WI:Frederick III has a longer reign

Frederick III was Emperor of Imperial Germany for four months in 1888, before dying of throat cancer. I find his AH potential somewhat interesting-his wife was Queen Victoria's daughter, and he was much more Liberal in outlook than was the norm for Imperial German royals.

So, lets say that Frederick's father, Wilhelm I, dies ten years or so earlier than OTL (he lived to ninety, so that doesn't seem too unlikely), and Frederick doesn't get cancer and has a normal lifespan. How much influence could Frederick have on Germany, and what might some of the consequences of a more Liberal, more pro-British Kaiserreich be on history?
 

Sumeragi

Banned
Among other things.....

No Austria-Hungary powermongering in the Balkans, possibily averting the entire Great War.
 
Frederick III was Emperor of Imperial Germany for four months in 1888, before dying of throat cancer. I find his AH potential somewhat interesting-his wife was Queen Victoria's daughter, and he was much more Liberal in outlook than was the norm for Imperial German royals.

So, lets say that Frederick's father, Wilhelm I, dies ten years or so earlier than OTL (he lived to ninety, so that doesn't seem too unlikely), and Frederick doesn't get cancer and has a normal lifespan. How much influence could Frederick have on Germany, and what might some of the consequences of a more Liberal, more pro-British Kaiserreich be on history?
There is a more simple solution. Let him abdicate in 1861. That nearly happened iOTL but Bismarck (sent by Roon) managed to persuade him not to. Let's say that Bismarck arrived in Berlin too late to prevent this.
 
There is a more simple solution. Let him abdicate in 1861. That nearly happened iOTL but Bismarck (sent by Roon) managed to persuade him not to. Let's say that Bismarck arrived in Berlin too late to prevent this.

Bismarck was loathe to work with anyone other than Wilhelm I for quite some time. If you have him abdicating in '61, then you'll butterfly the Prussian wars which united Germany. Bad idea, that, if you want Fritz III to reign as Emperor.

You could always have Wilhelm I abdicate in '71 upon the unification of Germany. This wouldn't be that outside the realm of plausibility as it is a monumental achievement. The problem there, however, lies in Bismarck.

See, Bismarck was loathe to work with anyone other than Wilhelm I. Fritz was far too liberal and pacifistic for Bismarck's tastes, and Wilhelm II was... well, spoiled and overly ambitious, bombastic, and just a pain. Indeed, Willy II fired Bismarck in '88 if I remember correctly.

Though... truth be told, if Fritz is able to work with Bismarck, then it might come to pass that the militaristic nature of Germany is somewhat curbed. One can argue that it was just this very nature which caused the Empire to overstep itself. Look at France post-Franco-Prussian War. She was a virtual ruin of herself militarily, but it somehow caused the nation to pull together and get somewhat back on the right track while it had the near opposite effect on Prussia/Germany.

Having won yet another stunning victory, the Germans now saw themselves as the elite and unbeatable; the military basically ruled the nation, and if any policies weren't useful to the military they were underfunded or scrapped. Fritz, being more liberal, might do a fine job of balancing that. The Junkers might have issue with that, though.

Ya never know...
 
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