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What if Leopold I's sons had split the Empire? It sounds crazy, and I don't even know if it would be legal/doable, but here goes:

Assuming all three of his sons from his third marriage survive to produce surviving male-issue of their own, they could split their inheritance as follows:

Josef becomes Holy Roman Emperor, keeps the German and Burgundian bits, plus the Habsburg lands; as well as the Bohemian royal electorate.
Leopold (OTL 1682-1684) can get the "Holy Inheritance" i.e. the crowns of Sts. Stephen and Zvonimir
Karl (OTL Karl VI) gets the Italian possessions - duchy of Milan, the kingdom of Naples, etc, and perhaps the crown of Spain if he can get it and keep it.

The reason I'm wondering about this is that I'm aware of several TLs where the Habsburg empire is split (All Hail Germania; Drunk on Bourbon, etc).

Obviously, only ONE of these branches would be able to assume the purple (Josephine most likely), and the others would have to sign a renunciation of their rights to wear the Imperial diadem (perhaps only allowable in male-line extinction of the Imperial branch).

NOTE: Leopold doesn't even have to survive, his portion can be handed off to Karl, and the Italian possessions go to Josef, too.

What does everyone think? Can this work? How might history go differently?
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