Rudolph II	Matthias	Ferdinand II	Ferdinand III	Leopold I

The Holy Roman Empire included most of the area of modern Germany, and some bordering lands like Austria, and Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). It consisted of scores of small states and autonomous cities as well as a few large states such as Bavaria and Brandenburg-Prussia. In theory, the Emperor held supremacy, but in practice the states were self-governing and formed leagues both with one another and with foreign powers to protect their autonomy. In the first half of the seventeenth century, Ferdinand II tried to re-impose Catholicism and his own control throughout the Empire.  During the 1620's it appeared that he might succeed, but French and Swedish intervention forced the Emperor to acknowledge defeat in 1648.

During the seventeenth century, all the Holy Roman Emperors were chosen from the Habsburg family, which also ruled hereditary possessions in Austria, Bohemia and Hungary. Much of Hungary had been seized by the Ottoman Turks, who in 1683 invaded Austria and laid siege to Vienna. The Turks were repulsed and in the 1690s, the Habsburgs directed their efforts to regaining control of their lands from the Turkish invaders. The sacrifice of imperial ambitions in Germany enabled the Habsburgs to construct a powerful and effective state that was was more than a match for declining Ottoman power.