France

France
File:French Flag.png
File:Locator France.pngLocation of France
Capital	Paris
Largest City	Paris
Government Type	Republic
Languages	French (Official)

France, officially the French Republic (French: République française) is a country primarily located in mainland Europe with overseas territory in Oceania. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea. France borders many nations including Spain, the Netherlands, Rhenia & Switzerland.

History

Kingdom of France and the First French Empire

French Succession Crisis (1714)

The Death of the Grand Dauphine  (1714)

The unfortunate death of Louis the Great Dauphine, King Louis XIV’s eldest son, had caused changes in the French line of succession. Next in line was the Great Dauphine's brother, Philip d'Anjou. In our timeline, however, after the Bourbon Philip d'Anjou obtained the Spanish throne during the War of the Spanish Succession, the Austrian-British coalition brokered for Philip d'Anjou renouncement of the French throne to prevent a dual-monarchy between Spain and France from ever developing. In this timeline, the Spanish had installed Karl VI (known in Spain as Carlos III) as the successor of Carlos II, and therefore having Philip d'Anjou retain his right to inherit the French throne.

Philip d’Anjou as King of France

Upon the death of his father in 1714, Philip d'Anjou became King of France, ruling as Philip VII. France under his rule would see an increased resentment against the British and the Austrians (who he believed had manipulated and strong-armed him out of his right to inherit the Spanish throne back in the Spanish Succession Crisis). Under his rule, the colonial venture in North America was expanded and more settlers were sent to prevent French claimed territory from being absorbed by Britain and the Dutch Republic.

Closer French Ties to Prussia

Philip VII also sought closer ties to Prussia, a growing German power that had threatened and challenged Austria. In 1748, Prussia's Frederick II had confided to Philip VII about his desire of taking the region of Silesia from the Austrians. Philip VII pledged his support to Frederick II, eventually leading to the Great Silesian War (1750-1755) and the ultimate demise of France and Philip VII's prestige.

Great Silesian War (1750-1755)

After resurrecting an old Brandenburg testamentary claim to Silesia and forming an alliance with France and other smaller German states, Prussia invaded Austrian Silesia in 1750. France, Bavaria, and Saxony, and Sweden had supported the Franco-Prussian Entente.

Britain had supported its ally, Austria. Spain, having a Habsburg monarch, and territories in the low countries, soon became quickly involved in the war. The Dutch Republic was also attacked by the French due to their interests in the region.

Prince Maurice's War was the North American theatre of the Great Silesian War. Prince Maurice's War was one of the largest colonial wars in North America, where the colonies of Britain, Spain, and the Dutch Republic were pitted against those of France and their native allies.

The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Vienna on 16 February 1755. The treaty granted the Dutch possession of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Basin region, while the British were granted possession of Guadeloupe (including the islands of Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Les Saintes, Marie-Galante, and La Désirade). In Europe, Prussia's territory was divided between the allies. East Frisia becomes part of the United Provinces, and East Prussia has been granted to Russia, who then had exchanged it for the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia shortly after, which had been under the Polish Dominion.

French Revolution and the Augustine Wars (1780s-1814)

Main article: French Revolution

The French Revolution was a revolutionary movement that hit France from the late 1780s to the late 1790s. The revolutionary wars caused Philip VII de Bourbon to flee to New France and re-establish his kingdom there. In Europe, Henri d'Anjou was proclaimed by the National Assembly of France as the new King of the French, but his rule was abruptly ended with his execution by the National Assembly, after it was discovered that he was in a plot with Austria to restore the pre-revolutionary order in France. The position of the king was dissolved, and the National Assembly's leader, Austinu Spiga, proclaimed himself as the Director in 1795.

Spiga would then start on a revolutionary campaign to export the revolution and its ideas to France's neighbors. Under his rule, France subjugated the Dutch Republic, Austria, and the various German principalities, with the aid of the Russians. The fall of the Dutch republic directly caused the Autumn War (New Netherland Independence War) in North America in 1796.

However, France would face defeat at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, after an unsuccessful French campaign to take the city of Constantinople. The Treaty of Vienna was signed in 1814. Despite France's defeat, the revolution had shaken up the old order of Europe and redrew its boundaries. A new state of the German Confederation would be created, and the kingdoms of Hanover, Saxony, and Pomerania would be restored, with land larger than what they had before. A new kingdom would also be created, the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Unrest and Reform in the French Americas

During the French revolution and the subsequent regime of Austinu Spiga the British empire briefly took control of the prosporous but trouble French Hispaniola colony of Saint-Domingue. The British found the colony hard to manage with the free black, mixed race and white Francophone populations resentful of British rule. During the Congress of Vienna the island was returned to French rule. When the French returned to the colony they found the islanders increasingly rebellious and after an aborted revolution in 1815 French Authorities acceded to the colonials demands of increased autonomy of internal affairs, increased representation of the colony in the form of a locally elected governor and full equal rights to mixed race Domingues.

In 1832, after a slave revolt in Saint-Domingue that captured the north-western region of the island was put down, the French colonial governor implemented slave protection laws to try to improve working conditions for slaves on sugar plantations and to decrease the risk of slave revolts. During the 1850’s abolitionist sentiments swept the colony and after a massive slave revolt spurred on by news of South Tussenlandts independence the Governor General of Saint-Domingue Jean-Michel de Lepinay declared all slaves on the island free on March 18th 1853. The French republic was threatened by this news, as the governor didn’t get approval of manumission through the French Government. In the aftermath the French navy was sent to Port-au-Prince that summer, but after a week of tension the French government backed down and ratified the manumission of all slaves in the empire, the abolishment of slavery and a token payment of restitution to former slaveowners.

The Canton War (1850 - 1857)

The Dutch had a long monopoly over the Chinese trade since the establishment of Formosa (now Taulandt) in the 17th century. Aiming to break the monopoly, the Kingdoms of France and Britain supported a growing revolt in Canton that aimed to overthrow the Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty requested help from their ally, the Dutch.

On 1 March 1850, a Dutch admiral sunk a British ship carrying gunpowder en route to Canton. As soon as Europe got word of the incident, Britain hastily declared war on the Dutch Empire. France soon joined on the side of Canton and the British. This quickly developed into a global conflict, with British and Dutch colonies being pitted against each other in the Americas and multiple naval battles being fought on the English channel. In China, the Anglo-British-Cantonese alliance was slowly pushing back the Dutch and the Qing.

The Saint-Domingue War for Independence

After the Anglo- French victory in the Canton War (1850-1857) nearly bankrupted the French treasury, the imperial French government tried to raise funds by increasing taxes on sugar, coffee and perfume exports from Saint-Domingue as well as increasing import tariffs on produced goods from the NNL, British colonies and Mexico. This led to a series of riots against French imperial rule of the nation in the summer of 1859. The aftermath of these riots led to an increase in pro-independence attitudes among the Saint-Domingue middle classes. After an incident of a drunk French soldier shooting and killing a Domingue woman in March of 1861, riots broke out in Saint Dominique which spread to all the major port cities.

The rebels hastily organized a militia called the Armée Populaire de Saint Domingue. At the same time pro-independence black sharecroppers and farmworkers in the interior of the island took up arms and sided with the rebels. After only 4 months of fighting the French military was kicked from the island and the rebels declared the independence of Saint Domingue to the world on August 16th 1861. The French tried to regain control of the colony multiple times but were driven off time again; with mounting international pressure, a weak economy and a semi-volatile internal political situation the French relented and the French government recognized the independence of Saint Domingue on October 9th 1862.

Communard Revolution Period (1872 - 1877)

New ideas of socialism (called communardism) had rocked France in the 1870s. Coming from France's intellectual circles, the concept of communardism would win over the French public's following and lead to the bloody murder of King Louis in 1873. The heir died shortly after due to a falling accident. With the Bourbon line dying out, the radical communard party Société des Amis de la République (often shortened to the Société) occupied the power vacuum. The party leader, Étienne Thévenet, declared the establishment of the Communard Republic of France, espousing hardline communard ideals and rejecting all forms of religion and aristocracy. Thévenet envisions a united Europe that transcends racial and linguistic boundaries, united under the ideals of communardism.

As the first step to achieve this, Thévenet looks to the small principality of Belgique to the northeast. Belgique was a pre-dominantly French-speaking Wallonian principality and already had a growing communard movement within. Thévenet supported Belgique's communard insurrection in late 1874 with the French treasury, and the revolution became successful. Belgique was incorporated as a new département of France by Christmas eve of 1874. This chapter of the communard revolution is called the Christmas Uprising and is a regional holiday in the present-day French département of Belgique.

Great Britain began to grow worried of the new government's success. In 1876, attempts by the Société to spread revolution to central Europe and the Italian states were made, but were stopped by an alliance of European powers led by Austria and Britain. By early 1877, the radical Société des Amis de la République was removed out of power by the Parti Communard de France (PCF), a moderate Communard faction, with the support of Great Britain. The PCF established the 3rd French Republic., and sought peaceful coexistence with the British and other European powers. This leads to a mending of relations between the British and France.

During the crisis, Great Britain was able to take some colonial possessions of the French in the Americas (Guadeloupe, Martinique, St, Barthélemy, and Martinique) and in India (Karikal). The new government, however, was allowed to keep its new département of Belgique as was the will of the local Wallonian populace.

Loosely built on communard ideals, the new government would continue to lead in France throughout the 20th century.