1740 and All That

Author: selenak, mildred_of_midgard, with help from cahn
Original discussion: https://cahn.dreamwidth.org/167862.html?thread=1928886#cmt1928886, https://cahn.dreamwidth.org/168804.html?thread=2025828#cmt2025828


Here's one scenario where I can imagine Voltaire coming to Fritz. Fritz doesn't just lose power. He's taken captive. He's put on trial in front of the diet for invading Saxony and, while we're at it, Silesia! And presto! Voltaire's inner campaigner for justice and hopeless causes unites with his Fritz attraction. Not to mention the irony of being Fritz being held in Frankfurt, also irresistable. This scenario offers the chance to gloat and to help at the same time. And to piss off everyone else by writing pamphlets on how the other powers definitely were hoping Fritz would invade and were totally planning for such a scenario, and were guilty of war crimes themselves, etc. This is Voltaire we're talking about. He would NOT be able to resist.

I would say I have my next Yuletide AU, except there's one problem for me with OOCness - not by Fritz or Voltaire, but I think MT, for all her Fritz loathing, would be too cautious to set a precedent by putting a crowned monarch on trial for wars of aggression. (For the same reason Elizabeth I. was extremely reluctant to put Mary Stuart on trial and then to have her executed. It's not the death that's the problem here, it's the legal precedent you're setting, which might be turned against you or any other monarch.

I would have to study the conditions of the Westfalian Peace Treaty (Cahn, that's the one ending the 30 Years War a century earlier, aka the most devastating war ever on European soil until the 20th century), too, because I think that actually provides already some legal basis. It was the first time a bunch of European powers agreed on the "War of aggression & invading countries = bad" principle. (Back when Bush 2 invaded Iraq, you had a bunch of newspaper columnists saying "that's it, the Westfalian Peace Treaty is broken". I mean, obviously Hitler & Co. had no problem breaking it earlier than that, but the journalist meant "by a nation priding itself on being on a lawful side of things".)

(Mind you: France was one of the powers supposed to guarantee the upholding of the Westfalian Peace Treaty, which France blithely used as a pretense to involve itself in the War of Polish Succession, the War of Austrian Succession and the 7 Years War. Gotta protect *ally of the moment* from *enemy of the moment* on HRE soil, which was where the 30 Years War had been fought.)

All this being said, I would so love a story featuring Brother Voltaire coming to the rescue of extremly loathing to be rescued Fritz by the power of the pen! At which point of the 7 Years War would you suggest Fritz to be captured?

Ooh, interesting question. If you want to go with historical occasions on which he narrowly escaped capture, as opposed to inserting a fictional capture at a convenient point (which is also legit!), the first two candidates that come to mind are Kunersdorf, the absolute nadir of his misfortunes, when he was nearly captured in the battle (against the Russians) and had to be rescued by some of Zieten's hussars, and the plot by this guy to take advantage of the fact that Fritz wasn't heavily guarded at Prussian headquarters. I believe the latter took place in late 1761, i.e., shortly before Elizabeth of Russia died.

The problem is that if it's shortly before Elizabeth dies, then as soon as Peter gets on the throne he will insist on doing the Fritz rescuing, and I can't have that. So Kunersdorf would be better!

Would we also let the Russians do what they miraculously didn't in RL, i.e progress to Berlin and unite with the Swedes there, so Regent!Heinrich has to negotiate a surrender? Or do they still not do that, since Fritz has been captured, and Heinrich still goes for a peace but from a somewhat better position?

Alternatively: how about Hochkirch? That has the advantage that he's battling Austrians, not Russians, and they could have orders for such a scenario that will end up with Fritz in Frankfurt.

Of course, we'd also have to explain why Seydlitz or Ziethen or any of the others don't try a daring rescue as long as Fritz is still nearby.

then as soon as Peter gets on the throne he will insist on doing the Fritz rescuing, and I can't have that.

Hahaha. Well, he'll certainly throw his weight around and attack the Austrians, but will he actually be effective in rescuing his hero before Voltaire gets there? Maybe Peter's the one who uses his leverage in a way that somehow results in a trial that nobody wants.

As for trials: one option is setting this in an AU where the trying of monarchs is a normal procedure with lots of precedent, either in general or because the Diet has more teeth. Depends on how canon-divergent you want to go (and how much you want to explore the consequences of a world where monarchs are more accountable).

I mean, some part of [Fritz] would also be gratified that Voltaire cared enough to to ride, err, write to his rescue, as opposed to just pointing and laughing, but the far greater part would be furious to be in this position and suspect Voltaire didn't care at all, he just wanted to collect glowing coals on Fritz' head!

Meanwhile in Prussia:

Mitchell: Your Royal Highness, forgive a Scot the blunt speaking, but if you don't do someting to rescue your brother, he'll end up being seen as a martyr and you'll be seen as Judas Iscariot. Trust me, we have Mary Stuart in our history, I know whereof I speak. She was totally unpopular right until she was a martyred prisoner. You have a country to rebuild, you don't want to start by everyone hating your guts.

Heinrich: You want me to rescue my brother. Who started the war and got himself captured all by his own decisions.

Mitchell: You know I'm right.

Heinrich:...I guess. Besides, they might want to put me on trial next, given I co-lead the army in that war. DAMMIT. Seydlitz, we're starting Operation Damsel.

Mitchell: Damsel? If he finds out you codenamed it that...

Heinrich: Precisely. Also, he's not the only damsel I have in mind. Seydlitz, attend.

Seydlitz a few hours later: leaves on mysterious ways in the general direction of Vienna with a very small company of experienced soldiers. His mission: Kidnap Joseph for an inofficial prisoner's exchange, while officially Prussia will claim that Fritz-curious Joseph asked for a stint in the Prussian army to learn all about it on his own initiative.

So what would Fritz hate more? Being rescued by Heinrich or being rescued by Voltaire? And would it be plausible that he starts an argument when the secret prisoner exchange is on, which is why it doesn't work out, which is why Voltaire can still do the rescue via publicity campaign?

Oh, man. Probably Voltaire, although Heinrich is going to get the rough side of his tongue too. I feel like "getting captured because you fought in the front lines/ventured past enemy lines on your reconnaissance/displayed more personal courage than sense" is a possibility Fritz has entertained before. He's got a narrative for it, and it's a politico-military narrative with a heavy dose of Stoicism.

But getting put on trial--again! let's not forget the first trial!--in front of all Europe and getting rescued by the guy he hero-worships as an intellectual and has been sparring with and trying to impress and trying to get the upper hand over (impress the French Voltaire, mock Voltaire, beat Voltaire)--is just so outside anything that he has a narrative for that he's going to be totally at the mercy of his emotions.

Now as to how Fritz behaves in captivity, that's an interesting question. We have a lot of his *discourse* on captivity, which is related to but not identical to how he would behave. Captivity itself is humiliating but not necessary shameful, not if you got it by displaying courage and determination and refusing to yield. See also, his reaction to Fouqué's defeat and capture at Landeshut ("Fouqué behaved like a Roman") vs. Finck laying down his arms at Maxen (he scapegoats Finck so badly even Eichel supposedly disapproves).

Is it different when one of your generals is captured and when you are? Of course. Fritz is going to be super defensive about getting captured. Which means, 1) it's someone else's fault, not his, and 2) he's a Roman, a total Roman, a PERFECT ULTIMATE ROMAN.

Looking at Fritz's discourse, it seems that defeat--in the war--is the thing that he's most willing to consider committing suicide over. If Prussia is partitioned by his many enemies, Fritz at least says he doesn't want to survive that. If Fritz is captured and the war is still on with a good general (Heinrich) at the head of the army, Fritz might take that in stride as much as he takes anything in stride. (I.e. like a terrier, not like a master of chill.)

Fritz not actually committing suicide when captured: extremely likely in my view. Stoic or not, his survival instincts are first-rate. We've seen him capitulate and live to fight another day, at Küstrin. And his control instincts are just as strong; he might respect Heinrich's competence as a second-in-command, but he does *not* want him calling the shots. I think he'd stick around just to get back in command. (He might insist to everyone that the state doesn't need him and will survive him just fine, but while there's breath in his body, I think he fights to get control back.)

And would it be plausible that he starts an argument when the secret prisoner exchange is on, which is why it doesn't work out

I find that plausible, especially since Fritz needs to 1) defend getting captured as not something he did wrong, and 2) make it clear that someone else is at fault here.

I wish I could find the source, and I will keep an eye out because I feel like it's a letter and not just a novel, I mean biography, but I have a memory of Fritz saying something like, "If I'm captured, you're not to make any concessions to get me back; the welfare of the state comes first." And even if that's not a real quote, you could get the gist of it out of other things he said.

So if they come to rescue him, on the one hand he badly wants back in power, but on the other, he needs to be in control of the current situation. So if they say they want to trade him for Joseph, Fritz can go, "Trade Joseph for Silesia, you idiots!" Which would allow him to feel like he's calling the shots even while in prison, justify his capture, and present a picture of himself as all noble and Roman and such. And he still believes that as long as there's breath in his body, he can get out of here and back into power (he's survived capture and humiliation before, and he wrote to Wilhelmine from capture, chi ha tempo, ha vita), and if they hang onto Silesia, it justifies his entire reign.

It would be a very complex picture of a guy who has survival instincts, control issues, the personality of a terrier, the willingness to sacrifice his own life and freedom for his goals, the ability to hit rock bottom and keep going, the ability to reconcile Stoic philosophy with his innate refusal to die, and the ability to make you want to strangle him while you're trying to save his life.

Meanwhile in Vienna:

FS: ...the Archduke Joseph has been what?

MT: That entire family belongs in a prison. Clearly.

Isabella: *looks suspiciously undistressed*

Maria Christina: Mom, I think you need to be strong now. I mean, that's what you always say, right? Country before family?

FS: We're still not letting your brother rot in Berlin. I've been there. The beds alone are a trial. Besides, it's not like we could have kept the King of Prussia a prisoner for any length of time in any regard, and an exchange as the ending of this war...

MT: I'll remind you that an ancestor of mine kept Richard Coeur de Lion prisoner for two and a half years and got enough money out of it to finance the entire city wall around Vienna.

FS: But Mitz, you're not seriously intending to leave our boy with the Prussians?

MT: Of course not! I have a plan.

Maria Christina: *disappointed* You do?

MT: A very secret plan.

*refuses to say more, but beckons onen of her new ladies in waiting to her*

*later that night*

MT to the Chevalier d'Eon, famous transgender aventurer who currently is the secret go between between her, Elisaveta and Madame de Pompadour: I need you to rescue my son from the Prussians.

Missing scene:
Isabella, woken from sleep: Whaa--?

Seydlitz: DAMMIT! Wrong bedroom, we thought Joseph was in here. Ugh, now she's going to call the guards and we're toast.

Isabella: No, wait! You're here to... kidnap Joseph?

Seydlitz: Well, that was the plan --

Isabella: His bedroom's over there. Let me draw you a map.

Meanwhile, on the road:

Hussar: Boss, the kid is talking my ear off. Can you ride with him for a while?
Seydlitz: He's complaining this much?
Hussar: Nah, he wants to know all about the King, and I'm fresh out of non treasonous anecdotes.

*later*

Seydlitz: So, just in theory, your highness, if I asked you to give me your word not to try and escape before we reach the border, seeing as there's so much more you could still learn about us Prussians...

Joseph: Sorry, no can do. I mean, I think you're cool, and that your monarch rocks, but as long as I'm your prisoner, you're having leverage on my mother and my Empire. Honor and common sense demands I should try to escape the moment you're not looking. Tell you what, though: have you ever considered that I'm your future Emperor? If you changed sides and returned with me to Vienna, it wouldn't be treason, it would be obeying a higher loyalty, and also, we pay better. And have better food.

Seydlitz: And a chastity commission, or so I hear. Nope, sorry. I love the ladies too much. Also my King. I suppose.

Joseph: I get that, but you could love him from an Austrian distance. There's precedent, is all I'm saying.

Recently, we were exploring the possibility of an AU where Fritz is captured by the Austrians, put on trial, and defended by Voltaire after attempts by Heinrich to recapture him failed.

[personal profile] selenak asked: "And would it be plausible that he starts an argument when the secret prisoner exchange is on, which is why it doesn't work out, which is why Voltaire can still do the rescue via publicity campaign?"

I replied: "I wish I could find the source, and I will keep an eye out because I feel like it's a letter and not just a novel, I mean biography, but I have a memory of Fritz saying something like, 'If I'm captured, you're not to make any concessions to get me back; the welfare of the state comes first.'"

Well, I found it! Asprey cites the letter, and though he doesn't give me a page number or a date or anything (other than shortly before Mollwitz), he narrowed it down enough that I was able to track it down in the Political Correspondence.

Translation mine:

By the way, I have twice escaped the designs of the Austrian hussars [viz, to capture him]. If I suffer the misfortune of being taken alive, I absolutely order you, and you will answer for it with your head, that in my absence you will not respect my orders, that you will serve as counselor to my brother, and that the state will not take any unworthy action to gain my freedom. On the contrary, I wish and I order that, in this event, the state act even more vigorously than ever.

If I'm killed, I want my body burned and placed in an urn at Rheinsberg [this is 1741, several years before Sanssouci is built]. Knobelsdorff [his architect] should in this case make a monument like that of Horace at Tusculum.

It's quite possible that if there's a prisoner exchange, Fritz is torn between wanting to go free and wanting the state to demand major concessions in return for Joseph.

It's also interesting that there's the "you will not follow any orders I give in captivity" line in there. Clearly he believes that he would cave under pressure and sign orders that as a free man he wouldn't want followed, no matter what the cost to him. His experience caving in Küstrin might be informing this decision. At any rate, it's very psychologically revealing.

I still think that ~1760!Fritz, used to being in command and with 100% control issues, most likely jumps at the chance to get out of prison and back into the saddle, especially if it's a prisoner exchange instead of territorial concessions--long precedent for honorable exchanges of prisoners in warfare. But we at least have this passage to point to if you want him to be torn.

Oh, here's an idea. Maybe Fritz can't imagine that they have Joseph, so when the Austrians are willingly if unofficially letting him go, he imagines that the only reason they would do that is if they got major concessions out of Prussia. So he starts yelling like a maniac at his would-be rescuers, ordering them to go away and hang onto Silesia, or at least pre-1740 Prussia, at all costs, and he'll commit suicide if that's what it takes. And because Fritz has never been the world's greatest listener once he gets an idea into his head, they never have the chance to explain that it's an unofficial prisoner exchange.

So the Prussian officers shrug and decide, "Okay, the king wants us to trade Joseph for Silesia. Makes sense, if you're an amazing Roman Stoic monarch who puts the state first. Heinrich, you'd better build a hell of a monument to commemorate our king's glorious sacrifice!"

Heinrich: Oh, I've got a monument at Rheinsberg in mind. It may not be what you're expecting.

Not to mention that Fritz himself had Seckendorff kidnapped for the very purpose of exchanging him in just such a manner. I like the idea that a combination of inherent paranoia and a misunderstanding causing him to respond badly and thereby ruining the prisoner exchange, though.

Does Heinrich exchange Joseph for Silesia? The problem here is that unlike an exchange of prisoners, which can happen at once to both party's satisfaction, an exchange of person versus territory under duress can be nullified easily after the fact. I mean: even in Silesia 1, British advice to MT was to concede to Fritz what he wants to have for now and later when she's in a better possession point out she only did so under duress and her agreement is not worth anything. What with Fritz being the armed highwayman here. Which is sort of what she did and hence Silesia 2. So if I were Heinrich, I'd want something more than yet another "okay, you can have Silesia" which could easily be broken as soon as Joseph is back on Austrian soil.

Hmm. MT additionally offers to have the Reichstag okay a change in the order of succession for Prussia? No, not to make Heinrich King, to depose Frit and make young FW King now and acknowledge him as such through all the princes on Austria's side. This means Heinrich doesn't look like a self interested ursurper, and hey, Fritz always said he was planning to retire in favour of AW or AW's heirs anyway after the war.

Does Heinrich exchange Joseph for Silesia?

Now, that's a whoooole different kettle of fish. I like your idea about changing the succession! Fritz's "but I'm going to retire, I swear!" comes back to bite him. :P

Does Heinrich give him Rheinsberg back? The other-self symmetry of, "Here, I have a country to run" would be amaaaazing.

Also, given Fritz's memories of a happier time at Rheinsberg, and the fact that he talked about retiring so often because he *knew* that being king wasn't making him happy, even if he never could shake his addiction to control (and btw it behaves exactly like an addiction)...maybe after some years of hating and resenting the path that led him back here, he discovers that he is actually happier where he is, brushing up on his Romans and hanging out with friends. And of course he rewrites history so that it was his idea all along--Henri de Catt can testify, after all!--because everything that works out has to be *Fritz's* idea.

Yes, he gets Rheinsberg back. (Though Heinrich is going to miss it, he loved that place as much as Fritz did.) Mind you, while I do think retirement could turn out to be the best thing ever to hoppen to Fritz at this point, finally freeing him from his self chosen galley, I would like to point out that MT's offer is only her public plan. Don't forget, in secret, she's sent the Chevalier d'Eon on a rescue mission, and of course if the Chevalier does manage to rescue Joseph, then everything is off the table.

If we don't want to make Fritz too stubborn, he can even agree to the prisoner's exchange, but then before it can happen, in the eleventh hour the Chevalier rescues Joseph and Fritz is back in Austrian captivity. Though MT mmight remember that offer of Young King FW/Regent Heinrich + Retired For Good To Rheinsberg Fritz = Peace once Voltaire's campaign really takes off and she decides this whole Fritz on trial thing is just more trouble than it's worth, still a bad precedent, and did that scoundrel Voltaire really just threaten to publish a trashy tell all about her court, co-starring beloved husband's mistresses (painful, but has happened once or twice before) and beloved daughter-in-law carrying on with beloved daughter (no way!)? (Seydlitz picked something up from Isabella's reaction and told Voltaire.)

Yes, he gets Rheinsberg back. (Though Heinrich is going to miss it, he loved that place as much as Fritz did.)

True. He renovated it heavily, and it's not going to look the same as when Fritz lived there. Now I'm imagining Fritz demanding funds to re-renovate, lol. But Heinrich can build his own palace!

Since he'll send the first few years as Regent before young FW2 comes of age, he'll probably stick to the already existing Hohenzollern Berlin and Potsdam residences (minus Sanssouci). (His own Berlin town residence didn't get finished in rl until after the 7 Years War, too; today, it forms the core of the famous Humboldt University, which would have pleased him. ) After that, well, he's not going to move into Sanssouci, though I'm sure he found it beautiful, but that would be carrying the alter ego stuff too far. And not into Wusterhausen (still owned by Fritz as per FW's testament; Heinrich inherited it only after both Fritz and AW were dead and AW's heir on the throne, FW's testament was that detailed), either. Perhaps he decides to reopen Oranienburg (AW's residence that had been closed after AW's death).

The Chevalier gets to shine--oh, man, Heinrich is going to *hear* about that, Retired For Good to Rheinsberg (TM) or not-

No doubt. Fritz is probably going to assume the Chevalier learned about Joseph's very secret location either because of sex with Heinrich (as a man) or with Seydlitz (as a woman). In reality, the Chevalier found out via old school detective work (which place that can be guarded but has no ostensible military value suddenly gets sent top soldiers as well as good food and clothing?) but did admittedly have a one night stand with Heinrich just in case and for the hell of it, so while Heinrich (correctly) denies having said anything, Fritz will never ever believe him.

I like it, I like all of it. Fritz puts up some resistance and only agrees to the exchange once he's assured it meets all of his criteria, the Chevalier gets to shine--oh, man, Heinrich is going to *hear* about that, Retired For Good to Rheinsberg (TM) or not--Voltaire writes trashy tell-alls, Europe gets peace, Fritz gets his moderately happy ending, perfect!

It occurs to me that this could even save Isabella's life. Because though MT tries to protect him from it, Joseph will find out and will be heartbroken but have the first honest conversation with his wife he's ever had. And since he's just been through the experience of being a helpless prisoner (granted, he was never afraid for his life, but there were some uncomfortable moments when one of his guards turned out to have been someone who'd lost family due to the war, with his home village burned down), and does love her, he doesn't react by becoming now a deliberate tyrant to Isabella but by withdrawing from her entirely and agreeing to lead separate lives. (Divorce is out; even in this AU, they're still 18th Century royal Catholics.) Which means no more pregnancies after the first one (that daughter exists) for Isabella, which means a general better health, and even if she does get infected in 1763, she survives it.

Conclusion: Fritz getting captured in the 7 Years War is the reverse of the trope where one event causes a horrible dysfunctional AU - it improves everyone's lives, even that of Fritz! :) (Who now even has the option of eloping with Voltaire back. If he can ever forgive him for coming to his rescue. And if Voltaire can avoid gloating too much, which, err....)