
What if the French Empire Reunited Today?
Last updated: Thursday April 8th, 2021
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France's history is very complicated, and I mean very complicated. Most of its history has been dominated by its many empires: The Frankish Empire, the First French Empire, you name it! But the most notable of which, you could say was the French Colonial Empire. At its territorial height in 1921, just after victory in the first world war, It controlled was one of the most powerful countries in Europe. This is why it would be interesting to think about what would happen if the entire empire reunited today to its exact same borders in 1921. Please note that I will be going over the French Colonial Empire and not the other French Empires.
Population and Land
The first thing we need to think about is the French Empire's population and land. For starters, the French Empire would control Land in almost every single continent. It would have an enormous chunk of Western Africa, a great portion of southeast Asia, Lebanon and Syria in the Middle East, and of course, France itself, in Europe. The capital city would probably be Paris, in France, as it is already the capital of modern-day France and was the historic capital of the empire back in 1921. But this would not be the largest city within the Empire. Ho Chi Minh City, in Vietnam, would be the largest city with a population of 13,500,000 just barely overtaking Paris's 12,400,000. Here would be the top 10 largest in the empire.
1. Ho Chi Minh City 13,500,000
2. Paris 12,400,000
3. Casablanca 6,900,000
4. Hanoi 6,800,000
5. Algiers 5,000,000
6. Abidjan 4,800,000
7. Oran 3,400,000
8. Tunis 2,600,000
9. Phnom Penh 2,400,000
10. Lyon 2,200,000
Money and GDP
Now we move on to every empire's favourite topic, Wealth. France's nominal GDP alone is around $2.5 Trillion. However, with all of its imperial and colonial possessions added, it would boost the economy up by about $1 Trillion all the way to $3.5 Trillion. This would be enough to put it in 5th Place, well ahead of the United Kingdom ($2.6 Trillion) but just merely behind Germany ($3.7 Trillion). Now moving onto GDP Per Capita. The French Empire's average yearly earnings would be around $5,000 which would put it in 98th place of highest Per Capita income just bearly ahead of Guyana ($4,940) but remaining behind Albania ($5,450). This is a very small amount probably due to the poor living conditions in Chad, the Central African Republic, and Syria. To make up for this, however, The Empire would control a fine amount of the world's oil supply as it controls nearly all of the Oil reserves in Eastern Syria.
Military Size
The French Empire's military would be one of the most impressive in the world as France alone already has an enormous defence budget and the 3rd largest Nuclear Weapon stockpile with an estimated 300 nukes at its disposal. Combined with the rest of the empire, the empire would have a total of 2,100,000 active-duty troops and another 3,800,000 troops in reserves. This would give the empire a total force of a whopping 5,900,000 troops which would be by far the largest military force in the world.
So I think that brings us to the end of what would happen if the French Colonial Empire reunited today in 2021. I would like to point out that this is absolutely impossible to happen in the real world but it would be interesting to think how it would survive in the modern world if it did. Would it go and show off and boast its power to the UK or will it use its strength to deal with more serious matters like preventing WWIII? Please share your thoughts in the comments, but for now...Goooood Bye!
Edit: Russian or Spanish please!
I personally think that UK and France would have created an alliance to prevent any kind of conflicts on Earth, with their presence everywhere on the globe. But we will never know...