Place In the Sun: What If Italy Joined the Central Powers? (1.0)
- Thread starter Kaiser Wilhelm the Tenth
- Start date
I have a question. What is Pavlo Skoropadsky doing right now?
EDIT:I like this chapter as well
EDIT:I like this chapter as well
The Daughters of Nicholas
To tie up a loose end from the chapter:
The four girls lived happier lives. Along with their maternal aunt Elisabeth, they were sent to live in Hesse, where their mother’s side of the family hailed from. Michael gave them a generous allowance, and they were treated well by Elisabeth’s brother, the Grand Duke.
The four girls lived happier lives. Along with their maternal aunt Elisabeth, they were sent to live in Hesse, where their mother’s side of the family hailed from. Michael gave them a generous allowance, and they were treated well by Elisabeth’s brother, the Grand Duke.
- Olga, the eldest, married a minor noble from Saxony five years later and spent the rest of her life in Dresden, dying in 1988 at the ripe old age of 95 and leaving five children and twelve grandchildren behind.
- Tatiana defied the many suitors she found in Germany, and moved to Vladivostok in 1927, where she spent her last forty-three years in a convent.
- Maria left Hesse at the start of 1918 and married Prince Kiril of Preslav. After her husband’s death in 1967, she quietly returned to Petrograd, where she died in 1970. Her children and grandchildren remain in Bulgaria to the present.
- Finally, Anastasia lived in Hesse for a year before marrying the American vice-ambassador, whom she met at a soiree in Berlin to which her uncle was invited. They moved to California but divorced after only two years; she never remarried. She subsequently entered the film industry and became a respected celebrity in 1920s America. Anastasia became an active supporter of a Romanov restoration and partnered with an up-and-coming German filmmaker, Leni Riefenstahl, in 1936 to produce The Riddle, an allegory of her family and exile. She died in a motor accident in 1947. Her memoirs, published posthumously, are read today by monarchists the world over.
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Ominous music in the background, while you were writing this?
Poor Mikhail
Very good story so far, though, and it would be fairly unbelievable for none of the great monarchies to fall amidst the disaster of WW1. If not the Ottomans or Habsburgs, the Romanovs seem a likely target.
Thank you very much! I really tried to give the much-maligned Tsar Nicholas a human aspect hee.
Glad you like it. Skoropadsky is currently playing Quisling in Ukraine, trying to present himself as a "respectable" Ukrainian and advocate of Tsarism at the same time.
Haha, no. Her death really was an accident. Unfortunately, by 1947 the Romanovs will be so irrelevant that bumping a daughter of Nicholas' off wouldn't achieve much if anything.
Yeah. I feel for him- I've placed him in an untenable position- but I just don't see the Romanov Dynasty surviving intact from defeat in the Great War.Poor Mikhail
Very good story so far, though, and it would be fairly unbelievable for none of the great monarchies to fall amidst the disaster of WW1. If not the Ottomans or Habsburgs, the Romanovs seem a likely target.
And once again, the Germans prove themselves better than the British. IOTL, despite being allies, the British refused sanctuary to the Tsar. Yet here, despite being enemies barely a year ago, the former Tsar finds sanctuary in Germany.
I wouldn't be surprised if the enemy status is part of the reason; sure Nicholas isn't exactly a hostage or a useful puppet if you ever need him... but it might feel that way?
and it is also the psychology of power, germany defeated him, and now he comes crawling to germany (pretty much) begging for asylum. it just increases the humiliation for nicholas, and makes wilhelm look better.I wouldn't be surprised if the enemy status is part of the reason; sure Nicholas isn't exactly a hostage or a useful puppet if you ever need him... but it might feel that way?
I wouldn't be surprised if the enemy status is part of the reason; sure Nicholas isn't exactly a hostage or a useful puppet if you ever need him... but it might feel that way?
True on both counts, but given Britain's reputation as, well, Perfidious Albion, there's still the impression of 'with friends like Britain, who needs enemies like Germany?'
I said the Romanovs are irrelevant in 1947. Nothing about 1927!
Am I the only one who didn't like the chapter due to the portrayal of the Romanov family? Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've read and seen of them, while Nicholas was a pretty shit ruler who was disconnected from his empire, his best trait was that he was a loving father and husband who would do anything for his family. When Nicholas lost his throne and was kept under house arrest by the Bolsheviks he grew worse mentally but still did his best for his family. Here he's straight up abusive to his wife and kids, calls his daughters bitches and fights with Alexi, and just becomes a narcissistic power-hungry drunk despite things being better for the dynasty. Yes I can imagine with different circumstances that Nicholas would be a worse person, but not take a complete OOC 180 into stereotypical beer belly abusive stepdad.
The other portrayals weren't more better with Alexei becoming a total brat and disregarding everyone around him because he's not going to be a Prince, the Princesses losing all sense of responsibility to the family and just rebelling for the sake of it, and Alexandra turning into a looney toon and literally dying because her husband left her. Wilhelm up til now I've really liked your narrative chapters that focus on individuals, families, and groups because you portray all sides as human, don't fall into typical Alternatehistory tropes, and excellently portray the strengths and flaws of all. Yet this chapter took a massive departure in quality and just went straight into the uncanney valley.
Maybe I'm wrong and the Romanovs did have the potential to act like this, but when I read the update I didn't feel like I was reading the narrative of a family who fell from grace and falls apart in depression, it felt like I was reading political satire on crack.
The other portrayals weren't more better with Alexei becoming a total brat and disregarding everyone around him because he's not going to be a Prince, the Princesses losing all sense of responsibility to the family and just rebelling for the sake of it, and Alexandra turning into a looney toon and literally dying because her husband left her. Wilhelm up til now I've really liked your narrative chapters that focus on individuals, families, and groups because you portray all sides as human, don't fall into typical Alternatehistory tropes, and excellently portray the strengths and flaws of all. Yet this chapter took a massive departure in quality and just went straight into the uncanney valley.
Maybe I'm wrong and the Romanovs did have the potential to act like this, but when I read the update I didn't feel like I was reading the narrative of a family who fell from grace and falls apart in depression, it felt like I was reading political satire on crack.
You're not wrong, though I was more caught on the ending scene. To be fair, I probably focused on that bit too much, and agree with your characterization of the Romanovs.
Well, that's a fair criticism. My portrayal of the Romanovs here was largely inspired by this excerpt:
Given how extremely seriously Alexandra took her son's health (coupled with the natural grief any mother would feel at losing her son), I do feel that Alexei's death would have had the potential to seriously impact her mental health. Maybe her untimely death is a stretch, but certainly her sliding into a major depression doesn't seem out of character at all.
According to this podcast (a considerable source of inspiration), the Tsarevich was something of a rebellious kid, perhaps as a reaction to being so heavily cloistered.
As for Nicholas, while I haven't read any accounts of his time at Tsarskoe Selo in OTL (does such a thing even exist?), it doesn't seem out-of-character for him to become greatly depressed with his son dead and crown gone.
That said, I understand where your criticisms stem from and hope you'll stick around with the TL. I may end up doing some retconning though.
I mean given how much the man fucked up... the Russkies might just say “shoot him, please will provide the bullets”... which got a lot darker now that I thought this outI wouldn't be surprised if the enemy status is part of the reason; sure Nicholas isn't exactly a hostage or a useful puppet if you ever need him... but it might feel that way?
Tbf its also more likely for Germany to give him asylum because Nicky and Willy were very close remember.
Also tbh traumatic effects can change a man, so Nicholas becoming like this, especially after becoming an addict makes perfect sense. Addiction can make you real mean.
Also tbh traumatic effects can change a man, so Nicholas becoming like this, especially after becoming an addict makes perfect sense. Addiction can make you real mean.
or at least remove inhibitions, and release long suppressed frustrations
This is more or less what I had in mind at the time, yeah. I should also add that writing just after a prolonged quarantine IRL does tend to produce, eh, darker work than might otherwise have been the case...