Editing Early modern Europe (section)

===Holy Roman Empire===
Since 1512, the [[Holy Roman Empire]] was also known as the ''Holy Roman Empire of the [[Germans|German nation]]''. The Habsburg [[House of Austria]] held the position of [[Holy Roman Emperor]]s since the mid-1400s and for the entire Early modern period. Despite the lack of a centralized political structure in a period in which national monarchies were emerging, the Habsburg Emperors of the Early modern period came close to form a [[universal monarchy]] in Western Europe.

The Habsburgs expanded their control within and outside the Holy Roman Empire as a result of the dynastic policy pursued by [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor]]. Maximilian I married [[Mary of Burgundy]], thus bringing the [[Burgundian Netherlands]] into the Habsburg inheritance. Their son, [[Philip the Handsome]], married [[Joanna the Mad]] of Spain (daughter of [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]] and [[Isabella of Castile]]). [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]] (son of Philip and Joanna) inherited the [[Habsburg Netherlands]] in 1506, [[Habsburg Spain]] and its territories in 1516, and [[Archduchy of Austria|Habsburg Austria]] in 1519.

The main opponents of the Habsburg Empire were the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the [[Kingdom of France]]. The Habsburgs clashed [[French-Habsburg rivalry|with France]] in a series of Italian wars. The [[Battle of Pavia]] (1525) initiated the Habsburg primacy in Italy and the replacement of France as the main European power. Nevertheless, religious wars forced Charles V to abdicate in 1556 and divide the Habsburg possessions between Spain and Austria. The next Holy Roman [[Emperor Ferdinand I]] completed the [[Council of Trent]] and maintained Germany at peace until the [[Thirty Years' War]] (1618–1648). The Habsburgs controlled the elective monarchies of Hungary and Bohemia as well, and eventually turned these states into hereditary domains.