Joseph II: An Imperial Reformer for the Austrian Netherlands

Joseph II: An Imperial Reformer for the Austrian Netherlands

Author: W.W. Davis

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 9401020299

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It has been said that never has a monarch so narrowly missed "greatness" as did the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. An idealistic, sincere, and hardworking monarch whose ultilitarian bent, humanitarian instincts, and ambitious programs of reform in every area of public concern have prompted historians to term him an "enlightened despot," "revolutionary Emperor," "philosopher on a throne," and a ruler ahead of his time, Joseph has also been condemned for being insensitive to the phobias and follies of his subjects, essentially unrealistic, almost utopian, in establishing his goals, and dogmatic and overly precipitous in trying to achieve them. Efforts to analyze and explain the actions of this complex and controversial personality have involved a number of savants in investigations of "Josephinism" (or as I prefer to call it, "Josephism"), dealing in great detail with the motiva tions, substance, and influence of his innovations. The roots of Josephism run deep, but can be observed emerging here and there from the intellectual and political soil that nourished them, before joining the central trunk of the system formulated during the latter years of Maria Theresa's reign to grow to an ephemeral and stunted maturity under Joseph II.


Joseph II: An Imperial Reformer for the Austrian Netherlands

Joseph II: An Imperial Reformer for the Austrian Netherlands

Author: W.W. Davis

Publisher: Springer

Published: 1974-09-30

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13:

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It has been said that never has a monarch so narrowly missed "greatness" as did the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. An idealistic, sincere, and hardworking monarch whose ultilitarian bent, humanitarian instincts, and ambitious programs of reform in every area of public concern have prompted historians to term him an "enlightened despot," "revolutionary Emperor," "philosopher on a throne," and a ruler ahead of his time, Joseph has also been condemned for being insensitive to the phobias and follies of his subjects, essentially unrealistic, almost utopian, in establishing his goals, and dogmatic and overly precipitous in trying to achieve them. Efforts to analyze and explain the actions of this complex and controversial personality have involved a number of savants in investigations of "Josephinism" (or as I prefer to call it, "Josephism"), dealing in great detail with the motiva tions, substance, and influence of his innovations. The roots of Josephism run deep, but can be observed emerging here and there from the intellectual and political soil that nourished them, before joining the central trunk of the system formulated during the latter years of Maria Theresa's reign to grow to an ephemeral and stunted maturity under Joseph II.


The End of the Old Regime in Europe, 1776-1789, Part II

The End of the Old Regime in Europe, 1776-1789, Part II

Author: Franco Venturi

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-07-14

Total Pages: 611

ISBN-13: 1400861918

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Franco Venturi, premier European interpreter of the Enlightenment, is still completing his acclaimed multi-volume work, a grand synthesis of Western history before the French Revolution as seen through the perceptive eyes of Italian observers. Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


The United States of Belgium

The United States of Belgium

Author: Jane Judge

Publisher: Leuven University Press

Published: 2018-10-24

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 9462701571

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New and comprehensive insights into the seminal events that shaped Belgian identity In 1790, between the birth of America (1776) and the creation of the French National Assembly (1789), nine provinces nestled between the French and Dutch borders declared themselves a new free and independent country: the United States of Belgium. Before then, the provinces had been part of the vast Austrian Habsburg Empire ruled by Joseph II. In 1789 revolutionaries from Brussels to Ghent to Namur recruited a grass-roots army that, to the surprise of many, successfully chased imperial forces from the majority of the territories. The exhilaration of military triumph and political independence quickly faded as revolutionary factions fought each other and the European monarchies became more nervous in the face of French radicalization. Yet, the course of events had fostered the solidification of a new identity among the provinces’ inhabitants: Belgianness. This is the story of the emergence of Belgianness in the crucible of revolution. The United States of Belgium tells the story of the First Belgian Revolution before the creation of a language barrier between French and Dutch. It incorporates over 50 contemporary images of the revolutionary era.


Joseph II

Joseph II

Author: T C W Blanning

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-11-26

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1317899652

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Joseph II (1741--90) -- son and eventual successor of Maria Theresa -- has conventionally been seen in the context of the "Enlightened Despot'' reformers. Today's turmoil in his former territories invites a rather different perspective, however, as Joseph grapples with the familiar and intractable problems of creating a viable unitary state out of his multi-national empire in Central Europe. Professor Blanning's brilliant short study, based on extensive archival research, offers a history of the Habsburg monarchy in the eighteenth century, as well as a revaluation of the emperor's complex personality and his ill-fated reform programme.


Joseph II: Volume 2, Against the World, 1780-1790

Joseph II: Volume 2, Against the World, 1780-1790

Author: Derek Edward Dawson Beales

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 735

ISBN-13: 0521324882

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This final volume of Derek Beales's magisterial biography of the emperor Joseph II describes the critical period when he was sole ruler of the Austrian monarchy. Explaining his motivation and showing how his ideas developed, Derek Beales reveals that Joseph left an ineffaceable mark on all his lands.


Austria's Wars of Emergence, 1683-1797

Austria's Wars of Emergence, 1683-1797

Author: Michael Hochedlinger

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-12-22

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 1317887921

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The Habsburg Monarchy has received much historiographical attention since 1945. Yet the military aspects of Austria’s emergence as a European great power in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have remained obscure. This book shows that force of arms and the instruments of the early modern state were just as important as its marriage policy in creating and holding together the Habsburg Monarchy. Drawing on an impressive up-to-date bibliography as well as on original archival research, this survey is the first to put Vienna’s military back at the centre stage of early modern Austrian history.


The Habsburg Monarchy, 1618-1815

The Habsburg Monarchy, 1618-1815

Author: Charles W. Ingrao

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2000-06-29

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9780521785051

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This is a revised and updated edition of a highly acclaimed history of the early modern Habsburg monarchy. Charles W. Ingrao challenges the conventional notion of Habsburg state and society as peculiarly backward by tracing its emergence as a military and cultural power of enormous influence. The Habsburg monarchy was undeniably different from other European polities: geography and linguistic diversity made this inevitable, but by 1789 it had laid the groundwork for a single polity capable of transcending its uniquely diverse cultural and historic heritage. Charles W. Ingrao unravels the web of social, political, economic and cultural factors that shaped the Habsburg monarchy during the period, and presents this complex story in a manner that is both authoritative and accessible to non-specialists. This edition includes a revised text and bibliographies, new genealogical tables, and an epilogue which looks forward to the impact of the Habsburg monarchy on twentieth-century events.


Enlightenment and Reform in Eighteenth-century Europe

Enlightenment and Reform in Eighteenth-century Europe

Author: Derek Beales

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2005-03-24

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 085771242X

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The 18th century was a unique period of global and fundamental change. Britain conquered India and much of America, the American Revolution produced the USA, and Russia expanded vastly. In the field of ideas the Scientific Revolution was consolidated and followed by the Enlightenment. Nationalism flourished, populations surged, and the Commercial and Industrial Revolutions with Western technology eclipsed the East. Few centuries have inspired such a galaxy of historians, and their groundbreaking work has been drawn upon by Derek Beales in his collection of articles and special lectures. He covers the whole European kaleidoscope, but focuses especially on Joseph II and the Hapburg monarchy, asserting that Enlightened Despotism was the emodiment of the century's revolution in ideas, politics, government and administration.