Alternatives to the Habsburgs

I suppose the Bourbons got up there with their thrones being France, Spain, south Italy/Naples, and a couple minor ones I've likely forgotten.
 
As has been said, the Bourbons. They were the "other guys" who dominated Europe simultaneous to the Habsburgs, and they could easily have assumed the place of the Habsburgs if a few things had gone differently.
 
The House of Luxembourg. The Hapsburgs inherited the titles of Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia from them or their immediate successors.
 

PhilippeO

Banned
Habsburg success is because extinction of their two allies House of Valois-Burgundy and House of Trastamara. if Habsburg the one who extinct instead, these two houses could rise to prominence.

another candidate is House of Louxemburg, Habsburg predecessor.

random luck of having male heir is what decided which house that prominent in 15th century to succeed in subsequent century. any Great House at 15th century have any chance of success if they have male heir and other house did not have.
 
On which level?
In Germany, the Luxemburgs and Wittelsbachs come to mind. Wittelsbachs and Habysburgs both had their territories temporarily split between different branches, but they (at least the Bavarian side) recovered soon enough.

If the Wettin had avoided the Meißen-Thuringia split between the Ernestine and Albertine lines, they might have remained more important.

The house of Guelph/Welf once ruled all of Old Saxony and Bavaria, seond only to the Hohenstaufen. If Henry the Lion had been less prideful, his house might have inherited the position of the Hohenstaufen, at least north of the Alps.

The House of Oldenburg has, in different branches, ruled over
the County of Oldenburg
the Duchy of Holstein
the Duchy of Schleswig
the Duchy of Lauenburg
the Kingdom of Denmark
the Kingdom of Norway
the Kingdom of Sweden
the Kingdom of Greece
the Empire of Russia
Twice, a ruling Queen of Great Britain took a prince of the House of Oldenburg as consort.
 
On which level?
In Germany, the Luxemburgs and Wittelsbachs come to mind. Wittelsbachs and Habysburgs both had their territories temporarily split between different branches, but they (at least the Bavarian side) recovered soon enough.

If the Wettin had avoided the Meißen-Thuringia split between the Ernestine and Albertine lines, they might have remained more important.

The house of Guelph/Welf once ruled all of Old Saxony and Bavaria, seond only to the Hohenstaufen. If Henry the Lion had been less prideful, his house might have inherited the position of the Hohenstaufen, at least north of the Alps.

The House of Oldenburg has, in different branches, ruled over
the County of Oldenburg
the Duchy of Holstein
the Duchy of Schleswig
the Duchy of Lauenburg
the Kingdom of Denmark
the Kingdom of Norway
the Kingdom of Sweden
the Kingdom of Greece
the Empire of Russia
Twice, a ruling Queen of Great Britain took a prince of the House of Oldenburg as consort.
The Welfs/D'Este could have retained Maine and Lombardy, they could have united Italy like the Savoys or become the Rulers of the Norman realm.
 
Habsburg success is because extinction of their two allies House of Valois-Burgundy and House of Trastamara. if Habsburg the one who extinct instead, these two houses could rise to prominence.
Even before that the House of Babenberg effectively dying out allowed them to inherit the Duchy of Austria when Rudolph I was Holy Roman Emperor. Either have someone else picked to become Emperor after the Great Interregnum and/or have the Babenbergs survive.
 
Even before that the House of Babenberg effectively dying out allowed them to inherit the Duchy of Austria when Rudolph I was Holy Roman Emperor. Either have someone else picked to become Emperor after the Great Interregnum and/or have the Babenbergs survive.

And the Babenbergs themselves got Austria only when Barbarossa took Greater Bavaria from the Welfs (Henry the Lion) and split it into Bavaria and Austria, the former going to the Wittelsbachs, who kept it until 1918.
 
And the Babenbergs themselves got Austria only when Barbarossa took Greater Bavaria from the Welfs (Henry the Lion) and split it into Bavaria and Austria, the former going to the Wittelsbachs, who kept it until 1918.


Another thought.

A branch of the House of Zahringen dominated much of what later became Switzerland, but iirc died out in 1218. Had it survived, might we have had an HRE with a Swiss power base?
 
And the Babenbergs themselves got Austria only when Barbarossa took Greater Bavaria from the Welfs (Henry the Lion) and split it into Bavaria and Austria, the former going to the Wittelsbachs, who kept it until 1918.

You're condensing it a bit. The Babenbergs initially got Greater Bavaria after Henry the Proud was deprived from it (and Saxony). When his son Henry the Lion was reinvested with both duchies as a reconciliation between the Hohenstaufen and Welf, the Babenberg dynastic powerbase the margraviate of Austria (at that point a fief of Bavaria) was raised to a duchy (so it and its' ruler would be equal to their Bavarian counterpart).
The house of Wittelsbach, IIRC count palatine of Bavaria, got the further reduced duchy of Bavaria (the margraviate of Styria was also raised to a duchy) after Henry the Lion was stripped of Bavaria and Saxony.

That being said an alternative to the Habsburgs would be the house of Luxembourg, which both succeeded and was succeeded by the house of Habsburg.

As for the ancestral Swiss lands of the Habsburgs even there they initially had competitors, like the Kyburgs, Zähringen (inititally much stronger than the Habsburgs), the Habsburgs just happened to have survived their regional rivals (a feat they would IOTL repeat a few times;)).
 
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