England and the Habsburg Austrian Empire were both influenced by many of the same pressures during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Each nation has witnessed the demand for religious freedom by segments of its society, and each has wrestled with the question of monarchical rule and who possessed the right to the throne. These were the pressures faced by both nations, and while there were similarities between the problems, each nation took a very different approach to solving their problems. England would emerge from the 18th century capable of leading its citizens through a form of representative government; the Austrian and Habsburg empires would find themselves marginalized and absorbed by surrounding nations due to a lack of unity and a single purpose. England was able to resolve its crises because, through compromise, it developed a stronger central government in the form of a constitutional monarchy. The Austrian and Habsburg empires were, in a literal sense, disjointed; his possessions ranged in size from the vast territory of Spain, to smaller territories, such as the Netherlands, which bordered competing nations. An inherent problem in maintaining control of such a vast empire was the fact that there were many different communities with unique cultures and ways of thinking. This dynamic made it difficult for the House of Habsburg to exert control and unify its empire. Religion proved to be the most difficult issue to control, attempts to do so led to the Thirty Years' War. At the beginning of the 17th century, Ferdinand I ascended the throne of the Austrian Habsburg Empire. Ferdinand was a devout Catholic, and his subjects in his Bohemian territory believed that the right to practice Protestantism, granted to them by... middle of paper... the constitutional monarchic form of government was the solution not only to the problems of the moment, but also the general question that guides a nation and ensures unity of effort. The Austrian and Habsburg Empires and England faced issues common to many European nations of the time. Religion and leadership were at the forefront of these crises. What distinguished the two nations and ensured England's survival was that England, not necessarily consciously, made improvements to their government as they dealt with their own little individual problems. With each growing pain came compromise. Through compromise, the English transformed themselves into a constitutional monarchy; this type of representative government, guided by a Bill of Rights, established checks and balances that inherently support a strong, unified nation as opposed to the self-interests of individual factions.