The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke
by Timothy Snyder
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Description
Wilhelm Von Habsburg wore the uniform of the Austrian officer, the court regalia of a Habsburg archduke, the simple suit of a Parisian exile, the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and every so often, a dress. He could handle a saber, a pistol, a rudder, or a golf club, he handled women by necessity and men for pleasure. He spoke the Italian of his archduchess mother, the German of his archduke father, the English of his British royal friends, the Polish of the country his father show more wished to rule, and the Ukrainian of the land Wilhelm wished to rule himself. In this exhilarating narrative history, prize-winning historian Timothy D. Snyder offers an indelible portrait of an aristocrat whose life personifies the wrenching upheavals of the first half of the twentieth century, as the rule of empire gave way to the new politics of nationalism. Coming of age during the First World War, Wilhelm repudiated his family to fight alongside Ukrainian peasants in hopes that he would become their king. When this dream collapsed, he became, by turns, an ally of German imperialists, a notorious French lover, an angry Austrian monarchist, a calm opponent of Hitler, and a British spy against Stalin. Played out in Europe's glittering capitals and bloody battlefields, in extravagant ski resorts and dank prison cells, The Red Prince captures an extraordinary moment in the history of Europe, in which the old order of the past was giving way to an undefined future, and in which everything, including identity itself, seemed up for grabs. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Hut ab vor Timothy Snyder für dieses Werk. Hier wird Geschichte spannend und lebendig wie in einem James Bond Film. Fein granuliert breitet der Autor das Leben des Erzherzog Wilhelm aus. Es ist faszinierend was sich z.B. alleine im Sommer 1918 alles zugetragen, wer wen alles getroffen hat und wie die Mitteleuropäische Geschichte andere Bahnen hätte nehmen können.
Vergleicht man wie unsere Postmoderne Gesellschaft in ihrer grauen Angestelltensicherheit (bzw. -unsicherheit) vor sich hin lebt mit den Biographien in der umbruchsvollen Zeit von 1914 bis 1945, glaubt man eher wilde Abenteurschundromane zu lesen, als tatsächliche Erlebnisse. (vgl. dazu http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Trebitsch-Lincoln)
Lustig wird es, wenn z.B. eine show more französische Betrügerin und Heiratsschwindlerin in die Wilhelm verliebt war, als Gräfin verkleidet den Österreichischen Botschafter in Paris beinahe ums Ohr haut, nachdem sie zuvor Wilhelm die Schuld in einem Betrugsskandal angehängt hat.
Daher Hut ab vor dem Rechercheaufwand!
(Meine) Moral der Geschichte: Das Erbe Hitlers und Stalins greift in Form des Volks- und Nationsgedankens nachwievor und hat überlebt. Die Europäische Union ist eher ein Erbe der Habsburgermonarchie. show less
Vergleicht man wie unsere Postmoderne Gesellschaft in ihrer grauen Angestelltensicherheit (bzw. -unsicherheit) vor sich hin lebt mit den Biographien in der umbruchsvollen Zeit von 1914 bis 1945, glaubt man eher wilde Abenteurschundromane zu lesen, als tatsächliche Erlebnisse. (vgl. dazu http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Trebitsch-Lincoln)
Lustig wird es, wenn z.B. eine show more französische Betrügerin und Heiratsschwindlerin in die Wilhelm verliebt war, als Gräfin verkleidet den Österreichischen Botschafter in Paris beinahe ums Ohr haut, nachdem sie zuvor Wilhelm die Schuld in einem Betrugsskandal angehängt hat.
Daher Hut ab vor dem Rechercheaufwand!
(Meine) Moral der Geschichte: Das Erbe Hitlers und Stalins greift in Form des Volks- und Nationsgedankens nachwievor und hat überlebt. Die Europäische Union ist eher ein Erbe der Habsburgermonarchie. show less
Excellent book - readable and witty account of one of the last of the Habsburgs and the political machinations at the collapse of Austria Hungary and the post 1917 revolutionary convulsions in the Ukraine
Sort of a wrap up of what happened to the Hapsburg family near the end of, and after WWI.
9.78047E 12
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke
- Original title
- The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke
- Original publication date
- 2008 (The Bodley Head, Great Britain) (The Bodley Head, Great Britain); 2009 (Vintage, Random House, London) (Vintage, Random House, London)
- People/Characters
- Wilhelm von Habsburg
- Epigraph
- This life, your eternal life! -- Nietzsche
- Dedication
- For I.K., for T.H., for B.E., for those that came before, for those that may come after.
- First words
- Once upon a time, a lovely young princess named Maria Krystyna lived in a castle, where she read books from the end to the beginning. Then came the Nazis, and after them, the Stalinists. This book is the story of her family, ... (show all)and so begins with an ending. (Prologue)
- Original language*
- Anglais (Etats-Unis) (Etats-Unis)
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- History, Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 943.605 — History & geography History of Europe Central Europe: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech, Poland, Hungary Austria and Liechtenstein
- LCC
- DB89 .W55 .S69 — History of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania Austria – Liechtenstein – Hungary – Czechoslovakia History of Austria. Liechtenstein. Hungary. Czechoslovakia History By period 1521- 19th-20th centuries
- BISAC
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- 299
- Popularity
- 107,087
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.99)
- Languages
- 10 — Dutch, English, Estonian, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 17
- ASINs
- 7
