What if Austria had unified Germany instead of Prussia?
Austria was never strong enough to unify German under its control, and anyway had neither intention nor desire to do so. Austria exerted control over Germany by keeping it divided into many smaller states, principalities,electorates and so on, and then playing them off against each other. A unified Germany was the last thing Austria wanted – it was bound to assert itself,and replace Austria as the leading Central European power (as happened). The various German states.were jealous of their freedom and independence, and attempts by Austria to increase their power over them would have been fiercely resisted, as happened during the Thirty Years War. Once Protestantism had been firmly established in Germany, it was too late for Austria to take over/unify it politically. By 1756, Prussia was far too strong to be defeated, even by a coalition of France,Austria,Saxony, Sweden, and Russia. So, your initial premise, about Austria unifying Germany rather than Prussia, is completely infeasible, s
