Augustus The Strong: A Study in Artistic Greatness and Political Fiasco

A riotous biography of the charismatic ruler of eighteenth century Poland and Saxony, and his catastrophic reign Both King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, Augustus is one of the great what-ifs of the 18th century. He could have turned the accident of ruling two major realms into the basis for a powerful European state - a bulwark against the Russians and a block on Prussian expansion. Alas, there was no opportunity Augustus did not waste and no decision he did not get wrong. By the time of his death Poland was fatally damaged and would subsequently disappear as an independent state until the 20th century. Tim Blanning's wonderfully entertaining and original new book is a study in failed statecraft, showing how a ruler can shape history as much by incompetence as brilliance. Augustus's posthumous sobriquet 'The Strong' referred not to any political accomplishment, but to his legendary physical strength and sexual athleticism. Yet he was also one of the great creative artists of the age, combining driving energy, exquisite taste and apparently boundless resources to master-mind the creation of peerless Dresden, the baroque jewel of jewels. Augustus the Strong brilliantly evokes this time of opulence and excess, decadence and folly.

About the Author :
Until age-dictated retirement in 2009, Tim Blanning was Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge. He remains a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and has been a Fellow of the British Academy since 1990. His major works include The French Revolution in Germany, The French Revolutionary Wars, The Power of Culture and the Culture of Power, The Pursuit of Glory- Europe 1648-1815 and The Triumph of Music. He has written biographies of Joseph II, Frederick the Great and George I.

Review :
Tim Blanning’s riotous biography of an often-forgotten 18th-century king provides historical perspective on the current state of Europe... [it is] so riotous it is impossible to read without thinking of picaresque characters such as Fielding’s Tom Jones and Thackeray’s Barry Lyndon... [an] irresistible feast of a biography of the now oft-forgotten Polish king... whom he gloriously brings to life The wonderful story of one of the worst monarchs in European history, told with enormous wit and scholarship by a supremely talented historian. If you have the slightest interest in Germans, Poles, porcelain, jewels, the Enlightenment, military disasters or the pleasures of fox-tossing, then this is the book for you An absorbing biography A highly readable, enjoyable, and insightful portrait of one of the 18th-century’s most colourful princes... few modern historians have contributed more to our understanding of 18th-century Europe as much as Tim Blanning It takes a multi-talented, multi-lingual and jovially forbearing historian to take on the biography of Augustus the Strong, the mercurial, priapic and luxury-loving Elector of Saxony and sometimes King of Poland... in Tim Blanning, however, Augustus has found his ideal biographer... Blanning’s book is beautifully and accessibly written, with just the right touch of the screwball comedy. Like Augustus himself, the book brims with vitality, while also making a convincing case about the Elector’s real forte: cultural patronage