A short essay on the Habsburg Empire

Germany as we see on the world map these days was not always of this shape. It was a part of the Holy Roman Empire which stretched from modern day Poland to Italy. The empire was founded by Charlemagne in the 9th Century AD( Encyclopedia Britannica Pg26) . Around 300 years after its formation, the empire went through an interregnum which was successfully ended by Rudolf the first of Germany.

Due to the interregnum, there were multiple claimants to the throne apart from Rudolf himself, the most notable among them was named Ottokar. Rudolf got his coronation ratified by the then Pope and the Nuremberg Diet thereafter asked Ottokar to relinquish his claims, failing which, Rudolf defeated him in a series of battles and cemented his place as the Holy Roman Emperor. (Ingrao, Charles, The Habsburg Monarchy)  Throughout his reign, Rudolf was known to be indecisive and this was brought into the open by Dante's Divine Comedy where he is being made fun of by his contemporaries for not doing what he should have done.

Three hundred years down the line, the throne went to Charles the sixth who was coronated at Frankfurt. He was first the King of Spain as Charles the third but on the death of his brother Joseph, he became the Holy Roman Emperor. Sensing a union of Spain and Austria, the United Kingdom withdrew its support for the empire. The political machinations thereafter led to the treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt. By these treaties, Philip became the King of Spain and the areas surrounding Austria were merged with Austria.(Sked, Allan, The decline and fall of the Habsburg Empire) 

The most notable contribution of Charles the sixth was the Pragmatic Sanction which ended the male primogeniture followed by the monarchs of those days. He is also the most notably present in various coins issued in his name. His reign ended in the 18th century, by which time, the empire was laden with huge debts and highly complicated treaties and tussles with its neighbours.

For better or worse, the Habsburg empire moulded the history and polity of the entire European continent for over a thousand years. The monarchs were patrons of art and science and were a guiding force behind the cultural renaissance in Europe, both as instigators as well as satires.