Austria is a small country with a glorious history but a troubled past. It sits at the crossroads of central Europe: the furthest the Ottomans reached in the seventeenth century, a Cold War back-channel between east and west, an EU member with its neutrality now challenged by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In The Shortest History of Austria, Nicholas T. Parsons expertly tells the story of Austria from its origins at the outer reaches of the Roman Empire to its dominance of central Europe under the Habsburgs, and from the rebuilding of the republic after the devastation of World War II to the political tensions of today.
As he ranges from the Romans to the Reformation, from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand to the Anschluss, and from Mozart to Klimt to Harry Lime, Parsons reveals the drama of Austria’s history – and, above all, the crucial role that the country has played in the story of Europe.
‘In other countries, dynasties are episodes in the history of the people; in the Habsburg Empire, peoples are complication in the history of a dynasty’ – A.J.P. TAYLOR
‘Incisive but comprehensive, entertaining and well-illustrated, this is the perfect introduction to what was once a huge empire and is now a small but (undeservedly) very lucky country’ – TIM BLANNING, author of The Pursuit Of Glory
‘Erudite, insightful, lucid and entertaining’ – LONNIE R. JOHNSON