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cahnBackground: The kids' school has a topic for "Unit" every trimester that a lot of their work (reading, writing, some math) revolves around. These topics range from time/geographic periods ('Colonial America') to geography ('Asia') to science ('Space') to social science ('Business and Economics'). (I have some issues with this way of doing things, but that's a whole separate post.) Anyway, for Reasons, they have had to come up with a new topic this year, and E's 7/8 class is doing "World Fairs" as their new topic.
Me: I know E's teacher is all about World Fairs and I know she is great and will do a good job. But I feel like if we had a different teacher who wasn't so into World Fairs, they wouldn't do such a good job and another topic would be better.
Me: Like... the Enlightenment!
D: Heh, you could teach that! But you'd have to restrain yourself from making everything about Frederick the Great.
Me: But that's the thing! Everyone does relate to each other in this time period! Voltaire -- and his partner Émilie du Châtelet, who was heavily involved in the discourse of conservation of energy and momentum -- well, I've told you Voltaire had a thing with Fritz -- and then there's Empress Maria Theresa, who went to war with him a few times -- and Catherine the Great --
D, meditatively: You know --
Me: *am innocently not warned even though this is the same tone of voice that is often followed by, say, a bad pun*
D: -- it's impressive how everyone from this 'the Great' family is so famous!
Me: *splutters*
D, thoughtfully: But of course there's probably selection bias, as the ones who aren't famous don't get mentioned. You never see 'Bob the Great' in the history books...
Me: *splutters more*
Me: I know E's teacher is all about World Fairs and I know she is great and will do a good job. But I feel like if we had a different teacher who wasn't so into World Fairs, they wouldn't do such a good job and another topic would be better.
Me: Like... the Enlightenment!
D: Heh, you could teach that! But you'd have to restrain yourself from making everything about Frederick the Great.
Me: But that's the thing! Everyone does relate to each other in this time period! Voltaire -- and his partner Émilie du Châtelet, who was heavily involved in the discourse of conservation of energy and momentum -- well, I've told you Voltaire had a thing with Fritz -- and then there's Empress Maria Theresa, who went to war with him a few times -- and Catherine the Great --
D, meditatively: You know --
Me: *am innocently not warned even though this is the same tone of voice that is often followed by, say, a bad pun*
D: -- it's impressive how everyone from this 'the Great' family is so famous!
Me: *splutters*
D, thoughtfully: But of course there's probably selection bias, as the ones who aren't famous don't get mentioned. You never see 'Bob the Great' in the history books...
Me: *splutters more*
Re: Game of Hohenzollern Thrones, Anhalt!Sophie Style
Date: 2023-11-09 01:32 am (UTC)True to all this, but I was thinking along these lines:
Heinrich: Bro! I need an heir, it's got to be a Hohenzollern, and you know I'm not doing it. And I trust you.
Ferdinand: I will do anything for you.
But then I'm being influenced by one of my absolute favorite scenes in a book, in which an impotent ruler needs an heir, his wife wants a kid, and his loyal childless younger brother's up for helping out.
In revenge for the Scouring of Saxony, of course! Yes, no longer future FW2 is AW's kid, not that of Fritz, but he is Fritz' designed successor, and thus posthumously foiling him might feel satisfying. Maybe the Saxon folk even hope for a Prussian War of Succession, or at least trouble for their arch enemy. Maybe they agree because Heinrich was as decent as an occupier under Fritz' overall direction could be to the Saxons and they think they are doing him a favour this way?
I like it!
Or.... drumroll... Sophie/Catherine's star witness besides the actual clergyman is Poniatowski! Whom she could have met and romanced when he was in Berlin in the late 1740s in this timeline.
Ah, yes, excellent. A plot emerges!
Hanbury-Williams: Hooking these two up wherever he goes, in whatever timeline. :D
Re: Game of Hohenzollern Thrones, Anhalt!Sophie Style
Date: 2023-11-11 12:57 pm (UTC)Ferdinand: I will do anything for you.
I could see this trust and readiness on both their parts, and also, given Ferdinand in real life flirted with Mina originally (and had to be told by an evidently projecting AW "don't let it get serious, no matter how hot she is!"), it's not like he was per se incapable of romancing sisters-in-law. But again... it's Sophie/Catherine. I can't get the image of Ferdinand hiding behind Heinrich when they all meet as kids out of my head (even though it's just my own headcanon, Catherine in her memoirs just says she was introduced to the girls plus Heinrich and Ferdinand, says nothing about the last one and goes on to say that this is from where she and Heinrich date their friendship). I still think he'd have been afraid of her and thus incapable of getting it on with her. Mind you: maybe I'm projecting later Ferdinand too much on earlyl Ferdinand. Post AW's death Ferdinand was invested in being too sick to fight (and scapegoated by Fritz) and then turned into a full time hypochondriac, but pre AW's death Ferdinand was an enterprising prince partying it up as a member of the Divine Trio in the late 40s and early 50s, wo presumably at this time he could have managed. (As for Sophie, while I don't think she'd have been attracted to him on her own behalf she would have done it if there was no other way to produce an Hohenzollern offspring okay with Heinrich.
Hanbury-Williams: Hooking these two up wherever he goes, in whatever timeline. :D
Clearly, since in this timeline he'd have hung out with SD, EC and the sibs while pointedly not getting a Fritz audience as well, and Sophie would have liked him while also thinking it was useful for the future to have an English diplomat in her pockets.
I'm trying to figure out how all the post Fritz' death players would have reacted once Sophie announces AW was married to the Saxon lady and no longer future FW2 plus siblings are therefore bastards. Within the family, Amalie of course sides with Luise. (EC does too, but no one pays attention to poor EC anyway.) Ulrike in Sweden plus son Gustav: Hm, on the one hand, AW was Ulrike's favourite brother, otoh, she seems to have gotten along well with Heinrich when he visited in real life (enough so to make a return visit to Rheinsberg later), she like her mother was Braunschweig sisters hostile in the early 1740s, and she doesn't know AW's kids in person, so - she might be all for Heinrich as King and his kids as the successors instead of no longer future FW2, if, that is, she thinks that's what Heinrich wants. If she suspects Sophie is after becoming Regent herself, that's another matter. Meanwhile, Gustav can be trusted to go in the other direction to whatever his mother wants.
The Prussian army: anyone who served in the 7 Years War would probably be pro Heinrich, not sure about the younger ones.
The politicians: FW2's real life ministers hated Heinrich's gut, so their counterpart in this timeline would do anything to prevent either Heinrich or Sophie or both from getting anywhere near power.
Joseph and MT (if she's still alive by the time it comes to ahead, which I assume she would be if Fritz dies in the 7 Years War): MT inwardly is "a plague on both their houses" but outwardly supports the line of succession as previously established (though she lets Sophie know Sophie could always suggest a Pragmatic Sanction. (Since MT inherited over her cousins despite her cousins being the daughters of her father's older brother.) Joseph has mixed feelings (strife within the Hohenzollern clan = good for the Habsburgs; but also, younger brothers getting ursurping ideas = bad) but then thinks that no longer future FW2 sounds like one of his annoying brothers-in-law while Sophie wins him around in a personal encounter (not to Team Heinrich, to Team Sophie).
Louis XV and Louis XVI (depending on when this all goes down): are also cool with inner Hohenzollern strife. Louis XV has fond memories of centuries long French policy to try and support one German ruler against the other, though the other used to be always a Habsburg.
The Hannover Cousins: Young G3 is strictly against anyone making any changes to the rule of succession, thinks this whole secret marriage story sounds fishy (his oldest son is not yet old enough to look guilty when he says this), and since everyone is a good Protestant, doesn't think the deposed Stuarts precedent applies. Sir Charles would lobby him except on Sophie's behalf except Sir Charles has had syphilis in this timeline, too, and thus has gone mad and died as in the prime timeline.
Re: Game of Hohenzollern Thrones, Anhalt!Sophie Style
Date: 2023-11-26 07:06 pm (UTC)What I also want to know is, how is Heinrich reacting here! I could imagine him having strong feelings about this AW marriage, which presumably he knows or at least suspects is Sophie's invention. But maybe he also feels like he would be a good king??