House of Hapsburg
From Turtledove
The Hapsburg (or Habsburg) and the successor family, Habsburg-Lorraine, were important ruling houses of Europe and are best known as the ruling Houses of Austria (and the Austrian Empire) for over six centuries. They also at times controlled Germany, Spain, and Mexico.
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[edit] Hapsburg in Ruled Britannia
The Spanish King Philip II was a son of Charles V and the first Hapsburg King of Spain. Under his leadership, Spain considerably expanded the Hapsburg empire.
In 1588, Philip's daughter Isabella was installed as Queen of England. She married Albert, her cousin and an Austrian Hapsburg, who became England's King.
After Philip II died, Isabella and Albert were expelled from England by a popular uprising led by Robert Cecil. Spain continued to be ruled by the Hapsburgs in the person of Philip III.
[edit] Hapsburg in Southern Victory
[edit] In Austria-Hungary
The Hapsburgs were the ruling family of Austria-Hungary. The assassination of the Hapsburg Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 touched off the Great War.
Being on the winning side on both of the Great Wars, the Hapsburgs still retained their imperial throne in 1944, but their empire was threatned with increasing unrest and nationaist uprisings, with dark prospects of its eventually breaking up in a bloody civil wr.
[edit] In Mexico
An Austrian Hapsburg, Maximilian I, was installed as Emperor of Mexico by France in 1864. He became the founder of a Hapsburg dynasty that, supported by the Confederate States, continued to rule Mexico as of 1943, despite a US backed coup against them in the Mexican Civil War. The Mexican Hapsburg emperors aligned themselves with the Entente despite their Austrian cousins' membership in the Central Powers. Emperor Francisco José was a staunch ally of Jake Featherston, although his loyalty was maintained by a certain amount of coercion.
Following the defeat and occupation of the Confederacy, the United States decided to retain the Mexican Hapsburgs on their throne rather than add the burden of Mexico to its already vast Occupied Territories or try to restore the Mexican Republic and risk a new Mexican Civil War. The Hapsburgs proved as subservient to their new overlord as they were to the old one.
