Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 47

[cahn]

We haven't had a new post since before December 25, so obligatory Yuletide link to this hilarious story of Frederick the Great babysitting his bratty little brother, with bonus Fritz/Fredersdorf!

Comments

1764-1772 Foreign policy: France: Concerning Sweden

[mildred_of_midgard]

So then France turns its attention to Sweden. After having signally failed in Poland, they start trying to do in Sweden exactly what the Duc de Broglie wanted them to do in Poland: abandon the idea of anarchy and start trying to strengthen the local monarchy.

The King's Secret makes this difficult, though. Reminder from the Sweden installment of this write-up (Vergennes is the French envoy in Sweden):

French diplomacy continues to be a disaster. Vergennes' initial instructions are:
* Proceed with caution
* No inciting royalist coups
* Keep a sharp eye on Ulrike
* Reconcile the Hats and the caps
Limit any constitutional change to going back to the way things were in 1720

At the time, Gustav says he's happy with this, implying that he was *not* planning a coup the moment he became king.

But then the French foreign minister starts to get nervous about the Polish Partition, and he starts thinking a strong Sweden is the way to go. So his new policy involves writing a letter to Gustav III in December 1771, telling him that he needs to carry out a "coup de force," because the alternative is anarchy that the Russians control (so basically what's going on in Poland, which is making both Sweden and France–like Prussia, Russia, and the Turks–nervous).

But guess who doesn't get told this? Vergennes, the ambassador! Now, he's part of the King's Secret, so he should be in on all the secret diplomacy. But now we have three diplomacies: the official one, the secret one the king wants, and the secret one the foreign minister wants.

So whenever Gustav brings up to Vergennes the idea that he wants to start a coup and would maybe like some money from France toward that end, Vergennes is all, "Mmm, ah, not sure that's a great idea," and Gustav drops it.

Finally, matters become advanced enough that Gustav is planning an actual coup, and Vergennes has to be informed by his bosses, so that the can supply large sums of money at need. As for his revised instructions from ihs boss, though, according to Roberts:

Unfortunately its phrasing was almost as Delphic as his original instructions  He was told that the situation was now such that "possibly" only force could provide a remedy. But on the other hand his attention was called to the "inconvenience" of premature action: his conduct therefore must be circumspect.

This leads him at one point to complain of "mes pauvres nerfs." It leads us readers to facepalm.

Eventually Gustav pulls off the coup, but without the kind of support from France he was hoping for (because Vergennes still only barely knows he's supposed to support it and he's not sure how much), and thus France is unable to take advantage of getting what they wanted in Sweden.

Re: 1764-1772 Foreign policy: France: Concerning Sweden

[selenak]

I bet Vergennes was happy when he could relax via negotiating with Yankee tax dodgers...

Re: 1764-1772 Foreign policy: France: Concerning Sweden

[mildred_of_midgard]

Lol!

Re: 1764-1772 Foreign policy: France: Concerning Sweden

[cahn]

Eventually Gustav pulls off the coup, but without the kind of support from France he was hoping for (because Vergennes still only barely knows he's supposed to support it and he's not sure how much), and thus France is unable to take advantage of getting what they wanted in Sweden.

Lol, poor Vergennes!