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This piece presents an analysis written by the renown British historian Sir Robert W. Seaton-Watson on the aftermath of the Croat - Serb Agreement in fall 1939, in the time of the outbreak of the Second World War. Seaton-Watson, as he did often in those months, wrote the analysis for the British Foreign Office on the occasion of visiting Zagreb and Belgrade in fall of 1939. He regarded the political consequences of the Agreement as positive for Croatian, as well as Yugoslav politics, especially from the view point of promoting democratic practices and anti-nazi activities in the country. The Agreement helped consolidate and unite the Yugoslav political scene, which was in the interest of Great Britain and her policy of keeping up a strong and neutral Yugoslavia. The commentary to the text attempts to explain the circumstances described and point out who were Seaton-Watsons friends among Yugoslav intellectuals and how they influenced his better understanding of the Yugoslav situation, especially the Croat and Slovene questions.
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This article analyzes Turkey’s Syria policy between 2002 and 2018 within the dichotomy of soft and hard power. The main argument is that concepts of hard and soft power provide an analytical basis in exploring bilateral relations between Turkey and Syria. This study seeks to explore how the friendship and hostility relations between the two countries are formed within the axis of soft and hard power. In terms of theoretical methodology, this article follows ‘foreign policy changes in case identity changes’ understanding of the Constructionist foreign policy. AK Party government approached towards the region of Middle East in general and Syria in particular via a vision of soft power rather than hard one, which is the primary factor for letting Turkey’s relations with all countries of Middle East develop quickly. But Turkey was obliged to switch from soft to hard power so as to manage the Syrian crisis. In respect to military operations the multidimensional foreign policy of Turkey since 2016 has been downgraded to military instruments, which actually makes the Syrian crisis as the ultimo ratio of Turkish foreign policy.
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Lieutenant LeRoy King was member of a US mission collecting data in the territories of the former Habsburg Empire. From the end of January to mid-May 1919 he had been staying in Zagreb from where 31 reports were sent, including those about Slovenia and the failed offensive attack of Slovene troops in Carinthia in April 1919.
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On the basis of the documents of the U.S. intelligence organisation Office of Strategic Services (OSS) kept by the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C., the author outlines a few issues concerning Yugoslavia in general and the territory of Slovenia in particular at the end of World War II: the nothern border with Austria, the western border with Italy and the issue of Trieste, the attitude towards a restoration of a Yugoslav state and/or a Catholic confederation in Central Europe, as well as opposing views of these issues by the U.S. and British intelligence services.
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Following the Armistice of Mondros, beginning the National Struggle under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, Anatolia was passing through a difficult process. At that time, people were divided into two opposing base, including supporters and opponents of the National Struggle. In the face of heavy sanctions of Mondros, people preferred war, not peace. However, there was a serious shortage of weapons and ammunition in Anatolia. The Mim Mim Group, founded with the approval of the Ankara government, has acted in accordance with this idea and Velid Ebuzziya took an active role in the organization. He showed success in the organization of weapons and ammunition shipments. This achievement earned him an İndependence Medal. In the days of the occupation, the press activities are under the control of the entente powers. The contacts between Velid Bey, who was also the president of İstanbul Press Society, and the French Embassy , took place in this direction. Velid Bey continued his journalism activities in Ebuzziya printing house. This printing house was also used as the head office of Mim Mim Group. Turkish Liberation Struggle, which took place between 1919 and 1922, has resulted in victory as a result of the will of the people and the definitive, immutable, stable stance of the Ankara government; also opened the way to the Republic. The subject of our study Abdurrahman Velid Ebuzziya was exactly biased National Struggle with his conservative character. He proved it both with the articles written in his own newspaper and also with his actions. The role and additives of Velid Ebuzziya within Mim Mim Group in the process leading to the Republic from the National Struggle and his political relations with the French Embassy constitutes the basis of our study.
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The Treaty of San Stefano signed immediately after Ottoman-Russian war 1877- 1878 creating “Great Bulgaria” and thus endangered the “Balance of Power” in Europe disturbed by the Great Eastern Crisis 1875-1878 arose in the Balkan Peninsula. The Treaty was considered as one-sided attempt to solve the Eastern Question by Britain and Austro-Hungary. So they insisted a revision of the Treaty. Thus the Great Power met in Berlin with the aim to be re-established the order in the Balkans providing each of the Great Powers with proportioned influence in the region. At the Congress of Berlin the large Bulgarian state was divided into three parts and thus was created the province of Eastern Rumelia remaining the authority of the Sultan. The establishment of autonomous province was decided during а bilateral negotiations between Britain and Russian at the time of the diplomatic preparation of the Congress. The growing rivalry between the two Great Powers regarding the Ottoman Empire’s territories in the second half of the 19 century required compromises and Eastern Rumelia was one of them. The aim of this paper is to examine the struggle between Russia and Britain during the organization of the province of Eastern Rumelia at the Balkans. The research focus on the British and Russian policy executed during the time of elaboration of Organic Law and organization of the administrative institutions of the province. The article has an aim to present the British and Russian notions about the functions which Eastern Rumelia had to fulfill in the future Balkan policy of these two Great Powers in their rivalry for dominance of the Balkans.
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The paper presented at the international conference »The Germans, Poland and Europe, 1871—1971«, held on October 11—12 at the University A. Mickiewicz in Poznan, Poland, cites the assessment of the then British ambassador Henderson of the policy of rapprochement between the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Third Reich. King Alexander did not try to conceal his sympathy towards Hitler, he did not oppose the Anschluss. He looked upon Germany as a counterbalance to the expansionism of Italy and expected German supremacy in Central Europe. He considered Russia, whether Bolshevist or other, the greatest danger for the Balkans. He advocated the independence of Yugoslavia. Henderson anticipated that, in spite of the alliance with France, Yugoslavia would arrive at an agreement with Italy, then Germany and finally also with Russia.
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Final legal and factual results of the Russo-Turkish War (1877 – 1878) are far away from the dreams and hopes of the Bulgarian people. Without discussing the question to what extent these hopes were realistic, it is undisputed that the decisions of the Berlin Congress of 1878 created semi-independent Bulgarian principality, but did not bring realization of the national idea – the full liberation of Bulgarian lands from foreign domination.
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120 years ago, from 19 to 28 March 1895, a unifying Congress was held in Sofia, which established the Macedonian Committee (MC) as the governing body of a general organization which was joined by the Macedonian societies in Bulgaria and Romania and student societies in Western Europe and Russia. Since its establishment, the Macedonian Committee, literally with a slam-bang, came to the political scene with revolutionary action in Macedonia. This became possible mainly because certain events in Bulgaria, the Balkans and in Europe.
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Since the signing of the Paris peace treaties that commemorate the end of World War I, almost one hundred years have elapsed. The more time make distance be-tween us and these, tragic for the world, war years more the conclusion is con-firmed that the Versailles system is a clear example of how NOT to make peace.
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The national Church Question was not merely a movement for the restoration of the Bulgarian autocephalous Church. Considering the specific structure of the Ot-toman Empire, the national Church granted the status of millet, which in turn equaled cultural and national autonomy. Therefore, the Church Question was much more a political than a religious one, and thus – of paramount importance.
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Rok 1989 przyniósł Polsce przełom polityczny i ustrojowy. Ten rok obfitował w ważne wydarzenia. 6 lutego rozpoczęły się obrady Okrągłego Stołu, które zakończyły się 5 kwietnia. 17 kwietnia został ponownie zarejestrowany NSZZ „Soli darność”, co oznaczało zrealizowanie najważniejszego celu, jaki przy wódcy opozycji stawiali przed sobą, podejmując rozmowy z władzami. 4 czerwca odbyły się częściowo wolne wybory do Sejmu i całkowicie wolne wybory do Senatu. 24 sierpnia premierem został Tadeusz Ma zowiecki, a 12 września Sejm udzielił wotum zaufania rządowi przez niego kierowanemu. 28 grudnia Sejm uchwalił 10 ustaw zmieniają cych ustrój gospodarczy naszego kraju, a 29 grudnia wprowadził za sadnicze zmiany w konstytucji, przywracając nazwę Rzeczpospolita Polska państwu i koronę białemu orłowi w godle państwowym oraz usuwając zapisy o kierowniczej roli PZPR i sojuszu polsko radzieckim.
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The failure of Czechoslovakia in 1938-39 can be traced back to the foundation of the state. The founders, Masaryk and Benes sowed the seeds of the future distruction of the state and they made a lot of fatal miscalculations.
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After 1950, the role played by the British Council in the Hungarian context was discussed at almost all levels during negotiations, discussions, or even short meetings. During the negotiations that took place after the British Council's forced closure, the British policy emphasized year after year that it was not possible to talk about normal cultural relations without BC, so the idea and realization of the reopening of the Budapest office was necessary and justified. However, following the events of 1956 when the unacceptable Kádár government was set up, the question arose of how useful it would be for BC if any formal agreement would be reached between the British and the Hungarian government. The relationship system between the two countries must be assessed adequately to this. In this study, we try to confirm with archival sources how tense the relationship between the two countries was, among others, because of the closing and ignoring of the British Council.
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In the spring of 1917 the Admiralty established a historical section whose main duty was to provide the British delegates to the Peace Conference with geographical, economic, historical, social, religious and political information regarding different parts of the world. The section prepared 174 handbooks which, due to a great interest from the British public, were issued for general and public use in 1920. One of the subjects discussed in the handbooks was the history of Poland from 1569 to the outbreak of the First World War. This subject was of great significance as the authors of the handbooks adopted historical reasoning, i.e. they believed that the origins of present-day problems and their solutions could be found through studying history.
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This paper discusses the role of the Crimean Khanate and the Safavid Persia in Polish-Ottoman relations during the reign of King John III Sobieski (1674–1696). It is striking that the Polish ruler repeatedly invited the Crimean khan and the Persian shah to join the anti-Ottoman coalition. Notwithstanding numerous letters and envoys dispatched by Sobieski, the Crimean Khanate remained a loyal ally to the Sublime Porte, while Persia denied to take part in the conflict. Sobieski’s political plans in reference to Persia, which resulted in numerous embassies sent to the shah, increased opportunities of Polish missionaries to minister in this country. An especially interesting project of founding a Polish mission in Northern Persia in order to minister to the Caucasian tribes was created by a Polish Jesuit, Ignacy Zapolski. Yet, after the death of Sobieski, Zapolski’s idea, which gained very limited support of the Commonwealth, could not be turned into reality.
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John III Sobieski had a significant part in the development of the Hungarian uprising which led to the Ottoman attack on Vienna, and which, in this way, posed a threat to Poland and Europe. The involvement in defending Vienna and establishing the “Holy League” forced a change of policy towards the Hungarians and directed expansion towards Moldova and Wallachia. The King of Poland, after taking over Podolia, which took place at the beginning of the war, and after failing to capture Kamianets-Podilskyi, could fight with the Turks only on the Moldovan (and possibly Wallachian) territory.
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Queen Marie Casimire played an important role in the Polish-French relations. The article analyzes each stage of the political relationship between the two countries during Marie Casimire’s stay in Poland. She played a significant, and largely decisive, role during the election of 1674. The queen’s influence was also an important factor in the making of the treaty of Jaworów. The friendly relationship between the Commonwealth and France changed in 1678 due to a combination of reasons. The Commonwealth reoriented her foreign policy to adopt an anti-French stance, as ultimately confirmed by the Treaty of the Holy League.
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