of Spanish Succession, and with Habsburgs no longer threatening to surround France on all sides, the French decided to to ally with the Habsburgs and the Habsburgs reciprocated?

With Spain out of Habsburg hands, Paris could recalculate its European interests and judge that the Habsburgs are in most cases sufficiently distant from the border to be considered a benign rather than threatening power, despite the exception of the Austrian Netherlands.

Plus, this alliance ends the unnatural enmity between the two greatest European Catholic dynasties.

What would be the consequences for European diplomacy if the Bourbons and Habsburgs reconciled by say 1720, and did not fight again through the 1700s, barring a revolution at least?
 
Well France and Austria fought in the same side in the war of the quadruple alliance.France just had ambitions in the Rhine so the alliance wasn't as natural as it might seem.But the obvious result would be a much stronger Austria
 
France wanted the Austrian Netherlands though and they didn't really have a significant common enemy to force them together. Britain's France's problem, Prussia is still an upstart and not remotely strong enough to threaten France, the Ottomans and Russia are Austrian concerns, and they both had Italy to squabble over.

If they worked together, though, that curbs all the other powers considerably, with Prussia probably unable to spread its wings and Poland perhaps faring a bit better (as in actually existing on the map). Though whether France and Austria stay on top is doubtful. There's plenty of ways for them to get into economic troubles and lag in industrialization, regardless.
 
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