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This is totally too good to keep to myself: on my "I showed my family opera clips" post, ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mildred_of_midgard and selenak are talking about Frederick the Great (by way of Don Carlo, of course) and it is like this amazing virtuoso spontaneous thing and whoa
Things I knew about Frederick the Great before a year ago: he was king of... Prussia??
Additional things I knew about Frederick the Great before the last couple of days:selenak informed me last year that he and his dad may well have been at least somewhat the inspiration for Schiller's Don Carlos, and everything that goes with that: his dad (Friedrich Wilhelm, henceforth FW) was majorly awful, he had a boyfriend (Katte) who was horribly killed by his dad
Only a partial list of the additional things I now know about Frederick the Great (henceforth "Fritz") and associated historical figures due to mildred and selenak:
-Fritz and Katte's escape plan (which resulted in Katte's execution) was... really, really boneheaded. As boneheaded as opera plots! :P
-Katte was in the process of destroying 1,500 letters when he got caught (! puts all those letters in Don Carlos into perspective) (ETA: but also see mildred's comment below)
-Fritz wrote opera libretti and so did his sister
-Fritz decided to use himself as an experimental test subject to see if it was entirely possible to do without sleep via the application of coffee WITH PEPPERCORNS AND MUSTARD
-Fritz wrote a poem about orgasm that also reads as if he's never actually, like, had sex (although that was not in this post, it was in the comments to this one)
-FW apparently beat up George II when they were kids
-I am totally not even going to try to summarize the discussion about FW's "rationalized sadism" and sexual hangups and the reeeeeally bizarre Dresden interlude (go down a couple of comments for the really insane stuff)
-Fritz' sister Wilhemina wrote tell-all memoirs about her totally insane family which I am SUPER going to read now, watch this space
Also, there is apparently some subplot involving Russian fanboys that introduces an entirely new cast of people which I am dying to find out about
mildred_of_midgard and selenak are talking about Frederick the Great (by way of Don Carlo, of course) and it is like this amazing virtuoso spontaneous thing and whoaThings I knew about Frederick the Great before a year ago: he was king of... Prussia??
Additional things I knew about Frederick the Great before the last couple of days:
selenak informed me last year that he and his dad may well have been at least somewhat the inspiration for Schiller's Don Carlos, and everything that goes with that: his dad (Friedrich Wilhelm, henceforth FW) was majorly awful, he had a boyfriend (Katte) who was horribly killed by his dadOnly a partial list of the additional things I now know about Frederick the Great (henceforth "Fritz") and associated historical figures due to mildred and selenak:
-Fritz and Katte's escape plan (which resulted in Katte's execution) was... really, really boneheaded. As boneheaded as opera plots! :P
-Katte was in the process of destroying 1,500 letters when he got caught (! puts all those letters in Don Carlos into perspective) (ETA: but also see mildred's comment below)
-Fritz wrote opera libretti and so did his sister
-Fritz decided to use himself as an experimental test subject to see if it was entirely possible to do without sleep via the application of coffee WITH PEPPERCORNS AND MUSTARD
-Fritz wrote a poem about orgasm that also reads as if he's never actually, like, had sex (although that was not in this post, it was in the comments to this one)
-FW apparently beat up George II when they were kids
-I am totally not even going to try to summarize the discussion about FW's "rationalized sadism" and sexual hangups and the reeeeeally bizarre Dresden interlude (go down a couple of comments for the really insane stuff)
-Fritz' sister Wilhemina wrote tell-all memoirs about her totally insane family which I am SUPER going to read now, watch this space
Also, there is apparently some subplot involving Russian fanboys that introduces an entirely new cast of people which I am dying to find out about
God save our Saxon cousins
Grandma: Sophia Dorothea the Older. Was a high spirited princess forced to marry future George I.; at their first meeting, she cried „I will not marry the pig snout!“ But then, no one asked her. She and (future) G 1 both were unfaithful in their marriage, but this being the merry times for women that they were, it had only bad results for SD the Older. She fell passionately in love with one Count of Königsmarck and wanted to run away with him. (Are you paying attention, grandson?) The plan was uncovered, Königsmarck disappeared from the face of the earth, and no one ever saw him again or knows, to this day, what happened. Obvious guess: still not G1 had him killed. But it could never be proven. SD was locked up and remained in prison for the rest of her life, over thirty years of it. She never saw either of her children (future G2 and Sophia Dorothea the Younger, mother of Fritz) again. Most heartbreaking detail: when SD the younger was Queen of Prussia, she once did visit Hannover and the place where SD the older was kept prisoner. SD the older got special robes for the occasion and waited for the entire time of the visit... in vain, because SD the younger only saw her father, G1, during that visit to Hannover.
Uncle G2: spent his early childhood at Sophia of Hannover‘s palace due to his mother being locked up (where he had that unfriendly childhood encounter with younger cousin FW). Despised his father and vice versa, culminating in big scandal during the baptism ceremony for G2‘s second son. G1 had wanted a different godfather than future G2 intended. G1‘s choice of godfather showed up at the cathedral. Future G2 freaks out, insults godfather to the point godfather challenges him to duel. G1 freaks out, has future G2 & wife Caroline locked up in their apartments, then banished from court but without their kids and forbidding them to see same. (Including the just baptized baby.) Later relents so that Caroline can see the kid, but future G2 only once a week, strictly supervised. The baby dies in future G2‘s arms. Flashforward: when G1 dies (in Hannover), G2 refuses to go to the funeral. British subjects, pleased, assume this is because G2 feels more like a Brit than a German. Get disillusioned when he subsequently keeps holidaying in Hannover, to which he says that it‘s a British custom to have a countryhouse, and Hannover is his. Meanwhile, no visits to Dad‘s grave.
G2 has surviving sons of his own. But does he have better relationships with them? Ha. The one Wilhelmine was supposed to marry once upon a time, Frederick, actively campaigns for the opposition. When G2 returns from one of Hannover holidays and gets sick, Fred launches the rumor his father is already dying (not the first itme a Prince of Wales would do something like that), which means G2 gets up and insists on attending a party to stop the rumor.
When Fred dies (leaving baby future G3 behind), followed by his sister Louisa, G2 comments: "This has been a fatal year for my family. I lost my eldest son – but I am glad of it ... Now [Louisa] is gone. I know I did not love my children when they were young: I hated to have them running into my room; but now I love them as well as most fathers.“
This was as functional as Hannoverian parents ever got. I mean, FW still wins in terms of being The Worst Father because the only one executing someone‘s lover was G1 and he did it to his wife, not offspring, but seriously, had those English marriages for Fritz and Wilhelmine ever worked out, they‘d have gotten from the frying pan into the fire, is what I‘m saying.
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
had those English marriages for Fritz and Wilhelmine ever worked out, they‘d have gotten from the frying pan into the fire
Wilhelmine, definitely. Fritz? I seem to recall Amelia more or less had her shit together, or at least if there are any similar anecdotes about her, I'm not aware of them (but please feel free to share!).
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
Amelia: she comes across as sane and sympathetic to me, too. (The most negative Thing I know is her own variation of the "miller sues Fritz" Story which is still one of the most popular Old Fritz legends in Germany. (She got (successfully) sued for wanting to cancel public access to Richmond Park.) However: she still had a medaillon of Fritz as a Crown prince with her when she died, unmarried, she comes across as a determined, strong willed Woman, and she probably had an illegitimate child. This strikes me as a fatal combination for the thankless job of being Fritz' beard, since she would have had romantic expectations of him, and I doubt she'd have been satisfied with dinner once a year and not even political power and glamour to compensate. At the very least, I can see her Looking for love elsewhere, and somehow I doubt Fritz would have been as understanding as he was about his nephew's wife producing an illegitimate child.
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
At the very least, though I'm doubtful about the sex and pretty sure he would have kept her at arm's reach from political power as best he could, she might have gotten more glamour and more romance (at least for show) from Fritz than one dinner a year.
He would no way have excused an illegitimate child, but I have to feel that she might not have gone that far if married, out of self-preservation if nothing else. Especially if they'd managed to keep the marriage from degenerating as badly as FW & SD--not a happy marriage, certainly, but possibly a successful arranged marriage.
I guess what I'm saying is: a marriage that Fritz has fought hard *against* and lost is potentially a different animal from a marriage that he's fought hard *for* and won, even if Fritz remains the same person (and a potentially less bitter person, at that, for not having lost the marriage battle while imprisoned).
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
Fritz and G3 I'm much more skeptical about. Maaaybe if the Seven Years' War had been less devastating to Prussia, and if that was due in an undeniable way to help from Britain? But Fritz was never known for gratitude toward his allies. I can see him helping out G3 if he expects to get something out of it; when he's already gotten what he wanted and is nearing the end of his life, what's the point? He's got problems closer to home to worry about.
The first question that comes to my mind is: helped out how? Going in person? Not a chance. Shipping mass troops overseas where he couldn't personally oversee them? Seems OOC. Money? I don't know, was he in the habit of giving money to his allies when he could use it on opera houses? (Half rhetorical, half serious question: I have an impression of Fritz as reluctant to part with money in general, but there may be examples I'm forgetting where he subsidized other countries to get what he wanted. But again, what does he want here?)
Writing letters to other European monarchs about how democracy was the scourge of the earth and the colonies owed obedience to their British overlords? Yeah, sure, but I don't think history changes much. (While I would never expect him to support democracy as a system of government, I'm curious if you know what his RL opinions were about specific American reforms.)
So that leaves shipping officers overseas to help out the British against the likes of von Steuben and Lafayette (I have to assume Fritz's acid letters to France just made the French-American alliance stronger, if anything). That I could see Fritz doing. He doesn't have to fear mass desertion among his officer corps nearly as much as the rank and file, the cost-benefit ratio is good as long as he has enough officers at home to make up for the losses in the Americas (he never minded losing his officers in battle), he gets to take some credit if the British win, some of his officers presumably come home with more battlefield experience, and he gets goodwill from Britain at pretty low cost.
If we're talking about changes caused by the personalities involved in the double marriage, well, Wilhelmine is long dead and was never queen, and Fritz presumably keeps Amelia as far from power as he can, the same way he did his mother. To the extent that she tries to influence politics anyway, and to the extent that she succeeds, to that extent I predict a less successful marriage.
So, while I see Fritz potentially being 5% more chill in his overall personality because he wasn't forced into a marriage he hated, and at least 50% more willing to make an effort within the context of that marriage, if you assume everything else stays the same, it's hard for me to believe it affects his foreign policy *that* much.
Open to other arguments, though! I am definitely not up on the political nuances here, and am arguing almost solely from Fritz psychology.
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
Oh, she was married to Philippe d'Orleans! Thanks, Wikipedia. Yeah, no, Fritz couldn't even have aspired to that level of gayness.
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
I also learned much of my history (not Fritz, though) in high school from historical fiction. Well, a weird self-taught mixture of history and historical fiction--I'd read the fiction to make the history stick in my memory, and the history to know what I should and shouldn't believe in the fiction. It worked pretty well: much of what I've been regurgitating for you the last few days is from 20-year-old memories. (I'll admit I was a bit nervous writing the Seven Years' War summary and relieved when
Well, and then there was the part where I spent a good half of high school writing an 18th-century alternate history military history novel that I abandoned at 800 pages, because that's so on-brand for me. *That*'ll fix stuff in your memory! (Fritz was a fairly minor secondary character in this novel, but it was specifically researching this novel that led me to discover who he was, fall in love within the first few minutes of flipping through a short bio, proceed to read everything I could get my hands on, and spend the next two years trying to keep him from playing an unrealistically large role in my plot, haha. Then, when I abandoned this novel, I handed him over to my immortal Mary Sue character and said, "Here, he can fit into your eventful life story. Have fun.")
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
My individual teachers were by and large not terrible (unlike the guidance counselor), and I got along with a lot of them as people, and a number of them were even good teachers for the rank and file, and I respect that, but the vast majority were not invested in challenging me. Plus the whole system was set up to make sure my time was being wasted, and you know how my parents were about supplementing school with extracurriculars. My two exceptional teachers were US History and junior + senior English. (Not surprisingly, the English teacher was the most hated and feared teacher in the school. She was my favorite.) The librarian was wonderful, I miss her so much (cancer shortly after I graduated). <3 :'-(
My freshman English teacher, god, I liked him as a person, but he argued with me that "The volleyball team played good" was grammatically correct and "The volleyball team played well" was incorrect, because "volleyball team" is a noun, so it takes an adjective. <-- My education.
Freshman me actually asked him to his face what he had majored in, because I didn't think it was English. When my mother heard this story, she made me write him a note of apology. To this day, I think that question was justified.
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
heh, yup, my US History teacher was also a super nice person! She also told us at some point that the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis were the same thing, which even as high schoolers we were pretty sure was not the case. But she often just didn't even show up for class (we were sent to the library to work on history outlines, which you will be unsurprised to hear none of us actually did), so the amount of actually false things we imbibed was fairly low.
I'm told that earlier classes remembered her fondly, so apparently she wasn't always like that -- I wonder what happened.
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
Detour: Liselotte von der Pfalz
So here is Liselotte, writing to her German relations re: men who love men in general:
„Wo seydt Ihr und Louisse denn gestocken, daß ihr die weldt so wenig kendt? (…) wer alle die haßen woldt, so die junge kerls lieben, würde hier kein 6 menschen lieben können!
(What is it with you and Louise knowing the world so little? If one would hate all those who love young men, one could love all but six people here!") (The English, alas, doesn't convey Liselotte being extremely informal here; that she wrote baroque slang Germman is part of the appeal of her letters.)
Didn't mean she had a high opinion of her husband's boyfriends, whom she regarded as parasites, or of his habit of spending gigantic sums on them:
„Monsieur... hat nichts in der welt im kopf als seine junge kerls, umb da ganze nächte mit zu fressen, zu saufen, und gibt ihnen unerhörte summen gelds, nichts kost ihm noch ist zu teuer vor die bursch
("Monsieur thinks of nothing but his young fellows; they spend the nights stuffing themselves, drinking themselves to oblivion, and he gives Incredible amounts of Money to them, nothing is too expensive for him as far as the boys are concerned.")
She also wasn't impressed with their proclaimed affections; when, in 1702, she was told that the Earl of Albermale, William II.'s boyfriend, supposedly had nearly died of a broken heart following William's death, she wryly commented : "We didn't see such affection from any of the fellows for Monsieur."
But still: they produced children, were both relieved when enough of those were around to make marital sex unnnecessary, and sometimes made each other laugh; at one occasion, they got into a farting contest with their oldest son (the later Regent of France). At that point, Liselotte considered having to put up with Louis XIV's Maitresse en titre, Madame de Maintenon, a greater trial than Philippe's boys, and that was what she was referring to when writing to Sophia of Hannover (she who raised GII, SD the younger and for a few years FW at home):
Madame sein ist ein ellendes handwerck, hette ichs wie die chargen hir im landt verkauffen können, hette ichs lengst feil getragen“.
"Being Madame is a lousy job; if I could have sold it like every lackey in this country does with their office, I'd have done it a long time ago."
Re: Detour: Liselotte von der Pfalz
Also, it was practical for her to write in, if her letters got intercepted, which they sometimes were
LOL, this made me laugh -- all the nobility hated the German language so much at this point that it was a good way of encrypting messages from said nobility! Heh.
one could love all but six people here!
Do you mean "there are not six people here one could love"? (it just seems like it would make a little more sense in context)
Those letters sound awesome. And it sounds like, while maybe not a perfect marriage, a generally successful and sometimes even happy one, which is rather a relief after reading about all these terrible ones :P :)
Re: Detour: Liselotte von der Pfalz
What she meant was if one could love only people not into m/m sex at the court of Versailles, there would be only six or thereabouts left, so - yes? Also, found a good Translation of the entire passage, Liselotte writing to her nieces at home:
"Where have you and Luise been that you know so little of the world? It seems to me that one does not have to live at court very long to know all about it; but if one were to hate all those who love young fellows, one could not love - or at least not hate - six persons here. There are various kinds of such people; some of them hate women like the plague and can only love other men, others love both men and women … some only go for children of ten or eleven, others want young fellows between seventeen and twenty-five, and these are the most numerous; some of the debauched characters love neither men nor women and have their pleasure by themselves, but there are fewer of them than of the others. Some also engage in debaucheries of various kinds, with animals or people, whatever comes their way. I know one man here who boasts that he has done it with everything, even down to toads. Ever since I learned this, I loathe the sight of this fellow."
I don't blame her. Toads!
a generally successful and sometimes even happy one, which is rather a relief after reading about all these terrible ones :P :)
Okay, here's Liselotte telling her aunt a story she had from her husband's favourite boyfriend, the Chevalier de Lorraine, and bear in mind this is an ex-Protestant who only converted because she had to writing to a still Protestant:
: I know some fine stories, one of which I simply must tell Your Grace: I heard it three or four days ago, and it happened in a Jesuit college. The Chevalier de Lorraine claims that it is his son who did this trick and that he does this sort of thing all the time. One of the pupils at the college was full of mischief of all kinds, ran around all night long, and did not sleep in his room. So the reverend fathers threatened him with a tremendous beating if he did not stay in his room at night. The boy goes to a painter and asks him to paint two saints on his buttocks, on the right cheek Saint Ignatius of Loyola and on the left Saint François Xavier, which the painter did. With that the boy tidily pulls up his breeches, goes back to his college, and starts making all kinds of trouble. When the reverend fathers catch him at it, they tell him, “This time you’ll be whipped.” The boy begins to struggle and plead, but they say that pleading will not do him any good. So the boy gets down on his knees and says, “O Saint Ignatius, o Saint Xavier, have pity upon me and perform a miracle for me to prove my innocence.” With that the fathers pull down his breeches, and, as they lift up his shirt to beat him, the boy calls out, “I am praying with such fervor that I am certain my invocation will be heard!” When the fathers see the two painted saints, they exclaim: “A miracle! the boy whom we thought a rogue is a saint!” And with that they fall on their knees to kiss the behind and then call together all the pupils and make them come in procession to kiss the holy behind, which all of them do.
And here is a great vid showing Liselotte, Philippe d'Orleans and the Chevalier de Lorraine as depicted in the tv Show Versailles.
Re: Detour: Liselotte von der Pfalz
What she meant was if one could love only people not into m/m sex at the court of Versailles, there would be only six or thereabouts left, so - yes?
Re: Detour: Liselotte von der Pfalz
Re: Detour: Liselotte von der Pfalz
Re: Detour: Liselotte von der Pfalz
Oh man, Liselotte sounds amazing. LOL.
Also I adore that vid. Should I put Versailles on the queue? (...though I am way behind on TV shows, I might get to it... next year?? at the rate I'm going)
Re: Detour: Liselotte von der Pfalz
OTOH, if there’s an audiobook in English for LIselotte’s letters, go for it. They need to be read out loud for maximum enjoyment. (I’m only sorry that those English translations I’ve seen invariably sound more formal than Liselotte does in in German, because the fact she writes informal baroque slang German at the extremely formal court of France is part of the appeal.
Re: Detour: Liselotte von der Pfalz
Re: Detour: Liselotte von der Pfalz
Re: Detour: Liselotte von der Pfalz
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
I'm in parallel with reading all your comments reading Wilhelmine going "I really, really don't want to marry into this family" and... like... I see her point. FW may be worse, but when you combine her pretty clear Stockholm syndrome (I'm not sure that's quite the right term, but you know what I mean) and his being the devil she knows, I can't blame her for considering this not a good alternative.
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
I...honestly can't believe I didn't figure this out on my own, maybe it was because I read the book before I knew too much about psychology, but there's this one fairly well-known popular historian, Barbara Tuchman, who has this thesis that, at least in the 14th century and maybe in general, the past was such a terrible place because everybody was traumatized (think Black Death) all the time, and nobody was thinking clearly, and everybody was perpetuating trauma on everyone all the time, and it just makes *so much sense*. Because, like I keep saying, I would 100% have been perpetuating the cycle of trauma in their shoes. And in A Distant Mirror, she finds this one semi-obscure French nobleman, and goes, "Him! He acts like a sensible adult! Let's follow him as best we can through the limited documentary evidence."
ETA: Oh, and then he dies of the Black Death, according to Wikipedia. SEE?
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
No kidding. With escalating consequences for everyone else. I mean, WWII had a million more reasons than Wilhelm II.'s hangups, but they sure didn't help. Incidentally, since it's sort of "Our Insane Family: How It All Ended", I present to you Kaiserstur, last year's docudrama about how Germany went from a monarchy to a democracy near the end of mass slaughter, proving that Hohenzollern dysfunction played a role to the very end.
Here's how things went down for Wilhelm II., German emperor famous for his bombast, his hang-ups about his British cousins (his mother having been Victoria's oldest daughter), his hate-mongering speeches leading up to WWII and his utter lack of smarts and judgment, according to this docudrama (in which Wilhelm was played by Sylvester Groth, whom viewers of Deutschland '83 might recall as the most prominent Stasi official):
Wilhelm: It's October 1918, and I was just told by Generals Luddendorff & Hindenburg we're losing the war. How can this be? I'm feeling depressed.
Auguste Victoria (his wife, played by Sunni Melles): Never you mind. You're chosen by destiny. Don't give up!
Kurt Hahn (future school founder, but right now young good looking idealist employed by Max von Baden as his secretary and confidant, to his employer): Clearly, this is your hour. Only you can restore Germany's international reputation and negotiate an honorable peace.
Max von Baden: Kind of you to say so, Kurt, especially since this drama represents me as a weak-willed pushover only and doesn't even mention stuff like my work for the international Red Cross to ensure prisoners of all nationalities get medical care. But since I have no political experience whatsoever, how do we go about making me a good candidate for chancellor?
Kurt Hahn: We'll offer an alliance to the Social Democrats in order to save Germany.
Friedrich Ebert (leader of the SPD): Guys, I'm willing, but you are aware everyone hates the Emperor's guts by now, aren't you?
Max von Baden: I would never conspire against my cousin the Emp...
Kurt Hahn (hastily interjecting): Details, details! Saving Germany is all that matters, right?
Wilhelm II: What's this about me accepting Cousin Max as the new chancellor? Never!
Auguste Viktoria: He's gay and a tool in the hands of his Jewish secretary. Never!
Luddendorff & Hindenburg: Your Highness, we think you should accept Max von Baden as the new Chancellor.
Wilhelm: But why?
Luddendorff: Because we need someone to blame later. Also, I'm told I have a date with Wonder Woman in a parallel universe where I'm allowed to poison all other generals, so I'm off for now. Please sign this declaration.
Wilhelm: This is so humiliating. I hate my life. Ah well, a roaring speech to munition workers about how this is all England's fault will cheer me up!
Workers: *boo and hiss*
Wilhelm: Clearly socialist plants were in the audience, but I think I'll make no more public appearances. As in, ever. *has nervous breakdown*
Philipp Scheideman: Fritz, why the hell should we join a crumbling government? We'll only be blamed after the war. Also, as Social Democrats we oppose all these aristos stand for!
Ebert: Because you don't want us to have something like the Russian Revolution complete with bloody civil war, do you? Also, we're getting two ministeries, and one of them is for you. I'm cunningly not taking one so that as leader of the party, I can maintain my independence.
Hahn: Bad news, your highness. The Americans just said they won't negotiate for peace with you, either, as long as your cousin the Emperor is still Emperor.
Ebert: Look, I'm all for preserving the monarchy, but getting rid of Willy sounds awesome. Since his sons are no better, how about making his kid grandson Emperor and you the regent?
Auguste Victoria *makes a phonecall*: Max, you evil traitor, if you as much as think of taking the throne in any way whatsoever, we'll go public about you being gay!
Max von Baden: *has a nervous breakdown*
Luddendorff: I need to work on the Dolchstoßlegende about the army remaining undefeated. Therefore, I'm performing an U-Turn. Forgot what I said earlier. We don't want peace and will continue fighting.
Max von Baden: *has even more of a nervous breakdown, and a cold which might or might not have been a case of the coming Spanish Influenza*
Seaman in Kiel: *revolt*
Bavarians: *also revolt*
Rest of Germany: *rumblings*
Wilhelm: I'm off to army headquarters, and when I get back with my loyal soldiiers, you traitorous lot will all hang! That goes for you, too, Max!
Luddendorff & Hindenburg: Sorry, no can do. Marching on Berlin is out.
Ebert: Hahn, I swear, we WILL have a Russian Revolution here if your prince doesn't finally get off his butt and does something. Starting with declaring that the Emperor has resigned.
Max von Baden: But the Emperor hasn't... fine. Here's the public declaration that the Emperor has resigned.
Wilhelm: The Germans are a nations of traitorous pigs who don't deserve me. I'm off to the Netherlands, becoming a gardener.
Philip Scheidemann: Hooray! WE HAVE A REPUBLIC! I'M TELLING EVERYONE!
Ebert: Oh, for God's sake! How anti democratic is that? We'll have a people's vote about which state they want first. *takes off to visit Max von Baden again* Okay, if you want to save the monarchy in Germany in a parliamentary monarchy fashion, this is the very last moment. Declare your regency already.
Max von Baden: No can do. Cousins Willy and Auguste Victoria told me they'll destroy me by going public about my sex life if I do that. Sorry, Ebert, it's your turn. I'm declaring you Chancellor in my last act of government.
Ebert: ....I gess we have a Republic now. Also, I think I prefer being President.
All every well acted. As you may guess, my one problem is the presentation of Max von Baden. Not that I doubt he made his share of mistakes, but he's being presented so clueless and weak-willed that it's incomprehensible why Hahn and Ebert for the entire movie until five minutes before the ending think it's a good idea this man should rule the country in its worst crisis ever. And since he's the tale's sole declared homosexual character, with said sexuality explicitly used against him (which, btw, according to Machtan, the historian who consulted for this movie, Auguste Victoria actually did), this is doubly unfortunate. (Now you could argue that the movie doesn't let him do anything he didn't historically do, but they also don't mention, see above, things like his championing of the Red Cross (and the YMCA), which would have at least made it clear where his good reputation comes from. Also, there's a scene where he's getting a massage while the situation is getting ever more desperate which definitely falls under script and direction laying the "weak decadent" characterisation on even thicker.)
Other than that, though, I thought it was a well made docudrama focusing on an aspect in a key period of German history I hadn't known that much about, being more focused on what happened directly after the war was over. It was careful about the details (no one mentions Wilhelm's left arm, for example, but the actor never forgets Wilhelm couldn't move it). It's a story without heroes - though in terms of good intentions, Philip Scheidemann and Kurt Hahn come closest, plus Mrs. Ebert wins for sardonic comments every time her husband comes home with a new development -, but without villains, either, since the generals only show up twice very briefly and Wilhelm has already done all his damage before the war and is increasingly impotent within the chosen time frame. Otoh, no one (other than poor Max von Baden) comes across as one dimensional and you can get where everyone is coming from.
Re: God save our Saxon cousins
Re: God save our Saxon cousins