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The Habsburgs: To Rule the World Paperback – May 10, 2022

by Martyn Rady (Author)

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“A feat of both scholarship and storytelling” (Wall Street Journal)—the definitive history of a powerful family dynasty who dominated Europe for centuries.

In The Habsburgs, Martyn Rady tells the epic story of a dynasty and the world it built—and then lost—over nearly a millennium. From modest origins, the Habsburgs gained control of the Holy Roman Empire in the fifteenth century. Then, in a few decades, their possessions rapidly expanded to take in a large part of Europe, stretching from Hungary to Spain, and parts of the New World and the Far East. The Habsburgs dominated Central Europe through the First World War. 

Historians often depict the Habsburgs as leaders of a ramshackle empire. But Rady reveals their enduring power, driven by the belief that they were destined to rule the world as defenders of the Roman Catholic Church, guarantors of peace, and patrons of learning. This is the remarkable history of a dynasty that forever changed Europe and the world. 

Print length

432 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

May 10, 2022
Dimensions

5.45 x 1.25 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

1541644514
ISBN-13

978-1541644519
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A feat of both scholarship and storytelling.... It's not hard to see current parallels to this story.... In an era of schisms, America needs a unifying idea of itself as something greater than the sum of its parts. If the Habsburgs could last for a millennium, surely a constitutional republic can."―Wall Street Journal

“Glory, grief, loss – and incest – are all covered in this panoramic account that makes more sense of the great European dynasty than its rulers often did.”―The Guardian

"Martyn Rady's history of this peculiar family is deeply informed, elegantly written and a joy to read."―Evening Standard (UK)

"Rady is a lucid and elegant writer... It is impossible to imagine a more erudite and incisive history of this fascinating, flawed and ultimately tragic dynasty."―The Times (UK)

"A Rolls Royce of a narrative that motors through ten centuries of history with an effortlessness that belies the intellectual horsepower beneath the bonnet."―Literary Review (UK)

"Probably the best book ever written on the Habsburgs in any language.... Lucid, comprehensive and witty, it is not merely a pleasure to read but a complete education. Students, scholars and the general reader will never find a better guide to Habsburg history."―Times Literary Supplement (UK)

"This admirably compact, exceptionally well-written survey will probably be the standard one-volume history of the Habsburg dynasty for years to come."―Library Journal

"This comprehensive account provides an insightful overview of seven centuries of European history."―Publishers Weekly

"A sweeping chronicle of the rise and fall of the Habsburg dynasty."―Kirkus

"The Habsburgs is gripping, colorful, and dramatic but also concise, scholarly, and magisterial. Martyn Rady recounts the story of Europe's greatest dynasty that ruled an empire, on which the sun never set, from Peru to the Philippines. Revealing a key player in world history for almost a thousand years, The Habsburgs is a chronicle of high politics and family intimacy involving religion, murder, incest, madness, suicide, assassination. History on an epic scale!"―Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs and Jerusalem: The Biography

"The Habsburgs were once Europe's foremost royal family. Rady tells their story with verve and authority, casting a curious eye over their eccentricities and peccadilloes while all the time revealing their extraordinary influence and global vision. A fascinating read!"―Alexander Watson,author of The Fortress: The Siege of Przemysl and the Making of Europe'sBloodlands

"This is a first global history of Europe's most famous and durable dynasty, chronicling its exploits with great panache over nearly a millennium of rule across wide swathes of the continent and beyond. Martyn Rady writes incisively and judiciously, drawing on much recent international scholarship in a range of languages to illustrate multiple facets of Habsburg governance in theory and practice. At the same time his text is accessible and entertaining, his ready wit providing a delectable counterpoint to the notorious humourlessness of so many of the dynasts he examines."―Robert Evans, Regius Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Oxford

"A tour de force. Thorough, accessible and resolutely erudite, this is the volume that this vitally important subject so desperately needed. Martyn Rady should be congratulated."―Roger Moorhouse, author of Poland 1939: The Outbreak of World War II

"Martyn Rady has written a splendid account of the grandest old dynasty of Europe: the Habsburgs. With wit and firm opinion, he takes the reader on something akin to a tour of the Wunderkammer of the dynasty's many-centuries-long career. Including vampires, an empress's waist size, and cocaine-laced health drinks, Rady's narrative glitters with apt quotes and telling, often ironic details. One does not have to agree entirely with his distinct point of view to recognize that this is an extremely well-founded, most informative, and highly entertaining introduction to a major, and unjustly neglected, part of European history."―Steven Beller, authorof The Habsburg Monarchy 1815-1918

About the Author

Martyn Rady is Masaryk professor of Central European history at University College London. A leading expert on Central Europe, he is the author of The Habsburg Empire: A Very Short Introduction, The Emperor Charles V, and other books on Hungarian and Romanian history. He lives in Kent, UK.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books (May 10, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1541644514
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1541644519
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.45 x 1.25 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #205,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #67 in Historical Germany Biographies
- #68 in Ancient Rome Biographies
- #338 in German History (Books)

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4.4 558 ratings

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Martyn C. Rady

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Martyn Rady is the author of 'The Habsburgs: Rise and Fall of a World Power' (also published as 'The Habsburgs: To Rule the World') and of 'The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe', which was published in May 2023. His book on the Habsburgs is published in UK and US editions and has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, German, Serbian, Russian, Dutch, and Chinese. He has also written extensively on Hungarian and Romanian history and has translated several of the principal Czech and Hungarian chronicles and law codes.

Back in the 1980s, Martyn was a schoolteacher, working at Mill Hill School in North London. It was then that he wrote his first books, on the government of medieval Buda and on the Emperor Charles V. In 1990, he joined the School of Slavonic and East European Studies of the University of London, which was later swallowed up into University College London. For much of his academic career, Martyn was also the Warden of Hughes Parry Hall in Bloomsbury. He retired in 2020, to concentrate on writing. During lockdown, he found that he had not much else to do and 'The Middle Kingdoms' is the product of that time.

Contrary to popular opinion, Martyn is not a Hungarian. There is a minor Hungarian noble family called Rády, but it has nothing to do with him! He lives in Stroud in Gloucestershire.

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A nice read

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2023

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This is very much a history of a family and not high politics. The character of the Habsburg rulers are often chronicled then their politics..

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B Tatum

Great history book for the Hapsburg Dynasty to Assassination of Archduke of Franz Ferdinand

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2022

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I am reading this on Kindle. It is a 600-page book and can get tedious at times. I am more inclined toward
17th to 20th-century history. I enjoyed European history as I studied the French and German languages for many years, primarily WWI and WWII.
The assassination of the Hapsburg Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the catalyst for WWI. I wanted to understand how this happened. The Hapsburg Dynasty lasted for centuries and was dominant across the Continent and abroad. I am up to the 16th century in the book, so I struggle to get to the century I want most to read. I have learned much, but you have to want this knowledge to get through it.

14 people found this helpful

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Book Lover

Brilliant Book

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2020

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This is a wonderful book of the Nancy Mitford school of history, short with funny, telling details on every page. A few examples, picked at random:

Maria Theresa needed money: "When the diets complained, the empress was tough... 'the Crown expressly commands you to grant these sums voluntarily.' Sounds completely voluntary.

The emperor was big on science and collected specimens from all over the world: "The [imperial] zoo was opened to the public in 1778, although it was a requirement that visitors came properly dressed. Thankfully, it never functioned in the manner of Louis XIV's collection at Versailles, where tigers fought elephants for the king's amusement."

The Revolution of 1848: "By nightfall, Vienna was in chaos. Mobs looted shops and workplaces in the suburbs, assaulting the well-to-do and breaking into bakeries and tobacconists. In the centre, rioters pulled up street lights to use them as battering rams and lit the escaping gas at pavement level to send sheets of flame into the darkness." Sounds like Portland.

Identity politics: "In Hungary, the taverns were differentiated by the alcohol they served-- beer for Germans, wine for Hungarians, and cheap brandy for the rest. Even in their cups, the different national groups were reported to be different, the Hungarians becoming melancholy, the German talkative, the Romanian violent, and the Ruthenian incoherent.

...One soldier wrote his diary in four different languages-- German for regimental matters, Slovene when thinking about his girlfriend, Serbian for songs he recalled, and Hungarian for his sexual fantasies."

I would guess the author is of Hungarian (or Austro/Hungarian) background. The chapters on Austria and Hungary are much the best, those on Charles V and Philip II and the Spanish empire less than perfunctory, but for what he knows and writes best about, this is an exemplary book.

59 people found this helpful

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Chris Joslin

Astonishingly good

Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2020

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Of the many excellent books on Central European history I have read this year, this one stands at the apex. Witty, erudite, and just plain fun, it tells all about the Hapsburg Empire that any casual reader - and perhaps many generalist historians - could wish to know.

A lot is covered here. It is a social and economic history as much as a political one, and there are many personal vignettes. It is also - I felt - very even-handed in its treatment of its subjects: the good is presented along with the (undeniable) bad.

While it is perhaps true that the space allocated to the Spanish branch of the family is less than to their Austrian cousins, this balance seems appropriate. Aside from a relatively brief period in the 16th century, the Hapsburg Empire has always been a continental power, whose primary concerns lie in Mitteleuropa.

Hats off to Professor Rady for producing what must now be regarded as the premier work on this subject.

20 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

The tiniest print you'll ever (not) see

Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2023

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This book is a decent historical read but the print is ridiculously tiny. You don't know that when purchasing. You need a magnifying glass to read this one!

17 people found this helpful

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sandyonocean

Entertaining read

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2022

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Pretty good outline of the Habsburgs from their beginning to end. But the author did more than just cite facts and dates he wrote a lively and entertaining book. Even if the reader has read many books on the Habsburgs (I have) I think you will learn some things you did not know about the family and empire.

16 people found this helpful

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Arheddis Vaarkingjaab

A cast of thousands--and that's just the Habsburgs

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2020

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This is a thorough, well researched and well documented treatment of a complex dynasty. Martyn Rady does a good job sorting it all out, and theretoward, presents a genealogy, glossary, end notes, foot notes, and a thorough index. It's still a lot of page flipping and re-reading to keep track of who is whom. It's sort of helpful that I just read the story of Selim, the Ottoman emperor, in a fine book entitled "God's Shadow" by Alan Mikhail. The two empires bumped against each other everywhere, and the European one does not compare well. The Turks were more humane and religion-tolerant and not as prone to burning their enemies and unpopular at the stake.

I have only gotten into the 17th century so far, so cannot comment on the more modern aspects of the empire and its coverage in the book.

13 people found this helpful

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FTWJIM

I have never read about the Hapsburgs

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2022

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Martyn Rady is the author and I like way that he takes you thur the rulers of the family tree starting out with
Kanzelin and going on to Franz Joseph. There are numerous illustrations and maps. I liked the book.

11 people found this helpful

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Rafael F.

Uma Monarquia verdadeiramente Universal

Reviewed in Brazil on July 26, 2022

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Comprei este livro, em primeira instância, devido à sua acessibilidade na questão de custo, pois já estava buscando um livro sobre a dinastia Habsburgo, e em segunda instância pela aparente qualidade, após ler análises e investigar a procedência do autor, algo assaz importante para livros de história, onde autores enviesados podem facilmente deturpar o ponto dos livros.

Em primeiro lugar, como o livro é em inglês, é importante notar o nível elevado de fluência necessário para compreendê-lo adequadamente, embora seja, ainda nesse quesito, relativamente acessível, especialmente ao buscar algumas palavras raras no dicionário. Ainda nesse quesito de linguagem, a escrita do autor é bastante elegante, trazendo um sentido de esplendor e glória às conquistas da dinastia, mas de forma imparcial.

Em segundo, já na questão de conteúdo propriamente dito, o autor discorre a respeito dos Habsburgos desde a fundação da Dinastia na Idade Média até a dissolução da Monarquia Dual da Áustria-Hungria, com um último capítulo também falando a respeito sobre Beato Carlos da Áustria e seu filho Otto após o fim. O autor traz seu relato de forma imparcial, utilizando fontes primárias sempre que possível e levando em conta os padrões de cada época para julgar as qualidades individuais de cada membro da dinastia, sem ser demasiadamente crítico e, muito menos, sem passar pano para qualquer um que seja.

A única ressalva é de que, como a linha de tempo é vasta, o autor não possui espaço para descrever extensamente e, em especial, descreve pouco as questões militares, o que, contudo, não é demérito, pois o livro almeja contar uma história sobretudo dinástica, não sendo um livro de história militar. Neste sentido, cumpre-o muito bem, e as personalidades dos monarcas e membros da dinastia se tornam bastante evidentes, assim como suas motivações e objetivos. É, especificamente, bastante esclarecedor a respeito dos monarcas da época da Guerra dos 30 Anos, de Carlos I&V do Sacro Império Romano e de Franz Joseph da Áustria-Hungria, penúltimo Habsburgo reinante.

4 people found this helpful

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Vlad Thelad

A turbulent millennium of central European history

Reviewed in Canada on September 7, 2020

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I have always enjoyed books that cover huge swathes of history, especially if the author ably achieves a balance between the bigger picture and the detail, the overarching analytical eye and the penchant for the well placed anecdote. Martyn Rady does just that as he covers a millennium of European history through the telling of the Habsburg dynasty. We follow the family members throughout the turbulence of an ever changing central Europe, an empire once described as neither holy, Roman, nor imperial, the Spanish grandeur and decline, the revolutionary nineteenth century, and the trigger of World War I, among many other historical events, while learning about them as human beings with all their idiosyncrasies, ranging from astuteness to idiocy. Many chapters of the book would be very readable as standalone essays, and incidentally, are very cleverly titled.

3 people found this helpful

John

Researched

Reviewed in Spain on July 26, 2021

Verified Purchase

Was disappointed with the research and had expected a better non Hungarian biased version of the austro Hungarian empire

Rosa Mundi

Detailed history of a major royal house

Reviewed in France on May 24, 2021

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A fascinating history of one of the major European royal families. The book is a detailed account which needs careful attentive reading, but it’s really worth persevering!

Amazon Customer

Well written & easy to read

Reviewed in Canada on February 10, 2021

Verified Purchase

Pretty standard stuff. Good to read if one does not know much about the Habsburgs.

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