Genius, not slowness: A different Ferdinand I

What if the inbreeding of the Habsburgs led not to some mental deficiency in this particular human being, but a military and domestic Genius! I suppose it is a bit ASB, but if certain things happened at the right time, I belive we could get the right mix of genes for this to happen.

By the way I am talking about Ferdinand I of the Austrian Empire, not the HRE.

So, what would happen if Ferdinand I had in fact been quite smart?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_I_of_Austria
 

Valdemar II

Banned
What if the inbreeding of the Habsburgs led not to some mental deficiency in this particular human being, but a military and domestic Genius! I suppose it is a bit ASB, but if certain things happened at the right time, I belive we could get the right mix of genes for this to happen.

It's in no way unlikely his father was intelligent, his uncle was a great military leader, his Grandfather and Granduncle was intelligent, his Greatgrandmother was a genious. So no it wouldn't be ASB


So, what would happen if Ferdinand I had in fact been quite smart?

I don't think he can avoid the 1848 revolution, but with some talent he can ride it out, and keep the throne. If he has adopted reforms before 1848, it could change a lot, he could use the revolution to become Emperor of Germany, which would join the later German Empire with Austria-Hungary.

There's also a potential for a intervention in the Sonderbund war, which could end with a annextion of Switzerland. But that's before the 1848 revolutions.
 
There would still be the Hungarian problem, genius or idiot Emperor on the throne. And perhaps no Russian intervention, since Franz I got the tsar to promise to look out for Ferdinand on his deathbed.
 
I don't think he can avoid the 1848 revolution, but with some talent he can ride it out, and keep the throne. If he has adopted reforms before 1848, it could change a lot, he could use the revolution to become Emperor of Germany, which would join the later German Empire with Austria-Hungary.

There's also a potential for a intervention in the Sonderbund war, which could end with a annextion of Switzerland. But that's before the 1848 revolutions.
If that could happen, we would have a very Groß Großdeutschland.
 
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