The Habsburg Empire, Pieter M. Judson
The Habsburg Empire, Pieter M. Judson
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The Habsburg Empire
A New History

Author: Pieter M. Judson

Narrator: Michael Page

Unabridged: 18 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 01/25/2017


Synopsis

In a panoramic and pioneering reappraisal, Pieter M. Judson shows why the Habsburg Empire mattered so much, for so long, to millions of Central Europeans.

Rejecting fragmented histories of nations in the making, this bold revision surveys the shared institutions that bridged difference and distance to bring stability and meaning to the far-flung empire. By supporting new schools, law courts, and railroads, along with scientific and artistic advances, the Habsburg monarchs sought to anchor their authority in the cultures and economies of Central Europe. A rising standard of living throughout the empire deepened the legitimacy of Habsburg rule, as citizens learned to use the empire's administrative machinery to their local advantage. Nationalists developed distinctive ideas about cultural difference in the context of imperial institutions, yet all of them claimed the Habsburg state as their empire.

The empire's creative solutions to governing its many lands and peoples—as well as the intractable problems it could not solve—left an enduring imprint on its successor states in Central Europe. Its lessons remain no less important today.

About Pieter M. Judson

Pieter M. Judson is a professor of nineteenth- and twentieth-century history at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Steven

A lengthy and detailed tome on the Habsburg Empire or Habsburg Monarchy (also referred to as the Austrian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or Austria-Hungary). This book takes an overarching view of the Empire, its history, and its end. Its life ran from 1700-1918, when--at the end of World War......more

It's a learned and well-researched book. It follows thus the first requirement to be an excellent History book. Unfortunately, it is also very prolix, a most un-Dutch characteristic. And boring. The latter two make any History book a task to perform, not a pleasure to read. The peculiar thing is that th......more