The Habsburg Monarchy, 1490-1848: Attributes of Empire - Brief Article - Book Review

Contemporary Review, Oct, 2003

Paula Sutter Fichtner. Palgrave Macmillan. 49.50 [pounds sterling]. 222 pages. ISBN 0-333-73727-X. This latest volume in the European History in Perspective series covers the period during which the Habsburg Monarchy created the Empire which was to survive, with some new additions in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, until 1918.

Because the Habsburgs were survivors, the editor devotes herself to analysing 'the techniques that helped the dynasty to get its empire underway and encouraged its perpetuation'. She stops in the year when the pressure for political change began the creation of a different, but still Habsburg, empire. The author follows a chronological approach although her penultimate chapter, 'From One to Many', examines cultural and artistic themes and will be extremely helpful for students approaching die Monarchie for a first time. In her summation the author shows how important the Empire was in defeating the Mohammedan and Protestant threats to central European culture and in getting the loyalty of the many nations united under the Habsburg Crown. This is a much needed introduction to the history of the Habsburg Monarchy and one that is balanced, fair and readable. (T.G.W.)