@TipsyTentacle what little integrity the Holy Roman Empire had left was finally torn completely to pieces by the Protestant Reformation, whose divisive effect was especially pronounced in Germany because all the little kingdoms &c. split up according to whether they stayed Catholic or broke away. The resulting civil war snowballed, with involvement from multiple external powers, into the bruising Thirty Years' War, which ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The peace agreement allowed all the individual states to decide their religious affiliation independently of one another, and the Holy Roman Empire effectively dissolved.