The Dead Skunk
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I really like this timeline!
The acceleration of modernity is always a fun trope.
The acceleration of modernity is always a fun trope.
Some Damnfool Thing in the Balkans (1)
Lycaon pictus
Donor
Thanks! Aborting the Congress of Vienna postwar consensus in Europe and convincing the U.S. that it's a choice between centralization and victimization has definitely sped up a lot of developments.
And now, after much delay…
King Milan had only just secured the throne in Kragujevac, and his father still had supporters in Serbia. He chose to rally the nation around him in the simplest way possible—declaring war on a seemingly weak and beleaguered foreign adversary. In January of 1838, with winter still raging, he led his army across the border into Bosnia, issuing his official declaration of war the morning of the invasion. This is why, in many countries, the Bosnia-Rumelia War is also known as the War of the Orthodox Alliance.
There is evidence that Sultan Husein either knew the invasion was coming or anticipated that it would. Before the last Ramadan, he had redeployed many of his loyalists back into Bosnia. Again, it may have been either foreknowledge or intuition that inspired him to order them stationed in Raška and Leskovçe[1], protecting the narrow isthmus of land that connected the Sultan’s homeland of Bosnia to the rest of his dwarf empire. In expecting an attack there, Husein was right; but for the wrong reason, though he had no way of knowing this at the time.
Milan began with an attack on Raška. If the town fell, the road to Yeni Pazar[2] would be open. Yeni Pazar was a relatively wealthy civilian market town with a large Muslim population that would have to be defended. With little chance of reinforcement, the Gradascevician army concentrated itself (as best it could in winter) in Raška and Yeni Pazar.
But this was a feint. At the end of January, the bulk of his army appeared out of the snow at the gates of Pristina. The city fell without a fight—the garrison were bandits, not diehards[3], and in the face of a superior force would keep retreating until they had to invade someone else. To make it clear what sort of war was being waged, over 200 Muslim civilians—mostly of Albanian ethnicity—were deliberately killed by the attacking army after the town was surrendered…
No one had been particularly surprised that Milan chose to declare war on the empire while it was under attack by Russia, or that he had attacked at its narrow weak point. What astonished the world was his decision to march his army clear across the isthmus to the Albanian border… and keep going.
Sultan Vehid[4] was not caught unawares. He knew that in addition to its strategic importance, the province of Kosovo was of great historical significance to the Serbian people—it was the location of the cataclysmic Battle of the Field of Blackbirds in 1389—and half of that province was inside the borders of his sultanate. He had begun mobilizing his army as soon as Serbia invaded Bosnia.
Vehid’s army, larger than Milan’s and as well-equipped, prepared to meet them at Gjakova. The sultan’s plans were upended by events outside his control. The day before the battle, the commanders of Vehid’s cavalry wings, General Basmir Zefi and General Enver Luani, learned that Zefi’s brother had killed a cousin by marriage of the Luani family, alleging that the man had tried to kidnap his daughter. By the unwritten rules of Albanian society—the kanun—their families were now in a state of blood feud and each general was required to make a good-faith effort to assassinate the other.
Accounts differ as to precisely what happened next. Some say that Zefi, while approaching Luani’s tent at night, was killed by Luani’s guards, who mistook Zefi for a Serb assassin rather than an Albanian one. Some say Luani and his men waylaid Zefi and slit his throat. The one common thread is that Zefi was personally the more formidable warrior of the two, but that Luani was more popular with his men and had more of them willing to defend him at need—and that, on the morning of February 12, just as Milan was attacking the Albanian left flank, the commander of that flank was already dead.
The result was a disaster. The Albanians were first forced to retreat, then driven from the field in a rout. Only a series of Parthian shots and counterattacks by General Luani kept Vehid’s army from destruction.
Milan—still a 20-year-old whose life thus far had been an almost uninterrupted series of victories, the most recent of which involved the sort of luck often taken as divine intervention—turned overconfident. Seeing that the Albanian army had rallied on the southwest bank of the Drin, he tried to cross in broad daylight in the face of enemy fire. It was a bloody, costly failure…
As soon as word got out that Albania was involved in the war, cobelligerents Italy and Austria scrambled to outdo each other in assisting that small but strategically vital nation. Italy mobilized ten infantry regiments so quickly that when they arrived at Bari, the ships that were meant to transport them to Durrës would not be there for another week.
Austria, meanwhile, invaded Serbia from the north, along with the former king Milos and his small band of loyalists. Their target was Kragujevac…
Burim Kelmendi, This Time We’ll Get It Right: A History of the Post-Ottoman Balkans and Interventions Therein (Eng. trans.)
March 1, 1838
Whitehall
“How bad is it?” Palmerston didn’t look as though he really wanted an answer.
“Everything west of Westminster Hall is lost. The Exchequer, the Chancery… even the Chancery Library.[5]” Brougham shook his head. “The hall itself stands, but has taken some damage. In the interests of safety, we ought to rebuild it. But that is not what I came to discuss.”
“I dare say not.”
“I hoped for more insight on this Thessalonica matter—what they’re calling the Macedonian Charter. On the surface it seems a positive development, and yet…”
“The French are involved.”
Brougham nodded.
“If nothing else, we now have a better understanding of the background,” said Palmerston. “You will recall that the downfall of the Ottoman Empire began with a rebellion among the Janissaries? A rebellion which was defeated?”
“Yes.”
“The Janissaries’ last stronghold was the White Tower in Thessalonica. When that fell, they were driven into the hills with the rest of the bandits. But when Husein took the Topkapi Palace, they came out of the hills and reclaimed the tower. They did not, however, proclaim their loyalty to Husein.”
“No? Then what did they do?”
“Officially, they continued to serve the rightful Sultan and Caliph of the Ottoman Empire… Abdülmecid I, whom the rest of the world knows as Emir of Turkey and vassal of Muhammad Ali of Egypt.”
Brougham’s first thought was to blurt out something like you must be joking or what in blazes were they playing at? But there was one lesson he had taken a long time to learn: When a man takes actions which make no apparent sense, which benefit neither him nor others, he may be doing that which is right in his own eyes. Not everyone was an opportunist, nor was everyone motivated by a desire to achieve Bentham’s greatest good for the greatest number. Perhaps these Janissaries believed what they were saying, that the utter downfall of the Sublime Porte was merely a temporary misfortune. Perhaps, having been the servants (however rebellious) of a dynasty more than four hundred years old, they could not make their knees bend to an upstart like Sultan Husein. Perhaps they simply could not bear the thought that their intransigence had helped to destroy what they were supposed to be defending.
“Of course, they didn’t expect the poor boy to acknowledge this title,” Palmerston was saying. “They knew that if he did, he would soon have an unfortunate accident. They hoped that when he reached full manhood, he would rally Mohametans to his banner, overthrow Cairene rule and reestablish the empire.”
“And what did Husein have to say about all this?”
“Nothing good, but his control over the area was threadbare and the Janissaries held a strong position. Rooting them out would have meant a messy battle in a city that was a key source of revenue. His own governor of Macedonia, Ali Rizvanbegovic[6], was not appointed by him and seems to have had an understanding with the Janissaries—at the very least, he’s taken shelter with them now. However, with manpower running short, the Janissaries have reverted to their old method of recruitment.”
“Kidnapping boys from Christian homes?"
“Indeed. And now that they no longer have the power of the State behind them, the Christians of Macedonia—Greek and Slav alike, as well as the Vlachs[7]—see no reason why they should endure such depredations.”
"I should say not.” And to think men call me arrogant.
“Believe me, I understand your disbelief. In any event, they have organized militias to protect themselves. And Sultan Husein is supporting these militias—I suppose because the enemy of his enemy is his friend.”
Brougham nodded. “And even if the Janissaries weren’t his enemy, there can’t be many of them left and it seems they’ve made themselves hated. Which would make them useless as an instrument of his rule. Better to win the loyalty of the people.”
“And in consequence, there is now a Muslim militia—separate from the Janissaries—and a Jewish militia. Jews are not even party to this dispute, but…”
“But that has never protected them before.”
“Which brings us to the mayor of Thessalonica—Mustafa Reshid[8], a former Ottoman official who fled the city when Husein took it, and an enemy of the Janissaries. Last year he called an assembly of the leaders of various communities. The result is this Macedonian Charter, which declares Macedonia a constitutional monarchy under Sultan Husein.
“It’s not quite like the constitutions of, say, France or Spain. It seems to give a role to nations, or ‘millets.’ There are Jewish, Mohametan, and Catholic millets, and two Orthodox Church millets—one which favors Hellenistic Greek as its liturgical language, and one which favors Old Church Slavonic.”
“And… what does Husein have to say about this?”
“He hasn’t complained, probably because he has too much else to worry about. The important thing is that the Greeks of Macedonia—or at least their chosen representatives—seem more interested in this than in pledging their loyalty to King Paul and Kolokotronis… unlike the banditti on the loose to the south.”
Brougham nodded. Kolokotronis had learned the lesson of Lamia and wasn’t launching any more official invasions, but nothing was stopping his soldiers from “volunteering” to help the “freedom fighters” in Thessaly. Even if Russia and Serbia are defeated, can Husein hold Thessaly? And how much do we care if he can’t? The Tsar launched this war without a hint of any pretext other than his own aggrandizement and that of Russia. For the sake of peace in Europe, he should gain nothing for his aggression. On principle, the same should be true of Greece and Serbia—but would it be such a terrible blow to good order if this one province changed hands?
[1] Leskovac
[2] Today called Novi Pazar
[3] The translator has rendered fedayeen as “diehards.”
[4] I know the last time we checked in on Albania, Muhtar was Sultan. Cholera got another victim.
[5] There was an accident a couple of days earlier, while a work crew was installing more telegraph lines in Westminster, and the palace caught fire. It wasn’t as bad as OTL’s 1834 fire—among other things, the House of Lords and the Painted Gallery survived.
[6] Ali Pasha Rizvanbegović IOTL.
[7] Aromanians
[8] Mustafa Reşid Pasha IOTL.
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Glad to have this back!
Looks like the rump Ottoman Empire still has some life in it yet. It would be neat to see a stable multiethnic state in the Balkans for a change.
Also what are the borders in Romania like?
Looks like the rump Ottoman Empire still has some life in it yet. It would be neat to see a stable multiethnic state in the Balkans for a change.
Also what are the borders in Romania like?
Grand to have this back, congratulations on your book.
I am not sure this Balkan-Ottoman Empire will last, but it would be interesting to see how it develops if it survives for awhile.
Seems to me the janissaries are trying for a statement of last stand.
I was hoping the Whitehall scene would have some mention of events across the pond, but such as it goes eh? Take your time.
I am not sure this Balkan-Ottoman Empire will last, but it would be interesting to see how it develops if it survives for awhile.
Seems to me the janissaries are trying for a statement of last stand.
I was hoping the Whitehall scene would have some mention of events across the pond, but such as it goes eh? Take your time.
You said you have a general outline up until 1859, So I have some questions about some storylines in the outline.
#1. Will Princess Julia Louisa and Prince Leopold have kids who will live to adulthood and have kids themself?
#2. Will Charles Babbage create a functional mechanical computer that will end being used by governments because its probably won't be used by the general public?!
#3. What will happen with Ada & Allegra Byron in the world of The Dead Skunk? Hopefully happier endings for both of them!
#4. Will Joseph Dupuis have a indirect effect with the corps he's importing? Like native Africans selling and spreading his Australian crops to other colonies and some free African states/tribes/villages, without his knowledge?
#1. Will Princess Julia Louisa and Prince Leopold have kids who will live to adulthood and have kids themself?
#2. Will Charles Babbage create a functional mechanical computer that will end being used by governments because its probably won't be used by the general public?!
#3. What will happen with Ada & Allegra Byron in the world of The Dead Skunk? Hopefully happier endings for both of them!
#4. Will Joseph Dupuis have a indirect effect with the corps he's importing? Like native Africans selling and spreading his Australian crops to other colonies and some free African states/tribes/villages, without his knowledge?
#5. Will Queen Charlotte's other children marry? (If so, Who?)
#6. What’s happening with the house of Bourbon & the house of Orléans?
#7. What’s happening with historical figures who were born before the POD? (In Art, Science & politics)
#6. What’s happening with the house of Bourbon & the house of Orléans?
#7. What’s happening with historical figures who were born before the POD? (In Art, Science & politics)
Is the Republic developing its own unique literary scene yet? If so what themes and topics are popular?
It’s great to see this return, even if the war Bosnia-Rumelia does seem to be a mess.
On a tangential note, since the last time this TL was updated I’ve driven past Ecclefechan in Scotland on four occasions. Thanks to this TL, on each occasion I’ve given the sign for Carlyle’s birthplace an obscene salute (even if OTL’s Carlyle doesn’t technically deserve it…).
On a tangential note, since the last time this TL was updated I’ve driven past Ecclefechan in Scotland on four occasions. Thanks to this TL, on each occasion I’ve given the sign for Carlyle’s birthplace an obscene salute (even if OTL’s Carlyle doesn’t technically deserve it…).
Lycaon pictus
Donor
Glad everyone's enjoying it.
The part you can’t see on the map is the Moldavian/Transylvanian border, which more or less runs along the edge of the Carpathians. Since the only reason Russia even invaded Wallachia was that it was in the way, the Tsar would have to be out of his mind to invade Transylvania. But his mental health has been in decline the last few years, so…
2. The earliest models of this machine are already in use (by governments and the occasional central bank). Better ones will be built later.
3. As it happens, there will be a notice about Allegra Byron in the next post.
4. Dupuis is operating on the north coast of Africa, so there’s a lot of Sahara between him and the rest of Africa. But there will be some indirect effects. His #1 goal is to cultivate hardy acacia hybrids that are more cold- and/or drought-tolerant while still producing abundant gum. Thing is, hybrids can be very hardy…
6. I’ll get to what the Bourbon line is doing in the next post. (Would you believe they’re actually making themselves useful?) Louis Philippe is still teaching at Great Ealing School, so he’s also making himself useful.
7. There are way too many of these people for me to cover them all.
I need to put in something about the Romania front for the next post. Short answer: Moldavia is a Russian puppet, Wallachia is an Austrian puppet, Transylvania and Bukovina are Austrian territory.
The part you can’t see on the map is the Moldavian/Transylvanian border, which more or less runs along the edge of the Carpathians. Since the only reason Russia even invaded Wallachia was that it was in the way, the Tsar would have to be out of his mind to invade Transylvania. But his mental health has been in decline the last few years, so…
1. Don’t worry, House Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld has some generations yet to go.
2. The earliest models of this machine are already in use (by governments and the occasional central bank). Better ones will be built later.
3. As it happens, there will be a notice about Allegra Byron in the next post.
4. Dupuis is operating on the north coast of Africa, so there’s a lot of Sahara between him and the rest of Africa. But there will be some indirect effects. His #1 goal is to cultivate hardy acacia hybrids that are more cold- and/or drought-tolerant while still producing abundant gum. Thing is, hybrids can be very hardy…
5. Eventually, they will. Queen Charlotte is hoping to get Princess Amelia to marry either her cousin King Victor or Prince Christian of Denmark, but Amelia isn’t going to be any more cooperative with royal matchmaking than Charlotte herself was at that age.
6. I’ll get to what the Bourbon line is doing in the next post. (Would you believe they’re actually making themselves useful?) Louis Philippe is still teaching at Great Ealing School, so he’s also making himself useful.
7. There are way too many of these people for me to cover them all.
At this point, Louisiana writers tend to seek success in Paris or London. That will change after the war, with a cénacle forming around Armand Lanusse (among much else, writer of La Nouvelle Année), Camille Thierry, and Phillippe Séjour (who just barely survived Málaga). These three guys are all in the category of white-enough by New Orleans standards (not by Charleston standards), but their attitude is as egalitarian as anybody in the world and they'll make a difference as Louisiana begins to reconsider its commitment to slavery. In particular, Lanusse’s interest in seeking out the voices of women and POC wouldn’t be out of place today. A devout Catholic, Lanusse is also a critic of plaçage (as he was IOTL.)
Some Damnfool Thing in the Balkans (2)
Lycaon pictus
Donor
(Apologies to my British readers if this isn't the best timing.)
The original plan, after the Treaty of Thessalonica, was for Wallachia and Moldavia to have just enough army to keep order in their own country and prevent bandit raids on neighboring countries. Neither Austria nor Russia wanted states that could defend themselves effectively against either of the Powers. At the time, they imagined that the worst threat to these kingdoms would be a resurgent Ottoman Empire seeking to reconquer its old territories.
This arcwaddied[1] back against Austria in 1837. Tsar Alexander declared war against Wallachia not out of any desire for conquest, but simply because the front line in this war required more troops than he could supply by sea and (thanks to its 1831 annexation of the Danube delta) Wallachia was in the way. Austria tried to send an army to defend Wallachia, but the hapless Wallachian army was brushed aside before the Austrians could make it across the border, and the Austrians were driven out of the country in two months.
Alexander did not make the mistake of calling upon the Moldavian army (even weaker than Wallachia’s) for assistance. He simply gave his conscription officers free rein to draft as many Moldavians as they felt they needed. Thus the scenario which Rossini had imagined as farce[2] eleven years earlier had come true as tragedy—Wallachia and Moldavia were on opposite sides of a war. As for the king of both these kingdoms, he had the misfortune of being in Jassy when war was declared, and was now under house arrest in the Roznovanu Palace[3]. King Carol was in ill health, and would die May 2, 1838[4].
His sons, however, were in the Curtea Veche in Bucharest[5], and were able to escape. Prince Ludovic Anton[6] fled to Deva, and Prince Carol Ferdinand[7] fled to Brașov with Maria-Carolina, Horia, and Cristina[8] in tow.
Alexander’s stated goal with regard to Wallachia was for a return to the status quo ante bellum as soon as Bosnia-Rumelia had fallen. He neither sought to claim the allegiance of its government nor (unlike in Moldavia) sent the Ministry in to take charge of its religious authorities and educational institutions. But since Wallachia neither belonged to the Tsar nor was allied with him, the Russian army operated under no restraint at all when plundering the kingdom for food, fodder, draft animals and other necessities of war. As the army began stealing the fall harvest, atrocities against women and other civilians became commonplace even without provocation.
Inevitably, there were many in the population of Wallachia—former (and still-serving) officers in the Wallachian army, angry young men, and angry and heavily-disguised young women—looking for ways to fight back. Some began engaging in the sort of guerrilla warfare that Spain and Italy had seen a generation earlier. Others migrated to Deva and Brașov to spend the winter training with the reforming army alongside the two future kings.[9] Carol Ferdinand was already a renowned soldier, and to the astonishment of all, his older brother would prove an even greater general.[10]
Konstantin’s role as Grand Duke of Congress Poland was that of the shepherd in a classic wolf-and-shepherd relationship. As the Tsar’s viceroy, he protected the Polish people and culture—particularly the Roman Catholic Church—from the more alien excesses of Alexander’s government. Under him and the Sejm (in that order) the monasteries, convents, and (crucially) parish schools of Poland were kept free from interference by the Ministry. Even with all the Tsar’s attempts to expand schooling in Russia itself, the average Pole was still better educated than the average Russian in the 1830s.
But as Elmar said, les bergers mangent plus d’agneau que de loups.[11] In 1838 Konstantin had not called the Sejm for seven years, and the last two meetings had been secret.[12] Nor had he been shy in repressing the Patriotic Societies that kept appearing in Warsaw and Kalisz. During his tenure, Poland was torn between resentment of his government and fear of what might happen if the Tsar decided to take a personal interest in the state. Meanwhile, Alexander was using Poland’s constitutional government (and Finland’s) as a model for Russia’s, even while making it clear that no constitution ever written could stop him from doing as he pleased.
In 1838, three things happened to change the balance. The first was the death of the Niemojowski brothers, Bonawentura and Wincenty, in January and February.[13] Insofar as the tame Sejm could be said to have opposition to the Tsar, they were leaders of it. The second event was also a death—this time of Count Nikolai Nikolaievich Novosiltsev, who on paper was Poland’s finance minister, but in reality headed the secret police and was one of the most feared enemies of Polish freedom.[14]
The third event was a demand from the Tsar, which reached Warsaw on April 25. The Polish Army was to invade Hungary, assisting in the Russian war effort by opening a new front in the War of the Orthodox Alliance.
What happened next has often been misunderstood by retrograde and reactionary[15] historians. Witness Feuerbach’s claim that Major Piotr Wysocki illustrates “the Tragedy of the untameable Heroic Ghost[16], which builds empires and casts them down, but seldom lowers itself to serve as their tool,” or Winocki’s clamin that Wysocki and Czatoryski were “exemplars of the national spirit of Poland.”
In fact, both were aristocrats whose idea of a “free” Poland was one ruled by themselves with no interference from Russia. Czatoryski in particular was a fine example of the principle that discommoded aristocrats can be as dangerous as talented upstarts. Despite his political skills and personal friendship with the Tsar, he had been sidelined by Novosiltsev ten years earlier to be replaced by more reliable puppets.
Wysocki, at this point a major in the Grenadier Guards, was a believer in the Polish constitution and a man of no revolutionary sentiment whatsoever. The Guards, however, saw entry in the Tsar’s war as more likely to expose Polish territory to needless peril than safeguard it, and were able to coerce him into serving as their representative in Warsaw. General Krukowiecki presented the Guards and their allied units with an ultimatum: “You will fight for the Tsar or against him, but you will fight.”
So they did…
Though a technically flawless painting in its own right, The King Mourns His Father is more a work of historic significance than artistic significance. The official portrait of the event, capturing all the major nobility present on 13 May 1838, was to have been done by Caspar David Friedrich, but his failing health made that impossible[17], so his friend Georg Friedrich Kersting stepped in.
Kersting was a master of individual portraits and human-scaled indoor environments, and his most celebrated paintings are known for their Squaric-like[18] simplicity and focus. Although he sometimes painted landscapes as well (not to mention patterns for the Biedermeier porcelain factory as a more reliable source of money), a large group portrait such as The King Mourns His Father was not playing to his strengths.
It is nonetheless possible to identify all the attendees of the funeral depicted in the portrait—the various Mensdorff-Pouillys, Fitzclarences, Hohenlohe-Langenburgs and so on (see illus. 54)—all illuminated from behind and above by the tall windows of the Marktkirche. In the center, of course, is that most tragically romantic of figures, the nearly 19-year-old King Victor himself, standing over the late King William’s coffin. This is possibly the only image of the king in which he is not wearing a blue rosette. He is flanked by Queen Mother Victoria and his younger brother Prince Augustus, and they in turn are flanked by Ernest Augustus Duke of Cumberland and Victor’s oldest stepbrother George FitzClarence.
At the left end of the group are Victoria’s brother, King Consort Leopold, and his wife and Victor’s cousin, Queen Charlotte, accompanied by 18-year-old Princess Amelia. The girl seen near Amelia is not (as might be expected) Elphinstone Brougham, who was not present at this time, but Dorothea, the 20-year-old daughter of Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.[19] At the other end, of course, is the man who would soon become Victor’s worst enemy, his other cousin Charles II of Brunswick…
May 14, 1838
Weber-Gauss Office, Hannover
“Can you smell it in the air?”
“Well, yes.” It was a sharp smell, and not very pleasant unless you compared it to the other smells of the city. The “Bridgehead of the Future” was still dominated by the wool industry more than anything else.
“Ceraunia[20]. Essence of thunderbolt. The smell of things to come.”
Henry Brougham nodded. If you were making a brief visit of state to the capital of Hanover and wanted to see the telegraph equipment that had given this city its reputation—and Brougham certainly did, and who knew when he’d get another chance—this was the place for it. Half the telegraph traffic in the kingdom passed through here. And there was much worse company to visit Weber-Gauss office in than Michael Faraday, even if his mind was on his own concerns.
“If I could only have an audience with Herr Gauss—or M. Galois in Paris… the motions of the planets can be described mathematically. I am certain that these lines of force are no different.” Brougham simply nodded. This all sounded rather suspicious to him, but he was acutely aware that his own opinions on scientific matters had not always been borne out by experiment.
“You know, Mr. Faraday,” he said, “there are plenty of brilliant mathematicians in the Royal Society. We could use men of your brilliance back home.” Brougham’s eye was drawn to the latest edition of the Hannoversche Zeitung under Faraday’s arm. “May I see that?”
Faraday handed it to him absently. Brougham couldn’t read German, but the overseas news headlines still looked interesting: RUSSEN IN DIE FLUCHT GESCHLAGEN BEI KRAJOWA, CAMILLO BENSO[21] HEIRATET ALLEGRA BYRON IN TURIN, and below that…
What?
Where’s my translator? Why didn’t I bring Elphie? She can read German. What in blazes is happening in America?
[1] Boomeranged
[2] In his 1826 Neo-Pastoral opera Il Re di Moscavia e Slovaria, one of the plotlines of which involves King Adalberto’s two kingdoms called upon by treaty to declare war on one another.
[3] His seat of government.
[4] This is a year and a half longer than Charles X lived IOTL.
[5] Yes, the Kingdom of Wallachia ITTL is literally governed from Dracula’s castle.
[6] IOTL known as Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême.
[7] IOTL known as Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, who ITTL avoided assassination by not being anywhere near France.
[8] His wife and (surviving) son and daughter, ages 19 and 16, respectively.
[9] As IOTL, Ludovic Anton has no children, so the succession will go from Carol to Ludovic to Carol II to Horia.
[10] With no Battle of Trocadero ITTL, Ludovic Anton has had no chance to prove himself until now.
[11] The original language is Polish. The author, a later-generation Elmarist, was too respectful of Elmar’s words to dare translate them, and that decision has been carried over into the English version.
[12] IOTL the Sejm wasn’t called very often (sources differ as to the exact dates) and was sometimes called in secret.
[13] IOTL both of them fled Poland after the failure of the November Uprising and were dead at this point.
[14] He died this year IOTL as well.
[15] I.e. liberal and aristist
[16] A deliberately bad translation of the aristist term Heldengeist. In his French writings Feuerbach calls it Esprit d’Héroïsme, so the author should and probably does know better.
[17] Friedrich’s health was also failing at this point IOTL
[18] Squarics are TTL’s Polaroids
[19] Born more or less in place of TTL’s Ernest II
[20] Ozone
[21] Who does not yet have the title of Count of Cavour
The original plan, after the Treaty of Thessalonica, was for Wallachia and Moldavia to have just enough army to keep order in their own country and prevent bandit raids on neighboring countries. Neither Austria nor Russia wanted states that could defend themselves effectively against either of the Powers. At the time, they imagined that the worst threat to these kingdoms would be a resurgent Ottoman Empire seeking to reconquer its old territories.
This arcwaddied[1] back against Austria in 1837. Tsar Alexander declared war against Wallachia not out of any desire for conquest, but simply because the front line in this war required more troops than he could supply by sea and (thanks to its 1831 annexation of the Danube delta) Wallachia was in the way. Austria tried to send an army to defend Wallachia, but the hapless Wallachian army was brushed aside before the Austrians could make it across the border, and the Austrians were driven out of the country in two months.
Alexander did not make the mistake of calling upon the Moldavian army (even weaker than Wallachia’s) for assistance. He simply gave his conscription officers free rein to draft as many Moldavians as they felt they needed. Thus the scenario which Rossini had imagined as farce[2] eleven years earlier had come true as tragedy—Wallachia and Moldavia were on opposite sides of a war. As for the king of both these kingdoms, he had the misfortune of being in Jassy when war was declared, and was now under house arrest in the Roznovanu Palace[3]. King Carol was in ill health, and would die May 2, 1838[4].
His sons, however, were in the Curtea Veche in Bucharest[5], and were able to escape. Prince Ludovic Anton[6] fled to Deva, and Prince Carol Ferdinand[7] fled to Brașov with Maria-Carolina, Horia, and Cristina[8] in tow.
Alexander’s stated goal with regard to Wallachia was for a return to the status quo ante bellum as soon as Bosnia-Rumelia had fallen. He neither sought to claim the allegiance of its government nor (unlike in Moldavia) sent the Ministry in to take charge of its religious authorities and educational institutions. But since Wallachia neither belonged to the Tsar nor was allied with him, the Russian army operated under no restraint at all when plundering the kingdom for food, fodder, draft animals and other necessities of war. As the army began stealing the fall harvest, atrocities against women and other civilians became commonplace even without provocation.
Inevitably, there were many in the population of Wallachia—former (and still-serving) officers in the Wallachian army, angry young men, and angry and heavily-disguised young women—looking for ways to fight back. Some began engaging in the sort of guerrilla warfare that Spain and Italy had seen a generation earlier. Others migrated to Deva and Brașov to spend the winter training with the reforming army alongside the two future kings.[9] Carol Ferdinand was already a renowned soldier, and to the astonishment of all, his older brother would prove an even greater general.[10]
Burim Kelmendi, This Time We’ll Get It Right: A History of the Post-Ottoman Balkans and Interventions Therein (Eng. trans.)
Konstantin’s role as Grand Duke of Congress Poland was that of the shepherd in a classic wolf-and-shepherd relationship. As the Tsar’s viceroy, he protected the Polish people and culture—particularly the Roman Catholic Church—from the more alien excesses of Alexander’s government. Under him and the Sejm (in that order) the monasteries, convents, and (crucially) parish schools of Poland were kept free from interference by the Ministry. Even with all the Tsar’s attempts to expand schooling in Russia itself, the average Pole was still better educated than the average Russian in the 1830s.
But as Elmar said, les bergers mangent plus d’agneau que de loups.[11] In 1838 Konstantin had not called the Sejm for seven years, and the last two meetings had been secret.[12] Nor had he been shy in repressing the Patriotic Societies that kept appearing in Warsaw and Kalisz. During his tenure, Poland was torn between resentment of his government and fear of what might happen if the Tsar decided to take a personal interest in the state. Meanwhile, Alexander was using Poland’s constitutional government (and Finland’s) as a model for Russia’s, even while making it clear that no constitution ever written could stop him from doing as he pleased.
In 1838, three things happened to change the balance. The first was the death of the Niemojowski brothers, Bonawentura and Wincenty, in January and February.[13] Insofar as the tame Sejm could be said to have opposition to the Tsar, they were leaders of it. The second event was also a death—this time of Count Nikolai Nikolaievich Novosiltsev, who on paper was Poland’s finance minister, but in reality headed the secret police and was one of the most feared enemies of Polish freedom.[14]
The third event was a demand from the Tsar, which reached Warsaw on April 25. The Polish Army was to invade Hungary, assisting in the Russian war effort by opening a new front in the War of the Orthodox Alliance.
What happened next has often been misunderstood by retrograde and reactionary[15] historians. Witness Feuerbach’s claim that Major Piotr Wysocki illustrates “the Tragedy of the untameable Heroic Ghost[16], which builds empires and casts them down, but seldom lowers itself to serve as their tool,” or Winocki’s clamin that Wysocki and Czatoryski were “exemplars of the national spirit of Poland.”
In fact, both were aristocrats whose idea of a “free” Poland was one ruled by themselves with no interference from Russia. Czatoryski in particular was a fine example of the principle that discommoded aristocrats can be as dangerous as talented upstarts. Despite his political skills and personal friendship with the Tsar, he had been sidelined by Novosiltsev ten years earlier to be replaced by more reliable puppets.
Wysocki, at this point a major in the Grenadier Guards, was a believer in the Polish constitution and a man of no revolutionary sentiment whatsoever. The Guards, however, saw entry in the Tsar’s war as more likely to expose Polish territory to needless peril than safeguard it, and were able to coerce him into serving as their representative in Warsaw. General Krukowiecki presented the Guards and their allied units with an ultimatum: “You will fight for the Tsar or against him, but you will fight.”
So they did…
Mikołaj Czerwinski, A People’s History of Poland
Though a technically flawless painting in its own right, The King Mourns His Father is more a work of historic significance than artistic significance. The official portrait of the event, capturing all the major nobility present on 13 May 1838, was to have been done by Caspar David Friedrich, but his failing health made that impossible[17], so his friend Georg Friedrich Kersting stepped in.
Kersting was a master of individual portraits and human-scaled indoor environments, and his most celebrated paintings are known for their Squaric-like[18] simplicity and focus. Although he sometimes painted landscapes as well (not to mention patterns for the Biedermeier porcelain factory as a more reliable source of money), a large group portrait such as The King Mourns His Father was not playing to his strengths.
It is nonetheless possible to identify all the attendees of the funeral depicted in the portrait—the various Mensdorff-Pouillys, Fitzclarences, Hohenlohe-Langenburgs and so on (see illus. 54)—all illuminated from behind and above by the tall windows of the Marktkirche. In the center, of course, is that most tragically romantic of figures, the nearly 19-year-old King Victor himself, standing over the late King William’s coffin. This is possibly the only image of the king in which he is not wearing a blue rosette. He is flanked by Queen Mother Victoria and his younger brother Prince Augustus, and they in turn are flanked by Ernest Augustus Duke of Cumberland and Victor’s oldest stepbrother George FitzClarence.
At the left end of the group are Victoria’s brother, King Consort Leopold, and his wife and Victor’s cousin, Queen Charlotte, accompanied by 18-year-old Princess Amelia. The girl seen near Amelia is not (as might be expected) Elphinstone Brougham, who was not present at this time, but Dorothea, the 20-year-old daughter of Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.[19] At the other end, of course, is the man who would soon become Victor’s worst enemy, his other cousin Charles II of Brunswick…
Georg Ebert, The Romantic Painters
May 14, 1838
Weber-Gauss Office, Hannover
“Can you smell it in the air?”
“Well, yes.” It was a sharp smell, and not very pleasant unless you compared it to the other smells of the city. The “Bridgehead of the Future” was still dominated by the wool industry more than anything else.
“Ceraunia[20]. Essence of thunderbolt. The smell of things to come.”
Henry Brougham nodded. If you were making a brief visit of state to the capital of Hanover and wanted to see the telegraph equipment that had given this city its reputation—and Brougham certainly did, and who knew when he’d get another chance—this was the place for it. Half the telegraph traffic in the kingdom passed through here. And there was much worse company to visit Weber-Gauss office in than Michael Faraday, even if his mind was on his own concerns.
“If I could only have an audience with Herr Gauss—or M. Galois in Paris… the motions of the planets can be described mathematically. I am certain that these lines of force are no different.” Brougham simply nodded. This all sounded rather suspicious to him, but he was acutely aware that his own opinions on scientific matters had not always been borne out by experiment.
“You know, Mr. Faraday,” he said, “there are plenty of brilliant mathematicians in the Royal Society. We could use men of your brilliance back home.” Brougham’s eye was drawn to the latest edition of the Hannoversche Zeitung under Faraday’s arm. “May I see that?”
Faraday handed it to him absently. Brougham couldn’t read German, but the overseas news headlines still looked interesting: RUSSEN IN DIE FLUCHT GESCHLAGEN BEI KRAJOWA, CAMILLO BENSO[21] HEIRATET ALLEGRA BYRON IN TURIN, and below that…
What?
Where’s my translator? Why didn’t I bring Elphie? She can read German. What in blazes is happening in America?
[1] Boomeranged
[2] In his 1826 Neo-Pastoral opera Il Re di Moscavia e Slovaria, one of the plotlines of which involves King Adalberto’s two kingdoms called upon by treaty to declare war on one another.
[3] His seat of government.
[4] This is a year and a half longer than Charles X lived IOTL.
[5] Yes, the Kingdom of Wallachia ITTL is literally governed from Dracula’s castle.
[6] IOTL known as Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême.
[7] IOTL known as Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, who ITTL avoided assassination by not being anywhere near France.
[8] His wife and (surviving) son and daughter, ages 19 and 16, respectively.
[9] As IOTL, Ludovic Anton has no children, so the succession will go from Carol to Ludovic to Carol II to Horia.
[10] With no Battle of Trocadero ITTL, Ludovic Anton has had no chance to prove himself until now.
[11] The original language is Polish. The author, a later-generation Elmarist, was too respectful of Elmar’s words to dare translate them, and that decision has been carried over into the English version.
[12] IOTL the Sejm wasn’t called very often (sources differ as to the exact dates) and was sometimes called in secret.
[13] IOTL both of them fled Poland after the failure of the November Uprising and were dead at this point.
[14] He died this year IOTL as well.
[15] I.e. liberal and aristist
[16] A deliberately bad translation of the aristist term Heldengeist. In his French writings Feuerbach calls it Esprit d’Héroïsme, so the author should and probably does know better.
[17] Friedrich’s health was also failing at this point IOTL
[18] Squarics are TTL’s Polaroids
[19] Born more or less in place of TTL’s Ernest II
[20] Ozone
[21] Who does not yet have the title of Count of Cavour
I am completely certain that in some timeline, somewhere, in the palace Castlevania, Vlad "the Impaler" Tepes Dracula is rolling over and screaming into his casket pillow over the nonsense that has befallen his traditional stabbing-- er, stomping-- grounds.
As always, great update.
So, the would-be French king installed in Romania has had to declare war on himself. As i we needed even more damnf oolish things in the Balkans. (Speaking of would-be French kings, whatever became of the House of Orleans and Louis-Philippe TTL? Can't recall if you've mentioned it.)
Poland is seemingly about to try to throw out the Russians. I don't know if they'll have any better luk than the OTL November Uprising but we can always hope. (And on a side note, just how long is Alexander going to stick around? I figured he had to be getting pretty old but I just checked and he only turned 60 last year. Not as old as I thought he was, and could maybe sick around for a while longer.)
And that's OTL's William IV dead. Hanover seems set for some interesting times ahead it seems, I'm still trying to figure out what the longer-term future of the German states will be TTL. If I'm remembering correctly the Duke of Brunswick was something of a reactionary...
And...
What just happened? Did he US capture somewhere important in Florida or Louisiana and do...something rather nasty? Did they advance in Canada? Did someone manage to get a slave rebellion started? Has Mexico been dragged in? (Exactly how much say does the government in Spain itself have in what happens in Mexico by this point, anyway?)
I do hope we return to the War of 1837 in North America next update, although it was helpful having a look at Europe for a bit.
So, the would-be French king installed in Romania has had to declare war on himself. As i we needed even more damnf oolish things in the Balkans. (Speaking of would-be French kings, whatever became of the House of Orleans and Louis-Philippe TTL? Can't recall if you've mentioned it.)
Poland is seemingly about to try to throw out the Russians. I don't know if they'll have any better luk than the OTL November Uprising but we can always hope. (And on a side note, just how long is Alexander going to stick around? I figured he had to be getting pretty old but I just checked and he only turned 60 last year. Not as old as I thought he was, and could maybe sick around for a while longer.)
And that's OTL's William IV dead. Hanover seems set for some interesting times ahead it seems, I'm still trying to figure out what the longer-term future of the German states will be TTL. If I'm remembering correctly the Duke of Brunswick was something of a reactionary...
And...
...oh, dear.
What just happened? Did he US capture somewhere important in Florida or Louisiana and do...something rather nasty? Did they advance in Canada? Did someone manage to get a slave rebellion started? Has Mexico been dragged in? (Exactly how much say does the government in Spain itself have in what happens in Mexico by this point, anyway?)
I do hope we return to the War of 1837 in North America next update, although it was helpful having a look at Europe for a bit.
Always a treat to see heads of state down in the trenches alongside their people.
I don't see this ending well for Poland.
And now you have me wanting War of 1837 updates even more! I am hoping or a major American defeat, Canada seems the likeliest as they were still reeling in Florida and Louisiana and the British seem likely to wait until the next round to beat them on home turf. It could also be a surprise declaration of war from New Spain.
I don't see this ending well for Poland.
And now you have me wanting War of 1837 updates even more! I am hoping or a major American defeat, Canada seems the likeliest as they were still reeling in Florida and Louisiana and the British seem likely to wait until the next round to beat them on home turf. It could also be a surprise declaration of war from New Spain.