As my title suggests, I'm looking to get into the Holy Roman Empire, which, to my understanding is a cluster heck of small governed city states
So, I'm looking for proper help on the subject. I would just Google it, but much like other things, Google isn't 100% an opinion based human. It's a search engine, and old pulls up topics.
Which is why I'm here asking you all's advice and suggestions on looking for books, YouTube videos, just about anything that you trust to be historically correct on the H.R.E
TD;RL: I need books on the Holy Roman Empire .w.
Also, as a side note. If there's any suggestions for Austrian History, that'd be great as well. Danke!
The Holy Roman Empire by Peter Wilson is fantastic, but my lecturer used to refer to it as “the tractor manual” because of how detailed and sometimes very difficult it is to follow at times.
Germany and the Holy Roman Empire by Joachim Whaley is an amazing introduction to the HRE and I can’t recommend it enough.
The HRE in general is obviously as it spanned for around 1,000 years, but I've found it personally helpful to start toward the end and work backward- focusing especially on why it failed to become a state compared to the likes of Louis XIV's France or the even more divided Habsburg Empire. The obvious topic of interest in means for the HRE's failure would be the ultimate event which would set the empire (and the German territories as a whole) drastically behind in terms of progress- The Thirty Year's War. My favourite book covering this tragedy is The Thirty Years War by C.V. Wedgwood.
The eras of Charlemagne and Otto I are also particularly interesting, but my personal preference was to start at the end and move backward. If you have a particular era in mind let me know and I'll try to accommodate your interests.