Republics to Monarchies

Is it possible for one of the three republics in Europe (Genoa, Venice and the Swiss Confederation) to develop into a monarchy? I know the two Italian republics were in a way like the papacy - squabbling factions headed by an elected monarch. But Switzerland had various prince-bishoprics, principalities (county of Geneva, principality of Neuchatel, the county of Basel) thrown into the mix.

Could we see a Longueville of Neuchatel (perhaps, IDK of other Swiss noble families - if they work better, use them) take on a Nassau role in creating a sort of Helvetic Monarchy?
 
Switzerland's damn near impossible. The Count of Geneva was never part of Switzerland (it was a subsidiary title of the Savoys), and I'm pretty sure there never even was a Count of Basel (there was a Prince-Bishop though).

The basic situation is that the founding ethos of the Confederacy was some mountain farmers throwing off the shackles of the Habsburgs to escape higher taxes and so forth.

Indeed, all the Prince-Bishops and the Prince of Neuchatel were never actually full members of the Confederacy being associate members (meaning they were under the protection of the Swiss Army and got favourable trade deals but didn't have a say in running the country).

Closest you can probably get would be Napoleon deciding that rather than just giving Marshall Berthier the Principality of Neuchatel he makes him King/Sovereign Prince of Helvetica. Biggest problem here is that Frederick-William of Prussia wasn't deposed in Neuchatel until 1806, by which point the Helvetic Republic had already proven that sweeping in and imposing a centralised state wouldn't work so it's unlikely Napoleon would try again with a monarchy. Perhaps if the Helvetic Republic had survived Napoleon would have converted it into a Kingdom, but it wasn't particularly stable.
 
Switzerland's damn near impossible. The Count of Geneva was never part of Switzerland (it was a subsidiary title of the Savoys), and I'm pretty sure there never even was a Count of Basel (there was a Prince-Bishop though).

The basic situation is that the founding ethos of the Confederacy was some mountain farmers throwing off the shackles of the Habsburgs to escape higher taxes and so forth.

Indeed, all the Prince-Bishops and the Prince of Neuchatel were never actually full members of the Confederacy being associate members (meaning they were under the protection of the Swiss Army and got favourable trade deals but didn't have a say in running the country).

Closest you can probably get would be Napoleon deciding that rather than just giving Marshall Berthier the Principality of Neuchatel he makes him King/Sovereign Prince of Helvetica. Biggest problem here is that Frederick-William of Prussia wasn't deposed in Neuchatel until 1806, by which point the Helvetic Republic had already proven that sweeping in and imposing a centralised state wouldn't work so it's unlikely Napoleon would try again with a monarchy. Perhaps if the Helvetic Republic had survived Napoleon would have converted it into a Kingdom, but it wasn't particularly stable.

The margraviate of Basel was presented to the margrave of Baden-Durlach in 1697 following the treaty of Ryswijk.
 
Is it possible for one of the three republics in Europe (Genoa, Venice and the Swiss Confederation) to develop into a monarchy? I know the two Italian republics were in a way like the papacy - squabbling factions headed by an elected monarch. But Switzerland had various prince-bishoprics, principalities (county of Geneva, principality of Neuchatel, the county of Basel) thrown into the mix.

Could we see a Longueville of Neuchatel (perhaps, IDK of other Swiss noble families - if they work better, use them) take on a Nassau role in creating a sort of Helvetic Monarchy?
Those Italian republics were ruled by a(n elected) doge (~duke). Just have some outside power impose an hereditary duke on them.

That's what happened to Genoa. The King of Sardinia became the Duke of Genoa and the republic was essentially turned into a duchy.

It sort of also happened to Venice but Venice was actually combined with Lombardy to create a new kingdom so that probably doesn't count.

~~~

As to Switzerland, does an elected head of state from cantonal heads of state count? Switzerland could be a sort of Malaysia only that with much more republics than monarchies...
 
As to Switzerland, does an elected head of state from cantonal heads of state count? Switzerland could be a sort of Malaysia only that with much more republics than monarchies...

Well...come to think of it, that was how the house of Nassau became kings of the Netherlands, they ruled as elected stadtholders rather than hereditary lords (it was only with Willem IV they proclaimed the stadtholderate hereditary). So, that can count.

As to Genoa and Venice - why did those republics last so long (both were essentially in decline from around the mid-16th/17th centuries) before being conquered? Surely a French/Imperial army could've marched in, shelled Genoa/Venice and declared a Hapsburg/Bourbon younger son as "duke" or whatever the title might decide to be.

For one, I could see Louis XIV doing something of the sort to perhaps Genoa if he had been more interested in Italy than the Spanish Netherlands/Germany.
 
I believe Genoa's financial power served as a deterrent to fighting over the city and wrecking its economy.
 
Well...come to think of it, that was how the house of Nassau became kings of the Netherlands, they ruled as elected stadtholders rather than hereditary lords (it was only with Willem IV they proclaimed the stadtholderate hereditary). So, that can count.

As to Genoa and Venice - why did those republics last so long (both were essentially in decline from around the mid-16th/17th centuries) before being conquered? Surely a French/Imperial army could've marched in, shelled Genoa/Venice and declared a Hapsburg/Bourbon younger son as "duke" or whatever the title might decide to be.

For one, I could see Louis XIV doing something of the sort to perhaps Genoa if he had been more interested in Italy than the Spanish Netherlands/Germany.

Because Genoa was a French/Spanish willing ally/puppet during that period.
 
Well...come to think of it, that was how the house of Nassau became kings of the Netherlands, they ruled as elected stadtholders rather than hereditary lords (it was only with Willem IV they proclaimed the stadtholderate hereditary). So, that can count.

As to Genoa and Venice - why did those republics last so long (both were essentially in decline from around the mid-16th/17th centuries) before being conquered? Surely a French/Imperial army could've marched in, shelled Genoa/Venice and declared a Hapsburg/Bourbon younger son as "duke" or whatever the title might decide to be.

For one, I could see Louis XIV doing something of the sort to perhaps Genoa if he had been more interested in Italy than the Spanish Netherlands/Germany.


They lasted because they were fairly powerful. Genoa was closely allied with Spain until the 1700s, so going to war with them meant angering Spain. As for Venice, they really didn't decline until the mid 1700s so no marching in and making declarations. Also, annexing a Sovereign nation outright just wasn't done, not until the Revolutionary/Napoleonic wars. Taking territory yes, but the whole nation? NO WAY.

And yeah no Louis XIV wouldn't do that. He would have to annex territory from Savoy to give a land connection to Genoa, which would be difficult as whenever things got tough the Savoyards switched to the French side.
 
You had always invasions into the Italian republics, the thing is that they were so important for trade that in the end the invading forces were more likely to make them lose territory but never be destroyed because they were necessary. Genoa was a puppet most of the time but Venice had her terraferma occupied numerous times, not that it lost many wars, nevertheless the city itself was so important for Europe that almost every neighbor of the republic tried to secure the existence (and relevance) of the city. The best example of this is the existence of the Renaissance, where do you think the wealth came from? Breaking Venice or Genoa before their economic decline would be an extremely unfavorable situation for any power that did.

Venetian republican tradition predates the split of the Carolingian Empire, good luck with changing the minds of the inhabitants.
 
Well...come to think of it, that was how the house of Nassau became kings of the Netherlands, they ruled as elected stadtholders rather than hereditary lords (it was only with Willem IV they proclaimed the stadtholderate hereditary). So, that can count.

That's not really how the Cantons worked though. The Old Swiss Confederacy was more of a permanent alliance and trade league between effectively independent states than a unified country. The best analogy I can make is that this is the equivalent of Prince Andrew being elected President-for-life of France, Italy and Germany, getting Eugenie secured as President after him and using it as a springboard to assume hereditary rule over the EU three generations down the line.
 
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