A History Of The Habsburg Empire 1526-1918

by Robert A. Kann

"An impressive achievement in a task of extraordinary difficulty...The outstanding asset of this work does not consist in in its comprehensiveness and objectivity, however, nor even in the wide knowledge and special expertise Kann can bring to bear from his early legal training, his formidable scholarship on the nationalities question, and his keen critical appreciation of the diverse cultures of the monarchy. Its greatest merit derives from the author's determination always to ask fundamental questions, his care to discriminate between surface phenomena and deeper causes, his skill in finding significant patterns in an apparently chaotic welter of events, his facility for perceptive and penetrating distinctions and generalizations. In short, he tried with considerable success to tell what really happened in history rather than simply what obviously happened."—Canadian Historical Review

Genres: History, European History, Nonfiction, 19th Century, 18th Century, 17th Century, 16th Century

664 pages, Hardcover

First published October 8, 1974

Reviews

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 4 out of 5]

The term "bibliophile" has always bothered me because of its largely unspoken decadent and sexual undertones, but sometimes it isn't a bad idea to equate a book dealing with a difficult subject in terms of physical intimacy.
Kann's study of the Habsburg extravaganza could probably best be thought of in these terms as a "gentle, tender and embracing" lover. At nearly 600 pages, it might seem exhausting and perhaps more meticulous than one might want. The HE was no mean Empire, complex and all-encompassing from the get-go with more ethnic issues than you can shake a stick at. However, it stuck it out for centuries and this book is largely the story of how.
"Gentle and tender" it might be, but to expand that metaphor, I could liken it to gentle embraces performed in zero gravity or while being concussed and blared upon by the amp stacks at a Scorpions concert, circa 1988. In other words, it isn't easy.
My only gripe is the desperate lack of almost any cultural history. For example, Mozart and Beethoven get less than a page, turn out they're on the same page. But for political, military and social shenanigans, this is no cold shower!

[Monty Milne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this something of a disappointment. Only those fascinated, as I am, by the subject would want to plough through this frequently turgid tome to the end. It is very full and very well balanced and I discovered many fascinating things (hence three stars), but it is also very dry in a particularly Germanic way. Some German academics do seem to have a talent for obfuscatory prose. Kann sometimes ties himself in quite unnecessary linguistic knots trying to explain his intellectual position on different historical theories. At times I was reminded of the German who said it was better to read Kant in English translation because it didn’t really make sense in the original. This does make sense, but it gave me a headache. If you are looking for a good, readable introduction to the subject, this is not it.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Habsburg burial vault in Vienna is one of the most impressive places I've ever visited -- a showpiece of ornate funerary art containing the remains of perhaps the most influential family in European history. Visiting there a few years back, I was struck by how little I really knew about the Habsburgs. American history is notoriously blind to events outside US borders and even books on the history of Western Europe tend to address the Habsburgs only when they influence major events that affected the west -- the 30-Years War, the various wars of succession, Napoleon's campaigns and their denouement, and the first World War. I've intended for years to find and read the dynasty's history, not as a series of loosely connected wars, but as its own history, a narrative that tells the story from its own viewpoint.

Kann's book accomplishes that goal and its accomplishment cannot be overstated. The history of the Habsburgs is overwhelming, even considered only at the level of empire, but Kann also traces the cultural and intellectual history of the lands they ruled and the almost unfathomable tangle of ethnicities and conflicts among the empire's subjects. Unfortunately this is history largely written without art or literary style. The author's prose reminds me of a lecture by a professor who knows the material so well that important pieces get left out, opinion slides effortlessly between facts, and some sentences become incomprehensible in their syntax. By the time I reached empire's end, I felt like I'd been reading the book for all of the 492 years it encompasses. The problems are not helped by numerous typos, dropped words, and other errors in the text, surprising faults in a book published by the University of California Press. There are a couple of more recent histories that may be better but this one is enough for me for now.

[Skallagrimsen]

I owned a copy of this book maybe ten to fifteen years ago. I got through at least a good portion of it, perhaps even the whole thing; I was reading a lot about the Habsburg empire back then. I'm sure it contributed its share to my knowledge of the famous family that ruled so much of the world for so long. However, I guess I was insufficiently impressed to save my copy from one of my periodic book purges. Several reviews here claim that the book, despite being well documented and informative, is a dry read. If so, that would explain why it failed to endear itself to me. Literary quality matters to me, even in non-fiction. All the more so in recent years, as fiction becomes ever more remote to my tastes and inclinations.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hardly know how to begin my review of this book. For me, it was a difficult book to plow through.

"A History of The Habsburg Empire" is a long, drawn out mixture of people, politics, war, countries, ever changing national boundaries, language, arts, sciences, literature, and much more.

To understand the world we now live in, it is imperative that we understand the Habsburg Empire, for its impact is still heavily felt upon our present world. However, the reader does not gain enough knowledge from reading this book to have more than a preliminary understanding of the Habsburg Empire. The reader is, however, inspired to study this subject more.

The history of the Habsburg Empire is such a complex subject to study. Although it was a difficult book for me, as I've already mentioned, I'm glad I read it. It stretched my mind and introduced me to a whole new world, a world now passed from existence but yet very influential to this day. Sounds a lot like the Roman Empire! Without being facetious, it's with all seriousness that I make that statement.

Like the Roman Empire, the Habsburg Empire still exists.

[Mark Singer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best history books are those that are written as literature and make the past come alive as a story. The worst are those that list events as a series of facts. Unfortunately Kann's book falls into the latter category. I really wanted to like this as it has been gathering dust since I purchased it back in 1986, and recently unearthed it as part of my summer 2010 reading on 19th century European history.
To be fair, I did not read the entire book, just chapters VI-X, or those parts which dealt with the Hapsburg Empire in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 up until its demise in 1918 at the end of the First World War. It was a slow and tedious read, and I felt as if I was slogging through weeds with a dull knife.

[Walt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched and organized; but dense and confusing. It was better for me to use it as a quick reference (not the intention of the author) and look for more specialized books.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic text on empire of Austrian Habsburgs

[L.F. Falconer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for the information I needed to research, but hardly compelling reading material.

[Jim Blessing · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was written some years ago and I found it difficult to read.

[Wesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm currently about 150 pages through this exhaustive and rather technical history of the Habsburg Empire. I picked it up at a used bookstore in Florida a year ago because it was cheap and looked academic, and started reading 2 weeks ago because I was overcome with the desire to learn something I knew nothing about: namely, the history of central and eastern europe. The grammar is pretty bad and historical proper nouns are thrown at the reader without explanation with ghastly regularity (i.e. names of medieval territories, of rivers, of treaties and councils, of institutions within the Holy Roman Empire, of major historical events in the area). The late Professor Kann was Austrian and came to the United States under the threat of National Socialism. His mastery of vocabulary is more than impressive, but his non-English proclivities do show in his sentence mechanics. It's not Hegel, but it's not Jared Diamond either. So far, it's overall been an extremely enlightening read, if also an information overload (but that's partially my fault, owing to my lack of background in the area). Be prepared to learn and absorb, not to be entertained.

[Matthew Griffiths · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting account of the history of the Hapsburg Empire that charts the rise of the central European empire and the critical role the empire played in European history right up until its dissolution at the end of the first world war. A little dry at times, more the style of writing rather than the content itself, as this is a very detailed work but a good place to start for anyone seriously interested in the study of the Hapsburg Empire

[Julian Haigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Habsburg empire was held together somewhat tenuously through changing cultural trends of Europe from marriage, confessional and finally to national interests. The structure of how a family maintained such a defining role in Europe for over 500 is detailed painstakingly. Kann focuses on the structure, culture, and their interplay over 400 years.

[Windsor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good definitive account of a very powerful family. Part of the reason I liked this book is because of the detail of family politics.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

More snore-fest than informative. Rather flat and dry in tone made this a chore rather than a pleasure to read.

[Brent L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very dry, but a good resource.

[Roy McCullough · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is ambitious to attempt a one-volume history of an entity as complex and confounding as the Habsburg Empire. Kann does an admirable job and his study, although dated, remains valuable.

[Phillip Tigue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense but exhaustive research.