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

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.

Product details

• Authors: Tim Blanning, Blanning Tim
• Publisher: Penguin Books Uk
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Release: 02.10.2025
• EAN: 9781802066418
• ISBN: 978-1-80206-641-8
• No. of pages: 432
• Dimensions: 129 mm x 198 mm x 35 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > History > Biographies, autobiographies; Non-fiction book > History > Modern era up to 1918; European History, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Political, Biography: historical, political & military, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Royalty, Poland, HISTORY / Modern / 18th Century, HISTORY / Europe / Eastern, HISTORY / Europe / Poland, Political leaders & leadership, Lithuania, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700, Biography: historical, political and military, Political leaders and leadership, Modern Period, C 1500 Onwards, 1569–1795 (period of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), history books; history of europe; european history