'This is probably the best book ever written on the Habsburgs in any language, certainly the best I have ever read ... Students, scholars and the general reader will never find a better guide to Habsburg history' Alan Sked, Times Literary Supplement\nIn The Habsburgs, Martyn Rady tells the epic story of a dynasty and the world it built - and then lost - over nearly a millennium.\nFrom modest origins, the Habsburgs grew in power to gain control of the Holy Roman Empire in the fifteenth century. Then, in just a few decades, their possessions rapidly expanded to take in a large part of Europe stretching from Hungary to Spain, and from the Far East to the New World. The family continued to dominate Central Europe until the catastrophe of the First World War.\nWith its seemingly disorganized mass of large and small territories, its tangle of laws and privileges and its medley of languages, the Habsburg Empire has always appeared haphazard and incomplete. But here Martyn Rady shows the reasons for the family's incredible endurance, 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. The Habsburg emperors were themselves absurdly varied in their characters - from warlords to contemplatives, from clever to stupid, from idle to frenzied - but all driven by the same sense of family mission. Scattered around the world, countless buildings, institutions and works of art continue to bear witness to their overwhelming impact.\nThe Habsburgs is the definitive history of a remarkable dynasty that, for better or worse, shaped Europe and the world.

The Habsburgs: The Rise and Fall of a World Power

History

Martyn Rady

Europe

Penguin Books, Ltd.

The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe

Penguin

Traces the origins of Communism, the growth of Communist societies in Eastern Europe, popular resistance to the Communists, and the changes in Eastern European society, ranging from free elections to civil war, that occurred after Communist governments were overthrown.

The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe (Causes and Consequences)

Evans Brothers

Allen Lane.

The absence in medieval Hungary of fief-holding and vassalage has often been cited by historians as evidence of Hungary's early 'deviation' from European norms. This new book argues that medieval Hungary was, nevertheless, familiar with many institutions characteristic of noble society in Europe. Contents include the origins of the Hungarian nobility and baronage, lordship and clientage, the role of the noble kindred, conditional landholding, the organization of the frontier, the administration of the counties, and the establishment of representative institutions.

Nobility, Land and Service in Medieval Hungary (Studies in Russia and East Europe)

World

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

The definitive history of the dynasty that dominated Europe for centuries In The Habsburgs, Martyn Rady tells the epic story of a dynasty and the world they 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 just 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 continued to dominate 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. The Habsburgs is the definitive history of a remarkable dynasty that forever changed Europe and the world.

The Habsburgs: To Rule the World

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Hachette B and Blackstone Publishing

Los Habsburgo

Taurus

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Books by Martyn Rady