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The study follows the works of Eagle Glassheim dedicated to the post-war development of the Most region, which resulted in the devastation of the local environment in the 1970s and 1980s. It inquires about how the new regional identity of the settlers was formed in the area of present-day Lipno, to what extent it was affected by the industrial development of the locality and howit influenced the attitude of the locals to the inhabited landscape.In comparison with Glassheim’s conclusions, the study explains the different consequences ofthe post-war development of the Lipno region. Despite extensive industrial interventions in thelandscape, the region became a popular and sought-after tourist destination. A fundamentalrole in this development is attributed to water as a natural landscape element with the ability toerase traces of artificial interventions in the landscape, as well as unwanted cultural and historicaltraces of the original German settlement.
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This article explores the adventure of bread, one of the essential substances of human nutrition, in Istanbul during Suleiman I's reign. It follows the primary sources about the production, supply, grinding, and distribution of wheat, the raw material of bread. In addition, it addresses the situation of the mills and bakeries supplying flour and bread and the quality, weight, and varieties of bread. It focuses on the production of wheat and its transportation to Istanbul, grinding and distribution, difficulties caused by disruptions in the supply-demand balance, and the arrangements of wheat-related procedures. It determines that the bread problem in the capital during the period was primarily concerned with wheat and had a strong relationship with mills. A central finding is that the low wheat yield and the inadequacy of mills grinding qualified flour were the most significant obstacles to adequately supplying the highly populated city. The city's supply, which was at the level of a knife-edge in terms of wheat, caused a severe shortage of bread in 1530. On the other hand, the bread varieties explicitly produced in this period show that the Turks carried some of their Central Asian habits to Istanbul and kept them alive until this period.
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The core idea of this paper is to represent the social networks of musicians, which lived in late Ottoman Istanbul. The networked society, as a social term, aims to depict communities in ongoing interactions and hence gives prominence to ties and connections between members of the society in question. To digitally visualize those links, there are innovative devices such as Gephi software. Through various algorithms, the program converts the relational database of musicians and digitally visualizes this database in many different forms. The powerful layouts offer compelling evidence of the channels of musical knowledge that were transmitted from masters to disciples as well as between musicians. Moreover, the visual depiction of musician networks would permit us to interpret the influential, isolated musicians and the interactions between the main and the sub-clusters in the whole network. This paper offers an innovative approach to the musician communities of late Ottoman Istanbul.
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Review of: Yaşar, Murat. The North Caucasus Borderland: Between Muscovy and the Ottoman Empire, 1555-1605. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 272 Page, ISBN: 9781474498692 Based on a comparative analysis of the Ottoman and Muscovite diplomatic correspondence, this book presents a historical account of the North Caucasus peoples from 1555 to 1605, when Russia expanded into the region. The North Caucasus becomes a contested borderland, with the Ottomans, Safavids, Crimean Khanate, and Muscovy competing for influence externally, and the Nogays, Cossacks, Dagestanis, and Circassians internally. This elaborate interplay of cooptation, persuasion, loyalty, and betrayal eventually led to the Ottomans and Dagestani allies expelling the Muscovites from the region.
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Review of: Köse, Ensar. Ağalar: Konya Aladağ’da Âyan Bir Türkmen Ailesinin Tarihi (1680-1880). İstanbul: Vakıfbank Kültür Yayınları, 2023. 322 Sayfa. ISBN: 9786256385573 This article addresses Ensar Köse's work titled Ağalar: History of a Notable Turkmen Family in Konya Aladağ (1680-1880), published in 2023, which delves into the history of a prominent family from Konya. After outlining the chapters of the book, the article focuses on the sources and methodology of the research and evaluates the contribution of the study to the literature on provincial notables. Through the history of the Ağalar family, the book discusses the activities of the notables in the provinces and contributes to the literature with insights into the history of Aladağ and the socio-economic conditions of the region's inhabitants.
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Review of: Çiçek, M. Talha. Negotiating Empire in the Middle East: Ottomans and Arab Nomads in the Modern Era, 1840-1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. 280 Page. ISBN 9781316518083 M. Talha Çiçek's Negotiating Empire in the Middle East discusses the changing relationships between the Ottoman imperial administration and the Shammar and the Anizah tribal confederations, in the regions of today’s Iraq, Syria, Arabia, and Jordan, between the Tanzimat Era and the WWI. The book is an essential addition filling several scholarly gaps in the writing of the Ottoman Middle East's social history, the history of the Tanzimat Reforms across the Empire, and that of the Arab Tribal communities, commonly known today as the Bedouin communities.
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The article is an attempt to determine the composition of Polish forces that fought at Piławce on 21–23 September 1648 against the Cossack army of Chmielnicki supported by Tatar reinforcements. In total, the Polish army commanded by the Sandomierz voivode Prince Władysław Dominik Zasławski consisted of nearly 30 000 troops. After deducting blind portions, it only exceeded 20 000 soldiers to battle. However, together with the camp service, it can be estimated at as much as 60 000 people, although only 5000 of the servicemen had firearms. As far as the composition of full-time units is concerned, it was possible to confirm the participation of 2706 hussars, 2800 arquebusiers, 4118 Cossacks, 4570 foot soldiers, 2680 dragoons in units – banners (chorągiew) – of a known composition. This is only 16 874 out of nearly 30 000 positions. It is known that at least 7 additional hussar banners, 5 Wallachian and Tatar ones, 3 dragoon banners and more than 12 Cossack ones took part in the battle. They were accompanied by 1050 horses in banners of unknown cavalry type (mainly Cossacks and arquebusiers) and the infantry of the crown ensign (chorąży koronny) Aleksander Koniecpolski and the Russian voivode Prince Jeremi Michał Korybut Wisniowiecki. Many positive remarks can be made about the quality of the troops, but unfortunately they were commanded by a man without war experience. A deeper look into these findings shall require a lot more research.
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Soldiers of the Border Protection Troops (Wojska Ochrony Pogranicza, WOP) participated in activities carried out by the Polish People’s Army (ludowe Wojsko Polskie, lWP) as part of Operation „Danube”, which suppressed the nationwide anti-communist uprising of Czechs and Slovaks. The 4th Sudety and 5th Upper Silesian WOP Brigades were directly involved in these activities. These units were attached to the 2nd Army of the lWP, which on 20 August 1968, alongside military units of the USSR, Bulgaria, and Hungary, entered Czechoslovakia. In addition to the linear units of the WOP, reconnaissance was conducted by the formation, which provided the authorities of the Polish People’s Republic with information regarding the Polish-Czechoslovak borderland.
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Starting Long Wars which could occupy the state for a long time on the western front and the emergence of the Romanian nationalist Michael the Brave on the same dates changed politic balances in Wallachia turned against Ottoman. Taking advantage of the wars with the Habsburgs, Michael rebelled against Ottomans in Bucharest on 13 November 1594, he turned his direction to the towns and villages along the Danube and he inflicted great damages to the Muslim people living this region. After the danger of security along the Danube, Ottoman authorities decided to produce more permanent solutions in Wallachia. In this context, the Wallachian voivodeship was directly transformed into an Ottoman province and Satırcı Mehmed Pasha was appointed as a governor. Also, ulufe soldiers were appointed to the castles which about to be built in Bucharest and Târgoviste. The task of implementing decision taken by the Porte was given to Ferhad Pasha. As a matter of fact, Ferhad Pasha came to Ruse after providing the ammunition and soldiers etc. necessary for Wallachian campaign. For a while, he supervised the bridge works that would facilitate Ottoman army’s crossing to Wallachia and later he was dismissed from his duty due to the pressure of his rivals in Istanbul.
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Romanian-Turkish relations went through several stages between the two world wars, both in terms of political-military relations and in terms of diplomatic representation. Raising the level of diplomatic representation from legation to embassy in 1939 was an initiative of King Charles II, who wanted to consolidate his regime by achieving diplomatic successes. The death of president Atatürk and the appointment of a new head of state in Ankara delayed the creation of the Turkish embassy in Bucharest. Türkiye was therefore the last member of the Balkan Pact to implement the agreement reached by the four Allied states in the last months of 1938. Romania and Türkiye also adopted different formulas for the appointment of ambassadors. Although the leaders in Ankara opted for the appointment as ambassador of the diplomat who had been in charge of the diplomatic mission in Bucharest since 1931, the leadership in Bucharest appointed, in the period 1939-1940, two ambassadors (V. Stoica and R. Crutzescu). Even if there were changes at the symbolic level and regarding the rules of diplomatic precedence, this new stage did not produce important changes in the relations between the two allied states.
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This study emphasizes the political and ideological path of the monarchist movement from 1934 to 1937. Now the Liberals rule in a veritable condominium with the king, whose influence is constantly growing. In fact, the period between 1934 and 1937 not only precede, but also prepare the regime change of February 1938. Without a prior rise in the popularity and power of Charles the Second, the establishment of an authoritarian monarchist regime would have been unlikely. In the first part of the study I explore how the followers of Charles the Second perceive the relationship between the capital and the regions of Greater Romania, respectively between Bucharest and the new provinces, and then I analyse the manner in which the process of personalization of power occurs (by reference to the King). In this regard, I examine one of the most circulated hypostases of the sovereign, namely that of "King of the peasants". Subsequently, I try to highlight the usefulness of social engineering's concept in investigating the ideas and reform practices promoted by the monarch and the followers of Charles the Second, then I analyse the monarchical initiatives aimed at national culture and Romanian youth.
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This article discusses a sensitive topic of Romanian-Soviet relations for decades, meaning the Soviet-German Non-aggression Pact on August 23, 1939, especially the Secret Protocol. The volumes, studies and articles published in the Soviet Union and Russian Federation highlight the difficult process of Soviet leadership's acknowledgement of the existence of the Secret Protocol on December 23-24, 1989. That was followed by analysis and views expressed by historians, politologists and Soviet/Russian politicians on the circumstances the protocol was concluded and its consequences for neighboring countries, including Romania.
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In the early 1930s, the British government realised that it was far behind other governments (such as the German or the Soviet) in foreign propaganda over the radio airwaves, the new and revolutionary communication medium of the era. The prospect and outbreak of the Second World War precipitated London’s actions in order to overcome the handicap. The European service of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the public radio company, was developed. Starting with 1939, Romanian was also among the foreign languages in which this service was approved. But the British government did not consider this measure sufficient. It also constituted a network of “clandestine radios”, complementary to the official one. These radios targeted listeners in German-allied or German-occupied countries. Such a radio also broadcast in Romanian, and soon it came to the attention of the authorities in Bucharest. The present article is based on the monitoring that the Ion Antonescu government (1940-1944) did regarding the broadcasts of this radio station, monitoring kept in the military and civil archives in Romania. Based on these documents, the article identifies the editorial line of the British clandestine radio in Romanian, in the period 1940-1943. As expected, the radio virulently criticized Nazi Germany and its Romanian ally, the Antonescu government. The clandestine radio enjoyed a much greater freedom of expression than that of the Romanian section of the BBC. Clandestine radio had a strictly secret status, but nevertheless, making use of later testimony, this paper attempts to identify the contributors to the radio, who have been mainly recruited by the British from the members of the Romanian embassy in London.
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The reports of Soviet writers who traveled to Romania on creative business trips are of some interest as a historical source, since they reflect the mood in Romanian society in the era of communist construction. We pay attention of the Romanian reader to a report on the stay in Romania in the spring of 1962 by the young playwright Mikhail Shatrov. A sincere supporter of the democratization of the Soviet system, Shatrov was pleased with the reception given to him in Romania and highly appreciated the state of theatrical culture. At the same time, based on conversations with Romanian interlocutors, he had the impression that Romanian society was lagging behind Soviet society in its readiness to break with the Stalinist legacy.
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The unpublished document – here, the second part of it - contains the transcript of the discussions, from June 28-30, 1982, between Nicolae Ceaușescu, the president of the Socialist Republic of Romania (SRR), and Richard M. Nixon, the former president of the United States, who, during the mentioned period, was for the third and last time in Bucharest, in a private visit. In Romania, Ceaușescu and Nixon had met, for the first time, in March 1967, also in the context of a private visit of the American politician (former, at that time, vice president - in two terms - of the USA), the second time, on the occasion of the historic visit official visit to SRR by President Nixon (August 2-3, 1969), the first visit of an American president not only to Romania, but also to a communist state. In 1982, the interlocutors addressed a wide range of issues discussed, from the Romanian-American relations at that time to the examination of the international political situation (for example, the relations between the great powers or the tense reality in the Middle East).
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Vasile Bărbulescu (1926-1991) was a high-ranking official in the area of agricultural policies during Communism. Brother-in-law of Nicolae Ceaușescu, he was promoted as deputy-chief of Agricultural Section of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party in the second half af the last decade of Socialism. Of humble origins – very poor peasants from Scornicești village, the birthplace of the last Communist dictator – Vasile Bărbulescu was also a good manager and a supporter of development of his native county, Olt. Arrested in December 1989, he was released soon after and died of natural causes in 1991.
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The article contains considerations on the organisational, on the creation, functioning and management of illegal armedforces remaining outside the official control of the state — private military companies (PMCs)2 but also informal groups suchas the Wagner Group, which has an extremely unclear status. The text consists of three main parts. The first explains the conceptof ‘mercenary’ in international public law, the second describes the first modern mercenary group, the French Foreign Legion, andthe third provides information on the Wagner Group, a private Russian mercenary army. The text includes an introduction anda summary. The main purpose of the article is to present the origins, essence and methods of operation of the French Foreign Legionand the Wagner Group in the context of national, international and even global security. It further intends to show the reader theextremely illegal and criminal practice of modern mercenaries using extremely brutal, and sometimes even atavistic violence
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