There really only needs to be a few assassinations among Maximillian's siblings and immediate family for this to work. Franz Joseph is already dead in this TL before he has children. Karl Ludwig, the next brother in line, would be the next one in line. The youngest sibling, Ludwig Viktor, was probably not going to be supported for the throne regardless but would probably never have had issue anyway. I could use the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 as precedent but needed a reason to ensure that Archduke Franz Ferdinand would not get the throne, this meant eliminating Karl Ludwig and his family.
And that's still multiple successful assassinations all falling on the most underrated European dynasty since . . . um . . .
okay, I can't think of someone better. But underrated or not, why are they doing so poorly here? Why are the assassins so eager to exterminate the House of Habsburg in the male line?
Which of course has to mean that Austria and the Habsburgs get screwed over so that we can chant "Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern FOREVERRRRRR!"Austria's loss in OTL 1866 sparked calls for Hungarian separation, and while a Hungarian politician was key in the compromise in OTL, without him the mess could boil over into civil war with a resulting split of the country and perhaps assassination of some of the royal family. That would leave no other direct lineage for about a century, and the eldest branch of what was left would have been thrown out of their duchy at Tuscany in 1860. The goal of the time-line is to create "super-Germany/UberGrossDeutschland" and the easiest way to do that IMO is not by the war room but the bedroom.
Why not have them be the dynasty with the run of bad luck and girls?
It makes more sense than that the Habsburgs carry the idiot ball so that the Hohenzollerns can be wanked even harder than OTL.
The compromise to make Austria-Hungary OTL was a choice to make things more manageable, can't see why Max won't try something like that rather than just going smashy. Not necessarily a successful something, but not just running roughshod over people's complaints.
I agree with pompejus - a post medieval POD runs into the realities of power and such thigns. At least a medieval one can be early enough for the idea of how Europe is shaped to be still forming.
And of course, Austria(Hungary) shattering is a geiersieg* (to coin a phrase) situation, which is not good. There's a reason why avoiding that was a goal by even Austria's rivals, but no one ever seems to think of that when saying "Let's add Austria to Prussia-Germany and call it good".
And lots more Catholics for Germany. This will please the Junkers so much.
* Vulture victory, according to google translate.
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