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Let's say France does just enough to avoid the French Revolution, with a POD some time between 1700 and 1789. Perhaps it's Louis XV getting through more tax rises at the end of his reign, perhaps it's by better harvests, or by better grain provision during famines, or perhaps its by some reforms to benefit the rising middle class.

Would this actually be better for France as a major power? On the one hand, France will maintain a better navy, it won't have the destructive manpower loss of the Revolution, and it may even have better demographics under the Ancien Regime. On the other hand, it would still have large internal tariffs preventing trade, it will still have a poor system for collecting revenue, it will still have a confused division between executive/judicial/legislative responsibility, it will have different provinces having varying levels of power, it will still have a lot of difficult regulation on exports etc.

What are your thoughts?
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