The Habsburg Monarchy C 1765 1918

The Habsburg Monarchy thoroughly explores the dynastic characters and the multi-national complexity of the region as well as the way the Monarchy dealt with issues within the European framework, like the ending of Absolutism and education. The book spans from Joseph II’s accession as Holy Roman Emperor and joint ruler of the Habsburg lands with his Mother Maria Theresa in 1765 to its fall in 1918. Utilizing English, German, Serbo-Croat, Czech, and Magyar sources, as well as others, this book is the most comprehensive history of the Habsburg Empire ever written.

A history of the Habsburg monarchy from the end of the Holy Roman Empire to the monarchy's dissolution in 1918. The book offers an insight into the problems inherent in the attempt to give peace, stability and common loyalty to a hetergeneous population.

This book is a narrative history of the Austrian Monarchy from 1790 to its break-up in 1918. Its theme is the hundred year struggle between the venerable dynastic empire which ruled Central Europe, and the new national, political and social forces in conflict with it, an with one another. The author starts with the death of Emperor Joseph 11 in 1790, the event which he takes as marking the turn of the tide in the struggle between autocracy and centralisation on the one side, and the new forces on the other; but he prefixes his narrative with a brief account of Joseph's own reign, and with a comprehensive picture of the old monarchy on the threshold of the new age. C. A. Macartney takes his subject as comprising the monarchy as a whole, every people, class and province in it. He thus brings and makes intelligible the diversity within the unity, and the unity synthesising the diversity, which give the history of the Austrian Monarchy its special and unique character. The author was long acquainted with the countries and peoples that were once part of the Habsburg Empire and it was this experience, combined with linguistic accomplishments that enabled him to draw on an exceptionally wide range of sources. The result is a work of monumental scholarship written with unique insight and understanding.

Robin Okey's book shows how the Habsburg peoples experienced the same social, economic, and political processes as most other Europeans, in ways that cast interesting light on these processes from both the European and the Habsburg angle. Opposing views that the national problem was therefore subordinate to underlying socio-economic backwardness, Okey argues for the inextricable entanglement of the two themes, as nationalism emerged from a process of social mobilization which threatened the position of dominant Austro-Germans and Magyars.

A political, cultural, and socioeconomic history of the Habsburg empire, discussing the rise of Habsburg power, its subsequent status and action as a great power, and its dissolution.