How could you get the Frankfurt Assembly to survive?

Hi,
During 1848, the dream of a united liberal Germany seemed to become reality with the short lived Frankfurt Assembly. My question is their any way that the Frankfurt Assembly could have succeeded in it's aims or was their just too much division in it, for it to manage to unify Germany?

P.S. I'm new here (as you can tell by my post count) so please ignore any awkwardness of the phrasing of my question. :)
 

Eurofed

Banned
Hi,
During 1848, the dream of a united liberal Germany seemed to become reality with the short lived Frankfurt Assembly. My question is their any way that the Frankfurt Assembly could have succeeded in it's aims or was their just too much division in it, for it to manage to unify Germany?

P.S. I'm new here (as you can tell by my post count) so please ignore any awkwardness of the phrasing of my question. :)

Welcome in the boards. The by far best chance to have the Frankfurt Assembly victorious is to have either the Habsburg or the Hohenzollern get a case of smarts and accept the imperial crown from them.
 
I was thinking maybe have one of the minor nobility accepting it, but would any of the Habsburg accept it. I know King Fredrick of Prussia might have accepted it if he had too, but I think he was too conservative to accept it for the long term. Could his brother perhaps take it instead?
 
I was thinking maybe have one of the minor nobility accepting it, but would any of the Habsburg accept it. I know King Fredrick of Prussia might have accepted it if he had too, but I think he was too conservative to accept it for the long term. Could his brother perhaps take it instead?
IIRC, one idea suggested has been to play around with Frederick's ideas - basically, instead of having him take it out of smarts, have an earlier point of divergence, where Frederick's romanticistic tendencies express themselves in more liberal and nationalistic ways. That would make him more happy to accept the crown, so it might work, if the initial premise works.
 
IIRC, one idea suggested has been to play around with Frederick's ideas - basically, instead of having him take it out of smarts, have an earlier point of divergence, where Frederick's romanticistic tendencies express themselves in more liberal and nationalistic ways. That would make him more happy to accept the crown, so it might work, if the initial premise works.

I prefer the idea of Frederick accepting the throne to throwing it to a Habsburg or Hohenzollern. Who would have been the best options of the latter? Prussia would never accept Austrian rule of a Unified Germany.

In any case, a more nationalistic and liberal Frederick works but Otto Von was totally against the idea for whatever reason... Could he have become Chancellor of the German Empire after opposing the 1848 unification? And who would his predecessor have been from 1848 up until he does accept the Chancellorship?

Oh and btw, welcome to the forum BritScot! :D
 
IIRC, one idea suggested has been to play around with Frederick's ideas - basically, instead of having him take it out of smarts, have an earlier point of divergence, where Frederick's romanticistic tendencies express themselves in more liberal and nationalistic ways. That would make him more happy to accept the crown, so it might work, if the initial premise works.

Fredrick William becomes convinced that he must accept the crown in order to fulfill his duty to God and his responsibility, as leader of the German people, by accepting what divine providence had laid before him.
 
Fredrick William becomes convinced that he must accept the crown in order to fulfill his duty to God and his responsibility, as leader of the German people, by accepting what divine providence had laid before him.

He will never accept a 'crown for the gutter' quoting him. He never have faith in that parliament.. only bought time to make his counterattack.

But maybe Wilhelm I can accept that(he never care about politics.. the military was his love) again maybe FWIV suffer his crazy stoke in the early 40's and when 1848 we have the 'weaker' Wilhelm I... but he was more easily maleable by Bismarck... and he was the nemesis of Frankfurt.

Again.. how the Habsburg gonna accept that... that is another question.
 
Perhaps as a POD we could have Fredrick IV being accidently shot by a member of the Prussian army when he's wandering around the streets of Berlin, wearing the liberals flag (mistaken for a liberal by trigger happy soldier).

Would that help the Frankfurt Parliament if William was made Emperor (saying he had the support of the military) or could the death of Fredrick potentially butterfly away the Frankfurt Assembly?
 
Perhaps as a POD we could have Fredrick IV being accidently shot by a member of the Prussian army when he's wandering around the streets of Berlin, wearing the liberals flag (mistaken for a liberal by trigger happy soldier).

Would that help the Frankfurt Parliament if William was made Emperor (saying he had the support of the military) or could the death of Fredrick potentially butterfly away the Frankfurt Assembly?

If Frederick die in that way... that can means problems.. if he suffer the stroke who make him handicap and Insane.. the Sucession will be Natural.

Wilhelm I was a military man, he always dislike Politics(that was the area of his friend and servant... Bismarck) and maybe gonna acept if they promise support for a bigger army and some similar

But Still Bismarck can make sabotage... he was one of the main reason of the failure of Frankufrt(that and the Neo-Aboslutism)
 
I prefer the idea of Frederick accepting the throne to throwing it to a Habsburg or Hohenzollern. Who would have been the best options of the latter? Prussia would never accept Austrian rule of a Unified Germany.

In any case, a more nationalistic and liberal Frederick works but Otto Von was totally against the idea for whatever reason... Could he have become Chancellor of the German Empire after opposing the 1848 unification? And who would his predecessor have been from 1848 up until he does accept the Chancellorship?

Oh and btw, welcome to the forum BritScot! :D

:confused: Isn't Frederick a Hohenzollern as well? Furthermore Austria had similar feelings towards an unified Germany ruled by Prussia.
 
During the 1848 Revolution, William was so unpopular that he fled to England. Had he succeeded to the throne while abroad, it is at least conceivable that he might have abdicated in favour of his son.

However, as Frederick III was only 16, his uncle Karl would have become Regent. Karl, from what I can gather, was a rather shady and unscrupulous character. He might have accepted the German Crown for his nephew, assuming that even if the Constitution didn't give the King enough power, it could easily be overthrown once Prussia had control of Germany.
 
Last edited:
Mustang

What if there was a marriage between Frederick III and an Austrian Arch-Duchess/Princess? Would Prussia and Austria allow them to rule a GrossDeutschland together? Capital in Vienna. Prussian Military Academy.

BTW... this is my first post ever. I've been lurking in the shadows enjoying the read.
 
What if there was a marriage between Frederick III and an Austrian Arch-Duchess/Princess? Would Prussia and Austria allow them to rule a GrossDeutschland together? Capital in Vienna. Prussian Military Academy.

BTW... this is my first post ever. I've been lurking in the shadows enjoying the read.

No for several political and religious reasons, plus the fact that a women could not rule Austria.
 
What if there was a marriage between Frederick III and an Austrian Arch-Duchess/Princess? Would Prussia and Austria allow them to rule a GrossDeutschland together? Capital in Vienna. Prussian Military Academy.

BTW... this is my first post ever. I've been lurking in the shadows enjoying the read.

Just as a friendly note, you really should'nt necro threads (unless they're your own).
 
Mustang, if you are interested in a different 1848, I would heartily recommend Wolf Brother's "The Smallest Possible Difference".

Link: https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=190997

It's a fantastic piece of writing, and very well researched. 1848 as you've never seen it before is a guarantee.

As others have said, try not to resurrect threads that have been long dormant. Although there's also a positive in the fact that you have used the search function, which avoids the same questions being asked repeatedly!

Anyway, welcome to the boards. :)
 
Top