Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 42

[cahn]

Last post, we had (among other things) Danish kings and their favorites; Louis XIV and Philippe d'Orléans; reviews of a very shippy book about Katte, a bad Jacobite novel, and a great book about clothing; a fic about Émilie du Châtelet and Voltaire; and a review of a set of entertaining Youtube history videos about Frederick the Great.

Comments

Re: 1730s Saxon Diplomacy: Suhm

[mildred_of_midgard]

:) Not just Saxon diplomacy. I dare say that would have been the advice of any envoy who had come into contact with FW.

I had the same thought! I almost added, "Saxon diplomacy is European diplomacy." Salon hive mind. ;)

IKR? It really adds another dimension to Suhm. As far as his envoy life was concerned, we only knew he didn't vibe with FW in which he was hardly unique, so it didn't say that much about his job skills.

We had figured out a couple things, like what kind of diplomat he was (the kind that is quiet and spins things in a *diplomatic* manner, not the more flamboyant Manteuffel kind), and I remember us concluding that he was pro-wars of aggression and would have been fine with Fritz invading Silesia. But the fact that he was getting copies of the Life of Eugene in St. Petersburg while negotiating an anti-Prussian treaty and coming up with realpolitik plans to keep Prussia in check does add a new dimension!

It also shows that Fritz' idea that Suhm was too delicate a nature to get along with Russians was somewhat mistaken - Suhm did just fine in his negotiations with Bad Boy Biron - , but presumably based on seeing Suhm as the opposite of FW and knowing Suhm hated the FW life style (despite having to become a member of the Society Against Sobriety).

Haha, well, I always figured a big part of Fritz's thinking here was a need to rationalize why Suhm shouldn't have any higher priorities than him leave him.

BTW, did Nicolas stay in Prussia with Hedwig and the kids, or did he return to Saxony, do we know?

Wikipedia tells me he returned to Saxony and was used as an envoy again.

Quite. But then he's living in a century where your enemy of yesterday can become your ally of tomorrow, and people like Eugene who change sides ONCE (if it can be called that, given he never had a job at court or in the army while still in France) and stay committed are the exception

Exactly what I was thinking.

"Excellent. He can take over Manteuffel's old spying network, and since Fritz actually wants him there, will be in a far better position to send me juicy insider reports."

(Err, not that Suhm would have done that, but maybe Brühl thought he might and thus okayed the move?)

You know, you're reminding me that I did read something very like this somewhere. Maybe it was Brühl! Anyway, it makes total sense. (Wonder if he expected Lynar to spy on Anna Leopoldovna and green-lighted the switch to Russian service for that reason.)