The Habsburgs: To Rule the World

The definitive history of a powerful family dynasty who dominated Europe for centuries―from their rise to power to their eventual downfall.

"A feat of both scholarship and storytelling." ―Wall Street Journal

In The Habsburgs, Martyn Rady tells the epic story of a dynasty and the world it built―and then lost―over nearly a millennium. From modest origins, the Habsburgs gained control of the Holy Roman Empire in the fifteenth century. Then, in just a few decades, their possessions rapidly expanded to take in a large part of Europe, stretching from Hungary to Spain, and parts of the New World and the Far East. The Habsburgs continued to dominate Central Europe through the First World War.

Historians often depict the Habsburgs as leaders of a ramshackle empire. But Rady reveals their enduring power, driven by the belief that they were destined to rule the world as defenders of the Roman Catholic Church, guarantors of peace, and patrons of learning. The Habsburgs is the definitive history of a remarkable dynasty that forever changed Europe and the world.

Martyn Rady is Masaryk professor of Central European history at University College London. A leading expert on Central Europe, he is the author of The Habsburg Empire: A Very Short Introduction, The Emperor Charles V, and other books on Hungarian and Romanian history. He lives in Kent, UK.