France and German dualism, 1756-1871

Abstract

The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was a conglomerate of several hundred more or less independent states. From the late Middle Ages to the early eighteenth century, it was dominated by a single family: the Habsburgs. From 1452 to the dissolution of the Empire in 1806, the elected emperor was a member of the Habsburg family, apart from the interlude between 1742 and 1745 that saw an emperor belonging to the Wittelsbach family. From their base in Austria, the Habsburgs gradually extended their power outside the borders of the Empire: first toward Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia, then toward Spain (and its colonies), the Netherlands, Franche-Comté, Northern Italy, and Sardinia. In the eighteenth century, a rival emerged from within the Holy Roman Empire itself: Prussia. Raised to the rank of kingdom in 1701, the modest electorate of Brandenburg became a major power in just a few decades and quickly began to challenge Austria. A few weeks after he succeeded to the throne in 1740, the King of Prussia, Friedrich II, invaded Silesia, the richest of the Austrian provinces. This particular conquest not only reinforced Prussian power but also created a long-lasting enmity between the two countries. The stakes in this conflict quickly rose from just the control over Silesia to supremacy in Germany.