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Overview
Editorial Reviews
Publishers Weekly
Part of the family that ruled much of central Europe since 1273, Wilhelm von Habsburg (1895-1949) came of age during the last 23 years of the dynasty's rule. Von Habsburg lived a nomadic and tragic life; he was a bisexual and a political chameleon (including a brief pro-Nazi period) who was implicated in a major financial scandal in Paris during the 1930s. But during WWI, he had become a fervent Ukrainian nationalist, and this became his life's one constant, culminating with efforts to help formerly pro-German Ukraine turn to the West at the end of WWII. As Yale historian Snyder (Sketches from a Secret War) shows, his efforts were futile; he was charged by the Soviets with spying and died in prison. Snyder hews closely to his subject, so that the complexities of 20th-century Ukrainian history sometimes get short shrift, e.g., he devotes only two sentences to the 1933 "terror famine" that killed three million peasants. Generally, though, this is an interesting biography of a man whose colorful life embodied many of the tensions that plagued Europe in the early 20th century. Illus., maps. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Library Journal
Snyder (history, Yale Univ.; Sketches from a Secret War), whose previous works have won scholarly awards for historical writing, here follows the exploits of Wilhelm von Hapsburg (1895-1948) as he trots across Europe getting involved in hefty doses of both intrigue and mischief. This Hapsburg archduke was an officer, a gentleman, a would-be Ukrainian king, a lover of both men and women, a poet, an opponent of the Nazis, and, ultimately, an anti-Soviet spy for the French. Although he was a relatively minor member of European royalty, Snyder shows that he was more than just another Old World fop. Wilhelm witnessed and participated in the evolution and decline of Europe's Old Order, playing his part in two world wars and in post-World War II realignments. While the truth of Wilhelm's life seems stranger than fiction, Snyder does an excellent job of documenting this story. Appropriate for both lay readers of biography and specialists and students of 20th-century European history, this is recommended for public and academic libraries.
—Antonio S. Thompson
Kirkus Reviews
Sympathetic portrait of cross-dressing archduke Wilhelm von Habsburg (1895-1948). Wilhelm was "raised to protect and enlarge the family empire in an age of nationalism," writes Snyder (History/Yale Univ.; Sketches from a Secret War, 2007, etc.), by becoming a Ukrainian prince, "subordinate to the Hapsburg emperor." The dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I put an end to this notion, but Wilhelm continued to devote himself to the cause of Ukrainian independence. Snyder unravels Wilhelm's story in a straightforward manner, beginning with key moments in his early life. At age 14, he enrolled in a military school in Moravia that novelist Robert Musil (an alumnus) had described only three years earlier as a hotbed of homoerotic activity. "Homosexuality, royalty, and the military were closely associated" in central Europe, writes Snyder, mentioning several contemporary scandals. During WWI, Wilhelm led Ukrainian troops and hoped for a role in an independent nation, but by 1922 the Ukrainian National Republic had been split between Poland and Russia. He wandered Europe at loose ends and in 1931 arrived in Paris, where he apparently indulged in liaisons with fellow aristocrats, furtive late-night visits to homosexual brothels and cross-dressing. When a female lover embroiled him in a fraud scheme gone wrong, he fled to Austria and briefly became enamored with Adolf Hitler, whom he thought might be favorable to his crusade to bring independence to the Ukraine. By the time World War II began, however, Wilhelm was a firm opponent of the Nazis. He became involved with Ukrainian nationalists again after the war, but the Soviets, intending to absorb all of the Ukraine, arrestedWilhelm in 1947; he died of tuberculosis after a year in captivity. The author tempers this grim personal denouement with a satisfying account of how the Ukraine finally achieved independence years after Wilhelm's death. Snyder deftly handles the still-thorny questions about national and sexual identity embodied in this single, remarkable life. Agent: Steve Wasserman/Kneerim & WilliamsProduct Details
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Meet the Author
Timothy D. Snyder is Professor of History at Yale University. He received his doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1997, and has held fellowships in Paris, Vienna, Warsaw, and at Harvard. He won the George Louis Beer Prize of the American Historical Association in 2003 for his book The Reconstruction of Nations, and his most recent book, Sketches From a Secret War, was awarded the Pro Historia Polonorum by the First Congress of Foreign Researchers of Poland for the best book on Polish history by a foreign author published in the preceding five years. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut.
Table of Contents
Gold: The Emperor's Dream 7
Blue: Childhood at Sea 29
Green: Oriental Europe 51
Red: Prince at Arms 77
Grey: Shadow Kings 99
White: Agent of Imperialism 121
Lilac: Gay Paris 149
Brown: Aristocratic Fascism 183
Black: Against Hitler and Stalin 205
Orange: European Revolutions 239
Epilogue 269
Acknowledgments 275
Family Trees 277
Biographical Sketches 281
Chronology of Habsburg History 289
Note on Terms and Languages 293
Notes 297
Bibliography 321
Index 333