What was a way Prussia and Austria were not similar?

Answer 1

In the 19th century, Prussia and Austria were both great powers in Europe, often competing with one another to become the dominant German authority. Despite this, there were also times when Prussia and Austria were on more friendly terms, such as when they were allied in the series of coalition wars against Napoleonic France.

One of the more defining differences between the two was that Austria was predominantly a Catholic state, while Prussia was Protestant. As such, Austria was almost always associated with the Holy Roman Empire, whose Emperor was more often than not also the leader of Austria. This religious difference led to friction and tension between the two.

Indeed, after the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, Austria abandoned her traditional ally, Great Britain, for Catholic France. Meanwhile, Prussia distanced itself from France and instead allied with Protestant Great Britain.

Notably, the Kingdom of Prussia was also a far more militant state, consistently at war in some form for much of its history without pause. When it was clear that Prussia would soon become an emerging great power, Austria feared that it would try to challenge them for hegemony over German affairs.

Both states disagreed on how to approach the question of German unification—the Austrians wanted a "Greater Germany", which unified all of the German peoples under a single nation-state, while Prussia favored a "Lesser Germany" that unified only the northern German states.

A series of Austro-Prussian wars eventually led to Prussia usurping Austrian authority. Because of their history of warfare, Prussia easily defeated the technologically-inferior and outmatched Austrian Empire. In the peace that followed, Prussia intentionally excluded Austria from the German unification process, which is why Austria exists as a separate country from Germany today.