I'm begging you not to start the debate as to how this was accomplished given Britain's "mastery of the seas", just assume a fait accompli.
1. Assume Great Britain is taken (somehow) by France.
2. Assume an extended occupation (no debates on what this would take please) of several years.
I want to know how this would affect the general European and world economies.
Great Britain was the vital shipping power of the world. What would occur if the British merchant fleet were to be curtailed for an extended period?
What would be the effect of the same of a lack of manufactured goods exports (even during the Napoleonic Wars, much of the French army uniforms were indirectly provided by the British via smuggling)?
How would the presumed collapse of the British banking system affect the European economy?
Thanks.
I will partially do both.
First of all, even assuming France had had a navy enabling It to defeat Britain on its own ground, It would not have occupied the while of Britain for several years. It would have been very costly. It did not want to and it did not even need to do so. It just needed to have strong garrisons positioned in strategic areas of the British islands for the time to guarantee the enforcement of the provisions of the treaty It Will have imposed on Britain.
This having been said, the european and world economy did not need that much Britain as It was. Britain was not so much an innovator (which It certainly was, no question about it) than a mercantilist monopolist power.
So if Britain is decisively defeated to such a point, this means that other european countries will have much more opportunities to develop their own merchant navires and trade. They will no longer be forced to deal with the costly monopolist british middleman. They will no longer suffer blockade of their coasts nor attacks of their own merchant fleets : they will enjoy freedom of the seas.
There will be a certain delay in innovation but the world will anyway make the innovations that Britain brought and that defeated Britain will certainly bring to the world a few years later.
Financial centers Will develop in Europe too.
If France wins such a crushing victory, then it will reap enormous profits from this victory.
Capital will mainly flow to France which will be the unchallenged dominant number one power for a certain number of decades, probably for a century.
Antwerp will become a harbour that may be on par with depressed London.
With general peace in Europe, France will resume its colonial projects that it was forced to give-up and could not succeed because of general war in Europe. It may take control of Canada and will have the capacity to force the young and fragile US to accept the fait-accompli.
It will certainly want to take Britain's place in India but this will be much more complicated because the British EIC will crash and Will not easily be replaced. What is more probable is that France will demand and take parts of british controlled India, that Britain will remain other parts of it and that other parts Will regain independance.
With a Franca Pax in Europe, France and the rest of Europe will very quickly develop their own shipping and manufacturing facilities.