Posted by William F on 21/1/2011, 18:16:26, in reply to "Could the union have survived?"
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I agree with you Damian. I think there was little to stop German unity during that time period. It was inevitable. I do think that Britain would have wanted to not be caught up into wars with Prussia, Austria and France over this issue.
There was no real positive political benefit for the personal union between Britain and Hanover so I can see Parliament pressuring the king to let that go.
If a more liberal Germany had been created, which was poorly attempted in the late 1850s, then a liberal German linked with a liberal Britain would have been a distinct possibility.
--Previous Message--
: --Previous Message--
: If William IV had been succeeded by a male
: heir and thus keeping the personal union of
: the British crown with that of Hanover would
: have impacted the balance of power in the
: German territories.
: The king of Hanover would have had the might
: of the British empire at his disposal. I
: would even go so far as to guess that the
: Prussian kings would not have made it to
: emperors. A new version of the Holy Roman
: Empire with the Habsburg emperor or a
: different kind of construction without a
: real head of state.
:
: It's fascinating to speculate on how the
: Hanoverian link with Britain would have
: adapted to or survived the growing demands
: for national unity amongst the Germans.I
: think the ambitions of Prussia,especially
: under Bismarck,would still have been there.I
: think the growing pressure on the British
: monarch to avoid getting caught up in the
: internal politics of the German states and
: to avoid the even more alarming possibility
: of being dragged into European wars on the
: side of Austria or France to check Prussia's
: ambitions or vice versa would have placed an
: intolerable strain on the Monarch's role vis
: a vis Hanover.My personal opinion is that
: Britain would not,in the end,have tried to
: stop Prussia's drive to unite Germany but
: pressure from the British Parliament would
: have forced the monarch to abdicate as
: sovereign of Hanover in favour of a younger
: son or one of his Cumberland cousins.Britain
: was too concerned with its growing world
: empire at this point and did not wish to get
: involved with European affairs unless it
: absolutely had to and certainly not for the
: sake of Hanover!
:
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