WI/AHC: Alexander of Battenberg, Prince of Bulgaria is Successful, or a Lasting Battenberg Bulgaria

As the tin says. Alexander of Battenberg remains as Sovereign Prince of Bulgaria (maybe even upgrading his title to king later), rather than abdicating and leaving. Obviously this might necessitate better relations with Russia (AIUI the Russians played a large part in him being removed, they essentially wanted a puppet ruler to kowtow to St. Petersburg, hence why they were willing to support Alexander, being nephew of the empress, but their first choice had been an Oldenburgski prince), although I'm not sure why necessarily, Ferdinand of Coburg-Kohary married a Catholic wife, and didn't really bow and scrape to Russia the same way they expected Alexander to AFAIK.

I'd imagine that Alexander marrying Victoria of Prussia might help in this regard, since then Russia would have to watch out for Britain AND Prussia if they were to try any funny business like OTL.
 

raharris1973

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Nothing much different, because Ferdinand and Successors were not slavishly pro Russian, just took Russian support when it was useful and then sided with Germany when that was more profitable.
 
Honestly, I think bulgaria might be better off. Alexander was a suprisingly capable man, and even his very short rule had alot of potential. Had the austrians not intervened, bulgaria might've pressed the serbo-bulgarian war and snapped up nis. Then, the romantic fantasy of a soldier-king could actually be realistic, because alexander seems like the kind of person who could command his own army, especially considering the bulgarian officer corps was rather lacking. There is the chance he might go the way of napoleon III, but considering the advantages the bulgarian army held and how they mopped the floor with the serbs, it's unlikely.

The most interesting thing to me however, is the fact the serbian king (prince?) commanded his own armies in the serbo-bulgarian war. Really, a serbo-bulgarian war without the austrians backing up the serbians would be quite a good timeline, if written capably. Unfortunately, I probably cannot do it.
 
Nothing much different, because Ferdinand and Successors were not slavishly pro Russian, just took Russian support when it was useful and then sided with Germany when that was more profitable.

I'd say it may be different. I'm not sure what Moretta (Viktoria) of Prussia's reason for not having kids were, but she might end up having kids here. Her having kids would mean Prussia has an equal stake to Russia (in theory), and we might see her and Alexander (or their son)'s reign following a similar trajectory to Constantinos I of Greece and Moretta's sister, Sophie. The prince is German and more ties to Britain than anything else (although his brother was married to a Princess of Montenegro (not sure why there were no children there)), and his wife is German but more English than Prussian. So Bulgaria might side with Germany if it's in their interests to do so, but the Battenbergs seem to have been more pro-English as a general rule...
 
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