Changing of the Seasons: An Alternate Risorgimento

[The Undead Martyr]

Giving Galicia-Lodomeria to Hungary and splitting Croatia off would probably be the best thing to do. It would also be a nice reward to the Croats who stayed loyal to the Habsburgs in the Revolutions. The stumbling block there would of course be the Hungarians, but Galicia-Lodomeria may placate them.

And nay to giving South Tyrol and Trent to an Italian State, its very German, and has been historically part of Austria for hundreds of years. Italian Nationalists be damned.

Istria or Dalmatia, then, as they were acquired from the Venetian Republic.
Trent was ethically Italian in the lower parts, so the claim is not utterly ludicrous. The fact that they were part of Austria since the 1500s IIRC would be a bigger stumbling block. Then again so was Austria. IMHO Ferdinand might get one of the three if he pushed for it- Trieste/the Littoral would be more likely to stay due to it being Austria's only port on the Adriatic, Dalmatia would more likely go to Illyria/Super-Croatia, the Trentino would be carving land from Austria proper as opposed to a successor kingdom... I think a proposal such as entertained by A-H pre World War One- part of Trentino with a border favoring A-H and the Friuli up to the Izonzo- would be the most he/ Lombardy-Venetia could get barring a major uprising or calamity or war.

 

[Curt Jester]

Part II

Milan, Lombardy-Venetia; April 20th, 1849

"It is an interesting proposal, my dear cousin." The Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold II, said before he let out a belch. Maximilian scrunched up his nose in disgust.

Leopold was an interesting man. To Maximilian's distaste he was very informal, most likely from his less-than-royal upbringing. The belching was just the beginning. Maximilian watched as Leopold greedily attacked the turkey leg he was gnawing on. He either didn't know or didn't care that the juices from the meat were leaking down his chin. Frankly, it disgusted Maximilian. However, Leopold was very liberal minded, similar to Maximilian himself. He was well beloved by the people of his lands, and he placed himself as an Italian before a Habsburg. Maximilian found that to both be intriguing and worrying. His overarching plan relied on his lesser cousins in Italy to agree to be subservient to himself; if the Grand Duke decided to disagree or throw in the towel with the Savoyards, it all would be for naught.

"Interesting?"

"Why, yes, interesting. You come to power less than two months ago. Your 'Kingdom' is basically just a limb the Austrians decided to chop off so that your older brother could climb even higher on the ladder of power. You've basically become his stepping stone," The Grand Duke laughed, and Maximilian supposed he was right, "However, you have managed to negotiate a surrender of the Venetian rogues, reclaim a crown that you know will incite the people with patriotic furor - not to mention that while reclaiming that crown, you throw a grand fiesta, inviting the commonfolk to join as if they were nobility. You're one of a kind, Ferdinand Maximilian, which is why I must admit I am seriously considering your offer."

In that moment, King Ferdinand Maximilian realized he had won over the Grand Duke to his side. And with Tuscany on his side, it would be nothing to convince the smaller Habsburg dukes to join as well. Indeed, everything was working out exactly as planned.

In the summer of 1849, just after his coronation, King Ferdinand Maximilian I began plans to create an 'Italian Federation'. With help of his distant cousin, Grand Duke Leopold II, he roped up the other smaller duchies belonging to the Habsburg cadet branches into it. This Federation would be heavily based on the German Empire of Maximilian's elder brother. Over the first few years of his reign, Maximilian worked endlessly towards this Federation, and in 1850, it was finalized. King Ferdinand Maximilian made the terms of this agreement quite clear: while the Federation (made of up Lombardy-Venetia, Tuscany, Parma, Lucca and Modena) would work together, as a single state under himself, they all would keep their rulers, and their internal matters would stay internal. This Federation greatly strengthened the Habsburg position in Italy, angering the Savoys. This led to the bloodless War of 1850, where a diplomatic incident between the two led to an attempted naval blockade of the Federation's west coast ports. The blockade ended when a fleet from Venetia reached the western Mediterranean and forced the Sardines to surrender.

On the world stage, things were heating up for what would seem to be quite a battle.

The German Empire, with it's de jure capital at Frankfurt (while it's de facto capital was at Vienna), had been more or less exactly what the members of the Frankfurt Assembly had hoped for. Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg and Hanover all had accepted joining into this Empire, while Prussia and it's allies of Baden, Hesse, and Hesse-Kassel had decided that this Empire was a threat to their own sovereignty. To the displeasure of most of the Hungarians, Eastern Galicia had been ripped from them and instead gifted to Russia. Most saw the gift for what it was, however: a bribe to keep Moscow on Vienna's side if a war broke out with Prussia and it's allies. Those allies weren't limited to Germany, either; the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia had joined Prussia's anti-Austrian alliance as well, with the hope that if war broke out, they could snatch Lombardy and Venetia from the Habsburgs and establish their own dominance in the northern Italian peninsula. On the outskirts, King Louis Phillipe of France looked warily to the east while trying to keep his throne from revolutionaries. Indeed, the fate of all of Europe seemed to be rigged, and a single match threatened to blow it all up.

And on September 4th, 1851, that match, a man by the name of Giuseppe Garibaldi, would walk right into the Royal Palace of Milan and offer his services to the King of Lombardy-Venetia.

Afternote: Another shorter update. I forget who said they wanted to see Giuseppe Garibaldi meet King Ferdinand, but, here you go. (Although the actual meeting won't be until the next update.) I feel as if i've gone ahead enough in the story at this point that I can slow it down, working on more situations and story-type writings.
​

 

[Avrorrange]

Giving Galicia-Lodomeria to Hungary and splitting Croatia off would probably be the best thing to do. It would also be a nice reward to the Croats who stayed loyal to the Habsburgs in the Revolutions. The stumbling block there would of course be the Hungarians, but Galicia-Lodomeria may placate them.

And nay to giving South Tyrol and Trent to an Italian State, its very German, and has been historically part of Austria for hundreds of years. Italian Nationalists be damned.

I really don't think this is a good idea.With a single Croatian state,the Croats are going to start agitate for a taking of Dalmatia from the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.The Dalmatia region is predominantly Croatian as opposed to Italian.Whatever the Italian nationalists say,the 'Italian' population of Dalmatia consists of five percent of the population from the most optimum estimates.If you want to make Croatia independent,then I suggest giving Dalmatia to Croatia instead.

 

[Curt Jester]

I really don't think this is a good idea.With a single Croatian state,the Croats are going to start agitate for a taking of Dalmatia from the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.The Dalmatia region is predominantly Croatia as opposed to Italian.Whatever the Italian nationalists say,the 'Italian' population of Dalmatia consists of five percent of the population from the most optimum estimates.If you want to make Croatia independent,then I suggest giving Dalmatia to Croatia instead.

Dalmatia was switched to Croatia already.

 

[Avrorrange]

About gifting of Galicia to Russia,I highly doubt this is plausible.Him willing to give all these kingdoms to his younger brothers is a stretch already,but I don't think it's realistic for a traditional,Catholic ruler like Franz Joseph to abandon loyal Catholic subjects to an Orthodox despot.It simply wouldn't look good on him.For all his other subjects care,they might be the next.

 

[Curt Jester]

About gifting of Galicia to Russia,I highly doubt this is plausible.Him willing to give all these kingdoms to his younger brothers is a stretch already,but I don't think it's realistic for a traditional,Catholic ruler like Franz Joseph to abandon loyal Catholic subjects to an Orthodox despot.It simply wouldn't look good on him.For all his other subjects care,they might be the next.

It wasn't all of Galicia, just a strip of land in the east. I'm not so sure if you understand the mindset of a person in the 1800s, this isn't the 1400s when rulers actually care about religion and stuff.

 

[Avrorrange]

It wasn't all of Galicia, just a strip of land in the east. I'm not so sure if you understand the mindset of a person in the 1800s, this isn't the 1400s when rulers actually care about religion and stuff.

Not sure about that,many rulers are fairly traditional minded.Even the younger Wilhelm II(Kaiser Bill) got extremely pissed when his sister converted to Orthodoxy after marrying into the Greek royal family.And then you have the likes Nicholas II of Russia and his wife with Rasputin....

Another thing to remember was that when the nobles tried to incite a rebellion against the Austria,it ended with the peasants rising to kick the Polish nobles in favour of the Austriansinstead.It would be unsightly to reward such loyalty with total abandonment to the Russians.

 

[Curt Jester]

Part III

Milan, Lombardy-Venetia; September 4th, 1851

It had been a shock to the entire court when Giuseppe Garibaldi had strutted into the Royal Palace, demanding an audience with the King. Garibaldi was a notorious war criminal, who instigated rebellions against the Habsburgs of Italy and worked with the Savoys of Piedmont-Sardinia. Despite this, he was someone King Ferdinand Maximilian wanted to meet. Maximilian told his courier to let Garibaldi in.

Maximilian stood in the parlor, stuffing a pipe with tobacco. He gave a nod when Garibaldi walked in. "Want a smoke?"

"No, your Majesty. Before we begin this talk, I would like to apologize for my earlier actions against you." Garibaldi said it with an apologetic voice, but shrugged, as if apologizing for accidentally dropping a plate or leaving a door open.

"Well, it's good that you're sorry," Maximilian sat down and offered Garibaldi a seat across from him. "But it's going to take quite a bit to convince me not to have you dressed in irons and arrested."

"I've come to you not to apologize, your Majesty, or to beg for forgiveness. I have come to do what I once did for the King in Turin - offer my services to you. The Piedmontese decline this, but I encourage you to think about it."

"Your.. your services, hm?" Maximilian raised a brow and made a gesture telling the other man to continue.

"See, originally I had thought of the great schism in Vienna to be a joke. I thought of you as a puppet to your brother, but now I see you are so much more. You took mercy upon those Venetians years ago, and since then you have proven yourself to be a worthwhile leader. With the advent of this Federation, it seems our goals are one and the same."

"Go on." Maximilian lit his pipe and began to smoke.

"This Federation of yours is, to put it bluntly, something I am very interested in. As of now, it is a group of states ruled by your cousins and other family members, all keeping their sovereignty but at the same time, united, correct?"

"Yes."

"I envision a future where this Federation stretches from the Alpines to the Adriatic, and from Milan to Palermo."

"That's pretty talk, my friend, but I cannot imagine the Pope or the Bourbons joining this group, to say the least of the Savoy menace."

"They wouldn't have to join it, your majesty. We could potentially knock off the Savoys and the Bourbons, replace them with more.. Milan aligned nobles. Once the Papacy is surrounded, I can't see them denying you your sovereignty over all of the Italian peninsula."

"What you propose is interesting. If it managed to happen, I wouldn't have to be as subservient to my brother in Frankfurt..." Maximilian pondered the idea before remembering one flaw in the plan. "But where do you fit into this scheme, my dear friend? How would my dominance over Italy suit you? And why do you think I would need you to accomplish it?"

"Because I am not only a war hero, but a hero to the populace. You remember how I instigated those rebellions. I speak and the people listen. And although you were, admittedly, not my first choice, bringing the peninsula is my number one goal, your Majesty. It always has been. And if the cowards in Turin won't accept my proposal, well, they can watch as someone else does. They're too French for my tastes anyhow." Garibaldi barked out a laugh.

Maximilian chuckled as well. "Well, you've won me over, friend. We'll have to speak of these plans more later on tonight, hm? For now, I have a meeting with the Governor of Venice. Go to the steward and tell him to set up an apartment for you to stay in for the night, if you'd like."

Maximilian left the room with a grin on his face, fancying himself King of all of Italy. Once the doors closed, however, he ordered two of the guards to keep an eye on Garibaldi.

A month after the meeting, Maximilian gave Garibaldi the title of Prime Minister of Lombardy-Venetia. Although at first the trust between the two was low, after weeks of discussing plans, Maximilian felt safe enough to give him this power. Garibaldi was unhappy with the position, however: he wanted to be given a military title, but Maximilian would not give in, not trusting Garibaldi enough to give him full control of the Lombard-Venetian forces. When the Savoyards got wind of this new staffing, Victor Emanuel II fumed, and threatened war with Maximilian, who did not back down. This would later be called the Cold War of Italy, as both sides prepared their forces and patrolled their borders, but neither wanted to declare war outright. Up north, both their German allies continued to dance a similar tango. The Austrian-led German Empire and the Prussian-led independent states both prepared for what would be the war that decided the fate of Germany. Both Vienna and Berlin continued to offer concessions to France to join in with their coalition, but King Louis Philippe was busy ridding his Kingdom of Republicans in the Crown Purge. The United Kingdom had told them both that they planned to stay out of it, instead deciding to remain inside their 'splendid isolation' and focus on increasing their colonial power. Yes, the scales were not tipped too far in either direction, and Europe crawled closer and closer to war.

​

 

[Curt Jester]

Part IV

Paris, France; February 6th, 1853

King Louis Philippe of France started his reign as a cheerful man with an optimistic look of the future. He'd been the replacement of the old King, a relative of his who hadn't learned from the past. When Louis XVIII came to power, he overtaxed the people to pay off the war debts of France, and it wasn't long before they rose up again in revolution, this time under the banner of Louis Philippe. His popularity didn't carry him for long though - it wasn't but a few months before the revolutionaries returned, this time against him, and called for the establishment of a second French Republic. Unlike Emperor Franz Joseph of Germany, Louis Philippe did not give any lenience to the rebels, and started what would later be called the Second Reign of Terror. Instead of anyone being beheaded, however, it was those who supported the idea of a Republic, or those who preached the ideas of Republicanism in public. He'd betrayed the very constitution he swore he'd protect.

"Sir! Your Majesty!" A courier ran into the throne room of Versailles, and nearly doubled over from exhaustion by the time he reached King Louis. He took a minute of panting before the King angrily swatted the air in front of him.

"You can breath later, boy! What is it!"

"I have news... from Toulouse... the people have revolted, my Liege! They've grown tired of your oppression - I mean - your policies, overthrown your Governor there!" The courier frowned, afraid of what would happen next.

"Get out of my sight." Louis yelled, watching as the boy gathered himself together and scrambled out. The King of France, all alone, sighed. The French Civil War had begun.

Trieste, Austria, German Empire; February 11th, 1853

"In any case, I suppose it is a good thing that we made a hasty peace with the revolutionaries, hm? Otherwise we'd be in the same boat as the French!" Emperor Franz Joseph said with a laugh. Beside him stood Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg, Prime Minister of Austria and Chancellor of the German Empire.

King Ferdinand Maximilian and Prime Minister Giuseppe Garibaldi stood on the other side of the table. Garibaldi was hunched over the table, examining the map, while Maximilian was staring directly at his brother. He was tired of this war meeting, and longed to get back to the Palace at Milan. What was supposed to be a meeting to plan what would happen if either Piedmont or Prussia had attacked had turned into a three hour complain-fest where his older brother told him he wasn't running his Kingdom right. "You're considering signing a constitution? Really? Haven't your liberal policies done enough?" Maximilian was thankful for his alliance with his brother, but at the same time, he wasn't going to stand to be told what to do. He'd accomplished great things in the first few years of ruling, and had laid the groundwork for unifying the Italian peninsula, without any help from anyone.

"Between our two fleets we should be good, brother." Maximilian said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ludwig, or should I say, Mother acting for our little brother, has promised to keep a naval blockade with the meager forces of the Croatian Navy, in order to keep the Piedmontese out of the Adriatic."

"Do we really need the Croatian Navy?" Garibaldi chimed in. "The Venetian Fleet alone could outmatch the Piedmontese Navy. Our Navy is the one of the best in Europe, mostly thanks to your Grace heavily favoring it." It was true; a former member of the Austrian Navy, Maximilian heavily favored the Navy over the other Armed Forces. He believed that a strong Naval presence was key to success, especially as his Kingdom was surrounded by water.

"Yes, but at the same time, I would like to send the majority of our own Navy over to blockade Sardinia from the Piedmontese mainland."

"Yes, your Majesty. Very wise." Garibaldi said, not really agreeing as much as ending the argument. "So, if I may draw our attention from the emergency plans for Prussia and Piedmont, and instead talk more of the invasion of Sicily."

Garibaldi had managed to convince Maximilian that the best way to go about the unification of Italy was to stop waiting for the Savoyards to make their move first and instead, begin the process themselves. He had argued that if he had, say, a thousand men under his command, he could take over the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by himself - and Maximilian humored him from there. The humoring had led to a full on plan for an invasion, with eight hundred Lombard troops, a hundred and fifty Austrian troops, and fifty Croatians being drafted into a squadron Garibaldi called 'the red shirts'.

"Are your men ready?" This time it was Prince Felix who spoke - the first time after two hours. It calmed Maximilan's nerves; the silence was beginning to creep him out.

"Garibaldi's men are almost ready; the three ships that will be used are ready as well. They take off from Venice as soon as the winter is over."

"Very good then." Franz nodded. "I think that wraps this meeting about up then, hm?" The other three man all agreed, and began to leave the room. Before Maximilian stepped out, Franz stopped him. "Could you spare a moment for your older brother?"

Maximilian sighed, but agreed, and the two were standing in the room alone.

"There is a matter I would like to discuss with you."

"Well tell me then, dear brother."

"I have a marriage prospect."

Maximilian groaned. Every time the two met in the past few years, his brother would offer up his 'marriage prospects', usually political matches; daughters of his allies and such. None of them ever tickled Maximilian's fancy. "Who is it this time?"

"Princess Elisabeth of Saxony - she is the niece of the King of Saxony. As you know, the Wettins have been one of our greatest allies." He dropped the volume of his voice. "And, my dear brother, she is quite a looker."

"Here is something I don't understand," Maximilian said with a frown, "Why do you continue to harass me with marriage prospects - and before you say 'to have heirs to continue our family's legacy, might I remind you that you yourself have not married!"

"I can handle myself, - and before you say that you can too, I know that you will get too caught up in politics and your fantasies of utopia that you won't focus on marriage." Franz laughed. "That was a joke, by the way. I have mother forcing marriage prospects on me, as well. Be lucky i'm not as forceful as her."

Maximilian rolled his eyes, but nodded. "I'll give this one a look then, before I say no. I'll meet her."

"That is all I ask." Franz hugged his brother, a large grin on his face.

Afternote: Princess Elisabeth, IOTL, married the second son of the King of Sardinia. ITTL, because the Wettins are part of the Austrian-Lombard Alliance against the Prussian-Piedmontese one, she didn't marry him.

I'm not sure if an earlier invasion of Sicily, this time with Austrian, Croatian and Lombard troops in Garibaldi's own uniform, is too convergent or not, but it's something I envisioned and something that is going to happen (not yet of course, but it is coming).

Be wary though, as it won't end as expected.
​

 

[Curt Jester]

Quick question: Am I heading into the Habsburg vs Savoy/Hohenzollern showdown too fast? Should I slow it down a bit?

 

[Neoteros]

Giuseppe Garibaldi as the Prime Minister of Lombardy-Venetia? That man was an atheist almost-socialist, I don't think any Habsburg in their right mind would have ever put him in charge of anything at all. And, while he was an excellent general and guerrilla fighter, he would've been a worse politician than your average AH.com troll.

 

[Yanez de Gomera]

I am afraid I must second Moe Satyr's opinion: Garibaldi would never be appointed Prime Minister, and besides he would be terrible for the job.
On the Savoj Habsburg confrontation: it depends, I don't think Sardinia would start anything, as they are very opportunistic, and with Cavour at the helm would be very cautious and shrewd in foreign policy. On the other hand they would gladly fight on Prussia's side.
What will the effects of all this (especially the French civil war) be on the Crimean War?

 

[Curt Jester]

Giuseppe Garibaldi as the Prime Minister of Lombardy-Venetia? That man was an atheist almost-socialist, I don't think any Habsburg in their right mind would have ever put him in charge of anything at all. And, while he was an excellent general and guerrilla fighter, he would've been a worse politician than your average AH.com troll.

Yeah, it's gonna backfire heavily.

 

[Anarch King of Dipsodes]

the Proclamation of Prague, separating the Austrian Empire into four crowns. Franz I, German Emperor remained as Archduke of Austria and King of Bohemia. His youngest brother, Ludwig Viktor, would be named King of Croatia, with his mother, the Archduchess herself, as regent until he came of age. His brother Karl Ludwig would be named King of Greater Hungary and rule over Hungary and Galicia, with his uncle, Palatine Stephen of Hungary, serving as his regent until hecame of age. [II.] And his other brother, Ferdinand Maximilian, was more than happy to take up the reins as King of Lombardy and Venetia, the Italian provinces of the Habsburg Empire [III.].
​

More likely, IMO, would be retention of Croatia in the Kingdom of Hungary. Croatia had been part of Hungary since the Middle Ages. Attaching Galicia to Hungary would be a novelty, one the Poles would resent and the Magyars wouldn't much appreciate (it would dilute their dominance of the Kingdom with a large restive Slavic bloc).

There's one other territorial question - what is to become of Istria, Dalmatia, and Carniola? Istria and Dalmatia were traditional Venetian possessions, and would be natural attachments to Ferdinand Maximilian's Italian realm. The southern part of Carniola, including Trieste, was largely Italiand and would link Istria to Venetia. It would also remove the German Empire from the Mediterranean, which the planners of all this might prefer.

 

[Avrorrange]

More likely, IMO, would be retention of Croatia in the Kingdom of Hungary. Croatia had been part of Hungary since the Middle Ages. Attaching Galicia to Hungary would be a novelty, one the Poles would resent and the Magyars wouldn't much appreciate (it would dilute their dominance of the Kingdom with a large restive Slavic bloc).

There's one other territorial question - what is to become of Istria, Dalmatia, and Carniola? Istria and Dalmatia were traditional Venetian possessions, and would be natural attachments to Ferdinand Maximilian's Italian realm. The southern part of Carniola, including Trieste, was largely Italiand and would link Istria to Venetia. It would also remove the German Empire from the Mediterranean, which the planners of all this might prefer.

Istria and Carnolia remains with Austria.Dalmatia goes to Croatia.As for traditional Venetian possessions,the Italian population of Dalmatia is 5% of the population according to the most optimal estimations,probably even less.To quiet Italian nationalists,they should do a plebiscite there.This should shut them up.

 

[Anarch King of Dipsodes]

And nay to giving South Tyrol and Trent to an Italian State, its very German, and has been historically part of Austria for hundreds of years. Italian Nationalists be damned.

Sudtirol is German, but Trentino is Italian. And until the mediatizing in 1803, it was a sovereign Bishopric - inside the HRE, but not a Hapsburg fief. It was awarded to Bavaria in 1805, transferred to the Kingdom of Italy in 1810, and only regained by Austria in 1815.

So it's only been Austrian for 34 years in 1849.

 

[Neoteros]

Istria and Carniola remain with Austria. Dalmatia goes to Croatia. As for traditional Venetian possessions, the Italian population of Dalmatia is 5% of the population according to the most optimal estimations, probably even less. To quiet Italian nationalists, they should do a plebiscite there. This should shut them up.

A plebiscite would give most of Dalmatia to Croatia, but coastal cities such as Zadar/Zara, Šibenik/Sebenico and Split/Spalato, where the Venetian minority in Dalmatia was concentrated to the point it was a majority in those cities until the end of the 19th century, would join Lombardy-Venetia instead. The surviving Vlachs of Dalmatia could opt for Lombardy-Venetia as well, given their historical ties to the Republic of Venice, but I doubt they were a majority anywhere in the 1850s.

The situation in Istria was similar: the major cities, located on the coast, had a Venetian majority, but the countryside was overwhelmingly Croatian or Slovenian. This picture (from an Italian AH website, but based on the results of a census in the 1920s that was not criticized or contested by the Yugoslavian government in any way) shows how Istria could be divided between Lombardy-Venetia and Austria, but Vienna won't ever be willing to let go of Fiume and, while I can see Lombardy-Venetia getting Monfalcone and Grado, I'm not sure if they could get Gorizia as well.

 

[Curt Jester]

Well, Dalmatia is Croatian and Istria is Austrian still. The planners of this whole schism deal aren't pro-Italian (save Maximilian himself), they're pro-Austrian and only set up vassal states to ge rid of the areas outside German Austria (to further Vienna's power). All in all, Maximilian is on his own with this - the war plans were in case Austria was attacked too. And the Austrians aren't going to always do what is best for others, they're doing what is best for them. And what is best for them is a port on the Mediterranean.

 

[Curt Jester]

Howdy! I've decided to bring this TL back, as it is very near and dear to my heart. However, i've not decided whether or not if I should (a) continue it on as it is or (b) reboot it and try and improve on some issues that were in it.

Is it plausible/good enough to continue? Or shall I restart and reboot it?

 

[Neoteros]

Howdy! I've decided to bring this TL back, as it is very near and dear to my heart. However, i've not decided whether or not if I should (a) continue it on as it is or (b) reboot it and try and improve on some issues that were in it.

Is it plausible/good enough to continue? Or shall I restart and reboot it?

It looks good enough to me but, if you think you conceded too much to the Rule of Cool, rebooting it wouldn't be a tragedy. Either way, I'd follow it nonetheless.