DBWI: Archduchess Sophie and the Frankfurt Parliament

Jake Vektor

Banned
Well, it's been 162 years since the Hapsburgs, in a deal with the Frankfurt Parliament, divided up the Austrian Empire between the nephews of Ferdinand I. Franz Joseph was crowned Archduke of Austria, King of Bohemia, and Emperor Franz III of Germany, bringing Austria into Gross-Deutschland. Ferdinand Maximillian received the Apostolic Throne of Hungary. Ludwig Viktor received the throne of Galicia. Lastly, Karl Ludwig received the Iron Crown of Lombardy-Venetia, and eventually went on to unify Italy.
This arrangement was made possible thanks to the machinations of Archduchess Sophie, who met with the Frankfurt revolutionaries and convinced them that a Hapsburg Germany was in their best interest. Some of the parliamentarians, however, were pro-Prussia. They hoped that Prussian king Friedrich Willhelm would accept the crown of a unified Germany. Suppose the pro-Prussian faction had prevailed. Would Germany have still united? Would it have formed a Quadruple Alliance with Britain to contain France and Russia. Would we have still fought against the French in two World Wars? What do you think?
OOC-To give credit where credit is due, I got this idea from ImperialVienna's post on the "An Invitation to the Austrians" thread.
 
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OOC: It's nice to be appreciated :) But, the aforementioned Archdukes were Ferdinand I's nephews. Ferdinand himself was impotent.

IC: Even if Franz III hadn't ascended to the German Throne, he still would have taken the Austrian Throne, though when I don't know. Ferdinand I's life may have been cut short if he remained Emperor, perhaps assassinated by revolutionaries or just from the fact that he was not able to retire to a quiet life as the "Lord Protector" of Prague. I imagine Franz III would still be a driving force no matter what throne he held, his personality was quiet dominating and the court life he created eventually helped to undermine the authority of slow Parliamentarians in Frankfurt and transfer power to the Monarchy in Vienna.

OOC: Haha, this gives a chance to flesh out some of the other ideas I've been toying with for my eventual TL on the subject!
 
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