Explaining the French Empires

In this episode of History 102, 'WhatIfAltHist' creator Rudyard Lynch and co-host Austin Padgett analyze France's three distinct empires across four centuries, examining why France—despite superior geography and population—repeatedly failed to achieve lasting global dominance like Britain, cycling through spectacular rises and political collapses that prevented strategic consolidation. -- 📰 Be notified early when Turpentine's drops new publication: https://www.turpentine.co/exclusiveaccess -- SPONSOR: NETSUITE | SHOPIFY | ORACLE More than 40,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, into ONE proven platform. If you're looking for an ERP platform, get a one-of-a-kind flexible financing program on NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/zen - Download your free CFO's guide to AI and machine learning. Shopify is the world's leading e-commerce platform, offering a market-leading checkout system Shoppay and exclusive AI apps. Nobody does selling better than Shopify. Get a $1 per month trial at https://shopify.com/momentofzen. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI): Oracle's next-generation cloud platform delivers blazing-fast AI and ML performance with 50% less for compute and 80% less for outbound networking compared to other cloud providers. OCI powers industry leaders like Vodafone and Thomson Reuters with secure infrastructure and application development capabilities. New U.S. customers can get their cloud bill cut in half by switching to OCI before March 31, 2024 at https://oracle.com/cognitive. -- FOLLOW ON X: @whatifalthist (Rudyard) @LudwigNverMises (Austin) @TurpentineMedia -- KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DISCUSSION Three French Empires First Empire (1620-1765): North America Quebec to New Orleans via Great Lakes/Mississippi Founded Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, New Orleans Lost everything to Britain in Seven Years War (1763) Second Empire (1798-1815): Napoleon's Europe Continental empire from Rhine to Russia Invented "total war" concept Ended with Russian invasion disaster Third Empire (1830-1960s): Colonial Africa West Africa, Algeria, Vietnam response to Franco-Prussian War Lasted longest but economically insignificant "Strong generalist, not extreme player" - Best European geography and population, but never committed to single strategy like England (naval) or Germany (continental). Pattern: Success → Political crisis → Lost empire → Repeat. Louis XIV's Centralization: Created cultural dominance but killed regional innovation that powered England Seven Years War (1756-63): Lost North America and India to Britain in same year - "made Britain superpower, destroyed France" Franco-Prussian War (1871): Humiliation sparked Africa colonization; transformed France from militaristic to pacifist WWI: Highest casualties of major powers, shifted to pacifism WWII: Rapid defeat, Vichy collaboration created lasting national shame Lost final colonies in brutal Algerian War (1962), became junior partner to Germany in EU. Key Quote: "France is a great country, but always on the edge of breaking through the threshold the Anglo-Saxons reached... lots of thrashing about and epicness without the long-term impact of Spain, Britain, or Russia." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices