What if Napoleon III had chosen to not listen to his wife, instead delegating military power to his generals in the Franco-Prussian War? I hear that there was a pretty solid offensive plan for dealing with the germans, which was u fortunately scrapped by Napoleon III.
So, let's assume that Napoleon manages to grind the prussians into a surrender, or at least a stalemate. What would the peace terms be? Would he choose:
-retaining status quo ante bellum, with the south german states either neutralised or put in France's orbit, or...
-punishing Prussia by dissolving the North German Confederation and possibly annexing the Rhineland?