Before World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the largest political entity in mainland Europe. This multi-ethnic empire included much of today’s Austria, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Serbia, Croatia, and parts of northern Italy.
Two books by Fredric Morton make enjoyable reading: A Nervous Splendor and Thunder at Twilight.
A Nervous Splendor focuses on events and personalities in Vienna during 1888-89.
The central story revolves around the double suicide of crown prince Rudolf, heir to the Empire, and his young lover. But other leading figures of Viennese culture such as Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, Gustav Klimt, and Arthur Schnitzler are woven into this account of the beginning of the end of the Austro-HungarianEmpire.
In Thunder at Twilight, Morton returns to Vienna to chronicle the events of 1913-14 leading to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who was next-in-line to rule the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Once again Vienna was full of people who would soon become famous – Joseph Stalin, LeonTrotsky, and failed painter, Adolf Hitler. Morton catches the opulent yet troubled atmosphere that precipitated Europe into the First World War.