AHC: Have Austria unify Germany

With a POD after 1815, come up with a scenario where Austria instead of Prussia is the core of the alt-Kaiserreich/German Empire after unifying Germany. Bonus points if you have Prussia not be part of this Germany with Prussians very insistent they are not Germans much like Austrians IOTL.
 
Austria wins the Prusso-German War in 1866.

Result:
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Bundesstaaten Deutsches Reich:
01. Kronländer
a. Erzherzogtum Österreich (Ober und Nieder)
b. Königreich Böhmen
c. Markgrafschaft Mähren
d. Herzogtum Schlesien
e. Herzogtum Salzburg
f. Herzogtum Steiermark
g. Herzogtum Kärnten
h. Herzogtum Krain
i. Herzogtum Magdeburg
j. Herzogtum Holstein
k. Herzogtum Schleswig
l. Grafschaft Tirol
m. Küstenland
n. Vorarlberg
02. Königreich Bayern
03. Königreich Hannover
04. Königreich Sachsen
05. Königreich Württemberg
06. Kurfürstentum Hessen
07. Großherzogtum Baden
08. Großherzogtum Hessen
09. Großherzogtum Mecklenburg-Schwerin
10. Großherzogtum Mecklenburg-Strelitz
11. Großherzogtum Niederrhein
12. Großherzogtum Oldenburg
13. Großherzogtum Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach
14. Großherzogtum Westfalen
15. Herzogtum Anhalt
16. Herzogtum Nassau
17. Herzogtum Sachsen-Altenburg
18. Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha
19. Herzogtum Sachsen-Meiningen
20. Fürstentum Liechtenstein
21. Fürstentum Lippe
22. Fürstentum Reuß ältere Linie
23. Fürstentum Reuß jüngere Linie
24. Fürstentum Schaumburg-Lippe
25. Fürstentum Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
26. Fürstentum Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
27. Fürstentum Waldeck und Pyrmont
28. Freie und Hansestadt Bremen
29. Freie Stadt Frankfurt
30. Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg
31. Freie und Hansestadt Lübeck
--. Neutral-Moresnet (Kondominium gemeinsam vom Belgien und Deutschen Reich)

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(Due to image host issues, the full-sized map can be found here)
 
Hungary (minus Burgenland and perhaps Slovakia/Upper Hungary) breaks away in 1848. Austria now spends all of its time focusing on German Unification as a means to regaining power.

Come 1866, Austria defeats Prussia and seizes Silesia and Schleswig-Holstein for itself. At peace negotiations, France meddles and keeps Austria from completely absorbing Prussia into Germany. Rump Prussia goes on to develop its own identity and even move its capital back to Konigsberg as an act of defiance.
 
It's odd that I've had to bring this exact same point up four times in just a few days, but here it is again: Austria in the early to mid 19th century can't afford any large, extended power projection projects. They stayed out of the German customs unions for a reason: competition from Northern German industry would crush their nassicent bussiness.
 
Maybe Britain forsee's Prussia will become the next contender for European dominance so they support Austria as a counterweight but overdo it and Austria becomes it instead.

Kinda far-fetched but Austria post-1815 wasn't all that great.
 
I think a more realistic POD is always going to take place in the 18th Century, and would probably require for neither of the Miracles of Brandenburg to occur, seeing a huge defeat for Frederick the Great. Perhaps Prussia would continue to exist and could even still eventually become an important European power, but the momentum and prestige would go to Austria, as well as the return of Silesia and massive war indemnities and reparations that Austria could further use to continue to modernize and grow their army.

And of course, France probably aligns itself against Austria shortly thereafter, possibly even with Great Britain to offset a powerful continental alliance of Austria and Russia (who itself would gain territory at Prussia's expense).

I just don't think the Austrians were in any real leadership position after 1815, despite being considered a Great Power. They didn't have much interest in unifying the German states, who were much harder to keep in line than the other minorities the Austrians held within their empire, and Prussia was clearly on the rise with much better upside.
 
With a POD after 1815, come up with a scenario where Austria instead of Prussia is the core of the alt-Kaiserreich/German Empire after unifying Germany. Bonus points if you have Prussia not be part of this Germany with Prussians very insistent they are not Germans much like Austrians IOTL.
Well Prussia can stay outside from this Germany but only after losing all the lands who were inside the HRE (aka Brandenburg, Silesia and everything western)
280px-Prussiamap.gif
pratically the Kingdom of Prussia will be composed only by East Prussia, West Prussia, Posen and Pomerania (2, 13, 8 and 7 in the map) and likely neither of the latter two with full borders.

Edit: link of the map https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Prussiamap.gif
 
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