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Triumph and Disaster: Five Historical Miniatures - Hardcover

Zweig, Stefan

 
9781782272748: Triumph and Disaster: Five Historical Miniatures
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 1782272747 ISBN 13: 9781782272748
Verlag: PUSHKIN PR, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

One of two beautifully designed hardback gift editions of Stefan Zweig's breathlessly dramatic historical sketches, out in time for Christmas.

A single Yes, a single No, a Too Soon or a Too Late makes that hour irrevocable for hundreds of generations while deciding the life of a single man or woman, of a nation, even the destiny of all humanity.

Five vivid dramatizations of some of the most pivotal episodes in human history, from the Fall of Constantinople to Scott's doomed attempt to reach the South Pole, bringing the past to life in brilliant technicolor.

Included in this collection:
"The Field of Waterloo": A fascinating little known story of Napoleon's defeat.
"The Race to Reach the South Pole": The failed expedition of the English to discover the South Pole first.
"The Conquest of Byzantium": Sultan Mahomet's defeat of Byzantium through a neglected door.
"The Sealed Train": Lenin's triumphant return from exile.
"Wilson's Failure": The Treaty of Versailles is signed.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Stefan Zweig was born in 1881 in Vienna, into a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family. He studied in Berlin and Vienna and was first known as a poet and translator, then as a biographer. Between the wars, Zweig was an international bestseller with a string of hugely popular novellas including Letter from an Unknown Woman, Amok and Fear. In 1934, with the rise of Nazism, he left Austria, and lived in London, Bath and New York--a period during which he produced his most celebrated works: his only novel, Beware of Pity, and his memoir, The World of Yesterday. He eventually settled in Brazil, where in 1942 he and his wife were found dead in an apparent double suicide. Much of his work is available from Pushkin Press.

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THE FIELD OF
WATERLOO
NAPOLEON
18 June 1815

Destiny makes its urgent way to the mighty
and those who do violent deeds. It will be
subservient for years on end to a single man-Caesar,
Alexander, Napoleon-for it loves those elemental
characters that resemble destiny itself, an element
that is so hard to comprehend.
Sometimes, however, very seldom at all times,
and on a strange whim, it makes its way to some
unimportant man. Sometimes-and these are the
most astonishing moments in international history-
for a split second the strings of fate are
pulled by a man who is a complete nonentity. Such
people are always more alarmed than gratified by
the storm of responsibility that casts them into
the heroic drama of the world. Only very rarely
does such a man forcefully raise his opportunity
aloft, and himself with it. For greatness gives itself
to those of little importance only for a second,
and if one of them misses his chance it is gone
for ever.

Grouchy
The news is hurled like a cannonball crashing into
the dancing, love affairs, intrigues and arguments
of the Congress of Vienna: Napoleon, the lion in
chains, has broken out of his cage on Elba, and other
couriers come galloping up with more news. He has
taken Lyons, he has chased the king away, the troops
are going over to him with fanatical banners, he is in
Paris, in the Tuileries-Leipzig and twenty years of
murderous warfare were all in vain. As if seized by
a great claw, the ministers who only just now were
still carping and quarrelling come together. British,
Prussian, Austrian and Russian armies are raised in
haste to defeat the usurper of power yet again, and
this time finally. The legitimate Europe of emperors
and kings was never more united than in this first
hour of horror. Wellington moves towards France
from the north, a Prussian army under Blà cher is
coming up beside him to render aid, Schwarzenberg
is arming on the Rhine, and as a reserve the Russian
regiments are marching slowly and heavily right
through Germany.
Napoleon immediately assesses the deadly danger.
He knows there is no time to wait for the pack to
assemble. He must separate them and attack them
separately, the Prussians, the British, the Austrians,
before they become a European army and the
downfall of his empire. He must hurry, because
otherwise the malcontents in his own country will
awaken, he must already be the victor before the
republicans grow stronger and ally themselves with
the royalists, before the double-tongued and incomprehensible
Fouché, in league with Talleyrand, his
opponent and mirror image, cuts his sinews from
behind. He must march against his enemies with
vigour, making use of the frenzied enthusiasm of
the army. Every day that passes means loss, every
hour means danger. In haste, then, he rattles the
dice and casts them over Belgium, the bloodiest
battlefield of Europe. On 15th June, at three in the
morning, the leading troops of the great-and now
the only-army of Napoleon cross the border. On
the 16th they clash with the Prussian army at Ligny
and throw it back. This is the first blow struck by
the escaped lion, terrible but not mortal. Stricken,
although not annihilated, the Prussian army withdraws
towards Brussels.
Napoleon now prepares to strike a second blow,
this time against Wellington. He cannot stop to
get his breath back, cannot allow himself a breathing
space, for every day brings reinforcements to
the enemy, and the country behind him, with the
restless people of France bled dry, must be roused
to enthusiasm by a draught of spirits, the fiery
spirits of a victory bulletin. As early as the 17th he
is marching with his whole army to the heights of
Q

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Verlag
PUSHKIN PR
Erscheinungsdatum
2017
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1782272747
ISBN 13 
9781782272748
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
160
Kontakt zum Hersteller
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Verantwortliche Person
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