My sixth (of eight) courses began two weeks ago, entitled Europe, 1550-1850. There is a single writing requirement in the course, which is a 20-page review paper of a reading list that the student prepares him-/herself. Therefore, what I’ll be doing here this semester is writing 500 words on each of the following works as I complete them. The topic of the list is diplomatic/military/political history of Austria, 1550-1900.
1. Patrouch, Joseph F. A Negotiated Settlement: The Counter-Reformation in Upper Austria Under the Habsburgs. Boston: Brill, 2000.
2. Wheatcroft, Andrew. The Enemy at the Gate: Habsburgs, Ottomans, and the Battle for Europe. New York: Random House, 2009.
3. Blitz, R.C. “The Religious Reforms of Joseph II (1780-1790) and their Economic Significance.” Journal of European Economic History, 18, no. 3 (1989): 583-594.
4. Wilson, Peter H. “Bolstering the Prestige of the Habsburgs: The End of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.” International History Review, 28, no. 4 (2006): 709-736.
5. Aliprantis, Christos. “Transnational Policing after the 1848–1849 Revolutions: The Habsburg Empire in the Mediterranean.” European History Quarterly, 50, no. 3 (2020): 412-437.
6. Evans, R.J.W. “From Confederation to Compromise: The Austrian Experiment, 1849–67.” In: Austria, Hungary, and the Habsburgs: Central Europe c. 1683-1867, 266-292. New York: Oxford UP, 2006.
7. Wawro, Geoffrey. The Austro-Prussian War: Austria’s War with Prussia and Italy in 1866. New York: Cambridge UP, 1997.
8. Deák, István. Beyond Nationalism: A Social and Political History of the Habsburg Officer Corps 1848-1918. New York: Oxford UP, 1990.
9. Hamann, Brigitte. Hitler’s Vienna: A Dictator’s Apprenticeship. New York: Oxford UP, 1999.
10. Snyder, Timothy. The Red Prince: The Fall of a Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Europe. New York: Vintage, 1999.
Inevitable Historicity 