The First German Empress

The First German Empress
Author: John Van der Kiste
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2016-05-27
Genre:
ISBN: 9781533362889

Born a princess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in 1811, Augusta was married at the age of seventeen to Prince William of Prussia, the future King and first German Emperor. A woman of progressive opinions and artistic tastes, married to a man with whom she had almost nothing in common, she soon found herself out of place at the military-minded court of Berlin, an existence she sought to alleviate for a time in an endless round of parties and social activities and an appetite for gossip. But despite increasing ill-health from middle age, she soon found self-fulfilment in her involvement with nursing and other welfare activities in Berlin, as well as her interest in the arts. A friend of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort in England for some years, she passed her liberal views on to her only son Frederick, destined to reign for only three months as German Emperor in 1888, two years before her own death. This is the first biography in English for over a century.

The Last German Empress

The Last German Empress
Author: John Van der Kiste
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015-05-10
Genre: Empresses
ISBN: 9781511613965

Born a princess of Schleswig-Holstein in 1858, Empress Augusta Victoria, known in the family as 'Dona', was marked out from early childhood as a potential bride for Prince William of Prussia. When they married in 1881, everyone expected that she would never concern herself with more than the traditional Prussian princess's interests of Kirche, Küche, Kinder (church, kitchen, children). Yet within twenty years of his accession as William II, the last German Emperor, she would become in some ways the stronger character and steadying influence her increasingly neurotic and unstable husband required. This is the first biography of an often overlooked personality in modern history.

Hermine: An Empress in Exile

Hermine: An Empress in Exile
Author: Moniek Bloks
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
Total Pages: 119
Release: 2020-12-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1789044790

Hermine Reuss of Greiz is perhaps better known as the second wife of the Kaiser (Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany) whom she married shortly after the death of his first wife Auguste Viktoria and while he was in exile in the Netherlands. She was by then a widow herself with young children. She was known to be ambitious about wanting to return to power, and her husband insisted on her being called 'Empress'. To achieve her goal, she turned to the most powerful man in Germany at the time, Adolf Hitler. Unfortunately, her dream was not realised as Hitler refused to restore the monarchy and with the death of Wilhelm in 1941, Hermine was forced to return to her first husband's lands. She was arrested shortly after the end of the Second World War and would die under mysterious circumstances while under house arrest by the Red Army.

An Uncommon Woman

An Uncommon Woman
Author: Hannah Pakula
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 708
Release: 1997-11-13
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0684842165

Biography of Prussian Crown Princess Vicky, Queen Victoria's eldest daughter who married Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia and who gave birth to Kaiser Wilhelm II.

The Empress Theophano

The Empress Theophano
Author: Adelbert Davids
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2002-08-15
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780521524674

The Byzantine princess Theophano, who came to the West in 972 to marry the Ottonian emperor Otto II, died as empress of the Ottonian Empire in Nijmegen in 991. In commemoration of this event a group of distinguished scholars met in 1991 at the castle of Hernen in the Netherlands with the aim of discussing various issues and aspects of Theophano's background in Byzantium, her life in the West, and her impact on society at the turn of the first millennium. This volume brings together in carefully edited form a group of the papers and proceedings from 1991. Each contribution helps to place Theophano in a broad cultural and historical context. The historical, intellectual and artistic background of her age are described, and there are essays on her education, her surroundings, and on the image of noble women in the middle ages.

Above the Fray

Above the Fray
Author: Shai M. Dromi
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2020-01-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 022668024X

From Lake Chad to Iraq, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) provide relief around the globe, and their scope is growing every year. Policy makers and activists often assume that humanitarian aid is best provided by these organizations, which are generally seen as impartial and neutral. In Above the Fray, Shai M. Dromi investigates why the international community overwhelmingly trusts humanitarian NGOs by looking at the historical development of their culture. With a particular focus on the Red Cross, Dromi reveals that NGOs arose because of the efforts of orthodox Calvinists, demonstrating for the first time the origins of the unusual moral culture that has supported NGOs for the past 150 years. Drawing on archival research, Dromi traces the genesis of the Red Cross to a Calvinist movement working in mid-nineteenth-century Geneva. He shows how global humanitarian policies emerged from the Red Cross founding members’ faith that an international volunteer program not beholden to the state was the only ethical way to provide relief to victims of armed conflict. By illustrating how Calvinism shaped the humanitarian field, Dromi argues for the key role belief systems play in establishing social fields and institutions. Ultimately, Dromi shows the immeasurable social good that NGOs have achieved, but also points to their limitations and suggests that alternative models of humanitarian relief need to be considered.

Agrippina

Agrippina
Author: Emma Southon
Publisher: Unbound Publishing
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2018-08-08
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1911586610

They said she was a tyrant, a murderer and the most wicked woman in history. She kicked her way into the male spaces of politics and demanded to be recognised as an equal and a leader. For her audacity, she was murdered by her son and reviled by history. She was the sister, niece, wife and mother of emperors. She was an empress in her own right. And she was a nuanced, fearless trailblazer in the Roman world. The story of Agrippina – the first empress of Rome – is the story of an empire at its bloody, extravagant, chaotic, ruthless height.

The Accidental Empress

The Accidental Empress
Author: Allison Pataki
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2015-02-17
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 147679023X

*NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Discover the “captivating, absorbing, and beautifully told” (Kathleen Grissom) love story of Sisi, the Austro-Hungarian empress and wife of Emperor Franz Joseph—perfect for fans of the Netflix series The Empress! The year is 1853, and the Habsburgs are Europe’s most powerful ruling family. With his empire stretching from Austria to Russia, from Germany to Italy, Emperor Franz Joseph is young, rich, and ready to marry. Fifteen-year-old Elisabeth, “Sisi,” Duchess of Bavaria, travels to the Habsburg Court with her older sister, who is betrothed to the young emperor. But shortly after her arrival at court, Sisi finds herself in an unexpected dilemma: she has inadvertently fallen for and won the heart of her sister’s groom. Franz Joseph reneges on his earlier proposal and declares his intention to marry Sisi instead. Thrust onto the throne of Europe’s most treacherous imperial court, Sisi upsets political and familial loyalties in her quest to win, and keep, the love of her emperor, her people, and of the world. With Pataki’s rich period detail and cast of complex, bewitching characters, The Accidental Empress offers “another absolutely compelling story” (Mary Higgins Clark) with this glimpse into one of history’s most intriguing royal families, shedding new light on the glittering Hapsburg Empire and its most mesmerizing, most beloved “Fairy Queen.”

Maria Theresa

Maria Theresa
Author: Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 1066
Release: 2022-01-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 0691219850

A major new biography of the iconic Austrian empress that challenges the many myths about her life and rule Maria Theresa (1717–1780) was once the most powerful woman in Europe. At the age of twenty-three, she ascended to the throne of the Habsburg Empire, a far-flung realm composed of diverse ethnicities and languages, beset on all sides by enemies and rivals. Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger provides the definitive biography of Maria Theresa, situating this exceptional empress within her time while dispelling the myths surrounding her. Drawing on a wealth of archival evidence, Stollberg-Rilinger examines all facets of eighteenth-century society, from piety and patronage to sexuality and childcare, ceremonial life at court, diplomacy, and the everyday indignities of warfare. She challenges the idealized image of Maria Theresa as an enlightened reformer and mother of her lands who embodied both feminine beauty and virile bellicosity, showing how she despised the ideas of the Enlightenment, treated her children with relentless austerity, and mercilessly persecuted Protestants and Jews. Work, consistent physical and mental discipline, and fear of God were the principles Maria Theresa lived by, and she demanded the same from her family, her court, and her subjects. A panoramic work of scholarship that brings Europe's age of empire spectacularly to life, Maria Theresa paints an unforgettable portrait of the uncompromising yet singularly charismatic woman who left her enduring mark on the era in which she lived and reigned.

Empress Maria Theresa and the Politics of Habsburg Imperial Art

Empress Maria Theresa and the Politics of Habsburg Imperial Art
Author: Michael Elia Yonan
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2011
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780271037226

"Explores the intersections between monarchy, gender, and art through an investigation of the visual and architectural culture of the eighteenth-century Habsburg empress Maria Theresa"--Provided by publisher.