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Otto, I, also known as the Great (912-970 AD) , was one of the most important influential monarchs of the Middle Ages. He was an ambitious and energetic ruler , and he changed the direction of Europe , and he had a profound impact on European society. He was a great soldier, administrator, and monarch and is often considered the greatest of all the Holy Roman Emperors who . He ruled with to various degrees of authority much of Central Europe. It will demonstrate that he was the main architect of the Holy Roman Empire and he greatly extended its borders.  This article will examine and evaluate his contribution to the emergence of the Holy Roman Empire, the expansion of the German realm, Church-State relations, and his ideas on the role of the Empire. It will demonstrate that he was the main architect of the Holy Roman Empire and he greatly extended its borders.

Charlemagne had established a vast Empire that contained most of Western Europe. After his death, the Empire was divided among his heirs , which was the Frankish custom. The western part (West Francia) and the Eastern part (Eastern Francia) came to be ruled by separate members of the Carolingian dynasty and another . Another member of that family ruled led in Italy. These monarchies became increasingly weak and were could not able to defend their territories from attacks from invaders such as the Arabs or the Vikings. The Carolingians died out one by one , and local nobles became more powerful , and there was no central power in much of western Europe.

In West Francia, the Capetians , in response to Viking attacks , were developing a state that would become the kingdom of France. Eastern Francis , which corresponds today to Western Germany , was very unstable and beset by conflict. It was also attacked by external enemies such as the Danes, Slavs, and the Magyars <ref>Arnold, Benjamin, Medieval Germany, 500–1300 A Political Interpretation. (London, Palgrave Macmillan, 1997), p. 116 </ref>. The German lands were in a crisis , and the nobles in a rare moment of concern for the greater good decided to elect a leader or king, to defend the German landsin a rare moment of concern for the greater good. The decision to elect Henry the Duke of Saxony as their king. He is better known as Henry the Fowler , and he proved an inspired choice. He was an excellent general , and he defeated the Slavs, Danes, and the Magyars.

Henry was widely revered, and he began the process of restoring the old Reich or kingdom of Charlemagne. Nostalgia for the vanished Roman Empire in the West lasted for centuries , and many believed that it should be resurrected <ref>Reuter, Timothy. Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056 (Manchester, Addison Wesley Longman, 1991), p. 113</ref>. Henry sought to re-create the Roman Empire, just as Charlemagne had. This ambition was also to preoccupy his successors for centuries. When Henry died , his son, Otto , inherited the throne and his father’s ambitiondream.

Otto, I, who succeeded his father in 936. He had himself crowned king in Aachen, which once had been Charlemagne’s capital. From an early date, he harbored imperial ambitions , and, according to contemporary chronicles, the other German dukes served him at his coronation banquet and swore to be his vassals. Otto sought to make himself an absolute monarch , and he was intent on curbing the autonomy of the great German dukes. His brother was involved in a conspiracy against him, but they later reconciled, and Otto made his brother Duke of Bavaria. Otto used his powers to install other members of his family into other Dukedoms<ref> Hill, Boyd H., Jr. Medieval Monarchy in Action: The German Empire from Henry I to Henry IV (New York, Barnes & Noble, 1983), p. 118</ref>.

Despite his father’s military successes, the German lands were threatened by many enemies. To solidify his Imperial, claim he at first subdued the local German church , and once he had done this, he used the clerics as a bureaucracy to control the far-flung Germanic lands. Otto was constantly challenged by rebellious Dukes and even by members of his own family, but he managed to suppress them all and he managed to extend his authority. Despite his father’s military successes, the German lands were threatened by many enemies.

Otto proved himself to be an able general. He fought two wars against the Slavs, who formed a powerful coalition against the Germans. Otto defeated them on both occasions , and he incorporated many Slavic lands east of the River Oder into his lands <ref> Reuter, p. 213</ref>. The Danes entered an alliance with some rebellious Slavs , and Otto defeated their invasion. The biggest challenge that faced German lands was the pillaging and raids of the Magyars (Hungarians). They were a nomadic tribe from the Russian Steppes , and their raids attacks had devastated German lands for decades.

In 955 AD , a huge considerable force of Hungarians invaded southern Germany and devastated a huge vast area. Otto advanced to meet the Magyars , and despite being outnumbered almost two to one, the German king decisively defeated the invaders. Otto was not only intent on defending the borders of Germany he . He was very committed to expanding the territories under his rule. Otto integrated Burgundy into his realms and turned Bohemia into a vassal state. In 951 , he invaded Italy and secured the submission of many Lords and cities. He defeated a claimant to the Italian throne and crowned himself King of Italy. Later , Otto interfered in the Byzantine territories in southern Italy. Otto launched three expeditions to Italy and was eventually able to absorb absorbed Northern and central Italy into his domains.

The Ottonian Empire also consisted of all modern Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and parts of modern Poland and France. To secure his hold on Italy , he had to manage the Papacy. Otto deposed the corrupt and immoral Pope John XII and then replaced him with a Pope of his choice, Leo VIII. He has crowned Emperor of the Roman Empire and was the first to do so since Charlemagne. However, despite his successes in Italy , Otto was could never able to fully control the Italian territories fully, and there were constant rebellions against the German presence<ref> Boyd, p. 119</ref>. Otto died in 973 and was succeeded by his only son, who became Otto II. The Emperor was warmly remembered by future generations for ushering a period of peace and a cultural flourishing known as the Ottonian Renaissance.