From what i understand , Frederick II of Prussia could have gain the electorate of Saxony during the seven years war. Was it possible at all ? In that case what would have been the consequence of such gain ?
From what i understand , Frederick II of Prussia could have gain the electorate of Saxony during the seven years war. Was it possible at all ? In that case what would have been the consequence of such gain ?
From what i understand in a quite older thread yes it was possible , and yes i was asking because the consequence of the future could be different. As for Poland the Hohenzollern in that case would probably take west prussia and at worst the posen area only.
What about annexing most of it such that Saxony still exists but as a rump state?Basically ASB. We're talking about the unilateral annexation of one of the Imperial Electorates, a major breach of the Imperial constitution and something that had yet to occur at this point in history: the disappearance of a sovereign state. If one thing could unite Germany behind Austria its this. Friedrich would have to be crazy to attempt this and the rest of Europe would be crazier to accept it.
Britain did not drop out and cut subsidies to Prussia because of some strategic aim to weaken her ally. She did it due to domestic political machinations. It was more a passive 'Britain first and ignore the continental implications' thinking than anything else.
What about annexing most of it such that Saxony still exists but as a rump state?
I agree to an extent. Britain was broke, and had already gotten everything it wanted out of the war. While they didn't set out to weaken Prussia, they also had no interest in seeing them strengthened either, which could only happen if Britain gave aid. The aid given so far had served the purpose of tying down France in Europe, but now France was obviously going to lose to Britain. So everything combined to make it an easy choice to drop out.
Legally speaking it is possible, but realistically it would never happen. Prussia was not strong enough to fend off against France, Austria, and Russia. Nor was it strong enough to defeat Austria by itself, as seen with the failed invasion of Bohemia.
By the time Britain concluded the war, Prussia was in no position to come out on top. By then Prussia had been thoroughly thrashed and was only saved by the fact that Russia quit the war. So it makes little sense to assume that Britain left the war in some political move to prevent Prussia from becoming stronger, when at that point Prussia was barely breaking even in the war, even with massive British subsidies.