Challenge: French Victory in Franco Prussian War, POD after Sedan

[pompejus]

This would be a very difficult sell. France here has to portray itself as the defender of the small German states, or otherwise it is a war of Prussian expansion vs. French expansion, and they've had centuries of experience of the latter.

I think a more realistic proposal would be for France to get Luxembourg, and the handful of towns that were lost in 1815. The Rhineland would be controlled by neither France nor Prussia, but instead restored to the states that once existed there, pre-1789.

France getting the Rhineland would basicly be a message to the Netherlands and Belgium: You will be next! We are still aiming for the Rhineborder! It would be a diplomatic disaster for France, since ot probably means the rest of Europe (including Britain) will unite against it, remembering the Revolutionary, the Napoleonic and the early modern wars. That is besides the fact that France would suddenly have a large German population living inside its borders during the age of nationalism, that realy do not want to be part of France.

Creating an independ state friendly to France would be far more beneficial to France.