How Prussia and Austria Were Alike: German Powers with Martial Traditions

Prussia and Austria shared several defining characteristics as the two dominant German-speaking states of the 18th–19th centuries:

• German language & culture — Core of the Holy Roman Empire (until 1806) and later the German Confederation (1815–66)
• Powerful, professional armies — Military central to state identity:
  • Prussia: "Army with a state" (Voltaire); canton system, General Staff, disciplined infantry
  • Austria: Multi-ethnic Habsburg army; Maria Theresa/Joseph II reforms; held line vs. Ottomans, France, Prussia
• Great Power status — Both recognized at Congress of Vienna (1815); rivalry drove German unification
• Dynastic monarchy — Hohenzollerns (Prussia), Habsburgs (Austria); divine right, bureaucratic absolutism
• Landlocked (mostly) continental orientation — Focus on Central/Eastern Europe, not overseas empire
• Reform from above — Stein/Hardenberg (Prussia), Joseph II (Austria) modernized administration, law, education

Critical Difference

Prussia = Protestant, homogeneous, militarized, bureaucratic, expansionist northward.
Austria = Catholic, multi-ethnic empire (Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Poles, Ukrainians, Romanians, Italians, Croats, Serbs...), defensive, status-quo oriented.

This divergence decided the Kleindeutsche Lösung (1871): Prussia unified Germany excluding Austria.