Children of the Childless Wittelsbachs

Definitely an underplayed POD in alt-history is the Elector Max III of Bavaria producing children. IDK how far back a POD would be required to make this happen, since Max never made a try for an annulment of his marriage (which to me either indicates that he knew that she wasn't the problem [likely since if you look at her siblings, they managed a slew of grandchildren for her parents; while his only sibling to produce issue was his sister/sister-in-law, Maria Antonia], or that they were both the problem).

Another underplayed POD is the Elector Karl Theodor's son, Franz Ludwig Josef (28.6.1761-29.6.1761) surviving. Both Karl Theodor and Max III have a reputation for being good monarchs in their respective countries (Bavaria and the Palatinate). Also, Max having a surviving son would butterfly away the war of the Bavarian Succession (assuming of course that said son lives long enough to produce an heir(s) of his own.).

What might the results of the two Wittelsbach heirs surviving and keeping the Palatinate and Bavaria separate, be? Would Karl Theodor still try and swap/annex the Netherlands, or is he content with ruling only the Palatinate as OTL (he tried to swap them for Bavaria). And is it possible that the Wittelsbachs (as two branches ruling independent states) provide a counterweight to Prussia and Austria in the years to come?

Thoughts appreciated.
 
I see that the issues that I deal with in my projects become a useful topic of new threads :D



Yeah:eek:

But I have always wondered about keeping the Palatinate and Bavaria separate. I mean, Max and Karl Theodor were good rulers in their own right, in their native countries (KT's Bavarian adventure was why he's remembered as a bad ruler), so it would stand to reason that there is a possibility their kids might be good rulers after the enlightened mold.

I mean, in 50 years (1740-1790) Bavaria went from providing a Holy Roman Emperor, to being the jumped up toy of chambermaids and lackeys by the days of Napoleon. Maybe Max's son could arrest that decline by playing Friedrich the Great and Josef II off against each other.
 
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What might the results of the two Wittelsbach heirs surviving and keeping the Palatinate and Bavaria separate, be? Would Karl Theodor still try and swap/annex the Netherlands, or is he content with ruling only the Palatinate as OTL (he tried to swap them for Bavaria). And is it possible that the Wittelsbachs (as two branches ruling independent states) provide a counterweight to Prussia and Austria in the years to come?

Thoughts appreciated.

Austria was interested in Bavaria not the Palatinate, since Bavaria bordered their core territories. Both the Southern Netherlands and the Palatinate were further removed from Vienna and separated from the Habsburg core territories.

Also IMHO the OTL (re-) union of the Palatinate and Bavaria made them a stronger counterweight than keeping them separate as ITTL.
 
In addition to my previous post, the Palatinate Wittelsbachs might still be interested in the Southern Netherlands, but it will be more like how IOTL Savoy was interested in the duchy of Milan.
As stated in my previous post they don't have anything to offer to Austria;and they lack the means to conquer it themselves, so they will have to depend on others. This means that they could achieve getting bits (like Luxembourg), but not everything.

Unless there's some elaborate scheme, which would give Austria something they like, for instance Silesia, but they need to cede something (-s) in return, this could even be a whole 'carrousel'.
 
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