"Duchy of Courland" Topic

- No, not the imagi-nation of that name, but the historical Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (Herzogtum Kurland und Semgallen) in northern Latvia, that managed to survive between Russia and Poland for about two centuries, and in its heyday colonised Tobago. I've been thinking it would make an ideal point of departure for an alternative history thread. With about a quarter million inhabitants, sensibly focussing on trade, not war, the Duchy's armed forces won't have been numerous, but they must have had some… So, does anybody pout there know anything about the mighty Kurland army?

If I recall Marechal Saxe was briefly Duke of Courland in the mid-18th century so maybe a Saxon influence with a touch of Polish and French thrown in. He, Saxe, wrote a treatise on warfare in general and designed an armoured lancer I think.

An intringuing question -and, from a quick Google link link link , a very esoteric one.
Maurice de Saxe link was still young when elected, and ruled ca. a single year. He indeed raised a force (paid by a French actress, since he had declined to marry the Duchess of Courland, soon to be Empress of Russia!), but it's doubtful he had time and money to implement any preliminary form of the multiple innovations he developped at the end of his short and merry life: link
Influence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth -the feudal overlord of the Duchy- was strong (though the country was Protestant and has been Swedish for a short time) so I suppose the 'traditional' troops types would be quite similar to those of Poland-Lithuania?

Re. the point of departure for an 'alternative history', Maurice de Saxe is a most propitious character, being himself a virtual creator of alternate history. His 'Reveries' can be read on-line and downloaded from Google link and the French Bibliotheque Nationale link with the 'Tome 2' link : in 18th C. French and typography, but the plates show the extraordinary 'legionnaire' infantryman, the lancer in full armour, the 'amusette' very light gun, the ox-drawn bridgelayer, the artillery advanced tower… A wargamer at least is attempting to recreate this fictitious (in our time line…) army: strackenz.blogspot.com

looks like an open book Musketier .. I would go for something in blue..a sensible Swedish sort of uniform..even grey

Musketier – from the little I have read, it appeared that it was allied to the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth throughout much of its history. Some orbats from the GNW list the Duchy of Courland as does Voltaire in his biography of Charles XII. So, I'd say Abdul is correct.

As far as uniforms and colours go, that's a great question. I wouldn't even know where to search for the archives on this one.

Indeed Courland, through Poland, is a good place for 'historical divergence'. France was intensely interested by the area, and tried to use the peculiar political structure of the 'Kingdom and Republic': the King was elected by the nobility, and not to concede any advantage to a rival, the great families often chose a foreigner. Henri III of France has been at first King of Poland; in 1733 Versailles mounted the famous ‘deception', when Louis XV's's father-in-law, Stanislas Leszczynski, crossed Germany masquerading as ‘Ersnt Bramback', a merchant's commissioner, to be re-elected King of Poland by the Wola Diete, while a sosie was diverting the attention by trying to reach –officially in secret- Dantzig by sea. Later France supported the candidature of the Prince de Conti -at the same time the Head of the Secret du Roy, Louis XV's personal secret service. French attempts were ineffective -Poland was too far away, Sweden was no longer among the 'heavy weights' of the area… But if one is to experiment with what if', then, with more luck and de Saxe on the spot -if a new possibility of adventure prevents him from burning his life… he may be elected King of Poland after the WAS, his father had left positive memories there?

Thank you Gentlemen! Actually I was merely wondering aloud about the Courland armed forces on which, in the absence of any hard evidence, I would concur with the Cardinal that they probably looked more "Protestant" than Polish.
However, a Duchy of Courland under an older Duke Maurice would indeed open a lot of possibilities…

It would appear that you have a blank canvass waiting to be filled with paint – your choice then.

The ruling nobility AFAIK was German-speaking, and the nautic trade would provide good connections to other German-speaking areas on the shores of Baltic sea. Thus I would expect moderate German influence in style, especially from Prussians (eastern Prussia was actually very close).

Of course the common people who would have formed the ranks would have probably been mostly Latvian-speaking, though there were also some Livonians living on the area (nowadays they are almost extinct).