WI: A different Bride for Wilhelm I

So Wilhelm I was the first Emperor of a unified Germany. He was married to Augusta of Sax-Weimar, but whom he had a son, Frederick III, and a daughter Louise, Grand Duchess of Baden. Their relationship was very cold, one of the reasons being that Wilhelm was in love with another woman when he was forced to marry Augusta. That woman was Princess Elisa Radziwill. They were not allowed to marry because Elisa did not have sufficiently high nobility to marry the heir to the Prussian throne (Elisa was not royal, because her father was not a reigning prince). There were several plans for her to be adopted by Emperor Alexander I of Russia or by Wilhelm's uncle Prince Augustus of Prussia but nothing came of it. So what if Wilhelm and Elisa were allowed to marry? Would this change anything or not?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisa_Radziwill#cite_note-1
 

Grimbald

Monthly Donor
It certainly removes Willy II from the scene and possibly the naval arms race that led to WWI.
 
Dont know enough about it to make any statemnts, but wilhelm I marrying Polish- Lithuanian nobility is an interesting thought, and the butterflies will get rid of willy II:p
 
It certainly removes Willy II from the scene and possibly the naval arms race that led to WWI.

Even without the OTL Wilhelm II, if Germany (re-) unites, then there might very well be some kind of naval buildup. Perhaps somewhat wiser than IOTL, but nonetheless having a navy was something all the Great Powers of the day wanted and had.

Furthermore the naval arms race was one of the reasons for WWI, but there were more; it did poison German-British relations though.
 
Top