![]() ![]() No longer is he a Slovene, now he is an Austrian – “a new dynasty began with him”. Joseph Trotta, who is the son of simple Slovene peasants, is ennobled for his deed. We meet him in the army at the Battle of Solferino of 1859, where he saves the life of the young Austrian Kaiser, Franz Joseph. Detailing the life of grandfather Trotta, it works perfectly as a short story. The first chapter of The Radetzky March is enough to decide whether the novel is for you. The Birth of a Dynasty – The Opening of The Radetzky March The Radetzky March is not a source of guidance on this topic, but it is a picture of a world that is now lost, and we would do well to sift through the ashes in search of what might be worth holding on to. It is now my turn, like Carl Joseph under the gaze of his grandfather’s painted eyes, to face the pressure to be someone I may not be. But my father and his brother, the heirs, both found it difficult to live up to the expectations of the past and in some sense their lives can be read as an attempt to cope. My great grandfather became the world leader in his field and a household name my grandfather became a famous and influential politician. For me, above and beyond Roth’s talent for description and portraiture, what I loved most about The Radetzky March was its description of family and the shifting of the generations. He lived to be 86 and ruled for almost 68 years. ![]() Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria-Hungary, is the one constant of The Radetzky March. ![]()
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