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The Eagles Die: Franz Joseph, Elisabeth, And Their Austria
Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire for 68 years, succumbing at last at age 86, 2 years after the start of WWI. When Franz Joseph succeeded to its command, the Habsburg holdings included Milan & Venice, Prague & Cracow, as well as Vienna & Budapest. Within two years of his death, the empire had been reduced to the small country, centered on Vienna, that it essentially is today. The Eagles Die is the story of that Habsburg sunset & of the golden light that Viennese culture shed in the waning days of empire.
Vienna-born Author Marek takes the biographical tack in The Eagles Die, concentrating upon Franz Joseph & Empress Elisabeth, obviously hoping that it might do for Habsburg Austria what Nicholas & Alexandra did for Romanov Russia. He only partly succeeds, mainly because his principal characters were intensely private, imperial strangers both to their subjects and to each other. Of the two, Elisabeth fares better, perhaps because her spirit seems so restlessly contemporary. Though she married Franz Joseph when she was 16 and gave him a son and three daughters, she played a lonely second fiddle to Franz Joseph's imperious mother Sophie. Eventually, the vivacious queen declared a kind of independence, becoming the adored champion of the cause of home-rule for Hungary, traveling incessantly: now to England to ride after hounds, now to Turkey to explore Schliemann's Troy diggings. She even translated Shakespearean plays into modern Greek. Primping and dieting narcissistically, she remained an international beauty until age 60, when killed by an Italian anarchist while boarding a steamer on Lake Geneva in 1898. Her marriage to Franz Joseph was one of the century's great mismatches. While she fluttered through Europe, he would rise before dawn to be at his royal desk by 5-6AM, as absorbed in the minutiae of bureaucracy as a tax clerk. He apparently enjoyed the stultifying formality of the Hofburg. Once, when he awoke very ill in the middle of the night, he was able to bark only one phrase at the physician who had scurried to him: "Formal dress!" If he'd any off-guard moments, they were reserved for his marvelously bourgeois relationship with Actress Katherina Schratt, a love lasting until he died. The Emperor regularly nipped down to Katherina's house for coffee after early morning Mass. Delighted Viennese fiacre divers called him "Herr Schratt."
Marek makes clear that Franz Joseph was more than a uniformed bureaucrat. He was literally and psychologically a survivor. He'd come to power upon his uncle's abdication during the 1848 Revolution and proceeded to put down and punish the rebels ruthlessly. He stubbornly refused to sell the region of Venetia for nearly $1 billion & then lost it—and thousands of lives—as a result of a disastrous war with Prussia. The survivor's instinct could only have deepened as he saw his family cut down by firing squad and assassin: his younger brother Maximilian as Napoleon Ill's cat's paw in Mexico, his son Rudolf as a result of a crime passionnel suicide pact at Mayerling, his wife at Geneva, his nephew Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo. Was it some final bitterness over the parade of deaths that caused Franz Joseph to push Europe, too, into an orgy of killing, as he declared war on Serbia in 1914?
This is an uneven book, but it's solidly researched, and when Marek stops to assess the contemporaneous accomplishments of Viennese civilization, his view can be breathtaking. While Franz Joseph fretted over dreary details at his desk, Bruckner, Brahms & Mahler were writing some of history's greatest music, & Johann Strauss some of its gayest. The young Kafka was turning out dismally prophetic stories in Prague (his sisters would die at Auschwitz). The young Freud was working out his theories of psychoanalysis.
But the sun was dropping rapidly. Physically, Franz Joseph had helped to build the graceful city that is modern Vienna. Spiritually, he scarcely understood the city. He allowed himself to be dragooned to the opera as a sort of royal advertisement. But the man who ruled Vienna's empire never once heard a symphony by Brahms.--Mayo Mohs (edited)
Vienna-born Author Marek takes the biographical tack in The Eagles Die, concentrating upon Franz Joseph & Empress Elisabeth, obviously hoping that it might do for Habsburg Austria what Nicholas & Alexandra did for Romanov Russia. He only partly succeeds, mainly because his principal characters were intensely private, imperial strangers both to their subjects and to each other. Of the two, Elisabeth fares better, perhaps because her spirit seems so restlessly contemporary. Though she married Franz Joseph when she was 16 and gave him a son and three daughters, she played a lonely second fiddle to Franz Joseph's imperious mother Sophie. Eventually, the vivacious queen declared a kind of independence, becoming the adored champion of the cause of home-rule for Hungary, traveling incessantly: now to England to ride after hounds, now to Turkey to explore Schliemann's Troy diggings. She even translated Shakespearean plays into modern Greek. Primping and dieting narcissistically, she remained an international beauty until age 60, when killed by an Italian anarchist while boarding a steamer on Lake Geneva in 1898. Her marriage to Franz Joseph was one of the century's great mismatches. While she fluttered through Europe, he would rise before dawn to be at his royal desk by 5-6AM, as absorbed in the minutiae of bureaucracy as a tax clerk. He apparently enjoyed the stultifying formality of the Hofburg. Once, when he awoke very ill in the middle of the night, he was able to bark only one phrase at the physician who had scurried to him: "Formal dress!" If he'd any off-guard moments, they were reserved for his marvelously bourgeois relationship with Actress Katherina Schratt, a love lasting until he died. The Emperor regularly nipped down to Katherina's house for coffee after early morning Mass. Delighted Viennese fiacre divers called him "Herr Schratt."
Marek makes clear that Franz Joseph was more than a uniformed bureaucrat. He was literally and psychologically a survivor. He'd come to power upon his uncle's abdication during the 1848 Revolution and proceeded to put down and punish the rebels ruthlessly. He stubbornly refused to sell the region of Venetia for nearly $1 billion & then lost it—and thousands of lives—as a result of a disastrous war with Prussia. The survivor's instinct could only have deepened as he saw his family cut down by firing squad and assassin: his younger brother Maximilian as Napoleon Ill's cat's paw in Mexico, his son Rudolf as a result of a crime passionnel suicide pact at Mayerling, his wife at Geneva, his nephew Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo. Was it some final bitterness over the parade of deaths that caused Franz Joseph to push Europe, too, into an orgy of killing, as he declared war on Serbia in 1914?
This is an uneven book, but it's solidly researched, and when Marek stops to assess the contemporaneous accomplishments of Viennese civilization, his view can be breathtaking. While Franz Joseph fretted over dreary details at his desk, Bruckner, Brahms & Mahler were writing some of history's greatest music, & Johann Strauss some of its gayest. The young Kafka was turning out dismally prophetic stories in Prague (his sisters would die at Auschwitz). The young Freud was working out his theories of psychoanalysis.
But the sun was dropping rapidly. Physically, Franz Joseph had helped to build the graceful city that is modern Vienna. Spiritually, he scarcely understood the city. He allowed himself to be dragooned to the opera as a sort of royal advertisement. But the man who ruled Vienna's empire never once heard a symphony by Brahms.--Mayo Mohs (edited)
532 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 16, 2023
This is a re-read for me as I ran across my copy while gathering some books for donation to the library. I remember liking it and since I am interested in the Habsburg dynasty and it's demise, I thought I would read it again. My tbr list is unending but I am re-reading! Go figure.
This is less an empire's history and more a character study of the Emperor Franz Joseph and his beautiful, somewhat disturbed Empress Elisabeth. The Emperor was a rigid man whose court was formalized to a fault and Empress avoided him as often as possible. Tragedy dogged them through his extremely long reign......suicide, murder, and an assassination that led to WWI and the end of the glories of the Habsburgs.
The author has done extensive research and presents it well as he delves into the inner workings of the court and the relationship between the Emperor and his frivolous Empress. The murder/suicide of the heir to the throne, Franz Joseph's nephew, and his mistress, at Mayerling is familiar to many as is the assassination of the Empress but this book also reveals other equally fascinating events that shaped the empire. An interesting read and recommended for lovers of history of the period.
This is less an empire's history and more a character study of the Emperor Franz Joseph and his beautiful, somewhat disturbed Empress Elisabeth. The Emperor was a rigid man whose court was formalized to a fault and Empress avoided him as often as possible. Tragedy dogged them through his extremely long reign......suicide, murder, and an assassination that led to WWI and the end of the glories of the Habsburgs.
The author has done extensive research and presents it well as he delves into the inner workings of the court and the relationship between the Emperor and his frivolous Empress. The murder/suicide of the heir to the throne, Franz Joseph's nephew, and his mistress, at Mayerling is familiar to many as is the assassination of the Empress but this book also reveals other equally fascinating events that shaped the empire. An interesting read and recommended for lovers of history of the period.
April 13, 2013
Oh, this book. I have a lot of conflicting opinions about it, and it all depends on which chapter we are discussing. It's sad, but the quality of the writing differed greatly between individual chapters.
Overall though, I would say that this book by Marek has a misleading subtitle. I don't see this subtitle in this English version, but the Dutch subtitle is "The ruination of the Habsburg House". Considering the book ends with Franz Joseph's death, which happened before Habsburg fully collapsed, that's a wrongly chosen title.
The English subtitle, "Franz Joseph, Elisabeth and Their Austria" is more fitting. This book is a mix between a biography on Franz Joseph, and trying to explain the events that led up to the First World War. As a biography, it fails: Marek is subjective, and seems overly biased against Franz Joseph (I understand his reasonings, but as a scholar you should at least *try* to be objective). He seems to feel more sympathy for Elisabeth than she deserves in this context (surely she was pitiable in many ways, but her political actions leave a lot to be desired). Rudolf and Franz Ferdinand really get the short end of the stick, Franz Ferdinand hardly has any good character traits, judging by this book. Rudolf's only memorable mention in this book is the summary of the events of Mayerling. Marek makes the comment that Franz Ferdinand's politics would likely have ruined Europe, but Rudolf's ideas aren't even mentioned, like they were of no importance at all. These are just a few examples, but I think it shows Marek's weakness as a biographer, and that he talks selectively about what happened.
It's not to say that Marek's book is entirely subjective or untrustworthy. It's clear that he has done a lot of research, and one thing I really appreciated were the transcripts of conversations he included from time to time (many of which I hadn't read before), and his description of Viennese gossip. He doubted many of these stories, and gave own interpretations, but in this case that was fun and enlightening: as it was clear he was offering his own opinions (also mentioning the reasons for his conclusion), and the gossip was generally just fascinating to read about.
Throughout the book, Marek seemed to have structuring problems: in the first few chapters, for example, he'd start off with the 1848 revolution, then include a chapter on Franz Joseph's life from birth till then, and then pick up his revolution story again. The structure was therefore slightly confusing at times. But the moments where he structured properly (most notably, the last half of the book) were clear, and concise. It's a shame not the whole book was written like this. His chapter on Mayerling is probably the clearest I have read on the topic (and I have read quite a lot about this), and the way he described Sisi's murder and the build-up to the Serbia conflict were good reads.
The thing that frustrated me most, is that he ended with Franz Joseph's death. The book had also attempted to describe Vienna life, and the lives of other prominent figures, and the political situations in Hungary and Serbia (other countries belonging to the empire were generally only mentioned in passing), but in the end Marek doesn't talk about the end of the Habsburg House, or how the war played out. He just gives a few statistics, and that was the end of it, for him. I suppose that's the signal for me, to pick up another book on WWI Vienna.
Shortly said: the combination of political history and biography doesn't always work out well, so if you're especially interested in either the politics or Franz Joseph and Elisabeth, you might want to pick up another book. I wouldn't recommend this as an introduction to the topic of Franz Joseph, Sisi and their Austria. But if you know a bit more, and know how to navigate around fact and opinion, Marek does offer some interesting insights, opinions and details.
Overall though, I would say that this book by Marek has a misleading subtitle. I don't see this subtitle in this English version, but the Dutch subtitle is "The ruination of the Habsburg House". Considering the book ends with Franz Joseph's death, which happened before Habsburg fully collapsed, that's a wrongly chosen title.
The English subtitle, "Franz Joseph, Elisabeth and Their Austria" is more fitting. This book is a mix between a biography on Franz Joseph, and trying to explain the events that led up to the First World War. As a biography, it fails: Marek is subjective, and seems overly biased against Franz Joseph (I understand his reasonings, but as a scholar you should at least *try* to be objective). He seems to feel more sympathy for Elisabeth than she deserves in this context (surely she was pitiable in many ways, but her political actions leave a lot to be desired). Rudolf and Franz Ferdinand really get the short end of the stick, Franz Ferdinand hardly has any good character traits, judging by this book. Rudolf's only memorable mention in this book is the summary of the events of Mayerling. Marek makes the comment that Franz Ferdinand's politics would likely have ruined Europe, but Rudolf's ideas aren't even mentioned, like they were of no importance at all. These are just a few examples, but I think it shows Marek's weakness as a biographer, and that he talks selectively about what happened.
It's not to say that Marek's book is entirely subjective or untrustworthy. It's clear that he has done a lot of research, and one thing I really appreciated were the transcripts of conversations he included from time to time (many of which I hadn't read before), and his description of Viennese gossip. He doubted many of these stories, and gave own interpretations, but in this case that was fun and enlightening: as it was clear he was offering his own opinions (also mentioning the reasons for his conclusion), and the gossip was generally just fascinating to read about.
Throughout the book, Marek seemed to have structuring problems: in the first few chapters, for example, he'd start off with the 1848 revolution, then include a chapter on Franz Joseph's life from birth till then, and then pick up his revolution story again. The structure was therefore slightly confusing at times. But the moments where he structured properly (most notably, the last half of the book) were clear, and concise. It's a shame not the whole book was written like this. His chapter on Mayerling is probably the clearest I have read on the topic (and I have read quite a lot about this), and the way he described Sisi's murder and the build-up to the Serbia conflict were good reads.
The thing that frustrated me most, is that he ended with Franz Joseph's death. The book had also attempted to describe Vienna life, and the lives of other prominent figures, and the political situations in Hungary and Serbia (other countries belonging to the empire were generally only mentioned in passing), but in the end Marek doesn't talk about the end of the Habsburg House, or how the war played out. He just gives a few statistics, and that was the end of it, for him. I suppose that's the signal for me, to pick up another book on WWI Vienna.
Shortly said: the combination of political history and biography doesn't always work out well, so if you're especially interested in either the politics or Franz Joseph and Elisabeth, you might want to pick up another book. I wouldn't recommend this as an introduction to the topic of Franz Joseph, Sisi and their Austria. But if you know a bit more, and know how to navigate around fact and opinion, Marek does offer some interesting insights, opinions and details.
August 18, 2020
At times, I thought this book was great. At times, I thought this book was awful. The author is excellent when describing 19th and early 20th century Austro-Hungarian and German politics, diplomacy and history. He is dull and plodding when describing the same periods' and nations' culture and society. Although it is billed as a dual biography it concentrates much more on Franz Joseph rather than my subject of interest, Elisabeth. The author also obviously is not a fan of the Empress so his portrayal of her is not sympathetic. However the chapter describing the tragic story of the Crown Prince is written with great feeling. So I submit my uneven review of an uneven book.
July 31, 2022
“When the eagles die, woe to the sparrows”. Or as the foreword states, “librarians, please catalog this under B for biography, not H for history”. Yet it is both a look at the lives of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, his wife, Elisabeth, and the Hapsburg Empire during his reign. Some chapters are more engrossing than others, but as I read it, I couldn’t help but think of current events and how some powers are always looking to increase their territory without regard to how that may affect others. And how we continue to feel the effects of decisions made by those in power even long ago….
May 21, 2025
This is a big, unwieldy, sprawling story that's a tad too long (466 pages) but still worth reading. As the author states at the beginning, it's biography rather than history, with chapters also thrown in toward the end about the medical and cultural developments in Austria in the late nineteenth century. I'm glad I read it, but since it's such a huge book, and took about two months to read, I don't think I would ever re-read it.
April 29, 2013
Mohs makes a good point in his appended review from Time Magazine: Marek probably was trying to duplicate the success of Nicholas and Alexandra. He failed in that, but did manage to please me more.
The difference is likely context. Nicholas ruled a relatively oppressive regime which fell to class struggle in the context of WWI. Franz Joseph ruled a relatively liberal regime which fell to the victors of the war, quick to expoit the separatist movements in that polyglot empire. In Russia, there were aristocrats and serfs, with little between. In Austria-Hungary there was a large, and growing, cosmopolitan middle class--a culture I, with my own European roots, could more easily relate to and feel comfortable with.
Whatever the case, this is a well-researched, well-written history of the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire written with particular attention to biographies of its royals and the culture of its capital.
Ah, Mahler...
The difference is likely context. Nicholas ruled a relatively oppressive regime which fell to class struggle in the context of WWI. Franz Joseph ruled a relatively liberal regime which fell to the victors of the war, quick to expoit the separatist movements in that polyglot empire. In Russia, there were aristocrats and serfs, with little between. In Austria-Hungary there was a large, and growing, cosmopolitan middle class--a culture I, with my own European roots, could more easily relate to and feel comfortable with.
Whatever the case, this is a well-researched, well-written history of the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire written with particular attention to biographies of its royals and the culture of its capital.
Ah, Mahler...
December 5, 2025
The emperor Franz Josef was likely a hero in my maternal grandmother's family, or so my uncle Francis Joseph indicated. So here is this long-reigning emperor, his family, his times, and most of all his Vienna. Thorough and readable.
2025: even better the second time around!
2025: even better the second time around!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews