The Habsburgs: The Rise and Fall of World Rulers

We are used to seeing the Habsburg dynasty portrayed as the leaders of a half-collapsed empire - an accidental state formation, the phenomenon of whose success remains a mystery. But Professor Martin Reidy has managed to paint a real portrait of them: an indomitable power and an unshakable will, guided by faith in a higher destiny - to rule the world, as defenders of the Catholic Church, guarantors of peace and patrons of education.

How did the Habsburgs, from humble origins, gain millennial control over the Holy Roman Empire and in just a few decades expand their possessions from Hungary to Spain, as well as parts of the New World and the Far East? What connects the pasts of Slovakia, Belgium, Mexico, the Philippines and dozens of other countries into a single historical narrative? And why did the seemingly unshakable thousand-year dynasty fall at the dawn of the twentieth century and the First World War?

"The Habsburgs" is a comprehensive history of powerful leadership that forever changed Europe and the world.