![]() Despite great efforts, the defenders held their ground and forced the Turks to retreat. In 1529, the Ottoman army led by the Sultan besieged the Austrian capital. In the following years, the Turks annexed large parts of Hungary and threatened Vienna. This defeat would cause the death of the last Jagiellonian ruler of Hungary and thus legally pass the crown to Ferdinand von Habsburg, the Emperor’s brother. In 1526, Ottoman armies destroyed Hungarian troops led by King Louis II at Mohacs. Sultan Suleiman I conquered Belgrade in 1521, making Constantinople the most powerful player in the Balkans. The Ottoman Empire posed another major threat to the Habsburg Hegemony in Europe. According to some accounts, Charles’ intolerance towards Dutch Protestants would be the stepping stone of the independence of the Netherlands one century later. As years went by, more important local lords turned against Rome. Many Dutch nobles and merchants embraced the Reformation despite Habsburg oppression. However, matters were different in the Low Countries. The infamous Spanish Inquisition served greatly in this purpose. Due to strict policies and intense oppression, Charles V managed to abort all Protestant attempts to get a foothold in Spain. However, the monarch had more room for action in the Netherlands and Spain. Due to the nature of the political system of the Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburgs could not do much to stop the spread of reformists in Germany. The Protestant Church gained ground in the German Principalities. In 1526, Charles V consolidated his realms against two major threats: the Lutheran Church and the Ottoman Empire. The strong Empire built by the family was slowly dismantled as the Habsburg rulers faced horrific wars with France and Great Britain, economic struggles, and finally, the revolutions of the 19th century and the slow collapse of European Monarchies. However, as history would have it, great powers do not remain indefinitely.įollowing the death of Charles, the Habsburgs’ possessions were divided between various family branches. Their successor, Charles V, became Emperor at the beginning of the 16th century he ruled a vast domain, including the Holy Roman Empire with all its possessions, the Netherlands, Spain, and its early colonies in the Americas. ![]() ![]() From there, they expanded their influence beyond the Holy Roman Empire’s boundaries into Southern Italy, Central Europe, Iberia, and the Netherlands.īy the late 15th century, Frederick III and Maximilian I had established Habsburg rule on the Burgundian, Spanish, and Hungarian seats of power. Thanks to their dedication to the German cause and a series of marriages and unions, the Habsburgs rose to the Imperial Crown. Starting as Counts who held restricted lands in the Swiss Alps, the Habsburgs became a global local power in Swabia before obtaining the Roman Crown. This article is a two-part series, for Part I see The Habsburgs: From the Alps to European Dominance (Part I)
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