Not really, because originally Poland(-Lithuania) did include most of Belarussia and western Ukraine. Most of its territory was stolen by Russia.
Es Geloybte Aretz - a Germanwank
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As it should be - from a pure "german" POV
Giving Poland a lot of territory with non polish inhabitants will have the nice side effect that ponad can't complain that so much Poles live un A-H and Germany - if they do they will be seen as hypocrites as they themselves are "oppressing" so many Byelorussins/Ukraineans ....
They will beoccupied with holding the "lid down" on their own minorities and not having time to stir up troubles elsewhere...
Not to mention being entirely dependent on Germany to defend them from Russian revanchism. In a purely Macchiavellian way, the solution is perfect.
It also included big bits of what later was Prussia, so in a way, the analogy works. Except that in this case, Germany isn't moving an existing state but creating a sort-of-new one.
As it should be - from a pure "german" POV
Giving Poland a lot of territory with non polish inhabitants will have the nice side effect that ponad can't complain that so much Poles live un A-H and Germany - if they do they will be seen as hypocrites as they themselves are "oppressing" so many Byelorussins/Ukraineans ....
They will beoccupied with holding the "lid down" on their own minorities and not having time to stir up troubles elsewhere...
Not necesserily. They wont base their claim on population but on history. Historically both the eastern territories (not polish populance) and Posen and Galicia can be claimed by Poland. And a lot of people will think like this in Poland whatever the realities are.
Here's the Virta Bridge at Koljonvirta in 1907 IOTL, courtesy of Signe Brander, one of the early (female) landscape photographers in Finland.
Not the same bridge as in 1808, mind you, not since 1845, but only tens of meters from where it stood during the Finnish War. The Swedish troops might yet have to cross it.
A general point: it might be understandable to talk about Idensalmi and Lappland together as if they'd have something to do with each other if one is from Skåne, but I hope the sergeant won't say as much that to the locals who very much like to think that they live in Övre Savolax, thank you very much - if they are to speak Swedish, that is.
Poland is no more being "annexed" by Germany than OTL's Poland was by the USSR after the Second World War. It's being turned into something between a client state and a puppet state, yes, but there is the precedent of Poland existing as an independent nation. Give it a few decades and it might well be a healthy state.
I'm sure the reference to only Prussia's borders being eternal and inviolable is just short-hand for Prussia and Austria-Hungary; as was noted, there's no way Austria-Hungary would fight for Polish independence without that guarantee.
As for monarchy, that too sounds realistic. It will probably be a Catholic prince from southern Germany; the House of Wittelsbach from the Kingdom of Bavaria, the most powerful of the Catholic German states, comes to mind, though it might be a house from one of the other Catholic German states. (A monarch from Austria-Hungary would imply that Austria-Hungary rather than Germany is Poland's main benefactor, so that would surely not be acceptable to the Germans.)
The clause about Poland's western border is sad but probably for the best. Imagine how immensely furious the Right in Germany would be if they learn that they've been fighting a huge war for Polish independence and now Poland has territorial claims against Germany. If Wilhelm III is willing to stir up that, he's not just an idealist, he's a lunatic.
I'm sure the reference to only Prussia's borders being eternal and inviolable is just short-hand for Prussia and Austria-Hungary; as was noted, there's no way Austria-Hungary would fight for Polish independence without that guarantee.
As for monarchy, that too sounds realistic. It will probably be a Catholic prince from southern Germany; the House of Wittelsbach from the Kingdom of Bavaria, the most powerful of the Catholic German states, comes to mind, though it might be a house from one of the other Catholic German states. (A monarch from Austria-Hungary would imply that Austria-Hungary rather than Germany is Poland's main benefactor, so that would surely not be acceptable to the Germans.)
The clause about Poland's western border is sad but probably for the best. Imagine how immensely furious the Right in Germany would be if they learn that they've been fighting a huge war for Polish independence and now Poland has territorial claims against Germany. If Wilhelm III is willing to stir up that, he's not just an idealist, he's a lunatic.
I still want to make my push for Archduke Charles Stephen of the House of Habsburg (he lived in Galicia, spoke fluent Polish, his daughters were married to Polish aristocrats, and he seems to have been unusually intelligent and politic) - Carlton sounded open to him at one point in the thread - but I also understand that if a Habsburg, even a marginal one like Charles Stephen, is simply a no-go for Berlin, why they might want to choose a Catholic Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen scion instead.
Charles Stephen actually was, in our timeline, the eventual (albeit very tepid) Central Powers consensus candidate for the Polish crown in 1916.
Edit: I see Keb is thinking along the same lines, sort of.
If a Habsburg isn't possible, maybe the German government could push a Wettin. The kings of Saxony were Catholics, and two of their ancestors were kings of Poland. Maybe prince , a younger brother of king Frederick Augusts III. The problem is that he had no children from his two marriages, so the succession might be troubled.
Karl Stephan (or one of his sons) were acceptable to OTLs Germans, IT was FJ and later Karl who torpedoed this claim - because they wanted to become king themselves. I also recall that - at least to some - Poles he was acceptable OTL )even after 1919) IIRC one of the sons was even a General in the Polish Army and rejected to become German after 1939...
We would need to motivate the Austrian Emperor to allow Karl Stephan (or son) to accept the crown - as said the Germans were not the problem
Maybe someone could persuade Franz FErdinand to lobby for this solution - though the Problem of Galicia still remains
We would need to motivate the Austrian Emperor to allow Karl Stephan (or son) to accept the crown - as said the Germans were not the problem
Maybe someone could persuade Franz FErdinand to lobby for this solution - though the Problem of Galicia still remains
You could also look into the catholic ducal branches of the House of Württemberg. OTL, the Duke of Urach was to become King of Lithuania, Duke Philipp converted before marriage to an Orléans princess. The latter choice could be problematic if King Wilhelm remains childless as in OTL in which case Philipp's branch would inherit Württemberg proper.
Of course they will.
They also won't be daft to the realities.
And the reality is that the longer Germany possesses Posen and Austria possesses Galicia, the more such claims will recede in the public consciousness, much as Alsace did in German consciousness by the 19th century (and is today again).
Astutely noted. It's easy to forget that Germany wasn't just a single monarchy like the United Kingdom, the Russian Empire or the various kingdoms and empires in France, but rather a federation of quite a lot of kingdoms with different royal houses that acknowledged some authority on the part of a central royal house, with some of those kingdoms (especially the bigger ones and especially the ones in South Germany) retaining non-negligible autonomy; I imagine that they would be afraid if they saw too much power being centralised in Prussian hands, especially in the environment of a war with the inevitable centralisation resulting from it. This is, in my opinion, the reason why the idea of a victorious German Empire parcelling out thrones to Hohenzollerns in post-Imperial Russian states (like in the game Kaiserreich, which posits CP victory with the standard USW PoD) is unrealistic.
There is other Wettin possibility: prince Albert Karl Anton Ludwig Wilhelm Viktor. IOTL he died in traffic accident in 1900, but it could be easily butterflied.
08 October 1907, New York
(Encrypted telegram by Jacob Schiff to Minister of Munitions Krupp von Rathenau)
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