Bøger om Historical states & empires

Artiklerne i denne bog tager livtag med forholdet mellem det kristne Europa og den islamiske verden i det 14.-16. århundrede. Et forhold præget af militære konfrontationer og af stærke handelsmæssige og kulturelle forbindelser. Der stilles skarpt på vestlige intellektuelles syn på tyrkerne i denne periode, renæssancen, som opfattes som grundlæggende for formuleringen af idéen om en kristen, europæisk identitet med rødder i den latinske og græske verden. Humanismen er renæssancens vigtigste intellektuelle strømning og beskrives ofte som en kulturel avantgarde der fornyede den moderne politiske diskurs i en mere verdslig retning, gav inspiration til reformationen, historicismen, var engageret i den græsk-romerske antik og dertilhørende værdier, og således i direkte modsætning til middelalderens religiøse korstogsidealer. Hvad de færreste ved er, at humanisternes bidrag til idéen om kristen identitet ofte blev formuleret i opposition til islam og osmannerne, og at der findes en stor mængde humanistisk korstogslitteratur: taler, breve, traktater, historieskrivning, digtning på latin og folkesprog, der opfordrer til militær kamp mod tyrken.

This book describes and illustrates the armies of the embattled Ottoman Turkish Empire involved in 19th-century wars during the Empire's long spiral of decline.During the so called 'long 19th century', between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the difficulties faced by the Ottoman Turkish Empire were a recurrent factor in international geopolitics. Against a background of Russian-Ottoman rivalry, France and Britain supported the Empire during the Crimean War (1854-56), but not in the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78). Portraying the uniforms, arms and appearance of Ottoman troops during this period, this book traces the history of the Ottoman Empire throughout this period, when no fewer than ten wars of regional insurgency and foreign expansion against the Empire were fought in territories in south-eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Using rare photos and illustrations from Turkish, Balkan and other sources, author, Gabriele Esposito details the history of the multi-ethnic Ottoman armies periodic attempts to modernize which enabled them to win some victories at a tactical level. But the Empire - 'the sick man of Europe' - lacked a coherent strategy or sufficient resources, and failed attempts to crush regional uprisings and to defend borders, saw the steady loss of territories. Due to misgovernment and economic failure, unrest finally boiled over in 1908-09, reducing the sultan's court to a largely ceremonial role, and installing a military government by the 'Young Turks' led by the general Enver Pasha. This book is a vivid description of the organization, operations, uniforms and equipment of one of the most active and varied armies of the 'long 19th century' and paints a detailed picture of the Ottoman Empire's struggle to maintain control of its territories.

Featuring specially commissioned artwork and maps, carefully chosen illustrations and insightful analysis, this book examines the legendary Mongol warriors and their vastly different European opponents. Having conquered much of Central Asia by 1237, the Mongols advanced into the northern Caucasus. The fall of several key centres such as Riazan and Vladimir was followed by Mongol victory at Kiev. Moving west, in 1241 two Mongol armies achieved stunning victories at the battles of Liegnitz in Poland and the Sajo River (Mohi) in Hungary, before suffering their only reverse of the campaign at the fortress of Klis. The Mongol forces regrouped in Hungary to prepare for a further advance into Austria and Germany, but the death of their leader, Ogedei Khan, meant that his generals were required to return to Mongolia to choose a successor. Smaller Mongol forces would return to raid in the years to come, but never again would Western Europe be threatened as it was in 1242.Fully illustrated, this innovative study of the forces that clashed during the Mongol invasion of Europe between 1237 and 1242 allows a comparison to be made between the all-conquering nomad horsemen of the steppes and the mounted knights of the West.

Turkey is a land torn between East and West, between its glorious past and a dangerous, unpredictable future. After the violence of an attempted military coup against President Erdogan in 2016, an event which shocked the world, journalist and novelist Kaya Genç travelled around his country on a quest to find the places and people in whom the contrasts of Turkey's rich past meet. As suicide bombers attack Istanbul, and journalists and teachers are imprisoned, he walks the streets of the famous Ottoman neighbourhoods, telling the stories of the ordinary Turks who live among the contradictions and conflicts of Anatolia, one of the world's oldest civilizations. Featuring new material on the 2023 elections, The Lion and the Nightingale presents the spellbinding story of a country whose history has been split between East and West, between violence and beauty - between the roar of the lion and the song of the nightingale. Weaving together a mixture of memoir, interview and his own autobiography, Genç takes the reader on a contemporary journey through the contradictory soul of the Turkish nation.

The 10th-century treatise on the military provinces (the 'themes') of the medieval East Roman (Byzantine) empire is one of the most enigmatic of the works ascribed to theemperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos.

Recent public squabbles between American and Turkish leaders and lawmakers have led many to question what kind of an alliance Turkey and the United States have. This book is directly concerned with this question and attempts to shed light on every single detail related to the nature of this alliance. With discussions on the historical evolution of the bilateral relations and current disagreements on various issues such as the Turkish acquisition of Russian air defense systems and the Kurdish question in the Middle East, this study offers a lucid genealogy of the Turkish-American alliance for all those interested in the subject.

The ways in which women have historically authorized themselves to write on war has blurred conventionally gendered lines, intertwining the personal with the political. Women on War in Spain's Long Nineteenth Century explores, through feminist lenses, the cultural representations of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Spanish women's texts on war.Reshaping the current knowledge and understanding of key female authors in Spain's fin de sicle, this book examines works by notable writers - including Rosario de Acua, Blanca de los Rios, Concepcin Arenal, and Carmen de Burgos - as they engage with the War of Independence, the Third Carlist War, Spain's colonial wars, and World War I. The selected works foreground how women's representations of war can challenge masculine conceptualizations of public and domestic spheres. Christine Arkinstall analyses the works' overarching themes and symbols, such as honour, blood, the Virgin and the Mother, and the intersecting sexual, social, and racial contracts. In doing so, Arkinstall highlights how these texts imagine outcomes that deviate from established norms of femininity, offer new models to Spanish women, and interrogate the militaristic foundations of patriarchal societies.

Die Beiträge in diesem Band spiegeln die weitreichenden Interessen und interdisziplinären Zugänge von Lioba Theis wider und beschäftigen sich mit zentralen Schwerpunkten und Konzepten ihrer Forschung und Lehre. Daher decken sie chronologisch wie auch geographisch Themen ab, die weit über die Grenzen des Byzantinischen Reiches hinausreichen: von der klassischen Antike bis ins 20. Jahrhundert und von Afghanistan über das östliche Mittelmeer bis in die USA. So sind auch die Themenbereiche fächerübergreifend und mannigfaltig. Neben Theis' Kernthema, der byzantinischen Architektur (Fingarova), umfassen sie die theologische Untermauerung von Raumkonzepten (Erismann) und Visualisierung von Zeit- und Weltordnungssystemen (Safran), die Bedeutung von Zelten als ephemere Strukturen (Mullett) und die Erfindung besonderer Kuppellösungen (Schwarz). Weiterhin behandeln sie wenig erforschte mittelalterliche Königreiche (Klimburg-Salter), die Inspiration durch Musen und göttliche Eingebung (Meyer, Krause), Farbe und Licht (Theune, Hamarneh), Emotionen im Bild (Teetor), Stiftungen von Frauen (Smolcic Makuljevic) sowie die moderne Rezeption von Byzanz (Gargova, Bauer).