18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 32

[cahn]

:) Still talking about Charles XII of Sweden / the Great Northern War and the Stuarts and the Jacobites, among other things!

Comments

Re: Great Northern War: Tragic minister Görtz

[mildred_of_midgard]

Oh, totally, he had it coming! Obviously the reason he was executed was because he'd oppressed the Swedes so badly, and my sympathies are with the Swedes. This is why I wrote "our antiheroes" and "I'm not endorsing." But the Swedes are not the ones I want fic about. ;)

If Fritz can use his A+ skills to wage unprovoked expansionist warfare, commit war crimes, put children to work in his munitions factories, and even use them as child soldiers, and I can still want fic about this guy, Görtz can use his A+ skills to suck the country dry and lock his enemies up without a trial. As someone on tumblr put on a Fritz moodboard, "I do bad things and I do them very well." :D

Semi-unrelated, cahn, I'm reminded that I meant to make a connection explicit for you. When Supercharles rides in just two weeks in 1714 from the Ottoman Empire back to his troops on the northern German coast, the city he's going to is Stralsund. It's part of Swedish territory on the European mainland, acquired in the 17th century, which the allies are besieging and Sweden is defending.

This is the siege where FW, as one of the besiegers, is impressed by Duhan. Fritz later says, "It is rare to engage a tutor in a trench." A trench because FW and Duhan were part of the effort to strip Sweden of its overseas territory. In this case, the Swedish Pomeranian territory, in which Stralsund was located.

FW and company won the siege, but in the final peace treaty a few years later, Sweden got to keep Stralsund by dint of giving up other territory and paying damages.

Re: Great Northern War: Tragic minister Görtz

[selenak]

Re: Stralsund, Sweden only got to keep it for another century, though. Stralsund became a part of Prussia in 1815 and is still German today. It's also an old Hanse town which a pretty well preserved inner city, with a visit.

Wasn't a young Knobelsdorff also at Stralsund in the ditches?

Re: Great Northern War: Tragic minister Görtz

[mildred_of_midgard]

Re: Stralsund, Sweden only got to keep it for another century, though. Stralsund became a part of Prussia in 1815 and is still German today. It's also an old Hanse town which a pretty well preserved inner city, with a visit.

I didn't mention this because it's outside our period, but yes, very true.

Wasn't a young Knobelsdorff also at Stralsund in the ditches?

I had forgotten, but searching old posts reminds me that he was indeed. Good memory!