WI: France wins the Seven Years War?

You could really put the screws to Prussia (depends how totally defeated they are) and add Altmark to Hanover. Hell, if you'd like, you could give Wittelsbach Hanover all the territory west of the Elbe (Altmark/Magdeburg) (here shown in 1789; similar borders to the time period). It's a very unlikely play - the Wittelsbachs were Austrian allies, after all, so forcing them to do anything is tough - but it may be advantageous for the family to consolidate its holdings in Hanover-Palatinate to create a semblance of regional power in Western Germany rather than being a few weeks march away from Wien.

If we want to go with the "enlarged Hanover-for-Bavaria" option there's also others we can look at. Schaumburg-Lippe, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and Hesse-Kassel were all belligerents with Britain/Prussia. As it happens, they were all also land neighbors of Hanover. Prussia (as you can see in that map) has considerable detached western territories around Hanover that could be added to it as well.

Hanover with Ostfriesland, Minden, Ravensburg, Altmark, Magdeburg, Schaumburg-Lippe, and parts of western Brunswick (connecting southern and northern Hanoverian possessions) is a fairly impressive territory. Especially when Charles Theodore theoretically inherits it all in a few decades alongside his possessions as Elector Palatine of the Rhine. All of this is (theoretically) legally possible if Imperial bans are issued, I believe, but someone else would have to confirm that.
And what does France get from this arrangement(seing how they were the ones who occupied Hanover)?The Palatinate along the Rhine?Don’t seem like they are geting much from it(Liege doesn’t seem enough considering what the Austians are getting).Any chance they just shove the princes on the left side of the Rhine to what used to be Brandenburg and Pomerania?
 
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And what does France get from this arrangement(seing how they were the ones who occupied Hanover)?The Palatinate along the Rhine?Don’t seem like they are geting much from it(Liege doesn’t seem enough considering what the Austians are getting).Any chance they just shove the princes on the left side of the Rhine to what used to be Brandenburg and Pomerania?

France has ties to the Wittelsbachs too - they fought together in the Spanish and Austrian Successions. Neutralizing Britain in Germany and building what could become a Versailles-leaning northwestern-Germany hegemony is an enticing offer. The Austro-French alliance was always predicated on the notion of putting grievances aside to destroy Prussia, which both states (correctly) viewed as an existential threat. With Frederick the Great on the lam under the Imperial ban and Frederick William II sitting on the throne of a now-tiny Electorate of Brandenburg, that alliance is gone. With the Austrian Netherlands and an allied Hanover-Palatinate, France is in a very good position going forward on the path to the Rhine.

Otherwise, the issue is simply this: who else would get Hanover?
 
So what happens to Hannover then?I don’t think France is very interested in ruling that territorial,at least directly,and neither are the other countries particularly thrilled about such a prospect either.

In answer to my own question and your question here, I suppose an alternative would be giving it to the Elector of Saxony (at that time Augustus III, also King of Poland) or one of his brothers/sons of the House of Wettin, also an Austro-French ally. It's not a great fit (seeing as they abjured their Protestant faith to become Catholic for the Polish crown, and one of the second sons/brothers switching back again for Hanover might look unseemly), but it's also a fine, non-controversial selection. In that case, however, you have a very strong House of Wettin ruling over northern Germany
 
In answer to my own question and your question here, I suppose an alternative would be giving it to the Elector of Saxony (at that time Augustus III, also King of Poland) or one of his brothers/sons of the House of Wettin, also an Austro-French ally. It's not a great fit (seeing as they abjured their Protestant faith to become Catholic for the Polish crown, and one of the second sons/brothers switching back again for Hanover might look unseemly), but it's also a fine, non-controversial selection. In that case, however, you have a very strong House of Wettin ruling over northern Germany

OTL the Dauphine (Maria Josepha of Saxony) pushed to have her brother Xavier crowned King of Poland. Elector of Hannover is a gilded consolation prize.
 
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Spain joined the war because France invoked their alliance. They can't tell them to get lost at the peace table.
Spain entered the war because Carlos wanted to. Ferdinand before him didn’t want to so Spain stayed out. France put pressure on Spain, but had Carlos decided to stay out, which was the logical and rational choice, seeing as France had mostly lost the war at that point, he could have easily done so.
Lots of countries abandon their allies at the peace table. USA bailed on their treaty with France at their negotiations for independence.
 
The answer all depends on how big a victory and which countries are responsible for delivering it. The most likely scenario is loss in North America, victory in Eastern Europe vs Prussia and stalemate in Western Europe vs Portugal and Hannover. That would be a French "win" but Austria and Russia would benefit far more than France would. People on here seem to assume total victory across all theatres given the proposed peaces.
This is the problem: we need a definition of ‘win’
 
Spain entered the war because Carlos wanted to. Ferdinand before him didn’t want to so Spain stayed out. France put pressure on Spain, but had Carlos decided to stay out, which was the logical and rational choice, seeing as France had mostly lost the war at that point, he could have easily done so.
Lots of countries abandon their allies at the peace table. USA bailed on their treaty with France at their negotiations for independence.

Yes, lots do, but it's rare to be done when you want to keep the ally, as France did.
 
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