And in general, it's not clear that Spain benefited much from the discovery of silver. Rich countries have a way of finding their way into expensive and not totally necessary wars, and Spain was no exception. While empire wasn't the central cause of Spain's many 16th century wars, it sure did fund them. So in 1519, which was a heck of a year for Spain, Charles V united the kingdoms of Spain and Austria by being named head of the Holy Roman Empire, so-called because it was not holy, not Roman, and not an empire. Charles had this dream of a unified Central Europe, which was constantly being thwarted by German nobles who had a dream of a non-unified Central Europe, and eventually Charles V's ambitions were shattered and he gave the Austrian half of his kingdom to his son Ferdinand and gave Spain, with the American stuff, to Philip in 1556. Thanks Thought Bubble. So Philip II didn't only inherit all of Spain's holdings in the Americas and in Europe and in the Philip not a coincidence-enes.