The Hapsburgs were one of the longest and most successful European dynasties of all time. This is a solid reliable history by one of the acknowledged experts in this field. [To quote from his preface], C.A. Macartney  - as a young historian - looked in vain for an adequate general history of the Monarchy which gave an account of how and why it had broken up. Macartney would be too modest to say that this is the one but others might do so on his behalf. The narrative commences with the accession of Joseph II and concludes with the collapse of the Empire at the end of the First World War. The book contains maps and an extensive bibliography.    xiv,886 pp ; 17.5 x 24 cm ; 1236 g.