The convocation sejm was followed by the election sejm, meeting at Wola, outside Warsaw. Any hereditary nobleman could vote in the Election Parliament, if present.[1] Often close to 100,000 nobles came to those sejms.
The nobles from classes voted, following their beliefs, weighing up the options and more often than not, weighing the size of the purse given to them by the various Parties.
After frenetic activity, especially by Augustus, whose banker Berend Lehman allowed him to liberally spend the money on his noble cause, the votes were cast.
The Honourable Interrex, Michał Stefan Radziejowski, called for order from the crowds.
"All the votes have been counted and the opinion of the people remains divided!
After counting and recounting the ballots the outcome of today's vote remains inconclusive!
Augustus of Saxony 13 votes
Prince of Conti 13 votes
Jakub Sobieki 10 votes
The electoral laws dictate that in absence of a clear leader, the vote will be repeated. There will be a week of further deliberation before the next voting day."
The crowd stirred, unhappy for the extension to they stay in Wola, but happy that now a new round of bribes would have to start! They would be going home all the richer due to the new King!
Extremely promising!
ResponEliminaI'm very glad to have discovered your blog and your 'What-if?' Polish project thanks to the link on 'Defiant Principality'.
The 'Polish Question' was a major concern of French Diplomacy, by then; already for some time (indeed a future French King, Henri III, was for a short time elected King of Poland), and still later with Maria Walewska and again in 1939...
During the early 18th C. France was deeply concerned with the perceived threat of the 'awakening giant of the East', Russia (but even during the War of Austrian Succession still totally unaware of the rising *Prussian* threat). Hence the renewal of the 'shocking' alliance with the Ottomans, and the support to Lutheran Sweden. Poland was an essential pawn / piece of this diplomacy. I specially like the episode when the French candidate and Louis XV's father-in-law, Stanislas Leszczynski, crossed hostile Germany disguised as a coachman or merchant, while a look-alike was openly (and vainly) trying to reach Danzig by sea. The French Secret du Roy did not lack good ideas, but with the crumbling down of Sweden French diplomacy no longer had a strong arm to play in the area. Unfortunately French politicians had not yet recovered from the trauma to have their country almost totally surrounded by lands belonging to the Emperor, so by fear / hatred of the Habsburg line they threw France on the wrong side in the War of Austrian Succession, and switched alliances (though managing to be still *against* the hereditary enemy, the English!) for the Seven Years Wars.
Your chosen background is full of potential, including on the long term: an outstanding character such as Maurice de Saxe was among the -almost innumerable- children of August the Strong, was for a time ruler of Courland (a country which once tried to colonize Tobago in the Caribbean!) and could have be a France-supported King of Poland ('in exile'?) in some 'alternate' history.
According to this TMP thread, the Polish army still had a majority of 'traditional' types by the GNW times.
ResponEliminaIt would specially be true in the case of a civil war, nobles bringing their 'feudal' contingents.
Btw, I really like the uniform of Augustus' cuirassiers. Obviously his son Maurice remembered their helmet when he designed the uniforms of his 'daydreamed' Legion
So far, the army of the Imagi-Nation of Skanderberg (in the campaign mythical continent of Pangaea) looks quite like a 'What-if?' Polish one.
ResponEliminaAnd Poland even had (Palace) Janissaries! I believe it's their band that included bagpipers in 'Polish' costume playing an 'archaic' bagpipe of goat skin with the fur *and the whole head* of the goat still in place: 'exotic' indeed!
ResponEliminaHello Abdul!
ResponEliminaI see I have been discovered!!! :D
I have been a bit slow to update, due to me thinking things through and deciding how to run the campaign, and how to give a different feel to the various nations. For now the Polish are about 50% cavalry, the russians will become more "stubborn" due to their inclusion of rligious officers, who will add another moral factor to their units.
The sexons or german will have a small professional army, with additional random troops provided by different mercernary states, eg excellent swiss, steady hessians, volatile neapolitans :)
The turks, if included, would become more Indian, with Elephants and other exotics!
Will have o put this all public as soon as the votes finalvotes are in!:D
btw is chevalier d'Eon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevalier_d%27Eon) on of yours? :D
The Chevalier d'Eon, versatile agent of Louis XV is a highly estimated colleague of our 'Service' and a regular visitor of Monte-Cristo. It is not uncommon for the French Secret du Roy and the Presipapal 'Spider' to cooperate. Indeed the Chevalier was invited in Monte-Cristo to share with our female agents his vast and precious experience in the art of masquerading as a person of the opposite sex (the 'Chevalier Biscouillu de Blondeburnes' -on the *left* here- is actually one of our 'wives' making profit of D'Eon's teachings).
ResponElimina