What if Italy and Germany were unified in the middle ages?

It's interesting to see how Europe could have looked like with big centralised powers that competed with each other since the middle ages. Could this make a world war possible in the middle ages? I thought it would be interesting to discuss about

I'm pretty sure they were for a time under the Holy Roman Empire, from 962 to 1559, however their power had waned by the 14th century.

Well a world war was imposible, because they hadn't colonies... But maybe a great european war wold have happened.

Under what monarchy would a united Italy be under in the "middle ages" (however you want to define that era)?

CptCrape wrote:I'm pretty sure they were for a time under the Holy Roman Empire, from 962 to 1559, however their power had waned by the 14th century.

1. Italy was not unified under the HRE, it was only the northwest.
2. The HRE was not a unified country, because of its too much feudalism.

The Turk wrote:Under what monarchy would a united Italy be under in the "middle ages" (however you want to define that era)?

Frederick II of Swabia, he had his capital in Palermo. If he only eradicated the autonomies in North Italy, he could have reigned over the whole peninsula.

Francinze wrote:

CptCrape wrote:I'm pretty sure they were for a time under the Holy Roman Empire, from 962 to 1559, however their power had waned by the 14th century.

1. Italy was not unified under the HRE, it was only the northwest.
2. The HRE was not a unified country, because of its too much feudalism.

The HRE was a United Country for the first couple hundred years, and Italy was under the HRE.

CptCrape wrote:

Francinze wrote:

CptCrape wrote:I'm pretty sure they were for a time under the Holy Roman Empire, from 962 to 1559, however their power had waned by the 14th century.

1. Italy was not unified under the HRE, it was only the northwest.
2. The HRE was not a unified country, because of its too much feudalism.

The HRE was a United Country for the first couple hundred years, and Italy was under the HRE.

Apparently united, but the real power was held by the small counties, not by the Emperor.

Francinze wrote:

CptCrape wrote:

Francinze wrote:

CptCrape wrote:I'm pretty sure they were for a time under the Holy Roman Empire, from 962 to 1559, however their power had waned by the 14th century.

1. Italy was not unified under the HRE, it was only the northwest.
2. The HRE was not a unified country, because of its too much feudalism.

The HRE was a United Country for the first couple hundred years, and Italy was under the HRE.

Apparently united, but the real power was held by the small counties, not by the Emperor.

Not for the first couple hundred years. For a while, the emperor held complete control, over time the counties began holding more power. The final nail in the coffin was the expansion of it's members outside the HRE and Nationalism.