Queen Wilhelmina dies in Childbirth; German Netherlands/War of Dutch Succession?

[jimmy olsen]

I came across this interesting tidbit on wikipedia. Seems Queen Wilhelmina's heir was some minor German princeling. So Wilhelmina and Juliana die, war of the Dutch succession? I'd imagine the French and the British would object to a German prince taking the Throne while the Kaiser would demand he do so and turn the Neatherlands into Bavaria light.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmina_of_the_Netherlands#Marriage_and_succession

Wilhelmina was enthroned on 6 September 1898.[2] On 7 February 1901 in The Hague, she married Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Wilhelmina suffered miscarriages in 1901 and 1906, and gave birth to a stillborn son in 1902.[3] During this time period, Wilhelmina's heir presumptive was her first cousin once-removed William Ernest, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, and secondly his aunt (and Wilhelmina's cousin) Princess Marie Alexandrine of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. As it was assumed that the former would renounce his claim to the Dutch throne, and that the latter was too elderly and sickly to ascend, Marie Alexandrine's eldest son Prince Heinrich XXXII Reuss of Köstritz stood in line to succeed Wilhelmina, barring she had no surviving children. As Heinrich was a German prince with close associations to the Imperial family and military, there were fears that were the Queen to remain childless, the Dutch Crown "was bound to pass into the possession of a German prince, whose birth, training, and affiliations would naturally have led him to bring Holland within the sphere of the German Empire, at the expense of her independence, both national and economic," according to one publication during that time.[4] The birth of Juliana, on 30 April 1909, was met with great relief after eight years of childless marriage.[5] Wilhelmina suffered two further miscarriages in 1912.[3]

[Cecil]

Wrong forum timmy.

[Zanza2]

How would that be different from German princes on other thrones in Europe at the time? Half of the ruling families of the age were descendants of German princes.

Queen Wilhelmina was herself daughter of a German princess and married to a German duke and most of her ancestors were German or partially German.

[Josquius]

Weren't the Netherlands democratic?
A German king might lead to friendlier relations with Germany but its not going to wholeheartedly make them bend over for Germany.

[Martinus]

I think a better question would be what would happen if a German-born dynasty ruled Russia or Great Britain at the time?

[Norgy]

I believe the geographic proximity of Germany and the relative size of the Netherlands compared to Germany were both far more influental in the relationship between the countries than a German-born king would be. The Netherlands weren't an autocratic country, and if you look at foreign princes ascending to thrones around Europe around the time, most were thankfully hogtied by constitutions.

Of course, this would be far too boring an outcome to satisfy the alt-hist fan, so I predict Wilhelmina's death not only would lead to an all-European war, preferably with the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and strangely enough Spain gang-raping Belgium and France before an alien invasion forces France and their eastern ally Russia into the an uneasy alliance with Das Glückliches Allianz, but also a new American civil war and an empire in South America led by Pancho Villa. Or Jaron Pinochet.

[PDH]

It probably would have led to steam powered computers in 1910 and jetpacks by the 1920s.

[Admiral Yi]

Of course, this would be far too boring an outcome to satisfy the alt-hist fan, so I predict Wilhelmina's death not only would lead to an all-European war, preferably with the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and strangely enough Spain gang-raping Belgium and France before an alien invasion forces France and their eastern ally Russia into the an uneasy alliance with Das Glückliches Allianz, but also a new American civil war and an empire in South America led by Pancho Villa. Or Jaron Pinochet.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

[Slargos]

That is all good and well, but who commands the Giant Ants? It seems to me that this would realistically be the tipping point.

[Norgy]

It probably would have led to steam powered computers in 1910 and jetpacks by the 1920s.

Not to mention flying cars. I blame the lack of those on Queen Wilhelmina's refusal to die in childbirth.

[dps]

I think a better question would be what would happen if a German-born dynasty ruled Russia or Great Britain at the time?

Don't know if this was meant sarcastically or not, but you do know that a German dynasty ruled Great Britian at the time, right?  The family name was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha;  they changed it to Windsor because of WWI.

[Neil]

I think a better question would be what would happen if a German-born dynasty ruled Russia or Great Britain at the time?

Don't know if this was meant sarcastically or not, but you do know that a German dynasty ruled Great Britian at the time, right?  The family name was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha;  they changed it to Windsor because of WWI.

And the Russian royal family had been Germanized, I assume he knew.  He's wrong about anything that he talks about, but he's not stupid.

[Martinus]

Yes.