The Fifteen Years' War

General
This is a major, worldwide conflict, which was caused by the American Revolution as well as a deal between Spain and France which involved joint conquest of much of the world. The war was a major success for Spain and France.

As the tensions rose in the colonies of Britain following the Boston Massacre, Louis XVI send a message to Charles III of Spain. Louis, being much smarter than in OTL, plans for French dominance, and recognizes Spain as the most logical ally. He makes a plan that was the following: At the outbreak of the American revolutionary war, Spain and France would each send some help to the American rebels. Then, Spain would try to conquer Dutch colonies in the Caribbean, causing the Dutch to send many troops to the Atlantic. Meanwhile, France would launch a ground invasion of the Netherlands, and would hope to quickly conquer the Netherlands. The Dutch mainland would go to France, the Dutch Caribbean colonies would go to Spain, and other Dutch colonies would go to France. WIth this in place, France would tell the American rebels tha they would declare war on France, if the European part of the triangle slave trade was left solely to France and Spain. With Britain losing its cheap goods and taxes from the American colonies, in addition to three trade partners (Dutch, France, Spain) and the income from the slave trade, the British economy would collapse, and the Americans would easily win the war. Meanwhile, the Spanish would invade Portugal, and take control of all of the Portuguese holdings, especially the Brazilian ports which would contribute so much to the Spanish economy. Then, Britain would not even be close to as powerful as Spain and France, who would remain allies. Once Charles III agreed, Louis sent a message to John Hancock, the president of the Continental congress, just as the war broke out, giving him some of the details of what would occur. The war began in 1775, and that year, the Spanish began their conquest of the Dutch colonies, beginning by the surprise attack of Sint Maarten (soon renamed San Martin). THe plan worked and the Americans were granted independence, the SPanish conquered Portugal, and the French captured Amsterdam to take the DUtch EMpire.