User blog comment:IndigoOnIceCream/What if France won the Franco-Prussian War?/@comment-4656717-20120511083945/@comment-4656717-20120511101845

I'm afraid you must be mistaken.

The whole reason that Bismark orchestrated the war was so that the Southern states would feel threatened by France, and so join the Prussia, creating the German Empire. And according to this (which is, I know, just wikipedia), they joined the Prussians against France.

But if the plan backfired, they could have swapped sides and been a significant help to the French.