Decisive Moments in History explained

Decisive Moments in History (German: '''Sternstunden der Menschheit'''|lit=Stellar Moments of Humankind) is a 1927 history book by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig.[1] It started off with only five miniatures in its first edition and grew to a collection of 14 with later editions. Its first English translation was published in 1940 as The Tide of Fortune: Twelve Historical Miniatures. The miniatures relate historical events that changed the world.

Contents

  1. German: Die Weltminute von Waterloo (The World Minute of Waterloo) Napoleon's defeat at the battle of Waterloo.
  2. German: Die Marienbader Elegie (The Elegy of Marienbad). Johann Wolfgang Goethe writes the Marienbad Elegy.
  3. German: Die Entdeckung Eldorados (The Discovery of Eldorado). An employee of John Sutter discovers gold in Nueva Helvecia, starting the California Gold Rush.
  4. German: Heroischer Augenblick (Heroic Moment). The mock execution of Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
  5. German: Der Kampf um den Südpol (The Fight for the South Pole). Robert Scott and his expedition reach the South Pole to find that Roald Amundsen's team arrived first.
  6. German: Flucht in die Unsterblichkeit (Escape to Immortality). Vasco Núñez de Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean.
  7. German: Die Eroberung von Byzanz (Conquest of Byzantium). Constantinople, the last remain of the Byzantine empire falls to the Ottomans.
  8. German: Georg Friedrich Händels Auferstehung (Resurrection of Georg Friedrich Händel). Georg Friedrich Händel recovers and writes The Messiah.
  9. German: Das Genie einer Nacht (The Genius of a [single] Night). Rouget de Lisle writes La Marsellaise.
  10. German: Das erste Wort über den Ozean (The First Word Across the Ocean). Cyrus W. Field establishes the first Trans-Oceanic cable.
  11. German: Die Flucht zu Gott (The Flight to God). An additional act to Leo Tolstoy's The Light Shines in the Darkness.
  12. German: Der versiegelte Zug (The Sealed Train). Vladimir Ilich Lenin boards a train commissioned by the Central Powers to start the Russian Revolution.
  13. Cicero (The Head on the Rostrum)
  14. German: Wilson versagt (Wilson's Failure)

Only the first five miniatures were included in the first edition of the book. The second (German) edition of 1940 added those listed above as numbers 6 through to 12. The last two were added to later German editions but were already part of the first English edition published under the title "The Tide of Fortune: Twelve Historical Miniatures".

Notes and References

  1. "Stefan Zweig." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 21 Nov. 2010 .

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