Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV
- CHAPTER II ECONOMIC PROBLEMS AND POLICIES
- CHAPTER III THE SCIENTIFIC MOVEMENT
- CHAPTER IV PHILOSOPHY
- CHAPTER V POLITICAL THOUGHT
- CHAPTER VI CHURCH AND STATE
- CHAPTER VII ART AND ARCHITECTURE
- CHAPTER VIII THE SOCIAL FOUNDATIONS OF STATES
- CHAPTER IX FRENCH DIPLOMACY AND FOREIGN POLICY IN THEIR EUROPEAN SETTING
- CHAPTER X FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XIV
- CHAPTER XI THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF FRANCE IN ART, THOUGHT AND LITERATURE
- CHAPTER XII THE DUTCH REPUBLIC
- CHAPTER XIII BRITAIN AFTER THE RESTORATION
- CHAPTER XIV EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA
- CHAPTER XV SPAIN AND HER EMPIRE
- CHAPTER XVI PORTUGAL AND HER EMPIRE
- CHAPTER XVII EUROPE AND ASIA
- CHAPTER XVIII THE EMPIRE AFTER THE THIRTY YEARS WAR
- CHAPTER XIX ITALY AFTER THE THIRTY YEARS WAR
- CHAPTER XX THE HABSBURG LANDS
- CHAPTER XXI THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE UNDER MEHMED IV
- CHAPTER XXII SCANDINAVIA AND THE BALTIC
- CHAPTER XXIII THE RISE OF BRANDENBURG
- CHAPTER XXIV POLAND TO THE DEATH OF JOHN SOBIESKI
- CHAPTER XXV RUSSIA: THE BEGINNING OF WESTERNISATION
- References
CHAPTER XX - THE HABSBURG LANDS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV
- CHAPTER II ECONOMIC PROBLEMS AND POLICIES
- CHAPTER III THE SCIENTIFIC MOVEMENT
- CHAPTER IV PHILOSOPHY
- CHAPTER V POLITICAL THOUGHT
- CHAPTER VI CHURCH AND STATE
- CHAPTER VII ART AND ARCHITECTURE
- CHAPTER VIII THE SOCIAL FOUNDATIONS OF STATES
- CHAPTER IX FRENCH DIPLOMACY AND FOREIGN POLICY IN THEIR EUROPEAN SETTING
- CHAPTER X FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XIV
- CHAPTER XI THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF FRANCE IN ART, THOUGHT AND LITERATURE
- CHAPTER XII THE DUTCH REPUBLIC
- CHAPTER XIII BRITAIN AFTER THE RESTORATION
- CHAPTER XIV EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA
- CHAPTER XV SPAIN AND HER EMPIRE
- CHAPTER XVI PORTUGAL AND HER EMPIRE
- CHAPTER XVII EUROPE AND ASIA
- CHAPTER XVIII THE EMPIRE AFTER THE THIRTY YEARS WAR
- CHAPTER XIX ITALY AFTER THE THIRTY YEARS WAR
- CHAPTER XX THE HABSBURG LANDS
- CHAPTER XXI THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE UNDER MEHMED IV
- CHAPTER XXII SCANDINAVIA AND THE BALTIC
- CHAPTER XXIII THE RISE OF BRANDENBURG
- CHAPTER XXIV POLAND TO THE DEATH OF JOHN SOBIESKI
- CHAPTER XXV RUSSIA: THE BEGINNING OF WESTERNISATION
- References
Summary
During the two years that followed his election as Emperor in 1519 Charles V handed over to his brother Ferdinand all the hereditary Habsburg lands in central Europe. By securing his own election to the thrones of Bohemia and Hungary in 1526 Ferdinand I completed the Habsburg Empire. His was the cadet branch of his House and his dominions were remote from the Atlantic seaboard, economically backward, riven by social and domestic strife, devastated and crippled by the Turks. During the Thirty Years War, except for Wallenstein's brief heyday, Austria played only a secondary part and emerged from that war maimed, depopulated and impoverished. But by the end of the century the Habsburg monarchy became one of the great powers, hailed as the saviour of Christendom in the last and only permanently successful crusade, wooed as an ally by the maritime powers, feared as a rival by France. It is true that the Habsburgs climbed to this position of power by destroying the Bohemian nation and abrogating the liberties of Hungary, but the means and the persons engaged in this achievement make the history of the Habsburg lands in the second half of the seventeenth century an important and illuminating chapter in the history of European society.
Few dynasties have bred more truly to type than the Habsburgs. The three rulers whose reigns, uninterrupted by dynastic disputes or debilitating minorities, extended from 1619 to 1705 all exhibited the virtues and weaknesses typical of their line; they were conscientious, convinced of the dignity, rights and responsibilities of the office to which they devoutly believed themselves to be divinely appointed; they were sincere Christians and devoted Catholics; their private morals were impeccable.
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- Information
- The New Cambridge Modern History , pp. 474 - 499Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1961