Chapter 432: The Tsar Plays Dirty
There were still plenty of clever people in this world. After the Habsburg Family withdrew from the contest for the Polish throne, several other professional European royal families also announced their withdrawal.
The Bonaparte Family was among them. Napoleon III wisely abandoned that enormous pitfall known as Poland. Though he wanted to support Poland in order to check Austria, Napoleon III still did not believe Poland could accomplish anything.
Whether that had anything to do with the Poles looking down on them was anyone's guess. In any case, the Bonaparte Family was still regarded as nouveau riche in this era and normally lacked the qualifications to become candidates.
What if the Poles removed them from even the shortlist? Wouldn't that be awkward? Given the Poles' knack for courting disaster, it would not have been strange for them to do such a thing.
The other powerful contender, the Gotha Family, also withdrew. Poland's dreadful strategic position made them shrink back at the sight of it.
Europe's so-called elective monarchies had always been games of contest between various forces. Politics and diplomacy were indispensable, and it also depended on whether the protagonist himself was willing. There were no shortage of people who did not want to be king.
Now, every major European power had its own supporters, making the situation even more chaotic.
Prussia supported William I concurrently serving as King of Poland. After meeting opposition from France and Austria, it backed Carol of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen branch of the royal family for King of Poland instead, only to be opposed by France and Austria once more;
Spain and Austria supported the Bourbon Family becoming King of Poland, yet they encountered fierce opposition from France and Prussia;
The Russians supported George, the son of Denmark's Christian IX,