Can you explain to an idiot how the Holy Roman Empire worked?

>>2973410
What an ugly map

>>2973410
In large part, it didn't.

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>worked

In what period of its existence did you want to know how it worked? It existed for a very long time and it had a multitude of different electoral and geographical stages.

>>2973472
start from the beginning

>>2973410
It was initially more centralized, but the emperor gradually lost power as princes picked up governance, essentially creating independent statelets.
The inbred Habsburg dynasty was the death knell.

>>2973425
Just like how the HRE was ugly?
France > Habsburgs

>>2973443
This. It was neither Holy, Roman, nor an empire. It was a collection of states managed by individual princes. HRE was weak and divided.

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>HoMʏ

>>2973476
when god created the earth He thought to himself:
>it would be nice to have just one - and only one- holy country that would carry his true and eternal, one - and only one- wisdom

so he created a fucking mess

>>2973410
>how it worked
It didn't

>>2973410
Basically, the "empire" would be made of of roughly 300 semi-independent city states. Some of the more powerful or influential states would be considered "electors" these states and their rulers would all get together and vote on who should be the "Emperor". The emperor they elected would usually be an Austrian Habsburg with only a few exceptions early on. As time progressed the emperor would lose most of his power and would primarily be a figure head. At the end of the empire most states would basically be independent in every way but name.

Depending on the time period the HRE could work vastly different than this but that's a decent crash course of what most people think of when they hear HRE

>>2973410
It's like the EU, toothless meme club.

>>2973410
>
>
>

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>>2973896
>The emperor they elected would usually be an Austrian Habsburg with only a few exceptions early on
not true, the Habsburgs only where Emperor in the late medieval and early modern. Stauffer and other guys did rule when the Empire in fact was one.
The decentralized and federal Empire worked better than one would expect, being the dominant power of Europe for large parts of the medieval and having peace and prosperity for centuries.

>>2973964

in the wars of the HRW (before it got destroyed by Napoleon) against Turks, Prussia, France etc, what was the land the Habsburg king actually controlled, and from where were his troops?

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>>2973410
>Bunch of different kingdoms united under one empire
>They kick the shit out of each other most of the time
>Whenever someone else tries to kick the shit out them, they band together and kick the invader's shit

>>2973480
Ugly as Charles II was ugly

>>2974271
any chance you can be even more unspecific?

>>2974284
Thats actually the Swiss you are describing, the HRE was most of the time peaceful.
Also, there where only few kingdoms. duchies, earldoms, city states and church territories where the majority.

>>2973896
>The emperor they elected would usually be an Austrian Habsburg with only a few exceptions early on
Bullshit. One of the main reasons that the HRE didn't manage to centralize it's power on a single emperor was the lack of dynastical continuity till the late medieval period.
I like how you guys generalize a thousand years lasting and changing political structure to fit your meme narrative

>>2973410
It didn`t lmao. fugin germans wer livin in mud hut while we wuz pyrmids and phroahs and shiat.

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>>2973607

I am delighted. Though not quite a theological or historical argument, is is the one kind of humour that still gets through to me.

>>2974625
this

>>2974455
In the war of Austrian secession for example
Was the army like 30% Austrian 30 Czech 30 Hungarian 10 croat-Slovene? Or was it all Austrians? Did the general's speak different languages? Did loyal HRE subdits help or only Habsburg monarchy ones?

>>2975158
It is the war of the Austrian Succession, and at the time Maria Theresia was in Charge, she was not Emperor of the HRE, her hubby was, but then he was a tit.
That war was a veritable world war going on for 8 years and troop contingents changed considerably over time and theater of war.

>>2975158
P.S. at the Time the HRE existed only in name, there was no imperial army or such a thing. Instead there where Austrian armies, Prussian armies, Saxonian armies, French and so on.