Chapter Text
The opening ceremony, just like the Great Exhibition itself, was a great success. England had attended the opening ceremony in his blue admiral uniform instead of the red army one, although he could really have come as either, somehow it had felt more appropriate to dawn the uniform of the branch that actually was entirely royal. It was a royal act after all, seeing his queen and her consort being celebrated had made him quite proud.
The huge crowds had been a surprise to many, but not to him. Although he had to admit that he had been sceptical at the start of the project as well, just like most of his people were. His tendency towards isolation, coupled with how the rest of nations tended to dislike him, and the general turbulent political climate everywhere in Europe made him nervous about the whole thing when they first told him of it. But the more he had helped his Royal Highness Prince Albert on his great exhibition project the more he had come to appreciate how brilliant the whole idea was.
It was a grand opportunity to show off what his people were capable of in his own side of the exhibition, while seeing the rest of the invited nations do their best in theirs and learn as much as he could from them. The exchange of ideas that was sure to occur would be beneficial for everyone, and he was sure the many visitors it was bound to attract would make it worthwhile on the monetary front as well, which had been one of the first concerns the project had to overcome. Luckily the Crystal Palace had been surprisingly cheap and quick to construct, as well as being able to accommodate all the exhibits and the large trees that it had to be constructed around of.
After the queen, her husband, and their two eldest children had given the opening speeches and walked all through the main transept, the exhibition had been officially declared open. They left shortly afterwards, thus leaving Arthur to enjoy the exhibition by himself, as he had sent all his colonies back home as well. He would love to attend the exhibition with them the following days, but he wished to survey the general reactions first, and hopefully get any bad encounter with France or any other nation that might try to mess with him out of the way before bringing his charges along.
England had of course done a bit of a tour by himself the days before opening, as he was also helping with setting the whole thing up, but with the sheer amount of displays there was no way he could have seen it all so there was still much to admire. Honestly much to his chagrin he realized that he had probably paid far too much attention to the model ships that were exposed at various points of the exhibition while he had been helping, and ignored a lot of other objects. It wasn't his fault that those were always a delight to him though, he just couldn’t help himself when it came to the sea and everything that let him sail through it. Regardless he was enjoying seeing the exhibition officially open, and how even on this more particularly selective day as it was the opening ceremony, it was being enjoyed by many.
He had let his colonies see their own departments briefly once they arrived a few days earlier, and they had all been delighted with their own displays, but he had tried to keep them from seeing each others yet. He was looking forward to letting each one take a look at all of them individually, and seeing them go through their departments with more time and regale him with details on what they were displaying once he brought them along.
He had quickly made a run through his own department, which really was its own nave, and satisfied with what he saw knowing it well already he didn’t stay long. What he was slightly dreading was walking through the foreign ones....
He hoped that most of the nations attending would be too busy with their own departments to notice him walking by, as his general isolationist attitude did not lend him to be on good terms with many of them. Honestly he had been surprised at how many of his fellow nations had accepted the invitations he sent them out of courtesy and had come to personally attend as well… he didn’t know if they merely didn’t wish to be rude or if they had some kind of ulterior motive. He suspected Francis at least had accepted merely to be able to show off the moment he saw him though, he knew that frog far too well, which was why he wished to avoid him and everyone else if he could help it.
For the most part his wish of being unnoticed was granted, as he didn't encounter any of his kind yet when he was already almost at the east end of the building, walking through the different German states departments. Just when he thought he might get away from the exhibition without meeting anyone his luck ran out, as he heard a familiar voice call out to him.
“Ooh look who’s here!” the voice proclaimed as it approached, and as Arthur turned towards him he realized that he had been found by the personification of Prussia, as he delighted in seeing that he had just been looking at the prussian kingdoms exhibits “Admiring my iron works? A marvelous choice, they are worthy of all the admiration you could give them...”
“General Beilschmidt... ” he politely greeted him, choosing to use his human name since if any of the people around heard him call someone Prussia they might find that strange. The man was wearing one of his lavish military uniforms anyway, which was probably the least surprising thing in the world.
“Admiral Kirkland” Prussia answered in kind, sort of snickering to himself at the formality. It was rare that he actually showed that kind of propriety to other nations, even if he was not taking it that seriously, which was quite the indicator that the German nation was clearly overjoyed with this whole event.
“You seem to be in a good mood...” he couldn’t help but point out.
“How can I not be, this is a wonderful thing you've organized here!” he laughed, vaguely motioning the room around them with his hand. Arthur guessed having his works being displayed so prominently was a great source of pride for him, as he seemed to always enjoy being praised in any way shape or form “Between all my great exhibits here and all these amazing machines and products everywhere, it's all really exciting to behold! You did a good job!”
“It was His Royal Highness Prince Albert who organized most of it, actually” England quickly clarified, which only prompted the Prussian to smirk with even more self satisfaction.
“Ah, of course it would be so impressive then, he’s German after all...” he nodded firmly with an amused smirk, as if that indeed explained everything “Your royal family seems to have gotten more and more Germanic within just these few generations since the Hanovers took over...”
England frowned, annoyed by that slight implication that this had been so well organized just because of German influence. He didn't like to be reminded of how German his royal family had gotten... they got enough criticism about it already, and even if it was partially true he didn't think it was a deserved one.
Queen Victoria had been born and raised in England despite her German descent, and Prince Albert clearly loved his new nation dearly, honestly more than anyone would expect of someone who all the nation's people seemed to dislike. He worked really hard to improve Great Britain's situation in many ways, despite how much his people distrusted him… and Arthur personally rather liked him. Maybe since as a direct witness of all his efforts he could really tell that he sincerely was trying to help and work for the betterment of the whole nation and its people. Or perhaps Arthur was really weak to genuine feelings and aspirations. Or he just wasn't used to the people in charge of him, and especially ones that came from abroad, taking a genuine interest in him and his people's well being... but he couldn't help but be fond of Prince Albert for it. Despite all that he couldn't do much to change his people's opinion of him as just some foreign noble to be opposed at every step, much to his displeasure.
Before he could voice any of that to his fellow nation he seemed to remember something, as he suddenly spoke up. “That reminds me, I saw that one of the objects provided for this event by your monarchs was that shield my king gave your little Prince of Wales for his baptism, I’m happy to see you still like us this much...”
“My royal family thinks maintaining good relations with yours is desirable, you don't need to gloat about it so much...” he sighed, incapable of ignoring the still quite conceited tone of that comment. His royal family being so German had resulted in them being more close to Prussia than ever before now, which was still a bit strange to him. He wasn’t entirely opposed to it, he didn’t particularly dislike Gilbert Beilschmidt as a person or anything. After the mess that were the Napoleonic wars he could at least say he was a good ally to have in a moment of crisis, as he would always remember seeing him arrive along with his troops at Waterloo and the feeling of approaching victory that came with them. Arthur just didn’t appreciate how smug he was about it, acting as if allowing England to be Prussia's friend was granting him some sort of favour.
“Speaking of…” Prussia got closer, beckoning Arthur to get close as he spoke to him in a hushed voice like they were sharing secrets “Before, when your royals were still around, I saw you little young Princess Victoria, walking along with my Prince Frederick, giving him a tour in practically perfect German. Did you see that...?”
“Yes… the royal couple encouraged her to give him a tour of the Great Exhibition” he confirmed. His monarchs had been extremely accommodating to their royal Prussian guests, Prince William or Wilhelm in his native land, who had previously had to seek refuge in England, and now his son Prince Frederick. Her father asked Princess Victoria to give Prince Frederick a tour to make a good impression on him, which she had excelled at. England clearly didn't need to explain that they hoped for a future marriage to come from all of that eventually, as Prussia just nodded with a hum.
“His father thinks he should marry a Russian Grand Duchess, and maintain that alliance in place... it was his mother Augusta who encouraged his little trip here for this...” the other nation mumbled, and England couldn't help but notice he seemed conflicted, perhaps also thinking a Russian match would be better.
“... are you against it?” he couldn't help but frown at that. Marrying a member of the British royal family was usually well perceived, and as Prussia had said his family had a lot of German connections so surely they couldn't complain the young Princess Victoria would be a completely foreign authority if she ever came to be queen consort in the future. They probably would anyway, since no consort of a monarch seemed to ever be patriotic enough for their host countries people... he knew that all too well. But surely they couldn't complain that Queen Victoria's eldest daughter was substandard for their prince or something of the like, he would actually get angry if that was the problem.
“Umm… it's not that. I would think this is the best choice for him, just by looking at them here I think they'll make a great match! Did you see how your little princess was practically marching mine along?” the nation laughed fondly. It was true that the Prussian prince had seemed in awe of the young girl, probably surprised she could speak his language so skillfully at such a young age and by how intelligent and vibrant she was. Arthur had always found it amusing how the young Princess Victoria was ironically pretty similar to her own father in her intelligence and curiosity, except she also had the level of pride and force being a British royal could give someone “That boy is soft, I think he needs someone like that... someone with authority. My people respond well to that, after all I have always been a soldier more than anything else... ”
Prussia seemed somewhat proud at that admission, and well... they both knew it was very true. It seemed that Prussia rose in prominence the more that his military did, and it was a fact that his people seemed very aware and proud of as well. England still vaguely recalled that someone had called Prussia not a country with an army, but an army with a country. Said country apparently was well aware of it and how it affected his people as well, so if he said having a strong willed woman like young Princess Victoria would be good for his prince he was probably right.
“What is the problem then? If they are a compatible pair as you say, and there's approval on both parental sides, surely there shouldn't be any...?” Arthur asked, confused as to what was causing the German nation to be conflicted.
“Little Fritz there has had pretty liberal ideas since he went to university, and the king is committing liberal reforms right now too, but...” he muttered, groaning with frustration. He took a deep sigh, deciding to look around at his exhibits instead of at his fellow nation, obviously still a bit in thought “Look... you heard of how that attempt at revolution in Berlin 3 years ago went?”
“How could I not when your Prince William had to flee and come here because of them…?” Arthur answered, not sure what that had to do with this. From what he heard at the time, apparently Prince William had been so adamant in trying to suppress the revolution that he had used excessive cannon force, which had earned him the nickname the prince of grapeshot and had ended up with having to escape his country for a short time. He had taken refuge in London, which was probably the reason he had returned to the country on this trip as well, besides the Great Exhibition.
“Then you know that my king rejected the crown the Frankfurt Parliament offered him... ‘A crown from the gutter’ he called it” he laughed dryly “And I understand where he's coming from with that, the parliament really did not have the authority to give that crown to him back then…. Of course it would be ideal if all the German states had voted him emperor just like it used to be done, it would have been magnificent! Maybe it would have been enough to…!” the energy of his speech seemingly deflated out of him, as he closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead with his hand “Maybe then... that would have made him come back…”
Arthur didn't know how to respond to that, as he instantly knew what the Prussian was talking about, despite the omission of his name. He never had confronted Prussia about it, as they never had been that close before his royals had started to approach each other lately, but of course he had heard of the fate of the personification of the Holy Roman Empire. He had heard the young nation had spent his final days being taken care of by Prussia, after the Emperor Francis II had abolished it.
At first the idea of Prussia, the nation that was more well known for fighting than anything, taking care of a child had even shocked him, but… the more he thought about it the less unbelievable it was.
After all, England had also been a pretty wild man himself, a man people saw as a bloodthirsty pirate who definitely wouldn't have been seen as an ideal parental or brotherly figure to anyone in any way. He had a much better image now as a gentleman, but that was quite recent all things considered. He still was pretty prone to violence, he knew it, people who he didn’t like and who crossed him constantly like Francis still knew it. But taking care of a child… having the small American colonies as a little baby asleep in his arms... it had definitely softened him.
Especially since… Alfred, his little baby brother, had come at quite a dark time for him. After the death of his dear Elizabeth, Arthur had practically given up on his more human feelings and just invested all his time in pirating, and on just doing anything that would favour his life as a nation and not a person, since all those feelings had caused him so much pain the moment he lost her.
And after the failure of the Roanoke colony during her reign, he didn’t think that the new attempt at a colony that King James I approved the charter for would fare any better. Imagine his surprise when he heard of the new nation Finland saw in the new world... imagine how much more surprised he had been when he managed to find him in Virginia, far too close to where his colonization success had happened to be a coincidence....
Alfred had tried to call him big brother right away, as if that was the most natural thing in the world, and he had been instantly overwhelmed. He had declined the title, as he didn’t really think he deserved it, and he basically knew at that moment that any intention he might have had of not getting attached to this child were lost. He just knew he was going to love this kid that was under his care now like any parent or brother would, as he had managed to ground him again after years adrift with just those simple words.
No one had welcomed Arthur in their lives so openly and affectionately before, like real family… not even his own elder brothers, who he had quite a tense relationship with, had even treated him that well. Only Alfred, just the little colony of British America back then, had ever treated Arthur with pure familial affection from day one. Somehow the child had even chosen him instead of France when they fought over him there and then, approaching England as he had cried in despair when he thought he had lost that precious bond he hadn’t realized he had longed for before it properly began when France had tried to use food to win him over and he couldn't’ retaliate.
Arthur had taken to the role of both parent and brother better than anyone had expected, he was certain no one could imagine the mighty England, a true terror of the seas during his pirating days, taking care of a little baby... and being quite content with the simple happiness that brought him. And when he thought of Prussia as just Gilbert, a man that he thought was quite similar to how he used to be, just in land rather than water… yes, Arthur could see him taking good care of a child as well. He could imagine him perhaps being a bit overwhelmed at the start, but overjoyed by the role, as he had been back when he first started taking care of first Alfred and later the rest of his colonies. Being depended on like that… it had made him want to be better, and he was sure Gilbert was much the same on that.
His hands had just been used to violence, they were rough from handling all the swords, guns and other weapons that had carried him through the years… rough from the ropes of the ships he used to battle with and to even arrive at their shores… rough hands that his colonies had not cared about as they took them in theirs. They had not cared how blood stained his hands had been in the past, as they showed him they could also be used to give affection and praise to them. It had been a big change back then... to get used to being welcomed by someone like that, to accept that he wasn’t being lulled into some trap and he wouldn't be rejected.
Well… until he was firmly rejected by his first colony, anyway.
But unlike Arthur, Gilbert hadn’t lost his little brother to a rebellion. No, his brother had... been lost when the empire he represented was dissolved. The estrangement that had followed the American revolution had been terrible for England, but despite leaving him hurt and miserable, at the other end of it his brother was still alive and well. Prussia didn't have that consolation.
“... how did you spend your days with him?” England decided to ask, trying to be as soft as he could, avoiding mentioning his name just as he had in case that was too painful.
“... mostly I read to him. The tales from the brothers Grimm…” he smiled, with a sadness that probably no one would have expected to see from the usually smug and boasting nation before him “They gave me some hope too, seeing tales from all the German states being reunited into a book like that... Surely that proved that there was at least some unity, that maybe…” he fell silent again, not even finishing that sentence.
Arthur was well aware that emotions had always been a challenge to him, he always ended up getting defensive instead even when he wanted to be nice to someone. But the magnitude of emotion he was seeing from Prussia at that moment was too much for him to ignore, since if it had been any of his family that had suffered that fate… he couldn't even imagine it. So, in an impressive feat for him, he managed to put a hand on Prussia's shoulder, giving him a firm nod when he looked at him with shock, and then slowly nodded back when he understood it was a consolation gesture that was truthfully expressed.
“... so you still hope for him to come back…” England reflected after his fellow nation had calmed down enough for him to drop his hand “It's… an understandable wish, General Beilschmidt, but… it would be…”
He didn't want to say impossible, as the circumstances of the German nations were strange ones. It would be unprecedented, certainly, but the German confederation was still in existence... and maybe it could form some sort of new unification someday. But even so…
“I know, I know…” Prussia reassured him with a bit of a tired tone, as if he had said this many times, and he probably had “A lot think that wanting a unified German world in general it's just wishful thinking. But I think unification is possible, and if I can just get Roderich to stop bothering me, I could just…!” he growled aggressively “This is all his and that damn Napoleon's fault anyway! Austria and his Habsburgs were always taking the emperor role, if Roderich could have actually stood up to that odious man, maybe they wouldn't have had to dissolve...!”
“No one was ready for Napoleon, you know that as well as I do...” he sighed sympathetically, as the Napoleonic wars had caused an upheaval all over Europe. That a new Napoleon Bonaparte was ruling France at the moment was causing him far too much stress lately, he didn’t trust him in the slightest….
“Well, I am still mad at that stupid aristocrat for being so useless at putting up a fight! He even used that age old austrian strategy of marrying instead of fighting with him! Ugh!” he took a deep breath, clearly so upset at his old nemesis he had to stop himself from ranting further.
Honestly, England could sympathize. Prussia's rivalry with Austria almost rivaled England's own with France, and if a situation in which Francis utter failures had harmed America or Canada back when they were more closely associated with that frog… and if that failure had caused something as grave to happen as what happened to Holy Rome… his ire would have known no bounds.
“While I understand your hatred towards Edelstein and Francis still over all of this, I still don't see what your wish for unification has to do with the young Prince Frederick and Princess Victoria's possible match...” he decided to say, deciding that focusing back on what has sparked this conversation would be better than continuing on that topic.
After a pause in which Prussia finally calmed his breathing down he looked at England pensively, as if evaluating if he should even tell him what he was about to reveal, before he finally answered.
“The connection in my mind is that liberal thinking is nice, but to get what I truly want… to get all of the German states together as one, to have Austria and even France be humiliated before me... the only way I can conceive to obtain it would be force...” he said “And I think that a prince with liberal leanings and a strong willed British wife could be a problem, if it ever came to that…”
“... I see” he nodded solemnly, appreciating that he was being confided with that significantly distinct information. That Prussia wanted to unify the German states was nothing new, and that he liked fighting wasn't new information either, anyone who had ever met the nation that used to be an order of knights could have told him that. But that his character as a soldier first made him think that fighting for what he wanted was the only possible way to obtain it, possibly disregarding any advancement his country did towards more liberal policies for it…. it was significant. He didn't know how yet, but England's instincts towards espionage were telling him it was.
“Sorry to ruin your mood, we were having such fun before I brought all that up...” Prussia apologized, seemingly fully recovered and back to his more lighthearted mood after getting that out of his chest.
“It's fine, it is worth considering… I still think this would be a favourable match, seeing how those two were getting along…” he commented honestly “Perhaps we should speak of other matters. I did come to your department to see what you offered after all, as I have been going through the foreign departments of the Great Exhibition...”
“Oh, that must have been fun, was the obscenely huge France section to your liking?” the Prussian scoffed, earning the same reaction from Arthur.
“It sure was… something. Something gaudy and excessive...” he grumbled, crossing his arms with displeasure as Prussia agreed, complaining about the French department with just as much disdain as he did. Sharing his hatred for France with someone else was still a new feeling for England, as it always seemed France was much more liked than him, but it seemed after the Napoleonic wars almost entirely all of Europe had turned on him with resentment. England might have had to pay excessively and almost ruin himself to win that war, and he had been half dead by the end of it, but seeing France being scorned by most of Europe because of it? It had a certain satisfaction to it. Most countries had moved on by now, for the most part, but it seemed Prussia hadn’t.
“You should come see Trafalgar square, Nelson’s column was put in place barely 7 years ago now, I doubt you've been with how crazy things have been lately” Arthur happily suggested. A whole square dedicated to when he destroyed France at sea was something that surely a fellow France hater would enjoy “It was decided to make the reliefs for Nelson's column out of captured french guns from their ships, not all of them are in place yet, but it's still quite delightful, don't you think?”
“You are amazing at being petty, I've heard you also used those cannons as street bollards didn’t you?” Prussia laughed along “If Francis comes to bother you over his amazing department you should take him to see those, watch the humiliation hit his face when he realizes...”
“That would be fun…” Arthur conceded “I do hope to avoid him if I can, at least today. I really don't want to listen to him boasting about his art and his silks and everything right now, this day is my day...”
“Well, compared to all that French silk and all I may not have been able to bring that much products, but next to an empty section I look fantastic” the Prussian pointed to the section right next to his, which was intended for Russia, but had to be left empty due to unforeseen delays on the shipment “I still can't believe he went and got stuck in the ice of the Baltic, you'd think he, of all people, would know ice!”
“Indeed, out of all nations to be surprised by ice, I wouldn't have said Russia...” Arthur agreed, displeased by the emptiness of that department. He wasn't all that excited to have to see the Russian anyway, as he felt more and more tension grew between them lately, but an empty department was quite an eyesore. And just past it….
Ah. Right. He had almost forgotten the other person he had intended to avoid if possible…
At the very last corner of the Crystal Palace, taking both north and south naves, the last section before exiting east or going to the upper floors… that's where America's department was.
Prussia followed his gaze, seeing he was looking at the last department and looking back at him with a frown “You're not going to go see him? He's here too, you know… helped the whole delegation personally, apparently...”
“...I… am going to see him, it's just…” he managed to say, barely.
It was hard. It was still so hard to approach Alfred….
His former colony had grown so big so fast, and after they clashed their separation had been so brutal on him. The aftermath was almost as bad as the one of the Napoleonic wars had been, with both his body and spirit broken from it. He had lost the war, fallen to his knees and cried in the rain in front of his little brother, who despite all the rain he could hear mumble that he used to be so big….
Alfred had always been special to him, even among all his colonies. He really tried not to have favorites, as he knew that would be unfair, but the British American colony was and always would be the first one he had, the first child he had ever embraced and carried in his arms as his own. He thought they would be forever linked from then on, that at last now he had a family he could get close to without the complications of the strained ties he had to his own brothers.
He had never been the best at trusting people or getting close to them, but with Alfred… this child who had been so earnestly loving to him... he had let down his guard. He had fully trusted him, loved him without any of his usual wariness… and after all that, to be betrayed and fought off as if he were some kind of tyrant… it had hurt.
And it made every interaction he had with the boy since then... complicated, to say the least. Which made the prospect of having to enter his department and actually talk to him something to dread.
“... you know, my former pupil will be excited to see his big brother...” Prussia casually said, looking at England with significance. He had to suppress a brusque remark at the reminder that Prussia had instructed America on warfare, because if he knew anything about the Prussian military ways was that his training methods were brutal, and he didn't appreciate Alfred having to go through that, but…
He didn't really have any authority to chastise Prussia on that because…
“He's… not… mine anymore…” he slowly, painfully, had to state.
It had been 75 years now….
75 years since the United States of America had declared he would be independent, and it still hurt him to admit it. He could faintly feel the taste of blood at the very back of his mouth at that little sentence, but luckily they were still in May, still two months away from the day where the feelings of animosity towards him got so strong his whole body felt ill and he miserably coughed blood everytime the topic of independence was even brought up.
“... maybe America is not England’s anymore, yeah” Prussia said, interrupting Arthur's gloomy thoughts “Not a little colony like all your other ones who are still underwing... He is his own nation, and he is very proud of that, obviously. But I'd say... despite everything, and no matter what he or you say… Alfred is still Arthur's little brother, don't you think…?”
Arthur looked at the other man with shock. Was he… encouraging him to go talk to Alfred? Did this have anything to do with Arthur managing to overcome his usual aggressiveness and expressing his sympathy over his own brother and his feelings before…?
“Go see him. I checked on him earlier, he was frantic putting everything together and basically gently asked me to leave, but now everything must be in place” the Prussian explained, looking at England in the eyes with determination and putting a hand on his shoulder in a very similar manner to how he had before “Your little brother is right there, Arthur. Don't waste the time you have...”
Arthur swallowed, thankfully clearing up the remaining taste of blood. And seeing Prussia wasn't letting him go until he knew he was going to commit to this task, he finally looked back into his eyes and nodded with determination. Prussia nodded back, giving him a couple of encouraging claps on the shoulder as he walked to the back of his department, leaving England to go into America’s.
So… I like history a lot and there’s a lot of it in this fic, so I decided to have some notes at the end of each chapter for things I mention in them, and they are so long they didn't fit in the end notes thing so you are getting them at the end of chapters ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
By the way, as a general note for all of this fic I guess and in case you don't know, kings and queens and every royal person usually have their name changed depending on the nation. So for example in Spain we still to this day call the current queen of the United Kingdom Isabel II, the Spanish version of Elizabeth II, only very recently we are using the normal English names for some of them. Anyway what I mean to illustrate is that every nation calls monarchs by their name in their own language, so I tried to keep that consistent here since I think said nations would default to their version of the name when speaking about these people, but if I made a mistake with the German and English names at some point during all of that in this chapter I am sorry, they are quite similar. Also I am Spanish and I might use the Spanish names for osme without even realizing so….sorry for that lol
The name of this fanfic is taken from the inaugural address of the Great Exhibition by Prince Albert, here's the full thing:
“Nobody who has paid any attention to the peculiar features of our present era will doubt for a moment that we are living at a period of most wonderful transition which tends rapidly to the accomplishment that great end to which, indeed, all history points—the realization of the unity of mankind. ...The distances which separated the different nations and parts of the globe are rapidly vanishing before the achievements of modern invention, and we can traverse them with incredible ease; the languages of all nations are known, and their acquirement placed within the reach of everybody; thought is communicated with the rapidity and even by the power of lightning... The knowledge acquired becomes at once the property of all of the community at large... no sooner is a discovery or invention made, than it is already improved upon and surpassed by competing efforts: the products of all quarters of the globe are placed at our disposal, and we have only to choose which is the best and the cheapest for our purposes, and the powers of production are entrusted to the stimulus of competition and capital. ...Science discovers these laws of power, motion and transformation; industry applies them to raw matter which the earth yields us in abundance, but which becomes valuable only by knowledge.”
Anyways! Notes for this chapter:
-The Great Exhibition: it was held from the 1 of May to the 15 October of 1851 in the Crystal Palace at Hyde park. It was open everyday from 9am to 6pm, and closed on Sundays as basically anything would in the Victorian era. On the first 2 days tickets were quite expensive with £1 for a day and season tickets for 3 guineas. After it proved quite popular the prices were reduced to one shilling for most of the week, allowing a lot of working class people to visit.
I will get more into the difficulties it had to overcome to actually be held later, but for now let’s just say no one was that enthusiastic about the project as Prince Albert was, but it became a huge success which is why many of the monuments dedicated to Prince Albert depict it. Such as the Albert memorial and the Royal Albert Hall, which along with having a memorial to the Great Exhibition on the southern side, is decorated with a 800-foot–long mosaic showing "The Triumph of Arts and Sciences", basically the triumph that was the Great Exhibition, with the evolution of various arts and sciences and this one part showign all the nations bringing their stuff to Britannia referring the Exhibition https://d3d00swyhr67nd.cloudfront.net/h300/collection/LW/EWH/LW_ROAH_RAH_5_6_1_1_a-001.jpg
In the end the event made a total of £186,000, a money that was used to purchase and build an area in South Kensington, just south of where the exhibition was held, which would eventually be known as Albertopolis. There the money was used to found the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum(which was known as the South Kensington Museum until 1899, when queen Victoria herself changed its name when she laid the foundation stone for the Aston Webb building). It is also where the Royal Albert Hall is located, named so by Victoria after Albert’s death. Also the Albert Memorial, obviously(btw the sculpture groups of that memorial also reference the different continents and fields like commerc, engineering or agriculture for the exhibition, and he is holding the catalogue to the Great Exhibition in that statue, you can short of see how it has the crystal palace in teh front in this photo https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Albert_Memorial_Closeup_2009.jpg ).
Again we will enter more details of the Great Exhibition and what it contained later, but basically the whole west side of the building was taken up by the United Kingdom and all of his colonies and dependencies, while on the other side were the foreign states. Have a map of the building since we will be going through it later on: https://ia800806.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/19/items/planofbuildinggr00grea/planofbuildinggr00grea_jp2.zip&file=planofbuildinggr00grea_jp2/planofbuildinggr00grea_0003.jp2&id=planofbuildinggr00grea&scale=1&rotate=0
-Opening ceremony: the opening ceremony of the Great Exhibition was done by Queen Victoria, along with Prince Albert and their two eldest children. After a speech they walked through the whole thing, before leaving for the day. Queen Victoria visited the Exhibition a total of 34 times though, so don’t worry, she did see it properly later on.
-The ROYAL navy and the army: while the navy and the air force are both royal in the United Kingdom and many of their ex colonies like Canada, the army is distinctively not. Basically the navy predates the army and has always been a permanent force for the defense of the nation, while the army was made up of different smaller regiments, usually led and paid for by local nobles. Only some regiments and corps within the army are royal, but not the entire thing. Also it should be mentioned that the army was heavily influenced by Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army, which was the army used in the English civil war to defeat the royalist forces, so it's much more under control of parliament than the monarch.
-The Hanovers and Germans: the Hanovers were the royal house that replaced the Stuarts as rulers of the United Kingdom after they all died. The first Hanover was George I, and Victoria is the last since Hanover was a male inherited line, so afterwards her and Albert's children took his house name of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which was changed to Windsor during WWI since it was way too German sounding for a nation at war with Germany. They were all quite German though, specially the first 2 Georges, and George III was married to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, which if you can’t tell by that name was German as well, and Victoria married another German with Prince Albert.
-Shield from the king of Prussia: when Victoria and Albert's first son, Albert Edward(future Edward VII), was baptised he was given a gift by King of Prussia Frederick William IV. It’s a shield called Glaubensschild (Shield of Faith), it shows many biblical scenes and an image of Christ in the centre. It was shown in the Great Exhibition as one of the objects the royal family presented for everyone to see, chosen by Prince Albert in his son’s name. It’s still in the royal collections to this day, here it is https://www.rct.uk/sites/default/files/collection-online/5/9/658930-1486746030.jpg
-Prince Wilhelm in England: there were many revolutions in Europe in the year 1848, which included one in Berlin. Prince Wilhelm of Prussia(the future emperor Wilhelm I) repressed the rebellion against his brother Frederick William IV with excessive force and it earned him the nickname the king Kartätschenprinz, which means Prince of Grapeshot, and he had to take refuge in the British court for 3 months. Why is it that everyone runs to England when they have trouble in their own country, I don't know….
-Princess Victoria and Frederick III of Prussia: when the Great Exhibition occured Prince Wilhelm went to London along with his wife and 2 of his kids. This was when Prince Frederick(the future Frederick III) met Princess Victoria for the first time, and to try to make them get along her parents asked her to guide him through the exhibition, which she did in perfect German. Years later they would marry, and they would have quite a happy marriage, even though their more liberal ideals and Victoria's foreign status in Germany made things difficult for them in later years. Their eldest son, the future Wilhelm II, didn’t share his fathers liberal ideas and was much more aligned with his grandfather Wilhelm I, which also caused a lot of tension. By the time Frederick got to reign he was fatally ill, and died soon afterwards, which lead to what’s known as the year of the three emperors in 1888 when Wilhelm I died, was succeeded was Frederick III who died as well, leaving Wilhelm II as the last german emperor. It’s sad to think of how different things could have turned out in the future if he had lived longer.
-"Prussia was not a country with an army, but an army with a country": this line or one similar to it(like with state instead of country) is attributed to many people like Voltaire, or Minister Friedrich von Schrötter, or Count Mirabeau, so like I can’t find who actually said it?? But it sure has stuck to popular conscience and all. Considering how focused all of Prussia was on their army it can easily be seen why this quote has endured through time. I think it says a lot about Prussia in Hetalia too, since he was the order of Teutonic knights before he was a proper country, he truly is a soldier at heart.
-“The crown from the gutter”: during those revolutions of 1848, the then King Frederick William IV of Prussia rejected the title of Emperor of the Germans that the Frankfurt Parliament offered him in 1849. He said he wouldn't accept ‘a crown from the gutter’, since in his opinion the parliament did not have the authority to make that offer, as the Holy Roman Emperors had been elected by the German princes.
-The Holy Roman Empire: as I just said the Holy Roman Emperor was elected by the German princes, which usually just meant the Habsburgs of Austria bribed many of those princes to get the role. The Holy Roman Empire was finally dissolved by Emperor Francis II after Napoleon defeated him at the Battle of Austerlitz, becoming Emperor Francis I of Austria.
This isn’t like a historical or canonical fact in hetalia, but I like to imagine Prussia got really mad as Austria for this, and held a grudge against him and France for it for years which probably resulted in a lot of boasting after the Franco-Prussian war and the creation of the German Empire with Austria kept out of it. If you’ve ever seen that painting of Otto Von Bismarck and Napoleon III after being captured in the Battle of Sedan someone did a Hetalia version of it with Prussia and France and I am forever grateful for its existence, I love hetalia fanart that takes inspiration from historical art.
-Roanoke: in 1584 during Elizabeth I reign in England the first attempt to make a British colony in the new world was made, with the colony of Roanoke island in what is now North Carolina. The colony failed, but it’s one of those kind of mysterious historical events where no one knows exactly what happened and there’s a lot of theories about it, just go watch the Buzzfeed unsolved episode if you are really interested in knowing all that.
-Jamestown: the actually successful British colony was established in 1607 after being given a charter for it the previous year, was the colony of Jamestown in Virginia. Which I think is kinda funny that the town named after James I of England is in Virginia, which was named after Elizabeth I, but maybe I am easily amused. Anyway since that’s where British America had its first permanent settlement I think it makes sense that’s where England would have found little baby America back in the day, during all those battles for America comics and episodes.
-Trafalgar square: as its name obviously states it was made to commemorate admiral Nelson’s victory over the french and spanish forces during the battle of Traflagar in the Napoleonic wars, which Nelson won but died in. It’s probably one of the most recognizable places in London, but at the time this fic was taking place it was still a work in progress. Nelson's column was funded by public subscription and completed in November 1843, but the bronze reliefs were put in form 49 to 54, and yes they were made using captured French guns! As well as many of London street bollards. Using captured gun’s to make monuments isn’t even that rare of a thing to happen, the lion’s of the Spanish congress were made from captured guns from the Hispano-Moroccan War, if anyone knows of any other example of this kind of thing let me know, I find it so hilariously petty.
-Russia's empty department: believe it or not, the Russian department for the Great Exhibition really did get stuck on the ice in the Baltic sea and were absent on opening day. They managed to arrive later with their quite impressive malachite vases and other nice exhibits to wow everyone with, but they arrived late and I think that’s funny.