Crimes of the house of Austria against mankind

"Crimes of the house of Austria against mankind" by Peabody and Putnam is a historical compilation written in the mid-19th century. Drawing on extracts from conservative historians, it delivers a forceful indictment of the Habsburg dynasty’s long record of crushing constitutional liberties across Europe—from Switzerland and Bohemia to Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and above all Hungary—meant to inform and rally readers to the justice of the Hungarian cause. The opening of this work explains the purpose and method of the volume: to present, for American readers, a curated body of historical testimony proving the Habsburgs’ crimes against law and liberty. It rebuts Schlegel’s sacralized view of empire, contrasts Rodolph I’s pious professions to the papacy with his opportunistic rise, and then, through abridged extracts (chiefly from Coxe), follows his conquests of Austria and Styria, his papal bargaining, and his coercive “pacification” of cities. The narrative proceeds to Albert’s autocracy—tearing up Vienna’s charters, pressing claims over Bohemia, and provoking Swiss resistance—then highlights the confederates’ iconic victories at Morgarten, Sempach, and Näfels against later Habsburg dukes as evidence of popular liberty defeating dynastic aggression.

Crimes of the house of Austria against mankind, from the public domain. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #77398.