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The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke | 
 enlarge | Author: Timothy Snyder
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
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Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 83159
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 0465002374
Dewey Decimal Number: 943.6051092
EAN: 9780465002375
ASIN: 0465002374
Publication Date: June 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: THIN PRICE LABELS ON BOOK / SOFTCOVER
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Product Description
Wilhelm Von Habsburg wore the uniform of the Austrian officer, the court regalia of a Habsburg archduke, the simple suit of a Parisian exile, the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and, every so often, a dress. He could handle a saber, a pistol, a rudder, or a golf club; he handled women by necessity and men for pleasure. He spoke the Italian of his archduchess mother, the German of his archduke father, the English of his British royal friends, the Polish of the country his father wished to rule, and the Ukrainian of the land Wilhelm wished to rule himself. In this exhilarating narrative history, prize-winning historian Timothy D. Snyder offers an indelible portrait of an aristocrat whose life personifies the wrenching upheavals of the first half of the twentieth century, as the rule of empire gave way to the new politics of nationalism. Coming of age during the First World War, Wilhelm repudiated his family to fight alongside Ukrainian peasants in hopes that he would become their king. When this dream collapsed he became, by turns, an ally of German imperialists, a notorious French lover, an angry Austrian monarchist, a calm opponent of Hitler, and a British spy against Stalin. Played out in Europe’s glittering capitals and bloody battlefields, in extravagant ski resorts and dank prison cells, The Red Prince captures an extraordinary moment in the history of Europe, in which the old order of the past was giving way to an undefined future-and in which everything, including identity itself, seemed up for grabs.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 A Biography Of A Man, A Country, And A Continent June 21, 2008
John D. Cofield
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
The Red Prince is subtitled The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke, but this is a biography of far more than one individual. This able work by Timothy Snyder does much to illuminate the history of Ukraine and Central and Eastern Europe during the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
When Wilhelm von Habsburg was born in 1895 he was a minor member of a minor branch of the Habsburg Dynasty, which had been a dominating force in European politics for 500 years. Wilhelm's immediate family were not in the main line of succession and thus lived out of the public eye as much as was possible for people known as Imperial and Royal Archdukes and Archduchesses. Wilhelm's father seems to have originated a family streak of rebelliousness, when he apparently began to make plans to establish himself as King of Poland before that country had even regained its independence. Wilhelm, as his father's youngest son, had to go further afield to rebel, and he chose the province of Ukraine, a region divided between Russia and Austria-Hungary. Before and during World War I Wilhelm was an advocate for Ukrainian independence and for some surprisingly left wing politics, and during the tumultuous period after World War I at one point seemed poised to become the country's King. Conflict between Poland and the Soviet Union put an end to hopes for Ukrainian independence, and Wilhelm was relegated to the life of a playboy in Paris, enjoying love affairs with both sexes until a financial scandal forced him to return to Austria. Then during the 1930s and 1940s Wilhelm dabbled in right wing politics, switched to anti-Nazi activities during World War II, and then in the early years of the Cold War apparently worked with Western countries spying on the Soviet Union. This led to his arrest and imprisonment by the Soviets, and he died in prison in 1948.
However colorful his life, Wilhelm von Hapsburg would not have merited a biography solely on his own account. He apparently left few letters or other written records, and there seem to be very few photographs as well. What makes The Red Prince so important is the good coverage Snyder provides of the complicated history of Ukraine. The region slipped back and forth between Austria-Hungary, Poland, and the Soviet Union until finally gaining independence in 1991. Snyder draws many excellent parallels between the nationalist politics pre- and post- World Wars I and II, the political turmoil that has plagued the former Soviet Union and its satellites since the end of the Cold War, and the kind of universal supra-nationalistic politics practiced by the Habsburgs and now by the European Union. The coverage of the Orange Revolution of 2004, when Ukraine took a decisive turn away from dictatorship towards democracy, is especially interesting.
Although Wilhelm himself seems to have left few written records, so that readers will not feel they know much about him personally, Snyder was able to recreate the lives of his parents, siblings, nieces and nephews and other relations. He reveals them to have been interesting and intelligent people with independent views, a far cry from the habitual stereotype of the Habsburgs as insufferably inbred mediocrities. Snyder also gives some fascinating portraits of some of Wilhelm's associates like Trebitsch Lincoln, who deserves a biography of his own, though it would probably be considered too bizarre to be true.
Delightful Introduction to Central European History August 17, 2008
Eric F. Facer (Centreville, VA)
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is one of those books that you pick up on a whim and then the next day wonder why on earth you bought it, and then, once you begin to read it, realize that you got lucky. The Red Prince, in actuality, is several books in one: a biography of the eccentric Archduke Wilhelm von Hapsburg and members of his family, a brief history of the evolution of the country we know today as Ukraine, a eulogy for the Hapsburg Empire, and a survey of the changes wrought in Europe during the 19th and 20th Centuries as nations became states and continental war gave way to European union. Professor Snyder has a fascinating story to tell and he tells it well. His prose is engaging, his analysis insightful, and his arguments persuasive. At times, his metaphors are a bit over wrought and strained. For example, his reference on p. 272 to the impact that global warming and rising water levels in the Adriatic Sea will have on old Hapsburg sea charts seems pointless, other than perhaps satisfying the author's desire to display his awareness of the environmental fad du jour. But this is a minor quibble. If you want to fill a gap in your education and learn a little something about Central Europe, buy this book.
Habsburg nostalgia with a twist July 23, 2008
N. Ravitch (Savannah, GA United States)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Many of us are nostalgic about the Hababurgs, especially when we have considered the awful consequences of the decline of a multinational empire which kept squabbling nationalities and would-be-nationalities from murdering one another for many decades. Of course the Habsburgs also bear resp0nsibility for a policy of divide and conquer which made nationalistic rivalries even worse. But still better a Habsburg ruler than a Fascist or a Communist.
Prof. Snyder, an expert on the nationalities question in the lands of central Europe and the Old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, is the perfect man to write a book on a wayward Habsburg archduke, Wilhelm, and his involvement for several decades in pro-Ukrainian national projects, all of which came to nothing until long after his death with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1989-91.
Snyder writes with a literary verve which makes it hard to put this book down, even for people who wouldn't know the difference between a Slovak and a Slovene if their lives depended on it.
 Hapless Habsurgs August 15, 2008
Christian Schlect (Yakima, Washington/USA)
4 out of 10 found this review helpful
To me this book, which aims at explaining the evolution of political boundaries in Eastern Europe over the past 100 years, is muddled as a result of the author's use of a particularly mobile and feckless archduke of the Habsburg line for the connecting thread of his main, and more serious, history.
I think Professor Snyder goes overboard in his admiration for the ill-fated Habsburgs, especially Wihelm. All things seem to be taken in the most positive light and excused, such as Wihelm's involvement in a lurid financial shakedown scandal in France and his early friendship with the Nazis. Facts easily drift into conjecture at many points, especially with the material related to the thoughts and motives of the Red Prince.
I see nothing to admire in Wihelm nor do I think it any bad thing that this collection of rich, indolent, hereditary rulers, known as the Habsburg Dynasty, is no longer.
Professor Snyder, who is a real expert on issues related to the politics of this area of the world, would have been better off telling his story directly and not by means of the ignoble life of this one archduke.
 overly long and rudderless August 22, 2008
Mark bennett (portland, OR)
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book has two big problems. The first is that the subject of the book isn't worth a book of this length and depth. The second is that the author often "makes good" the lack of depth in the subject by speculation and theory.
Wilhelm von Habsburg was never a figure of consequence. A mnior member of the imperial family, he kept himself busy in Imperial Austria by funding nationalist ukranian groups working apparantly toward the delusion that he could make a throne for himself outside Austria.
After the fall of Habsburg Austria, he became a professional political opportunist attaching himself to anyone in Europe who wanted him. His personal life was a scandalous mess and he spent his final days in a soviet prison.
The author and the work far too often invented excuses for Wilhelm. But sometimes a lowlife political opportunist is no more than that. The author never quite wants to admit That Wilhelm didn't believe in anything except using everything and everyone around him to get himself ahead.
In some ways, Wilhelm toward the end was the third man's Harry Lime come to life. An amoral preditor playing on the cold war border who like Lime pressed his luck until it ran out.
The book might have worked either at about 1/3rd of its length. Or it might have worked had the history of eastern europe it contains been pulled out. As it is, its a mess. The craft of the writing and research involved are both excellent but they can't save what was a very flawed idea for a book.
The final mistake of the author is to repeat the old nonsense that the EU is some sort of return to Habsburg ideals. People who say such things have little understanding of how Imperial Austria was governed and are usually caught up in daydreams of Vienna at the turn of the century.
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