audiobook The Habsburg Empire: A New History by Pieter M. Judson in History

Review

155 of 159 people found the following review helpful. Competing NationalismsBy John D. CofieldThe Habsburg Empire; also known as the Austrian Empire; the Austro-Hungarian Empire; or Austria-Hungary; often seems to conjure up a comic-opera image of strutting officials in lavish uniforms; overdressed ladies consuming vast quantities of sweets; and a general air of pomposity; inefficiency; and incompetence. Nearly one hundred years after the Empire's collapse in 1918; however; Pieter M. Judson's new history makes the case that the Habsburgs and the bureaucracies they created to help them rule their vast territories were more capable and better organized than is generally perceived. This is a lengthy book of some 450 pages; plus another 100 pages of extensive Notes. Divided into eight chapters and an epilogue; it covers the period from Maria Theresa's reign in the eighteenth century through the 1918 collapse and its aftermath. It's a lengthy book with a lot of detail; but it is also well written; with new material and conclusions that challenge long accepted interpretations and hold the reader's interest.The Habsburg Dynasty was one of the world's great success stories. Emerging from a single castle in what is now Switzerland during the Middle Ages; the family managed through an adroit policy of making advantageous marriages and managing inheritances to gain control of much of Central Europe and become Holy Roman Emperors. Judson's history begins with Maria Theresa; only child of Emperor Charles VI. When she succeeded her father in 1740 her territories almost immediately came under attack from rapacious neighbors like Frederick the Great's Prussia. Maria Theresa was intelligent and charismatic; and she was able to rally her subjects and defeat or at least fight to a stalemate most of her enemies. The Empress was responsible for developing a new way of treating the people she ruled: as individual citizens with rights and privileges that were to be guaranteed and protected by the central state. She and her two sons Emperors Joseph II and Leopold II laid the groundwork for a bureaucracy that helped them govern from the center and weaken the power of local landlords and nobles. This process continued under Emperor Francis I; who became Emperor of Austria when the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by Napoleon in 1806.During the nineteenth century the policy of centralization and bureaucratic rule continued. Emperor Francis Joseph I; who ruled from 1848 to 1916; had to deal with the growth of nationalist impulses that threatened the unity of his multi-ethnic empire. These nationalisms could be based on language; ethnicity; or a combination of both. The Emperor proved to be fairly adroit in playing off competing sides against each other and in balancing demands so that he and the central government kept the upper hand most of the time. When he was forced into allowing the Hungarian section of his territories to become independent; thus creating the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867; he continued to manage to keep things rumbling along successfully most of the time. At the back of Francis Joseph and his predecessors' plan all along was the commitment to keep the Empire's subjects loyal to the Empire rather than to their specific language or national group. For the most part; during the prosperous late nineteenth century; Francis Joseph succeeded. Railroads; telephones; telegraphs and other technological developments helped tie distant provinces firmly to the capitals of Vienna and Budapest; and most of his subjects saw Francis Joseph as the final guarantor of their rights andfreedoms.The outbreak of World War I in 1914 is commonly held to have doomed Austria-Hungary right way. Judson makes the point that the Empire was fairly successful in holding together for the first year or so of the war; but food and supply shortages and high casualty rates placed too much stress on its governing structure. Francis Joseph's death in 1916 and the succession of his great-nephew Emperor Charles seemed to provide a brief burst of new energy and hope; but by the fall of 1918 the end was inevitable. In a several weeks long collapse the different segments of the Empire broke free; and the last Emperor and his family were forced to flee.In the post war period the new nation-states that arose from the ruins of Austria-Hungary tore down imperial emblems and statues but retained many of the Empire's laws and even some of its officials. The new nations were often weak and their governments frequently turned to a fervent new form of nationalism that emphasized specific peoples and languages; rather than continuing the Imperial policy that focused on the unity of disparate peoples under one government. That is probably one of the most important of Judson's insights; especially at a time when new fears of immigration appear to be encouraging new and more strident forms of nationalism in the West.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. it is an easy and enjoyable readBy Robert ReitterFor a book of historical analysis; it is an easy and enjoyable read. Judson's analysis is favorable to the Habsburg dynasty; and he makes a compelling case.22 of 23 people found the following review helpful. The Habsburg Empire by Dr. Pieter M. Judson is like reading a PH.D dissertation but is readable and wisely informedBy C. M MillsThe Habsburg Empire by Dr. Pieter M. Judson a professor of history in Florence Italy reads like a dense textbook on the explosive region. The period covered begins in the eighteenth century as the Swiss Habsburg Family seized the dynastic reins in Vienna. Thje Austrian Empire was a stabilizing force in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Strong administration; a good tax system and freedom and liberalization for peasant communities all emerged under the liberal despotic regimes of the formidable Maria Theresa and her sons who followed her in the succession to the throne. There were problems with rebellions in Hungary and far flung areas of the huge empire where over thirty millon people lived. The year of 1848 led to the fall of Prince Metternich in Vienna and greater autonomy for the areas and regions controlled from Vienna. Franz Joseph became the emperor in 1848. The Austrian Empire collapsed in 1918 after fighting on the losing side in World War I. The book's main them is that the Habsburg Empire was basically well governed throughout most of its long history. The volume also gave this reviewer a good overall history of Eastern Europe that is usually omitted from books dealing with European history in the period covered. It is dry reading but contains good information. I wished the author would have humanized his argument with anecdotes but alas he did not1 Nevertheless; this is the book to read on the famous Habsburg Duynasty. Well illustrated with copious footnotes in the back of the book.