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

Re: 1764-1772 Foreign policy: Sweden: The Hats and Caps, an eternal merry-go-round

[luzula]

Then in 1756, Ulrike attempts to institute absolutism. She is caught by the Hats, who make her sign a public "I won't do it again" apology letter, which she finds very humiliating.
I laughed. It does sound kind of like she's a schoolchild... Naughty girl, no absolutism for you!

Choiseul, who's in power in France, is disenchanted with the Hats, as they haven't proven very useful, and they're very expensive.
Well, from the Hats' perspective, good job milking money from the French without having to give much in return, I guess...at least until the subsidies ended.

Re: 1764-1772 Foreign policy: Sweden: The Hats and Caps, an eternal merry-go-round

[mildred_of_midgard]

Well, from the Hats' perspective, good job milking money from the French without having to give much in return, I guess...at least until the subsidies ended.

WEll, the problem wasn't so much that the Hats or Sweden benefitted from this policy, just that the Hats were very incompetent in their attempts to give back to France. They declared war on Russia in 1741 at France's behest, and promptly got their butts kicked. Then they got involved in the Seven Years' War, and that also sucked up so much money and killed so many Swedes and harmed the national reputation so much that Sweden desperately wanted out.

Btw, every take on Prussia and Russia I've read has Peter III forcing Sweden to make peace with Fritz. From the book on Swedish-Russian relations that selenak got me for Christmas, sure, he did, but Sweden was *already* desperately trying to get out of the war under Elizaveta, relieved that Peter was on board with that, and hopeful Catherine would allow them to stay out of the war (and relieved when she did).

The Miracle of the House of Brandenburg was also the Miracle of Sweden, it seems. :P