A Dawn Execution in Mexico On June 19, 1867, before sunrise, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria prepared to meet his […]
An Emperor’s Prophetic Doubts In the third act of Franz Grillparzer’s epic drama Ein Bruderzwist in Habsburg , the aging […]
A Realm of Contrasts and Contradictions The period from 1660 to 1790 in Central Europe presents a fascinating study in […]
A Dynasty Divided Yet United When Emperor Charles V abdicated his vast territories in 1556, he initiated a complex succession […]
A Masterpiece of Political Propaganda In September 1548, the Venetian painter Titian completed what would become one of the most […]
The Emperor Who Never Died On December 13, 1250, Frederick II—King of Sicily, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Jerusalem, Protector […]
The Age of Stone and Fear When we imagine medieval Europe between the 13th and 14th centuries, our minds conjure […]
The Gathering Storm at Brugg In late June 1386, the small northern Swiss town of Brugg sweltered under the summer […]
Introduction: A Spring of Discontent in the Carpathians By March 1915, the snows in the Carpathian Mountains had begun to […]
Introduction: A Continent in Turmoil The early months of 1915 found Europe engulfed in a conflict of unprecedented scale and […]
Introduction: A Dual Crisis of Strategy and Prestige The Austro-Hungarian Empire faced a profound dilemma in the autumn of 1914. […]
Introduction In the autumn of 1914, the Eastern Front of the First World War was a theater of rapid movement, […]
The Shock of Austrian Collapse in Galicia In the early autumn of 1914, German military observers watched with growing alarm […]
Introduction In the turbulent autumn of 1914, as the Great War engulfed Europe, the Austro-Hungarian Empire found itself mired in […]
Strategic Missteps on the Eastern Front In the early weeks of the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian High Command under […]
Introduction The early weeks of World War I on the Eastern Front were characterized by grand strategies, misplaced confidence, and […]
Introduction: A Commander’s Contradictions At the outbreak of World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire faced a daunting challenge: fighting a […]
Introduction: A Troubled Empire on the Eve of War In the sweltering summer of 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire stood at […]
A Fateful Night in Sarajevo On the eve of Gavrilo Princip’s assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife on […]
A Fateful Decision in Bohemia In the autumn of 1913, amidst the rolling hills of Bohemia, the Habsburg army conducted […]
Introduction: A Continent on the Brink In the early 20th century, the Balkan Peninsula stood as one of Europe’s most […]
Introduction: The Shifting Tides of Power In the early 20th century, Europe stood on the brink of monumental change. The […]