Customer Reviews

The Habsburgs

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Many positive things have been said about this book (mostly valid) so I'll just jump to three sticking points which potential readers should keep in mind before buying it.

1.This book asserts that the Habsburgs consciously created and manipulated their own families mythology to a degree unseen in Europe. This is greatly misleading for it forgets (unbelievably) the other great mythology making machines around at the time (the Medici's in Florence, the Bourbons in France and so on).
2.Though the Habsburgs did manipulate their image via various means it cannot be stated with the certainty with which Wheatcroft does that it was a conscious family project from the days of Rudolf I (1218-1291). Certainly it preoccupied his later descendents but Rudoplf and his immediate progeny were simply behaving in a pattern familiar to most rulers of the time.
3. I must also stress that the book is not an easy read, mostly due to the fact that the author jumps around the historic timeline and throws in a few dozen Hapsburg names (some with no numbers attached which can be really confusing seeing as the Habsburgs shared names profusely) to confuse things even more. I also disliked the references made to figures of whom we know nothing about and who the author says nothing about.
Oh and this is not a history of the rulers themselves but rather a book on how the Habsburgs manipulated their image down the centuries. Do not buy it if you want to find out about individual rulers achievements, acts etc. Very little of that can be found in this book.

This book is not a history of Austria-as the title indicates, it is a history of the Habsburgs, the hereditary rulers of Austria. As I mentioned in my review of Brook-Shepherd's book, "The Austrians" (a book that is complementary to this one, with relatively little overlap), there really isn't a great deal of material available in English on Austrian history-at least not on events taking place before the latter half of the 19th century.

From the traditional historical point of view-that in which history is the chronology recounting of war and changes in power-nothing of significance really happened in Austria that wasn't somehow associated with the Habsburgs. Whether or not this is the case is the subject of a different book-the subject of this one is the Habsburg family itself. Although their presence lasted longer in Austria than anywhere else, this powerful family also ruled the Netherlands, and Spain, and often provided the figurehead for the Holy Roman Empire.

Probably to an extent greater than any other royal house, the Habsburgs had their greatest successes not on the battlefield, but in the bedroom. They married their way to what at one point was the largest empire in the world, encompassing not only the majority of the German-speaking lands, but also the Lowlands, the Iberian peninsula, and the Spanish territories in North and South America, and Asia. Quite a feat for a dynasty that had been chased out of their hereditary home and namesake 300 years earlier by pitchfork-wielding Swiss peasants. The Habsburg story is more concerned with the issues of power than it is with warfare, which often went quite badly for them.

Given a unique and interesting subject, the author takes a somewhat non-traditional approach. As he explains in the preface "More and more I found that the Habsburgs expressed their sense of missions and their objectives obliquely, through a kind of code." Wheatcroft attempts to show how the Habsburgs manipulated symbolism and other communication mechanisms to further their goals and to set themselves apart as the unquestionable lords of Central Europe. I think the author is only partially successful in this, although I found nothing in his approach that seemed unreasonable. Several of the author's explanations have been useful to me in interpreting symbolism that can still be seen today in Austria, such as the designation "K.K" and the gilded presence of the Order of the Golden Fleece on statues and paintings (This was a chivalric order borrowed from the Burgundians when they didn't need it any longer giving the Habsburgs an opportunity to run their own good ole boys club.)

On the negative side, I found the book difficult to read. While the subject matter certainly lends itself to confusion, dealing with an inbred family that unimaginatively reused the same names over and over again, sometimes with different numbers in different contexts for the same ruler, perhaps the author could have used a more straightforward outline. The book tends to spiral a bit, mixing up events taking place at different times in order to make a point about continuity and a repeating pattern of Habsburg behavior. I finally dog-eared the family trees appearing in the Appendix so that I could flip back to them in an attempt to keep all the cousins, nieces, and nephews straight.

This is not a traditional history. While I don't feel that the author necessarily builds totally plausible case for his conception of the Habsburgs as being Europe's premier power of propaganda, I do think that he offers genuine and useful insight. I question the execution more than the concept, which I think has some validity.

Towards the end of the book, the author states that he has consciously chosen to focus on symbolism rather than on the more usual subjects of Hapsburg history. Fair enough, and the book indeed offers some insights into how the Hapsburgs saw themselves as reflected by the way they are portrayed in the paintings and books discused. However, the casual reader who is more interested in the more conventional aspects of history should be warned: you are not going to learn much about the events of the times, the individual personalities of many of the Hapsburgs or get much of a feel for whether particular rulers were good or evil, wise or demented, successful or failures. [And the blurb on the jacket is downright misleading where it tantalizes you into thinking that you'll get some entertaining tales of Habsburg eccentricity, such as Juana the Mad touring around Spain with her dead husband's coffin: Mr. Wheatcroft doesn't discuss that story]. I have to agree with another reviewer that Mr. Wheatcroft can tell a good story when he wants, and does so early in the book with that of Leopold III's campaign against the Swiss. For that reason, I think that the choice of focus represents something of a missed opportunity. You cannot buy this book and, after reading it, feel that you have a solid feel the history of the times that it covers. You'll have to buy a second book. If you don't mind that, by all means buy this one too. If, however, you want to buy only one book on the Hapsburgs, you probably would want something else.

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.

very good information on the early lineage of habsburgs, that are not covered in modern history. not a great deal of information of the habsburgs who went on to romania and other parts of the austrian-hungarian empire through marriage. this book and "Fall of the House of Habsburg" does not give enough weight to the to the ability of this empire to keep together the balkans for over 100 years. and both books do not address the misery of the splits in the former empire.the current ethic,regional, and spiritual wars. a decent read, but i hope that a scholar of a/h would write a positive book on their achievements and its relation to the current situation in the balkans. this book is a good addition to a library of european history. a good read and another part of what created modern europe.

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.

Dr. Wheatcroft, a multilingual specialist in european and ottoman medieval history, has finally published one of his most elaborated works. The Habsbursg is the result of over 30 years of research, visiting different places and reading most of the previous publications on this field. The novelty of this work lies on its explanation of Continental Europe's history through the history of a family. This book might be boring for somebody who doesn't understand that the history of a country is the history of their people, and in the middle age the most influential people in Europe were the Habsburgs. This unique family had, during 1.000 years, a very characteristic fashion of behaving, because an individual able to track his / her origins for 40 straight generations till the deepest roots of Europe has a very special perspective of history and his / her role in it. Dr. Otto von Habsburg, European Deputy and living heir of this imperial dynasty, has worked all his live in order to re-discover the concept of Europe, the same ideal tracked by his familiy by means of the Holy Roman Empire. In conclusion, for everybody interested in discovering what is behind the ideal of Europe (and its symbols, like the EU's flag), this book will be extraordinarily interesting.

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'.

I began reading this book eagerly because there aren't very many books in English which attempt to cover the entire history of the Habsburgs from Rudolf I down to the present. There is much interesting detail about many of the early Habsburgs, particularly Duke Leopold III. Unfortunately, the careless editing of the book leads me to distrust much that is presented as fact. As they say, "The devil's in the details." At least one of the illustrations (a famous painting of Charles V) was printed in mirror image - a careless mistake. There are several differences between the dates presented in the genealogical tables at the back of the book and the dates presented in the text and the illustration descriptions. All-in-all, this is not a book to rely on for correct details. The author also glossed over the gross physical appearance of the family members. Emperor Leopold I is referred to by coin collectors as "Leopold the Hogmouth," because of his profile on coins of the era, but that nickname isn't in this book. Ever since I first read of the "Habsburg lip," I have always wondered why paintings of the era depict the Habsburg men with deformed lower jaws, but the women are relatively normal looking. I suspect the painters "lied" and the Habsburg women must have been so dreadful looking nobody except their cousins would marry them. This "alternate theory" of why the Habsburgs only married members of their own family was not explored by the author. However, some of the narrative is interesting and flows smoothly, but because the author jumps around so much, interrupting the narrative flow to present information from other times, the book is difficult reading. Not recommended for a first read on the subject.

At first I found the wide differences in the reviews of this book to be remarkable. Then I looked at the reviews of the other Hapsburg overview books and found them about the same--a wide range of opinion.
I can say for sure that this book was not the right one for me. I was looking for that one book does all--takes me from neophyte to expert in one easy step. True, that is probably asking too much.
Beyond that, the book is indeed a difficult read. Not only does the author jump around, but his style is complex and his word choices are sometimes suspect.
Still, I did learn much. Unfortunately I cannot say that I actually enjoyed the book.