Perpetual Realm and Sphere of Influence

The **Perpetual Realm and Sphere of Influence** refers to the colloquial confederation of states, provinces and nations that are members of the **Fürstenbund** *(**League of Princes**)*, also known as the ***Prince's Confederation in League of the Prussian Crown***. The league was a Prussian-led confederation of mostly Protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire formed under the leadership of Frederick II of Prussia.  The alliance, which initially comprised the three major northern states of Prussia, Hanover and Saxony, was set up officially to safeguard the constitutional integrity and territorial status quo of the Empire, but more immediately to oppose the long-cherished ambition of Joseph II to add Bavaria to the Habsburg domains; in addition to checking his mother, Maria-Theresia in her ambitions of dissolving Prussia, Poland and Saxony.

Essential to the concept of this federation was that the imperial estates not only came together to reform the imperial system, but - in view of the Prussian-Austrian rivalry in the empire - above all to defend it, as the third element of a triad that was to be formed. The formation of the league was an epic chapter in the saga that was the ***Austro-Prussian dualism***. This dualism refers to Austria and Prussia , which were the two most important powers in Germany from the early modern period until 1866, when Prussia was universally recognised as dominant. Although the League of Princes was designed to preserve the imperial status quo and the existing German structure, Frederick II enjoyed a high reputation in the empire as a philosopher-king, enlightened figure and charismatic ruler; using the League of Princes as an anti-Habsburg counterweight among the imperial estates.

Faith also separated the two states. **Protestant** and enlightened Prussia opposed **Catholic** and absolutist Austria; Obedience and self-discipline- voluntary self-commitment, were more important in the civil service and in the Prussian army than faith, which in turn was decisive in Austria. A key difference was that Prussia was more focused on domestic affairs, while Austria expanded south and east. With the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and in this new multi-ethnic state, crises and conflicts were foreseeable; between the Germans, Hungarians, Slavs, and many other nationalities, there was often disagreement and diverging interests.

## Kingdom of Prussia, Electorate of Brandenburg, and the House of Hohenzollern

### Prussia, Austria and German Dualism

The Prussian monarchy was a young state entity, which as a result of the coronation of **Frederick I & III** emerged from the merger of the Electorate of Brandenburg with the Kingdom of Prussia; Austria was traditionally considered the dominant power of the **Holy Roman Empire**, whose ruling house (the House of Habsburg) had held the imperial throne since the coronation of Albert II of Germany. Prussia, on the other hand, was originally viewed more as an upstart among the German states, which had even less contiguous territory than Austria (the Kingdom was formally established on January 18th, 1701).

After Emperor Charles VI died on October 20, 1740, and there was no male descendant in the Habsburg family; Archduchess **Maria-Theresia** succeeded her as ruler of the Habsburg territories in accordance with the ***Pragmatic Sanction of 1713***. However, not all European princes recognized the Pragmatic Sanction, including Frederick II of Prussia. In exchange for recognition, he demanded **Silesia** from Austria, based on old treaties. On December 11, 1740, he gave Maria Theresa an ultimatum in this regard. Without waiting for an answer to the ultimatum, Prussia invaded Silesia on December 16, 1740, triggering the First Silesian War and the War of the Austrian Succession.

After the ***Peace of Dresden***, Prussia was no longer involved in the War of Austrian Succession, which only ended in 1748 with the ***Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle***, in which the European powers recognized the *Pragmatic Sanction* and Maria-Theresia as heir to the throne. Prussia was reaffirmed Silesia in the peace treaty. After 1748, Maria-Theresia introduced reforms in her lands, except *Hungary*, to improve the state and increase military strength so that she could regain possession of Silesia. In terms of foreign policy, she tried to isolate Prussia, by forming alliances with Russia and France. After the reforms had taken effect, the Austrian army prepared them for an invasion of Prussia. The question was when and where they would strike. Furthermore, they required an ear in the Prussian court. Where could they turn? Saxony.

Frederick II became aware of the ***Austro-Russian-French-Saxon alliance*** through his spies; He was confronted with the problem of a **multi-front war**. To solve this, he made an alliance with England ***(Convention of Westminster)*** and invaded Saxony on August 29, 1756 without a declaration of war, which triggered the Seven Years' War. He planned to achieve a quick victory over Saxony and conquer it because Saxony was important to Prussia for economic and military reasons. After a victory in Saxony, he laid siege to Prague in order to quickly conquer to permanently station troops in Bohemia. He wanted to force Austria to enter into peace negotiations, and after a peace agreement, Russia should no longer dare to go into the field alone against Prussia. By fortune, Empress **Elisabeth-Petrovna of Russia** died on January 5th, 1762. She was succeeded by her nephew, Peter of Holstein (AKA **Peter III of Russia**), a Pro-Prussian duke from Holstein, whose family had dedicated generations of military servitude to Prussia. This led to the immediate annulment of the Austro-Russian Alliance, the termination of hostilities with Prussia and the confederation of Russian soldiers, now placed under Frederick II's command.

Austria was then forced to make peace with Prussia; she was already at the end of her military and economic strength. In the ***Peace of Hubertusburg***, Upper and Lower Silesia, including the County of Glatz, was bindingly assigned to Prussia for all time. A different situation arose when Prussia and Russia planned the first partition of Poland . In exchange for Austria's consent, Prussia offered Austria a share as well. When it was partitioned in 1772, Austria got Galicia, Russia Polish Livonia and the Belarusian voivodships and Prussia all Prussian areas that had been under Polish rule up to that point.

This changed when the **Bavarian line of the Wittelsbach's** died out in 1777 and **Charles-Theodore from the Palatinate Wittelsbach's** line was to inherit the Electorate of Bavaria. Emperor Joseph II, the son of Maria-Theresia, saw Bavaria as a suitable place to expand his lands after the loss of Silesia. Charles-Theodore bowed to Austrian pressure and ceded Lower Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate, in return for which he was to receive Upper Austria. This was met with the rejection of the other members of the Empire and Prussia. Frederick II therefore had his troops invade Bohemia, igniting the War of the Bavarian Succession, just as he had done almost 40 years prior in Silesia. As a result, France and Russia mediated the ***Peace of Teschen***, in which Joseph II recognized the succession of the Palatinate Wittelsbach branch; restoring the Status-Quo.

In 1786 Frederick II of Prussia died. At the time, Austria and Russia began another campaign against the Turks to push the weak Ottoman Empire out of Europe and divide up the conquered territories among themselves. That would have meant a massive shift in power in Europe, favouring Austria and Russia; the new Prussian King, Frederick William II, did not want to accept. In 1790 ,he concentrated the Prussian army in Silesia; preparing to lead it against Austria as his late uncle had done. Austria, realising the faux-pas, retired from the scene and permitted the Russians to venture alone against the Turks, vanquishing them.

The advent of the French Revolution in 1789 posed many problems for German unity altogether. With Frederick II, Maria-Theresia, Joseph II and majority of the veteran rulers deceased, their successors were absolved to make peace and unite against the French Republic, preserving monarchism in Europe. This was commenced by the **Reichenbach Convention of 1790**.

In 1791, Austria and Prussia allied themselves in the ***Pillnitz Declaration*** and declared unlimited solidarity with the French king, Louis XVI. The French National Convention then declared war on Austria and Prussia on April 20, 1792. Initially succesful, the Pillnitz Pact proved to be weak by the onset of a resurrection of Friderician-era politics and the appalling state of the Austrian Army. While Prussia committed with grace, Austria faltered, facing defeats. By the time of the Battle of Verdun in 1792, Prussia was seeming to achieve victory, until Austria abandoned her, making a separate peace with the French. Prussia, betrayed, was forced to retreat, before it, too, made peace. Prussia concluded the ***Peace of Basel*** in 1795 , Austria the ***Peace of Campo Formio*** in 1797; Both agreed to the cession of the areas on the left bank of the Rhine to France and had to receive compensation for this.

By 1804, France posed an astronomical threat with the rise of Napoléon Bonaparte as Emperor of the French. Soon, all of Europe was under the threat of French invasion or annexation. The old European system shattered in 1805 at the Grand Battle of Austerlitz, wherein France's Grand Army, under Napoléon, defeated the coalition forces of Austria, Prussia and Russia. With the loss at Austerlitz, coupled to the ceding of vital territory, Austria dissolved the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Prussia, facing near-ruin, was forced to allow the French to occupy 90% of its territory as the court fled to the native East-Prussia.

In 1812, after the French defeat in Russia, Austria and Prussia broke the French yolk and allied with Russia. Together, they liberated Germany from Napoléon. At the **Congress of Vienna** in 1815, the territories of Austria and Prussia were largely restored to the Status-Quo of 1789. After the Congress of Vienna, a phase of restoration began in Germany. However, questions began to arose about German unity. Thus, the old rivalry of Austria and Prussia was renewed.

In March 1848, the abuses mentioned drove the people to the barricades, and a revolution ensued. It had a variety of reasons: *the striving for a nation state, the oppression of the liberals and nationalists, and the social question that arose in the course of the industrial revolution*. An all-German parliament was elected for the first time; the **Frankfurt National Assembly** drew up a constitution for *Germany. H*owever, this did not become effective due to the counter-revolution, led by Prussia. Collectively, neither Austria or Prussia, nor the other significant states of Germany wanted a nation state with a liberal constitution.

Prussia tried to create a more conservative ''Lesser'' Germany through the **Erfurt Union of 1850**.  Austria proposed a ''Greater'' Germany: its entire territory should belong to a Prussian-Austrian confederation. The dispute came to a head in the *autumn crisis of 1850*, when Austria and Prussia were on the brink of war. Russian support for Austria caused Prussia to abandon its Union policy. At the end of the 1850s, national development became fervent again. Prussia tried to use the national movement to expand its power. Prussia rejected a federal reform proposed by Austria for fear of losing power; Prussia stayed away from the Frankfurt Assembly from there on.

After the crushed German Revolution of 1848, the question of German unification had not yet been resolved. Although the German Confederation was restored, national feelings were not satisfied. In addition, the nobility also saw the benefits of national unification, especially from an economic point of view. A uniform German internal market should be the basis for the industrial revolution that is picking up speed in Germany. As part of the Prussian constitutional conflict, **Otto von Bismarck** was appointed Prime Minister by Prussian King **William I** in 1862 . Bismarck ruled against the Prussian constitution and laid the foundation for the German wars of unification during this period. His army reform was the basis for the successful Prussian wars. His attitude towards solving political problems was also important for Prussia's subsequent warlike attitude. However, Bismarck's main credit is that he was able to win over the liberal forces in Prussia for a German *"unification from above".*

## Composition of the League of Princes

### Electorates

* Saxony (1742)
* Mainz (1742)
* Bavaria (1745)
* Cologne (1745)
* Trier (1745)
* Bohemia & Moravia (Dual-Government in Austro-Prussian custody c. 1747)

### Duchies

* Brunswick (Dual Marriage of Elisabeth of Brunswick in 1733; c. 1740)
* Württemberg (1740)
* Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1740
* Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1740)
* The Palatinate (1745)

### Principalities

* Anhalt (1740)
* Tübingen (1740)
* Salm (1740)
* Thurn & Taxis (1745)
* Löwenstein (1745)
* Lippe-Detmold (1740)

### Marches

* Baden-Baden (1740)
* Baden-Durlach (1742)
* Hesse (1740)

### Counties

* Finck von Finckenstein (1740)
* Hertzberg (1740)
* Lippe (1740)
* Erbach (1740)
* Limburg (1740)
* Sayn (1740)
* Schulenburg (1740)
* Stolberg (1740)
* Pappenheim (1740)
* Hochberg (1740)
* Hallencourt de Dromesnil de Verdun (1742)
* Aldenburg-Bentinck (1742)
* Schnewlin (1745)
* Fox of Bimbach (1745)
* Schönborn (1745)

### Fiefdoms

* Aspermont of Switzerland (1740)
* Mudrach of Silesia (1750)