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East Frisia; Poland
Date: 2023-02-24 10:45 pm (UTC)Hartmann finally explained to me that in 1732, the inheritance was so contested by the Danes and Hanoverians that FW decided to start adding the title to his list.
Most of the German principalities just sighed and said, "Sure," but the emperor got annoyed that FW hadn't asked him, and G2 and the Danes got annoyed! Neither of them wanted FW holding more territory in their neighborhood.
Danish minister: You can't just start going by a title that someone else holds! That's not a thing!
FW: It is so! I'm not challenging the current incumbent, I'm just making sure everyone knows that I'm next in line!
Danish minister: NOT A THING.
FW: IS TOO.
So when Fritz took over in 1740, he adopted the East Frisia title in expectation of his inheritance.
In 1744, when he finally inherited, there were some protests from Britain and Denmark, but since there was a bigger war to worry about (Austrian Succession), and Fritz had just won his last land grab, everyone declined to start a war with Fritz over this and just let him have it.
Hartmann, btw, has turned out to be a really informative read given my foreign policy interests. Yes, he's problematic, but almost all the books I read are, and it's not as bad as I'd feared from Selena's comment that he "regards 'History of my Time' and 'History of the Seven Years War' (both by Fritz) as his main sources for all things Prussia." His main sources are the respective bodies of political correspondence of his two heroes, Fritz and Bernstorff, supplemented by some archival material (not as much as I'd like). And while he doesn't question his heroes enough (he does some!), and he's got some real zingers, as pointed out by Selena (I did raise two eyebrows at everyone wanting to dismember Prussia in 1740), the book does provides valuable context to the Danish aspects of the Political Correspondence on Trier, which is on my list of things to dive into when my French is better. And if I decide I want to wrestle with Bernstorff's 18C German (I looked at it), his correspondence has been published and is also freely available. I will probably revisit Hartmann if/when I start reading the PC. Though I'm still hoping to find a better book on 18th century Danish history than either Barz or Hartmann! (Two more Struensee books are currently in the mail. Fingers crossed.)
ETA: Okay, I've just gotten to the part where he talks about the partition of Poland, and I need some help here. Per
But Hartmann's true masterpiece comes when he has to talk about Poland. See, Danish PM Bernstorff, about whom more in a moment, predicts Fritz would want to divide the country in 1768 already. However, says Hartmann: Bernstorff's judgment on the Prussian policy towards Poland did not reflect reality. From 1772 onwards, Berlin didn't promote the plan of a partioning of Poland, just of separating some Polish territories and adding them to the Hohenzollern state, with the sole intent of not letting Russian influence in the Commonwealth get too powerful.
I'm still staring at that sentence, refusing to believe it was published in 1983.
Emphasis mine, because in my copy of the text, it reads:
Vor 1772 betrieb man in Berlin nicht den Plan einer Teilung Polens, sondern die Abtrennung polnischer Gebiete und ihre Einverleibung in den Hohenzollernstaat, mit dem Hintergedanken, den russischen Einfluß in der Adelsrepublik nicht übermächtig werden zu lassen.
I would have read "vor 1772" as before 1772, meaning in 1768 when Bernstorff is speculating about Fritz's motives. Does it really mean "from 1772 onwards?"
Because I am not the expert here, but I distinctly remember Heinrich having to talk Fritz *into* taking a piece of Poland during the First Partition.
Now, Fritz's reluctance was on the grounds that he feared Russia would object, and Fritz's plans for grabbing West Prussia go all the way back to 1731, and Prussian hopes of partitioning Poland go back to before that (to even before FW, I think). So given all that, I think it's absurd to say Fritz's motivation was to keep Russia from getting too strong. Hell, in the early days, the motive was to keep Saxony from getting too strong! although by 1768 that's no longer a concern.
But I do think it's fair to say that before 1772, Fritz wasn't planning on partitioning Poland, and that though he had hopes of a land grab at various points in his reign, he wasn't seriously contemplating one in 1768, and thus that Bernstorff missed the mark there. The rest of Hartmann's claim is, of course, absurd.
Re: East Frisia; Poland
Date: 2023-02-25 08:22 am (UTC)Vor means before, not onwards, but honestly, I don't remember whether I misread "von" for "vor" (as in, "von 1772 an" instead of "Vor 1772" or whether it was mistyped in the Stabi edition. Probably the former. I read that book very quickly (minus the sections about the Great Northern War, which I had no interest in), which makes amisread very likely.
Re: East Frisia; Poland
Date: 2023-02-25 01:23 pm (UTC)Hohenzollerns: Well, it worked! Right up until it didn't.
Modern Hohenzollerns: We just want the stuff! Okay, if you want to bring back the monarchy too, we're not stopping you.
Vor means before, not onwards
All I needed to confirm, thanks! Misreadings are easily forgiven, as I commit so many of my own, and I know this book was of much less interest to you than to me.
Re: East Frisia; Poland
Date: 2023-02-26 05:53 am (UTC)Danish minister: NOT A THING.
FW: IS TOO.
made me laugh :D
Re: East Frisia; Poland
Date: 2023-02-26 04:16 pm (UTC)As for "IS TOO," FW was like, "There are plenty of examples where other people have done it!" but iirc, Hartmann didn't list them, so I can't report them.