The Schleswig-Holstein Question...

Ah ha ha, i just had to start with this one, sorry. Anyway, the Schleswig-Holstein Question (put simply) was basically what was going to happen to the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. Were they to be Danish? Or Prussian? Natuarally, this intensely fascinating debate went on for... a while ...with the people of the day speaking of little else, especially during the Second Schleswig War in 1864.

Anyway, back in Britain (patriotic 'yay' sound) there was a muddle of a different kind going on amongst the Royal Family themselves. You see, the Prince of Wales (later to become Edward VII...of whom no one seems to have heard, so watch this space for further jottings about him) had married Alexandra of Denmark in 1863, and therefore supported Denmark in the war. All fine and dandy then, you may think, but there was a problem. Or rather more than one. Firstly, his older sister, the Princess Royal, was Crown Princess of Prussia. Ah. On top of this, Edward's mother, Queen Victoria (watch out for her...she'll be in every post and that's almost a guarantee) was all in favour of Prussia as well.

Now, if you have only a vague idea of Queen Victoria's personality, you may not realise how much of a problem for ol'Bertie (as Edward was called in the family...just without the ol'...though that would have been pretty fab to be honest) that actually was. As his mother wanted to continue all of her late husband's ideas after his death (the Prince Consort had died in 1861, which has a very sad story behind it, but that's for another time), it was natural that she supported Prussia, as Albert's wish for a unified Germany under the leadership of Prussia (who's basically the baddy here, a mon avis). Naturally, this caused many a row, with Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt (Vicky and Bertie's sister) also being on the defeated side when Prussia took over Austria (their oldest ally) in 1866.

Eventually, though the Danes fought bravely, Shleswig and Holstein came under control of Prussia, under the command of the infamous Herr Otto von Bismarck (possibly more on him later.)

On a different note, after the First World War, part of the Treaty of Versailles returned Schleswig and Holstein to Denmark, much to the chagrin of Germany. If you're doing GCSE History and want to look clever, plonk in the fact that this was partically humiliating to Germany, as they'd spent all that time getting them, and it was all for nothing really.

There we are, a very condensed and scrambled version of the complexity that is the Schleswig-Holstein Question. I will now leave you with a quote from the Prime Minister of the time, Viscount Lord Palmerston (who was fabe, trust me):

"Only three people have ever understood the Schleswig-Holstein Question: one was the prince Consort and he's dead, one was a german professor and he's gone mad and the other was myself...and I've forgotten all about it."

So complicated stuff then.

: )

What is Vikipedia?

Vikipedia is this really. As a vague spoof of Wikipedia, I aim to educate those who are overcome with the tedium of normal life in the weird and wonderful world of Nothing in Particular. Each post will (probably) contain one subject, but long ones will be split into separate posts while I hurry off and eat MARMITE or something equally satisfying. Or sleep. Any comments will be greatly appreciated (especially if I've got me facts muddled up) and that's about it really. Oh yes, and there might (repeat, might) be a related or otherwise quote after each post.
So sit back,
and enjoy...

"Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun." Bye then.