2The Habsburg Bid for Mastery, 1519–1659 By the
Citations (1)
- The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers whole source · open book
2The Habsburg Bid for Mastery, 1519–1659 By the sixteenth century, then, the power struggles within Europe were also helping it to rise, economically and militarily, above the other regions of the globe. What was not yet decided, however, was whether any one of the rival European states could accumulate sufficient resources to surpass the rest, and then dominate them. For about a century and a half after 1500, a continent-wide combination of kingdoms, duchies, and provinces ruled by the Spanish and Austrian members of the Habsburg family threatened to become the predominant political and religious influence in Europe.
chapter: Chapter 2 . The Habsburg Bid for Mastery, 1519–1659