The Danube is the longest river in western and central Europe.
Rising amidst the beautiful wooded hills of Germany s Black Forest,
it touches or winds its way through ten countries and four capital
cities before emptying into the Black Sea through a vast delta
whose silt-filled channels spread across eastern Romania. From
earliest times the river has provided a route from Europe to Asia
that was followed by armies and traders, while empires, from the
Macedonian to the Habsburg, rose and fell along its length. Then,
in the middle of the twentieth century, the Danube took on the role
of a watery thread that unified a continent divided by the Iron
Curtain. In the late 1980s the Iron Curtain lifted but the Danube
valley soon became an arena for conflict during the violent
break-up of the former Yugoslavia. Now, passing as it does through
some of the world s youngest nations, including Slovakia, Croatia,
Serbia, Moldova and Ukraine, the river is a tangible symbol of a
new, peaceful and united Europe as well as a vital artery for
commercial and leisure shipping. Andrew Beattie explores the
turbulent past and vibrant present of the landscape through which
the Danube flows, where the enduring legacies of historical regimes
from the Romans to the Nazis have all left their mark. HISTORICAL
FIGURES: From the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius to Richard the
Lionheart, and from Alexander the Great to Napoleon, the position
of the Danube at the heart of Europe has led to centuries of war
and conflict. LANDSCAPE AND CITIES: From the imperial grandeur of
Budapest to the charm of medieval Passau, from grim river ports in
Romania to the austere fortress cities of Belgrade and Bratislava,
and from the plains of Hungary to the dramatic scenery of the Iron
Gates gorge, the Danube flows through a remarkable variety of
cities and landscapes. WRITERS AND ARTISTS: From the anonymous
author of the Song of the Nibelungs to Patrick Leigh Fermor, and
from Albrecht Altdorfer to Johann Strauss the Younger, the
beautiful scenery of the Danube valley has provided inspiration for
writers, artists and composers through the centuries.
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