The Habsburg Empire
Explore the Habsburg Empire — the dynastic superpower that ruled Spain, Austria, and much of Europe through strategic marriages and Catholic orthodoxy.
The Habsburg dynasty was the most powerful family in early modern Europe, controlling at various times Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, Austria, the Netherlands, much of Italy, and vast territories in the Americas. Their motto — 'Let others wage war; you, happy Austria, marry' — captured their primary strategy: dynastic marriage as geopolitical tool.
The empire reached its peak under Charles V (r. 1519–1556), who inherited Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Naples, and the Holy Roman Empire — creating a domain so vast he famously said the sun never set on it. But governing such dispersed territories proved impossible. Charles ultimately divided his possessions between a Spanish branch (which received Spain and the Americas) and an Austrian branch (which received the Holy Roman Empire and Central European lands).
The Habsburgs were the great champions of Catholic orthodoxy during the Reformation era. They led the Counter-Reformation, fought the Protestant princes of the Holy Roman Empire in the devastating Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), and attempted to suppress Protestantism wherever they ruled. The Austrian Habsburgs survived until 1918, making them one of the longest-ruling dynasties in European history, while the Spanish branch died out in 1700, triggering the War of Spanish Succession.