Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations An evocative account of fourteen European kingdoms-their rise, maturity, and eventual disappearance. There is something profoundly romantic about lost civilizations. Europe's past is littered with states and kingdoms, large and small, that are scarcely remembered today, and while their names may be unfamiliar-Aragon, Etruria, the Kingdom of the Two Burgundies-their stories should change our mental map of the past. We come across forgotten characters and famous ones-King Arthur and Macbeth, Napoleon and Queen Victoria, right up to Stalin and Gorbachev-and discover how faulty memory can be, and how much we can glean from these lost empires. Davies peers through the cracks in the mainstream accounts of modern-day states to dazzle us with extraordinary stories of barely remembered pasts, and of the traces they left behind. This is Norman Davies at his best: sweeping narrative history packed with unexpected insights. Vanished Kingdoms will appeal to all fans of unconventional and thought-provoking history, from readers of Niall Ferguson to Jared Diamond. |
Contents
Five Six or Seven Kingdoms c 4111795 | |
A Mediterranean Empire 11371714 | |
A Grand Duchy with Kings 12531795 | |
All my life I have been intrigued by the gap between appearances | |
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 19451991 | |
The Starlit Golden Bough 3301453 | |
Watery Land of the Prusai 12301945 | |
The Loved and Unwanted Legacy 18261918 | |
Kingdom of the Black Mountain 19101918 | |
The Republic of One Day 15 March 1939 | |
The Unconscionable Tempo of the Crowns Retreat since 1916 | |
The Ultimate Vanishing Act 19241991 | |
How States | |
Notes | |
Acknowledgements | |
The House that Humbert Built 10331946 | |
Kingdom of the Naked and Starving 17731918 | |
French Snake in the Tuscan Grass 18011814 | |
Index | |