:) All the kudos to you for figuring out who was meant by „Wilhelmsthaler“. Re: Maria von Katte, maybe reading her father‘s autobiography will reveal something to me that could provide a good in!
Then again, we could fare life Fritz with his various psychological warfare cunning plans he shares with Mitchell and Mitchell reports home to London. It‘s always along the same basic principle:
1:) The French and the Austrians have hated each other for centuries. How hard can it be to fan up some hostility? Just play on the French egos and tell them they‘re Austrian tools! That always works on French egomaniacs! Profit!
2:) Why don‘t we sow some discontent between the Russians and the Austrians, since my fanboy isn‘t yet on the throne? Just tell them the Austrians are totally exploiting them and their hard work and will ditch them as allies any minute now, as soon as they don‘t need them anymore! Let‘s play to the Russian ego! Profit!
(Mitchell himself has a personal variation when the war is really dire: The French can‘t really want the Habsburgs/Austria as the dominant German power after centuries of feuding, without Prussia providing a counter balance. Surely it couldn‘t hurt reminding them of this, and how HAUGHTY the House of Austria is)
3.) The French and the Russian courts are so utterly corrupt and without honor, we just have to bribe Biron/the Duke de Soubise/the Marquise de Pompadour into liking me again. With British money, of course. Profit!
Somehow, none of these cunning plans ever comes to completion...
Re: I have a cunning plan
Then again, we could fare life Fritz with his various psychological warfare cunning plans he shares with Mitchell and Mitchell reports home to London. It‘s always along the same basic principle:
1:) The French and the Austrians have hated each other for centuries. How hard can it be to fan up some hostility? Just play on the French egos and tell them they‘re Austrian tools! That always works on French egomaniacs! Profit!
2:) Why don‘t we sow some discontent between the Russians and the Austrians, since my fanboy isn‘t yet on the throne? Just tell them the Austrians are totally exploiting them and their hard work and will ditch them as allies any minute now, as soon as they don‘t need them anymore! Let‘s play to the Russian ego! Profit!
(Mitchell himself has a personal variation when the war is really dire: The French can‘t really want the Habsburgs/Austria as the dominant German power after centuries of feuding, without Prussia providing a counter balance. Surely it couldn‘t hurt reminding them of this, and how HAUGHTY the House of Austria is)
3.) The French and the Russian courts are so utterly corrupt and without honor, we just have to bribe Biron/the Duke de Soubise/the Marquise de Pompadour into liking me again. With British money, of course. Profit!
Somehow, none of these cunning plans ever comes to completion...