alternatehistory.com

5 January 1762 Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp became Peter III, Emperor of Russia. On May 5 1762 he made peace with Prussia and started planning war against Denmark in order to restore parts of Schleswig to his Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp. He focused on making alliances with Sweden and with England to ensure that they would not interfere on Denmark's behalf, while Russian forces gathered at Kolberg in Russian-occupied Pomerania. Alarmed at the Russian troops concentrating near their borders, unable to find any allies to resist Russian aggression, and short of money to fund a war, the government of Denmark threatened in late June to invade the free city of Hamburg in northern Germany to force a loan from it. Peter considered this a casus belli and prepared for open warfare against Denmark.

In June 1762, 40,000 Russian troops assembled in Pomerania under General Pyotr Rumyantsev, preparing to face 27,000 Danish troops under the French general Count St. Germain in case the Russian-Denmark freedom conference (scheduled for 1 July 1762 in Berlin under the patronage of Frederick II) failed to resolve the issue. However, shortly before the conference, Peter lost his throne (9 July 1762) and the conference did not occur. The issue of Schleswig remained unresolved.

WIF the coup of Peter's wife failed? Catherine II and Russian official propaganda spent a lot of effort trying to present this affair as some kind of a national effort with a broad support base but this hardly was the case. Catherine did have support of the Guards (but IIRC even Izmailov Regiment wavered) and of court aristocracy offended by Peter's manners (how did he dare to insist that, if someone has general's rank, he should at least know a basic drill). However, he was very popular among the Russian nobility after abolishing compulsory military service and abolishing the secret police as an institution did not hurt him in the eyes of a general population. Commander of the army assembled against the Denmark, who also happened to be the best (by far) Russian general of that period, was quite loyal to him and his army of 40K were veterans of the 7YW, not the drunken imbeciles of the Guards most of whom did not see any action (outside St-Petersburg's drinking establishments and bordellos). The only thing Peter had ti do (his tiny Holstein unit stationed near the capital was not adequate for the task of beating the Guards) was to get on his horse and ride toward Rumiantsev's army (sending faster courier to get there first) and then march with a fraction of it to the rebellious capital. Most of the top figures would switch the sides well before he reaches St-Petersburg. As for the Guards, it was one thing to arrest few hundred Holstinians who did not put any resistance and quite another to fight a battle against the veterans led by Rumyantsev. Probably enough of them would be sobered enough by such a perspective to arrest Catherine, Orlov brothers, Hetman Razumovsky (if he did not yet fled to Peter) and send them to Peter as a show of submission and future good behavior. :cool:

Back to the point, the revolt is suppressed and Peter is back to his plans. Conference in Berlin fails (or Denmark agrees to the terms) and from now on Russian Empire is in a personal union with a Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp.

Long-term consequences can be quite interesting and the closer we are getting to the unification of Germany the more interesting they become.
Top