AHC: Best case scenario for Austria

I feel like OTL Austria never really did a lot of the things it set out to. It never unified the HRE, it never drove the Ottomans from Europe, and it never suppressed nationalism the way Metternich had intended. What's more, it could be said to be a victim of its own success, as its establishment of a contiguous, multi-ethnic empire in Europe caused it a lot of grief once nationalism came of age.

So, I guess my question is, what is the best possible scenario for Austria without going into ASB territory? The only rules for this is that although Austria is allowed to unify Germany, OTL's Austria must at the very least have a pride of place, with Vienna serving in some function as a capital, even if the emperor just holds court there over the summer. Bonus points go to whoever can make Austria more powerful than it would have been if it had united Germany.
 
OTL kind of was a pretty respectable accomplishment for Austria for all the problems stated. Yes it didn't achieve all its goals, but who did?

I think if the imperial position is more meaningful, that would aid in the other stuff. How you get Hapsburgs (or another dynasty ruling Austria) on the throne from there depends on when you want the POD to be.

Failing that, the Thirty Years War and Reformation need to be knocked around. Not necessarily eliminated, but Austria has to come out of this with a better position relative to its goals than OTL.
 
Perhaps preempting the Habsburgs may help here?
If Ottokar II of Bohemia retains his Austrian lands he might be successful in being elected Emperor.
If the Wittelsbachs, or perhaps another central German dynasty such as the Ascanians or Wettins, inherit this and you have a large central state that can begin unifying Germany.
 

Eurofed

Banned
As far as I can tell, the best case scenario for Austria is when they can get control of Germany, Italy, and Hungary. The best potential POD that I am aware of involves the Habsburg having an epiphany and taking the lead of the German and Italian unification movements in 1848, while Russia is paralyzed by something like a insurrection in Poland (France is paralyzed by its own revolution anyway).

This would likely require something like the Habsburg dividing their lands in three or four kingdoms in an dynastic political bond, military alliance, and customs league, two of which unify Greater Germany and Italy under their leadership, according to the scenario first proposed by ImperialVienna and later given some TL discussion and development by Van555.
 
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Perhaps preempting the Habsburgs may help here?
If Ottokar II of Bohemia retains his Austrian lands he might be successful in being elected Emperor.
If the Wittelsbachs, or perhaps another central German dynasty such as the Ascanians or Wettins, inherit this and you have a large central state that can begin unifying Germany.

Or alternatively have the early Austrian Habsburgs be more successful, by which I mean that Rudolf manages to get his son Albert as king of Hungary and elected as the next king of the Romans; and Albert succeeds in making his son Rudolf king of Bohemia and his successor as king of the Romans.

Furthermore one of the reasons why a lot of the imperial nobility didn't want Ottokar II as king of the Romans, was because of his expansion into the 'Austrian' lands. Another good candidate (after the great interregnum) could have been the house of Luxemburg, but they didn't rule Austria.

In any case a lot of issues faced by the Habsburgs were a result of the effects the great interregnum, which started with the end of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, had on the Holy Roman Empire.

Or for a completely different idea the Babenberger duke Frederick II the Quarrelsome of Austria and Styria succeeds in turning Austria (and Styria) into a kingdom (in the period 1239-1245).
 
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