Danubia: A Personal History of Habsburg Europe

Simon Winder's lengthy and complex sentence structures -- minus the necessary commas -- make his book difficult to read. The many musical references are distracting as well, unless you are a music aficionado. However, the well researched facts about the Austro-Hungarian Empire from birth to death are fascinating. Central Europe's history of bloody conflict is on full display in the book. It's a miracle that the EU was ever born.

Well, Simon Winder is....what he is. This isn't history, and it isn' memoirs. But it is worthwhile. It is like having a very enthusiastic, somewhat dotty history teacher give you the benefit of his enthusiasms, his knowledge and his perspective -- which is certainly worth s great deal. Personally, i find his demotic style somewhat off-putting, but it does move along. MOST IMPORTANT, I recommend his last couple of chapters on the coming of WW I -- here, Winder presents a nuanced and persuasive "big picture" view of the causes of the war that, despite its breezy tone, actually rocked me back on my heels a bit (after having read some more conventional approaches, such as Otte, Clark and others). Not to hide the biscuit -- his point is simple: once Wilhelm II refused to renew the Bismarck "Reinsurance Treaty" between Germany and Russia, Russia naturally entered into an alliance with France. At that point, Germany -- almost putting aside whether the UK entered the war or not -- had no good options; certainly not the Schlieffen Plan, which Winter demolishes with some clever sarcasm that -- again -- makes you wonder if the academic historians aren't wandering about in their own house of mirrors. The fact that the Germans ALMOST defeated France quickly in 1914 as they did in 1870 makes it difficult in retrospect to see how bizarre the "defeat France quickly, then turn east to Russia" approach was (though, after the Franco-Russian alliance, it may have been Germany's ONLY chance to win if it went to war). Anyway, while I didn't find Winder's potted history of the pre-1866 Habsburgs very enlightening, his chapters on the coming of WW I should be read (it will take 20 minutes) by anyone who is plowing through Sleepwalkers, July Crisis etc.

Historians claim objectivity in their writings, but many if not most are actually hugely subjective even if it's subconsciously. They will, of course deny this vociferously. Many factors influence this often obvious subjectivity, including the writer's nationality, ethnicity, lifelong brainwashing on a particular slant in their view of historic events and their religion or lack thereof. Winder however reveals not even a pretense of just presenting the facts. His research especially on the personal lives and personas of the Hapsburgs provide the reader with a viewpoint rarely seen in so-called objective history. The most important theory, and I use this term in a scientific sense, I took from this book is that most of our history for better or worse, usually the latter, resulted from the personalities of tribal, national and continental leaders who were outright insane, had severe personality disorders, had very low IQ's or were just plain greedy and power hungry. The inbreeding of the Hapsburgs certainly compounded this problem producing emperors and other royalty, with only one or two exceptions, who weren't fit to lead a a pack highway robbers, e.g. W Bush, let alone an empire. As horrible as Alexander "the Great" (who was little more than an egomanical butcher, albeit a very talented one) Genghis Khan, Hitler and Stalin were, the "nobility" of the Holy Roman Empire often made them look like minor serial killers.Few books touch on core problems of the human race and its capacity for horror and temper it with sudden, surprising injections of humor and often fascinating asides -- which, incidentally, I never considered irrelevant to the current discussion -- and, importantly, a readable style. ...Wm. Jones

This was a delightful read, and I feel as if I understand much more about the history of Europe, especially about what led to the horrors of the 20th century. Winder assures his readers that we don't want to see any of the usual auxiliary apparatus like genealogies and maps. On the contrary: keeping track of the Habsburgs, all of whom seem to have had the same few names, often with a variety of numbers after them, grows more difficult the more one learns about them, and the regions and ethnic divisions that never resulted in sovereign nations are mysterious without maps. (Where is Ruthenia?) That said, the book is lively, full of fascinating odd facts and hilariously described obscure artworks. Simon Winder would be the best travel companion one could have in these regions.

Winder's personal history ranks as one of the best combinations of history, travel, biography, memoir, and critique that I have read in many years, certainly this is true of Eastern Europe and the Balkans. We who studied and taught the social sciences and history seldom were even introduced to this part of the world, and especially the ethnic rivalries and conflicts, with a few exceptions, such as the coming of World War I. My own history in this area started with the Fulbright Summer grant to study in the former Yugoslavia, but Winder managed to expand my interest and my appreciation of the region, particularly after related travel experiences and involvement with many groups. But Winder pulled together the rulers and their individual foibles with the major events of the times, the music and composers, writers and their books, as well as the museums and churches and synagogues. But his critiques--sometimes quite hilarious--of Emperors, princes and princesses, of military leaders and especially aristocrats whose decisions cost even thousands of lives. His concluding chapters sought to put together a general analysis of the downfall of the Habsburg family and Empire; he found the causes mostly within the family and the political/economic/cultural superstructure that held up the entire enterprise. The book was cultural history at its finest expression; it even surpassed Germania in my estimation.

I feel as if I have been living in a pleasant room all my life without realising there were unnoticed doors cleverly hidden in the walls in plain sight but disguised by masterly decorating techniques. Then comes Simon Winder to open them revealing many things I probably could have known previously but for reasons of typical British complacency had not bothered. AND he goes on to spell it out for me so that I can never forget.

One of those books that clears up a huge black hole of ignorance in the centre of European history. It caused me to re-think a lot of what I thought I knew. By calling it 'A personal history' Simon Winder is able to engage readers in a work that calls attention to the absurdities, violence and horrors of humans living long ago, how they shaped the world we're in now, and the hubris of academic historians throughout the 19th and 20th century who used the discipline of history to peddle racist, nationalists dogmas still haunting how we imagine Europe now.Truly creative and critical non-fiction.

A fascinating and highly engaging book. A great narrative that weaves through the colourful drama and personal lives of the Habsburgs, as well as the history of that region. Highly recommend.

Superb read. Author's style makes reading the book a treat!

What could have been an interesting and amusing report of travels to many of the formerly Habsburg parts of Europe is spoiled by many factual errors and a high-school-like compulsion to use extremes (everyone ``hates`` or ``loves`, they never ``prefer not to`` or plain ``like``). The British author`s superiority applies similarly unusual descriptions (`ugly`, `awful`, `reminiscent of an industrial car-park`) to many popular, highly-regarded UNESCO World Heritage Sites.I would recommend Edward Crankshaw`s work. Equally personal and chatty but much more accurate, he wrote as a well-informed ex-Bletchley Park man. As another Brit`s easy reads, I think most would enjoy `The Fall of the House of Habsburg`and `The Habsburgs :A Dynasty``.For the more academic approach there`s Robert Kann`s `History of the Habsburg Empire`...