the Russian series in question has Fritz plotting the assassination of all the remaining Romanovs, including Irrational Fanboy. Including when it is pointed out to him that Irrational Fanboy is in fact a fanboy. "No exceptions."
Who do you think he is, Russian scriptwriters, Vladimir Putin?
Seriously, though, I very much agree:this is both wildly anachronistic for the 18th century in general, and very ooc for Fritz in particular. (Not to mention self sabotaging, in terms of Irrational fanboy to an insane degree.) I‘m trying very had to think of any royal death (or attempted death) in that era which was suspected of being the result of plotting by foreign opponents, as opposed to local discontents, and coming up with zero. Gustav was offed by his own nobles, the wannabe assassin of Louis XV who was so gruesomely executed as punishment that the description of said execution became a stock staple of every „abolish the death penalty“ pamphlet was a Frenchman.
And seriously, if Fritz were the type go for assassinations, I could think of any number of more likely targets over the years: 1) Dad, 2) MT. There is a letter to Heinrich when Heinrich, in the wake of the successful Russia trip, is pushing the idea of maybe get more cordial with the Austrians beyond partitioning Poland, and Fritz is all, nah, that woman will have to lose her 30 years long habit of hating me first, and she won‘t. Like I said in my write up of the MItchell reports, MT is the one person even the most wistful spy never tries to sell as either being on death‘s door or inclined to peace if bribed enough. If there was one relentless (and well earned) enemy Fritz had in Europe, it was her. And the Habsburg/Hohenzollern rivalry was far more significant for his policies than the Romanows ever were, so if he‘d been the type to anachronistically plot the deaths of foreign dynasties, it would have been her (and presumably some of those kids she used to bind other European countries to her cause).
To go back to realism for a moment, in all the to and thro leading up to the Fritz and Joseph meeting at Neisse, it says something about the norms of the times that none of MT‘s objections were „he‘s totally going to use the chance to murder/harm/imprison you!“. And you don‘t get more suspicoius of Fritz than MT.
(Not to mention self sabotaging, in terms of Irrational fanboy to an insane degree.)
I think that's exactly what they were going for. Since we later get to see Peter's reversal of Russian policy during the war. "See? Our guy saved your guy, even though your guy tried to kill our guy!"
Riiiight, because he was Putin. *cough*
I could think of any number of more likely targets over the years: 1) Dad, 2) MT.
Yup! Plus, as we've discussed, Alexander and/or Olympias would have killed FW most likely before 1730, definitely after. Fritz never even entertained the idea.
Or, to quote Blanning: "Frederick never seems to have considered the most obvious solution—regicide—but he did plan to run away."
Most obvious to you, 21st century historian, not most obvious to him.
Heeeee. An obvious solution to someone, perhaps, who was not inside the whole mess, but that's very different from being internal to it and trying to work out what the best thing is. Kind of how it's much easier to see when a situation is abusive when one's an external observer than when one's inside it, I suppose.
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Re: Ekaterina
Who do you think he is, Russian scriptwriters, Vladimir Putin?
Seriously, though, I very much agree:this is both wildly anachronistic for the 18th century in general, and very ooc for Fritz in particular. (Not to mention self sabotaging, in terms of Irrational fanboy to an insane degree.) I‘m trying very had to think of any royal death (or attempted death) in that era which was suspected of being the result of plotting by foreign opponents, as opposed to local discontents, and coming up with zero. Gustav was offed by his own nobles, the wannabe assassin of Louis XV who was so gruesomely executed as punishment that the description of said execution became a stock staple of every „abolish the death penalty“ pamphlet was a Frenchman.
And seriously, if Fritz were the type go for assassinations, I could think of any number of more likely targets over the years: 1) Dad, 2) MT. There is a letter to Heinrich when Heinrich, in the wake of the successful Russia trip, is pushing the idea of maybe get more cordial with the Austrians beyond partitioning Poland, and Fritz is all, nah, that woman will have to lose her 30 years long habit of hating me first, and she won‘t. Like I said in my write up of the MItchell reports, MT is the one person even the most wistful spy never tries to sell as either being on death‘s door or inclined to peace if bribed enough. If there was one relentless (and well earned) enemy Fritz had in Europe, it was her. And the Habsburg/Hohenzollern rivalry was far more significant for his policies than the Romanows ever were, so if he‘d been the type to anachronistically plot the deaths of foreign dynasties, it would have been her (and presumably some of those kids she used to bind other European countries to her cause).
To go back to realism for a moment, in all the to and thro leading up to the Fritz and Joseph meeting at Neisse, it says something about the norms of the times that none of MT‘s objections were „he‘s totally going to use the chance to murder/harm/imprison you!“. And you don‘t get more suspicoius of Fritz than MT.
Re: Ekaterina
I think that's exactly what they were going for. Since we later get to see Peter's reversal of Russian policy during the war. "See? Our guy saved your guy, even though your guy tried to kill our guy!"
Riiiight, because he was Putin. *cough*
I could think of any number of more likely targets over the years: 1) Dad, 2) MT.
Yup! Plus, as we've discussed, Alexander and/or Olympias would have killed FW most likely before 1730, definitely after. Fritz never even entertained the idea.
Or, to quote Blanning: "Frederick never seems to have considered the most obvious solution—regicide—but he did plan to run away."
Most obvious to you, 21st century historian, not most obvious to him.
Re: Ekaterina