Habsburg Monarchy

The Habsburg Monarchy or Empire (occasionally also styled as the Austrian Monarchy and Danubian Monarchy) is an unofficial appellation among historians for the countries and provinces that were ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg until 1780 and then by the successor branch of Habsburg-Lorraine until 1918. The Monarchy was a composite state composed of territories within and outside the Holy Roman Empire, united only in the person of the monarch. The dynastic capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague. From 1804 to 1867 the Habsburg Monarchy was formally unified as the Austrian Empire, and from 1867 to 1918 as the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The head of the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg was often elected Holy Roman Emperor until the Empire's dissolution in 1806; from 1415 until the empire's dissolution in 1806 only Charles VII of Bavaria was not a Habsburg ruler of Austria. The two entities were never coterminous, as the Habsburg Monarchy covered many lands beyond the Holy Roman Empire, and most of the Empire was ruled by other dynasties. The Habsburg Monarchy did not usually include all the territories ruled by the Habsburgs. The senior branch ruled Spain until 1700, but it is not usually included in the definition of "Habsburg Monarchy" after the reign of Charles V, who divided the dynasty between its Austrian and Spanish branches upon his abdication in 1556.