Prussia's Demise and Poland's Second Chance, or how the 7 years war changed Europe

I'm having a hard time seeing Frederick Christian do any better than OTL Stanislaw August Poniatowski in this scenario. Actually, he might even do worse.

Stanislaw August was able to push through so many reforms in his reign because he had the Familia on his side, who were pro-reform. Frederick Christian is not only a Wettin, which by then had become almost universally despised through the Commonwealth due to their indifference towards the problems of the state, but he also has no internal faction supporting him. The Familia are against him, the soon-to-be Radom Confederation will be against him, and the only major ally he has in this scenario is Austria, who I doubt would want the Republic of Both Nations to grow any stronger.

ITTL he does have a faction supporting him, the Prussian Faction.

Did you not read the first post? East Prussia was traded to the PLC for Courland and to smooth the transition August III had to give the Junkers seats in the Sejm or face revolt.

What about Austrian Netherlands ITTL? IOTL Austria agreed to exchange Southern Netherlands (which would be given to Philip of Parma) with Duchy of Parma (second Treaty of Versailles) but those plans were abandoned because quick victory over Prussia was not achieved as planned.

The next post will cover events in Europe
 
ITTL he does have a faction supporting him, the Prussian Faction.

Did you not read the first post? East Prussia was traded to the PLC for Courland and to smooth the transition August III had to give the Junkers seats in the Sejm or face revolt.
I can't imagine the Prussians being a strong enough force in Polish politics to have any meaningful impact in the long term. Do they even have any influence outside of East Prussia?

OTOH it seems that non-catholics were forbidden from getting seats in the Sejm (in the relevant period), so there is that.
A large portion of the Ruthenians at the time, especially in modern day Belarus, were either Catholic or followed the Union of Brest.
 
Which Ruthenians and when? There were envoys from easter voivodeships afaik.

OTOH it seems that non-catholics were forbidden from getting seats in the Sejm (in the relevant period), so there is that.

Ruthenians didn't have Sejm Seats, that's what Zaphorizhia's Rebellion was partially about. . .

I can't imagine the Prussians being a strong enough force in Polish politics to have any meaningful impact in the long term. Do they even have any influence outside of East Prussia?


A large portion of the Ruthenians at the time, especially in modern day Belarus, were either Catholic or followed the Union of Brest.

Given than there are several Million German Prussians who would rather have a German Monarch? Significant enough when combined with foreign support from Austria and Saxony.
 
Results of elections in PLC at the time depended mostly on bribery (Wettin rule in PLC started that way) and foreign support. Saxony is not devasted by SYW ITTL so Wettins have more cash, and no Prussia to oppose.
Altough Ducal Prussia has hunderts thousands, not milions inhabitants. Their confession might be problematic also-Wettins had to convert to Catholicism to get Polish crown.
 
Given than there are several Million German Prussians who would rather have a German Monarch? Significant enough when combined with foreign support from Austria and Saxony.
Yeah, as Svetonius said, there weren't several million German Prussians, East Prussia was not that populous. In addition, they were Protestant rather than Catholic.
 
Yeah, as Svetonius said, there weren't several million German Prussians, East Prussia was not that populous. In addition, they were Protestant rather than Catholic.

Doesn't really matter, they wanted a German King.

And my figures say that there were 10 million people living in Prussia in 1740, I figure around 3/4ths of those would be in Brandenburg, which means that there's still 2.5 million in East prussia, figuring roughly half of those are poles, lithuanians, and other Baltic Peoples, and you still get 1.25 million Germans
 
Doesn't really matter, they wanted a German King.

And my figures say that there were 10 million people living in Prussia in 1740, I figure around 3/4ths of those would be in Brandenburg, which means that there's still 2.5 million in East prussia, figuring roughly half of those are poles, lithuanians, and other Baltic Peoples, and you still get 1.25 million Germans
1.25 million is far from several million, though.

But anyway, relying on a single ethnicity to remain in power is almost never a good idea, but I'm willing to hold my suspension of disbelief for now and wait for further updates. Who knows what will happen.
 
1.25 million is far from several million, though.

But anyway, relying on a single ethnicity to remain in power is almost never a good idea, but I'm willing to hold my suspension of disbelief for now and wait for further updates. Who knows what will happen.

He also has foreign support from a great power. The plan is for his economic reforms to bolster the economy so that he gradually builds up good will with the smaller freeholders, who are technically entitled to Sejm Seats before tackling bigger issues. Whether it works out well or not, well you're just going to have to wait for the story to play out and see. . .
 
Doesn't really matter, they wanted a German King.

And my figures say that there were 10 million people living in Prussia in 1740, I figure around 3/4ths of those would be in Brandenburg, which means that there's still 2.5 million in East prussia, figuring roughly half of those are poles, lithuanians, and other Baltic Peoples, and you still get 1.25 million Germans
Population of East Prussian province in 1875, including Ermland which is still polish ittl, was 1,850,000. Imo population in 1760s would be below 1 million, but that's my guess only. I also read that Poles made for almost half of Prussia's population after third partition, and the lands grabbed by Prussia had between 2.5 and 3 million people.
 
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