Prussia Annexes Bohemia and Moravia in 1866

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Futurist
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Prussia Annexes Bohemia and Moravia in 1866

#1

Post by Futurist » 02 Sep 2016, 04:05

What if Prussia would have annexed Bohemia and Moravia (including the area that is now known as the Sudetenland in our TL; in other words, all of our TL's Czech Republic) after it defeated Austria in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War?

(Also, Yes, you can certainly include Austrian Silesia in the list of Prussian annexations in 1866 in this TL if you want; of course, I am unsure that this would make a meaningful difference in this TL.)

For the record, the reason for this annexation would be Bismarck wanting to acquire an industrialized part of Austria in order to further strengthen Prussia and Prussia's economy.

Anyway, here are the consequences that I would expect in this TL:

-Austria gets permanently pissed off at Prussia for this annexation. Indeed, this annexation on Prussia's part makes Austria (soon to be(come) Austria-Hungary) even more backwards than it was in our TL.

-Prussia still wages a victorious war against France in 1870-1871, successfully unifies all of Germany (minus rump Austria) afterwards, and annexes Alsace-Lorraine afterwards (thus pissing France off, just like Prussia did in our TL). Also, Austria-Hungary remains neutral in the Franco-Prussian War in this TL due to Prussia being able to successfully threaten Russian military intervention on Prussia's side in this war if Austria-Hungary enters this war on France's side.

-After this TL's Franco-Prussian War, France begins investing *a lot* of money into Austria-Hungary but stops short of making any (legally binding) alliances with Austria-Hungary for the time being (though this will probably change if France will ally with Russia at some future point in time in this TL, as is probably likely). In turn, this will probably result in faster economic growth and in faster industrialization in Austria-Hungary in comparison to our TL; however, Austria-Hungary will certainly still be hurt and hampered by its 1866 loss of Bohemia and Moravia.

-Given the attempts to Germanize Posen Province in our TL, I certainly think that Germany's leadership will try Germanizing Bohemia and Moravia in this TL. Indeed, given the fact that Bohemia and Moravia would probably be more industrialized than Posen Province is, such a Germanization effort might very well be more successful in Bohemia and Moravia than it was in Posen in our TL. (Indeed, I certainly know that Saxony--which was heavily industrialized and which is located next door to Bohemia and Moravia--had its population *rapidly* increase between 1871 and 1910 in our TL.)

-While Russo-German relations would remain relatively warm under Bismarck, in the long(er)-run, I still suspect that Russia would ally with France (and also with Austria-Hungary, due to France insisting upon it) in order to acquire French loans. Indeed, I suspect that, even in this TL, France will be more willing to give large-scale loans to Russia than Germany will, which in turn will still eventually compel Russia to ally with France in this TL.

-Germany will probably still ally with Italy in this TL due to the fact that Austria-Hungary is an enemy/rival of both Germany and Italy in this TL. After all, Austria-Hungary wants revenge against Germany for its 1866 loss of Bohemia and Moravia while Italy wants to annex the Italian-majority areas of Austria-Hungary as well as possibility some additional parts of Austria-Hungary as well.

-In this TL, there will probably be *no* Anglo-German naval arms race. Indeed, the most that Germany will do in regards to its Navy in this TL is a little naval expansion for prestige reasons (but certainly *absolutely nothing* which is even remotely comparable to our TL's German naval expansion). After all, since Germany is surrounded by a Franco-Austro-Russian alliance in this TL, even German Kaiser Wilhelm II would probably be smart enough to understand that pissing off Britain is a bad move.

-In this TL, Germany will either spark a general European war at a point in time when Russia is engulfed by revolution (since that might be perceived as being the only opening for Germany to do this) or, perhaps more likely, be too scared to *ever* spark a general European war. After all, even the Schlieffen Plan *doesn't* appear to really work if Germany has to *simultaneously* fight *three* rather than *two* countries.

-In this TL, Germany will spend almost all of the money that it spend on its naval expansion in our TL on its army (and later, on its air force) instead. Indeed, in this TL, Germany's military strategy will very likely be to exclusively play defense on *all* fronts until (and unless) large numbers of British troops arrive in Germany to help it fight the Franco-Austro-Russian alliance.

-Meanwhile, in this TL, the military strategy of the Franco-Austro-Russian alliance would probably be to *exclusively* focus on knocking Italy out of the war (while playing defense against Germany and against countries such as the Ottoman Empire and Japan, if these countries will join this war on the Anglo-German-Italian side) and then to *exclusively* focus on knocking Germany out of the war before large amounts of British troops are able to arrive in Europe (and while playing defense on *all* other fronts until *after* Germany is already defeated).

-The Anglo-German-Italian alliance in this TL might very well eventually expand to include countries such as the Ottoman Empire and Japan.

-Frankly, a crucial question in this TL is whether or not the Franco-Austro-Russian alliance will *ever* feel sufficiently emboldened to spark a general European war. Indeed, if the development of nuclear weapons is delayed by, say, 15-25 years in this TL, then the 1940s and/or the 1950s might very well be perceived by the Franco-Austro-Russian alliance as being a sufficiently good time for them to spark a general European war.

Anyway, any thoughts on everything that I wrote here?

Graniterail
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Re: Prussia Annexes Bohemia and Moravia in 1866

#2

Post by Graniterail » 02 Sep 2016, 06:58

There was the context of the Kulturkampf at that time & place wasn't there? Struggle between more modern forms of Government & the role & place of the Catholic Church. Prussia was predominantly Protestant, Austria predominantly Catholic.
IIRC there were concerns about absorbing populations with contrasting sympathies.


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Re: Prussia Annexes Bohemia and Moravia in 1866

#3

Post by Futurist » 02 Sep 2016, 15:18

Graniterail wrote:There was the context of the Kulturkampf at that time & place wasn't there? Struggle between more modern forms of Government & the role & place of the Catholic Church. Prussia was predominantly Protestant, Austria predominantly Catholic.
IIRC there were concerns about absorbing populations with contrasting sympathies.
Yes, the Kulturkampf occurred shortly after this time. However, in this TL, Bismarck decides to "bite the bullet" and to annex Bohemia in order for Prussia to acquire Bohemia's industry. Indeed, even in our TL, Bismarck was sometimes willing to incorporate Catholic-majority areas--such as Bavaria and Alsace-Lorraine--for pragmatic purposes.

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Re: Prussia Annexes Bohemia and Moravia in 1866

#4

Post by Futurist » 02 Sep 2016, 15:20

Indeed, if having a low number of Catholics was the only priority for Prussia/Germany, then a lot of parts of southern Germany certainly wouldn't have been incorporated into Germany in our TL:

Image

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Hessler86
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Re: Prussia Annexes Bohemia and Moravia in 1866

#5

Post by Hessler86 » 19 Nov 2016, 19:29

Preussisch-Böhmen, Hauptstadt Prag.
It has a nice ring to it, honestly.
I like the idea!
"Merken Sie sich eins; bei uns zu Haus' sind nur die Mannschaften Ostmärker.
Die Herren Offiziere sind Österreicher! Servus Doktorchen!"

Carl Schwamberger
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Re: Prussia Annexes Bohemia and Moravia in 1866

#6

Post by Carl Schwamberger » 19 Nov 2016, 20:18


Image
Just love these old paper & ink maps, as well as the research that went into the information represented. You dont often see that effort visible on the Power Point display.

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Re: Prussia Annexes Bohemia and Moravia in 1866

#7

Post by Futurist » 11 Dec 2016, 03:13

Carl Schwamberger wrote:

Image
Just love these old paper & ink maps, as well as the research that went into the information represented. You dont often see that effort visible on the Power Point display.
If you want, I can provide more such maps for you, Carl! :)

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Cantankerous
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Re: Prussia Annexes Bohemia and Moravia in 1866

#8

Post by Cantankerous » 17 Jan 2024, 17:50

Had Prussia annexed Bohemia, it might have acquired additional coal deposits to boost the coal sector of its economy by using it existing steam locomotives, but even if Czechs were to feel pleased to be free from Vienna's control (multiculturalism was a liability for Austria-Hungary that would foreshadow its collapse at the end of World War I), they would also push back against any possible moves by the Prussian monarchy to undermine their cultural rights because the father of the unified German nation-state, Otto von Bismarck, tried to Germanize the Poles during his time in office.

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wm
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Re: Prussia Annexes Bohemia and Moravia in 1866

#9

Post by wm » 17 Jan 2024, 18:19

To be correct, Austro-Hungary was multinational, exactly like the UK is today.
Multiculturalism - the eradicating of national feelings and relocating them to an ethnographic museum was unthinkable there.

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