Ok, all, I have an issue.
(Note I just made some corrections to my assumptions. Augustus III of Poland was King at this time)
I'm writing an amateur counterfactual novel on the 7 Years War and can't find some good source material about the smaller nations in Europe involved, namely the nations like Hesse, Brunswick, Gotha, etc whom historically rented out Regiments but had little reason to engage in the 7 Years War.
Hesse received large "subsidies" by Great Britain to use their army. My first impression was that they merely leased out their regiments to Britain/Hanover/Prussia but I'm reviewing that assumption based on new information. It was common for mny german states to do this, Hesse especially notorious. It was common for these soldiers to be rented off to both sides of a war and have to fight each other!
I've read Fred Anderson's "the Crucible of War", one of the defining historical texts on the subject, and found it somewhat light on the European side. There was an offhand reference to Hesse being occupied at times by the French so that implies France certainly considered themselves at war with Hesse.
Was this Hesse's intention?
Does this mean that Hesse and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (the Duke's were related to both Britain/Hanover and Prussia) were"at war" with France/Austria/Russia/Sweden/Bavaria/etc?
I'm guessing Wolfenbutter did given their historical, military and marriage links to Prussia and Britain.
But why was Hesse?
I'm trying to get to a point where Prussia is dismembered along with the Electorate of Hanover by victorious allies. I'm not sure what happens to Brunswick and Hesse.
Also, William, ruler and Count of Schaumburg-Lippe, whom was a major leader in this fight as a German/British General who eventually commanded the allied forces in Portugal. Was Lippe an ally to the British and Prussians as well? I found no real data either way. He was the ruler after all. Little german states often send their petty royalty and nobles to fight in the armies of larger powers but would the actual reigning count?
Also, what was the role of the Holy Roman Empire in this war?
Most of the larger states were aligned one way or another. But a large portion of the Holy Roman Empire were Bishoprics and Arch-Bishoprics, some quite large and secondary powers in their own right. Did they take no part on behalf of the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor?
The Palalinate House of Wittelsbach were close to France, branches also controlled Zweibrucken and various members tended to be selected as Bishops of Munster/etc, large states in their own right. Did they do nothing to support France and Austria (no doubt a rare moment when those countries fought on the same side)?
On a related matter, what was Poland's involvement?
The House of Saxony (Wettin) had regained the Kingship of Poland. The weak monarch Augustus III of Poland (i.e. Frederick Augustus II of Saxony) was evicted from Saxony and largely fled to Austria. But would not the King of Poland not try to mobilize the country to save his other possession from Prussian (Saxony) invasion?
I'd be surprised if the Polish nobles utterly refused to do anything especially as I read that Frederick II of Prussia issued large amounts of fake currency (?) to destabilize Poland's economy. Poland was also largely a Russian puppet by this time. If the Polish King and his Russian and Austrian allies were against Prussia, why wasn't Poland?
Poland was a mess then, largely a multi-ethnic anarchy (Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine) in the best of times but couldn't they do SOMETHING to help? If anything, Anderson recounts that Poland was a source of grain for Prussia during the war?!!!
Wikipedia tends to be somewhat sparse on these esoteric issues.
Thanks for any feedback.