Hello There,

The internal conflict between the protestant principalities of the north and the catholic principalities of the south, who were directly allied with the House of Habsburg and their counter-reformation agenda during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, explain much of the changes displayed between the two maps. Further consolidations of territory within the south of the Reich took place with the amalgamation of lesser Habsburg lands in Carinthia, Styria and Tyrol with the central branch of the House during the early 16th century. Preceding such changes was a number of Imperial reforms, which looked to streamline the governance of the Reich and though they had no lasting effect, they did precipitate the loosening of the Reich’s jurisdiction in northern Italy and Switzerland.

In northern Italy the territories which made up the Kingdom of Italy gradually began to assume the role of independent fiefdoms, thanks mainly to the expansion of the Republic of Venice, the power of the Papal states and the wealthy families of each of the city states able to remain fiscally and militarily independent of the emperors and the Imperial army. Such independence lead the states of Milan and Sardinia to act with far greater autonomy then constitutionally allowed for. The actions of Milan who sought out France as allies against the expanding Republic of Venice, who viewed themselves outside the bounds of theReich, led to the Habsburg-Valois wars and the end to the majority of the lesser duchies who had not been broken in the Lombard wars of the previous century. Eventually much of northern Italy past to the Spanish Habsburgs until the beginning of the eighteenth century when they came under the jurisdiction of the Austrian Habsburgs.

In Germany, the introduction of Imperial Circles who acted as localised fiscal military administrators for the Imperial crown began to closely align with their immediate major state. This began to formalise the divide between north and south and the western Netherlands principalities, who would eventual be allowed to leave and form the Dutch republic. When the rise of the reformed Lutheran teachings began to take hold in the northern states of the Reich in the middle of the sixteenth century and then in their respective courts, it directly challenged the power of the staunchly catholic emperor Charles V. This challenge was not tolerated by Charles V and with support of the southern princes and his brother in Vienna Ferdinand II, he fought the northern princes until Ferdinand settled the conflict in 1555 with the Peace of Augsburg.

Again the turmoil over dynastic rights, the power of the emperor and the freedom of religion ushered in the Thirty Years War, some seventy years after Augsburg. Already by this stage the principalities of the Reich were operating autonomously from Vienna. Through the introduction of Cameralists policies the major states of Saxony, Brandenburg, Bavaria and Wurttemberg were able to husband an economy that could sustain the princes and their armies without Imperial intervention from Vienna. This lead them to, as the cities in northern Italy had the previous century, act independently of the Reichstag and the emperors. The end of the Thirty Years War and the Peace of Westphalia gave each of the principalities of the Reich recognised rights to act independently from one another and from the emperors. It also further streamlined the Reich and gave territorial concessions to many of the German supporters of France, Sweden and the Habsburg Monarchy. Such territorial concessions led to the growth of Bavaria and Prussia, who were not afraid to invade lesser principalities as was highlighted by Prussia’s invasion of Julich-Berg in 1651 and Bavaria’s attempted annexation of Tyrol during the Wars of the Spanish Succession. By the middle of the eighteenth century, both states would aim to challenge the Habsburg Monarchy for dominance in central Europe, a challenge the Bavarians continued on until the end of the Napoleonic wars and Prussia until 1871.

To answer your question, the Habsburg Monarchy after the Peace of Augsburg could not successfully intervene in central Europe or prevent either external or internal states from infringing upon the myriad of borders found within the Reich. Though the majority of the Habsburg emperors did care about infringements and participated in various retaliatory wars for transgressions, they were also beset by many internal and external issues in their kingdoms outside the Reich. This led to widening responsibilities for the Habsburg Monarchy and thus diverging goals. In turn, such friction resulted in war and then diplomatic concessions and territorial acquisitions by minor states and foreign powers. All of which led to the demise of the Holy Roman Empire and the power of the emperors over the myriad of principalities who once owed them Imperial privileges.

For a better insight into this time see:

Wilson, P. H. The Holy Roman Empire

Ingrao, C. W. The Habsburg Monarchy 1618-1815

Grimm, H. J. The Reformation Era, 1500-1650

Hay, D, and Law, J. Italy in the Age of the Renaissance, 1380–1530