Wallenstein, Soldier Under Saturn

Here is the only modern biography in English of Albrecht von Wallenstein, the great Habsburg general of the Thirty Years War.

Against the background of war and destruction, of tortuous intrigue, biographer Francis Watson has limned the enigmatic Wallenstein, tracing skillfully his furious, dramatic life from an indigent Protestant nobleman, through Catholic glory and prestige, to the day of his tragic assassination.

The thrilling climb to almost unexampled power of the unknown Bohemian soldier; the struggle with the cleverest diplomats in Europe; the reclaiming of war-wasted lands to industry and prosperity; the dogged conflict with Gustavus Adolphus that ended at Lützen; and at last the tragedy of a dishonored death; these are the main incidents in a story that Watson has traced with precision and imagination.

Nor does the biographer neglect Wallenstein's less dramatic activities: that the great Kepler cast his horoscope, that he planned a canal, built magnificent palaces, founded schools, hospitals, and monasteries, and took the cure at Carlsbad for the gout.

In preparation for this book, Watson travelled three thousand miles over sites and battlefields of the Thirty Years War, and studied original documents in Vienna, Prague, Dresden and elsewhere.

The result is an intensely interesting and lively piece of writing as well as an authoritative biography.