Differences: Philip II may not have killed his son IRL, just locked up the crazy batshit guy. Peter, well, 1) Russia ~1700 is a little bit more anything-goes (Ivan the Terrible had earlier killed his son in a fit of rage), 2) Peter had more support for his decision and actually got a death sentence out of the court.
FW's court martial, as you may remember, was divided between death and life imprisonment for Katte (meaning the lighter of the two sentences won by law), and after he told them to vote again and come back with a death sentence, they came back with the exact same decision they'd made before, infuriating him and forcing him to pronounce the death sentence on this own. And even the ones who voted for death said, "Please consider how this will affect your son," which may have been the wrong thing to say. :/ FW: "How can I make this affect my son the MOST? I know, I'll have him watch, and tell everyone involved to make sure his heart is broken!"
(Fritz's heart: *is broken*)
And the court martial point-blank refused to have anything to do with judging Fritz.
Would there have been an actual overthrow? FW had been worried about one for a long time; that's partly why he overreacted so badly to the escape attempt, especially when he discovered that foreign powers were involved. I think I've read that earlier that year there was an actual treasonous plot (not directly involving Fritz) that FW had uncovered and he punished the offenders.
Would Charles VI and the Imperial Diet have had something to say about FW if he'd had his son killed? Presumably. Would they have *done* anything to the point of supporting an overthrow? Eh. Charles had tried to protect Peter's son too, but sure as hell wasn't invading Russia over it. That said, the Charles-FW dynamic is very different than the Charles-Peter dynamic, especially with FW and his Imperial leanings.
One problem for anyone supporting an overthrow is that the next candidate after Fritz is killed is only 8 years old. (I mean, that could be an appeal, if you feel like you can become the new power behind the throne, but it's a different kettle of fish than supporting 14-18-yo Fritz as new king.)
I suspect it makes a big difference if FW loses his temper and runs Fritz through with a sword on the spot, then is publicly penitent afterward, vs. if he issues death sentences to everyone.
Here's an evil AU for you: Katte escapes; therefore Fritz is killed. There are people who think having another, more acceptable target made FW more likely to get his thirst for blood out of his system so that he came down on the side of a pardon for Fritz. Pure speculation, and I personally think there were too many other factors for FW to decide in cold blood have his son killed even without Katte to punish, but AUs are for people making different decisions than they did in real life!
Re: Alternate universes where everyone is at least incrementally more happy
FW's court martial, as you may remember, was divided between death and life imprisonment for Katte (meaning the lighter of the two sentences won by law), and after he told them to vote again and come back with a death sentence, they came back with the exact same decision they'd made before, infuriating him and forcing him to pronounce the death sentence on this own. And even the ones who voted for death said, "Please consider how this will affect your son," which may have been the wrong thing to say. :/ FW: "How can I make this affect my son the MOST? I know, I'll have him watch, and tell everyone involved to make sure his heart is broken!"
(Fritz's heart: *is broken*)
And the court martial point-blank refused to have anything to do with judging Fritz.
Would there have been an actual overthrow? FW had been worried about one for a long time; that's partly why he overreacted so badly to the escape attempt, especially when he discovered that foreign powers were involved. I think I've read that earlier that year there was an actual treasonous plot (not directly involving Fritz) that FW had uncovered and he punished the offenders.
Would Charles VI and the Imperial Diet have had something to say about FW if he'd had his son killed? Presumably. Would they have *done* anything to the point of supporting an overthrow? Eh. Charles had tried to protect Peter's son too, but sure as hell wasn't invading Russia over it. That said, the Charles-FW dynamic is very different than the Charles-Peter dynamic, especially with FW and his Imperial leanings.
One problem for anyone supporting an overthrow is that the next candidate after Fritz is killed is only 8 years old. (I mean, that could be an appeal, if you feel like you can become the new power behind the throne, but it's a different kettle of fish than supporting 14-18-yo Fritz as new king.)
I suspect it makes a big difference if FW loses his temper and runs Fritz through with a sword on the spot, then is publicly penitent afterward, vs. if he issues death sentences to everyone.
Here's an evil AU for you: Katte escapes; therefore Fritz is killed. There are people who think having another, more acceptable target made FW more likely to get his thirst for blood out of his system so that he came down on the side of a pardon for Fritz. Pure speculation, and I personally think there were too many other factors for FW to decide in cold blood have his son killed even without Katte to punish, but AUs are for people making different decisions than they did in real life!