ABSTRACT
The official name of the old German Empire up to its end in 1806 was ‘The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation’. The splitting up of Germany into numerous States contributed much to the evolution of a specific mentality known as particularism. German history demonstrates the evils of political particularism on every page. The Empire surpassed all European states in population, except Russia, but its structure diminished the advantages of a large population. Uncertainties about how far a territory belonged to the Empire sprang from the feudal origin of the relations between Emperor and princes. The Burgundian circle was on the one hand a part of the Empire, on the other a fief granted to the Crown of Spain and later to Austria. The politics of the Empire suffered not only because of the vagueness of certain frontiers and allegiances, but also from the extraordinary multitude and irrational configuration of its territories.
