How to make Germany the dominant power of Europe from the medieval period onward?
Actually the biggest problem here isn't population, it's German unity, or rather how to get the 300+ German states (at the time) together under a single government.
that's also dependant on population - guess which 2 "german states" were the most populous before german unity in real life.
that's right - austria and prussia, the two countries which fought it out over who gets to lead germany.
Easy: have Otto I focus on the Kingdom of Germany in central Europe rather than getting involved in Italy. With Germany a hereditary monarchy it would easily be the main power broker in Europe from the year 1000 on, which it effectively was IOTL until the HRE got into all its internal issues. With a solid monarchy established it become a larger, more powerful early France that manages Europe around it, while it builds up its population and develops its lands to support them (or vice versa, whatever creates growth). From that position it effectively dominates Europe by 1500 the way France did around it from the 1600s on. Germany dominates Europe until its system becomes too archaic to continue and it gets usurped by someone else or it muddles on with incremental improvements into the Age of Exploration, with Portugal, Spain, and Britain being the big exploratory powers while the Dutch do their own thing as part of Germany; depending on the international situation then Germany could be very well positioned ITTL to dominate the colonial game and have to war against Britain for access. France probably ends up like the HRE did after the 30 years war, fractured and messed with by Germany to keep her weak.How to make Germany the dominant power of Europe from the medieval period onward?
How to make Germany the dominant power of Europe from the medieval period onward?