How can I form the Kingdom of Germany?
Unification of Germany through Imperial reform
by Twoflower and Norrefeldt
Background
What if, at the Imperial Diet at Worms in 1495, the Emperor had been in an excellent diplomatic position that would have enabled him to make the diet implement the reform ideas of the so-called "Imperial party" within the Imperial Reform movement, i.e. an increase of the Emperor's authority and the permanent introduction of several central institutions, with the goal to make the HRE an effective modern state?
Historically, Emperor Maximilian due to his financial and political problems had to agree to several compromises with the "Princes' party", i.e. the electors and other powerful princes of the HRE, which resulted in the new institutions like the Imperial Chamber Court and the Imperial Circles being dominated mostly by the princes (and thus could not serve as a means to limit their autonomy) and the new imperial taxation being far from sufficient and soon abolished. The new institutions were short-lived and the reform generally worked more in favor of territorial autonomy and a loose federal structure of the Empire instead of a relatively strong central rule.
An emperor able to make the big princes act as he desires could however have pushed the idea of a powerful Empire/Kingdom of Germany that relies on the imperial knights, other small nobility and the cities.
The first event: Imperial Diet at Worms
The first event in this sequence is for the Reichstag (Imperial Diet) at Worms in 1495, the Imperial Diet where historically Maximilian gave in and opened the way to smaller reforms that were according to what the princes desired. It should be possible to trigger for any German secular principality (i.e. not the bishops Cologne, Mainz, Strassburg and Bremen, and not Helvetia).
Of the HRE states that do not have German as their primary state culture - Bohemia, Savoy, Lorraine, Gelderland, Brabant, Burgundy - some are exempted. This is decided on the base of how they were treated by the Imperial Reform, which would mean that Lorraine who were made part of the Upper Rhenish Imperial circle in 1500, should have the possibility (at the cost of losing French) - Savoy can already become Italy and would even be a thinkable candidate for the creation of a Kingdom of Lotharingia if we introduce that, it might not be necessary to allow it to become Germany as well, though -, while Bohemia, which was not part of a circle and thus not affected by the Imperial Reform, and Burgundy, Brabant and Gelderland, who were part of the Burgundian circle that was created only in 1512 and not really considered integral parts of the Empire anymore, as is demonstrated by the Pragmatic Sanction of 1548 which basically removed the Burgundian lands from the supremacy of the HRE, should not be able to get this event.
* The year is between 1495 and 1505.
* The receiving country is emperor.
* A country size of 6, i.e. the Emperor has a certain powerbase on his own.
* A badboy below 3, i.e. the Emperor has been rather peaceful and is not viewed as an aggressor; the reason for this condition is also that this unification possibility should be for a "diplomatic" player.
* Four of the five "real" electors represented in EU2, i.e. of Cologne, Mainz, Palatinate, Brandenburg and Saxony are a vassal and have +100 or better relations to the Emperor. This means that a majority of the votes in the Council of Electors (Bohemia's electoral vote was, although it of course in theory and legally was an electorate, not used at all after the death of Vaclav IV until 1708, therefore Bohemia should not be relevant to this event) will do as the Emperor pleases.
The immediate effects of choosing to implement the centralistic reform are a stab hit and a few events that give the big neighboring states who would obviously feel threatened by a powerful HRE a CB on the Emperor.
The second event: Imperial Diet at Augsburg
The event to become Germany is again done as a slight alteration to a historical event, the Diet at Augsburg in 1500, when historically most of the reforms that Maximilian and the princes could agree on were enacted. This means that it can be prevented by an intervention of a foreign power, using the CB given in the events triggered by the Imperial Diet at Worms event.
* Had the event “Imperial Diet at Worms”.
* The year is between 1500 and 1515.
* The receiving country is emperor.
* A country size of 6, i.e. the Emperor has a certain powerbase on his own.
* A badboy below 3, i.e. the Emperor has been rather peaceful and is not viewed as an aggressor; the reason for this condition is also that this unification possibility should be for a "diplomatic" player.
* At peace.
* Stability is 3.
The event turns the country that is emperor into Germany while keeping the original dynasty, removes possible additional country cultures, increases aristocracy a bit, pushes centralization to 0 (even a "centralized" HRE would still be very decentralized compared to other states) and gives cores on the parts of the Empire that were affected by the reforms, i.e. those that were included in Imperial Circles in 1500.
Subsequently, all countries that have their capital in lands that Germany gets a core on in the above event will get events where they can choose whether to accept the reform and be inherited by Germany or rebel against the Empire. That means Bavaria, Mecklenburg, Holstein, Hanover, Bremen, Hesse, Strasbourg, Lorraine, Savoy (is annexed only if it is a one-provincer, otherwise it cedes Savoie and moves its capital to Piemonte), Wirtemberg, Baden, Cleves, Oldenburg and Berg.
The inheritance event for Germany also awakes a set of leaders from the inherited country.
This does not apply to foreign countries, the electors and archdukes even when they own provinces Germany gets a core on and specifically not the Palatinate or Austria although the Upper Palatinate, i.e. the Würzburg province, is situated within the Bavarian circle and the Swabian Hapsburg possessions, i.e. the Baden province, is within the Swabian circle.
There are two versions for all countries with switched A and B choices; countries that are vassals or allies of Germany or that have good relations to Germany have being inherited as A, all others as B choice. This means that even though having the majority of the German countries is not a condition for the initial event, somebody turning into Germany by this sequence still will either need to at least invest in his relations to all German countries or have to fight in order to achieve complete unification.
Always save and reload after switching country tag!
Additional events (can happen in any order):
As is also explained in the event descriptions, the electors and the Hapsburg archdukes were granted regal powers by the Golden Bull and the Privilegium Maius and hence could not be included in Imperial Circles and thereby subjected to the new Imperial institutions as long as these institutions represented a real check on their power.
Only when the Common Penny and the Imperial Executive Council had been abolished and the domination of the Imperial Chamber Court by the electors had been secured was it possible to add the Electoral Rhenish (with the electorates of Mainz, Cologne, the Palatinate and Trier), the Upper Saxon (with the electorates of Saxony and Brandenburg and lands under their suzerainty) and the Austrian (with the Austrian lands, held by the Archduke of Austria). Here Germany can abolish the regalia, create the additional circles and thereby gain cores on these lands.
* The Electoral Rhenish circle
Requirements: own Salzburg, Austria, Steiermark, Tirol, no Austria exists, badboy under 5, stability 1 and at peace.
The most important effects are added cores on the provinces above, and granted leaders.
* The Upper Saxon circle
Requirements: own Brandenburg and Anhalt, badboy under 3, stab 1 and at peace.
The most important effects are added cores on the provinces above and Hinterpommern, Vorpommern, Magdeburg, Küstrin and Sachsen, and granted leaders. Events happen for Pomerania, Stettin and Meissen where they can choose whether to be inherited or not after the creation of the Upper Saxon circle.
* The Austrian circle
Requirements: own Salzburg, Austria, Steiermark, Tirol, no Austria exists, at peace with badboy under 5 and at peace.
The most important effects are added cores on the provinces above and Krain, and granted leaders.
* The Imperial capital
An event where Germany can change its capital to Nürnberg, Frankfurt or Aachen.
It requires that all the possible sites are owned (Würzburg, Mainz and Köln). It can happen between 1515 and 1600.
Man what a bummer