Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>The Oxford Handbook of Global Habsburg History advances the field of Central European history and Habsburg studies by presenting the history of the Habsburg monarchy (later the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary) as one of global entanglement, in which the Habsburgs helped define much of the modern world at the same time as the world shaped a dynasty and its people at the heart of Europe. Departing from traditional visions of the House of Habsburg as devoid of modernizing forces, the volume tells a story of exchange, connection, and the projection of power across the world that complements the ongoing scholarly reconceptualization of the Habsburg monarchy as a site of innovation. The handbook reinforces the most recent efforts to accentuate this new perspective on the Habsburgs, their subjects, domains, and successor states and is the first dedicated volume to place these global aspects at the centre of historical analysis. Bringing together leading scholars, the handbook traces these global entanglements across a wide range of thematic and geographical contexts. In doing so, its authors demonstrate the monarchy’s key place within world history, addressing not only the more familiar examples of the Habsburg dynasty in nineteenth-century Central America, but also less well-known instances of global influence, from colonisation on the African continent to the transfer of pilgrims in the Middle East to worldwide scientific journeys to the circulation of cultural practices and material goods. The Oxford Handbook of Global Habsburg History repositions the Habsburg monarchy within the broader currents of global history and challenges us to rethink the very contours of empire, modernity, and connectivity from Central Europe outward.</jats:p>