He's for the most part a delightfully snarky editor, which is a good balance to the contemporary hero worship of Preuss and Koser (not that they don't deserve all the credit for their original Research and good citations!). Otoh, he has his share of early Victorian British bias. Take this bit, in his summing up of the Fritz-MT backstory, i.e. Silesia 1 and 2:
The British Cabinet attempted to persuade Maria Theresa to purchase the friendship of Frederic by the sacrifice of a small portion of her territories, but the Queen of Hungary peremptorily rejected all proposals of accommodation. However, after a good deal of fighting, in which her forces had the worst of it, she at last reluctantly acquiesced in the King of Prussia's demands.
Yeah. How could MT be so unreasonable! She could have been totally Fritz' friend if only she'd given him everything he wanted! Foolish woman! The war was totally her fault. All the wars, in fact.
The irony is, in the very next sentence, Bisset even says: There cannot now, we believe, be much question that the claim of Frederic to Silesia was supported on no better ground than that of an armed highwayman to the purse of an unarmed traveller.
Quite right. But MT is still presented as foolishly arrogant and bringing all her troubles upon her for not surrendering Silesia to begin with, and then for trying to get it back. Especially with the British so kindly advising her to give in to Cousin Fritz' demands. No mention of the fact that if she had done so, you can bet the other German princes and European powers would have been even more encouraged to grab what they could get of the HRE and Austria, only in that case she wouldn't have been able to motivate anyone to fight for wihat was left. It was her stubbornness and willingness to fight that convinced the Hungarians to fight for her as well, and enabled her to hold on to everything except for Silesia.
Now, Mitchell and his pen pals in Britain regularly taking about the "haughty" House of Austria/ Queen-Empress/Queen of Hungary is understandable. They were on opposite sides in a war, and they were still sulking about the fact that just because they teamed up with her arch nemesis, she teamed up with their arch nemesis (how could she?). But Bisset is living decades later and prides himself on the fact that he's able to give Fritz his due without being starry-eyed about him. But giving MT her due? Nope. That foolish arrogant woman should have listened to the Brits. Sheesh. Fritz himself is better at giving her credit.
Re: Fritz as a writer: an early Victorian take
He's for the most part a delightfully snarky editor, which is a good balance to the contemporary hero worship of Preuss and Koser (not that they don't deserve all the credit for their original Research and good citations!). Otoh, he has his share of early Victorian British bias. Take this bit, in his summing up of the Fritz-MT backstory, i.e. Silesia 1 and 2:
The British Cabinet attempted to persuade Maria Theresa to purchase the friendship of Frederic by the sacrifice of a small portion of her territories, but the Queen of Hungary peremptorily rejected all proposals of accommodation. However, after a good deal of fighting, in which her forces had the worst of it, she at last reluctantly acquiesced in the King of Prussia's demands.
Yeah. How could MT be so unreasonable! She could have been totally Fritz' friend if only she'd given him everything he wanted! Foolish woman! The war was totally her fault. All the wars, in fact.
The irony is, in the very next sentence, Bisset even says: There cannot now, we believe, be much question that the claim of Frederic to Silesia was supported on no better ground than that of an armed highwayman to the purse of an unarmed traveller.
Quite right. But MT is still presented as foolishly arrogant and bringing all her troubles upon her for not surrendering Silesia to begin with, and then for trying to get it back. Especially with the British so kindly advising her to give in to Cousin Fritz' demands. No mention of the fact that if she had done so, you can bet the other German princes and European powers would have been even more encouraged to grab what they could get of the HRE and Austria, only in that case she wouldn't have been able to motivate anyone to fight for wihat was left. It was her stubbornness and willingness to fight that convinced the Hungarians to fight for her as well, and enabled her to hold on to everything except for Silesia.
Now, Mitchell and his pen pals in Britain regularly taking about the "haughty" House of Austria/ Queen-Empress/Queen of Hungary is understandable. They were on opposite sides in a war, and they were still sulking about the fact that just because they teamed up with her arch nemesis, she teamed up with their arch nemesis (how could she?). But Bisset is living decades later and prides himself on the fact that he's able to give Fritz his due without being starry-eyed about him. But giving MT her due? Nope. That foolish arrogant woman should have listened to the Brits. Sheesh. Fritz himself is better at giving her credit.