''Decisive Moments in History'' () is a 1927 history book by the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

writer

Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig ( ; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian writer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular writers in the world. Zweig was raised in V ...

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

# (The World Minute of Waterloo) Napoleon's defeat at the

battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...

. # (The Elegy of Marienbad).

Johann Wolfgang Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, and philosoph ...

writes the

Marienbad Elegy The "Marienbad Elegy" is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It is named after the spa town of Marienbad (now Mariánské Lázně) where Goethe, 72-years-old, spent the summer of 1821. There he fell in love with the 17-year-old Ulrike von Lev ...

. # (The Discovery of Eldorado). An employee of

John Sutter John Augustus Sutter (February 23, 1803 – June 18, 1880), born Johann August Sutter and known in Spanish as Don Juan Sutter, was a Switzerland, Swiss immigrant who became a Mexican and later an American citizen, known for establishing Sutter ...

discovers gold in Nueva Helvecia, starting the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

. # (Heroic Moment). The mock execution of

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian literature, Russian and world literature, and many of his works are consider ...

. # (The Fight for the South Pole). Robert Scott and his expedition reach the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

to find that

Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegians, Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Am ...

's team arrived first. # (Escape to Immortality).

Vasco Núñez de Balboa Vasco Núñez de Balboa (; c. 1475around January 12–21, 1519) was a Spanish people, Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador. He is best known for crossing the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean in 1513, becoming the first European to ...

reaches the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. # (Conquest of Byzantium). Constantinople, the last stronghold of the Byzantine empire falls to the Ottomans. # (Resurrection of Georg Friedrich Händel).

Georg Friedrich Händel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well-known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...

recovers and writes ''

The Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

''. # (The Genius of a

ingle Ingle may refer to: People * Ingle (surname), includes a list of people with the name * Ingle Martin (born 1982), American former football quarterback Places in the United States * Ingle, California, a community * Ingle, Florida, an unincorporate ...

Night).

Rouget de Lisle Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (; 10 May 1760 – 26 June 1836) was a French army officer of the French Revolutionary Wars. Lisle is known for writing the words and music of the , which would later be known as and become the French national anthe ...

writes '' La Marsellaise''. # (The First Word Across the Ocean).

Cyrus W. Field Cyrus West Field (November 30, 1819July 12, 1892) was an American businessman and financier who, along with other entrepreneurs, created the Atlantic Telegraph Company and laid the first telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean in 1858. Early ...

establishes the first Trans-Oceanic cable. # (The Flight to God). An additional act to

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

's ''

The Light Shines in the Darkness ''The Light Shines in the Darkness'' is an unfinished play by Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name ...

''. # (The Sealed Train). Vladimir Ilich Lenin boards a train commissioned by the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulga ...

to start the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

. # ''Cicero'' (The Head on the Rostrum) # (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".

References

External links

* 1927 non-fiction books Austrian books Works by Stefan Zweig {{hist-book-stub

Contents

References

External links