Maur
Banned
No, of course not. It was the grand duchy (not catholic, either) that conquered them. And not conquered but more like absorbed by alliances.The Ukrainians had no choice; the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth conquered them, right?
No, of course not. It was the grand duchy (not catholic, either) that conquered them. And not conquered but more like absorbed by alliances.The Ukrainians had no choice; the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth conquered them, right?
There's actually a relatively easy way to do this. Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna (eldest daughter of Emperor Paul) was married to a fourth son of the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold II. There was a very real fear when she was pregnant that the baby would be a boy, and lead the secession of Hungary from the Austrian monarchy (since Alexandra and her hubby were very popular in Hungary, more so than the emperor and empress). However, unfortunately (or fortunately) the baby was a girl, named Alexandrine, but neither child nor the mother survived the birth.
Let Alexandrine be born as Archduke Josef Alexander, and survive; then somehow kill of Grand Dukes Nikolai and Mikhail before they can have children, and bam! the nearest legitimate heir to the Russian Empire when Alexander I or Constantine I dies is an Austrian archduke.
There's actually a relatively easy way to do this. Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna (eldest daughter of Emperor Paul) was married to a fourth son of the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold II. There was a very real fear when she was pregnant that the baby would be a boy, and lead the secession of Hungary from the Austrian monarchy (since Alexandra and her hubby were very popular in Hungary, more so than the emperor and empress). However, unfortunately (or fortunately) the baby was a girl, named Alexandrine, but neither child nor the mother survived the birth.
Let Alexandrine be born as Archduke Josef Alexander, and survive; then somehow kill of Grand Dukes Nikolai and Mikhail before they can have children, and bam! the nearest legitimate heir to the Russian Empire when Alexander I or Constantine I dies is an Austrian archduke.
Do you have any sources for that? Hungary successfully seceeding from Austria under a Hapsburg cadet branch would be a very interesting TL in itself.
But as for a Habsburg Russia, I can think of one way that's fairly easy, Peter II and his sister Natalia were the first cousins of Empress Maria Theresa (through their sisters)- if Peter or Natalia live to have children I can easily see them intermarrying with the Austrian cousins since that was the Habsburg way.
The problem with that is that Peter and Natalia were the same age as Maria Theresa, so there weren't any Habsburg OR Habsburg-Lorraine princes for Natalia to marry. Peter could marry MT or Maria Anna, but that would just join Austria to Russia rather than the other way round.
Sorry, what I mean what was that if Peter and Natalia's deaths were butterflied away and they both had children I can see those CHILDREN intermarrying with the large Lorraine-Habsburg brood (and could lead to a lasting Austrian-Russian alliance).
It's also not under the realm of impossibility. I could see it happening depending on the emperor who would maintain an allied status with a Habsburg Hungary controlled by a cousin/brother and then not having to bother with the Hungarian demands in 1848.Actually the Habsburgs were horrified at the idea of losing Hungary, especially considering how hard they had fought to get Hungary in the first place. Another would have been how shabbily they (particularly the jealous empress) had treated the Grand Duchess in Vienna and how popular she was with the Hungarians (think as popular as Sissi later in the century) and that the baby was born in Buda.
But as for a Habsburg Russia, I can think of one way that's fairly easy, Peter II and his sister Natalia were the first cousins of Empress Maria Theresa (through their mothers who were sisters)- if Peter or Natalia live to have children I can easily see them intermarrying with the Austrian cousins since that was the Habsburg way.
Their mothers were both Welfs, and the youngest sister, Antonia Amalie, had enough Protestant sons for Russian grand duchesses (one of them was Anton Ulrich, consort of Anna Leopoldovna).
Also, the Pauline Succession allowed for semi-Salic succession - so a female COULD succeed BUT only after all the male-lines are dead. Paul was an only son, Alex and Constantin had no legitimate children, and Misha only had girls. So, killing off Nicky and Misha, Josef Alexander is the legitimate heir.
The problem with that is that Peter and Natalia were the same age as Maria Theresa, so there weren't any Habsburg OR Habsburg-Lorraine princes for Natalia to marry. Peter could marry MT or Maria Anna, but that would just join Austria to Russia rather than the other way round.