This is a nice tribute to Otto von Habsburg, at his birth, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. When I was in High School one of my history professors would imitate his grandfather attempting to hold together the Empire and world as everything fell apart. Both he, his father and grandfather were great Catholic gentlemen of the old school and the lands they ruled over were ill-served by those who ruled them for the 75 years between the fall of the Habsburgs and the rise of the Eastern (and Central!) European republics that arose in the wake of Soviet collapse.
The nations ruled by the Habsburgs have undergone a return to constitutional government well. Austria, the Czech and Slovak republics, Hungary and Poland, Slovenia-and now that the war is over-even Croatia-have done very well since they could govern themselves. Romania, with a few more bumps, is also doing ok and is as well a good ally of the United States.
I am not a fan of the "European idea" partly because I believe it is atheistic and bureaucratic, souless and without the civilizational spirit to resists islamicization or even to replicate itself by having more children than pensioners.
The parts of Europe that did not dethrone their kings have the happiest histories and the reverse is no more apparent than in mittleuropa that once gloried in dutiful Christian princes.
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.
3 comments:
That last paragraph is 200-proof Essence of Inane and my hat is off to you for that. The only "happy" places I can think of by your definition are Belgium, which Dave Barry once referred to as "the screen door of Europe" (plus: icky soulless EU bureaucrats) and the UK, whose history may possibly have been influenced/aided by certain geographical features. Hint: they are shown in blue on standard maps.
I believe the UK may also be the only country in world history to actually ask Germans to rule them.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that Romania was never part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
I also think the Scandanavian countries have a happier history than Germany. Also, parts of Romania were governed by the AH Empire.
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