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cahnAnd, I mean, it doesn't have to be just 18th century characters, either!
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1730 Trending Topics
Date: 2022-01-01 04:20 pm (UTC)There are a lot, obviously. I'm ignoring ones that don't seem likely to directly affect Fritz in 1730, like Jacobitism, many of the ones having to do with trade and colonies overseas (although not all, as you'll see), and, like, Russia.
Re Russia, though, you should keep in mind that it's only been 12 years since Tsarevich Alexei fled to another country because he didn't want to be tsar but wanted to be a private citizen, was lured back to Russia with a promise from his father that no harm would come to him or his mistress, and was then condemned to death and died from torture. So while Prussia isn't Russia and FW is not Peter the Great, this is going to be very much on Fritz's mind when he's deciding what to do.
1730 Trending Topics: Wittelsbach for emperor
Date: 2022-01-01 04:21 pm (UTC)Bavaria: Our guy for next Holy Roman Emperor, duh!
Great Britain: Meh. I mean, it would be nice to limit Austrian power, and I'm definitely interested in allying with Bavaria to this effect, but it's not like my life goal.
France: Life goal! Fuck the Habsburgs!
Great Britain: Yes, France, we heard you the first time.
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Wittelsbach for emperor
Date: 2022-01-03 04:47 am (UTC)Franceyou repeat everything for me multiple times :P :D1730 Trending Topics: Wittelsbach subsidies
Date: 2022-01-01 04:23 pm (UTC)Great Britain: Not that interested.
France: Et tu, Britain? Your stinginess is the only thing standing between us and the downfall of the House of Habsburg!
Great Britain: Look, it's not that I, Walpole, or I, Townshend, or I, some other minister, are not interested in an alliance with Bavaria. It's that we, Parliament, have to justify our spending to a voting public. We're already spending too much on the weird alliance system we're in, with relatively little to show for it. Our constituents are getting antsy.
France: I think you're just being difficult on purpose because you're secretly pro-Austrian.
Great Britain: Well, the point here isn't to crush the House of Habsburg. The point is to teach Charles VI a lesson about getting too big for his breeches, and then we can go back to being friends. England and Austria have a long history of being friends.
France: You are clearly missing the point of my being in an alliance with you in the first place, which is CRUSH the House of Habsburg!
Great Britain: I thought the point of us being in an alliance was about our respective succession crises and territorial guarantees--
France: That's how we got pulled into this alliance, 14 years ago, by a bunch of people who are mostly now dead. If you don't shape up, we're going to start looking for other allies. We're already working on kissing and making up with our buddy Spain.
If Queen Isabella would just calm the fuck down for 5 minutes...Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Wittelsbach subsidies
Date: 2022-01-02 08:02 am (UTC)Which Bavaria direly needs because of the earlier France/Bavaria "Down with the Habsburgs!" team up.
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Wittelsbach subsidies
From:Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Wittelsbach subsidies
Date: 2022-01-03 04:49 am (UTC)1730 Trending Topics: Jülich & Berg
Date: 2022-01-01 04:39 pm (UTC)It's a hundred years too early and is cluttered with Thirty Years' War battles, but is the best I could do to convey what I wanted.
Notes:
- The "United Provinces" is the Netherlands. That's the name they most often go by in our period, I only call them the Netherlands so you have one less thing to remember.
- Just south of that, you'll see lavender-colored Cleves and Mark. Those are owned by Prussia in our period. Cleves is where Wesel is, where Peter Keith escapes to the Netherlands.
- Go a little further south and you'll see the words Jülich and Berg.
With that out of the way, let's let everyone argue.
Prussia: Hi, I'm FW, and I'm totally the heir to Jülich and Berg. I care about this the way my wife cares about the English marriage project, like Marie-Louise d'Orleans cared about leaving Cosimo III and going back to France, like MT will someday care about Silesia. Possibly more than I care about tall guys! My entire foreign policy is built around "Who will help me inherit Jülich and Berg when the current sickly duke finally kicks the bucket?"
Bavaria/Palatine/other Wittelsbach electors: No, we, the WITTELSBACH family are the heirs to Jülich and Berg! We will die on this hill!
Dutch: Literally anyone except Prussia! Prussia has WAY too much territory in our neighborhood already (see map, and assume they got a couple more bits and pieces in the last 100 years), and they're trying to claim the Prince of Orange succession on top of it!
France: We're with the Wittelsbachs for reasons discussed. Down with the Habsburgs! Wittelsbachs for emperors!
Great Britain: We don't really care, per se, who gets Jülich and Berg. We just don't want to be pinned down on the issue while we switch back and forth between trying to make an alliance with Prussia and trying to make one with Bavaria. If we endorse one side's claims, we'll alienate the other side, and we really need an alliance with *one* of these two German powers to try to intimidate Austria into behaving itself. Either works, really!
Prussia and the Wittelsbachs: O, perfidious Albion!
FW: If you don't support my claim to Jülich and Berg, you can't marry my daughter or my son!
Great Britain: And, see, we're okay with that. Bye! (July 1730)
Fritz: *runs away*
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Jülich & Berg
Date: 2022-01-02 08:09 am (UTC)And where Voltaire first meets Fritz, in the aftermath of the aborted Straßburg trip!
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Jülich & Berg
Date: 2022-01-03 04:51 am (UTC)Wow! Okay, yeah, you must really care about this!
Prussia and the Wittelsbachs: O, perfidious Albion!
I laughed :P
Great Britain: And, see, we're okay with that. Bye! (July 1730)
Aw :(
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Jülich & Berg
Date: 2022-01-10 11:40 pm (UTC)Correction: Marguerite-Louise. Marie-Louise was the daughter of Victor Amadeus, whom I had on my brain when writing this, for obvious reasons. ;)
1730 Trending Topics: Dunkirk
Date: 2022-01-01 04:43 pm (UTC)Early 1730
Great Britain: Look, France, when Charles II sold you the harbour of Dunkirk in northern France, just across the Channel from England, we didn't mean you could fortify it and turn it into a naval base and ship Jacobites across to invade our country! You must dismantle your fortifications like you agreed 16 years ago when the War of the Spanish Succession ended. We care so much we almost overthrew our ministry just now over the fact that they STILL haven't gotten you to dismantle the goddamn Dunkirk fortifications!
France: Uh, yeah, sorry, the most recent fortification activity was totally unauthorized. Louis XV himself personally apologizes and says it won't happen again and we'll tear down what we have pronto.
British Parliament: Okay, good. Walpole and allies, you may remain in power.
Mid 1730
Great Britain: France, we have seen LITERALLY no activity on tearing down those fortifications. You promised!
France: Yeah, well, uh, we said we'd tear those down, did we. Such a good memory you have. That was four whole months ago!
Great Britain: Look, we as Parliamentary ministers have to justify this highly unpopular alliance with our old enemy France during what historians will call the Second Hundred Years War to a voting public. Are we allies or not?
France: Yes! Yes, definitely, absolutely...maybe. For now. You think this alliance is any more popular here? They may not vote, but they sure do riot when they're upset.
Great Britain: So about those fortifications, ALLY.
France: The French ministry can't come to the phone right now. Please leave a message after the tone. *beeep*
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Dunkirk
Date: 2022-01-03 04:59 am (UTC)Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Dunkirk
From:1730 Trending Topics: Gibraltar
Date: 2022-01-01 04:47 pm (UTC)Great Britain: Except we conquered it during the War of the Spanish Succession when we were trying to get our guy (future Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and future MT's dad) on the throne of Spain. That didn't work out, but you never managed to recapture Gibraltar, so, uh, we're keeping it.
Spain: You can't own Spanish territory! We will go to war over this!
Great Britain: You already went to war over this, like, three times, and lost. You signed a treaty just last year. Sorry! Cut your losses and worry about something else.
Spain: But your king G1 said he would give it back, way back in 1721! Philip V has a letter he keeps in a chest under his bed, to which he has the only key.
Great Britain: Yeah, so, about that G1 letter. If you read it closely, it says, "I will endeavor to convince Parliament to give Gibraltar back," not, "We will definitely give it back."
Now, our leading ministers, just like G1 and G2, have been more than willing to give it back. Because yes, we have looked at a map, and Gibraltar's not doing us a whole lot of good. We'd be happy to give it back. Taking Gibraltar was a means to an end, and we've had to give up on that end. But every time we make noises in that direction, the voting public that thinks we fought a war to get that tiny bit of land gets really upset. So that's why we'll still be hanging onto it in 2022.
Spain: I have no idea what you're talking about, *air quotes* "convince" "Parliament." When a king writes a letter saying he'll do something, I expect him to do it!
Great Britain: You mean like give up his claim to the throne of France, like Philip V promised two or three times in writing? And then was putting together an invasion the moment Louis XV got smallpox in late 1728?
Spain: Yeah, yeah, well, Louis not only recovered but went on to father a son in 1729, so we've finally had to give up on that idea. We're now focused on other projects. That's ancient history, let it go.
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Gibraltar
Date: 2022-01-02 08:16 am (UTC)Peter Brown called to say 'You can make it OK, you can get married in Gibraltar near Spain'
(Which John and Yoko then did.)
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Gibraltar
Date: 2022-01-03 05:08 am (UTC)If you read it closely, it says, "I will endeavor to convince Parliament to give Gibraltar back," not, "We will definitely give it back."
WELP
But hold on, I don't get it, knowing where Gibraltar is means that I know it's kind of... far away, how is that going to be at all useful --
Because yes, we have looked at a map, and Gibraltar's not doing us a whole lot of good.
Hee!
So that's why we'll still be hanging onto it in 2022.
...I actually did not know that was a thing!
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Gibraltar
From:1730 Trending Topics: Parma and Tuscany
Date: 2022-01-01 04:54 pm (UTC)And a 1714 (again, there have been slight changes between 1714 and 1730) map, giving some context as to why Austria and Spain have a long history of claiming territory in Italy and are so invested in fighting each other over it:
(Look, it's hard to get clear, good-quality, colored, English-labeled maps at exactly the zoom level I want, for every territorial change in the 18th century. :P)
Isabella Farnese: Hi, I'm the Queen of Spain, and I'm here to tell you about those other projects we're into now! I married a king who already had a son from his late first wife (Marie Louise of Savoy). So I've got to worry about providing kingdoms for my sons.
Plan A was: Louis XV dies, my husband Philip abdicates and goes to France to be king there, and takes his oldest son, my stepson, to France, leaving me and my oldest son (Don Carlos) to rule Spain! But then Louis didn't die and now he's married with a son, so, that idea died.
Plan B, while I was waiting for Louis to die, was to marry my boy Don Carlos to Archduchess Maria Theresa. Her dad has this thing called a Pragmatic Sanction indicating that she's going to inherit all the Habsburg territory. Sounds pretty good to me if I can get my son married to her! So Spain made a treaty with Austria a few years back. But that bastard Charles VI was just toying with me the whole time! He never intended to let my son marry his daughter. So now we're on to...
Plan C. As a Farnese descended from Medici, I say that I am the next logical heir to Parma (as soon as the current Farnese dies) and Tuscany (as soon as Gian Gastone finishes drinking himself to death). So obviously the 1730s are going to be a great decade for my son to inherit Italian territory! Just need to get everyone else to agree...
Austria: Excuse me, those are ours to give and take away, and also Naples and Sicily and Sardinia and the Milanese and pretty much everything Spain and Austria have been fighting over in Italy for the last umpteen decades/centuries and will continue fighting over in the 18th century. If we let you into Parma and Tuscany, pretty soon you'll be using it as a springboard to conquer all of Italy, and Italy is ours! for some definition of "ours" that means "whether or not we control it or have even controlled it in recent memory."
Isabella: So as you can see, Austria's not going to take this lying down. Therefore, I want Spanish garrisons in Parma and Tuscany to safeguard my son's rights there. Not neutral Swiss garrisons. Do you hear me, Europe?!
Austria: Spanish garrisons over my dead body!
Great Britain: Sigh. Well, we tried pushing the whole Swiss garrison thing, but Isabella is a terrier, so we finally signed a treaty with Spain last year agreeing to Spanish garrisons.
France: Did we hear something about our cousins the Bourbons occupying most of Italy and keeping our enemies the Habsburgs out? Spanish garrisons all the way, baby!
Austria: TRY me. I dare you.
Great Britain: Well, France, as allies *cough*, we did sign that treaty with Spain last year saying we have to force the Spanish garrisons in over Austria's dead body. Time for war? (mid 1730)
France: Yes, yes. War. But, uh, you go first. You're the one with the navy!
Great Britain: WTF, France.
France: Look, we agree with you about the Spanish garrisons. But we all need to consider how this affects the balance of power in Europe. So let's all sit down and negotiate a balance of power treaty that isn't just about Spanish garrisons in Parma and Tuscany, but about how we can all continue to live with each other after this. Okay? Come on, it'll be fun, we've been practicing negotiating balance of power treaties for the last ten years. We're pros at congresses that go nowhere and treaties that keep the peace for two more years and then everyone gets upset and we have to renegotiate.
Spain: WHERE ARE MY GARRISONS. The deadline has come and gone!
France: Well, see, we're *trying* to help you go to war with Austria (you know this is our favorite thing in France) over your garrisons, but the British are dragging their feet. You know how they are.
Great Britain: *cannot believe the words they are hearing*
Great Britain: France obviously doesn't want to go to war and is trying to pin the blame on us!
France: Don't want to go to war?! Are you crazy? We in France totally want to conquer the Austrian Netherlands (future Belgium) from Austria! ...That is the war we're talking about, right?
Great Britain: *facepalm*
So 1730 comes and goes and there is no war with Austria.
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Parma and Tuscany
Date: 2022-01-02 08:39 am (UTC)Mildred, in the AU where that happens, how would Philip had managed without a wife as caretaker at his side? Did he at least have Farinelli yet? Would his oldest son (if said son hadn't died as well) been up to the job? Would ruling France have stabilized him? And, most importantly, what kind of quip would Voltaire have made?
The Spanish garrisons in Italy and the Austria vs Spain ongoing disputes are a plot point in the part of Casanova's memoirs that narrates the Bellino episode in his life, which takes place 1743. (Essentially: Casanova, nineteen, meeets Bellino, Castrato Singer, 17. Falls in love but is certain Bellino is in fact a woman. Lots of spirited arguments between the two and sparks fly. He gets temporarily depressed by a (fake) penis but when deciding he's attracted no matter what, Bellino reveals she is indeed a she, Teresa Lanti. (Who took this disguise because female sopranos weren't allowed on stage in any of the Italian states still belonging to the Church, which was a lot of them, including Bologna, where she was grom.) (Also, Teresa Lanti was an alias. Her real name was Angiola Calori. Casanova was thoughtful enough to change the names for a couple of still living ladies when writing down his memoirs. The identification of Bellino with historical soprano Angiola Calori wasn't made until people had access to the original manuscript again, which shows at one point the name "Angiola Calori" stricken out and replaced with "Teresa Lanti".) Anyway, Bellino and Casanova first met in an inn where another guest is the Spanish war commissioner Don Sancho, and later, after they are an item and travelling together, they run afoul of an Austrian garnison when it turns out Casanova has lost his passport, which means he's held there for some weeks until escaping and making it to the next Spanish garnison where they are delighted to help him even without a passport not because he's that charming but because anything to annoy the Austrians. So when I looked up the Bellino episode a couple of years ago I came across this Spain vs Austria peripherally.
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Parma and Tuscany
From:Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Parma and Tuscany
From:Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Parma and Tuscany
From:Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Parma and Tuscany
From:Farinelli's vocal range
From:Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Parma and Tuscany
Date: 2022-01-03 05:13 am (UTC)and Italy is ours! for some definition of "ours" that means "whether or not we control it or have even controlled it in recent memory."
Heeee!
Great Britain: *cannot believe the words they are hearing*
I laughed out loud at this, thus causing E to read this comment on her way to bed and be very confused (I did warn her it would take me longer to explain than the time she had given that it was already past her bedtime :) )
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Parma and Tuscany
From:Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Parma and Tuscany
From:1730 Trending Topics: Pragmatic Sanction
Date: 2022-01-01 05:00 pm (UTC)FW: Prussia signed it in 1728 in return for recognition of my Berg claims, which you then promptly granted to the Wittelsbachs. One day, several years from now, fed up with this kind of thing, I will point to my wretched son and say, "There stands one who will avenge me!" (Only not in this AU because wretched son will be safely out of my reach by 1736.)
Isabella: Signed it in 1725 but you didn't agree to marry my son Don Carlos to your daughter MT, you bastard!
France: Pragmatic Sanction signing over my dead body! Wittelsbachs, get ready to divvy up some Habsburg territory as soon as the Emperor kicks it.
Great Britain: So, you know, in theory, I have no objection to signing the Pragmatic Sanction.
France: Et tu, Britain.
Great Britain: But it really depends on who her husband is. No marrying her to Don Carlos! Nobody wants Spain and Austria reunited like under Charles V.
Charles VI: Isabella is batshit insane (have you noticed?) and even I don't want to touch that with a ten-foot pole.
Isabella: You don't call it batshit when a man has a cause. You call it heroic!
Charles VI: Wrong! FW. We call him batshit. Check and mate.
Great Britain: Okay, we're getting a little off topic here. G2: But hard agree about FW. Hervey: You're both crazy. No Bourbon marriages, and also no converting Protestant Prussian Crown Princes.
Charles VI: *sigh* Yes, that second thing was not really the plan either. I don't know where you guys get these ideas. She has a husband planned. His name is Franz. He's from Lorraine.
Great Britain: Awesome! So just put in the treaty that our NOTPs are ruled out, and we'll sign your Pragmatic Sanction in early 1731.
Charles VI: Well, but, the problem is, I am an emperor and I do not have my daughter's marriages dictated by foreign powers.
Great Britain: Okay, SECRET ARTICLE ruling out our NOTPs, and we sign your pragmatic sanction.
Charles VI: Face-saving device accepted!
Great Britain: And Spanish garrisons in Parma and Tuscany accepted?
Charles VI: *sigh*
Charles VI: *signs*
Gian Gastone: "And now, with the stroke of a pen, you will see an old man of sixty become the father of a bouncing boy." [Paraphrased actual quote.] No, I was not involved in these negotiations. What, you expected me to go to war with Spain and Austria over who my heir is? Lol. Hi, Don Carlos. Nice to meet you. Have some wine.
Mildred: Note that by the time Gian Gastone dies in 1737, the War of the Polish Succession has changed the plans *again*: Don Carlos gets Naples and Sicily, and FS gets Tuscany.
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Pragmatic Sanction
Date: 2022-01-02 09:10 am (UTC)Dr. Zimmerman: Why were you like that, GB? You could have prevented the Silesian Wars from ever happening, if you'd just allowed my OTP! Fritz/MT 4eva!
Incidentally, what all of this demonstrates all over again is why Fritz really did not see the Diplomatic Revolution coming and thought he could rely on France hating on the Habsburgs forever.
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Pragmatic Sanction
From:Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Pragmatic Sanction
Date: 2022-01-03 05:23 am (UTC)Ah! Thank you for this, this is super useful for me to see how stuff I already know fits into these overviews :D
Charles VI: Wrong! FW. We call him batshit. Check and mate.
Heeeee. I do get her point. But also, hee.
Charles VI: *sigh* Yes, that second thing was not really the plan either.
LOLOLOL
Great Britain: Awesome! So just put in the treaty that our NOTPs are ruled out, and we'll sign your Pragmatic Sanction in early 1731.
This is great, fandomspeak for the win :D
Gian Gastone: "And now, with the stroke of a pen, you will see an old man of sixty become the father of a bouncing boy." [Paraphrased actual quote.] No, I was not involved in these negotiations. What, you expected me to go to war with Spain and Austria over who my heir is? Lol. Hi, Don Carlos. Nice to meet you. Have some wine.
Ha, +1 to my comment above about how things fit in. (I remembered the quote and that it had to do with his heir or lack thereof, wouldn't have been able to tell you the context besides that.)
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Pragmatic Sanction
From:1730 Trending Topics: Ostend Company
Date: 2022-01-01 05:11 pm (UTC)Great Britain, Netherlands: Okay, as we make peace after the War of the Spanish Succession, Austria, we've decided you can keep the Spanish Netherlands (future Belgium, more or less). We're calling it the Austrian Netherlands now. But there are some rules. One, the main river (the Scheldt) remains closed to shipping. Two, existing import taxes remain, and they favor us. Three, a third of the remaining revenue we've left to you has to be spent on the Dutch garrisons.
Austria: Whah--buh--this isn't ruling it! This is just administering it on your behalf!
Great Britain, Netherlands: Them's the breaks.
Netherlands: We live next door and really *really* don't want to go back to the days when Antwerp was *the* major point of commerce in northern Europe. We shut down the competition a hundred years ago, and we don't intend to let it come back!
Great Britain: We don't care nearly as much, but the Dutch are our allies, so yeah. Them's the breaks, Austria.
France: We have no dog in this fight per se, but on principle, we object to everything that benefits Austria. So yes.
1722
Austria: Fine! We are founding a company based out of Ostend and we are going to trade overseas. Just like the Dutch East India company and the British East India Company and the South Sea Company. And in direct competition!
Netherlands: The Ostend Company violates the Peace of Westphalia!
Britain: Yeah!
Austria: Try and stop us!
1722-1731
British, Dutch, French: *try and stop them*
1727
France and Great Britain: Okay, and in this latest in an interminable series of treaties, you agree to shut down the Ostend Company.
Austria: Never!
France and Great Britain: For seven years.
Austria: Fine. But you realize this means we have very little reason to continue being allies with Spain, if we're not getting trade benefits.
Great Britain: We will try to take advantage of this when we start making friends with you in a few years.
1730
France: *still not shutting down Dunkirk*
France and Great Britain: *still shouting "You go first!" "No you!" at each other about starting a war over the Spanish garrisons*
Great Britain: *starts making friends with Austria again*
1731
Austria: *shuts down the Ostend Company for good*
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Ostend Company
From:Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Ostend Company
From:1730 Trending Topics: Bremen and Verden
Date: 2022-01-01 05:15 pm (UTC)Hanover: We conquered Bremen and Verden from Sweden (Charles XII) in the Great Northern War. Now we have good coastline and ports and all, woot!
Charles VI: Excuse me, does the word "investitures" mean anything to you? It means those are Holy Roman Empire principalities, which means I as emperor have to officially bestow them upon you, or "invest" you with them.
Hanover: So...
Charles VI: So I'm not happy with you, and I'm not recognizing your rule. We're not going to war, I'm just not signing off on this until you give me what I want.
Hanover: Which is...?
Charles VI: Well, ideally I'd like to keep the Ostend Company, and not have Spanish garrisons in Parma and Tuscany, and maybe you could stop arguing with me all the time about Mecklenburg, but really what I care about is the Pragmatic Sanction.
Hanover: Buuut, we're allied with France, and you know how France feels about the Pragmatic Sanction. So Bremen and Verden investitures are going to be a seemingly minor but annoyingly persistent topic throughout the decade.
1730 Trending Topics: Holstein-Gottorp and Schleswig
Date: 2022-01-01 05:19 pm (UTC)Karl Peter: I'm the father of future (P)RussianPete and nephew of Charles XII. I think I should be king of Sweden! And failing that, or preferably in addition to that, I should get Schleswig back! The Danes stole it from us (Holstein-Gottorp) during the Great Northern War, because we were allied with Sweden.
Russia: We're with Karl Peter on this. Especially under Peter the Great, who practically adopts him.
Denmark: Not giving it back!
Karl Peter: Or some territorial equivalent. Equivalents are a thing in 18th century Europe.
England and France: No! We mediated the treaty that allowed Denmark to keep Schleswig, and we stand by that treaty.
Hanover: HELL no! We only got Bremen and Verden because we agreed to let Denmark keep Schleswig. If that treaty's not valid, then our claim to Bremen and Verden is called into question.
Austria: So, about that. We signed a 1726 treaty with Russia, which means we now have to support Karl Peter's claim to Schleswig or an equivalent.
Hanover: So you're not giving us the investitures to Bremen and Verden?
Austria: Well, it would definitely make our case about Schleswig a lot harder to sell. But can we interest you in a pragmatic sanction?
Karl Peter: So I GUESS, if no one is helping me get Schleswig back, then I'll just have to raise my SON to care deeply about this issue, so that if he ever ends up at the head of a country with a large army, he can mobilize it to take our Schleswig back.
Everyone else: Good luck with that foreign policy, future (P)RussianPete.
1762 Coda:
Russians: You want us to die to recover YOUR lost territory after giving back for free the territory WE had just conquered from Old Fritz? You have got to be kidding.
Catherine: Hi, I may be German, but I don't care about Holstein-Gottorp or Schleswig, and I'm not an especially big fan of Fritz.
Russians: HIRED!
Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Holstein-Gottorp and Schleswig
From:1730 Trending Topics: Mecklenburg
Date: 2022-01-01 05:24 pm (UTC)Brandenburg in blue, Hanover in yellow next to it, Mecklenburg-Schwerin in gray above it. You can see why G2 and FW are fighting over it all the time.
Karl Leopold: Hi, I'm--correction, I was--the duke of Mecklenburg. I tried going with the spirit of the times by taking power away from the nobles so I could have an efficiently centralized state. You know, like Louis XIV, Peter the Great, FW, Victor Amadeus II, Charles XI, Philip V, and half my other contemporaries. But for some reason, *I'm* the one with the bad rap! [Mildred note: Due to my inability to get the dissertation in question, I can't actually tell if he was worse than his contemporaries.]
Future Joseph II: I feel your pain.
Karl Leopold: So the revolting subjects problem got so bad, the Holy Roman Emperor released my subjects from their allegiance to me. Can you believe it!
Hanover: So us and Brunswick got put in charge of administering Mecklenburg. That worked great (imo) until...
George I: *dies in 1727*
Charles VI: Okay, new plan. Prussia gets to help out with the administering.
Hanover: I bet that's because you made a secret treaty with Prussia last year, you bastard!
Charles VI: I can neither confirm nor deny this terrible and unfounded allegation--where did your spies hear about this??? I thought we had better security than that--but in any case, I can dispense territory-occupying privileges to my new buddy FW if I want to!
Hanover: No, you can't! This decision didn't even come from the Imperial Diet, but from the Aulic Council/Reichshofrat, which is subordinate to you, and that's not cool! I protest this abuse of power.
Great Britain: Even though we normally side-eye getting too involved in Hanoverian affairs, it is a little scary if the Emperor thinks he can just go around administering the territories in the Empire at will. He's not like their monarch, he's an elected head with limits on his power, and he has to respect the rights and privileges of the principalities and their legitimate rulers!
France: Our position on anything that can possibly be interpreted as Habsburg abuses of power is predictable.
[Mildred ETA: Good news! After I finished drafting this write-up, I acquired another book that had a footnote that told me that the Mecklenburg dissertation was turned into a book. I had suspected this, but couldn't tell which book. Now that I know the title, the book is on its way to me. So we should be learning more about Mecklenburg soon.]
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