Bohemia and Brandenburg 1616

My first map ever. Inspired by a co-op campaign in Europa Universalis IV.
After the death of Albert V of Austria, his posthumous son Ladislaus died shortly after childbirth, having been born a sickly infant. The nobles of Bohemia elected the Hussite leader Jiri z Podebrad to be the new King-Elector; Hungary and Austria were separated into different Habsburg branches.

The new King sought to expand Bohemian influence by gradually isolating and finally usurping the emperorship: In 1545, a war between the Imperial faction (Austria, Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria) and the rebels (Brandenburg, Switzerland and Bohemia) proved destructive for the former. Wien was lost to Bohemian troops, while central and eastern Germany would become over time completely dominated by the two large victorious Electorates. Having forfeited her Imperial Authority, Austria lost the throne itself to a scion of Podebrad, the remaining Electors having been terrorised into voting "correctly".

In 1589, the ruler of Bohemia and Emperor died without a male heir, and the Imperial crown reverted to the Bohemian ally, Brandenburg, and it has remained thus ever since.

1616 AD marks the beginning of the War of the Protestant League: while only a small fraction of the German region has turned heretic, large powers have found the opportunity to challenge the position of the two largest members of the Empire. The new power blocs are the Bohemian-Brandenburger alliance, including the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and what is practically all other German states along with the powerhouses of France and the Ottoman Empire.

With Spain and its far-flung colonial empire being yet a wildcard, and the Pope urging for a stand against the ravaging Ottomans, the future of the Empire hangs in the balance. An Imperial victory would mean to an eradication of both Protestantism and the Imperial states themselves, perhaps leading to unification; a defeat would advance the Ottomans to Wien and the French to the left bank of the Rhine.