A Bourbon-Habsburg alliance in 1715

[Comte de Dordogne]

Earlier I was listening to a radio programme about Prince Eugene of Savoy and his more or less stormy relationship with France.
The historian who spoke explained that despite Savoy's resentment towards Louis XIV, he had been a supporter of the Franco-Austrian rapprochement that Louis XIV was seeking after the War of the Spanish Succession. The speaker then speculated that the alliances would have been reversed at the beginning of the 18th century if the Sun King had lived longer.
And if Louis XIV lived until 1720, how could the rapprochement between Vienna and Versailles have been achieved? How would the alliance have behaved with the rest of Europe if it could have been put in place? What are the consequences of this reversal of alliances and what kind of conflict is Europe likely to experience with this upheaval?

 

[Nivek]

Earlier I was listening to a radio programme about Prince Eugene of Savoy and his more or less stormy relationship with France.
The historian who spoke explained that despite Savoy's resentment towards Louis XIV, he had been a supporter of the Franco-Austrian rapprochement that Louis XIV was seeking after the War of the Spanish Succession. The speaker then speculated that the alliances would have been reversed at the beginning of the 18th century if the Sun King had lived longer.
And if Louis XIV lived until 1720, how could the rapprochement between Vienna and Versailles have been achieved? How would the alliance have behaved with the rest of Europe if it could have been put in place? What are the consequences of this reversal of alliances and what kind of conflict is Europe likely to experience with this upheaval?

I doubt it, Louis XIV already fucked up the spanish inherance and his goal to conquer the Austria Netherlands make it very shaky

 

[Falecius]

It would scare the living shits out of England, and the Netherlands too I think.

 

[Comte de Dordogne]

I doubt it, Louis XIV already fucked up the spanish inherance and his goal to conquer the Austria Netherlands make it very shaky

I quite agree with you but for France it would be the best possible alliance at that time. Spain is Bourbon and the Habsburg encirclement of France no longer exists. There may still be the problem of Naples-Sicily between the Habsburgs and the Bourbons of Spain, but after this problem has been solved there is no reason why Vienna and Versailles should still be in tension.

It would scare the living shits out of England, and the Netherlands too I think.

How do you think they could thwart this alliance of the continent's two greatest powers?

 

[kasumigenx]

It is actually funny that the Bourbons are the people behind the Habsburgs in Spanish succession due to being descended from Eleanor of Navarre...

 

[Falecius]

How do you think they could thwart this alliance of the continent's two greatest powers?

If Vienna, Paris and Madrid are set on it, there is very little the others can do about it.

 

[Vanity 6]

Weren’t they in an alliance...the Quadruple Alliance...for a while? France did some good by Austria. Having itback during the Second Morean War is an example.

But what if it continued? There could be some interesting horse trading. Lorraine for Tuscany as in OTL. Austrian Netherlands for Venetia and Dalmatia? Naples and Sicily for Bavaria?

I agree there is not much Britain and the Dutch could do about it other than to offer a better deal to one of the allies or the other. I think the price would be pretty high.