Hapsburgs recreate Roman empire

So with a POD of 1530 AD have the Hapsburgs rule the territory of the Roman Empire at its height.

Conquering Britain, Asia Minor, the Middle East, and North Africa, and the Balkans.

They are free to rule parts of the new world, Ireland and Scotland, and whatever else they can get.

They do this through conquest, diplomacy and marriage.

Can it be done?
 

ben0628

Banned
So with a POD of 1530 AD have the Hapsburgs rule the territory of the Roman Empire at its height.

Conquering Britain, Asia Minor, the Middle East, and North Africa, and the Balkans.

They are free to rule parts of the new world, Ireland and Scotland, and whatever else they can get.

They do this through conquest, diplomacy and marriage.

Can it be done?

Does it have to be one country or can it be multiple kingdoms who are part of the Hapsburg family? Because at the very least you could have a Hapsburg Spain that controls Spain, Italy, and North Africa while the Austria Hapsburg could rule Austria, the Balkans, and the regions around the Rhine. Idk about the rest though, perhaps France marries into the Hapsburg family and Spain launches a crusade on the Holy Land?
 
Does it have to be one country or can it be multiple kingdoms who are part of the Hapsburg family? Because at the very least you could have a Hapsburg Spain that controls Spain, Italy, and North Africa while the Austria Hapsburg could rule Austria, the Balkans, and the regions around the Rhine. Idk about the rest though, perhaps France marries into the Hapsburg family and Spain launches a crusade on the Holy Land?
Suppose that's fine.
 
So with a POD of 1530 AD have the Hapsburgs rule the territory of the Roman Empire at its height.

Conquering Britain, Asia Minor, the Middle East, and North Africa, and the Balkans.

They are free to rule parts of the new world, Ireland and Scotland, and whatever else they can get.

They do this through conquest, diplomacy and marriage.

Can it be done?
I don't think they could do that, but there is a point in history when I think they could have brought all of Italy directly under their rule.
 
France is hard to do without the Lorraines inheriting France first, which is hard enough to do. The Hapsburgs would then have to find a way to bring the Balkans into the fold, which is not happening if they have Western Europe to rule, and we have not even touched on Asia and Africa yet.
 
The Roman Empire is dead by this point. The most they can do is recreate the boarders, but it's not Roman. By 1500s, it was established one doesn't invade neighbors all willy nilly, you need a reason. You might have a claim to the throne or a county inside the kingdom. Or maybe the other guy violated a treaty. Or maybe you are a creditor and the other guy didn't pay up.
 
The Roman Empire is dead by this point. The most they can do is recreate the boarders, but it's not Roman. By 1500s, it was established one doesn't invade neighbors all willy nilly, you need a reason. You might have a claim to the throne or a county inside the kingdom. Or maybe the other guy violated a treaty. Or maybe you are a creditor and the other guy didn't pay up.
The Hapsburgs seem like they could make reasons when none existed before.
 
What are you talking about? Most of the wars were one of those.
Going to war on pretext isn't very hard.

Why couldn't any ambitious Hapsburg monarch who seeks such an empire pursue a policy of generating such pretexts. After all diplomacy in that era involved a lot of alliance building and threats and so on.

The Hapsburgs fought the French for a long time why couldn't they successfully put on their own on the throne in Paris?

Why couldn't Britain fall?

The Hapsburgs had the money, the soldiers, and the clout. If anyone was placed at that time to re-create the borders of the Roman Empire and more.
 
Sounds like someone's been playing Crusader Kings II.

There's really no way this actually happens. Large-scale conquest like what you're talking about doesn't happen by 1530 or after. Not even Napoleon pulled off getting enough land together to equal the Roman Empire.
 
Sounds like someone's been playing Crusader Kings II.

There's really no way this actually happens. Large-scale conquest like what you're talking about doesn't happen by 1530 or after. Not even Napoleon pulled off getting enough land together to equal the Roman Empire.
No just medieval 2.
 
See, there was this thing called the Ottoman Empire...
And why couldn't it be broken under Landschecht pikemen, 100,000 men with muskets, and all the finest Europe as to offer, why couldn't the Hapsburgs conquer Constantinople and the Middle East and rule with a rod of iron?
 
The Hapsburgs fought the French for a long time why couldn't they successfully put on their own on the throne in Paris?

Because they kept losing every time they went to French soil. Also post reformation, their ability to draw manpower from the Holy Roman Empire was weakened.

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The Hapsburgs had the money, the soldiers, and the clout. If anyone was placed at that time to re-create the borders of the Roman Empire and more.

Not seeing it happen. A lot of the funds were sucked away fighting the 30 Years War and on and off wars with the Ottomans. In effect, the Hapsburgs had to protect all of Europe from the Ottoman ambitions, while everyone had their own agenda. So much for the money. Keep in mind that when there was an Anglo-Austrian alliance, the English and later British kept pouring money into the throat of the Hapsburgs. Not saying they were terminally weakened at the point, far from it, but they would not have the ability to wage war after war to recreate the boarders. It might be find pretext (harder than you might think), go to war, win, consolidate for 3 decades, and then repeat. All while keeping the Ottomans out of their Hungarian lands.

Also note that France actually allied with the Ottomans at one point to destroy Hapsburg hegemony. This failed. It simply didn't occur to the French that if it worked, the Ottomans would likely treat them the same as other non Muslim states they signed agreements with... destroy them once their use is over.

Why couldn't Britain fall?

Oh I don't know, maybe you need control over Normandy to launch an invasion of England without massive numerical superiority? And France is kind of sitting on that land. And the best way the Hapsburgs could beat the French would be using the English to augment Austrian and Spanish forces? The massive Spanish Armada might have been able to defeat the English (England was in a sorry state at that time, if it's time to invade from a farther port, it's from Henry VIII's life to the beginning of Elizabeth's reign), but that POD means the reformation is strong in the Netherlands, Saxony, Denmark and the Palatinate, meaning even a Hapsburg in the 30 years war is likely to be long and costly.

A Personal Union with the Austrian Hapsburgs and the English might work and then worm its way to some French conquests. The problem is... well how are you going to do that?

Not that Britain won't fall, but the most likely point is too late to prevent a ruinous war
 
And why couldn't it be broken under Landschecht pikemen, 100,000 men with muskets, and all the finest Europe as to offer, why couldn't the Hapsburgs conquer Constantinople and the Middle East and rule with a rod of iron?

Because the Hapsburg commanders in most of their wars against the turks suffered cases of tactical stupidity. We have counterexamples on a single hand. I don't know why they 1500s to 1700s they never adapted.
 

ben0628

Banned
I still think that your best bet would is a Europe/North Africa ruled by multiple Hapsburg dynasties who are antonomous yet Technically still submit to the main branch of the Hapsburgs in the HRE.

- Hapsburg HRE (controls Austria, Netherlands/Belgium, the Rhine, and the Northern Balkans, Northern Italy, also have German and Slavic vassals).
- Hapsburg Kingdom of Spain (controls North Africa and Southern Italy).
- Hapsburg France (idk how this is possible).
- Hapsburg crusader state in the holy Land (idk how this is possible
 
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And why couldn't it be broken under Landschecht pikemen, 100,000 men with muskets, and all the finest Europe as to offer, why couldn't the Hapsburgs conquer Constantinople and the Middle East and rule with a rod of iron?

Because the Ottoman Empire is the premier power of the day, with frequently great rulers and a massive army and navy to call upon. There's a reason the Europe feared them so much. That's a lot of rolls of the dice that need to go the wrong way, repeatedly, for the Turks to lose. Even if you did dismantle them, there's no way you'd be able to hold onto the Middle East for long. You'd get a powerful new state to replace the Turks (and the Persians would grab the rest).

Oh, and add the Protestant Reformation to the list as to why this is basically impossible. With the Turks on one side and Protestants everywhere else, the Habsburgs have a host of enemies, and enemies who will frequently ally with each other (Franco-Ottoman alliance, Protestants supporting the Ottomans, etc.).
 
I still think that your best bet would is a Europe/North Africa ruled by multiple Hapsburg dynasties who are antonomous yet Technically still submit to the main branch of the Hapsburgs in the HRE.

- Hapsburg HRE (controls Austria, Netherlands/Belgium, the Rhine, and the Northern Balkans, Northern Italy, also have German and Slavic vassals).
- Hapsburg Kingdom of Spain (controls North Africa and Southern Italy).
- Hapsburg France (idk how this is possible).
- Hapsburg crusader state in the holy Land (idk how this is possible

I can see this with a 3rd Crusade POD, NOT the OP's demands.
 
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