Diplomatic Revolution Late 1690s and Marriages

[Vanity 6]

In order to bring the War of the League of Augsburg to a close and come to an arrangement about the Spanish Succession, France and Austria set about settling their differences. The attempt at detente and possible alliance is cemented by an array of brilliant marriages. This will be right up Leopold Phillipe's alley!

Joseph of Austria m. Elisabeth Charlotte d'Orleans
Elizabeth of Austria m. Louis de France, Duc de Bourgogne
Maria Anna of Austria m. Phillippe de France Duc d' Anjou
Charles of Austria m. Marie Adelaide of Savoy
Maria Magdalena m. Charles de France Duc de Berry

The settlement would most likely involve one side taking Spain and the other side taking the European possessions. An adjustment for Lorraine going to France would have to be found to remove a cause of conflict. Maybe the Duke takes the Spanish Netherlands, garrisoned by the Dutch.

 

[Kellan Sullivan]

Well, the idea is good...in theory.

The younger Liselotte going to Vienna was certainly considered very seriously at one point AFAIR. That said, Leopold did offer his daughters for LXIV's grandsons, but (while not outright refused) was ignored. Another thing to remember is that France had only had one Austrian (Elisabeth of Austria) Habsburg queen up to that point, and from what I can make out, the Habsburgs weren't big on their daughters marrying younger sons (before at least 1800). Although, that said, after Maria Luisa of Savoy died and before the Princesse des Ursins interference in selecting La Farnese, Maria Magdalena was under some serious consideration as a new wife for Anjou.

Another thing was that the price that VAII wanted as recompensation for Adelaide to marry Archduke Charles was considered too high by the Emperor (which is ironic when one considers that the Emperor handed over Montferrat in its entirety at a later point, which was one of the things VA had demanded). Also, it was a case of from VA's perspective, the hulking monster that is France is a lot closer than some hollow giant of an Emperor who's the breadth of Italy away. But his foot-in-both-boots attitude earned him the distrust, not only of the French, but the Austrians, William III, Queen Anne, and quite a few others when in reality, IMHO, it was easy for them to sit in London, Paris and Vienna and judge, but Savoy and Bavaria (and Lorraine to an extent) walked that tightrope between France and the Empire