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German Empire Factbook
Topic Started: Aug 27 2010, 11:32 PM (354 Views)
German Empire
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Full Name: Empire of the Rhine and Friesland
Short Name: German Empire
Government Type: Monarchy
Head of State: King Ferdinand I
Population: 5.000 000
Capital: Frankfurt
Languages: German and Dutch
Monetary Unit: Thaler
Official Religion: Catholicism
Military strength: 125,000 (Available troops)
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German Empire
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I. History

The Holy Roman Empire unified much of Europe for many centuries. However, at some point in the Renaissance, the empire's devout religion caused it to fall out of favor with secular Renaissance thinkers. Leaders saw the growing threat the church posed. With much of the rest of Europe divided into small kingdoms, the Holy Roman Empire could've easily taken over Europe one kingdom at a time.
The Swiss Confederacy, France, and Italian Kingdoms loosely banded together to attack the Holy Roman Empire. The French advanced into The Netherlands, liberating it from Hapsburg reign. The liberation of the Netherlands took the Holy Roman Empire by surprise. A large portion of its army was busy defending Hungary from the Ottomans, at the time, and was powerless to intervene. Fueled by the French victory in the Netherlands, armies of Italian and Swiss soldiers pushed towards Rome and Vienna.
The Swiss Confederacy's army marched across the Alps to take Vienna. They faced some resistance along the way. With a major battle occurring at Innsbruck. Duke Wilhelm of Austria faced the Swiss Army near the city with nearly a thousand knights. He was killed in battle by the Swiss.
Vienna was occupied by Emperor Frederick II's Imperial Army. It consisted of several hundred of the strongest lords and knights in the Empire. The Swiss had nearly 2500 knights, as they had hired mercenaries from France and Austria. Numerically superior, the Swiss beat the Imperial Army, captured Frederick II, and razed Vienna.
Meanwhile, knights from Italian Kingdoms marched on Rome. They faced Lord Pietro Barbo's knights in Rome, along with Pope Sixtus IV's knights. The Italians, led by Lord Giovanni Silvio Piccolomini of Genoa, killed Lord Pietro Barbo and most of his knights. They forced the Pope to surrender, thus leaving Germany as the final Holy Roman Empire state.
With most of the German lords and barons too weak from fighting amongst themselves for control of Germany, France swept across the land, putting to death any resisting lords and barons. The Empire was formally destroyed in 1479. France, the Italian States, and the Swiss Confederacy dissolved their coalition.
The French, Swiss, and Italian States expanded their territory somewhat by bringing the down fall of the Holy Roman Empire, but the war was more about ending the Catholic Church as a serious threat to other European powers. After the fall of the Empire, their former territories split into small kingdoms. That was how the Confederation of the Rhine, later the German Empire, was formed.
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