Can you recommend some good books on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially in its later phase - thanks!

by ovoutland

I prefer narrative histories, but all suggestions are welcome. I didn't see any books on this place and time in the Resources section. Thank you!

Backstory - for a novel I'm writing, I'm fabricating a nation between Austria and Hungary, a relic of the AHE composed of Burgenland and part of East Transdanubia - a nation which, after WWII, was split into two nations, East and West. So the towns, castles, noble families of the region, etc. will be the real thing, only the "nation" will be fake.

davratta

A good way to get the feel for the era is to look at the life of Elisabeth, a/k/a Sissi. She was the wife of Franz Joseph that loathed the court ritual of Vienna, loved the Hungarian part of the Hapsburg Empire and was killed by an Italian anarchist in 1898. A full biography of her is "The Reluctant Empress: A Biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria" by Brigitte Hamann (1986). A shorter and better illustrated version of her life can be found in "Sissi, Elisabeth, Empress of Austria" by Brigitte Hamann (1997)
The actress Romy Schneider starred as Sissi in a trilogy of Austrian movies that were made in the late 1950s.

  • Sissi (1955)
  • Sissi- die junge Kaiserin (1956)
  • Sissi- Schiksalsjahre einer kaiserin (1957)
    In Austria and Bavaria, the Sissi trilogy is somewhat akin to the movie "Its a wonderful Life" in the sense that it has become a wholesome family tradition to watch these movies on television shortly before Christmas. "Forever my Love" is a condensed version of the Sissi trilogy that is dubbed into English.