The Habsburg Monarchy, 1618-1815 (New Approaches to European History)

Rating:
Summary: When was Waterloo?
Review: As the author Charles Ingrao states in his preface to this excellent history, it can be difficult to combine the brevity of a textbook history with the completeness and detail sought by the scholar. Fortunately, Mr. Ingrao provides fascinating and detailed portraits of the historical background and the interacting personalities of the period. The Habsburg monarchs display personality traits which often influence the historical events of the time ( the counter-revolutionary zeal of

Ferdinand II instigating the thirty years' war ). Prince Eugene of Savoy is certainly one of the most brilliant military leaders of any time, and his prominant role in the defeat of the army of Louis XIV is emphasized in this book. The history begins at the thirty years' war in 1618 and extends through the numerous challenges to the Habsburg Monarchy, including the Turks, the French, and the Prussians. The enlghtened rule ( and reform ) of both Maria Theresa and her son Joseph II are discussed in the later chapters leading into the early nineteenth century. Mr. Ingrao has taken care to incorporate details of economic as well as social-cultural events to support his thesis that the Habsburg Monarchy was a very positive and active influence on the society of this period, and what a period for the empire!

For those interested in the history of Austria or the Habsburg Monarchy, this book offers the extra details to make history interesting. The personalities are fascinating, and the historical background of the period often anticipates our questions or concerns and leads into absorbing discussions of these issues.

Rating:
Summary: Better than nothing
Review: Habsburg history between Charles V and Metternich is almost a dead zone for Anglophone readers. The Thirty Years Wars sparks a bit of interest, as does Rudolphine Prague. But unless I am mistaken, there is no biography available in English of any of the Emperors from Ferdinand II until Maria Theresia. And even she hasn't received a serious study in English since Edward Crankshaw's in the 1960's. Louis XIV continues to receive regular biographies and specialist studies. Yet Leopold I, his great rival, who reigned for nearly 50 years (1658-1705), is almost completely ignored.

Ingrao's book covers a lot of material in a fairly short space and is necessarily cursory in many respects. I also thought he was much more interested in the 18th century than the 17th. He clearly admires Maria Theresia, though is not blind to her faults, and treats Joseph II more kindly than he perhaps deserves. (Joseph seems to have been the perfect illustration of the dangers of what Michael Oakeshott famously called Rationalism in Politics).

Ingrao's treatment of the cultural contributions of the Habsburg Empire, its greatest legacy, is patchy. There is no mention of the great Austro-Bohemian composers of the 17th century - Biber, Schmelzer etc, nor of Fux in the 18th.

Still, as an up-to-date well-written survey of a complex and fascinating subject, Ingrao's book is very welcome.

Now all you post-doctoral history students, stop mucking about and start writing some detailed studies of the topics Ingrao could merely touch on.

Rating:
Summary: Better than nothing
Review: Habsburg history between Charles V and Metternich is almost a dead zone for Anglophone readers. The Thirty Years Wars sparks a bit of interest, as does Rudolphine Prague. But unless I am mistaken, there is no biography available in English of any of the Emperors from Ferdinand II until Maria Theresia. And even she hasn't received a serious study in English since Edward Crankshaw's in the 1960's. Louis XIV continues to receive regular biographies and specialist studies. Yet Leopold I, his great rival, who reigned for nearly 50 years (1658-1705), is almost completely ignored.

Ingrao's book covers a lot of material in a fairly short space and is necessarily cursory in many respects. I also thought he was much more interested in the 18th century than the 17th. He clearly admires Maria Theresia, though is not blind to her faults, and treats Joseph II more kindly than he perhaps deserves. (Joseph seems to have been the perfect illustration of the dangers of what Michael Oakeshott famously called Rationalism in Politics).

Ingrao's treatment of the cultural contributions of the Habsburg Empire, its greatest legacy, is patchy. There is no mention of the great Austro-Bohemian composers of the 17th century - Biber, Schmelzer etc, nor of Fux in the 18th.

Still, as an up-to-date well-written survey of a complex and fascinating subject, Ingrao's book is very welcome.

Now all you post-doctoral history students, stop mucking about and start writing some detailed studies of the topics Ingrao could merely touch on.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read
Review: I don't normally write book reviews but the subject matter of the most recent review (see below) has provoked me into a response. The Congress of Vienna in which the shape of post Napoleonic Europe was determined was from September 1814 to June 1815. It is important to understand that the congress was organized to "settle" things after Napoleon went into exile on Elba in 1814, and that it continued through the Hundred Days that ended at Waterloo. The egregious error cited below is not an error at all.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read
Review: I don't normally write book reviews but the subject matter of the most recent review (see below) has provoked me into a response. The Congress of Vienna in which the shape of post Napoleonic Europe was determined was from September 1814 to June 1815. It is important to understand that the congress was organized to "settle" things after Napoleon went into exile on Elba in 1814. It continued through the Hundred Days that ended at Waterloo. The egregious error cited below is not an error at all.

Rating:
Summary: When was Waterloo?
Review: My copy of this book arrived yesterday, so I haven't read it. But I did start it last night. The first sentence engenedered substantial discomfort--for it evokes the picture of the European Powers meeting in Vienna on June 9, 1815 to sign the treaty to end the Napoleonic wars. Excuse me? JUNE 9? June 9 was A WEEK BEFORE THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO! Now I am not a Ph.D history, and I am not someone who thinks that "dates" are what the best history is about. But to get this wrong in the first sentence of a book? What happened to the proofreaders at Cambridge University Press? Ignore the 2 stars the system made me give; the bibliographies that led me to the book make me think I'll revise upward, but, if the devil is in the details. . . .