Yes ! Yes, exactly ! Oh god, I'm so happy that reading this made you reflect and research a bit on history and everything :D !
It's mainly subtext and I didn't feel like pulling a Victor Hugo and write a complete Author Tract (It's fanfiction, so yeah, not a place to write an essay...) but I wanted to contrast the vision Bismarck's Prussia (I know he's not Kaiser, but he's the mastermind here, sorry House of Hohenzollern.) and Franz-Joseph's Austria-Hungary had of what should be a country. On one side, you have the German Empire led by Prussia, Bismarck's "Kleindeutschland" centered around protestant Prussia that comprises people that more or less share the same language and culture. On the other side, you've got the multicultural danubian Monarchy, that's centered around a common monarch (sexy, sexy neo-absolutism) that got its ass kicked out of the German nation in the Austro-Prussian War because it liked the idea of a "Großdeutschland" ressembling the Holy Roman Empire. (Also Bismarck. Never forget Bismarck.)
So right now, they're in 1871-1872, the German Empire just got proclaimed after kicking France's ass, Prussia sort of wants to rub it in Austria's face that he's on the top of the world right now and Austria sort of still feels angry about having to share his power with Hungary and marry her. But Realpolitik; Prussia's new nemesis isn't Austria, it's France, and he won't do the usual "I kicked your ass, give me everything now" people do, chosing instead to be a bit more subtle in making him his bitch (as in having him as an ally or neutral in case the German Empire gets in a war, with France, most probably). Austria accepts the idea of a German Empire without him passively, becomes Prussia's ally in the Triplice later on, turns toward the Balkans because he can't go West anymore. The thing is that the idea of "one nation = one country" is kind of terrible for the Hapsburgs (and Austria), given that they have a lot of nations in one political entity. The worst part is that, since the marriage sort of gave Hungary a bit of freedom on smaller matters, the other nationalities want the same. Also, Hungary's growing influence in the empire makes her a bit bossy around the other nationalities, to which she imposes her own culture and political system the same way Austria did before that.
Then stuff happens and WWI and YEAH I'M RAMBLING. Anyway, A!A is ridiculously happy right now that someone got a bit of the historical subtext and hopes that the story is still enjoyable without having to search Wikipedia for history stuff or anything. (I'm a total nerd for 19th century politics, but I understand how most people find it really boring.)
Talking about Wikipedia, some more stuff, if anybody is interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_question http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magyarisation
Author here !
It's mainly subtext and I didn't feel like pulling a Victor Hugo and write a complete Author Tract (It's fanfiction, so yeah, not a place to write an essay...) but I wanted to contrast the vision Bismarck's Prussia (I know he's not Kaiser, but he's the mastermind here, sorry House of Hohenzollern.) and Franz-Joseph's Austria-Hungary had of what should be a country. On one side, you have the German Empire led by Prussia, Bismarck's "Kleindeutschland" centered around protestant Prussia that comprises people that more or less share the same language and culture. On the other side, you've got the multicultural danubian Monarchy, that's centered around a common monarch (sexy, sexy neo-absolutism) that got its ass kicked out of the German nation in the Austro-Prussian War because it liked the idea of a "Großdeutschland" ressembling the Holy Roman Empire. (Also Bismarck. Never forget Bismarck.)
So right now, they're in 1871-1872, the German Empire just got proclaimed after kicking France's ass, Prussia sort of wants to rub it in Austria's face that he's on the top of the world right now and Austria sort of still feels angry about having to share his power with Hungary and marry her. But Realpolitik; Prussia's new nemesis isn't Austria, it's France, and he won't do the usual "I kicked your ass, give me everything now" people do, chosing instead to be a bit more subtle in making him his bitch (as in having him as an ally or neutral in case the German Empire gets in a war, with France, most probably). Austria accepts the idea of a German Empire without him passively, becomes Prussia's ally in the Triplice later on, turns toward the Balkans because he can't go West anymore. The thing is that the idea of "one nation = one country" is kind of terrible for the Hapsburgs (and Austria), given that they have a lot of nations in one political entity. The worst part is that, since the marriage sort of gave Hungary a bit of freedom on smaller matters, the other nationalities want the same. Also, Hungary's growing influence in the empire makes her a bit bossy around the other nationalities, to which she imposes her own culture and political system the same way Austria did before that.
Then stuff happens and WWI and YEAH I'M RAMBLING. Anyway, A!A is ridiculously happy right now that someone got a bit of the historical subtext and hopes that the story is still enjoyable without having to search Wikipedia for history stuff or anything. (I'm a total nerd for 19th century politics, but I understand how most people find it really boring.)
Talking about Wikipedia, some more stuff, if anybody is interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_question
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magyarisation