Your challenge is to create a scenario where Austria dominates and unifies Germany, but with Brandenburg and/or Prussia remaining outside the union.
Austria had those Hungarian's they were dealing with at that time, no time to try and gain more territory.In 1838, Austria signs an alliance with the Netherlands due to better diplomacy by Metternich. The Netherlands proceed to get closer with alliances with Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Baden, and Saxony. When Prussia began influencing Saxony in 1846, Austria and its allies declared war. After Austria won the Battle of Breslau, Saxony finally joined on Austria's side. The Netherlands managed to get the Rheinland, a. k. a. the western part of Prussia, in the peace deals as an independent nation. Silesia was also ceded to Austria. Finally, the North German minors joined the Austrian sphere of influence.
In 1848, Austria formed the South German Federation and abolished the German Confederation. Bavaria, Wurttemberg, and Baden join and are followed by the Rheinland and the North German minors, which finally forms as the New German Confederation without Prussia.
I'm trying to imply Austria was joined by the others in a sense of pan-nationalism. The pan-nationalism was inspired by the Hungarian Rebellion. Do you understand it now?Austria had those Hungarian's they were dealing with at that time, no time to try and gain more territory.
I'm trying to imply Austria was joined by the others in a sense of pan-nationalism. The pan-nationalism was inspired by the Hungarian Rebellion. Do you understand it now?
Friedrich the Great dies 10 years earlier, so he is not around to prevent Austria from annexing Bavaria in 1778. The Prussians accept this in Exchange for a Option for more polish territory in case if Poland is divided again. Austria starts to grow back into the german room and Prussia becomes after the final Division of Poland a half german/polish state. There is still French Revolutionary War and a Reichsdeputationshauptschluß, but the French have ITTL no corsian military Genius on their side and so the war ends earlier, with austrian gains in southern Germany. The HRE survives, with Prussia more and more disinterested in german affaires. Some decades later a revolutionary movement enforce a liberalisation and centralisation of the HRE. Prussia doesn´t exept this. In a compromise Prussia is allowed to leave the HRE and it Comes to a territorial Exchange, were Prussia give up his german exclaves and gains some part of Galicia.
The Austrian Emperor didn't speak Polish, he spoke German. He didn't practice Hungarian customs, he celebrated in a German Christmas way. The Slavs besides Hungary and Poland had no real national identity besides Austro-Serbians, by the way. It took an exhausted Austria with an assassinated heir, dying Emperor, and broken government coupled with many dozens of millions of British pounds begging them along with being forcibly freed as independent states to gain national identity.The problem here is that the Austrian Empire is the antithesis of German pan-nationalism. In 1846/48 Austria included not only Hungary, but Italian Lombardy and Venetia, Slovenia, Croatia, Cracow and Poles, Lemberg and Ukrainians, Bohemia and Moravia.
The Austrian Emperor doesn´t see himself as a "German" ruler, he sees himself as the ruler of the Habsburg territories. German states are just viewed as an additional source of power to stabilize the rule of the Austrian Emperors.
That was the main reason why even Austrian allies in the German Confederation were always wary and suspicious of Austria. By 1846/48 Austria for decades had been more interested in Italy and the Balkans than in Germany. The German rulers feared that a Germany ruling Austria would use their soldiers and resources in Italy and the Balkans. Which is why - in secret - most German rulers were quite happy with the Austrian-Prussian antagonism. It gave them room to breathe.
And in 1846/48 Prussia - while powerful - wasn´t yet the economic and military powerhouse of Germany. Industrialization in the Ruhr region was just about to start so right now Prussia isn´t yet this scary.
Not to mention that Prussia got the Rhineland in 1815 as an insurance against a resurgent France. So Britain might have a few words with your Netherlands here. Because your new independent Rhineland on its own is incapable of defending itself from France alone.