Why the FUCK did Metternich say "oh no, we can't bring back the HRE, that'd be dumb" and then organize Germany into HRE-lite, complete with a Habsburg nominal head of state? Just bring back the HRE bro.
The HRE and the emperor who ruled it had basically no power over his lords, at least in this system the states were forced to commit to a military alliance with Austria
>>17276038But le balance of power bro.You can't freeze Europe's social and political development if Germany's just a bunch of weak and fragmented duchies and marches.
>>17276173If the Empire could be dissolved without the consent of the princes, then surely it could be reformed with new imperial laws (including obligatory defensive alliances) without the princes' consent.
>>17276038Every former member state of the HRE had grown accustomed to their own sovereignty - many of the smaller ones were even folded into other states and were thusly desolved by Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna.And the influence of habsburg Austria within the German Confederation was lesser than that it enyojed in the HRE, as Austria was only the "Chairman of the Confederation" for the Federal Diet/Convention - practically a managing directorial position.And the larger german kingdoms (especially Prussia) were not thrilled to be (even nominally) subservient to a proposed austrian emperor. Aditionally Austria didn't want an emperorship without any executive might and the lesser german states had to suffer whatever the big players did. >>17276173There was no military alliance with Austria in the German Confederation. A Federal War could be declared but only when the Federal Diet made corresponding resolution, for which a simple majority vote by all members of the German Confederation was necessary. And Austria didn't have any executive powers nor other special privileges.>>17277025Nobody wanted to reenstate the HRE.
>>17277152>Nobody wanted to reenstate the HREBullshit. Even during the 1848 troubles, Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia would have preferred a "unification" in the form of a restoration of a Habsburg-led HRE.
>>17277214Lol no
>>17277236Thanks for conceding.
>>17277254Give me any source where Friedrich Wilhelm IV. wanted to reenstate the Holy Roman Empire and subsequently become subservient to Austria again.The only thing comparable was his rejection of the proposed imperial crown from the revolutions of 1848 - mainly rooted in the belief that commoners couldn't bestow such an imperial honor and that it would have been a "small german" empire without Austria - which Friedrich Wilhelm IV. saw as quintessential part of any german state (this condition was fulfilled with the German Confederation).
