The Origins of the Habsburgs Explained

We all know of the Habsburgs as a mighty dynasty ruling over great kingdoms and empires, but rarely do we hear anything about where they came from, or how they originally rose to power. This is my attempt at telling their early history, from humble beginnings as counts, to eventually being chosen as kings of Germany.

Music:

"Salterio. Cantiga de Santa María"
by Emilio Villalba

"Fortune - John Dowland"
by David Hernández Romero

"Mr. Dowland's midnight - John Dowland"
by David Hernández Romero

"A maske - William Brade"
by David Hernández Romero

"Intrepid"
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

"Sunset at Glengorm"
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

[kingsandthings]

Just a quick heads-up: You might want to take some of the details about these early counts with a grain of salt. Finding information about them wasn't always easy, and sometimes what I found was contradictory. The bigger picture should be correct though!

[jeffsanders]

An interesting thing to note is that the current head of the Hapsburg House, Karl Von Hapsburg, was a member of the EU Parliament for Austria for a short time from 1996-1999. His Father, Otto von Hapsburg, Charles I Son, was also a member for a twenty years between 1979-1999 for Germany.

Just interesting to see that even until recently they still had a small part to play in governing Europe

[Chris-hpbe]

“Make love not war” should be their motto. They slept their way to great powers in europe

[eljanrimsa]

The Swiss Confederaton started pretty much as a resistance movement against Habsburg overreach after they took over the lands of the Zaehringer. In the 14th and 15th century the Habsburgs were kicked out of their castle and out of Switzerland altogether.

[AJGoff]

Having a YouTube video in 2020 just end when the content is over is almost jarring. No asking for likes/subs, no ads, no promotions. Just an explaination of the origins of the Habsburgs, nothing more and nothing less.


Hopefully you'll get paid to promote things at some point, but for now this is sort of refreshing.

[surreygeorge]

I'm a direct descendant of my grandfather.

[MrThebarron]

the number of wars started by this legendary family is incredible

[fabianoasc]

Brazilian national flag is green from House of Bragança and yellow from house of Habsburg

[briananavarrolopez]

Marie Antoinette Queen of France was a Habsburg. Her title at birth was Archduchess of Austria, Royal Princess of Hungary and Bohemia, Princess of Tuscany and Lorraine etc.

[allenpinnix]

"Others fight wars; you, happy Austria, marry."

[magentacyan]

For all those people arguing in the comments about the term "Germany": The Holy Roman Empire originally consisted of 3 greater kingdoms: Germany ("Germanien" in German), Italy ("Reichsitalien"), and Burgundy ("Burgund"). After the later two eventually emancipated the HRE was also starter to be called "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" ("Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation"), although that term is a little misleading since lands of the HRE like Savoy, Lorraine, Carniola, Gorizia and Gradisca etc. definitely were not predominantly German. Also a lot of the Austrian lands like Bohemia, Tyrol, Styria or Carinthia were ethnically mixed. So a proper Deutschland, a large unified German national state (which in English is also called "Germany") did not exist until the Prussians founded it 1871. So the conflict is rather based on matters of translation and naming in languages of people which were not involved in the HRE. Don't let such a thing cause strife among you.

[Chironex_Fleckeri]

The Crimson Chin is rumored to be a Habsburg descendant. Incredible, isn't it?

[HistorywithCy]

This was great... loved the way that your voice and the music flow together to create a pretty much perfect narrative...great job!

[aninhaprsouza]

The Habsburgs-Lorraine also holds in their history the first empress of Brazil, Maria Leopoldina, a brilliant and kind woman that played a very important role in the independence of Brazil. She also was the mother of our last emperor, Dom Pedro II.

[PersianHistorian]

I like the clean style of your visual material. it feels so sharp and on point.

[theodoretex]

This video actually taught me the origin of my friends last name - Laufenburg. Such historical significance, and so cool!! Thank you!!

[ravenfeeder]

Their rise to pre-eminent power in SW Germany was due to the death of the last Duke of Zahringen who had previously been the major power in the region. The Hapsburgs were the family who best capitalised on the power vacuum, their alliance with the Hohenstaufen or Swabia obviously helping them with the poser grab.

[oliverludwig]

I once had to vomit in the garden of the original Habsburg castle, true story.

[catherinesmith]

My grandmother always said we were illegitimate Habsburgs, but I still don't know how. She was born in the region of the Banat of Temesvar where the family had been settled for some time. My guess is some duke had the hots for a chambermaid.

I wish I could find out if/how we're actually related.

[AvatarChaos]

0:40 Maria Leopoldina of Austria (22 January 1797 – 11 December 1826) the archduchess of Austria, Empress consort of Brazil and Queen consort of Portugal, counts for Brazil.