British-Hanoverian PU remains - effects on German unification?

TBH I was thinking of France's intervention being more focused against Russia than Prussia.

The Crimean War was very recent, and if the Russians beat Austria the Eastern Question could be answered right then.


Though I am aware that the general conception of Prussia was 'the cheeky little guy' and I believe that post-Crimea Russia was viewed as fairly weak - it still seems to me that Russia would look to be the more immediate enemy than Britain. Neutrality could be the best option but was Napoleon really the kind of man to stay out of something like this?
No napoleon wasn't the type to be left out of something like this but he didn't see Russia as that big of a threat (not to my knowledge anyway), he saw the British and the Habsburgs as his biggest rivals, the British being his biggest rival overall and the Habsburgs being a rival over influence in Italy and southern Germany, I just don't see napoleon realising how bad the situation will end up until the brits and Habsburgs have already lost and I'm fairly certain they will.
 
I'm not getting the Britain & Austria vs Prussia & Russia conflict. Why would Prussia and Russia both attack Austria and why would Britain get involved in the conflict?

If there's a obvious change about to happen in the European balance of power then that could concern Britain enough to take action, but that's what happened OTL.
If Russia looks like it's becoming more powerful or if there's a close alliance with Prussia then maybe. I think Britain would prefer to build a larger coalition first.

Rather than Britain choosing to go to war, Prussia could provoke a war by attacking Hanover. Prussia might be confident of winning battles on the ground, but it would still hold back from from war with Britain. Britain wouldn't care how long it took, but it would ensure that Prussia was eventually beaten and Hanover regained.
 
I'm not getting the Britain & Austria vs Prussia & Russia conflict. Why would Prussia and Russia both attack Austria and why would Britain get involved in the conflict?

If there's a obvious change about to happen in the European balance of power then that could concern Britain enough to take action, but that's what happened OTL.
If Russia looks like it's becoming more powerful or if there's a close alliance with Prussia then maybe. I think Britain would prefer to build a larger coalition first.

Rather than Britain choosing to go to war, Prussia could provoke a war by attacking Hanover. Prussia might be confident of winning battles on the ground, but it would still hold back from from war with Britain. Britain wouldn't care how long it took, but it would ensure that Prussia was eventually beaten and Hanover regained.
1 Prussia is going to want Hanover, Britain has Hanover, pretty simple.
2 Britain can't stop Prussia from taking Hanover without a continental ally
3 the Hohenzollern Habsburg rivalry is still on going, making Austria a natural ally for Britain
4 Russia and Prussia are already Allies and decently close ones at that.
 
IMHO the most likely scenario is that the King (under pressure from both Parliaments) decides that Hanover stays neutral.

So what happens when the Austrian troops in Holstein retreat across the Hanoverian border?

Does Hanover turn them back, in effect taking the Prussian side, or let them through, which is effectively siding with Austria?
 
They do have continental allies: Austria, Bavaria, Saxony.
Prussia would not attack a neutral Hanover that was ruled by the British monarch in an Austro-Prussian war. There is a possibility of Hanover joining the North German Confederation. Officially the King of Prussia was merely the president. The Kings of Saxony and Hanover hold equal status. British influence could provide interesting butterflies to the constitution of 1867.
 
So what happens when the Austrian troops in Holstein retreat across the Hanoverian border?

Does Hanover turn them back, in effect taking the Prussian side, or let them through, which is effectively siding with Austria?

That would make a lovely crisis and it would make it challenging for the British / Hanoverian king. The British Parliament could advise the king what is in the best interests for Britain, but cannot influence matters beyond that. The Hanoverian Parliament can advise their king, who has the ultimate say in what happens.
 
Wasn't it a defensive alliance?
I don't think the official status of the relationship would have mattered too much. Prussia was the only great power Russia had any fondness for at the time, France and Britain had intervened to help the ottomans not long ago and the Habsburgs had effectively back stabbed the Russians by not even giving the Russians a favourable neutrality, this is the reason why they sat back and let Prussia slap Austria and France around while Prussia was on its quest for dominance in Germany.

The British being involved may just give the Russians an opportunity to pay them back for crimea.
 
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