Jessen, as I've found out, may have been published in 1972 in paberback - which is what the ebook version shows - but the original book was published in 1965, which makes the Prussian bias more understandable. I should add that it's more a bias that shows itself by letting out stuff - for example, we get documents about civilians fleeing in the 7 Years War, but solely ones that experience distress from non-Prussian soldiers. No quotes like that from Mitchell's reports about Prussian plunderings in Saxony. And Fritz' histories are always taken at their word.
Otoh, there really excellent original documents on the MT side of things provided as well. Like these letters to Joseph, getting across her personality, the mixture of mother and sharp minded sovereign, and the relationship really well.
From September 14th, 1766, in a letter which obviously isn't just about Joseph:
My dear Son - (..) be careful to enjoy yourself by making malicious quips. Your heart isn't yet evil, but it will become so. It's high time not to indulge yourself in all the puns, all the witty sayings which only aim at humiliating other people, to make them look ridiculous; this is how you estrange yourself from all decent people and make them believe that humankind doesn't deserve to be respected, even while one has distanced through one's own actions everything which is good until only villains, imitators and flattering admirers of one's own talents are left, and only they are still getting entrance in one's heart.
After this long sermon which you will forgive my heart for - I do love you and my countries all too much - I will draw a comparison for you regarding your gifts and indulgences. You are a coquette of the mind, and wherever you think you can find ésprit, you run after it without applying judgment. A pun, a particularly adroit phrase occupies you, you may read it in a book or hear someone say it. Then you use that phrase at the next opportunity, without considering wether or not it really fits, perhaps like your sister Elisabeth with her beauty. She may please the Swiss guard or a prince, she doesn't care and is content and does not want anything else.
As I am closing this letter, I am taking your head with both hands, embrace you tenderly and wish you will forgive me for boring you with such long speeches; only look at the heart which has produced them - I want only for the world to love and esteem you as you deserve. I always remain your good old mother
This is is one way of saying "Don't be like Fritz, you don't want to pay the human price" without ever mentioning his name. Fast forward to more than a decade later, and Joseph is like Fritz in the worst way, i.e. by invading Bavaria. Here's Mom trying to argue him out of it, on March 14th, 1778, very much belying son Leopold's claim that she was half senile:
The obstacles and dangers which were predictable from the moment things were set in march to Bavaria have now happened and keep piling up. Consequently, I would be unworthy to bear the name of Princess and Mother if I would not act according to circumstance - without considering how far my own existence could be affected. Nothing less than the loss of our House and Empire, perhaps even an upcoming revolt in Europe could be at stake. No sacrifice is too much to prevent this misfortune in time. I'll gladly play the scapegoat, even at the risk of my reputation. May people call me crazy, weak and cowardly - nothing will stop me from tear Europe away from this dangerous position. I don't know a better way of spending the rest of my miserable life. (...)
I must draw a picture of our military and political situation, and I am all the more obliged to do so as anything further will be the consequence of the step I am about to make, which I owe to my conscience, my duty and my love. The King of Prussia's army outnumbers ours by thirty to fortythousand men, especially in the cavalry. His position is far more advantagous, we have to march twice that far in order to get where we would need to get to. He has fortresses, we don't have a single one. We have to protect far stretched countries but we would have to withdraw all the troops form them and leave them unprotected to any invasion or uprising. This is the case with Galizia, in which less than two hundred horses and seven bataillons of old invalids remain. The province is open to anyone, after we hardly got it; it is anything but secured. The spirit of freedom there hasn't been soothed, and the nation has proven that it is determined if anyone fans the flame. The King of Prussia and for that matter the King of Poland and the en tire nation won't hesitate to use their advantage at the first given opportunity, especially since now the law of the strong prevails, and no one will feel it harder than we will.
Hungary, too, is free of troops, and in its close neighbourhood, the war between Russians and Turks will start anew. The Prussian dealings with Constantinople are known, and the latest letter of the King of Prussia don't leave any doubt that he won't leave any method untried in order to put this particular enemy in our backyard, too, who could take whatever he wanted in Hungary, since it is free of troops and fortresses. If our armies stood in Saxony, or even Silesia - which I doubt they would - or in the Upper Palatinate, it would be impossible to bring help to the two large kingdoms of Galizia and Hungary. We would have to leave them to their sad fate, to the whim of a barbaric enemy and to all the devastation which would be the consequence, and would destroy those countries for a generation. I won't even mention our provinces in Italy, the Netherlands and our new possessions in Bavaria. All of these would have to be given up, and where on earth should we take the means from to conduct this horrible war if we have to give up five countries right at the start? Where should the trust come from which would give us allies and financial resources? And why should our own countries trust us any longer if they see they are getting taxed heavily in peacetime for their defense, but are getting given up in the first danger of a war? Of a war which, once we've started it, would now end with our utter ruin, and this downfall would even be the only method to save Europe, and it would be our own fault. It is this which I will never agree to and never give my blessing to, for everything is at stake. Let's not indulge in delusions. Once the sword is out of its sheath, there won't be any time for reconciliation. The well being of thousands and thousands of human beings, the survival of our empire depend on this. After all which I have said I must tell you that I cannot permit myself to act against my conscience and my conviction; this is neither a mood nor cowardice.
Let's just say that after this letter, Joseph should not have been surprised that she went behind his back and reached out to Fritz when he didn't listen. Not, mind you, that she had softened on Fritz as a person. Here's MT, revealing herself to be either a secret Voltaire reader or just by sheer coincidence hitting up on a suspiciously familiar Voltairian phrase. Context: Joseph has sent her a letter from Fritz. Which is handwritten by Fritz, and thus really terribly spelled. Says Maria Theresia, educated by Jesuits:
I confess my weakness: this writing in his own hand when he's surrounded by 40 000 men, (...) sounding like a theatre king or theatre despot has amused me. So this villain is not as versatile as that, and he would, on this occasion, have been in dire need of someone to clean his dirty laundry again.
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Messages from the Empress
Date: 2020-02-27 04:17 pm (UTC)Otoh, there really excellent original documents on the MT side of things provided as well. Like these letters to Joseph, getting across her personality, the mixture of mother and sharp minded sovereign, and the relationship really well.
From September 14th, 1766, in a letter which obviously isn't just about Joseph:
My dear Son -
(..) be careful to enjoy yourself by making malicious quips. Your heart isn't yet evil, but it will become so. It's high time not to indulge yourself in all the puns, all the witty sayings which only aim at humiliating other people, to make them look ridiculous; this is how you estrange yourself from all decent people and make them believe that humankind doesn't deserve to be respected, even while one has distanced through one's own actions everything which is good until only villains, imitators and flattering admirers of one's own talents are left, and only they are still getting entrance in one's heart.
After this long sermon which you will forgive my heart for - I do love you and my countries all too much - I will draw a comparison for you regarding your gifts and indulgences. You are a coquette of the mind, and wherever you think you can find ésprit, you run after it without applying judgment. A pun, a particularly adroit phrase occupies you, you may read it in a book or hear someone say it. Then you use that phrase at the next opportunity, without considering wether or not it really fits, perhaps like your sister Elisabeth with her beauty. She may please the Swiss guard or a prince, she doesn't care and is content and does not want anything else.
As I am closing this letter, I am taking your head with both hands, embrace you tenderly and wish you will forgive me for boring you with such long speeches; only look at the heart which has produced them - I want only for the world to love and esteem you as you deserve. I always remain
your good old mother
This is is one way of saying "Don't be like Fritz, you don't want to pay the human price" without ever mentioning his name. Fast forward to more than a decade later, and Joseph is like Fritz in the worst way, i.e. by invading Bavaria. Here's Mom trying to argue him out of it, on March 14th, 1778, very much belying son Leopold's claim that she was half senile:
The obstacles and dangers which were predictable from the moment things were set in march to Bavaria have now happened and keep piling up. Consequently, I would be unworthy to bear the name of Princess and Mother if I would not act according to circumstance - without considering how far my own existence could be affected. Nothing less than the loss of our House and Empire, perhaps even an upcoming revolt in Europe could be at stake. No sacrifice is too much to prevent this misfortune in time. I'll gladly play the scapegoat, even at the risk of my reputation. May people call me crazy, weak and cowardly - nothing will stop me from tear Europe away from this dangerous position. I don't know a better way of spending the rest of my miserable life. (...)
I must draw a picture of our military and political situation, and I am all the more obliged to do so as anything further will be the consequence of the step I am about to make, which I owe to my conscience, my duty and my love. The King of Prussia's army outnumbers ours by thirty to fortythousand men, especially in the cavalry. His position is far more advantagous, we have to march twice that far in order to get where we would need to get to. He has fortresses, we don't have a single one. We have to protect far stretched countries but we would have to withdraw all the troops form them and leave them unprotected to any invasion or uprising. This is the case with Galizia, in which less than two hundred horses and seven bataillons of old invalids remain. The province is open to anyone, after we hardly got it; it is anything but secured. The spirit of freedom there hasn't been soothed, and the nation has proven that it is determined if anyone fans the flame. The King of Prussia and for that matter the King of Poland and the en tire nation won't hesitate to use their advantage at the first given opportunity, especially since now the law of the strong prevails, and no one will feel it harder than we will.
Hungary, too, is free of troops, and in its close neighbourhood, the war between Russians and Turks will start anew. The Prussian dealings with Constantinople are known, and the latest letter of the King of Prussia don't leave any doubt that he won't leave any method untried in order to put this particular enemy in our backyard, too, who could take whatever he wanted in Hungary, since it is free of troops and fortresses. If our armies stood in Saxony, or even Silesia - which I doubt they would - or in the Upper Palatinate, it would be impossible to bring help to the two large kingdoms of Galizia and Hungary. We would have to leave them to their sad fate, to the whim of a barbaric enemy and to all the devastation which would be the consequence, and would destroy those countries for a generation. I won't even mention our provinces in Italy, the Netherlands and our new possessions in Bavaria. All of these would have to be given up, and where on earth should we take the means from to conduct this horrible war if we have to give up five countries right at the start? Where should the trust come from which would give us allies and financial resources? And why should our own countries trust us any longer if they see they are getting taxed heavily in peacetime for their defense, but are getting given up in the first danger of a war? Of a war which, once we've started it, would now end with our utter ruin, and this downfall would even be the only method to save Europe, and it would be our own fault. It is this which I will never agree to and never give my blessing to, for everything is at stake. Let's not indulge in delusions. Once the sword is out of its sheath, there won't be any time for reconciliation. The well being of thousands and thousands of human beings, the survival of our empire depend on this. After all which I have said I must tell you that I cannot permit myself to act against my conscience and my conviction; this is neither a mood nor cowardice.
Let's just say that after this letter, Joseph should not have been surprised that she went behind his back and reached out to Fritz when he didn't listen. Not, mind you, that she had softened on Fritz as a person. Here's MT, revealing herself to be either a secret Voltaire reader or just by sheer coincidence hitting up on a suspiciously familiar Voltairian phrase. Context: Joseph has sent her a letter from Fritz. Which is handwritten by Fritz, and thus really terribly spelled. Says Maria Theresia, educated by Jesuits:
I confess my weakness: this writing in his own hand when he's surrounded by 40 000 men, (...) sounding like a theatre king or theatre despot has amused me. So this villain is not as versatile as that, and he would, on this occasion, have been in dire need of someone to clean his dirty laundry again.