An update of the truly masterful account of South-Eastern Europe between 1645 and 1700, centering first on the titanic struggle for Kandia between Venice and the Ottoman Empire and then the siege of Vienna. The matter is complex and the book is difficult to digest with its multiple sets of players and scenes. Eickhoff succeeds in both explaining and exploring the cultural, political and military landscape. He could have expanded the part devoted to the minor players (Hungary, Poland, Russia), but only at the risk of further complicating the structure of his work.

As it is, the book is a tale of the weak overcoming the weaker. Venice in decline is defeated by the struggling Ottomans which are in turn beaten by the Habsburg Empire on the verge of decline (attacked by France and later Prussia). The powers wasted their resources by fighting for economically not valuable territory. Crete and Hungary were poor, backwards and agricultural. The attention devoted to South-Eastern Europe handicapped both in their struggles in Western Europe.

Highly recommended. ( )