Titres dans XIXe siècle

Am 26. Juni 1813 trafen sich im Palais Marcolini in Dresden die großen Kontrahenten Napoleon und Metternich zu einer achtstündigen Unterredung. Nach der Katastrophe in Russland steht für den Kaiser alles auf dem Spiel: Ausgleich mit Österreich oder aber Aufstand Europas und sein Untergang? Napoleon bleibt dem Gesetz des Eroberers treu. Ausmanövriert von Metternich weicht er keinen Schritt von seinen Ansprüchen zurück.

Wallenstein (1583-1634) ist eine Ausnahmefigur, faszinierend wie unerklärlich: Ein begnadetes Militärgenie und kühl kalkulierender Unternehmer, oder aber ein von Horoskopen abhängiger Zauderer? Dem Kaiser und der katholischen Sache treu ergeben oder maßlos egoistisch, ein Verräter? Ihn umgeben bis heute viele Rätsel.

Alles begann im Januar 1891 mit einer Sex-Party im Berliner Jagdschloss Grunewald. Teilgenommen hatten rund 15 adlige Damen und Herren der Hofgesellschaft - einige davon pikanterweise enge Verwandte Wilhelms II. Als ihr sexuelles Treiben in anonymen und mit pornographischen Fotos versehenen Briefen angeprangert wurde und der Inhalt der Briefe an die Öffentlichkeit durchsickerte, zog der Skandal rasch immer weitere Kreise. Als Verfasser der Briefe verdächtigt wurde Zeremonienmeister Leberecht von Kotze.

The world is filled with mysteries, and even in the modern age, much of the planet remains unexplored. The depths of the oceans and the intricate and extensive cave systems that honeycomb some parts of the Earth are still largely unknown. Thus, it should come as no surprise that when it comes to this terra incognita, people have projected all sorts of ideas.

While 1858 in London may have been noteworthy for its broiling summer months and the related stench of the sewage-filled Thames River, the year is otherwise little remembered. And yet, historian Rosemary Ashton reveals in this compelling microhistory, 1858 was marked by significant, if unrecognized, turning points. For ordinary people, and also for the rich, famous, and powerful, the months from May to August turned out to be a summer of consequence.

As Under Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1907, Winston S. Churchill toured Britain's territories in East Africa. My African Journey, first published in 1908, documents his travels and the people he met; he waxes lyrical on the natural beauty of Uganda and goes on to explore Egypt and Sudan via the White Nile. More than a travelogue however, Churchill, now in his 30s, turns his attention towards issues of government and development, suggesting that the best way to tap the latent wealth of East Africa was the development of the railway system.

The State of Jones is a true story about the South during the Civil War, the real South. Not the South that has been mythologized in novels and movies, but an authentic, hardscrabble place where poor men were forced to fight a rich man's war for slavery and cotton. In Jones County, Mississippi, a farmer named Newton Knight led his neighbors, white and black alike, in an insurrection against the Confederacy at the height of the Civil War.

Lives, loves, and loyalties must battle for survival in our fictional story that commences around the time of the potato famine in 1845. Two baby boys are born in a local doctor's house at around the same time of day. One is the son of the lady of the manor, the other is the son of a young Irish peasant woman whose husband works for the lord of the manor.

Though it may be hard to believe today, the Eiffel Tower was initially met with derision by many Frenchmen, some of whom compared it to the Tower of Babel and complained that the “useless and monstrous” structure would obscure treasures such as Notre Dame. In response to such criticisms, Eiffel himself pointed out, “Can one think that because we are engineers, beauty does not preoccupy us or that we do not try to build beautiful, as well as solid and long lasting structures? Aren't the genuine functions of strength always in keeping with unwritten conditions of harmony?

Published in the 200th anniversary year of the Battle of Waterloo, a witty look at how the French still think they won, by Stephen Clarke, author of 1000 Years of Annoying the French and A Year in the Merde. Two centuries after the Battle of Waterloo, the French are still in denial. If Napoleon lost on 18 June 1815 (and that's a big 'if') then whoever rules the universe got it wrong. As soon as the cannons stopped firing, French historians began rewriting history.

By the winter of 1811, the armies of Napoleon had overrun most of Spain, and Joseph Bonaparte sat on the throne in Madrid. But the Spanish government had found refuge in the fortress-port of Cadiz, and the Spaniards refused to admit that they had been conquered. With a British army under Sir Thomas Graham helping to defend Cadiz, the Spanish cause seemed certain to prevail. But then the Spaniards wanted to throw Graham’s force into a reckless battle against the French. If the battle was won, the siege of Cadiz would be lifted; if the battle was lost, Cadiz would be rendered defenseless.

In a series of revolts starting in 1820, four military officers rode forth on horseback from obscure European towns to bring political freedom and a constitution to Spain, Naples, and Russia; and national independence to the Greeks. The men who launched these exploits from Andalusia to the snowy fields of Ukraine - Colonel Rafael del Riego, General Guglielmo Pepe, General Alexandros Ypsilanti, and Colonel Sergei Muraviev-Apostol - all hoped to overturn the old order.

In a riveting narrative of daredevils and eccentrics, Fergus Fleming gives us the breathtaking story of some of history's greatest explorers as they conquer the soaring peaks of the Alps. Fleming recounts the incredible exploits of the men whose centuries-old fear of the mountain range turned quickly to curiosity, then to obsession, as they explored Europe's frozen wilderness.

In many ways history is the story of human beings trying to control their destinies by overcoming the effects of their physical surroundings. As too many have learned, the best they could often do was cope with nature, and the various natural disasters produced around the globe. Consider, for example, the year 1816, known as the "Year Without a Summer", which found the working poor in both Europe and America facing starvation caused by factors that few, if any, of them understood.

The remarkable enterprise that was Moresnet was an unintended consequence of the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815). Created as a triangle of neutral territory between Prussia and the Netherlands by the Congress of Vienna, Moresnet encapsulates the archetype of market anarchy.

In July 1883, just a few days after the 20th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, a group of editors at the Century magazine engaged in a lively argument: Which Civil War battle was the bloodiest battle of them all? One claimed it was Chickamauga, another Cold Harbor. The argument inspired a brainstorm: Why not let the magazine’s 125,000 readers in on the conversation by offering “a series of papers on some of the great battles of the war, to be written by officers in command on both sides.”

The Indian Ocean was the final battleground for Nelson's navy and France. At stake was Britain's commercial lifeline to India: and its strategic capacity to wage war in Europe.

La historia que se esconde detrás de una de las mejores novelas de aventuras de todos los tiempos. En 1875, Henry Rider Haggard escribe Las minas del rey Salomón, probablemente una de las mejores novelas de aventuras de todos los tiempos. Muchos intuyen pero pocos conocen el correlato histórico que se oculta detrás de esta novela: la lucha entre colonos ingleses y holandeses contra las tribus africanas por el control de los recursos naturales y de los territorios.

The Greater Journey is the enthralling, inspiring - and until now, untold - story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, architects, and others of high aspiration who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, ambitious to excel in their work.

"Ambition is like the balloonist. To some extent, the rise is nice and he does enjoy a splendid view and a vast landscape. But when he rises more, vertigo occurs, the air becomes thin and the risk of a big fall increases." With this parable, the Austrian Archduke Maximilian of Hapsburg inadvertently predicted the destiny to which he would bravely ride, despite the warnings and the sweet talkers. In any case, he followed his heart's mandate. And Charlotte, the princess, was "one of the most cultured and beautiful" in Europe.