Why? Why not create a centralised unified state instead?

>>3308227

1/2

It's not really this easy... It would take a fucking while to explain because it would mean that i'd have to go back to fucking Charlemagne. The making of the holy roman empire is a long and complex thing. I will be short but then i might be inacurrate.

Charlemagne dies in 814 and his empire has been, after a war between his children and the treaty of Verdun (understand why the germans wanted to take Verdun in 1916? Verdun was a strategic but also symbolic place), divided between three of his children. Lotharingia (whose ruler Lothar hold the symbolic title of emperor) and eastern francia ended up tied together through sucessions, while the western francia became the kingdom of France.

Then, let's just say that, in theory (even if 90% of the time it was just a formality) frankish rulers were elected by the plaid (the assembly of the greats). the electing system of the holy roman empire is a reminiscence of this system : the emperor is elected among the great of the empire. He's just the feudal ruler of a bunch of semi independant lands, held by kings, counts, bishops... With the end of the middle ages, while other kingdoms began to be centralized (France under Charles VII, England after the war of the roses), the empire was still, because of his electing system and other things :the emperor is powerful, of course, but he's just a powerful lord among a lot of other lords. Another explaination might be the religious differences, the Brandeburg duke / king in prussia being a protestant. There was also the ottoman threat to the east.

>>3308548

2/2


One man almost managed to rule for real over the empire : Charles V Von Habsburg aka Charles V Of Spain. At the time, to become emperor, you litteraly had to bribe the electors of the empire, being the biggest princes. Charles was already a pretender, being the grandson of the emperor Maximilian, but with the spanish riches he managed to make himself king. Imagine : Ruling over spain + the spanish colonies, austria, the netherlands, lots of italian lands and being the emperor! But with the kebab menace + the rivalry against the french, Charles V never managed to create an empire that would rule over all of the christians.

I hope i answered to your question.

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>>3308548
>>3308560
not OP, but nice reply, appreciated.

Not as elaborate as the previous Anon, but I'll try to give it a more pragmatic outlook on the reason:
1.) No man wants to share power: All these smaller states were ruled by individual powers and dynasties. To have a centralized government meant to give away power and control over your piece of land. If youve ever worked so,ewhere, youll notice a spot or department that has little purpose if none at all. Nonetheless, it will exist because erasing this department would mean loss of purpose, power and influence of the people within that department. Nobody wants to give that away, so it can't really be done peacefully or voluntarily. You can see this in the EU for instance, where nations are reluctant to give up powers on a higher level because they fear a loss of power and sovereignity. Keep in mind, that many of these German parts had a decent amont of power too, so giving that up wouldve meant a loss for them. Also cultural differences play in factor as people fear, losing their distinct identity and traditions.
2.) War: Most other centralized countries at that time had become so, because the parts of the country were conquered long before (France, Britain, Spain) If any nation took it as their goal to unify the Germans by force, this wouldve upset the other powers or wouldve had them meddling in the affairs to gain or maintain a sphere of influence, making it very costly to do so. This lack of centralized government also meant little national identity, as that ideology was stull in the making by centralized powers. A pangermanic identity based on a state was still in the making and would only blossom after a common enemy (France) was found during the Napoleonic wars

>>3308227
Because the game railroads you into power, but then rng gives you three sons with bad traits and claims on each others lands, and you die before you manage to change inheritance law away from fucking gavelkind.

>>3308227
A bunch of kings like Frederick II or Chales tried.

It's harder than it looks, the second you start putting your plans into motion is the moment everyone on Europe gangs up on you because becoming the absolute king of the germans gives you the resources and manpower to basically steamroll the rest of Europe into submission.

>>3308842
*Charles V

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>>3308227
What a coincidence