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 | | A History of the Habsburg Empire 1273-1700 by Jean Berenger, C. A. Simpson (Translator) ISBN-10: 9780582090101 ISBN-10: 0-582-09010-5 ISBN-13: 9780582090101 ISBN-13: 978-0-582-09010-1 Textbook Binding 1994-01 Longman Publishing Group Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description The first part of a two-volume history of the Habsburg Empire from its medieval origins to its dismemberment in the First World War. This important volume (which is self-contained) meets a long-felt need for a systematic survey in English of the Habsburgs and their lands in the late medieval and early modern periods. It is primarily concerned with the Habsburg territories in central and northern Europe, but the history of the Spanish Habsburgs in Spain and the Netherlands is also covered. The book, like the Habsburgs themselves, deals with an immense range of lands and peoples: clear, balanced, and authoritative, it is a remarkable feat of synthethis and exposition. | ||
Reviews | ||
Outstanding piece of scholarship eminently readable by all Berenger's book is an outstanding piece of scholarship eminently readable by scientists and lay people alike. Professor Berenger succeeded in this book in depicting how and why the miscellaneos nations of the Austrian Empire tried to shape their destinies against the background of complex relationships, even intrigues in the Habsburg family. In this work, Berenger undertook an enormous task of deciphering the colorful tapestry of the individual nations of the monarchy and, without taking sides, of determining their respective weights and roles in shaping the power structure of the monarchy.Thus, the book is primarily a study in the history of Central Europe while not neglecting the history of the Habsburg family. To explain the conditions and circumstances that made it possible for a relatively unknown count Rudolf of Habsburg to make the lands of Austria his springboard to power, Berenger takes us first to the middle of the 12th century when two kings, the Czech king Premysl Otakar II and the Hungarian king Bela IV vied for the domination of the Austrian lands. Eventually, the Czech ruler prevailed and his Austro-Bohemian state stretched from the Adriatic to the Baltic. This powerhouse, Berenger explains, was the thorn in the side of the German princes who decide to play Rudolf against Otakar. Eventually, Rudolf with their help overpowered Otakar by ruse and sword and had him killed by the hands of treasonous Czech noblemen. Austria lay open before Rudolf. The Habsburgs proved to be consummate politicians who mastered the art of playing their enemies against each other, who knew how to make use of religious tensions to get the Vatican on their side thus further strengthening their position in Europe. Berenger takes us then through the centuries of bitter wars against the invading Turks the brunt of which was born mainly by the Hungarians, through the fires of Reformation and Contra-Reformation, from the splendor of the Renaissance court of the Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, where religeous tolerance and the pursuit of sciences florished, to the gradual concentration of political powers in Vienna. While masterfully moulding the enormous mass of facts and relationships into an integrated, logical picture of Central Europe, Berenger does not neglect to provide the total picture of the Universal Habsburg Monarchy which, through another branch of the family encompassed Spain and other countries of Western Europe. We can only hope that the second volume of Professor Berenger's outstanding work will be equally illuminating and captivating reading as was this first volume. J.J.Ulbrech | ||
A blatant example of cultural racism. This book by Berenger contains the two most blatant examples of cultural racism currently in print that I have yet found. See the arrogant dismissal of Berenger of the Hungarian origins and the unbelievable dismissal of Jews in Hapsburg history most obviously in the area of the Rothchild's. I have no idea what positive value this book may have, but as an artifact of racism, it is quite impressive. Michael Wahrman | ||