Tim Blanning

A riotous biography of the charismatic ruler of eighteenth-century Poland and Saxony, and his catastrophic reign. Both King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, Augustus is one of the great what-ifs of the 18th century. He could have turned the accident of ruling two major realms into the basis for a powerful European state—a bulwark against the Russians and a...

A riotous biography of the charismatic ruler of 18th-century Poland and Saxony, and his catastrophic reign. Augustus The Strong is one of the great what-ifs of the 18th century. He could have turned the accident of ruling two major realms into the basis for a powerful European state—a bulwark against the Russians and a block on Prussian expansion. Alas, there...