Decisive Moments in History

Decisive Moments in History (Sternstunden der Menschheit) is a 1927 history book by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig. 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.

Contents

 * 1) Die Weltminute von Waterloo (The World Minute of Waterloo) Napoleon's defeat at the battle of Waterloo.
 * 2) Die Marienbader Elegie (The Elegy of Marienbad). Johann Wolfgang Goethe writes the Marienbad Elegy.
 * 3) Die Entdeckung Eldorados (The Discovery of Eldorado). An employee of John Sutter discovers gold in Nueva Helvecia, starting the California Gold Rush.
 * 4) Heroischer Augenblick (Heroic Moment). The mock execution of Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
 * 5) Der Kampf um den Südpol (The Fight for the South Pole). Robert Scott and his expedition reach the South Pole to find that Roald Amundsen's team arrived first.
 * 6) Flucht in die Unsterblichkeit (Escape to Immortality). Vasco Núñez de Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean.
 * 7) Die Eroberung von Byzanz (Conquest of Byzantium). Constantinople, the last remain of the Byzantine empire falls to the Ottomans.
 * 8) Georg Friedrich Händels Auferstehung (Resurrection of Georg Friedrich Händel). Georg Friedrich Händel recovers and writes The Messiah.
 * 9) Das Genie einer Nacht (The Genius of a [single] Night). Rouget de Lisle writes La Marsellaise.
 * 10) Das erste Wort über den Ozean (The First Word Across the Ocean). Cyrus W. Field establishes the first Trans-Oceanic cable.
 * 11) Die Flucht zu Gott (The Flight to God). An additional act to Leo Tolstoy's The Light Shines in the Darkness.
 * 12) Der versiegelte Zug (The Sealed Train). Vladimir Ilich Lenin boards a train commissioned by the Central Powers to start the Russian Revolution.
 * 13) Cicero (The Head on the Rostrum)
 * 14) Wilson versagt (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".