18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 38

[cahn]

Gonna go ahead and make this post even though Yuletide is coming...

But in the meantime, there has been some fic in the fandom posted!

Holding His Space (2503 words) by felisnocturna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF, 18th Century CE Frederician RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf/Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great
Characters: Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf, Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great
Additional Tags: Protectiveness, Domestic, Character Study
Summary:

Five times Fredersdorf has to stay behind - and one time Friedrich doesn't leave.

Using People (3392 words) by prinzsorgenfrei
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great/Hans Hermann von Katte
Characters: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great, Hans Hermann von Katte
Additional Tags: Fluff, Idiots in Love, reading plays aloud while gazing into each others eyes
Summary:

Friedrich had started to talk to him because he had thought of him as a bit of a ditz.
And now here he was. Here he was months later, bundled up in this very same man’s blankets with a cup of hot coffee in front of him, its scent mixing with that of Katte’s French perfume.
_
Fluffy One Shot about one traitorous Crown Prince and the sycophant he accidentally fell for.

Comments

Re: France and the War of the Austrian Succession

[mildred_of_midgard]

Hm, do you think there is any chance he might decide to preemptively „protect“ MT by invading Saxony, you know, just in case because Brühl is an evil man and will try something, and btw, of course he‘ll keep Saxony once he has it?

Oh, yes, absolutely. That's what I had in mind in my first reply when I said he might invade a neutral Saxony. See, in real life, in the 1750s, Saxony was super interested in partitioning Prussia, and was engaged in diplomatic activity toward this end. Fritz knew that. The only reason what he did was a war crime (I mean, the act of invading, not what he did when he got there) was that Saxony hadn't actually signed a treaty in time, because they were too scared. They were officially neutral when he invaded, though they were trying to get in on the anti-Fritz coalition on terms that would make the risk acceptable to them. So Fritz manufactured evidence that they had actually agreed to partition Prussia, produced a lot of PR defending his actions, and invaded Saxony. Saxony didn't start defending themselves effectively on the PR front until a hundred years later, in the 1860s-1870s (when Prussia was again doing related things the Saxons didn't like).

In this AU? Saxony is absolutely interested in partitioning Habsburg territory, and they're sounding out MT's enemies for an alliance. In my theory, they're too scared to actually join in time, which is why I think they remain officially neutral. But knowing that Saxony is sounding out allies for partitioning Habsburg territories, Fritz could absolutely use that as a pretense to invade Saxony as part of his protection racket. And the reason I keep leaning toward him doing that is that it would *both* be easier to justify than invading more MT territory, and more valuable to Prussia (closer to home, more economically valuable, longstanding rival of Prussia that he had a definite interest in keeping down--his political correspondence reflects that even before the first Silesian invasion).

Now, since he hadn't experienced 1744 yet, he doesn't yet know that Bohemia is so difficult to hold, so he might:

1. Seize Silesia, offer his "protection" to MT.
2. Occupy Saxony on the grounds that they're a threat to MT. Use them to fund the war.
3. Invade Bohemia because this has all been too easy so far. :D
4. Start running into trouble.

Given that I agree 100% with what you've said about MT losing support the moment she starts handing over territory, the trouble Fritz runs into might be a combination of Bavarian + French trouble and trouble from the locals being Catholic and not too impressed with the defender of the Protestant faith, rather than Austrian trouble, but at this point, I lose my ability to make meaningful predictions: too many forks in the path.

This is fun, I feel like Heinrich and AW roleplaying. :D