France annexed completely in 1871

[maltesefalcon]

What if instead of occupying just Alsace Lorraine in 1871, the Prussians had simply overun all of France and incorporated it into the German Empire in its entirety? The French were virtually crushed after the siege of Paris and would have been unable to do much to prevent it.

I am bending the rules here, but this scenario would impact on WW1 and WW2, because France would not be an independent nation in either 1914 or 1939.

Was it feasible, or would Russia, Britain and Austria Hungary close ranks to force Germany to release France from the "Anschluss"?

[Tim Smith]

Well, Britain would not have liked the creation of a German Empire stretching from East Prussia to the English Channel. Nor would Russia or even Austria. The British would have instituted a naval blockade of Germany until she evacuated France - and the Russians might cooperate with a trade embargo of their own. And in 1871, Germany didn't have a navy capable of competing with the Royal Navy, nor was she self-sufficient enough to withstand a full trade blockade indefinitely, even with France as an occupied territory.

I doubt whether Britain would actually intervene in the war on France's side following the French Army's collapse and the fall of Paris, too late by then to save France from defeat, but she would give sanctuary to French refugees (including the entire French navy) and clandestinely encourage French franc-tireurs (resistance fighters.)

I think that the Germans would eventually tire of the economic hardships of the blockade and back down.

[Baltasar]

Germany was happy to be united according to Bismarks plan and surely had absolutely no interest in occupying france, not to mention her colonies.

[maltesefalcon]

Germany was happy to be united according to Bismarks plan and surely had absolutely no interest in occupying france, not to mention her colonies.

The Germans were quite content to make an attempt to do so in 1914 and more or less succeeded in the occupation of France in 1940. My premise was if they did it sooner, would 2 world wars have been averted?

[L-V Jr.]

Are they capable to occupy france? Wouldn't the french still put up a fight which could drain german's power?

[Jon G.]

Bismarck preferred to fight his wars one at a time, and to have his enemy diplomatically completely isolated first. That's how he could manage to have Austria as an ally in 1864 and as an enemy in 1866, and that's how he could manage to fight his wars without much interference from the outside world.

A complete German occupation of France in 1870-1871 was never in the cards; Bismarck's stated aim was simply to unify Germany by adding German provinces belonging to other countries to Prussia. I think total and permanent German occupation of France would have been wholly unacceptable to all involved, including the Germans.

Both in 1914 and in 1940, Germany found herself at war with the UK - even if they had won in 1914, I think they would eventually have withdrawn after charging the French heavy reperations for war - they would have occupied France completely at first in order to have a free hand against Russia, and then withdraw once they'd beated the Russians too.

[Grand Admiral]

I don't think it would have been feasible--could Germany have all of the Great Powers against it at once?

[Baltasar]

Germany was happy to be united according to Bismarks plan and surely had absolutely no interest in occupying france, not to mention her colonies.

The Germans were quite content to make an attempt to do so in 1914 and more or less succeeded in the occupation of France in 1940. My premise was if they did it sooner, would 2 world wars have been averted?

Problem is, in 1870, there wasn't much of what you might call "Germany". In fact it was a federation with prussia as the mighties leader. After the war with France, the whole Kaiserreich had to be reorganized. It's just that the german Länder had totally different things to do and simply weren't capable of occupying france and/or her colonies. Besides, as someone mentioned before, I have serious doubts about Britain sitting in the corner and waiting what would happen.

[Futurist]

What if instead of occupying just Alsace Lorraine in 1871, the Prussians had simply overun all of France and incorporated it into the German Empire in its entirety? The French were virtually crushed after the siege of Paris and would have been unable to do much to prevent it.

I am bending the rules here, but this scenario would impact on WW1 and WW2, because France would not be an independent nation in either 1914 or 1939.

Was it feasible, or would Russia, Britain and Austria Hungary close ranks to force Germany to release France from the "Anschluss"?

Annexing a country with 30+ million people who are going to be extremely hostile to losing their independence is, in short, a recipe for massive disaster.

Indeed, in this TL, what would have probably occurred afterwards would have been a British blockade of Germany, a years-long French insurgency in the mountains of Southern France (the Massif Central, if I remember correctly), an unwillingness on the part of other countries (Russia, Austria-Hungary, et cetera) to trade with Germany due to its extremely brazen aggression, and the eventual forced resignation of both Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm I (as well as German withdrawal from 95+% of all French territory) once the German people are severely starving (due to the British blockade, of course).

[BDV]

Well, Prussia may refuse to make peace with a republick.

[Futurist]

Well, Prussia may refuse to make peace with a republick.

If Prussia has that attitude, though, then it itself might eventually become a republic!

[BDV]

Well, it did become a republick, not even 50 years later.

But Kaiser Wilhelm had refused a Unified Germany crown that "came from the mud", so he may try to repeat that gambit, refusing a peace that "came from the mud."