The Habsburgs

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 416 pages
• Published by: Penguin Non-Classics May 1, 1997
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0140236341
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0140236347
• Book Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 1.3 inches
• Weighs: 12 ounces

Product Description
For more than six centuries, the strange and defiant Habsburg family ruled a polyglot empire sprawling from Audstria to the Adriatic Sea, from North Africa to Mexico. Researcher Andrew Wheatcroft shows how the dynasty's mystical vision and unsurpassed political acumen culminated in the culture that produced 20th-century giants such as Freud and Hitler. 16 pages of photographs.

Reader Reviews
Since the Habsburgs ruled much of Europe for over 700 years, writing their history is a risky business indeed. Happily, Wheatcroft avoids the trap of getting bogged down in a plethora of dates and deaths. His solution - and the reader soon realizes the briliance of his design - is instead to focus on what it meant to be a Habsburg, and on the metaphysical identity they assumed. The Habsburgs projected themselves as possessing a special mission from God above to preserve the Catholic faith and to maintain the common weal through a perpetual, hereditary monarchy. Their various inventions - the Order of the Golden Fleece, the motto "AEIOU," their patented system of interlocking dynastic marriages - were all part of this corporate strategy. The sense of quest sustained the family throughout the Holy Roman Empire and guided leaders such as Maximilian, Phillip of Spain, Maria Theresa, and Franz-Joseph. This book is also a terrific meditation on collective memory: while most of Gemany had forgotten that a Hapsburg had once been Emperor (Rudolf 1271-1291), NO-ONE in the Habsburg dynasty lost sight of the prize. Such was the family's preparedness that upon the re-election of one of its members (Albert, 1438-51), the Habsburgs held the Imperial throne until 1918. The Kennedys, the Bushes and even the Windsors are a mere blip by comparison.