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the decades when emperor and
pope guided Christendom. Such an
empire, according to Leibnitz, was a
model for human society. Like
many Europeans, Leibnitz sees the
need for a political unification of
Europe. But without France there
can be no such union.
Louis XIV and France are not in–
terested in the empire - except to
dismember wha t is left. Though the
empire continues to survive, leading
members s ueh as Au s tria and
Prussia are developing power cen–
ters which lie outside its borders.
Throughout the period, tension
and confrontation exist between the
empire and France. Louis XIV, for
example, sends his engineers and
sappers to accompany Kara Mus–
tafa 's Turkish army as they besiege
Vienna in July 1683.
Meanwhile, by the year 1700,
Germany is literally made up of
over 1,700 independent and semi–
independent princes and nobles.
They are vassals of the Habsburg
emperor in name only. Politically,
this means the empir e is in
shambles. The chaotic state fits in
with the plans of Louis XIV, who
dreams of disinheriting the Habs–
burgs. He fancies himself the heir of
Charlemagne and desires to resur–
rect the Frankish empire under
French leadership.
Frederick the Great, the Empire's
Other Antagonist.
Another genera-
t ion passes. Frederick the Great
( 1740-1786) of Prussia assumes the
posture of anti-emperor to the
House of Habsburg. Along with
France, Frederick will help destroy
the empire.
When Frederick declares wa r on
the empire in December 1740,
France, Bava ria and Spain eagerly
wait to swallow up the hereditary
possessions of the House of Habs–
burg. Frederick's low esteem of the
Holy Roman Empire is evident
in
his words to Voltaire: " l am just off
to Prussia to receive homage with–
out benefit of the fiask of holy oil
and those other useless and empty
ceremon ies introduced by igno–
rance. " The comment is symptom-