Frederick the Great and Other 18th-C Characters, Discussion Post 31

[cahn]

And in this post:

-luzula is going to tell us about the Jacobites and the '45!

-I'm going to finish reading Nancy Goldstone's book about Maria Theresia and (some of) her children Maria Christina, Maria Carolina, and Marie Antoinette, In the Shadow of the Empress, and selenak is going to tell us all the things wrong with the last four chapters (spoiler: in the first twenty chapters there have been many, MANY things wrong)!

-mildred_of_midgard is going to tell us about Charles XII of Sweden and the Great Northern War

(seriously, how did I get so lucky to have all these people Telling Me Things, this is AWESOME)

-oh, and also there will be Yuletide signups :D

Comments

Re: The Great Northern War: Overview

[cahn]

That's not Pölnitz' "Sex life of August the Strong", err, I mean, "Galant Saxony" heeee!

Stanislas getting Lorraine was why Émilie, Voltaire and Lambert spent time at his court and Émilie died in Lorraine. *sob*

Oh, riiiiight! It is nice to know that sometimes the two people named Stanislas actually ARE the same person, I have started assuming that when two people have the same name they probably aren't :P

but there are certain storytelling patterns.

Oh, this was a fascinating analysis, thank you!

Lastly, and to get back to Peter: I think one key difference between them, coolness or lack of same aside, was that Peter had ideas for Russia that went beyond war, though of course some of them needed war as means to an end. (And these ideas were more radically different from any previous Russian ruler and from most contemporary European rulers, with the notable exception of FW and his complete changeover of Prussia.) Whereas I haven't heard of Charles being interested in (and good at) any other aspect of being a King than military glory.

Not gonna lie, the story about St. Petersburg made me more interested in Peter rather than less, and Charles not being interested in much else besides the military, well, okay, there is a lot of coolness factor in there, but IDK if he has staying power as a problematic fave for me :) (We'll see, though! He's definitely fascinating to read about!)

Re: The Great Northern War: Overview

[mildred_of_midgard]

Not gonna lie, the story about St. Petersburg made me more interested in Peter rather than less

Well, that's good, because I have a Pulitzer-winning prize biography for you for Christmas! Just let me know when you have time to read a new book, and I'll gift it to you. (And Zweig!)

I find Peter very interesting to learn about, never a dull moment, but he doesn't push my feels buttons. Whereas I have a *thing* for career generals, have several faves there. I admit Peter is more interesting and three-dimensional for the average person who doesn't have a thing for career generals. :P

Re: The Great Northern War: Overview

[selenak]

That would be me as well. One big reason why I didn't catch fire for Fritz & Co. before Salon happened was that for decades, I thought that due to all the battles, I wouldn't find Fritz interesting after his Crown Prince stage, and knew little to nothing about all the fascinating ensemble awaiting...

Re: The Great Northern War: Overview

[mildred_of_midgard]

Ahh, I didn't know that! Well, I'm glad salon taught you and helped you teach us about all the sibling dysfunction, among other things. :D I certainly, even as a Fritz fan of old, would never have guessed there was THIS much fascination awaiting us.

(I admit my love for Hannibal is based on 19th century scholarship that I later found out may have been outdated, but I don't care. I still love Hannibal, which I justify by remembering that all my generals are just fictional representations in my head anyway. :P)