For some later German nationalists he was bravely trying to tie together the German lands – a giant brought down by pygmies, and by the perfidy of France. For Catholics he was the man who stopped the rot – remade Austria and Bohemia as pure countries – a giant brought down … etc. For Protestants he was a dangerous, vicious zealot, blinkered and beyond reason. The modern era’s lack of enthusiasm for a Europe either under German military rule or forcibly placed under uniform Catholicism tends to tip the argument today in favour of the Protestant view.
