Depends rather a lot on the how, so do you have any specific reason in mind? To me it seems like this'd require a shockingly massive French victory coupled with a terrible show from Spain, which seems... tricky.WI during the partition of the Spanish empire after the Spanish war of succession, France gained the Spanish Netherlands instead of Austria.
Depends rather a lot on the how, so do you have any specific reason in mind? To me it seems like this'd require a shockingly massive French victory coupled with a terrible show from Spain, which seems... tricky.
ASB. Always remember this rule with the Habsburg Netherlands: no one but France wanted it and no one wanted France to have it. Also, at that point the Netherlands was controlled by Spain, ruled by Louis XIV's grandson Felipe V, so no way is the Sun King going to take his grandson's territory.
This isn't quite true. The Austrians didn't care about it; that's why they spent the second half of the 18th century trying to find a way to swap it for something useful.
Now, the British didn't want France to have it, but they also didn't want America to get independence.
That doesn't contradict Constantine's statement - he didn't say the Austrians wanted it, he said they didn't want the French to have it.
Except they were willing to agree to various swaps that would have put a Bourbon ally/puppet in charge of the Spanish Netherlands.
No. They offered that a single time and then rescinded the offer because the French failed to complete their part of the bargain.
A single time? It happened at least in the Seven Years War, and the War of Bavarian Succession, no?