18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 36

[cahn]

Starting a couple of comments earlier than usual to mention there are a couple of new salon fics! These probably both need canon knowledge.

felis ficlets on siblings!

Siblings (541 words) by felisnocturna
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great, Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf, August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758), Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758)
Summary:

Three Fills for the 2022 Three Sentence Ficathon.

Chapter One: Protective Action / Babysitting at Rheinsberg (Frederick/Fredersdorf, William+Henry+Ferdinand)
Chapter Two: Here Be Lions (Wilhelmine)

Unsent Letters fic by me:

Letters for a Dead King (1981 words) by raspberryhunter
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great & Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen (1726-1802)
Characters: Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802)
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Love/Hate, Talking To Dead People, Canonical Character Death, Dysfunctional Family
Summary:

Just because one's king and brother is dead doesn't mean one has to stop writing to him.

Comments

Re: Austrian Succession tidbits

[mildred_of_midgard]

the medieval realm which now are Belgium were under Austrian control as the Spanish/Austrian Netherlands, I could see her declaring this old Habsburg heritage she has no intention of giving up

I was just reminded that like her father (or uncle Joseph, I forget) and later her son, according to Anderson MT actually wanted to trade the Austrian Netherlands in this war for something more useful, like Bavaria!

This I actually believe, because there's a reason the 18th century Habsburgs kept wanting to get rid of it: it was a huge liability. It was far away from their core lands and therefore difficult to defend, it had two powerful neighbors that kept fighting in the area, and the treaties that ended the War of the Spanish Succession had bound Austrian possession up with so many restrictions that the Emperor was more of a trustee than an actual ruler. Consider:

- The river Scheldt was blocked off to keep Antwerp from competing commercially with the Dutch.
- Import duties were favorable to the Dutch and British.
- Charles VI tried *really* *really* hard to found the Ostend Company to take advantage of his ports for overseas trading purposes, but the Dutch and British kept pointing out that that actually violated the Treaty of Rastatt (part of what we lump under the Peace of Utrecht), and he finally agreed to shut it down in return for recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction.
- The Austrian Netherlands had to pay for the maintenance of the Dutch Barrier fortresses against the French, which ended up being something like a third or even a half of the income of the Austrian Netherlands.

ETA: My 1720s foreign policy write-up here contains a more readable account of the controversy over the Austrian Netherlands and why the Habsburgs were more prone to consider it a liability.