Franz Joseph I of Austria
If Greater Germany was to prevail, the crown would necessarily have to go to Franz Joseph, who had no desire to cede it in the first place to anyone else. On the other hand, if the idea of a smaller Germany won out, the German crown could of course not possibly go the Emperor of Austria, but would naturally be offered to the head of the largest and most powerful German state outside of Austria—the King of Prussia. The contest between the two ideas, quickly developed into a contest between Austria and Prussia. After Prussia decisively won the Seven Weeks War, this question was solved; Austria lost no territories as long as they remained out of German affairs.
Reichskrieg
During the First Silesian War (1740–42), the Emperor Charles VII had sought a "Reichsexekution" against Prussia, but the diet refused. The war over Silesia was regarded as a dynastic conflict between Prussia and Austria in which the empire itself should not intervene. During his brief reign, the Emperor Charles VII (1742–45) sought a declaration of "Reichskrieg" against Austria, although the latter had not breached imperial law and there was therefore no justification. The pro-Austrian elector of Mainz, Johann Friedrich Karl von Ostein, tabled a formal protest in the Imperial Diet on 23 September 1743 alleging that the election of Charles VII had been irregular. In such a situation, there was no chance of the diet agreeing to the emperor's proposal for a "Reichskrieg" against Austria. The Second Silesian War (1744–45) thus also went by without any imperial action. The Third Silesian War (1756–63), however, became wrapped in a global war of great power politics, the Seven Years' War, and Prussia could not escape an imperial action.