WI: Talleyrand successful?

Hey Guys,

What If, in 1830, the Talleyrand Plan was successful?

For the sake of argument let's just hand-wave the reasons against it away for this to work, though if you can think of a POD then bring it on.

Anyway, how would this affect European politics? Britain suddenly has a vested interest on the continent in the shape of the Protectorate, the - Free State of Antwerp.

How would this affect Prussian politics? They've suddenly gained Luxembourg, a place considered to be 'German' around that time as well as a chunk of the Low Countries that speaks a mix of Wallonian and Flemish, would they attempt to 'Germanize' these areas? Not only that but Germany has gained Liege, a heavily industrialised town in Belgian.

What of Franco-Dutch relations? They both share a border now.
 
Hey Guys,

What If, in 1830, the Talleyrand Plan was successful?

For the sake of argument let's just hand-wave the reasons against it away for this to work, though if you can think of a POD then bring it on.

Anyway, how would this affect European politics? Britain suddenly has a vested interest on the continent in the shape of the Protectorate, the - Free State of Antwerp.

How would this affect Prussian politics? They've suddenly gained Luxembourg, a place considered to be 'German' around that time as well as a chunk of the Low Countries that speaks a mix of Wallonian and Flemish, would they attempt to 'Germanize' these areas? Not only that but Germany has gained Liege, a heavily industrialised town in Belgian.

What of Franco-Dutch relations? They both share a border now.

The things that make me doubt the most is first the loss of Zeelandic Flanders, a traditional Dutch territory (since the 80 year war) and the Meuse border with Prussia, something they tried to avoid during the congress of Vienna. The Netherlands got a couple of Prussian territories so all of the Meusse would be Dutch. But maybe we could change the borders slightly to avoid this: All of the province of Limburg to the Netherlands, Luxemburg and Liege to Prussia, Southern Brabant, Namur and Hainaut to France and Antwerp and West and East Flanders independent.
 
The Free State of Antwerp is a British political bunfight waiting to happen as it pretty firmly ties Britain into having a much more significant "continental entanglement" than anyone really wanted, there were solid reasons no body in Britain was very upset when Salic law saw Hannover depart.
 

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Banned
What would happen to the Grand Duke of Luxembourg?

Prussia would have a great advantage in later wars between France and Prussia/Germany. I wonder whether Talleyrand thought about this - he was no strategist after all.
 
The whole area turns into a huge mess come 1848. The Rhineland was already one of the hot beds of radical activity during the Springtime of the Peoples, and of course the northwest of France had a lot of pro-worker activity. Plus people tend to forget both the Netherlands and Belgium had their own revolutionaries in 1848. Now you have all this mixed up with great power intrigue and nationalist irredentism. Its not going to be pretty.
 
What would happen to the Grand Duke of Luxembourg?

You mean the king of the Netherlands? He would probably dislike the idea, but if all the great powers agree he would be forced to accept it, although with some negotiations various parts of the treaty could be changed.
 
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