The Wars of Yesterday


Book Description

Though persistently overshadowed by the Great War in historical memory, the two Balkan conflicts of 1912–1913 were among the most consequential of the early twentieth century. By pitting the states of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro against a diminished Ottoman Empire—and subsequently against one another—they anticipated many of the horrors of twentieth-century warfare even as they produced the tense regional politics that helped spark World War I. Bringing together an international group of scholars, this volume applies the social and cultural insights of the “new military history” to revisit this critical episode with a central focus on the experiences of both combatants and civilians during wartime.







Osmanlı Donanmasının Seyir Defteri | The Logbook of the Ottoman Navy


Book Description

Osmanlı Beyliği 14. yüzyıl başında Ortaçağ dünyasının karanlık deniziyle tanıştı. Venedik ve Cenevizlilerle yapılan savaşlar, Rumeli fütuhatı, ilk tersânelerin kuruluşu bu dönemde gerçekleşti. İstanbul’un fethi Beylikten İmparatorluğa geçiş sürecini noktalarken, Akdeniz ve Karadeniz’i siyasi coğrafyada birleştirecek güçlü bir donanmanın da temelleri atıldı. Rönesans’ın sonlarında korsanlığın etkisi azaldı ve Barbaros Hayreddîn Paşa’nın kişiliğinde Osmanlı denizciliği altın çağını yaşadı. Yeni Dünya’nın keşfi denizcilik dünyasında devrim yapmıştı. Osmanlı Donanmasının Seyir Defteri: Gemiler, Efsaneler, Denizciler sergisi, birbiriyle bütünleşen üç farklı deniz mitolojisini iç içe geçiriyor. Osmanlı denizcilik tarihinin zihinlere kazınmış gemileri, katıldıkları savaşlar ve bu savaşlarda efsaneleşen kahramanlar, tarihsel boyutuyla uygarlık sahnesinde yerlerini alıyorlar. Kurgunun merkezinde geleneksel denizcilik anlayışından modern denizciliğe geçişin olağanüstü serüveni var. İktidar arzuları, yıkılan tahtlar ve insanın kendi kaderini denizle özdeşleştirmesi bu serüvenin ardındaki belki de en eski öykü. Günümüze miras kalmış 16. yüzyıl Osmanlı kadırgasından Yavuz zırhlısına uzanan bir tarihin köşe taşları, denizcilerin anılarıyla yeniden günışığına çıkıyor. ---- Ottoman Principality was intro-duced to the dark sea of the Middle Ages in early 14th century. The battles with the Venetians and the Genoese, conquests in Rumelia, and the establishment of the first shipyards all took place during this period. As the conquest of İstanbul marked the end of the period of transition from Principality to Empire, the foundations of a strong navy that would unite the Mediterranean and the Black Sea over a political geography were laid. The power of the corsairs diminished by the end of the Renaissance; Barbaros Hayreddîn Pasha personified the golden age of Ottoman sea power. The Logbook of the Ottoman Navy: Ships, Legends, Sailors exhibition intertwined three distinct, yet integrated mythologies of the sea. The imprint of the ships in Ottoman seafaring history, the battles they were engaged in and the heroes who became legendary in these battles assume their places on the stage of civilization in their historic magnitude. At the center of the construct lies the extraordinary adventure of the transition from traditional to modern seafaring methods. The quest for power, the demolished thrones and man's identification of his fate with the sea is perhaps the oldest story behind this adventure. The cornerstones of a long history that extends from the legacy of a 16th-century Ottoman galley to the battlecruiser Yavuz, is once again brought to the light of day through the memories of seamen.




Experience of a Lifetime


Book Description

The First World War is widely conceived as a pointless conflict that destroyed a generation. Petty squabbles between emperors pushed na&ïve young men into a nightmare of mud and blood that killed millions and left scarred and embittered survivors. However, the ongoing reinterpretation of the First World War reveals that matters were rather more nuanced and complex. Hardship and death were all too common, but there were positive experiences, too. Vast numbers of people, for example, travelled to new parts of the world and encountered new cultures, inspiring a sense of wonder and respect. Military tactics were improved, and great military commanders of the inter-war and Second World War periods came to prominence during the First World War. The conflict also had a formative influence on politicians, writers, artists, union leaders, businessmen and some ethnic minorities, who used their participation to press for equal rights and full citizenship. This book's 16 chapters, written by a range of leading New Zealand and international historians, explains how.




The Purpose of the First World War


Book Description

Nearly fourteen million people died during the First World War. But why, and for what reason? Already many contemporaries saw the Great War as a "pointless carnage" (Pope Benedict XV, 1917). Was there a point, at least in the eyes of the political and military decision makers? How did they justify the losses, and why did they not try to end the war earlier? In this volume twelve international specialists analyses and compares the hopes and expectations of the political and military leaders of the main belligerent countries and of their respective societies. It shows that the war aims adopted during the First World War were not, for the most part, the cause of the conflict, but a reaction to it, an attempt to give the tragedy a purpose - even if the consequence was to oblige the belligerents to go on fighting until victory. The volume tries to explain why - and for what - the contemporaries thought that they had to fight the Great War.




Arabs in the Mirror


Book Description

What is an Arab? Though many in the West would answer that question with simplistic stereotypes, the reality is far more complex and interesting. Arabs themselves have been debating Arab identity since pre-Islamic times, coming to a variety of conclusions about the nature and extent of their “Arabness.” Likewise, Westerners and others have attempted to analyze Arab identity, reaching mostly negative conclusions about Arab culture and capacity for self-government. To bring new perspectives to the question of Arab identity, Iraqi-born scholar Nissim Rejwan has assembled this fascinating collection of writings by Arab and Western intellectuals, who try to define what it means to be Arab. He begins with pre-Islamic times and continues to the last decades of the twentieth century, quoting thinkers ranging from Ibn Khaldun to modern writers such as al-Ansari, Haykal, Ahmad Amin, al-'Azm, and Said. Through their works, Rejwan shows how Arabs have grappled with such significant issues as the influence of Islam, the rise of nationalism, the quest for democracy, women's status, the younger generation, Egypt's place in the Arab world, Israel's role in Middle Eastern conflict, and the West's "cultural invasion." By letting Arabs speak for themselves, Arabs in the Mirror refutes a prominent Western stereotype—that Arabs are incapable of self-reflection or self-government. On the contrary, it reveals a rich tradition of self-criticism and self-knowledge in the Arab world.




Turkey in the Twentieth Century


Book Description

No detailed description available for "Turkey in the Twentieth Century".







The Balkan Wars 1912-1913


Book Description

In The Balkan Wars 1912-1913, Richard Hall examines the origins, the enactment and the resolution of the Balkan Wars, during which the Ottoman Empire fought a Balkan coalition of Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia. The Balkan Wars of 1912 - 1913 opened an era of conflict in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, which lasted until 1918, and which established a basis for problems which tormented Europe until the end of the century. Based on archival as well as published diplomatic and military sources, this book provides the first comprehensive perspective on the diplomatic and military aspects of the Balkan Wars. It demonstrates that, because of the diplomatic problems raised and the military strategies and tactics pursued to resolve those problems, The Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 were the first phase of the greater and wider conflict of the First World War.




Le Guerre Balcaniche e la fine del “Secolo Lungo”


Book Description

La conferenza “Le Guerre Balcaniche e la fine del Secolo Lungo” (războaiele balcanice şi sfârşitul secolului cel lung) si è svolta il 19-20 luglio 2012 presso l’università di Târgu Mureş, in occasione della ricorrenza del centenario trascorso dallo scoppio del conflitto. Realizzato nell’ambito del progetto di ricerca 2011 promosso da Sapienza Università di Roma e con la cooperazione dell’Istituto storico italo-romeno di Cluj, dell’università Petru Maior di Târgu Mureş e dell’istituto di ricerca Gheorghe Şincai, il volume raccoglie i contributi presentati in tale occasione da studiosi, professori, ricercatori e dottorandi per riflettere e rivisitare una pagina di storia molto importante e significativa in quanto viene spesso citata non solo come immediata anticipazione della prima guerra mondiale (1914-1918), ma anche come pericoloso antecedente delle guerre che hanno infiammato i Balcani negli anni Novanta del XX secolo. La speranza è quella di poter così contribuire allo studio, all’interpretazione e al dibattito su una serie di aspetti che tornano all'attenzione degli storici nella ricorrenza del centenario di un evento che ha rappresentato un’esperienza cruciale nella storia dell’Europa del XX secolo.