There's a reason why even today, you have some historians making the case that in terms of his "interior" politics (not sure that's the right word for Innenpolitik)
I would translate it as "domestic policy", contrasted in English with "foreign policy".
Convinced he knew best, he would: lecture the Archbishop of Canterbury on how to be a proper Protestant (none of that High Church Popery for FW!), tell Parliament he had a couple of laws envisioned they really needed to pass, and piss off the entire English nobility on every level in record time.
Of course he would!
Oh, and anyone male and tall from the Orkney islands to the southern most part of Cornwall, not to mention the Colonies, should be prepared to get kidnapped so he can serve in FW's personal regiment of Windsor Giants.
LOLOLOL!
Do you think he would have gone for Windsor specifically (afaik, G2 didn't), or was that just something you picked because it would be familiar to modern readers?
she gets the necessary budget to continue her mentor Sophia Charlotte's "Athens on the Spree" project
Agreed!
(because Saxony still has Poland, and might make a play for Silesia in 1740 instead of Prussia)
My first response was going to be "diplomatically, yes, but they don't have the army," but then I remembered that half their considerations consisted of being trapped between superpowers Prussia and Austria. If Prussia isn't a superpower to the same degree...maybe a Bavarian-French-Saxon-Prussian alliance breaks out, and Saxony makes a bid for Silesia militarily.
I still say MT kicks their butts, though. :P The Saxon army and treasury (and personalities) in AU!1740 were not the Prussian army and treasury and personalities of RL!1740.
Meaning instead of Prussia becoming a European superpower, edging out Austria for most important within the (soon to be former) HRE, dominating all the other German states to the point that when German unification happens in the late 19th century, it's a Prussification, it could be Saxony instead. Or not, and Austria remains where it's at.
Or Hanover, if this is a swap and Fritz becomes king of GB and elector of Hanover in 1740? :P
Now, the truly dicy question is whether Poniatiowski in Joseph's place would have gone for the Polish Partition. If he would have been against it for ethical reasons
Interesting question. If it was Kaunitz against Poniatowski and MT, would realpolitik still have prevailed? Not sure.
=> Joseph doesn't survive the year as King of Poland. Whether he'll be assassinated by his fellow Poles or by the Russians is up for debate.
I'm with you on this! It's a race between Repnin and the Czartoryskis. (Murder on the Warsaw Express?)
Kingdom, err, Realm Swap 3: Peter the Great (Russia) swaps with Gian Gastone de' Medici (Tuscany)
Hahaha, is it bad that my first thought was, "...well, there's no shortage of alcohol in either place, so that doesn't change."? :P
Gian Gastone loses feuding parents and especially a bigotted Dad but gains a different childhood trauma through the swap. He never has the energy to take power from his older sister and is content to remain a nominal Czar along with brother Ivan while Sofia does the actual governing
Sounds about right.
Meanwhile in Tuscany: No joy for the Ruspanti.
Lol!!
Peter will probably end up excommunicated, but he just might manage to consolidate various Italian principalities into a sort of nation state before he's done.
The thing that comes to my mind is the sudden rise of the Tuscan navy, and the subsequent wars with first neighboring states that have good ports, and then with the Turks!
Peter III of Russia and Frederick the Great would have both been quite satisfied with a kingdom swap, since Peter admired Prussia so much and Frederick would not have said no to such a giant hunk of Empire.
This is where I start running up against details. In 1762? Peter III, yes, 100%, he would have dreamed of that. Fritz, with his back to the wall in the Seven Years' War, fighting for survival? Is either too emotionally shackled to his responsibilities in Prussia, or else tries to have his cake and eat it too. Also, while Fritz had clearly learned to respect the Russian army by then, I'm not sure if land and population would have compensated for his low opinion of Russian civilization.
But say it was forced on him. I'm...this is really weird. I'm trying to get inside his head, and his terrier like inability to let go that makes me think he's still clinging to the idea that Prussia is his is contending with wondering if realpolitik wins out and he just accepts that Russia is the future and doesn't do anything stupid like try to give East Prussia back to the Prussians.
But say his emotional attachment was wiped too, and he's starting with more of a clean slate, more like Catherine. In that case, I agree with you that the future of Russia looks rather similar, with the difference that he's campaigning personally in Ottoman territory rather than just sending Potemkin, and that I don't know who's king of Poland!
Also, it sounds like you envision Catherine going with Peter to Prussia, meaning presumably that EC would go to Russia, but that Heinrich would stay in Prussia and maybe stop Peter from doing anything mind-numblingly stupid?
Like I said, a lot depends on the details: if it's *just* Fritz and Peter who swap, how does the Catherine/Fritz marriage go? Is Fritz finally tested on whether his belief that a woman should be able to cheat if the husband neglects her applies to his wife too?
All fun to think about, this was my favorite day of the January meme!
no subject
There's a reason why even today, you have some historians making the case that in terms of his "interior" politics (not sure that's the right word for Innenpolitik)
I would translate it as "domestic policy", contrasted in English with "foreign policy".
Convinced he knew best, he would: lecture the Archbishop of Canterbury on how to be a proper Protestant (none of that High Church Popery for FW!), tell Parliament he had a couple of laws envisioned they really needed to pass, and piss off the entire English nobility on every level in record time.
Of course he would!
Oh, and anyone male and tall from the Orkney islands to the southern most part of Cornwall, not to mention the Colonies, should be prepared to get kidnapped so he can serve in FW's personal regiment of Windsor Giants.
LOLOLOL!
Do you think he would have gone for Windsor specifically (afaik, G2 didn't), or was that just something you picked because it would be familiar to modern readers?
she gets the necessary budget to continue her mentor Sophia Charlotte's "Athens on the Spree" project
Agreed!
(because Saxony still has Poland, and might make a play for Silesia in 1740 instead of Prussia)
My first response was going to be "diplomatically, yes, but they don't have the army," but then I remembered that half their considerations consisted of being trapped between superpowers Prussia and Austria. If Prussia isn't a superpower to the same degree...maybe a Bavarian-French-Saxon-Prussian alliance breaks out, and Saxony makes a bid for Silesia militarily.
I still say MT kicks their butts, though. :P The Saxon army and treasury (and personalities) in AU!1740 were not the Prussian army and treasury and personalities of RL!1740.
Meaning instead of Prussia becoming a European superpower, edging out Austria for most important within the (soon to be former) HRE, dominating all the other German states to the point that when German unification happens in the late 19th century, it's a Prussification, it could be Saxony instead. Or not, and Austria remains where it's at.
Or Hanover, if this is a swap and Fritz becomes king of GB and elector of Hanover in 1740? :P
Now, the truly dicy question is whether Poniatiowski in Joseph's place would have gone for the Polish Partition. If he would have been against it for ethical reasons
Interesting question. If it was Kaunitz against Poniatowski and MT, would realpolitik still have prevailed? Not sure.
=> Joseph doesn't survive the year as King of Poland. Whether he'll be assassinated by his fellow Poles or by the Russians is up for debate.
I'm with you on this! It's a race between Repnin and the Czartoryskis. (Murder on the Warsaw Express?)
Kingdom, err, Realm Swap 3: Peter the Great (Russia) swaps with Gian Gastone de' Medici (Tuscany)
Hahaha, is it bad that my first thought was, "...well, there's no shortage of alcohol in either place, so that doesn't change."? :P
Gian Gastone loses feuding parents and especially a bigotted Dad but gains a different childhood trauma through the swap. He never has the energy to take power from his older sister and is content to remain a nominal Czar along with brother Ivan while Sofia does the actual governing
Sounds about right.
Meanwhile in Tuscany: No joy for the Ruspanti.
Lol!!
Peter will probably end up excommunicated, but he just might manage to consolidate various Italian principalities into a sort of nation state before he's done.
The thing that comes to my mind is the sudden rise of the Tuscan navy, and the subsequent wars with first neighboring states that have good ports, and then with the Turks!
Peter III of Russia and Frederick the Great would have both been quite satisfied with a kingdom swap, since Peter admired Prussia so much and Frederick would not have said no to such a giant hunk of Empire.
This is where I start running up against details. In 1762? Peter III, yes, 100%, he would have dreamed of that. Fritz, with his back to the wall in the Seven Years' War, fighting for survival? Is either too emotionally shackled to his responsibilities in Prussia, or else tries to have his cake and eat it too. Also, while Fritz had clearly learned to respect the Russian army by then, I'm not sure if land and population would have compensated for his low opinion of Russian civilization.
But say it was forced on him. I'm...this is really weird. I'm trying to get inside his head, and his terrier like inability to let go that makes me think he's still clinging to the idea that Prussia is his is contending with wondering if realpolitik wins out and he just accepts that Russia is the future and doesn't do anything stupid like try to give East Prussia back to the Prussians.
But say his emotional attachment was wiped too, and he's starting with more of a clean slate, more like Catherine. In that case, I agree with you that the future of Russia looks rather similar, with the difference that he's campaigning personally in Ottoman territory rather than just sending Potemkin, and that I don't know who's king of Poland!
Also, it sounds like you envision Catherine going with Peter to Prussia, meaning presumably that EC would go to Russia, but that Heinrich would stay in Prussia and maybe stop Peter from doing anything mind-numblingly stupid?
Like I said, a lot depends on the details: if it's *just* Fritz and Peter who swap, how does the Catherine/Fritz marriage go? Is Fritz finally tested on whether his belief that a woman should be able to cheat if the husband neglects her applies to his wife too?
All fun to think about, this was my favorite day of the January meme!