On the Radetzky March

This book is a rumination on the demise of the Habsburgs, and it’s truly a beautiful piece. The Trottas are a flawed family, but they are utterly respectable. These characters ardently defend the Kaiser, and subsequently the Habsburg structure. Yet, with the Hero of Solferino’s background, it seems that Roth is trying to argue that the whole affair is a sham. Joseph von Trotta was simply a Slovenian peasant who was thrown into the Habsburg aristocracy by an impulsive albeit noble action. Both Franz and Carl Joseph von Trotta thus believe that Kakania is everything, but I wonder whether the patriarch of the family would agree. Nonetheless, this is a magisterial piece of literature that makes the decline of the Habsburgs tangible. Highest recommendation.