Customer Reviews:
a bit of a slog.......2007-06-29
I was a History major in college. Though fascinated by the subject matter, I kept thinking that this was a complex topic made more difficult than need be. It makes one pine for the likes of B.Tuchmann or W. Bruce Lincoln or L.S. Stavrianos. If I can find a more readable work, I will buy it........otherwise, back to the slog!
Habsburgs research on the Great Siege.......2002-11-25
I am a history major at Indiana State University. In my spring term, I used the book (as one of my sources) for my research paper on the Great Siege of Malta of 1565. I will agree that this particular book is not the greatest reading in the world, but generally historians write books for historians. Also, I will agree with other reviewers that the book's title is misleading because it does not focus on the 16th century compared to others. The book was used in my research to help explain the rivilary between Charles V of Spain (the Holy Roman Emperor) and Francis I (King of France). The cause of the rivals were not because of the grudge with Charles V winning the election for the Holy Roman Emperor or Francis I imprisonment in 1525, but Francis saw the danger of the Habsburg Empire surrounding France.
I will recommend this book for people needing information on the Habsburgs for research and to get it at your library or buy an used copy.
History is killed in another boring text.......2002-07-24
This text is not a good history text. Any good text book will make the subject come alive, this book kills it. It is, however, extremely informative, if you can get through the introduction without dieing. NOT recommended for anyone who is not a post grad! (and even then, only if required for a class).
Dry critique on Empire.......2001-02-01
There is a reason why this book is out-of-print. It's as dry a book as I've ever read and is much more a critique on the Hapsburg Empire and less of a historical overview. The title implies that Kann will introduce the reader to the Central Europeon Power and detail much of the family's power over Europe but that's far from the case. Instead, Kann goes so in depth to pick apart the Hapsburg's, that impossible to keep track of where he's going. Although the chapters have a chronological order to them, Kann mentions events that happened during a five-hundred year span in the first three chapters and aimlessly wanders so much through the text, he should be arrested for reckless writing. Some writers can pull off writing like this and make it into a masterpiece (Son of the Morning Star by Evan S. Connell comes to mind), Kann simply makes it into a field of landmines in which the reader unexpectedly will step onto a trap and utter "Whaaat?" and have to skip back to try and figure out if Kann has a connection to the previous paragrapgh or if he's just writing instantaneous thoughts. Kann's rambling book reminds me of Paul Thomas Anderson movies - it's made purely to pleasure the writer while the rest of the world has its hands in the air wondering "What did I just read/ watch?"
An Excellent General History of the Habsburgs.......2000-11-10
Robert Kann was a Viennese Professor of History who taught at several American universities during his career. He was a recognized authority in his field, and this volume is one of the very best general histories of the Habsburg Monarchy currently in print. However, it was written in Professor Kann's second language, English; so the reading is choppy at times. In addition, the subject matter is extremely complex; so if you are expecting a page-turner, this may not be for you. Overall, if you want to know about the last 400 years of the Habsburgs, there are few better sources.
Book Description
Europe in 1618 was riven between Protestants and Catholics, Bourbon and Hapsburg--as well as empires, kingdoms, and countless principalities. After angry Protestants tossed three representatives of the Holy Roman Empire out the window of the royal castle in Prague, world war spread from Bohemia with relentless abandon, drawing powers from Spain to Sweden into a nightmarish world of famine, disease, and seemingly unstoppable destruction.
Customer Reviews:
One of the great books of the 20th century.......2007-06-26
I have had this book high on my reading list for over 40 years now, ever since a took a course in German Baroque literature as an undergraduate. It is far better than I had imagined, both in style and content. My only regret is that I didn't get around to reading it 40 years ago.
A Panoramic and Poltically Sophisticated History.......2007-04-20
For the English-language reader Wedgwood's book, which has been in print for over sixty years, is still an excellent introduction and synoptic narrative of this lengthy and turbulent period of European history. It gives brief and judicious biographical sketches of the major political and military actors of three generations: The principal antagonists at the outset -- Ferdinand II of Austria and Frederick V, Elector Palatine; the condottieri-style generals - Spinola, von Mansfeld, Tilly, Wallenstein, Piccolomini, Christian of Halberstadt, Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, the duc d'Enghien (Conde); the contentious minor rulers -- Maximilian V of Bavaria, Johann Georg of Saxony; the northern monarchs -- Christian IV of Denmark and Gustavus Adophus of Sweden (and his daughter Christina and prime minister, Oxenstierna); the "spoiler", Cardinal Richelieu; the new Emperor Ferdinand III and his cousin, the warlord Cardinal-Infant Ferdinand of Spain; and many others. This book is written in a traditional English historian's prose style that is clear, eloquent and totally lacking the jargon of concurrent and later social and economic histories, while still covering these aspects of the period. In spite of some reviewers' claims of a "Protestant bias" in her interpretation, the author seems extremely fair when assessing responsibility for the long-running disaster of the war, taking the position that it was the self-serving political interests of the participants (dynasties, rulers, generals and paymasters) that kept the war going at the expense of the social and economic welfare of the vast majority of inhabitants of Germany and Bohemia.
Although I am not familiar with this new edition (and Grafton's introduction) I emphasize that any reissuing of this book should have a brief scholarly introduction which supplies more details on the constitutional arrangements and crises of the Holy Roman Empire during the sixteenth century, with a special emphasis on the composition of the Bohemian estates and the conflicts between the estates and the Habsburg king-emperors. The extent and internal organization of "the Bohemian crown lands" should also be outlined. A succinct review of the political status of Lutheranism, Calvinism, the Bohemian Brethren, and other Protestant confessions throughout all of Europe around the year 1600 and a note on how their status had altered by 1700 would also be useful in "setting the stage" for the events of 1618 and understanding the relgious-denomination consequences of the war.
The author supplies sufficient details on the major battles, but this is not a work of military history. As Wedgwood knows, battles were only significant in the larger view as a result of their political consequences. And it is in the elucidation of the underlying politics of the war (including how political prospects shifted with the waxing and waning of military fortunes) that Wedgwood excels. In her analysis of the general European situation at the outset of the war she proposes that there were three sets of forces which underlay and drove contemporary events. Each was a source of conflict and each might cross-cut the others, complicating the declared interests and objectives of the dynasties and nations involved. In brief, the forces were: (a) Religion, with three major competing factions (Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist; she notes that the conflict between the latter two forms of Protestantism was often as extreme as it was between each of them and the Roman Catholic Church). (b) Nationalism (French, German, Czech, etc.), which was a new force on the scene, crystallizing the idea that political entities might be defined by nationality (which here equals some combination of ethnicity and native language) rather than conceived of as polyglot territorial agglomerations brought about by dynastic interests. (c) Monarchic-constitutional issues, which were especially complicated and ambiguous within the "constitutional" grouping of major and minor powers known as The Holy Roman Empire (HRE).
The constitutional problem was twofold. Within the small arenas of developing nation states and the yet smaller ones of traditional rulerships throughout Europe (duchies, counties, "free-city" areas ruled by town councils and mayors) contests over the basis and extent of the rulers' powers and privileges were taking place. Aristocrats, oligarchs and merchants had traditional corporate bodies (estates) reluctant to cede their own powers (taxation, the organization of military service) to a central authority. The same conflict was also being played out on the larger scale of the Hly Roman Epire, that loose grouping of special obligations and exemptions which was the final residue of an earlier system of vassalage binding together the elected Emperor (who had been a Habsburg for several centuries) and the smaller rulerships of Central Europe. The religious reforms, rebellions and wars of the sixteenth century had produced a system that appeared to resolve some of the potential problems through the won privilege of cujus regio, eius religio ("whoever rules, his religion [is the religion of the ruled area]"). In the year of the war's inception, 1618, this new balance was very fragile, comprising four Catholic and three Protestant imperial Electors. In Germany the special arrangements regulating relationships between the Emperor (resident in Vienna or Prague) and local rulers and guaranteeing a great deal of political autonomy to the locals, especially the Protestant Electors, had been somewhat codified by the Augsburg Treaty of 1555, and were known as the "German Liberties". These would prove to be especially important to the three Protestant Electors at the outset of the war.
In the developing continental war one could be pro- or anti-Habsburg based on any one of the above factors or any combination of two or three of them. For example, a Catholic ruler (including the papacy) might seek Protestant allies in order to combat Habsburg territorial expansion in his direction or to combat constitutional changes in the Empire which affected his position adversely. Or a Protestant power might accept the Habsburg "program" in any given case because it did not wish to disturb constitutional arrangements that were to its advantage (this characterization is apt for Saxony and Brandenburg during the first twelve years of the war.)
As Wedgwood notes, all three considerations (religion, nationality, constitutional relations) could be and were used cynically to advance the positions and interests of individual rulers and factions. From the point of view of rationality or predictability, political choices and commitments were often self-contradictory (e.g., a Catholic power supporting a Protestant venture; a German Liberties party accepting occupation by the army of a foreign power, etc.) or temporary expedients that made the overall European situation more chaotic. The war began locally in Bohemia, but its complications and consequences radiated outward as far west as Spain and England (even farther, to the Caribbean naval theater), as far north as Sweden and northeast to Poland, as far south as Italy and southeast as Transylvania; in other words, it was a European continental war with global impact.
When the war broke out in 1618 it was over the Habsburg violation of a "constitutional guarantee" of religious freedom in Bohemia (the concessions stated in Rudolf II's Letter of Majesty). And here is where individual personalities and beliefs played an important role. Ferdinand II, who had knowingly violated the terms of the Letter soon after being selected by the Bohemian Diet as King (and therefore the first in precedence of the HRE Electors) was determined not only to expand the political powers of the Habsburg dynasty in Bohemia and elsewhere, he was firmly committed to the goals of the Catholic Counter-Reformation (i.e., re-Catholicizing all of the areas within the HRE which had become Protestant during the last one hundred years). When he was deposed by a special convention of the Bohemian estates (the defenestration of his deputies in Prague being the signal event of this deposition), the crown of Bohemia was offered to the Elector of the (Rhineland) Palatinate, Frederick V, who considered himself a champion of the Protestant cause. The religious zeal of these two antagonists led to extreme fixed positions at the very outset of the war.
Given the other major conflict hovering in the background -- the Spanish Habsburg determination to recover the now Protestant area of the Netherlands which had become the successful and defiant (Dutch) United Provinces - the war soon became international. While the entry of France and then Denmark followed by Sweden, into the war during the 1620's changed its nature and extended its duration, Wedgwood concentrates much of her analysis on the behavior of the two Protestant Electors, Johann Georg of Saxony and Georg Wilhelm of Brandenburg and one Catholic ruler, Maximilian of Bavaria. It is her contention throughout the book that Johann Georg and Maximilian in particular could have prevented the war's spread and forced Ferdinand into a compromise very early in the course of events that acquired their own dynamism once they got out of hand. Despite their religious differences these two were always strong "German Liberties" proponents, and each had the same view of the Austrian Habsburg rulers: they should be kept for the broader protections they offered, but kept in place with respect to encroachments on the traditional rights of local rulers. In the end both of these rulers survived the lengthy war in spite of numerous diplomatic and military reversals (Saxony switched sides and joined the Swedes for several years, while Maximilian's position was constantly and secretly supported by his nominal enemies, the French, as their potential foot in the Habsburg camp.) Wedgwood believes that the price of their survival was far too costly for the rest of Germany.
Wedgwood's gloss on the changing nature of the conflict is that by the year 1635 the war had become one of great-power politics, and that the earlier religious and ideological causes were losing their ability to motivate the antagonists. Her summary of the changes emphasizes the following:
(a) Religion had discredited itself as a plausible source of political programs and a legitimate cause for war. Religion was becoming more interiorized and private, and losing ground philosophically and ethically to the new prestige of empirical and applied science (this was the era of Galileo and Kepler, with Descartes, Harvey, Hook, Newton, Huygens, etc. on the near horizon; a time of laboratory science and scientific societies.) As the basis of a political program religion was viewed cynically by those who saw the devastation it had brought about.
(b) For thinking men, nationalism began to fill the emotional void in public life left by the withdrawal of religion as the underlying motive for political and cultural action. This was very obvious in France, but even true of Ferdinand III, for whom the new main cause was the construction of an Austrian-based hereditary monarchy whose additional obligations as the Holy Roman Imperial protector of far-flung German Catholics were no longer perceived as worthwhile. In the minds of both Germans and Austrian Habsburgs the Holy Roman Empire was becoming an honorific entity with ambiguous and weak political commitments in Germany. The Elbe-North German-Pomeranian ideal empire of Wallenstein was never again revived as a dynastic program. Austria began to move south and east (toward Italy, Croatia, and Hungary) in its expansionist aims.
(c) The control of immense polyglot, multi-religious, mercenary armies and their huge camp followings had become a pressing matter of concern for all of the political authorities that hired them - they were neither religious nor national in their motives and aims and were in fact independent "mobile states" unto themselves, cynical and rapacious and often as dangerous to their paymasters as to their foes; whenever their immediate prospects for pay and maintenance looked bad, they changed sides. The most successful mercenary generals had become mini-sovereigns. Officers were all "out for themselves" and for their troops (rather than for the cause or nation of their paymaster), since without troop loyalty they had no means of personal advancement -- the most famous commanders, Ernst von Mansfeld, Wallenstein, Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, the Swedish general Wrangel, all expected (and some received) grants of territory and titles of nobility as their rewards for service. The "national" armies of conscripts that came to the fore in the 18th century was the answer to this problem.
The pace of the war wound down during its last five years (although there were several major battles fought even then), which was a period of extended negotiatons in Münster and Osnabrück, with the "final treaty" being signed late in 1648. For the next five years a series of conferences met at Nürnberg to implement and enforce the peace treaty and to deal with difficult problems raised by demobilizing huge armies. Many of the loans of this period, which were raised to cover the demobilization costs, were not paid off for a century. Individual rulers such as Charles of Lorraine and the Duke of Savoy (who got nothing from the treaty) refused to vacate various fortresses for five or six years, but the war did not break out again. France and Spain continued at war with each other, but not in Germany. Numerous soldiers, especially officers, went into mercenary service all over Europe. Others took to the hills as professional bandits - for the next 20 years merchants traveled through certain parts of Germany and Bohemia in armed caravans.
Wedgwood accepts the more recent (1900-1930's) historical estimate that the population of the Imperial German lands (excluding Alsace and the Netherlands) dropped from about 21 million in 1618 to 13 million in 1648. The number of dislocated people was also substantial. While she acknowledges that the number of towns and villages destroyed and other "infrastructural" and economic losses were very large, she feels that all contemporary sources (e.g., the pamphlet literature of the next 100 years) exaggerated local losses, since all parties in the war continued to seek indemnities and restitution. The free peasantry benefited briefly, since landowners were desperate for manpower to restore their estates - prices fell while wages rose for a number of years, which increased the standard of living of peasants and artisans. But within a decade of the peace treaty the landowning gentry was pleading with Imperial, royal and local rulers to impose legal restrictions which would re-create bonded, serf-like conditions for peasants. Town councils now became pawns and bureaucrats of the dynastic courts of their rulers and also implemented restrictive legislations on peasants (e.g., prohibitions against mobility, domestic industry, and household craft production -- a trend which later historians refer to as "neo-serfdom"). Class stratification was as rigid as it was before the war started. There was a new, large class of mobile petty nobles and gentry seeking court-backed military and bureaucratic appointments, at the expense of town and peasant taxpayers.
Germany and the Austrian-based monarchy and empire were totally excluded from the international competition to establish overseas colonies and from the developing "Atlantic trade". For a number of years the outlets of Germany's major rivers (Rhine, Elbe, Oder, and for Brandenburg-Prussia, Vistula) were controlled by foreign powers, reducing Germany's commercial strength. Hamburg was the exception, becoming the major maritime merchant city of the North Sea coast, at the expense of the other Hanseatic cities and the Scandinavian powers. The only medium-sized German state to emerge with positive prospects was Brandenburg, soon to become the administratively efficient and militarily powerful Prussia. The peace, while ending the "wars of religion", set the stage for a long series of "nationalistic" wars that subsumed dynastic and religious sources of conflict. France replaced the Habsburg Spanish-Austrian coalition as the menacing and tyrannical continental power willing to disturb the peace. Austria turned to the south and east and Spain lost its great power status and became an economic and cultural backwater. There was no politically or culturally unified Germany within the boundaries of the old Empire (French culture began to reign supreme) and the cosmopolitanism (its openness to outside influences) of this area during the 18th century, instead of being a source of pride over its achievements, became a source of lament for later cultural and ethnic purists of revived German nationalism.
Author's Judgment and Conclusions: In terms of responsibility for the overall disaster, Wedgwood points to the futility and self-destructiveness of sincere religious zeal in the cases of Ferdinand II and the Elector Palatine. But, from the point of view of failures of practical (and ethical) politics, she highlights the behavior of Maximilian and Johann Georg, who could have prevented the spread of the conflict in 1620 and could have brought the war to an early end in 1635 if they had agreed to work together on a "unified German program" which would have forced Imperial compromises and concessions had they both stood behind it. Between these two she sees the Saxon as the greater victim of military circumstances (pressed by the Swedish juggernaut) and therefore less culpable for the mess, while she judges the Bavarian as too subtle and too ambitious in pursuit of his own dynastic and territorial ambitions at the expense of a general settlement good for his fellow Germans, thus identifying him as the more culpable.
Beautiful in its style and concision, Wedgwood's final summary is also gloomy (as one might expect of a work completed in 1939, on the verge of World War II):
"As there was no compulsion towards a conflict which, in despite of the apparent bitterness of the parties, took so long to engage and needed so much assiduous blowing to fan the flame, so no right was vindicated by its ragged end. The war solved no problem. Its effects, both immediate and indirect, were either negative or disastrous. Morally subversive, economically destructive, socially degrading, confused in its causes, devious in its course, futile in its result, it is the outstanding example in European history of meaningless conflict."
Machiavellian machinations.......2007-04-09
This is the best single-volume account of the Thirty Years War
(1618-1648). The war was very complex but Wedgwood provides singular
clarity. Other interpretations are possible, but her vision is strong
and memorable. The Machiavellian machinations are head-spinning, one has
to read carefully, the reward is a solid understanding of not only
17th C dynastic politics but how Medieval politics operated
before the rise of the nation state.
Wedgwood is an old-fashioned historian like Gibbon, retelling the events
in highly-readable prose, focused on the "great men". This can be
problematic, the Thirty Years War was more than just the decisions made
by a few elites - social, economic and other forces were at work. Her
sources are almost all 19th century. There are no new insights on the
war, it is a retelling of established views. As a political narrative it
is not only a great work of history but also literature.
Outstanding.......2007-02-22
Among the very best histories I have ever read. At the end you can actually make sense (???) of the 30 Years War
A Clear Presentation of a Tragic Historical Era.......2006-12-09
C.V. Wedgewood wrote a good historical account of a complex historical episode. Her book, titled THE THIRTY YEARS WAR, is a "classic", and those who are interested in the Thirty Years War or diplomatic history will benefit from this book. In other words, the book is "timeless."
Miss Wedgewood begins THE THIRTY YEARS WAR with a careful account of Germany during and immediately after the Reformation. This historical phase is important if readers are to understand the complexities of the Thirty years War. Of particular note is the Peace of Augsburg which the Germans agreed to in 1555. Miss Wedgewood's assesssment of these prior events is crucial to comprehending her book as well as the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). Readers should be aware the the Germans were not politically united, and historians could easily refer to Germany as the Germanies. Miss Wedgewood emphasizes this point very effectively.
Miss Wedgewood examines the political and religious status of the Germans in the early 17th. century(early 1600s). The religious and political tensions were serious, and the religious divisions between the Catholics and various Protestant sects, especially the Lutherans and Calvinists, were dangerous to say the least. Miss Wedgewood clearly informs the readers "who the players were."
The above mentioned tensions are important to further understand why "The Definistration of Prague", which occured in 1618, was such a serious diplomatic incident. The "incident" was the reason for the beginning of the Thirty Years War. In other words, this was the spark for a European and especially a German tragedy.
Readers may know that the Thrity Years War gradually began as a series of conflicts which could have ended the eventual destructive nature of this war. For example, The Happsburgs, the German Cattholics, defeated the Czech Protestants at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 which could have ended the conflict. However, the German Lutherans joined the war in 1625 only to be defeated. The Danes entered the war in 1629, and they were also defeated. The tragedy that had been incubating exploded.
In 1631, the Swedes under their king, Gustavus Adolphus (1611-1632) joined the war with devestating consequences. Gustavus Adolphus was the one true religious zealot, and his religious enthusiasm only made the bloodshed far worse. He lost his life in 1632, and the Swedes lost their ruler.
Some readers may be perplexed that the French under the leadership of Louis XIII (1610)-1643)and Cardinal Richleau (1585-1642) ended the Thirdy Wars Year on the "Protestant" side. The French saw this war as a dynastic war, and their fears of powerful Hapsburgs in their eastern and southern borders (German and Spain) posed a diplomatic threat. In other words, Louis XIII and Cardinal Richleau did not see the war as religious conflict. Miss Wedgewood handles these diplomatic complexities very well. One should not that the Catholic French financed the Swedish intervention until the French declared war on the Hapsburgs in 1635.
Miss Wedgewood treats events after 1635 very well. The war was a stalemate which caused disaster for the Germans. Neither side could pay their mercenary troops who vented their frustrations on innocent civilians commiting rape, looting, mass murder, etc. This in turn resulted in the destruction of agriculture which caused considerable famine. Miss Wedgewood's detailed examination clearly reveals the excesses of all this tragedy which could not prevented until both sides exhausted themselves.
The fact that the French used this war to exhuast their Hapsburg rivals is clear for any who reads this book. The fact that the war ended as a "quitters' peace" is also made clear. Miss Wedgewood makes a good case that the end of the Thirty Years War and Peace of Westphalia may have saved European Civilization. One should note that Peace of Westphalia (1648) was actually a series of treaties of the parties involved.
With some exceptions, the Thirty Years War was the last modern war in which the Europeans fought each other and thereafter tried to avoid civilian casualties. There were exceptions of course, and the fact is ironic that this book was published just before World War II erupted in 1939.
Miss Wedgewood's THE THIRTY YEARS WAR is not dated. Her thesis regarding this tragic war could be applied to most total wars. The fact that the 20th century was history's bloodiest century so far makes this book quite relevant. Her prose makes this book readable and useful. She has done detailed research, and her writing style clarifies a complex era. Her book should be on every serious history student's reading list.
Book Description
First published in 1941, The Habsburg Monarchy has become indispensable to students of nineteenth-century European history. Not only a chronological report of actions and changes, Taylor's work is a provocative exploration into the historical process of the most eventful hundred years of the Habsburg monarchy.
Customer Reviews:
Taylor being Taylor, as always.......2005-12-17
You don't want to miss Lagavulin, but you don't want it to be all you drink, either.
Edward Crankshaw's book on "The Fall of the House of Habsburg," while ostensibly starting in 1848, is a good suggestion for the "first" book called for by so many reviews. Crankshaw, an intelligent old-school conservative, appears to have written his book in part as a retort to Taylor (judging by his comments in the text). Very readable, though without Taylor's wit.
Borderline unreadable for the layman.......2005-09-07
This summary of the nineteenth century Habsburg empire is poorly organized, repetitious, glib and judgemental. The basic weaknesses of the Empire are identified, as is its place in the 19th century balance of power. But the work lacks a satisfactory narrative of events and assumes too much prior knowledge of the reader. This work may offer useful insights and interpretation to the expert, but is painful for the rest of us.
Detailed but remote.......2005-08-28
This should not be the reader's first attempt at the subject matter. AJP Taylor has written a well researched analysis of the final century of the Habsburg empire, but it is not accessible to a general audience. My own background prior to reading The Habsburg Monarchy on the affairs of Central Europe was fairly basic, and I do believe much of what's included here was lost.
This is not to say that the book isn't worth reading, only that the underprepared reader may find it rather dry and hard to follow. What we can get out of it is a sense of the desperate struggle the various players in Austro-Hungarian governments fought to keep their system going. From the start the Habsburg empire was a motley collection of populations and languages only weakly held together at the center. That plus the outside pressures from the other major powers made for a heroic but ultimately futile attempt to preserve what with hindsight must seem to be a doomed enterprise. For a look at the tortured politicking over the years, this is a fine book to look second.
Basic on Habsburg History.......2002-04-22
This was the first book I read on the topic that later became the basis for my dissertation. Taylor captured the big picture best, wrote the best, brought in enough detail to tell the story vividly, stated his biases and viewpoint clearly, and did it in far fewer pages than most others. Absolutelyl necessary, but not for beginners. This should be your second book. All the more important today as the Soviet Empire breakup and discussion of the American "empire" bear close comparison with a REAL dynastic empire.
Cold-blooded Anatomy of Habsburg Monarchy.......2001-08-11
Habsburg Monarchy was in an awkward geopolitical situation in 19th and early 20th century. And she was a multi-national political entity. In such a situation, true independence is impossible. A. J. P. Taylor analyzed the situation excellently and his analysis helped me understand not only Austria(-Hungary), but also Germany(Prussia) and Russia.
After the revolution of 1848, Hungarian nationalism grew more and more. And after the Austro-Prussian War, Dualism of Austria-Hungary was established. While Habsburg Monarchy was European necessity, Hungary became Bismarck's necessity to check German liberalism. 'Empire of seventy million(ie, unified German-Austria)' was a threat not only to Bismarck but also to Francis Joseph. Francis Joseph hated liberalism and called in nationalism against liberalism. (It is interesting that the same liberalism can have different political meanings according to places.) And the nationlism encroached his empire.
Taylor simply omitted many important issues and concentrated on what he wanted to write. So this book is not recommendable to casual readers. But if you have some background knowledge of 19th century European history and are interested in nationalism of European countries, I believe you will never regret after reading this book.
Customer Reviews:
Not Your Typical History-This one is about how the Habsburgs saw themselves.......2006-12-07
Unlike most histories of the Austian-Spanish-Burgundian-Low Country-Holy Roman Emporers, who were the Habsburgs, this is the story of how they saw themselves (as working for their people at the behest of a Catholic God). Much is made as to how they viewed themselves and how they wanted to be viewed by posterity. In many ways they continued to 'right write' their history in the same manner that the Soviet Union did. It's not always what you put in a story that's important, it's how you present the information in the story that remains.
Beginning with the small castle in Switzerland, the Habsbierge (hawk's mountain), they ruled over parts of Austria (originally Styria) for over 700 years. In between the scrupulously married and made dynastic mergers that would place them on the thrones of Spain (and most of the Western Hemisphere, parts of Africa and India),Portugal,Burgundy (parts of Belgium and the Netherlands), the Palatinate, Tuscany, Venice, Two Sicilies, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia-Moravia, Slovakia,half of Rumania(Transylvania) and most of future-once-Yugoslavia. In addition they married into every royal family in Europe.
In fact, until the Napoleonic Era they never even used a title that refered to Austria, and only began because of the rise of nationalism and the growth of ethnicity. They were always trained to be a caretaker and to present the most benevolent face to their people, 'Empire and Father' was the byword. In the end they were outdone by the multi-ethnic problems of their empire and the changes wrought by the 'Great War'.
A Nice Overview of a Famous Dynasty.......2006-06-16
This book gives a reasonably coherent overview of a dynasty that was eminent and influential in European politics from the 13th to the early 20th centuries. The author maintains a more or less chronological order of who followed whom and presents a concise history of the events that occurred during their reign. He also presents some insights and facts about the personal characteristics and traits of the more noteworthy Hapsburg (or Habsburg, if you like) rulers. At appropriate places in the text he inserts applicabnle commentary and quotes by contemporary observers. The book also includes numerous paintings as figures throughout the book.
The book is not as bad as some reviewers would lead you to believe. What I liked about it is that (to me, at least) it didn't get bogged down in tedious detail of each Hapsburg generation but gave the major facts and figures in an informative manner. Given that the Hapsburgs wielded power in Spain and Austria at the same time, I thought his treatment was informative without being boring. It would be nice if the author had inserted the applicable figure number for a view of the subject as he presented him (or her) but this is a personal preference.
A huge disappointment.......2006-06-09
Those who are seeking an magisterial overview of how one dynasty came to control both Spain and parts of German-speaking Europe will be sadly disappointed. There is little analysis that adds any fresh insights.
The writing style does not achieve the easy grace of Alison Weir, Diane Preston or David McCullough. Indeed, the sentence structured is tortured. Look up the genesis of the First World War, and this is what you get: "Although the line of succession had been assured, first to his nephew Franz Ferdinand (although that was to be overturned by the archduke's murder in Sarajevo) and then to his great-nephew, Karl, and eventually Karl's son Otto, Franz Joseph had come to see himself as standing at the end of the line."
This is an unreadable book that should be avoided.
Good book but with several flaws.......2006-02-21
I wanted to read this book as i am getting ready to visit Vienna in April. The book by Mr Wheatcroft is good because his account touches on several things that were really interesting.For example, the author explains the different personalities of the Holy Roman Emperors and Emperors of Austria.He also does a good job in explaining the times in which this emperors reigned which gives you a very good view of the circunstamces at that time. I also enjoyed the motivation behind important buildings for the Habsburgs like El Escorial in Spain and the Catacombs in St Stephen Church in Vienna.For someone who wants an introduction to the Habsburgs is a good books altough it has several flaws. One is that the author " jumps" from one event to another or from one emperor to the other.For example,he'll be talking about Charles V and all of the sudden he starts talking about his sons or future emperors without letting you know about it.I found myself going back several paragraphs to understand why he was doing that.Second, he doesnt really explain how the Holy Roman Empire gets started.He just mentions Charlemagne several times and the reader has to imagine the rest.His account sometimes is fast and sometimes is detailed which forced me to use other books with genealogies to help me understand which emperor is which and where does he come from.The other problem with this book is that it looks like the author thinks that the reader knows a lot of things so he doesnt describe or gives definition to events,people and places that i didnt know.For example, Metternich is mentioned really fast and just by his last name, so if you dont knoe who Metternich is, you'll have to look for him in another book to know who he is.Besides it's flaws, is a good book to get you started.
History based on its players.......2005-06-20
Agree with reviews that the book is challenging in the way it's organized: around the figures rather than a chronological series of events. This can be confusing, and the family tree is very helpful in sorting out all the Rudolfs, Ferdinands, and Francis'. But I've always found history more interesting this way. Wheatcroft more or less achieves an overall character of the house of Hapsburg, a family that has lasted for the good part of the last millenium, never wavering in the assurance that its members are ordained by God to rule and to serve the people with their best interests. it is the blend of divine right and self-sacrifice that lends the Hapburgs their unique character. The opening of the book reads almost like historical fiction, but this narrative technique never reappears. And because of the scope of the subject, opportunities to delve into any one figure, no matter how important, are rare. But I found the portrayal of the family as a whole satisfactory, and the book can be read as an introduction to any figure interesting enough to warrant further research, such as the ill-fated Don Carlos.
Book Description
The history, price range, manufacturer background accompanied by a photograph of each piece of furniture allows both first-time collectors and experienced connoisseurs to identify and appraise American antique tables, chairs, sofas and beds whether they have been found in the basement, at a garage sale, consignment shop or flea market.
From Shaker to Mission to mid-century Modern, these antiques from the seventeenth century to the 1950s -- 347 in all -- are described by an in-depth text. An index, upholstery guide and list of public collections help readers evaluate antiques like pros.
Customer Reviews:
The Antique Hunter's Guide to American Furniture: Tables, Ch.......2000-09-19
I have recived many books on this subject but I found this one to be most helpfull.
Customer Reviews:
Required reading for "early modern" history.......2001-07-27
Curiously, many historians have tried to esplain the decline and expiration of the Habsburgs, but the family's rise to power seems not to have been similarly examined. Evans bases his work solidly on primary sources in the period of the Central European Counter-Reformation. He also presents a balanced view of 16th century monarchy, since the consolidation of the Habsburg state was essentially the result of a skillful series of bilateral agreements between greater and lesser rulers. This highly regarded work received several major awards and has established itself as mandatory reading for any serious student of early modern history.
Book Description
Was the Habsburg monarchy an empire like those of Great Britain, France or Spain? Drawing upon modern theoretical perspectives on European expansion to answer this question, the author argues that the Habsburg holdings did indeed constitute a form of European imperialism. She examines the role of the interaction between Habsburg rulers, territorial estates, and religious institutions in the expansion of the empire. The book then goes on to explore the reorientation of these relationships through the impact of the European Enlightenment, the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and more.
Average customer rating:
- Intriguing Comparison
- Descriptive book on French and Austrian Habsburgs courts
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Vienna and Versailles: The Courts of Europe's Dynastic Rivals, 15501780 (New Studies in European History)
Jeroen Duindam
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521822629 |
Book Description
Drawing together a wealth of unpublished material in a comparative framework, this volume recreates the life of the courtiers and servants of the imperial court in Vienna and the royal court in Paris-Versailles from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. It reveals how the royal households operated at the heart of the early modern state and offers original approaches to understanding statebuilding and the concept of "absolutism."
Customer Reviews:
Intriguing Comparison.......2005-06-12
At the outset of Vienna and Versailles, Duindam carefully reconstructs court life in Versailles while simultaneously employing a structural and comparative perspective with Europe's other great court in Vienna. His examination spans the time period between the mid sixteenth to late seventeenth centuries, in what he regards as the `Great Age' of these two rival courts.
In doing so, the author systematically dispels the myth of Louis XIV's `absolutist' power - exercised through his court - and comprehensively illustrates how this notion was more of an ideal than reality. Researched over the course of one year in the libraries and archives of Vienna and Paris, the result provides us with a wealth of information which challenges the problematic views of earlier writers of the Early Modern court.
In this cross study of the Habsburg imperial court in Vienna and Bourbon royal court in Versailles, Duindam ensures that all major historical factors are taken into consideration, most commendably a representation of female actors as a category of historical analysis. Duindam presents a more accurate view of monarchy, nobility, and court society and deserves high praise for the breadth of his scholarship and the significance of his contribution to court studies.
Admittedly, the books' index is incredibly insufficient and, although the subject matter is noticeably geared to be read by an academic audience rather than the general public, the work as a whole is undoubtedly quite fascinating. Furthermore, Duindam's thematic organization and vast scholarly bibliography incorporates both recent publications and standard works on the topic which, incidentally, paves the way for further examination of both courts.
Descriptive book on French and Austrian Habsburgs courts.......2005-02-07
Historian Norbert Elias' classic works Court Society and The Civilizing Process had presented a problematic view of the Early Modern monarchies and courts. In his "Myths of Power. Norbert Elias and the Early Modern European Court ", Duindam concluded that Elias' approach to the early modern European court containes many misunderstandings, especially those connected with the much-heralded rise of the middle class and its inseparable companion, modernization. In this descriptive world, the author does not aim at providing a new model to understand European courts, but simply to compare the French court and the court of the Austrian Habsburgs, probably trying to show that there is still much work to be done before rendering any new general theory. The book is no very engaging, but it is not dry either. It can be savoured by the professional historian, and perhaps, by the educated layperson too.Therefore, my rate is 5 (content) and 2/3 (pleasure of reading).
Other books that I would recommend would be "Kings or People: Power and the Mandate to Rule by Reinhard Bendix"; "State and status" by Samuel Clark; "Monarchy, Aristocracy, and the State in Europe, 1300-1800" by Hillay Zmora; "Nobilities in Transition 1550-1700: Courtiers and Rebels in Britain and Europe" by Ronald G. Asch; and "The Persistence of the Ancient Regime" by Arno J. Mayer (this last one covering approximately the 1815-1914 period).
Book Description
It is the summer of 1916 and, as luck would have it, Otto is assigned to the nascent, unreliable, and utterly frightening Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Flying Service. Ottto's aerial chauffeur is the self-willed Sergeant-Pilot Toth, with whom he can only communicate in broken Latin—although when all else fails, screaming will suffice! On the ground the rickety Habsburg Empire begins to crumble before the onslaught of WWI, while in the air Otto confronts a series of misadventures and the winds of change.
Customer Reviews:
Otto Takes to the Air.......2007-08-28
John Biggins' books dealing with the character, Otto Prohaska, have been a delight to read and this one is no exception. The conscientious Habsburg naval officer has served as a U-Boat commander, secret agent and almost savior of the Archduke Ferdinand in pervious installments. In this one, he takes to the air as a combat pilot. All of this would seem ludicrous to many serving officers but, Biggins makes it believable.
Part of the charm of these books is that the protagonist is a basically good guy. He is employed by a decaying empire teetering on the brink of collapse but still tries to serve as best he can. All too often, his efforts are thwarted by the agents of the bureaucracy.
Like the others, this is a fascinating book. It is not only enjoyable, it gives a glimpse of the reasons for the internal decay of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
biggins best to date.......2007-02-01
The third Otto Prohaska novel in John Biggins' acclaimed fictional series is a good deal better than his first; it is in fact excellent historical fiction. Biggins' character Otto Prohaska in this case covers the five months he spends in the Austro-Hungarian air force flying over the hellish Isonzo front with Italy, involved in photographic espionage and recon, desultory bombing runs, and various special tasks. Along the way he deals with incompetent and cowardly commanders, gallant and honorable (or not) foes and compatriots, the Emperor as well as mutineers, and all the fun and games of flying highly erratic and dangerous contraptions in every kind of weather.
Biggins has only gotten better at showing us the collapse of the venerable but decaying Empire, besieged from the outside and rotting from the inside. The languages, the regulations and meaningless red tape, the starvation and shortages caused by the war and the blockade - they are all there, presented with stark clarity and empathy. The horrors of war, constant suffering and death in causes both noble and less so, are another constant theme. In the end there remains some room for personal honor and even humor. One great quote which can summarize much of Biggins/Prohaska's viewpoint reads, "The truth of the matter is that two world wars were, for Europe, nothing but a vast experiment in negative Darwinism, in which the best died and the worst survived to breed."
Biggins has also done outstanding research on all types of WW1 aircraft, ships, weapons, etc., and the reader is amazed at the detail effortlessly presented in the book.
Of course for many readers the future WW2 will hover in the background as well; various characters in Biggins' account of the First carry within them the seeds of the very worst features of the Second, from the death camps, racism and nationalism, to wholesale bombing of civilians and the destruction of entire cities.
Biggins' characters are better and more fully drawn, the story lines hangs together better, the dialogue is tighter and the situations are all more interesting than in A Sailor of Austria. For current historical fiction, The Two Headed Eagle is an outstanding read and highly recommended.
Otto Prohaska in the air.......2007-01-10
This is the third in the series that chronicle the adventures of Linienschiffleutnant Otto Prohaska of the Imperial Austro-Hungarian Navy around the time of the First World War. This book sees the hero attached to the KuK Armee's air service on the Italian Front in 1916, where he has to battle against various difficulties, including obsolete and under-maintained aircraft, a commanding officer obsessed with meaningless statistics, poor logistical support, the peculiarities of Austro-Hungarian bureaucracy, and the Italians. The author's research is impeccable, and the fictitious events in the book could have happened; they're all technically possible. The peculiarly horrible conditions on the Isonzo Front are well described, and remind the reader that conditions there were just as terrible as those on the Western Front.
The Two Headed Eagle is one of those books that has the reader eagerly turning the pages to follow the hero's adventures, but at the same time dreading the fact that the book is coming to an end. It's great stuff!
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The Habsburgs
The Habsburg Monarchy, 1809-1918 : A History of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary
The Fall of the House of Habsburg
Twilight of the Habsburgs: The Life and Times of Emperor Francis Joseph
The Habsburg Monarchy, 16181815 (New Approaches to European History)
