One of the most powerful dynasties of the world, which until 1806 considered itself the successor of the Roman emperors and proudly He named his power of the Holy Roman Empire, reposed in the Lord because of a misguided desire to preserve the purity of their own blood.
Frankly, the question of the origin of this dynasty is quite confusing: some historians believe that The Habsburgs are closely related to patrician born Colonna, who led their origin from the Gaius Julius Caesar. Others believe that the ancestors of the Habsburgs were kings of the Merovingian dynasty (V-VIII century), and still others that the Dukes Alemannic - ancient group of leaders of the Germanic tribes.
In reality, the existing first Habsburg was Guntram the Rich. In 952, the German emperor Otto I deprived him of his property for treason. At the end of the X century descendants Guntrama appear in Switzerland and in 1023 laid the construction of the castle, which is called Habichtsburg (Habichtsburg - Hawk's Castle). Later the name became a Habsburg and marked the beginning of the famous names.
Things Habsburg ancestors went so well that in 1273 acquired the status of a royal dynasty. Rudolf I of Habsburg (1273 - 1291) became King of Germany, and almost immediately the emperor of the "Holy Roman Empire". During his reign, he carries possessions center of Switzerland to the east, passing by connecting the Austrian and Styrian duchy. A little later they will be added Carinthia, Tyrol, and Trieste Frastburg who later become the core of the Habsburg hereditary lands.
At some point the expansion of territorial possessions with the help of marriage has become for them a kind of business. For example, out of wedlock Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy, the Habsburgs 'learned' the Netherlands, the son of Philip I added, Aragon, Castile and several lands in America. But the most important for the strengthening of world domination was the grandson of the dynasty reign of Maximilian I, Charles V (1500 - 1558).
Even during his lifetime vast territories which were under Habsburg rule, were separated, and the great power simply fell apart after his death. The very dynasty split into two branches - the Austrian and Spanish. First he founded by brothers Charles, Ferdinand I, to administer the territory of Germany and Central Europe. The second branch (founded son Philip Charles V II) held Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, and certain colonies in the New World.
After the death of King Charles II (1700), a war broke out for the opportunity to manage the data areas in which defeated the Bourbons, sit on the throne of his King of Spain. In the power of the Habsburgs were only Austrian territory and minor in Spanish. Only forty after the death of Emperor Charles VI the sole heir of the great dynasty of the Habsburgs became Maria Theresa (1717 - 1780). She was able to keep the hereditary Austrian territory and together with her husband, the Duke of Lorraine, Francis I, in 1745, ascended the Austrian imperial throne. From that moment the Habsburgs formally became known as the Habsburg-Lorraine. During the reign of Maria Theresa's son, Joseph II and Leopold II, the Habsburgs came again in a period of prosperity and reeled in his greatness only after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire (1806 year).
By the beginning of the XIX century national movements in Austria decent undermined the integrity of the Empire, but Emperor Franz Joseph I (1830 - 1916) is still able to maintain it, and in 1867 even added to her crown Hungary. The final collapse of the dynasty was the defeat of Austria-Hungary in the First World War. November 11, 1918 great-nephew of Franz Joseph I, Emperor Karl I, abdicated, and all the dynastic pretensions. And since the descendants of the greatest kind, who owned almost all of Europe and part of the overseas colonies, no longer have any weight in international politics.
Another interesting feature of the dynasty, which is impossible to pass by, is the extinction of the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs. The reason was the high percentage of inbreeding (marriages between relatives) - more than 25%.
For example, the last king of the Spanish Habsburg, Charles II Bewitched, was a child frankly poor health. Persistent disease, colds, vomiting, diarrhea, retarded psychological development, strongly projecting lower jaw that interfere with normal eating and speaking - this is a portrait of the last of the great Dynasty. In addition to all the unfortunate could not normally move vertically. It is clear that he was not interested in anything except games with your favorite dwarfs, but this time the country ruled by numerous advisers and the Queen Mother.
