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The most influential royal family: what is the real reason for the decline of Habsburg dynasty?
15- 17 One of the most obvious events in Europe in the century was the decline of the Habsburg dynasty and the rise of emerging nation-states such as Britain, France and the Netherlands. If Europe in 16 and 17 centuries was dominated by Germany and Spain under the Habsburg dynasty, then in 18 and 19 centuries, Britain, France and other emerging nation-states dominated the European stage. The decline of one side and the rise of the other side show a clear trajectory of power transfer among big countries. Habsburg dynasty is neither the holy Roman Empire of Germany nor Spain, but a family-based dynasty complex. The territory of this family dynasty complex has formed a network from Gibraltar to Hungary and from Sicily to Amsterdam. During the reign of German Emperor Charles V (15 19 ~ 1596), the territory of the dynasty complex included Castilla, Aragon, Burgundy, Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, Portugal and the Netherlands ruled by Spain. The inhabitants of the territory ruled by the Habsburg dynasty accounted for 1 of the population of early modern Europe.

The reasons for the failure of Habsburg dynasty are: the huge cost of war led to the empire making ends meet; There are too many people in charge, too many enemies and too many fronts to defend; Rebellion of German vassals; The rise of Luther Protestantism shook the instability of the imperial regime; Besides, the wars in Italy, France, Turkey and the Netherlands did more harm than good. As a result, "140 years of war caused terrible huge expenses, which were imposed on a society that could not afford it economically." Habsburg monarchs can't collect taxes in the most effective way, so they have to resort to various expedient measures, which are convenient in the short term, but extremely harmful to the long-term interests of the country. "All kinds of contradictions inside and outside the Habsburg dynasty are intertwined, and the decline follows. It is convincing to explain the collapse of Habsburg Empire by the fact that economic strength cannot support expensive war expenses, but there seems to be a deeper reason.

From the perspective of strength and strength operation, the decline of Habsburg dynasty is obviously not just a problem that the economy is unable to support military spending. The weak foundation of imperial rule, imperial expansion strategy, unbalanced national strength and irrational abuse of national strength are the four most important factors that comprehensively explain the decline of Habsburg dynasty.

Under the rule of this imperial military model, property rights, flexible and efficient production methods, open markets, and the allocation of rich human and material resources are in a state of stagnation, and wars and crises continue. It is no exaggeration to say that there has been a general forecast of the * * *, resources and system construction of the ruled areas and countries. On the one hand, it is the profligacy of Habsburg royal family members; On the other hand, the resistance of the ruling area is also growing. As a result, the foundation of the Habsburg family complex was seriously eroded, and even developed to the point where the Habsburg family intervened, resulting in the loss of * * * and the outbreak of war.

The example from Britain is the most convincing: the marriage of Charles V's son, King Philip of Spain and Queen Mary of England not only dragged Britain into the war with France, but also made Philip king of England for a time. In order to support Philip, Mary combined political power with religious fanaticism, brutally suppressed Protestants, and was called "bloody Mary" by people at that time. The lesson here is that if you lose your dignity, you will be trampled on and eventually lose your freedom and peace. A historical fact that has not been fully understood is that the Habsburg family empire cares about family interests rather than national interests. The orientation of this family alliance model and the basic strategy derived from it are to crack down on various forces in one's own jurisdiction to expand the family territory, and to use one's decision-making power to obtain the resources of the country where the jurisdiction is located to expand in Europe, regardless of the fundamental interests of the countries in one's own jurisdiction and other European countries.

Take Germany as an example: Martin Luther wants to establish a national church, the citizen class wants to develop modern industry and commerce, and the ordinary people want to have a stable political and ecological environment. All these wishes that were beneficial to the development of Germany were rejected by Charles V, and even suppressed militarily. From this, it is not difficult to imagine that Lutheran sects are independent, and the civil class is allied with the monarch and goes bankrupt. The people launched the 1525 uprising, which was called the German peasant war by later generations, and the German governors took the opportunity to shoulder the function of maintaining political and social order in their own countries.

In addition to the consortium of the family dynasty, Habsburg is synonymous with terrible plunder, expansion and war. France, Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Italy all suffered greatly, so they had to rise up and resist, or form a grand alliance of Habsburg family dynasties in the name of politics or religion. As a result, the Habsburg family dynasty made enemies on all sides, was trapped in internal and external affairs, and gradually declined. Habsburg family dynasty is feudal and deformed in system, which can neither meet the needs of real social development nor realize the balanced development of national strength. Habsburg's political influence is expansion, hegemony, inquisition and rude intervention in various countries; Economically, they tried their best to plunder their own resources for foreign wars; Militarily, although seemingly powerful, it needs a lot of manpower and material resources to support it; Culturally, it resists all new things.

Both the Renaissance and the Reformation were the targets of Germany's attack. In addition to suppressing Lutheran Protestantism by force, Hutten, the most famous German humanist, and Harmer, a city councilor in Nuremberg, were suppressed. It can be said that in the Middle Ages, the feudal system was stubbornly pursued, and all advanced systems and cultures conducive to national development were excluded and suppressed, which seriously hindered the national development of Germany. Luxurious court life can best reflect the political characteristics of the old Habsburg imperial system.

Soon, Charlie defeated the Protestant League there. In order to penetrate into the southern region, he strengthened the ties between the Swaban Alliance and the Low Land Alliance, and held imperial conferences in augsburg and other places, but the center of discussion was still not the centralized monarchy. Only Archduke Ferdinand really took a step forward, but his main interest was the scepter of Bohemia and Hungary.

Therefore, Austria's power was not used to rule southern Germany and the empire, but to resist the expansion of the Ottoman Turks. The emperor plundered citizens' money to expand his power, launched foreign wars wantonly, and had no intention of establishing a German nation-state, which seriously deteriorated the relationship between the monarch and the civil class. What's more, the emperor could not even protect the existing German territory. During the reign of Max Miriam I, the territory of Germany shrank rapidly. The Austrian family in the northwest replaced the valois family to weaken Germany, but strengthened the Netherlands; Germany's colonial area in the northeast and the jurisdiction of the Teutonic Order moved to Poland day by day; In the south, the authority of the empire in Italy is weakening year by year; The 1499 Schwaben War led Switzerland to break away from the empire and establish an independent Swiss Federation.

In short, the reason for the decline of Habsburg family dynasty lies entirely in the unstable foundation of the dynasty and the abuse of resources. The dynasty intervened in all European affairs, ignoring the interests of countries within its jurisdiction and investing all its resources in foreign expansion; The development of national strength is unbalanced, rejecting and attacking all advanced systems; The use of state power is completely out of control, and a lot of money is spent on war, abuse of force and belligerence, which eventually makes the Habsburg family complex a military complex. Of course, what is wrapped under the military uniform is a weak body that is strong outside and dry inside. Because everything is on military gambling, once the war fails, the dynasty will fall apart. This is the main reason why the Habsburg family empire is weakening.