The Six Month Kingdom
The Six Month Kingdom

Author: Duncan Heaton-Armstrong

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2005-06-22

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 0857716859

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In January 1914 the eccentric adventurer Captain Duncan Heaton-Armstrong, "on the look out for a more stable career", applied for the post of Private Secretary to the newly appointed King of Albania - the German Prince William of Wied. Heaton-Armstrong describes, with vibrancy, directness and humour, a miniature royal court in a desperately poor and remote corner of Europe. As the First World War engulfed the Balkans in August 1914, two royal infants were escorted back to Germany by Heaton-Armstrong, who was promptly made the first prisoner of war. His remarkable account has been edited for this, the first general edition.

Britain, the Albanian National Question and the Fall of the Ottoman Empire, 1876-1914
Britain, the Albanian National Question and the Fall of the Ottoman Empire, 1876-1914

Author: Daut Dauti

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2023-09-21

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1350349542

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

All too often Albania has been considered a relatively minor player in late-19th and early-20th century history. By contrast, this book highlights the significance of this nation and the Albanian question at this time through a detailed analysis of the relationship between Albania, Britain and the Ottoman Empire from 1876 to 1914. Making use of a wide range of archival source materials – some of which are published here in English for the first time – this book explores British foreign policy towards the development of the Albanian national movement and parallel demise of the Ottoman Empire. In doing so it illuminates the objectives of the British government, as well as shining a spotlight on the public opinion of both the British people towards Albanian nationalism and on the reaction of the Albanians towards the British diplomatic position. By looking through such a unique lens, here Daut Dauti is able to provide fresh insight into why the Albanians were not supported by the Great Powers in their national quest in the way that other Balkan countries were and draws significant new conclusions on British, Balkan and Ottoman relations. As such, this nuanced study is vital reading for all scholars interested in modern Albanian history, turn-of-the-century British international relations and the fall of the Ottoman Empire more broadly.

Sarajevo Rose
Sarajevo Rose

Author: Stephen Schwartz

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Tracing the movements of the Sephardic Jews to the Balkans - following their expulsion from Spain during the Inquisition - Schwartz draws on place names, historical chronicles, epitaphs, folk ballads, banned books and the media. He explores these communities who, hundreds of years after forced exile, were almost entirely destroyed in the Holocaust.

Traveler, Scholar, Political Adventurer
Traveler, Scholar, Political Adventurer

Author: Robert Elsie

Publisher: Central European University Press

Published: 2014-03-31

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 615522580X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Austro-Hungarian aristocrat of Transylvanian origin, Baron Franz Nopcsa (1877-1933), was one of the most adventuresome travelers and scholars of Southeast Europe in the early decades of the twentieth century. He was also a paleontologist of renown and a noted geologist of the Balkan Peninsula : many of his assumptions have been confirmed by science. The Memoirs of this fascinating figure deal mainly with his travels in the Balkans, and specifically in the remote and wild mountains of northern Albania, in the years from 1903 to 1914. They thus cover the period of Ottoman Rule, the Balkan Wars and the outbreak of the First World War. Nopcsa was a keen adventurer who hiked through regions of northern Albania.ÿ With time, he became a leading expert in Albanian studies. He was also deeply involved in the politics of the period. In 1913,ÿNopcsa even offered himself as a candidate for the vacant Albanian throne. The Introduction also tells of Nopcsa?s tragic death: he shot his Albanian secretary and partner before killing himself. The memoirs themselves reveal some references to his homosexuality for those who can read between the lines. ÿ

Modernism: The Creation of Nation-States
Modernism: The Creation of Nation-States

Author: Ahmet Ersoy

Publisher: Central European University Press

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 497

ISBN-13: 9637326618

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Notwithstanding the advantages of physical power, the struggle for survival among societies is not merely a matter of serial armed clashes but of the nation's spiritual resources that in the end always decide upon the victory. In Europe, there indeed exist independent countries, insignificant from the point of view of the entire civilization, and born by sheer coincidence, yet, this coincidence, this fancy, or diplomatic ploy that created them can just as easily bring them to an end---the nations that count in the political calculations are only the enlightened ones. Therefore, our nation should not merely grow in power, strengthen its character, and foster in people the feeling of love for homeland, but also---inasmuch as it is possible---breath the fresh breeze of humanity's general progress, feed it to the nation, absorb its creative energy. Until now, we have trusted and lived only in the weary conditions, conditions devoid of health-giving elements---now, as a result the nation's heart beats too slowly and its mind works too tediously. We ought to open our windows to Europe, to the wind of continental change and allow it to air our sultry home, since as not all health comes from the inside, not all disease comes from the outside.