1740 and All That

Remember when selenak gave us a truly royal write-up of Sachsens Glanz und Preußens Gloria that was almost as good as having seen the miniseries?

And she reported this:

Brühl: So, I've been thinking. Silesia got unfortunately nabbed by Fritz of Prussia, but Saxony can still end up as a superpower by diplomacy, since he's been pissing off everyone else in the last decade. I' have this brilliant plan of creating an alliance between France and Austria, with Russia and Sweden joining in. And Saxony right in the middle.

Moscynska: Wow. How come you're letting this Kaunitz guy all the credit?

Brühl: I'm modest like that.

With later commentary:

selenak: Plans to invade and take Silesia by people not Fritz: well, I guess both Poland and Saxony do in fact share borders with Silesia, but Sulkowski planning to take it is entirely invented (by either the tv show or the original novelist). Yes, the Austrian army was in decline, but the Habsburgs still had not only their territories but the entire HRE to draw on (since this was before MT's Dad had died, his rule was uncontested). Such an action would have made August III. an outlaw all the other German princes would have been obliged to go against. And the Saxon army really wasn't nothing much, not least because all the money went elsehwere. If you don't have a completely modern, drilled and well equipped army at your disposal like Fritz did in 1740, in a situation where MT's rule hasn't been accepted yet, it can't be done.

It is, however, in tandem with this show letting the Saxons think of everything first - Silesia, and later the Diplomatic Revolution. (It's true that Brühl was involved in some of the negotiations, but it definitely hadn't been his brainchild.)

The TL;DR of my recent findings is:

Getting (at least part of) Silesia was one of Saxony's two main goals from at least 1726 to 1756. (The other being making Poland a hereditary monarchy.) They had absolutely no chance of taking it by force, for the reasons Selena spelled out, but they were relentlessly campaigning to get it by diplomacy. So the miniseries was...on the right track about Saxony's goals but taking creative license with their methods for dramatic purposes?

Once Silesia was in Prussian hands and Prussia had permanently alienated Saxony, the only way to get Silesia was by taking it from Prussia. Which Saxony absolutely could not do, for the reasons Selena spelled out. So Brühl set out on a mission to get Austria and France to set aside their differences, form a coalition with Russia and whoever else wanted to join (hopefully GB), and wage war on the real enemy: Fritz. Brühl's attempts to pull off the Diplomatic Revolution started in 1744, 5 years before Kaunitz's first memorandum, and continued unbroken for 12 years, independently of Kaunitz, so the miniseries got at least that much right!

Unfortunately for Brühl, not only were his efforts unsuccessful, but he missed his brief window in 1756 to join Kaunitz's coalition, so everything generally sucked for Saxony all around.

( Background )

( Silesia )

( Wannabe Diplomatic Revolutionaries )

( Footnote )

( Saxony's Diplomacy and Prussia's Gangsters With Good PR )

( It's Personal )