Rothenberg's work offers the first analytical, full length study of the army of Francis Joseph throughout its history from 1815 to 1918.

The author’s masterpiece, an epic saga of a family and an empire in decline, is “full of psychological penetration and tragic force” (The New Yorker). The

Did you ever wonder how and why Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf (1852-1925) earned his reputation for brilliance, while failing so miserably during the First World