What If Austria Won the Austro-Prussian War? 

Honestly, I think you should do a video on what if Prussian king did accept to become the German emperor in 1848, since that would have huge implications on everything after that. Like would new Germany intervene in Crimean war? Would they allow Italian unification? Would Franco-Prussian war happen earlier? Would this early Germany even intervene in 1848/49 revolutions in Austria? That would be one interesting timeline to explore.

Alt-History involving Austria is uncommon so this is really interesting. Great video as always.

Austrians in the past: Austrians today: „we speak Austrian“

wait wait wait, i was in a military museum in Prague last weekend and there was a plaque near prussian and austrian rifles of the era displayed, claiming austria lost on tactics, because it was technically better armed, the rifles were better in all but one aspect - breach loading - faster reload speeds of the prussian rifles that were innaccurate, unreliable and less powerful - alas Austria engaged in close combat tactics despite having their advantage at range and disadvantage close up.

It's overstated how bad austria really was. Most ethnicities were loyal and austrian litteracy rates amoung the minority groups were some of the best in europe. Only when they were litteraly starving did they actually break away.

Back off Prussian The South will rise again

I do think it's important to remember that as long as Prussia holds Silesia, which is the most powerful industrial province in east-central Europe, they will have an advantage in wars like this. A more interesting way to achieve this kind of scenario could be to invert either the War of Austrian Succession or the Seven Years' War, as that would actually change the balance of power in Germany much more.

What if Norway Won the Austro-Prussian War? (Please do a what if everything went perfect for Norway scenario)

Maybe napoleon the third and Austria could make a deal where France gets the West Bank of the rhine in return for support in Austrian expansion in the Balkans and a defensive alliance Napoleon had already supported the Habsburgs by putting a Habsburg in control of the 2nd Mexican empire

What if Russia had supported the Hungarian uprising of 1848? Could this have led to the complete unification of the Germans by the middle of the 19th century by Prussia and the domination of Russia in the Balkans?

Today we learned about "Austro-Prussian War" in school during history lesson, the same day you released the video. Such an intresting coinsidence

Great video! I love such different timelines What about a "What if the Ottomans westernized/were competent?"? (They essentially rush Tanzimat, quit isolation, actively intervene in the european politics and, most importantly, actually care on getting european allies, like the Prussian or French)

The wiki page for the battle of konigratz says if Austria actually pressed forward they could have won the battle and destroyed the Prussian army. Konigratz came down to the wire. If Italy was not in the war, the addition of south army would have won the war for Austria as the Prussian army was stuck with mountains to their back with no supplies, it wouldn't have been long, it would have ended just a little after it did in OTL, Austria isn't getting beaten around. In 1866 the quality of the 2 armies wasn't very different.

This is an interesting alternate path for the Austro-Prussian war. Especially with this nation I keep hearing in the video called ‘Belgium’ existing.

This is a video I never get tired of

Now you should do "What if France won the Franco-Prussian War?"

Interesting video but a couple counterpoints: -If Austria really wanted to, they could've easily modernized their military to be on equal footing with Prussia. To my understanding, they just simply didn't care about being a military power in OTL. -An Austrian-led German Empire headquartered in Vienna could still easily form, all Austria has to do is release the Minority Regions as Vassal States under a Hapsburg. (Save for perhaps Slovenia and Czechia, which the Germans, Slovenes, and Czechs would all probably tolerate.)

Can you make a poll and video about how we would structure a constitution? Like the peace treaty borders videos, but instead of voting for borders we vote for constitutions. Like Question 1: Are the Head of State and Head of Government the same person? Question 2: Is the Head of Government elected by the Legislature, the People, appointed… Question 3: Is it a federation, confederation or centralised state etc? Etc. You could choose a real country at a specific moment in time and make it specific to that. Such as USA 1776, France 1793, West Germany 1949, France 1958, Afghanistan 2001 etc. Thanks

I highly doubt Austria would look for colonies in Africa. The emperor had no interest in colonies and most politicians in Austria Hungary believed it would be impossible to defend any colony, since their navy was terrible and they were locked in the Mediterranean.

Great video I’ve been waiting for this one

What if the Habsburgs integrated the Low Countries and Switzerland What if Bavaria united ALL of Germany (since I want a united Germany where Austrian and Prussian lands are included) Edit: I want the second one for a what if, I don’t care much for it politically

Marking my footprint here rn while im early.

BEST VIDEO ON YOUR CHANNEL!! 💪💪💪💪

There's a HOI IV mod. called "Der Bruderkrieg" which is a similar setting. Though it starts in 1936 and Prussia is ruled by a Syndicalist leaning Hermann Goreing.

If you read this your are not number one and not the first here.

this is just the scenario in that HOI4 mod "Der Bruderkrieg: An Austrian Victory"

Your videos are really awesome.

Amazing video

Perhaps there was a way, if Austria wouldn't have joined Prussia in the Second Schleswig War in 1864, but instead attacked it during that war, Austria could have retained its position as the leading power in Germany. But probably Austria didn't expect that Prussia would turn against it only two years later.

(Daniel here) YES! One of My favorite scenarios! Thanks! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Neat stuff

When will you do the 'Carthage wins Second Punic War' video?

Guess we're gonna have german painter instead of austrian one

If Austria joined the ottomans at 13:05? My God what a terrifying front line would that be

17:32 This is silly historical determinism. Serbia was pro-Austrian until a decade or so before 1914, and Bulgarian affinity for Russia or Austria were contingent on which way Serbia went.

Can we have the video "What if everything went perfect for Bohemia?"

I love this channel 😻

so, this is basically the What if everything went perfect for the Austrian Empire video.

You should make a video on if Denmark won the 2nd Schleswig War. Unlikely scenario I know, but it'd be very interesting and I imagine Prussia losing such a humiliating defeat would actually have far more of an impact than one might think.

Interesting...

Please do a video "what if everything went perfect for Italy"

Lovely video

I don't like how the stronger nations just take over the smaler countries . For example Montenegro. A nation that beat the Ottomans countles times just gets in Austrias sphere of influence .

dam

I want part 2

Nice!

what if everything went perfectly for Albania What if Portugal joined the central powers?

18:56 I'm not too sure if an independent polish state is likely as this might cause trouble in austrian polish majority regions

Suggestion: What if Egypt won the second Egyptian-Ottoman war

idea for a video: What if the April uprising of the Bulgarians was successful?

also, when you divide Africa you missed the fact that France give up Egypt to Britain to gain an alliance. So in that timeline it is not possible that a victorious empire would let himself be

Maybe it's just because I've studied this particular scenario before myself, but I think you're way more off the mark than normal. First of all, you have made the classic mistake of forgetting that the minor powers also have autonomy. Even if everything in Austria goes as it did historically, the dynamics of the peace deal could still be shifted dramatically through the efforts of the German states. More German nations sided with Austria than Prussia, and all of the Kingdoms were on Austria's side. Historically, the army of the Kingdom of Hanover actually beat the Prussian in a field battle, and was only a few days from meeting up with the armies in Bavaria when it was forced to surrender. It would only take some minor changes to bring about a massive, unified anti-Prussia army in southern Germany. Secondly, you have forgotten who led these nations. If Vienna is under threat, Franz Josef is going to make peace, as he did historically, because he is far too cautious not to. If France gets involved, Wilhlem is going to make peace, because he is also far too cautious not to. This is not the absolute industrial warfare of WWI. And the Habsburgs are not going to be willing to do whatever it takes to win the way ideologically driven nations like the Union in the US Civil War or France in the Franco-Prussian War were. Thirdly, I think you're being too harsh on the Austrian Army. Yes, it was nothing compared to the Prussians, but no one was. The Austrian Army was a capable and competent force, led by okay-to-good officers, with bad doctrine. They handily beat the Italians on the southern front, and managed several draws in the Bohemian campaign against Prussia before the big decisive battle. They would NOT be losing men and material by the thousand in a desperate attempt to push Prussia back. Quite the opposite; their biggest problem was not using men wastefully, but being too cautious. So yes, the Prussian Army is better, and should win more often certainly. But it isn't quite totally one-sided, especially when you factor in the smaller German states.

Do a what if everything went perfect for portugal (1414-1580 or further)

You should make a "what if everything went perfect for macedonia video"

PH can you do what if Australia won the great emu wars?

13:55 that is picture from year 1946 from deportation of Germans from Czechoslovakia.

What if the ottomans won at vienna? What if the European holy league lost? What if the kingdom of Syria resisted the french and British? What if the papal state united italy?

Could you do a Danish video around the time 1801or1807/ napoleon era

What if the Congress of Vienna decided to reinstate Louis Napoleon as King of the Netherlands?

video suggestion What if harold defeated william in hastings?

This video is beautiful

I think you underestimate the Anti-Russian bias of Great Britan here. Without Prussian unified Germany as a credible threat, Britan will have considerably less incentives to make peace with the Russians and lighten up on the Great Game. Britain, France, and Austria would be natural Allies to contain the threat of Russia.

could you do what if everything went right for Austria

You should make a video where Britian was very lucky

Video idea: What if everything went perfect for Australia?

12:03 someone has to turn this in to a meme!

The war is called the German War in German lol

Cool

Scenario Idea: What if Genoa didnt sell Corsica to France and Napoleon became an Italian General instead?

Would've been interested in seeing an anti Hungarian compromise with the Slavs as an option as well. More possible with both more Germans and a lot more Slavs. I think France giving up Rome in exchange for also capitulating to Italy seems crazy?

What if the Germans prioritized a Russian alliance over an Austrian or ottoman alliance? Would this in turn diplomatically isolate Italy to side with Germany, Austria with France, and the ottomans with Britain? Could a German-Russian-Italian alliance defeat a French-Austrian-British-ottoman alliance?

Yo Possible History Please Do What If Joseph Stalin Lived Longer!

can you do a what if Poland and Bohemia united in the middle ages?

Could you make video on "What if everything went perfect for Mexico"?

i always love austrian nationalist videos, this one and also prussia lost the seven years war, just the best! (other than videos of brazil, if he does a what if everything went perfect for brazil ill go crazy)

19:56 WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DO THE INSANE ROMANIAN-HUNGARIAN BORDER WTFFF IS THIS THEY WON

The more i learn about Austria during the 19th century the more i realize that they were just the second sick man of Europe.

Anything that happend from 1900s onwards was the cause of things that mostly happen in 1801 to 1899

The random "Сечас" or whatever on 9:40 is killing me

Great video, have you thought about making a scenario where Peter III doesn't come to power/doesn't fanboy over Prussia and wins the war, taking modern Kaliningrad?

Great scenario:)

What if everything went perfect for egypt? (Start from after Muhammed Ali takes power)

can you do a ,,what if the byzantines won at manzikert" video, please?

Day 14 asking for "What if Everything Went Perfect for Romania"

I thought Bismarck specifically recommended a decisive victory at Sadowa (and then seeking a peace deal from a position of strength) instead of marching on Vienna SPECIFICALLY to prevent non-Germans from helping Austria.

I know that this notion would go against the entire point of this video, but I think it would be interesting to see an alt-hist where France does intervene in the Austro-Prussian war, but Prussia blows Austria out of the water every bit as rapidly and decisively as in OTL, and now Prussia is standing over the vulnerable lands of a defeated Austria, with a fully-mobilized army, as France is actively at war with them and making initial furtive attempts to invade and occupy the Rhineland. Part of why the Franco-Prussian war went the way it did wasn't just the overall superior fighting capability of the Prussian army, but the fact that French strategic planning was just so intellectually bankrupt. They had wildly inaccurate ideas about the speed of railroad war, for one, and they had no remotely realistic plan for how they would be able to actually subdue Prussia in the event of a war. It was basically just a "march armies into Germany, win a battle, and hope Prussia sues for peace" plan. Unlike Prussia against France (as well as against Austria), France didn't have a plan to BEAT Prussia, just to come out on top in negotiating a peace settlement on advantageous terms. I can't see France outright WINNING a war against Prussia in 1866, if Austria still loses as quickly as in OTL. I think this would be fascinating to explore, with Italy still joining the war, Austria getting smashed quickly, and then Prussia and Italy now fighting France in 1866. What I think would make the scenario so interesting is that Prussia would not have Southern Germany united with them against France, and pursuing an primarily offensive strategy against France and occupying the northeastern part of the country wouldn't be especially feasible, at least not in the first year of war. Prussia would lack the credibility to present itself as a uniter of German peoples when its war against France originated as a war against a fellow German state, and while it militarily occupies southern German states. This would be a war which would aggrandize Prussia and weaken both Austria and France, but perhaps might NOT solve the German Question. Assuming either a lenient or at least a non-severe peace treaty with Austria, there would remain two competing German great powers vying for influence and control in Germany, going forward into the final third of the 19th century, even as Prussia emerges as a the clear stronger power. I see a possibility of Prussia basically taking whatever it can get from its defeated foes, rather than mollifying Austria with a soft treaty, and this backfiring into a more permanent Franco-Austrian alliance against a Prussian-dominated - but not united! - German Confederation. The alternative possibility would be that the war would drag on into 1867, Prussia would think of its situation as desperate, and ally with Hungarian agitating forces in order to permanently break up the Austrian empire and annex German lands in the northwest of the realm. This was pushed for OTL by Wilhelm 1st, until Bismarck threatened to resign. In a timeline in which Prussia felt as if it had to permanently end a threat to its south in order to deal with an active war in France, this might be a desperate time which called for that very same desperate measure. A German unification in this timeline could be a Prussian Empire made solely of conquest, rather than a Prussian-led German Empire ascented to by at least the will of the princes ruling the southern German states. This would be not Germany under Prussian leadership, but Prussia directly ruling Germans withing the borders of the former German Confederation + eastern Prussian holdings, and perhaps border territories seized from France. Isolated in near-totality on the European continent, this Prussia would be vulnerable to Russia and a vengeful France, and would be desperate to maintain the sole ally of Italy which it held during this far-more-ruinous Austro-Franco-Prussian war. Likely Savoy and Nice would go to Italy, and Italian claims on Istria, South Tyrol, and Dalmatia would be supported by Prussia. Prussian policy would've been reactive and desperate for reasons of national survival, and by the time Bismarck could ensure some degree of control over events, the hand he'd be holding would be highly constrained. Due to Italy's economic vulnerabilities to Britain during this era, as well as the enhanced enmity between Italy and France, which would of course be shared by Prussia, the grand strategy picture would be fairly easy for Prussia to perceive. I think that pursuit of a rapproachment with Britain would be a foreign policy goal of Bismarck's, whether or not it could be reasonably achieved - my bet would be on no, at least not in the short-term. A swifter, more aggressive Franco-Russian alliance would arise in response, and these two factions would compete in Hungary and the Balkans. The newly-enlarged empire would be in an extremely risky spot for at least the first decade or so, and I could easily imagine something like the Ottoman famine of 1876 (which led to the OTL Russo-Turkish war of 1877) triggering a conflict which would cause the downfall of this Prussian empire. It would be greatly overextended. If it managed to survive, simply by masterfully avoiding any conflicts for a few decades, then the future can start looking a little brighter. I don't think that any serious British softening towards Prussia would occur during the first decade or two, but as competition with France heats up during the era of new imperialism, as well as competition with Russia over Central Asia and towards Russian aims at taking the Turkish straits, we could see some degree of loose alignment taking shape, particularly as the liberal Frederick III and his British wife, Princess Victoria, become more influential within the Prussian court as the emperor ages. If Frederick III deosn't happen to develop throat cancer (idk, maybe some mysterious man in a long brown cloak tells him that he doesn't want to smoke any deathsticks and he instead wants to go home and rethink his life), then I could see this POTENTIALLY develop into a situation of strategic stability, as Prussia liberalizes and consolidates its position as the preeminent European - though not so much global - power. If he dies in 1888 and his hothead son takes over, like in OTL, then... I just can't see an overextended state like this timeline's Prussia managing to NOT stumble into a ruinous war, with someone with the personality of Wilhelm II in charge. An overly-ambitious Prussia who seizes (most of) German land by force of arms is a fascinating topic, but as more of an empire than as a legitimate nation-state, I think it would have a long, narrow path towards consolidation, without something going horribly wrong. If this Prussia can make it for two generations without a major war, then maybe we'd just have a HUGE Germany to the present day. But if I had to bet, I'd think that they'd overextend and get bopped.

What if Prussia held on to their part of Poland after the Napoleonic wars but to keep Russia happy they gain what Austria got from the partition of Poland but Austria still holds on to Galicia

I learned here more about the German revolution than in a German school 😅

Finish your ever empire in history series bro

Can you do what id everything went perfectly for italy next?

In the alternate WWI, I think a potential American entry against the British, allying with both France and Germany, is extremely likely as well. An England/Austria vs France, Italy, Germany, Russia, and America is possible in a long term scenario.

How do you get so accurate historicsl maps?

yo

A "What if everything went great for Austria?" video would have to go back to before the French Revolution if not the 80-years war.

Dope

Austria is and always has been my favorite European nation, i love this video

I think you really underestimate Austrian military prowess, Prussian victory was not a foregone conclusion and observers (especially France which would come to backfire) expected Austria to win

The hostility against Austria in this alternate history just rises out of nowhere.

I’ve gotta think both Urza and Mishra would be confused as hell if Austria won the Brothers’ War

8:00 didn't entente already won WW1?