[@Gunther] The France of this period is one that is thoroughly consumed with the "Great Confrontation" with Britain. Its socio-political setup resembles in more ways than one the latter stage of the Romanov Russia. An out-of-touch monarch and nobility with crippling civil strife. Their anger against Germany of our timeline is replaced with an ancestral hatred for all things British. The Germans never seized Elsaß-Lothringen/Alsace-Lorraine in our world, so they never came to blows over that.

But in our world, the North Germans are secretly planning to start a war with the French over Elsaß-Lothringen, to drag the whole of the Confederation into a war that they hope will 1) unite all of the Germans and (more importantly for them) 2) push the balance of power against the Austrians and the South Germans. Little do they know that the Hapsburg-led South has made secret overtures and guarantees with France to assist them if the North Germans move to take the province. The North Germans have, in kind, aligned themselves with the British and with the British-aligned Scandinavians to guarantee their seizure of the province if it comes to war.

If we play as France, or any of these countries for that matter, we will play as a group of young noblemen who are all friends in the same social circle, a gentleman's club (not a strip joint!) or something to that effect, who go into service together.