Emil Ludwig (1881–1948)
Author of Napoleon
About the Author
Works by Emil Ludwig
Napoleon : [romaan]. II 3 copies
Nine etched from life: Nansen, Masaryk, Briand, Rathenau, Motta, Lloyd George, Venizelos, Mussolini, Stalin, (1934) 3 copies
Napoleon : [romaan]. I 3 copies
Rembrandt 2 copies
Historia de Alemania 2 copies
Minaturas. Biografias y Ensayos 2 copies
The moral conquest of Germany 2 copies
Quartett : ein unzeitgemässer Roman 2 copies
July 1̓4, 1 copy
Le Nil: vie d'un fleuve 1 copy
Goethe. Edellinen nide 1 copy
Goethe. Jälkimmäinen nide 1 copy
Misdaad en Boete 1 copy
El Nilo y Egipto. Tomo II. 1 copy
Obras completas Biografías 1 copy
Adalides de Europa 1 copy
BIOGRAFIA DE UNA ISLA (CUBA) 1 copy
Versailles Pièce en 5 actes Précédée de la Chute de Bismarck Pièce en 3 actes Version française de Koessler (1932) 1 copy
Mediterráneo mar femenino 1 copy
EL NILO EL NILO Y EL EGIPTO 1 copy
Miniaturas 1968 1 copy
Maquiavelo ( Biografìa ) 1 copy
Die Reise nach Afrika 1 copy
Nil. Życiorys rzeki; tom I 1 copy
Der entzauberte Freud 1 copy
Manual del maquinista naval 1 copy
5296 1 copy
Rembrandt ( Biografìa ) 1 copy
Lenin ( Biografìa ) 1 copy
Leonardo ( Biografìa ) 1 copy
Balzac ( Biografìa ) 1 copy
Wilson ( Biografìa ) 1 copy
El Mundo que yo he visto 1 copy
Autobiografìa de un Biògrafo 1 copy
Freud, Brez čarovne maske 1 copy
Nil. Życiorys rzeki; tom II 1 copy
Associated Works
5 World Biographies: Michelangelo, Gandhi, Marie Curie, Napoleon, Julius Caesar (1961) — Contributor — 4 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Ludwig, Emil
- Legal name
- Cohn, Emil (oorspr. naam)
Ludwig, Emil (vanaf 1883) - Other names
- Ludwig, Emil
- Birthdate
- 1881-01-25
- Date of death
- 1948-09-17
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- journalist
biographer
playwright
poet
novelist - Organizations
- Berliner Tageblatt
- Relationships
- Auernheimer, Raoul (friend)
- Short biography
- Emil Ludwig was born Emil Cohn to a non-religious Jewish family in Breslau, Germany (present-day Poland). He studied law but at age 25 chose writing as his career. He began writing plays and novellas and worked as a journalist. In 1906, he moved to Switzerland. During World War I, he worked as a foreign correspondent in Vienna and Istanbul for the Berliner Tageblatt. He published his first novel, Diana, in 1918–1919. In the 1920s, Ludwig achieved international fame for his popular biographies that combined historical fact and fiction with psychological analysis. After his successful biography of Goethe, published in 1920, he wrote books about Napoleon (1924), Bismarck (1927), Jesus (The Son of Man, 1928), Lincoln (1929), Cleopatra (1937), Beethoven (1943), and many others. From his home in Ascona, Ludwig wrote articles criticizing the Nazis and helped his fellow writers and intellectuals who sought to flee Germany. He also published interviews with major political figures of the era such as Benito Mussolini, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Joseph Stalin, and Tomáš Masaryk. He became a Swiss citizen in 1932, and then emigrated to the USA in 1940. As his books were widely translated and sold well outside of Germany, he was one of the fortunate émigrés with income. In 1944, Ludwig wrote a letter to The New York Times urging the Allies to take action to stop the murder of Jews in Europe. After World War II, he went back to Germany as a journalist. While there, he retrieved the coffins of Goethe and Schiller, which had disappeared from Weimar in 1943-1944. He then returned to Switzerland, where he lived for the rest of his life. His biography of Napoleon, first published in English in 1926, is still in print and considered a classic work.
- Nationality
- Germany
Switzerland
USA - Birthplace
- Breslau, Silesia, German Empire
- Places of residence
- Breslau, Germany (birth|now Wroclaw, Poland)
Ascona, Switzerland (death) - Place of death
- Ascona, Switzerland
- Burial location
- Ascona, Switzerland
Members
Reviews
This book is a captivating and comprehensive exploration of one of the world's most iconic rivers. Ludwig's narrative is both informative and engaging, offering readers a detailed account of the Nile's historical, cultural, and geographical significance.
Ludwig's writing is vivid and eloquent, bringing the river's journey from its sources to its delta to life. He delves into the rich history of the civilizations that have flourished along its banks, from ancient Egypt to modern times, show more highlighting the Nile's vital role in shaping human history.
The book seamlessly weaves together historical events, cultural insights, and personal reflections, making it a multifaceted study of the Nile. Ludwig's deep appreciation for the river's majesty and importance is evident throughout the narrative. show less
Ludwig's writing is vivid and eloquent, bringing the river's journey from its sources to its delta to life. He delves into the rich history of the civilizations that have flourished along its banks, from ancient Egypt to modern times, show more highlighting the Nile's vital role in shaping human history.
The book seamlessly weaves together historical events, cultural insights, and personal reflections, making it a multifaceted study of the Nile. Ludwig's deep appreciation for the river's majesty and importance is evident throughout the narrative. show less
An interesting quote from Napoleon: "The infamous practice of flogging men to disclose secrets, must come to an end. The only result of torturing people in this way is that the poor wretches say whatever they think will please their captors. I forbid the use of means that are equally repugnant to humanity and reason."
the man that took archaeologists, poets, and scientists on campaign in Egypt had his own utterances transcribed often. Those were quotes and imagined soliloquies illuminate this show more epic life, for instance "I prefer open enemies to untrustworthy friends. "
Napoleon's life is among the most examined and written of in Western civilization. Ludwig's take gets knocked for the breathless hagiography. But, surely there is room for this impassioned telling, too. show less
the man that took archaeologists, poets, and scientists on campaign in Egypt had his own utterances transcribed often. Those were quotes and imagined soliloquies illuminate this show more epic life, for instance "I prefer open enemies to untrustworthy friends. "
Napoleon's life is among the most examined and written of in Western civilization. Ludwig's take gets knocked for the breathless hagiography. But, surely there is room for this impassioned telling, too. show less
Wilhelm Hohenzollern, the last of the Kaisers, by Emil Ludwig. Translated from the German by Ethel Colburn Mayne. With 2 by Emil Ludwig
Reading Wilhelm Hohenzollern, The Last of the Kaisers was like watching the movie of a train wreck, one slow cell at a time. The conductor, oblivious to the trouble right before his eyes, scowls at the masses standing by the tracks and smiles at his companions -- the German nobility -- as he takes them on a death ride.
The German Empire suffered two misfortunes that brought William the Second to the throne when it did. First, the grandfather lived and ruled into his 90's and second was that show more William's father died of cancer only a few weeks into his long-awaited reign. William took the throne at a time of peace and prosperity and he assumed a kind of autocratic control that was better suited to the middle ages rather than a modern empire. From the start, people around him bowed to his capricious whims and no one told him anything he didn't want to hear. Even in the depths of war, they continued to feed him with news of victory and hid from him even that the people who had followed him to the brink of disaster were ready to sacrifice their Kaiser for peace.
William liked to saber-rattle. He wanted to be the most powerful of all rulers, and he turned that longing against two groups: the Russians and the English. This was more than country against country -- Tsar Nicholas was his cousin, King Edward was his Uncle -- and Queen Victoria is grandmother. He hated and loved them all, but it was his personality -- that need to be the better of all of them -- that shaped the policy of the German Empire, and drove Europe into World War I. From his ill-thought outbursts to his private letters and even to his insistence on a growing navy that clearly threatened England, he pushed each country step-by-step toward war.
And yet, when the war came, he was the one who realized the enormity of the trouble and did his best to back away. By then, though, the Generals had gained too much control and he had lost all power of persuasion outside of the German Empire. He had his war when he finally had grown up enough to realize he didn't want it.
This is a complex and long journey through the thirty years of the Kaiser's reign, and the portrait that Emil Ludwig paints is clearly not without the author's own prejudices. Ludwig was too fond of adding the thoughts of people, assigning motivations and other things that he clearly could not have really known. He also tried far too hard to hint that the Kaiser was a hidden homosexual without actually saying it. He did this by the continued use of such terms as 'his womanish tendencies' and applying nearly the same terms to Eulenberg who was removed from his post -- and close link to the Kaiser -- because he was found guilty of sexual perversions, a terrible crime in that day. Oddly, though, Ludwig's sympathy is often apparent when he writes about Eulenberg and he often laments the loss of Euglenberg's influence on the Emperor.
Emil Ludwig's diatribe aimed at William the Second in the final couple pages of the work clearly shows he is not an objective viewer at this point. His regret that the Kaiser didn't make a suicidal march to the front or kill himself 'behind the curtains' rather than go into exile is a personal opinion in full force, rather than half-hidden as such observances had been in other parts of the book.
Ludwig makes much about how the Kaiser's crippled left arm affected his early life and how it likely made him more forceful in his nature. William expected criticism and he used his power of place to make certain he could not be judged as weak. However, Ludwig's assertions that the William was a 'civilian' at heart, and never a military man, seems to be more of a personal attack along the same lines as his 'womanish' statements. There is no doubt that Emil Ludwig had not divorced himself from the situation in order to write this book, so soon after the abdication and the disastrous (for Germany) aftermath of the war. In some ways, that makes it all the more interesting. The views of those who lived through the age are often far different than those written from sources fifty or a hundred years later.
Although I am not qualified to make a true judgment, and certainly not based on one single book, I think William the Second showed signs of being bi-polar. The pattern of frantic activity and high spirits, balanced with crushing depression seems to point in that direction.
Ludwig lacks the grace and style of a writer like Andre Maurois, who also wrote biographies at about the same time. Maybe this is partly due to the choice of subject, or even the work of the translators. However, it seems that Ludwig uses a hammer, pounding the same point again and again. His timeline for the work sometimes skips back and forth making it hard to follow events, and isn't helped that ninety years later the names everyone knew are now obscure.
There is another odd item: While he speaks of William's mother, the daughter of Queen Victoria and named after her, it is never in any good terms. I wouldn't have thought much about it, except that while he mentions William's wife, he never, as far as I remember, named her or even when they wed. The only mention of any of his children is that he refused to visit wife and child when his wife was ill. There are later references to the Crown Prince and even a grandchild. Since Ludwig states in his preface that this book 'is a portrait of William the Second -- no more: it presents neither his epoch, nor the whole story of his life' I find it odd that anything about his marriage would be left out while he dwelled on the relationship with the unfortunate Eulenberg.
Overall, the book proved fascinating and well worth reading and I would recommend it not only to people studying in the history of the era, but also to writers interested in a fascinating character study. show less
The German Empire suffered two misfortunes that brought William the Second to the throne when it did. First, the grandfather lived and ruled into his 90's and second was that show more William's father died of cancer only a few weeks into his long-awaited reign. William took the throne at a time of peace and prosperity and he assumed a kind of autocratic control that was better suited to the middle ages rather than a modern empire. From the start, people around him bowed to his capricious whims and no one told him anything he didn't want to hear. Even in the depths of war, they continued to feed him with news of victory and hid from him even that the people who had followed him to the brink of disaster were ready to sacrifice their Kaiser for peace.
William liked to saber-rattle. He wanted to be the most powerful of all rulers, and he turned that longing against two groups: the Russians and the English. This was more than country against country -- Tsar Nicholas was his cousin, King Edward was his Uncle -- and Queen Victoria is grandmother. He hated and loved them all, but it was his personality -- that need to be the better of all of them -- that shaped the policy of the German Empire, and drove Europe into World War I. From his ill-thought outbursts to his private letters and even to his insistence on a growing navy that clearly threatened England, he pushed each country step-by-step toward war.
And yet, when the war came, he was the one who realized the enormity of the trouble and did his best to back away. By then, though, the Generals had gained too much control and he had lost all power of persuasion outside of the German Empire. He had his war when he finally had grown up enough to realize he didn't want it.
This is a complex and long journey through the thirty years of the Kaiser's reign, and the portrait that Emil Ludwig paints is clearly not without the author's own prejudices. Ludwig was too fond of adding the thoughts of people, assigning motivations and other things that he clearly could not have really known. He also tried far too hard to hint that the Kaiser was a hidden homosexual without actually saying it. He did this by the continued use of such terms as 'his womanish tendencies' and applying nearly the same terms to Eulenberg who was removed from his post -- and close link to the Kaiser -- because he was found guilty of sexual perversions, a terrible crime in that day. Oddly, though, Ludwig's sympathy is often apparent when he writes about Eulenberg and he often laments the loss of Euglenberg's influence on the Emperor.
Emil Ludwig's diatribe aimed at William the Second in the final couple pages of the work clearly shows he is not an objective viewer at this point. His regret that the Kaiser didn't make a suicidal march to the front or kill himself 'behind the curtains' rather than go into exile is a personal opinion in full force, rather than half-hidden as such observances had been in other parts of the book.
Ludwig makes much about how the Kaiser's crippled left arm affected his early life and how it likely made him more forceful in his nature. William expected criticism and he used his power of place to make certain he could not be judged as weak. However, Ludwig's assertions that the William was a 'civilian' at heart, and never a military man, seems to be more of a personal attack along the same lines as his 'womanish' statements. There is no doubt that Emil Ludwig had not divorced himself from the situation in order to write this book, so soon after the abdication and the disastrous (for Germany) aftermath of the war. In some ways, that makes it all the more interesting. The views of those who lived through the age are often far different than those written from sources fifty or a hundred years later.
Although I am not qualified to make a true judgment, and certainly not based on one single book, I think William the Second showed signs of being bi-polar. The pattern of frantic activity and high spirits, balanced with crushing depression seems to point in that direction.
Ludwig lacks the grace and style of a writer like Andre Maurois, who also wrote biographies at about the same time. Maybe this is partly due to the choice of subject, or even the work of the translators. However, it seems that Ludwig uses a hammer, pounding the same point again and again. His timeline for the work sometimes skips back and forth making it hard to follow events, and isn't helped that ninety years later the names everyone knew are now obscure.
There is another odd item: While he speaks of William's mother, the daughter of Queen Victoria and named after her, it is never in any good terms. I wouldn't have thought much about it, except that while he mentions William's wife, he never, as far as I remember, named her or even when they wed. The only mention of any of his children is that he refused to visit wife and child when his wife was ill. There are later references to the Crown Prince and even a grandchild. Since Ludwig states in his preface that this book 'is a portrait of William the Second -- no more: it presents neither his epoch, nor the whole story of his life' I find it odd that anything about his marriage would be left out while he dwelled on the relationship with the unfortunate Eulenberg.
Overall, the book proved fascinating and well worth reading and I would recommend it not only to people studying in the history of the era, but also to writers interested in a fascinating character study. show less
Interesting little book comparing and contrasting the three dictators (in 1940). I particularly enjoyed the anecdotes that came with the Mussolini section. I'm curious as to how this book would have looked had it been written a few years later.
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Statistics
- Works
- 109
- Also by
- 5
- Members
- 2,121
- Popularity
- #12,135
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 38
- ISBNs
- 136
- Languages
- 11
