Holy crap, I finished it! It took me two months, but I did it. (To be fair, I had a 'few' things going on, and finished a few other books over the same period.)

This book is dense. It really is. But it is also really interesting. I didn't think I could enjoy this level of detail about states, family lines, successions, etc.; and in a sense it was as boring as it might sound (depending on your tastes/interests.) But the thing is... it actually was well worth the read, and maintained my interest throughout.

As an American, even one who reads a lot, the rise and fall of political units/states seems distant. Somehow, drowning in detail, this book manages to give a sense of the complexity and enormity of political changes that --even having read some previous history-- I was simply lacking. And not just the human suffering and cost (though there is plenty of that.) The sense of shifting identity, lost identity, just the vagaries of time, etc....

Yeah, this was a good book :) ( )

This is a useful survey of kingdoms that were once prominent that have since "vanished" or have become very diminished. Most interesting has been the story of the ancient roots of Prussia and the history of what is now Ukraine, Belorussia, Poland and Lithuanian. Most history books describe history from the point of view of the political entities that replaced these kingdoms so reading history from the perspective of those who vanished is eye-opening. ( )

A curious book: Davies is capable of writing vivid prose (see the initial pages of the ninth chapter, on Galicia) but this book often gets quite, uh, boggy with lists of monarchs and reigns and ... well. Maybe the vividness maps to Davies' own enthusiasm level ... one of the only things I know about him is that he's an expert on Eastern Europe and Poland in particular ... maybe the vivid prose only comes when he's in that element. I don't know. There's a load of interesting information here, but it often feels like a slog. ( )

Quite an interesting book on nations,States and Kingdoms that came and have went.. a decent read if into history of world ( )

Interesting, but rather verbose. Better read in short chunks than all at once. Makes a good reference book. ( )

A pedantic, inept piece of work. The areas I happened to be familiar with were handled so badly it called into question the rest of it. (e.g. The German Vormarz is misidentified as a movement, rather than a historical period.)

The conceptual basis was incoherently fuzzy. The people of the former Soviet Union might understand that they are included metaphorically as one of the 'kingdoms' (chapter 15), but the Irish may be quite surprised to find themselves among the 'vanished' (chapter 14). This sort of sloppy thinking is reminiscent of Huntington's Clash of Civilizations, where the concept of 'civilization' was as broad or narrow as it needed to be at any given moment.

The author also has a bafflingly freshmanlike affection for citing dictionary definitions, encyclopedia entries, and tourist board websites, but spends and inordinate amount of time criticizing them as insufficiently detailed--not only a pedant, then, but one punching well below his weight. Based on this work's lazy lack of precision or clarity, it's a haughtiness that is thoroughly unjustified.

I could also go into the author's hilariously reactionary personal attitudes as well (a royalist conservative my grandfathers grandfathers' would have considered out of touch), but it wouldn't really be relevant. Bad history is bad history, regardless of one's politics. Besides, these attitudes aren't presented any more coherently than his theory.

Any student of history, serious or casual, liberal or conservative, should avoid this book if at all possible. If you are unfortunate enough to be assigned it in class, you can at least take solace in the fact that your professor is not as clever as he thinks he is.

[EDITED: 'Their was frequency a problematic with autocorrect.'] ( )

An excellent book and one that I'd give 4.5 to if I could, dropping the half just because you have to have an interest to value it.

Opinionated, impressively researched and excellently written this is a book that anyone with any kind of interest in history really should read. Apart from making you think quite hard about states and nationalism it is peppered with revelatory snippets (at least it was for me). ( )

I was really looking forward to reading this book and it certainly didn't disappoint. A fascinating topic, engaging writing and lots of interesting detail, I enjoyed every page. ( )

Subtitled "The History of Half-Forgotten Europe", Norman Davies' book is a triple challenge.

First of all there is its bulk. It is the shape and weight of a substantial print dictionary, so it can't really be held in the hand for any length of time. It has to be read at a desk or table, preferably with a book-rest.

Then there is its breadth. It covers the period from AD418 to 1991, so a time-span of 1,500 years - that's a lot of scope to comprehend if you're not a historian who specialises in these eras.

Lastly, there's that sub-title and the concept of "half-forgotten". I find it difficult to accept because many of the kingdoms described here (there are 15 in total) are totally unknown to me, and so I never even had the chance to forget them....which doesn't mean, of course, that other readers won't have heard of them - perhaps they are those specialist historians I've just mentioned - but maybe test yourself with these three: Alt Clud (5th to 12th century), Sabaudia (1033 to 1946) and Tsernagora (1910 to 1918). Ring any bells?

So, with 3 hurdles to overcome, I decided to read this book as I would a dictionary - I dipped in to it, here using the contents as my guide.

The introduction was promising, since it explained that the opening section of each chapter located that chapter's kingdom in the modern world (so, my three puzzles above become Dumbarton, Rome and Montenegro), and also displayed Davies' passion and commitment to his subject.

I also read the chapters on Eire, which turned out to be a fine exposition on the end of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and CCCP, a clever narrative about the collapse of the USSR from the perspective of the State of Estonia.

Finally, I tackled Davies' end-piece on how states die. I found this less satisfactory and perhaps a bit forced in the way it sought to fit vanished kingdoms into defined groups.

In summary, I found Davies' book mostly well-written, if ambitious in its scope. The discoveries I made in the chapters about Eire and CCCP were genuinely enlightening and I would probably turn to the book as a work of reference if I needed a broader and a deeper understanding of other former European kingdoms.

A revised list of contents, indicating modern geographical reference-points, would be helpful, though. ( )

If anybody wonders why this book is spending so long in the limbo of "currently reading", it is because I read the introduction and first chapter and then some reviews on Good Reads and decided that an apparent indigesibility would be best served by reading it a chapter / country at a time between reading other books. So it will be some time before I rate / review. ( )

I think you shouldn't attempt to read this book in one go. Like most Norman Davies books, this is physically too heavy and your arms will get tired! Also some chapters are too long and some too short. Some chapters will be more interesting depending on where you come from and what period of history you already know about. I found the early
chapter on British history (Alt Clud) fascinating as I had never read anything about it before.

Each chapter is divided into three parts: the kingdom as it is today, which often owes a lot to googling, and so can be rather tongue in cheek or flippant. The history itself is the second part and is solid and always interesting. The third is what is left of the kingdom now. Since the kingdoms are, by definition, vanished and (often) far distant in time, this tends to be sad or nostalgic, though sometimes there is not much to say.

Some chapters are not quite what they seem: the fall of the Soviet Union is actually about the liberation of Estonia, which was a bit of a surprise. Some chapters extend the usual histories eg Prussia. The chapter on Byzantium is one of the shortest, which seems odd as Davies himself writes that most histories of Istanbul itself only deal with Ottoman history. For me the history of Galicia was the most interesting.

I haven't quite finished the book, as my arms ached, but I guess I will try again soon.

( )

An excellent history devoted to the places that lie between the places that other histories cover. Besides the wealth of detail and the opening up of unknown worlds, the books explores how countries disappear. What goes away and what remains. I wouldn't try it without a good grounding in European history, but if you have that, you'll find it fascinating. ( )

A masterly tome, "Vanished Kingdoms" only misses a five star rating due to its promise to deliver so much that one feels that it couldn't possibly deliver.

One of the review quotes listed on the back cover of “Vanished Kingdoms” is from the “San Francisco Chronicle” and reads ‘The amount of information in ‘Vanished Kingdoms’ that will be new to all but the most expert students of European history is staggering.’ In fact, this is almost a liability as I was constantly referring to our friend ‘Wikipedia’ to understand who, for example, Wilfred the Hairy, was when he was at home, and what is this “Sicilian Vespers” of which Davies refers to?

I also found the choice of subjects to be somewhat arbitrary, as well as the extent each is covered. These quibbles aside though, I can only hope Davies is planning a sequel to bring to life more vanished kingdoms. ( )

Still a bit mystified by the inclusion of Eire, and a bit disappointed not to get more of Byzantium, but overall informed and entertained by this collection. ( )

"This too shal pass". Impressive history of states, some insignificant, some most powerful, some small, some covering a huge area - but all of them extinct. From an almost forgotten Celtic kingdom in the early Middle Ages to the demise of the USSR, Davies describes their apogee and end with clarity and insight. States may implode, explode, be conquered or meet another end (Davies seems quite convinced that the days of the United Kingdom are numbered, too). There is a slight emphasis on Eastern Europe (Prussia, Galicia, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Estonia) since that is Davies' specialisation, but that makes this history only more interesting. Recommended for anyone interested in European history. ( )

Excellent book. An absolute must for everybody who needs or wants to understand European history. Especially recommended for EU civil servants and diplomats serving in Europe. ( )

This is my fourth book by Norman Davies and not only is it written in his attractive and accessible style, it presents a set of European histories that it is impossible to find together anywhere else.

As he points out, history is written by the winners, so it is doubly useful to record the stories of kingdoms/ peoples that were once well-known but are now almost forgotten. They influenced their epoch and their millions of citizens had lives the same as those of the winners.

In the last chapter he reflects on his "Vanished Kingdoms" saying that historians are not comfortable with the idea of random causation, and that some sort of analysis, however tentative, is desirable and he goes on to categorize the various internal and external ways that kingdoms/ peoples can be overwhelmed.

A few private reflections triggered by the book would include the following:

He shows how larger geographic kingdoms often break up along ethnic lines when central control weakens but somehow England managed to integrate invaders a varied as Saxons, Normans, Scandinavians and Celts with the original Old British (Welsh) inhabitants in what is now the English part of the British Isles. The same would go for Spain in integrating Basques, Moors, Carthaginians, Greeks and Visigoths in most of the Peninsula. Possible reasons could include the newcomers plans to settle and how long they live together under central control.

Davies perhaps shows that the old European late monarchic system was ready to collapse after the blows of the French Revolution, the rise of commercial middle classes and new democratic egalitarian ideas, so maybe it only needed a good push when traditional authority was gravely weakened after WW1, particularly in Russia after its military defeat by the central powers.

There is no doubt after reading the book that the business of the Communists was destruction, and their explicit aim was to extend their dictatorship to all Europe and liquidate whole sections of the population there in the same way that they did in Russia (15 million people in the extreme violence of the Great Terror according to Robert Conquest). They were nothing like as effective at building society (if they cared) as Davies shows by his account of the economic failure and implosion of the USSR.

Finally, he also follows the well trodden path of remaining silent about the fact that the Bolsheviks were not Russians.

As David R. Francis, the US ambassador to Russia at the time, said in a 1918 dispatch, "The Bolshevik leaders here, most of whom are Jews and 90 percent of whom are returned exiles, care little for Russia or any other country but are internationalists and are trying to start a worldwide social revolution." Almost all of the top leadership was Jewish as were the heads of the NKVD (Genrikh Yagoda and his deputy Yakov Agranov) and all the heads of the Gulag (Aron Solts, Yakov Rappoport, Lazar Kogan, Matvei Berman and Naftaly Frenkel) according to Solzhenitsyn in "The Gulag Archipelago". It was Lazar Kaganovich who organized and executed the Holodomor (3 million+ deaths in the Ukraine) and Jews who were the leading activists/administrators with a special protected status until the last days of the Stalin dictatorship as is amply demonstrated in Slezkine's recent book, "The Jewish Century".

In the 20th century they switched from being the primary aggressors to the primary victims but maybe this is outside the scope of the text.

I found "Vanished Kingdoms" to be another great book from Norman Davies and it ought to be of interest to all Europeans. It seems to be resonating more in the UK than it does in the US judging by Amazon reviews.

. ( )

Norman Davies já nos tinha entusiasmado com obras como “Europe at war”, “Europe: a history” e a muito interessante “God’s playground: a History of Poland”.
Em 2011 publicou este “Vanished Kingdoms – The history of half-forgotten Europe” uma visão caleidoscópica de estados que ocupam apenas breves linhas nos tomos de história da Europa ou dos quais é apenas apresentada uma visão restrita.
Os estados analisados nesta obra são de vários tipos: alguns com duração de vários séculos, outros com duração de apenas breves anos antes de serem engolidos pelos vizinhos mais poderosos.
Alguns são nossos conhecidos como o Reino Visigótico de Tolosa (418 – 507), os reinos de Burgundia (411 – 1795) , o Reino de Aragão (1137 – 1714) ou o Eire.
Outros são mais obscuros e desconhecidos como Alt Clud – o Reino da Pedra (sec. V – sec. XII), a Etrúria (1801 – 1814), a Sabaudia – o Reino que Humberto construiu (1033 – 1946) ou Rosenau (1826 – 1918).
Especialmente apaixonantes são as vidas dos estados do leste da Europa, estados devorados e regurgitados várias vezes ao longo de conflitos, estados com povos com uma consciência nacional que durante anos parece adormecida para renascer poderosa em certas épocas.
Espantosa é a história da Lituânia, a dos seus reis estrangeiros contratados e a sua fusão com o Reino da Polónia para se tornar um dos poderosos estados da zona.
Dos bélicos vizinhos da Lituânia encontra-mos a história da Borussia – a terra aquosa dos Prusai, aniquilados pelos seus conquistadores; a Irmandade dos Cavaleiros Teutónicos da Virgem Maria.
Lê-mos também sobre Tsernagora – o Reino da Montanha Negra, no Montenegro, com a sua breve existência de 1910 a 1918 ou a ainda mais breve existência de um dia de Rusy – A República de 1 dia.
Da Alemanha de hoje vem-nos o Reino da Galicia – O Reino dos nus e dos esfomeados (1773 – 1918).
Norman Davies é um historiador e um escritor dos pormenores que levam aos grandes panoramas históricos. São mais de 800 páginas de escrita elegante que nos leva ao mais profundo da vida destes efémeros estados que analisa.
Nós, portugueses, que vivemos com a carga pesada e estabilizada de séculos de existência e de história, temos, por vezes, dificuldades em compreender a vida e a mentalidade destes povos que passaram tantas vezes de mão em mão, que um dia tinham uma nacionalidade para no dia seguinte terem outra. Poucas obras nos dão esta visão de como os estados, as sociedades e as culturas são efémeros, nascendo e morrendo ao longo dos anos. Nada é eterno nesta manta de retalhos da história da Humanidade.
A bibliografia é abundante e com indicação de sítios na Internet onde mais informação pode ser obtida.
Quando olho para os escaparates dos livros de história das nossas livrarias como sinto a falta das traduções de obras grandes como este “Vanished Kingdoms – the history of half-forgotten Europe”

http://umlivrodia.blogspot.pt/2013/04/vanished-kingdoms-history-of-half.html ( )

A rather interesting, albeit cluttered, set of historical essays on states and nations which no longer exist, from the kingdoms of Spain to Alt Clud/Strathclyde in Scotland, to the USSR.

The memory of every thing is overwhelmed in time, says Marcus Aurelius, three centuries before his empire passed. Why did these old states crumble - wars, internal strife, warring ethnicites, imperial ambitions? Perhaps. Some states, like the Republic of Carpatho-Ruthenia, survived for but a day, swallowed by the ambitions of Germany and Hungary. Some endured for centuries - Lithuania was once the largest empire in Europe. Prussia was the catalyst behind modern Germany. Some endure despite everything - Estonia clung to its identity through centuries of Russian domination. Some leave behind traces in other nations - the German state of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha left behind the current British ruling family.

Of course decline is not always death, but possibly rebirth - Ataturk rebuilt Turkey from Ottoman ruins. Italy escaped monarchism and Fascism, and somehow endured Napoleon and Berlusconi alike.

It is easy to forget that states are not immutable and eternal entities. Internal ethnicities and other such conflicts still pervade the post-colonial statelets of Africa, or the Middle East's own blood feuds. Even the Chinese titan still struggles to mollify or suppress the Tibetans or the Uighurs.

Much to learn from this. ( )

Norman Davies has hit upon an interesting idea and addresses a frequently overlooked area of European history but somehow he seemed never quite to reach out and grasp the reader's undivided attention.
His basic premise is that there have been many nations that have featured prominently, if fleetingly, at various stages of European history, but have subsequently vanished from the public perception. Among the more engaging chapters that Professor Davies offers are Tolosa (home of the Visigoths in what is now south west France), Burgundia (of which several markedly different iterations have emerged at different times), and these demonstrate his comprehensive research. However, i found that these chapters were in the minority, and the completion of this book almost became a demonstration of Zeno's Arrow principle whereby I would first have to complete half of the remaining pages, and then half of the next remainder and so forth.
Still i managed it somehow, and while I suppose I am a wiser and better-informed person as a consequence, I feel a need to read something a bit more readily rewarding. ( )

Norman Davies is one of my favourite writers of European history, as he has ways of making connections between different countries and events and individuals that lead the reader to a richer understanding of that continent. In Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe, he describes 15 nation-states from the past, ranging from a Visigoth kingdom in the 5th Century to Estonia and Ireland (Eire) in the 20th Century. Along the way, we learn a great deal about the interactions, and inter-dependencies, among, especially, the Baltic region and Eastern Europe (which is well-represented with about half of the countries described), and particularly we learn about how the "larger" powers of any given time tended to give the needs of the populations of the smaller nations scant attention, even when those nations were allies of the larger ones. Each chapter is divided into three parts: a look at the modern region under discussion, a much longer delve into the history of the place, and a final summation of treatments and futures for the area (he's especially melancholy about the survival of the United Kingdom in the third part of the Eire chapter, considering that once Scotland leaves the Union - which he believes it is likely to do - the rest of the remaining countries of the Kingdom will break away from England too). I find his style of writing to be very vivid and at the same time very clear; he footnotes everything meticulously, like the scholar he is, although his footnotes are of the more boring variety (citations of sources; no more than a handful of interesting tidbits of informational asides) so unless you're a scholar too, it's not necessary to check the footnotes obsessively. And I like the fact that in this book he's looking at parts of Europe that might be very well-known (France, Scotland, Spain) to Western readers, and at the less-known Eastern regions too, in ways that allow us to see the development of that continent over centuries in a very different way than is usually presented in history books. I think interest in historical matters is a very individual taste; but if you have that interest, particularly in the European realm, this is a really informative and interesting book to peruse, though you might want to take it in chunks rather than all in one go. Recommended! ( )

Good, but some chapters very hard to get through. ( )

Exploration of the histories of a number of states that lasted for a time -- sometimes centuries, once as little as a day -- and now are no more.