Why did Austria instead of Bavaria rise to become a European great power.

Geographically and demographically in the medieval period Bavaria was in a better position than Austria yet it was Austria that rose to prominence and then to great power status after that. Was it the Habsburg influence or something else. Before people start commenting about the Burgundian and Spanish inheritance I'm talking about the period before that when Austria was able to still compete with Hungary and France.
 
Could you precise which period you are refering to ?

To my opinion, there was no such period. Austria was not prominent in the HRE before the Burgundian marriage. And It is necessary precision that Bavaria was divided between several branches of the house of Wittelsbach. So was curent Austria between several branches of the house of Habsburg.

Before the Burgundian marriage, Habsburg Austria was just one of the big dynastic powers inside the HRE. They may have reached dominance 2 generations earlier if Albert II who had won the inheritance of the house of Luxemburg and his son Ladislaw had not extincted prematurely.
 
Could you precise which period you are refering to ?

To my opinion, there was no such period. Austria was not prominent in the HRE before the Burgundian marriage. And It is necessary precision that Bavaria was divided between several branches of the house of Wittelsbach. So was curent Austria between several branches of the house of Habsburg.

Before the Burgundian marriage, Habsburg Austria was just one of the big dynastic powers inside the HRE. They may have reached dominance 2 generations earlier if Albert II who had won the inheritance of the house of Luxemburg and his son Ladislaw had not extincted prematurely.

I'm referring to the period during and after rudolf I of Germany when Austria grew after the interregnum of 1246-1278
 
Interregnum was 1250-1273. And when Rudolph of Habsburg became emperor in 1273, he was not duke of Austria yet. Ottakar of Bohemia then had taken control of Austria. Austria was just the prize Rudolph retained for his own house of Habsburg after he defeated Ottakar. So Austria was not dominant by itself.

I would say that Austria became dominant in the early 16th century due to other lucky Habsburg marriages. Not before.
 
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