His Imperial & Royal Majesty Frederick, Emperor of Rome, King of the Romans, King of Bohemia, Duke of Silesia, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Margrave of Moravia, et cetera, et cetera (the "Protestant Alexander", to his followers) lays an ambush for a Spanish army passing through his lands on the Rhine in 1620. They are wiped out to a man, and Frederick descends into northern Italy with Swiss support (Anything to spite the House of Hapsburg). Using the looted wealth of Italy to subsidize his brother-in-law Charles I of England and promising to cede to France the various territories they had fought for a century earlier in the Italian Wars, he quickly assembles massive diplomatic support by forming a coalition of the other European powers against the House of Hapsburg. From Italy, he marches into Styria as his loyal nobles in Bohemia aided by Protestant forces from the North tie down the main Austrian army in hard-fought guerrilla campaigns calling on the Czech nationalism fostered by Jan Hus. With the threat of greater Ottoman intervention and the possible loss of an all-but-undefended Vienna, the House of Habsburg and Catholic League sign the Treaty of Salzburg in 1623, agreeing to the following terms to end what is now known as the Five Year's War:
- All electorates are to become secular. Thus, Mainz, Trier, and Cologne all lose their electoral status. The Archduke of Austria, Duke of Bavaria, and Duke of Lorraine are made electors; there are now four Protestants and three Catholics, but Brandenburg--wary of growing influence for Bohemia and the Palatinate--is known to support Catholic interests in the Diet.
- The Empire as a whole is largely secularized. Many bishoprics lose temporal power. The Emperor explicitly gains his throne by the consent of the Diet of the Empire, however, to remove an Emperor requires both a majority of the Diet and a new King of the Romans to have been confirmed by the Electors.
- The powers of the Emperor are increased; Frederick's exploits have demonstrated to the other princes the advantage of having one man who can represent the Germanies throughout Europe. An Imperial Army with the Emperor as commander-in-chief is formed, and all states are required to supply at least one soldier to the Imperial Army for each one in their own army, though this proves hard to enforce. Furthermore, the Imperial Diet is empowered to legislate over the Empire as a whole. Overall, the Empire moves to a confederation-like model, the likes of which has not been seen in Europe since the Delian League of Athens two thousand years earlier. However, the massive, largely undamaged manpower potential of Germany--and its central location--mean that its independence is largely maintained.
- Northern Italy, Switzerland, and the Netherlands are separated from the Empire formally. France gains control of Lombardy, Liguria, and much of Savoy. The Netherlands are confirmed as an independent state.
Ultimately, the Empire of the German Nation (as it is now generally referred to) becomes a powerful though somewhat unstable player on the field of European politics.
