I'm not sure. But its probably safe to say that he would fair better than anyone who succeeded him. Geleen wasn't terrible but I don't think he was as capable as Mercy plus Mercy worked well with Von Werth where as Von Werth resented Geleen being put in charge after Mercy and then came into...
Well it would help the Bavarians, though in the near term French gains were so modest after the battle that I don't think it changes much in '45. Maybe their position is strengthened and down the line the Truce of Ulm is avoided and they remain active in the campaign season in '47 for example...
Well, I'm on the record as being very skeptical of a continued Austro-Spanish alliance but if we assume that does occur then this is fairly reasonable. The marriages in the next generation probably depend upon the outcome of alt Polish Succession and alt Austrian Succession wars. But I do think...
Its unclear what the alliance system would be by 1740. Really you need to work out how the War of the Polish Succession plays out. That would be completely different from OTL and set the stage for a conflict over the Austrian Succession. With Austria and Spain allied and Carlos betrothed to...
I guess that's the bottom line, right? We need to preserve a very tenuous alliance structure. Its not so much that Spain-Austria and Britain-France are 'unnatural' so much as each half of the the partnership doesn't offer a tremendous amount to the other, or at least not as much as an...
Still its an important distinction, no? If the question is about fragmentation in one state but not another. Where as in Poland the magnates operated more on the basis of clientalism in raising troops which were then put into national service (at least nominally to allow them to be paid by taxes...
I'm skeptical that the match could have been carried forward. It was one thing for Austria and Spain to normalize relations after the War of the Spanish Succession and the War of Quadruple Alliance, it was another for them to actually form an alliance and still another thing to carry that...
My understanding was that the magnates didn't have the ability to field substantial private armies indefinitely because they lacked the ability/authority to tax which rested with the Sejm. Whereas the princes in the HRE, especially after Westphalia had the ability to tax, even without needing...
I don't know that its a rivalry with the Wittelsbachs specifically so much as with whomever is Prince-Bishop of Hildesheim who IOTL happened to be a Wittelsbach from 1573 on. The Hildesheim issue a potentially serious complication because it would diminish or run counter to a role as Catholic...
I think the Welf line is the more impactful of the two. A Catholic dynasty anchoring the counter reformation in the NW could have major consequences. Perhaps shoring up the Bishoprics in that region (Osnabruck, Bremen, Verden, Minden). Though there is still the conflict with the Bishopric of...
I generally agree with this and I would add one additional wrinkle. From the 1620s on and especially in the 1630s as Spain's military expenses increased with the onset of War with France Olivares and the Castilian government relied heavily upon Portuguese converso bankers for funding after...
This is not implausible. But since this would likely require a 13th century POD its hard to say how things would actually look in the HRE later on as it could profoundly change the trajectory of Bohemia and other states in Germany. If we assume for the sake of argument a fairly strong butterfly...
I agree Spain is weaker without the reforms. And Charles won't implement any of his own. At the same time if Spain retains the Spanish Netherlands that's a going to be both a potential drain on resources or at least a distraction. But I'm not sure that Britain would be interested in siding with...
Depends on the circumstances. Is Spain united in personal union with Austria (ie Charles remains King of Spain and then becomes HRE, King of Hungary etc)? How quickly/easily does Charles come to power in Spain (ie is there still a Bourbon interlude in which reforms are introduced by Philip)...