Phokasi t1_iqpju7g wrote on October 2, 2022 at 3:56 AM

Reply to comment by Thibaudborny in Simple/Short/Silly History Questions Saturday! by AutoModerator

I would argue that geopolitical stability actually depended on creating more powerful counters to Prussia, Russia, and Austria. He needed a more powerful Poland than just the Grand Duchy, and he needed to split Hungary off from Austria and make it more powerful.

Otherwise you would have to believe that Prussia, Russia, and Austria would just accept the geopolitical situation with France as a hegemon and not fight France again. I don't think that would be possible. French hegemony was inherently unstable unless Napoleon could pit other European states against each other.

Thibaudborny t1_iqpy7dt wrote on October 2, 2022 at 6:40 AM

While I follow the sentiment, the contemporary reality was that Napoleon had done something no previous French monarch had even done: he tied together the eastern & western European spheres. By creating the Polish satellite he ensured that Russia for example would forever ‘haunt’ him till the end of his days. Russia had been generally lukewarm about what was happening in France up until then, no more so after that point.