Did the Holy Roman Empire win any big battles or wars?

by TheShadowsShade

I'm asking because you'd think such a dominant power in Europe for almost a millennium would have plenty but I'm having a hard time finding them. The Third Crusade was an embarrassing failure. Most battles between The Teutonic Knights against the Poles and Lithuanians seem to be defeats, and the empire was beaten several times in the Hussite Wars. Yet somehow Germany still occupies Poland and Bohemia for awhile? The Thirty Year War had no clear winner but Germany suffered by far the most from it, and of course the Napoleonic Wars were filled with humiliating defeats until the end. Did the HRE have any great victories?

Lubyak

Well, the HRE itself is unlikely to have won major victories, since most often the army fighting wasn't an HRE army. It would be the army of the Emperor or an army of a particular prince of the Empire, but not an HRE Imperial Army. As a side note, it's a bit improper to say Bohemia was 'occupied' by Germany since they were a full legal part of the HRE, and the King of Bohemia was an imperial elector. In addition, the full partition of Poland didn't occur until the late 18th early 19th century. For much of the early modern, the Polish-Lithuaninan Commonwealth was a major power in its own right.

However, on to the core of your question: what are some Imperial victories? As I said before, it's a bit difficult to clarify as the armies engaged in battles belonged to the princes and the Emperor, not the Empire. However, the armies of the Emperor did have lots of battlefield success in the early modern. White Mountain and much of the early Thirty Years War were full of successful campaigns by the Emperor's armies, and Nordlingen was a major victory against the Swedes. After the Thirty Years War, the Great Turkish War saw the Emperor's army--with a large contingent from the Empire--defeat the Turks at Vienna and conquered Hungary. Simultaneously in the Nine Years War the Emperor--again with major contributions from the princes--held off the French under Louis XIV. The same is true during the War of the Spanish Succession, with the victory at Blenheim being a particularly famous one, in conjunction with the British army under Marlborough.

So, there are lots of wars and battles that either the Emperor or a coalition of the Imperial princes won. However, most likely the combatants would be listed not as 'the HRE' but rather as the Austrians, the Bavarians, the Saxons, or any other of the German princes.

Hope this helps, and feel free to ask any follow ups!