An eye for the telling detail: Lord Tugendhat reviews 'Vienna: The International Capital'
Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria | Adobe Stock
3 min read
Though at times becoming bogged down with too many facts, some well-chosen vignettes prevent Angus Robertson’s biography of one of the world’s great cities from getting too heavy
When a person has an exciting time in a foreign city in their 20s, it often leads to a lifetime’s attachment. They become expert on aspects of its history, culture and architecture and want to share their enthusiasm with others. That is the case with Angus Robertson and Vienna. He sees it as no ordinary national capital, let alone the capital of a small central European republic, but as an international capital. When he could not find a book in either English or German dedicated to that theme, he decided “to write it myself”.
As the capital for several hundred years, under the Habsburg dynasty, of the Holy Roman Empire followed by the Austrian Empire and finally the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Vienna certainly had a long history as one of the great European capitals. That came to an end with defeat in the First World War, the collapse of the empire and the expulsion of the Habsburgs. After a dismal period in the 1920s and 30s, and its enthusiastic welcome of Hitler when he took over Austria in 1938, it seemed likely, in 1945, that Vienna would sink into obscurity.
Those who are posted to Vienna would do well to read this book
But beginning with Austria’s recovery of its independence in 1955 the city has enjoyed a renaissance. The Austrian government has carved out a niche for itself as a sort of stand by facilitator of solutions to international problems and turned Vienna into the headquarters city of more multilateral organisations than any other city in the world. So the city combines a fascinating history, and the magnificent monuments and buildings that derive from that, with a useful role in today’s world.
Those who are posted to the international organisations would do well to read this book. It is a sort of biography of the city focused on the political and cultural history that unfolded there, including music and ideas. Social history in terms of how the mass of the people lived and what they thought does not feature very much. At times the author gets bogged down by too many names and too many facts so that it becomes difficult to discern the underlying trends and when they change course. However, well-chosen vignettes by contemporary observers through the ages prevent the text from becoming too heavy. He also has an eye for the telling detail and illustrative anecdote.
Because Vienna was the capital of a great multi-ethnic empire, the way Robertson tells his story means that the reader sees the peoples of that empire through the prism of their capital city. They form, as it were, the supporting cast against the backdrop of which for many centuries, and for most of this book, the Viennese life Robertson describes was played out. This in no way invalidates his narrative. It did though lead me to wonder what, as an SNP member of the Scottish government, he would make of a history of London that dealt in the same way with the rest of the UK, or indeed the British Empire.
Lord Tugendhat is a Conservative peer
Vienna: The International Capital
By: Angus Robertson
Publisher: Birlinn
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