From the ascent of the Habsburgs to the Congress of Vienna—which reordered Europe in the wake of Napoleon's downfall—to summits during the Cold War, Vienna has been the scene of key moments in world history. In a city of great composers, artists, and thinkers, it is here that both the most positive and destructive ideas of recent history have developed, and this illuminating history takes stock of such pivotal figures as Empress Maria Theresa, Theodore Herzl, Gustav Mahler, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and John F. Kennedy.