Heiliges Römisches Reich der Deutscher Nation

[Ayzek]

At 63 years old, Frederick IV felt he was reaching his time. But there was still much to do. Though the largely Protestant population of Bohemia had welcomed him with open arms, incorporating the territory had been no simple task. He'd been in Prague for nearly a decade after seizing the throne from his cousins in Austria and had only recently returned to Aachen. He'd spent a short while presiding over the Imperial Diet in Regensburg urging it expand the Army of the Holy Roman Empire, arguing that the Emperor's armies alone could no longer properly defend the empire in the modern world. Perhaps it was true, though perhaps he simply wanted to free his troops for the subjugation of Hungary and Transylvania. While his Imperial Army would march across the world at a single command, deploying the Army of the Holy Roman Empire required first consulting the Imperial Diet.

The Army of the Empire was nonetheless a deterrent. He planned on stationing them in the west and north while his main armies marched into Hungary. Though Europe had made no stirrings to intervene in Holy Roman affairs, one could not be too cautious. And after the rebellions in Hungary and Transylvania were put down, perhaps the time would be right to unify the empire.