[dangus]

1517-1521: Martin Luther’s preaching divides Bavaria and Germany.
1529: Muslims sweep across Bavaria, laying siege to Vienna.

Care to speculate why the Bavarian regions of Germany are Catholic, whereas the Northern regions are Lutheran?

I’ll give you hint: the defenders of civilization included Poles, Italians, Spaniards, Austrians, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Portuguese... Hmmm... Wherever did the Germans go? Oh, Henry? Henry? Wherefore art thou, Henry? Whatever was King Henry doing in the 1530s? Gustav?

[Resolute Conservative]

Closer to Rome and the thumb of the church.

[GoLightly]

1517-1521: Martin Luther’s preaching divides Bavaria and Germany.

Henry, had been forced by the Church to cede most of his holdings on the continent & his excommunication was an open invitation to any prince in good standing with the Church to claim his crown. Good Catholics were a greater risk to him than the Muslims were.

Prussian princes had been made vassals with the help of the Church a mere few centuries earlier. Holy Roman Emperor indeed.

[redgolum]

At the time, the German states (there was no real united Germany until the late 1800’s) were the military laughing stock of Europe. They weren’t much of a factor in the wars of the time.

Even in the 30 years war, most of the armies on both sides were not native to the areas.