Challenge: Rise of the dynastic underdogs

Goal: A member of the House of Wettin (Albertine branch) elected Holy Roman Emperor and a member of the House of Savoy made King of Spain
POD limitations: After the Treaty of Ryswick
Available time: By 1800

This isn't exactly out of the blue - both dynasties had ambitions to the thrones in question, now forgotten because they never got anywhere near them.
 
Well, IIRC a Savoy actually sit briefly on the Spanish throne, but it was after 1800. I see rather hard to do it before because of the strength of other claimants...
 
Shit, you're right, I forgot about Amadeus. Changes nothing though, it was outside the scope of the challenge. Still, quite a brain-fart on my... part.
 
Ok, for the Savoys, an idea a bit complex but perhaps doable:

First POD: Philip of Orleans (the son of Duke Philip I of Orleans) dies in the end of 1697 (so just after Ryswick). Also both his daughters already born at the time of his death should die young or at least childless (well, it happened IOTL). The Orleans family go extinct in France.

Second POD: the Bourbons still suffer that string of deaths that made Louis XV the only surviving descendent of Louis XIV in France. However, ITTL he also dies around the same time as his brother in 1712, while the Duke of Berry still dies from a hunting accident in early 1714. It makes Philip V of Spain the heir of France.

As a union of France and Spain wouldn't be welcomed, but neither would be a union of Austria and Spain, the European powers decide that Spain proper (the Spanish territories in Italy and Netherlands could be subject of negotiation, of course) should go to other family. If we follow primogeniture only (but excluding Philip V and his children) then the eldest and nearest relative of the old Habsburg Spanish branch would be Anne Marie d'Orleans (daughter of Philip I of Orleans and through him granddaughter of Anne of Spain, eldest sister of Philip IV). Eventually it's decided that her claim would be the best one in order to keep peace, and so she is made Anna Maria I of Spain, installing the Savoy dynasty there.

Any chance for it to happen?
 
Sounds doable, except I don't know if the Spanish crown was inheritable by women. It might go to one of her sons instead. It will take a war to get the Bourbons out of Spain, and in the end they'll probably get at least some territorial compensation. And the Habsburgs will never help the Savoyards in this endeavor, so the anti-French coalition will have to be successful without them. This is almost perfect, except extinguishing the direct line of the House of Orleans makes Philip V an unchallenged claimant and thus the coalition's war becomes an uphill struggle.
 
Sounds doable, except I don't know if the Spanish crown was inheritable by women. It might go to one of her sons instead. It will take a war to get the Bourbons out of Spain, and in the end they'll probably get at least some territorial compensation. And the Habsburgs will never help the Savoyards in this endeavor, so the anti-French coalition will have to be successful without them. This is almost perfect, except extinguishing the direct line of the House of Orleans makes Philip V an unchallenged claimant and thus the coalition's war becomes an uphill struggle.

IIRC Spain practiced male-preference primogeniture in Castile and semi-Salic inheritance in Aragon, so a Spanish queen regnant isn't impossible (see the case of Isabella II).

A Saxon elected as Emperor is possible - instead of the Wittelsbachs pressing their case when Maria Theresa comes along, why not the Wettins?
 
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