The Sun of Rocroi TL- A better Grand Condé
- Thread starter Comte de Dordogne
- Start date
It's been a long time since I watched the performance of Ubu Roi, but I have fond memories of it. Alfred Jarry was inspired by his physics teacher who was rather mediocre and ridiculous. 😂
It must be special to be remembered by the mockery of one of his students. 🤔
Thanks for giving me ideas for reading, I'd have to get back to reading Conan Doyle.
It reminds me of the movies set in the European antiquity where we see riders with stirrups (having done some horseback riding myself I quickly noticed it).Well, what you wrote had been formulated by James Morier in "Adventures of Hajji Baba": "Keep your mouth shut and nobody will find out that you are an idiot" (quoted by memory). Which, of course, is a valid approach but, if followed, it would decimate the world's classic literature. How about the different approaches:
1. Write either about the times and places which are far away from a domain of "common knowledge". If, by any chance, somebody comes with a factual objection, he/she/it ends up in a category of an annoying bore (*). Said from a personal experience: "I do not care if they are wearing the wrong orders" is a favorite answer of my wife to my comments on the "historic" Russian movies, especially (pay attention!) when they contain 3 mandatory elements I listed in the previous post.
2. Just keep punching the text. After all Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras knew the XVII century better than Alexander Dumas but "Mémoires de M. d’Artagnan" are boring (with some interesting moments here and there) while "Three Musketeers" are classics. Actually, excessive knowledge often kills the books because authors are trying to demonstrate it by excessive usage of the specific terminology, endless detailed descriptions, etc.
I had read in an article about the Musketeers that Dumas had transposed the ideal of the Revolution and the imaginary of his time in the musketeers that he had imagined in his book (the author of the article said that the image presented by Dumas corresponded more to the Napoleonic grognards) whereas at the time of Louis XIII-XIV the musketeers were implacable agents of the royal power.
Now that I think about it your first comment was salty on the first page of my timeline. 😂
If one day I have to publish this chronology in book format I think I will use some of the form and what I have already written.
I'm not a film buff so I don't know much about the film world (but I started to watch Belmondo movies, I have to continue).
But it is true that many "critics" stick to extremely specific films and often are not open-minded.
There is also the opposite problem with a part of the general public being interested only in bad films.
It must be the same for books.
Alternative history is not much discussed in France (except in comics) and the few books published are not that interested in what alternative history implies. There is, for example, a well-known French historian who wrote a book about a Protestant France. But history hardly changes except for Robespierre being a Protestant or Napoleon not converting to the Reformation because he was a Corsican.
It also seems to me that the former president Giscard d'Estaing wrote about a victory of Napoleon at Waterloo.
You are right in your analysis, I would take it into account.
I don't have all the fixed ideas about Italy in the 17th century in my chronology.
Brazil will be deeply changed by remaining under Spanish rule. Brazil will be discussed in my chapter on America (which will come after the end of Europe, the Middle East and North America).
Considering the fact that Portugal has had a failing rebellion meaning more people would flee there, the line of Tordesilhas is practically non existent and how in otl the dutch invaders were defeated with local troops so that Portugal wouldn't technically break their peace treaty and that's not even counting a spain with a more sane and capable monarch and help from it's other colonies, Brazil might end up getting a better deal territory wise than in otl or at least a better administration.
Spanish repression was especially violent in the upper classes of Portuguese society. The simple peasant or the craftsman of a small town did not suffer repression, except for the war and the passage of the troops themselves.
But there is still a certain economic, social and national instability in Portugal, which can encourage Portuguese to leave for the colonies (not necessarily Brazil, by the way). It could be a problem for Spain if too many rebels to the crown ended up in Brazil.
The line of Tordesillas has already jumped, it seems to me to have said in my chapter on Spain that the border has been renegotiated.
Holland is (for the moment) still settled in Brazil for several reasons, which is a huge thorn in the relations between Madrid and The Hague.
As for the administration and management of Brazil I will go into more detail in the chapter that will be devoted to it. But it won't be as quiet as you might imagine.
Hello everyone, I hope you are well.
I'm currently starting the draft of the next update (which won't happen right away, I have my tests to do soon).
I'm going to be writing about several conflicts during the chapter and I'd like to know if you'd prefer me to approach the subject by unfolding the chronology of the war or rather by focusing on the conflict suffered by the different belligerents.
I would also like to remind you that if you want to give me your opinion or share your ideas I am open to discussion and to mention you in the chapters where you helped me.
I'm currently starting the draft of the next update (which won't happen right away, I have my tests to do soon).
I'm going to be writing about several conflicts during the chapter and I'd like to know if you'd prefer me to approach the subject by unfolding the chronology of the war or rather by focusing on the conflict suffered by the different belligerents.
I would also like to remind you that if you want to give me your opinion or share your ideas I am open to discussion and to mention you in the chapters where you helped me.
I'd rather you show the conflict suffered by the participants, it's always fun to read about how different countries perceive a war.
And for ideas? Colonization is always a good one, french south africa sounds super interesting seeing as the dutch haven't taken it.
And for ideas? Colonization is always a good one, french south africa sounds super interesting seeing as the dutch haven't taken it.
Whichever model is chosen, I will present the conflict as well as the belligerents. It is rather in the form that I am hesitant.
I have so much to write that I'm thinking of writing two separate chapters, one on the north of the Holy Empire and one on Scandinavia.
I was asked several times if I would do a French South Africa. Although the idea is attractive I have something else in mind with South Africa for the 17th century.
However I do not forget what you suggest.
Glad you like it.I'd like to read more about the Grand Conde' actions (Battles he won, reforms he made to the military, actions to support the Monarchy) and the effects he had on the other nations
Perhaps my mistake was not addressing the Regency in France a bit more. However, after my "Tour of Europe" I will come back to France and the Grand Condé. You should hear about him in a few chapters.
#11 Holy Roman Empire 1618-1654
Wars and Influences in Northern Europe
Part 1: Crisis of Succession and Conflicts in Eastphalia
"Peace was born at the end of the twenty-five year war in Westphalia. It will perish only ten years later, this time in Eastphalia"
Frederick III of Denmark commenting on the Magdeburg War.
Part 1: Crisis of Succession and Conflicts in Eastphalia
"Peace was born at the end of the twenty-five year war in Westphalia. It will perish only ten years later, this time in Eastphalia"
Frederick III of Denmark commenting on the Magdeburg War.
Europe in the middle of the 17th century was changing times. Twenty-five years of almost uninterrupted conflicts altered the European balance for centuries to come.
Although the treaties of Westphalia succeeded in restoring peace between most of the great powers of the continent, it was very quickly called into question in many regions. The most revealing region of this phenomenon was the northern part of the Holy Roman Empire, already ravaged by decades of conflict. Although far from the horrors of the early seventeenth century, the struggles that arose foreshadowed the next great wars in Europe.
1) The Crisis Succession of the Brandenburg-Prussian (1638-1647)
At the beginning of the century, the Electorate of Brandenburg was only a minor state in European politics, ruled by the major branch of the Hohenzollerns. In 1614 it had obtained the Duchy of Cleves and the County of Marck after the War of the Jülich Succession. In addition, in 1618 the Electorate was united with the Duchy of Prussia. This union was very unpopular in the Prussian nobility already at that time, in addition to the rivalry and hatred between the Lutheran and Calvinist Protestants of Brandenburg-Prussia. From 1619, Brandenburg-Prussia was ruled by Georg Wilhelm I. His reign will mark the slow of his lands along the twenty-five years war.
Georg Wilhelm I, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia (1595-1645).
From 1621 to 1629 Georg Wilhelm, despite his policy of neutrality, was drawn into the struggle between Sweden and Poland-Lithuania. In addition, in 1626 the imperial armies arrived in the northern part of the Holy Roman Empire and, despite Brandenburg's neutrality, ravaged its lands.
The intervention of the King of Sweden in the Holy Roman Empire put an end to the fictitious neutrality of the Electorate of Brandenburg. Despite the common faith and religion of Sweden and Brandenburg, this did not prevent the resumption of the plundering of Brandenburg by the Swedish armies.
Faced with this disaster and his unpopularity, the unloved Elector Hohenzollern gave up his power, leaving it to one of his advisors, the Count of Schwarzenberg. The latter, unlike the Calvinist Elector and the Lutheran Electorate, was of Catholic faith. With the Swedish defeats, the reversals of situation and the weariness of Gustav II Adolphus, the Count assumed more and more a pro-imperial policy. Like the Electorate of Saxony in 1638, he accepted the Emperor's Peace of Prague and joined the imperial camp, which enraged many Brandenburg Protestants and made the Count much more unpopular.
Added to this was the death in 1638 of Georg Wilhelm's only son, Frederick Wilhelm, from measles [1]. Brandenburg-Prussia was left without an heir and Georg Wilhelm, who was already moping around Prussia in the face of his failures and now in the face of the death of his son, did not try to solve this problem with his wife.
In spite of the worrying situation in Brandenburg-Prussia, the pro-imperial policy of the Count of Schwarzenberg paid off. In 1643 the bishopric of Magdeburg was ceded to Brandenburg as well as the Principality of Minden, the Principality of Halberstadt and the County of Hohenstein.
These gains were, however, to be put into perspective in relation to the situation of Brandenburg-Prussia. Brandenburg was completely ravaged by years of war with an exhausted population. Prussia, for its part, was still skeptical about its union with Brandenburg. In addition, there were debts to be paid to the United Provinces for the protection of the Duchy of Cleves and the County of Marck, the latter more and more loyal to Amsterdam than to Berlin. Finally, the acquisition of Magdeburg by Brandenburg angered the Elector of Saxony, who had wanted the rich city back.
This bitter situation lasted for some time, and Schwarzenberg tried to pay off the many debts he had accumulated over the years despite his growing unpopularity. Schwarzenberg died in December 1645 [2], leaving a tired and exhausted country. The situation did not improve, however, because a few months later Georg Wilhelm died in May 1646, after almost ten years of retirement in Königsberg, in Prussia [3].
In the absence of a direct heir to Georg Wilhelm the question of inheritance in Brandenburg-Prussia was open. The question was all the more difficult because the Elector, in addition to having no sons, had no surviving brothers. It therefore seemed that Brandenburg-Prussia would fall to the youngest branch of the Hohenzollerns, namely Christian Margrave of Ansbach and Bayreuth.
Christian of Hohenzollern, Elector of Brandenburg and Magraviate of Ansbach-Bayreuth.
Christian of Hohenzollern was very happy to accept the inheritance of his late cousin, hoping to become a prince of the first order and to influence the politics of the Empire. However, in view of the state of the inheritance, it seemed more of a poisoned gift than a blessing.
In addition, the Imperial Diet was determined to prevent a single prince from obtaining so much land. Christian was obliged to divide his lands between his two sons at his death. Christian accepted this condition imposed on him, hoping that after his death his sons would conduct a joint policy together.
The long and difficult management of these scattered and impoverished lands began for Christian. A new problem presented itself to Christian when the Duchy of Prussia and its nobility refused to recognize him. At the end of December 1646 he sent a delegation to Königsberg to establish his power in Prussia. In front of the city walls, the Junkers, Prussian noblemen, closed the gates to them.
Legend has it that the head of the delegation asked to be given the keys to the city. A young Prussian nobleman standing at the top of the wall replied, "You want our land? Here are some stones! " before stoning with the inhabitants of the city the Brandenburg delegation fleeing at full gallop.
Christian, learning the result of his delegation, went to war and started to raise an army to quell the revolt in Prussia. The Prussian nobility looked for a new Duke to replace the unpopular Hohenzollerns. A significant portion of the Junkers turned to King Vladislav IV of Poland to offer him the crown. This situation further aggravated the situation, as the Kingdom of Sweden did not want a direct Polish presence in Prussia and the Polish Sejm refused to wage a conflict for Prussia.
Vladislav IV refused the crown of the Duchy of Prussia. However, as the lord of the Duchy he offered to mediate in the dispute. He proposed with the support of the majority of Prussians that the Duchy of Prussia should go to the Duke of Courland, Jakob Kettler, married to the daughter of the former Elector of Brandenburg, Louise Charlotte of Brandenburg.
Jakob Kettler, Duke of Courland-Prussia.
The arbitration was accepted by all except Christian of Brandenburg. For the Prussians the Duke of Courland was not only a famous person for most of them, but also a closer prince than a hypothetical Elector of Brandenburg. Moreover this new united Duchy of Courland-Prussia arranged the affairs of Stockholm and Warsaw. For the first one it avoided the possibility of an encirclement of Pomerania by Brandenburg and Prussia. For the second one, it allowed the Duchy of Prussia to come back into the Polish orbit by preventing it from holding lands outside the Union.
Christian had lost before the battle could be fought, as the Imperial Diet was not competent to judge succession law outside the Holy Empire. Moreover a too prolonged distraction in the Baltic could tempt the Elector of Saxony to take the city of Magdeburg. Finally the raising of an army although reduced had been enough to anger the population of Brandenburg exceeded.
It only remained for Christian to accept the accomplished fact and to try to find a fair division between his two sons.
2) The Magdeburg War (1653-1654)
The First War of Eastphalia, also known as the War of Magdeburg, is a rather obscure conflict, forgotten because it was brief and did not reach the magnitude of the conflicts that preceded it and were to come. However, it prefigured the regular conflicts in the region for centuries to come and marked the beginning of the rise of some of its belligerents.
The dispute stems from a shadowy part omitted by the treaties of Westphalia, namely to whom the former bishopric of Magdeburg would revert.
The city of Magdeburg is known as one of the first cities to have converted to Luther's Reformed faith. In the 16th and 17th centuries the city was famous for its scholars and many craftsmen. From 1628 the city of Magdeburg was administered by the second son of the Elector of Saxony Johann Georg I, August.
Johann Georg I, Elector of Saxonny (1585-1656).
However, the city's strong Protestantism led it to be a Swedish ally during the Twenty-Five Years' War and to incur the wrath of the Emperor. The city was besieged several times by the Imperials, by Wallenstein who was still in the imperial camp and then by Tilly who took the city in 1631. In spite of numerous lootings, the destruction of Protestant temples and fires, the city managed to survive until the end of the war [4].
Despite the rallying of Saxony to the imperial cause from 1638 onwards and the recapture of the city of Magdeburg from the Swedes by the troops, Elector Johann Georg found himself partly disappointed with the results of the war. Although he obtained the Lusatia and the city of Leipzig for his electorate, he did not succeed in obtaining the city of Magdeburg for his son August.
However, the Protestantism of the city led it to be a Swedish ally during the twenty-five years war and to attract the wrath of the Emperor. The city was besieged several times by the Imperials, by Wallenstein who was still in the imperial camp and then by Tilly who took the city in 1631. In spite of numerous lootings, the destruction of Protestant temples and fires, the city managed to survive until the end of the war [4].
Despite the rallying of Saxony to the imperial cause from 1638 onwards and the recapture of the city of Magdeburg from the Swedes by the troops, Elector Johann Georg found himself partly disappointed with the results of the war. Although he obtained the Lusatia and the city of Leipzig for his electorate, he did not succeed in obtaining the city of Magdeburg for his son August.
This situation combined with the numerous debts of the Electorate put Saxony in an unpleasant situation. Thus, in 1646 the Elector strongly opposed the takeover of Brandenburg by Christian of Ansbach-Bayreuth, refusing to give up his claim to Magdeburg. However, he was unable to find allies to support his claim, as most states preferred to lick their wounds.
It was also during this period that many Protestants driven out of Bohemia settled in Saxony and received support and assistance from the Elector.
Despite the fact that some of the debts were reduced over time, Saxony was short of revenue, which was aggravated by Johann Georg's numerous expenses. Johann Georg continued to set his sights on the wealthy city of Magdeburg and in 1653 the opportunity to take over the city finally presented itself.
In October 1653 Christian of Ansbach-Bayreuth lost his life in a hunting accident near Berlin [5]. Although Christian had established a partition of his lands his two sons were dissatisfied.
The inheritance of Christian of Hohenzollern in 1646 and his project of successional division.
Erdmann August, the elder of the two brothers, was to obtain the Electorate of Brandenburg. Georg Albrecht the younger was to get the Margraviates of Ansbach and Bayreuth, the city of Magdeburg, the Duchy of Cleves, the County of Mark, Halberstadt and Minden.
The division of the estate made both brothers dissatisfied. The elder one, although having the imperial electoral way, was deprived of all the lands outside Brandenburg, even the gains won in 1643 by the latter. The youngest, in addition to getting only second-rate lands, had to administer territories that were terribly far away. Erdmann and Georg could not agree on a new division and soon the two brothers were on the warpath and looked for allies in the Holy Roman Empire.
Erdmann August found himself at a disadvantage at first. Brandenburg as usual did not accept the conflict, but this time the anger was so great in the working classes of the Electorate that a peasant revolt spread throughout the region. Inspired by the Sumiswald League in Helvetia and the peasant autonomy in Mecklenburg, the small landowners in the Ruppiner and Prignitz region refused to pay taxes or to join the army. The rebels slowly took control of the Altmark. It was feared that Berlin would fall into their hands and that the city would end up like Bern in 1647.
Faced with this catastrophic situation, Erdmann August found the support of Georg Von Derfflinger. Derfflinger was a veteran of the Twenty-Five Years' War who had fought in many battles and had offered his blade to all the great Protestant powers of the time. He had already made a name for himself under Christian of Ansbach-Bayreuth by starting to assemble a cavalry to quell the revolt in Prussia in 1646 while firmly holding the lands of Brandenburg.
Georg Von Derfflinger, Brandenburg Field Marshal and architect of the new Electorate army.
Defflinger initially sought to get rid of Georg Albrecht's supporters in the Berlin nobility, mostly by threats and violence.Faced with the peasant revolt, Defflinger gathered all the nobility of Neumark and Mittelmark to protect Berlin and crush this " peccor's army ". In March 1654, when the peasants came closer to Neuruppin, Defflinger was able to cut them to pieces with his cavalry, which was totally absent among the peasants.
After a ruthless takeover of the Electorate, the execution of the peasant leaders and the division of the land in Defflinger's favor, he set out for the city of Magdeburg. Magdeburg had not yet chosen a side and Defflinger wanted to use his cavalry and artillery to "convince" the city to accept Erdmann August as their leader.
But to the "general surprise" Johann Georg I of Saxony also set out to take the city in April 1654. Magdeburg agreed to open its gates to the Saxon Elector, who had a larger army than Brandenburg's, rather than to Defflinger, a stranger who was rumored to be an alcoholic who would plunder the city.
The Electorate of Saxony was also supported by Rudolf August of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel who took the County of Hohenstein a few days later [6].
The Saxon and Brandenburg cavalry met at Stendal north of Magdeburg in May. Erdmann August realized when he saw the much larger Saxon army that he could not face them and hope for a victory. He began to negotiate with Johann Georg of Saxony and Rudolf August of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel to avoid conflict.
The agreement of Stendal led to the recognition of Johann Georg of Saxony's second son, Augustus, as ruler of the Old Bishopric of Magdeburg by Erdmann August. However, Saxony was forbidden to station troops in Magdeburg, and the Altmark border was extended over part of the former city lands. In addition to this renunciation, Brandenburg had to cede the County of Hohenstein to Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel.
In exchange for these renunciations, Saxony and Brunswick recognized Erdmann August as Elector of Brandenburg and had to compensate him for part of his lost lands. In addition to this, Erdmann August was to be helped to regain the Duchy of Cleves, the County of Marck as well as the Principality of Minden and the Margraviate of Ansbach-Bayreuth.
Georg Albrecht on his side although not having peasant revolts to fight did not have as many troops to present against his brother. Moreover with his dispersed territories he could not gather his forces to even slow down his brother. In addition to that, his diplomatic mission in Vienna failed, the Emperor Ferdinand III not wishing to anger the German princes a little more by intervening in the conflict.
Georg Albrecht turned to Georg II of Hesse Darmstadt to ask him for his support. The Landgrave agreed to send him an army of 4000 men led by the Prince of Frederick of Homburg to meet the Saxo-Brandenburg forces.
Brandenburg pikemen of the 1650s.
On June 24, 1654, the Hessian and Ansbach-Bayreuth forces met at Hof the Saxo-Brandenburg forces supported by Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. After several hours of artillery fire, the Saxon center charged its Hessian counterpart shortly before noon with some violence. The Saxo-Brandenburg right, composed of cavalry and led by Defflinger who charged first, moved to destroy the weak left wing. Defflinger hoped to gain notoriety by emulating the Duke of Enghien's boldness at Rocroi. However, the undermanned Brunswick left found itself in danger from the first confrontation.
After one hour of combat the mass was said. Although the Hessian center led courageously by the Prince of Homburg succeeded in pushing back the Saxons as well as in driving in the left of Brunswick, the Brandenburg cavalry had annihilated its counterpart and started to encircle the Hessians after having defeated the troops of Ansbach. At the end of the day, the Hessian and Ansbach-Bayreuth armies retreated.
Within a month, Erdmann August took control of the city of Bayreuth with the Saxons. However, this victory was soon viewed with suspicion throughout the Empire. Erdmann August began to question the division of the Succession, which worried many. Georg II of Hesse was frustrated with the defeat of his contingent and went to war. The Rhine League refused to allow the troops of Brandenburg and Brunswick Wolfenbuttel to enter their lands to recover Cleves and Marck. Sweden had taken advantage of the chaos to take control of the Principality of Minden with the "consent" of its inhabitants. Johann Georg seemed less and less enthusiastic and motivated to help Brandenburg in its war. The Emperor himself became very worried that the war in the heart of the Empire would resume and offered his mediation.
Saxon musketeer of the Magdeburg War.
The question of succession was settled in the city of Weimar in September 1654. The Peace of Weimar recognized Erdmann August as the new Elector of Brandenburg. Erdmann August obtained with his Electorate the Margraviate of Bayreuth. Georg Albrecht was recognized as Duke of Cleves, Count of Mark and Margrave of Ansbach and also retained the principality of Hohenzollern.
Johann Georg I of Saxony secured Magdeburg in the hands of his second son. The Principality of Minden remained in the hands of the Kingdom of Sweden, as no one wished to confront the Lion of the North at this time.
The Magdeburg War, although short, divided the Empire a little more for the years to come. Georg Albrecht had lost to his brother. Moreover, the Duchy of Cleves and the County of Mark had not liked the result of the Peace of Weimar and would have liked a Prince of Luxembourg or of the Netherlands or even Julich-Berg to rule them. In 1659, faced with numerous debts, Georg Albrecht chose to join the Rhine League so that the latter would help him to pay off some of his debts and no longer lord it over his lands. Moreover the defeat of the Hessians cooled Georg August to try an alliance with Darmstadt again.
Although Erdmann August had won, he did not have enough to make a triumph. He was only left with the Electorate of Brandenburg and the Margrave of Bayreuth. In addition, Saxony soon began to support its ally in Magdeburg, and despite the Stendal agreement, the Saxons in Magdeburg became more and more numerous. However, after Defflinger had put the Electorate back in order, Erdmann August was able to think about building an army again. He reorganized his troops and cavalry and bought new artillery. The Elector of Brandenburg began to turn to Emperor Ferdinand IV, hoping that by aligning himself with the Habsburgs he could obtain new territorial concessions against his brother and Saxony.
The Electorate of Saxony was the winner of the Magdeburg War. The city was now ruled by Augustus of Magdeburg, the second son of the elector, who in addition to being very popular in the city helped to pay the salaries of the army of the Electorate of Saxony. The famous scientists of Magdeburg (including the mayor of the city, Otto Von Guericke) also conducted some experiments on the force of vacuum with hemispheres.
the hemispheres of Magdeburg, an experiment on the existence of vacuum and atmospheric pressure. Sixteen horses failed to separate them.
The Saxon army had learned from the war, its artillery worked wonders and the Elector encouraged military reforms inspired by the French model. At the death of Johann Georg I, his son Johann Georg II succeeded in imposing a vassalage on his brothers, allowing to concentrate the forces of the House of Wettin and to avoid the same division as the Hohenzollern. This policy to prevent the division of the succession was also imposed on Ernest of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg together with Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel became close allies of the Electorate of Saxony.
Despite the presence of a strong anti-French party at the Court of Dresden, Johann Georg II chose to enter into a relationship with Paris, wishing to thwart the rapprochement of Berlin and Vienna and avoid encirclement.
The Magdeburg War marked the coming entry of Europe into the Great Century, which was to be marked by its many conflicts and its powerful armies.
[1] OTL Frederick William recovered from the measles and remained convinced that it was Schwarzenberg who tried to poison him.
[2] OTL Schwarzenberg died of exhaustion in 1641 due to the difficult management of Brandenburg and by Frederick Wilhelm trying to get rid of him. ITTL he survived longer.
[3] OTL Georg Wilhelm died in 1640. ITTL he lived a little longer.
[4] OTL the city of Magdeburg resisted longer and the imperial troops, tired of the long siege, killed more than 20.000 people and burned a big part of the city. It is difficult to know whether Tilly encouraged the destruction, let it happen or tried to stop it in vain.
[5] OTL died in 1655 under different circumstances.
[6] OTL Rudolf August only succeeded his father in 1666.
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Chapter a little long which I hope you will like. As the chapter is already long enough, I will deal with Scandinavia and the other northern Germanic states in the next chapter.
I would like to thank @alexmilman for the many ideas and tips he shared with me.
If you notice any mistakes or have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me.
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So far your plan of redrawing the map of Europe works beautifully. 😂
This is the most fun in a timeline. I think it's a shame to redraw the borders of only a few countries when all the others can also be altered. 🙂
The absence of Brandenburg-Prussia will have many consequences in history.
Yes ! I think I'll even be able to write the next chapter soon, even though I still have end-of-year tests to pass until early May.
Even the mid-range consequences would be quite noticeable: Prussua-Courland is “doomed” to have interests different from Prussia-Brandenburg (except, perhaps from gaining independence from the PLC) and isolated Brandenburg does not have resources from growing into a big military power.
The medium-term consequences are also part of the story I am about to tell.
Your remarks are relevant. If Prussia-Courland were to become a great power it would not be of the same kind as the Prussia of OTL and would not have the same relations with the Baltic, the PLC and the HRE.
Brandenburg is not going to become a great power by being so impoverished and having no land outside the electorate.
I doubt that in your “split” either Electorate of Brandenburg (stripped of the additional territories) or Prussia-Courland (“The United Duchies” 😎) can make it into something more than a “regional power” (by which I mean a state meaningful in the terms of a regional geopolitics but not necessarily a strongest state even within a region): neither of them has enough of a population and wealth to create and maintain an army strong enough to become an independent military factor. Of course, either of them may create a small high-quality military force which can be either “rented” (as Hesse did) or to be valuable enough as an auxiliary force for the big powers (as the Prussian troops to Austria during WoSS) to get some political benefits in exchange for the services granted.
In the second model the United Duchies may become an important factor in the Swedish-Polish Wars (with or without the Deluge in your TL): the theater is within the Duchies region (most of the fighting is near the Baltic coast and all of it within the realistic reach of the troops) and they obviously may expect to gain something tangible: a land connection (in OTL there is a narrow gap between them), Warmia, some other territory, or a formal independence from the PLC. The S-P conflict lasted for quite a few decades fueled both by the objective (possession of Livonia was economically important to both sides) and subjective (claim to the Swedish throne by the Polish Vasas) factors so if the Duchies posses a small but high-quality army and competent rulers they can benefit from the situation.
Brandenburg stripped of all additional territories is in a more complicated political environment (Austrian, French, Swedish and numerous German interests) but again, with some luck it may (or may not) grow into a reasonably important “2nd tier” power capable of providing meaningful services to one of the big powers and to expect some meaningful rewards.
Hello everyone, I hope you are well.
I finished my proofs yesterday, now I have much more time to devote to my timeline.
I am currently writing the next chapter, however I don't know when I will publish it because I am going to the country without internet tomorrow.
I'll keep you posted and try to give you the next chapters as soon as possible.
I thank those who still follow my work despite the long waiting periods between updates.
Sincerely.
I finished my proofs yesterday, now I have much more time to devote to my timeline.
I am currently writing the next chapter, however I don't know when I will publish it because I am going to the country without internet tomorrow.
I'll keep you posted and try to give you the next chapters as soon as possible.
I thank those who still follow my work despite the long waiting periods between updates.
Sincerely.
Hello everyone! As promised I'm coming back to you.
Unfortunately I don't have any chapters to offer you yet. I've been suffering from writer's block and have not been very productive...
Also, I have to take my exam resits ( 😅 ) and then I'll be busy with a training course that I'm taking at the end of June and beginning of July.
But I have started writing the next chapter and it is about 50% finished, I hope to be able to publish it before the end of the month.
See you soon, I hope you like my next one.
Edit: If anyone knows the history of Asia in the mid to late 17th century, I would like to discuss with them and learn more for my timeline.
Unfortunately I don't have any chapters to offer you yet. I've been suffering from writer's block and have not been very productive...
Also, I have to take my exam resits ( 😅 ) and then I'll be busy with a training course that I'm taking at the end of June and beginning of July.
But I have started writing the next chapter and it is about 50% finished, I hope to be able to publish it before the end of the month.
See you soon, I hope you like my next one.
Edit: If anyone knows the history of Asia in the mid to late 17th century, I would like to discuss with them and learn more for my timeline.
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I thought I had already told you this but I can tell you again. The next chapter will be about Scandinavia, and I hope you will like some of my ideas.