The Great Idea is Dead, Long Live the Great Ideas

2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 298-327
Author(s):  
Vassilios A. Bogiatzis
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Orientation ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Common Denominator ◽  
Refugee Population ◽  
New Beginning ◽  
Great Idea ◽  
Strongly Connected ◽  
National Reconstruction ◽  
The Military ◽  
Interwar Era

Abstract The “Asia Minor Catastrophe” cast its heavy shadow over Greek interwar era developments in two fundamental ways: first, there was the terror of the ideological void after the bankruptcy of the Hellenic “Great Idea” due to the military defeat in Asia Minor; and second, the physical arrival in Greece of an almost 1,500,000 refugee population after their expulsion from Turkey. This paper argues that against this background, the issues of national reconstruction and a new cultural orientation for the Greek nation were strongly connected. Moreover, it argues that various projects and discourses emerged in search of the new Great Ideas that would successfully replace the irrevocably lost one. They had as a common denominator the “modernist ethos” of a “new beginning” which was necessary for the nation’s and society’s regeneration to be achieved. Thus, in exploring these projects, it attempts to identify their convergences, their mutual exclusions, as well as their cultural, ideological and political imprints.

scholarly journals Archaeological Evidence of the Relationship of the Cimmerians with the Phrygian and Lydian Kingdoms in the 7th c. B.C.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Г.В. Чочиев
Keyword(s):  
Asia Minor ◽  
Critical Importance ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
Cast Doubt ◽  
Excavation Work ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Relationship

В статье предпринята попытка обзора результатов раскопочных работ последних десятилетий, связанных с активностью киммерийцев в центральной и за- падной Малой Азии. Несмотря на то, что недавние исследования ставят под сомнение некоторые сообщения античных авторов о роли киммерийцев в военно-политических процессах в регионе в VII в. до н. э., в частности факт захвата и разрушения ими Гордио- на, выявленные к настоящему времени во фригийских и лидийских центрах артефакты в сочетании со следами интенсивного фортификационного строительства указыва- ют на критическую важность кочевнического фактора и серьезность созданной им для местных цивилизаций угрозы в рассматриваемый период. The article attempts to review the results of excavation work of recent decades related to the activity of the Cimmerians in central and western Asia Minor. Despite the fact that recent studies cast doubt on some reports of ancient authors about the role of the Cimmerians in the military and political processes in the region in the 7th c. B.C., particularly the fact of the capture and destruction of Gordion by them, artifacts found to date in the Phrygian and Lydian centers in combination with traces of intensive fortifi cation construction indicate the critical importance of the nomadic factor and the seriousness of the threat it created for local civilizations during the period under review.

Bronze Coinage and City Life in Central Greece circa A.D. 1000

1965 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
D. M. Metcalf
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Byzantine Empire ◽  
North West ◽  
City Life ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
The Military

In the decades around the millennium the issues of bronze coinage of the Byzantine Empire, except at Cherson, were exclusively ‘Rex Regnantium’ folles. In accordance with the theocratic political philosophy of the time, the portrait they bore was that not of the emperor but of Christ, ‘the King of those who Rule’. The inscriptions were analogous: Ἐμμανουήλ and Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς Βασιλεὺς τῶν Βασιλευόντων. Some issues were similar in size and fabric to the earlier issues of the Macedonian dynasty, but others were large, heavy coins, superior to any that had been generally available since the days of Justinian the Great. Quite probably, indeed, they were modelled on the sixth-century folles, as those of Constantine IV certainly had been, with the intention of recalling the glories of the past. The intervening period had witnessed an almost total decline in the circulation of petty currency in the provinces. It is to be seen as evidence of a corresponding decline in city life, for which, in turn, a complex of causes is to be discerned—demographic decline; the Islamic expansion into the eastern provinces and into the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean; the pressure of the Avars, Slavs, and Bulgars in the north-west; the strain imposed on the Byzantine treasury by the military effort expended in containing these threats; provincial self-sufficiency, and lowered standards which necessarily followed from the impoverishment of the state and its peoples. The revival of the Empire's fortunes began in the ninth century, and reached a climax under Basil II (976–1025), who re-established Byzantine rule firmly over territories extending from the Adriatic coasts to the upper valley of the Euphrates. By the end of Basil's reign the use of petty currency, which during the ninth and tenth centuries had still been significantly restricted to a few cities of the Aegean and Black Sea coastlands, was spreading much more widely through the Balkans and Asia Minor. Also, the reconquest of Antioch and the cities of Cilicia added to the needs that the imperial coinage had to meet.

The Battle of Zborov and the Politics of Commemoration in Czechoslovakia

2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 654-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy M. Wingfield
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
The State ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Usable Past ◽  
The Military ◽  
Military Tradition ◽  
Interwar Era

The Battle of Zborov was the main commemorative site of Czechoslovakia's heroic military cult during the interwar era. The shifting fortunes of its commemoration reveal political attempts to reframe national questions for ideological ends. Zborov was an important symbol, because it was the nexus of the military and diplomatic-political efforts to found the state. The festivities on 2 July provided members of the military with the opportunity to demonstrate their prowess in the name of Zborov and to reassert their role in the creation of Czechoslovakia. The communist coup d'état in February 1948 spelled the end of the Czechoslovak national-military tradition that included Zborov. After 1989, the Battle of Zborov, like other historic events that had been downplayed or ignored under communism, enjoyed renewed interest. The “spirit of Zborov” has not been, however, an important part of a “usable past” in the post-communist Czech Republic or Slovakia, perhaps because it was so intimately associated with the formation of the First Czechoslovak Republic.

Inscriptions and Monuments from Galatia

1924 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-44
Author(s):  
Roman d'Orbeliani
Keyword(s):  
Asia Minor ◽  
Army Corps ◽  
The Crimea ◽  
The Military

The war was responsible for my finding a number of interesting inscriptions and monuments in the heart of Asia Minor. I copied and sketched about two hundred, but as half of them have been previously published, I propose to deal only with the remainder here.During the latter part of my three years' captivity, 1915–1918, with the Turks at Angora, the military authorities were hard pressed for fuel, and I was in worse straits myself for means of subsistence. Unaware of their actual predicament, I applied for work to the Commander of the Fifth Army Corps, at Angora, to enable me to earn enough wherewith to buy food. This resulted in Ismail Hakki Pasha, the Quartermaster-General at Constantinople, authorising the Commander to employ me. I was commissioned to make a geological report on the Angora Vilayet and to find coal for them. My work proved very successful; I found several outcrops of coal, copper, chrome, and indications of oil, and as a consequence received fairly liberal pay. This enabled me to save up sufficient money to escape via Samsoun to the Crimea a few months before the Armistice.The first inscriptions seen by me were copied under restraint, but as time went on and supervision over my doings was relaxed, I was able to copy and sketch everything I came across, not only the numerous stelae at Angora, but those throughout the Vilayet, wherever I happened to be at the time.

scholarly journals The Byzantine Military Strategy in Asia Minor During the Early Palaiologan Period (1259–1328)

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 181-193
Author(s):  
Vladimir Zolotovskiy ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
Strategic Objectives ◽  
Active Defense ◽  
Scale Characteristics ◽  
Military Campaigns ◽  
The Military ◽  
Technical Measures

Introduction. The purpose of the article is to determine the specifics of the Byzantine war strategy in Asia Minor. A qualitative military and political characteristics of the main military expeditions to the eastern borders are crucial for the disclosure of this problem. From this aspect, the study addresses the following issues: defining of the role of the eastern military campaigns in the complex of military-strategic measures on the state scale; characteristics of the features the armed forces used, as well as the tasks solved during military expeditions to Asia Minor; disclosure of the features of military-technical measures to ensure the security of Byzantium eastern borders. Methods. Critical use of elements of civilizational, formational and systemic approaches is the methodological basis of this study. It should be noted that the use of a systematic approach in the analysis of the Byzantine troops combat practice in east direction, allows to determine the strategic objectives of military expeditions in Asia Minor, to reveal the logic of warfare in the eastern theater, to determine the functional purpose of military-technical measures. Analysis and Results. The study reveals the strategic concept of Byzantium armed forces military operations during the reign of the first Palaeologus on the Asia Minor territory. Analysis of combat practice allows us to conclude that the strategic priority of the western and northwestern directions, which required the use of the most combat-ready troops consisting of mercenaries during the reign of Michael VIII, determined the need to use the Byzantine troops at the eastern borders of the empire. TheByzantine army was episodically involved in major defensive expeditions to the borders of the empire. We determined that the purpose of these campaigns is to stop the advance of enemy armies and their subsequent expulsion from the empire. This logic of military operations does not mean the loss of strategic initiative at the eastern direction. The strategy of passive defense which determined the nature of the military confrontation in the Asia Minor region was ensured by the creation of a garrison system, or a line of fortresses, on the eastern borders of the empire. Fortification activities of Michael VIII and Andronikos II in 1280–1282 temporarily stopped the advance of the Turkish troops. However, natural factors and the intensification of the economic crisis at the end of the 13th century made it impossible to preserve the defensive line located along the banks of the rivers that served as the borders of the Byzantine state. In addition, the strengthening of the military-political power of the emirates of Menteşe, Aydinoglu and Osman led to the loss of the initiative by the Byzantine troops and, as a result, the reduction of the Asia Minor territories of the empire. In an effort to change the situation, Andronicus II proceeded to implement an active defense strategy.

The Colonial History of Burkina Faso

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Royer
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
World War ◽  
Colonial Policy ◽  
New Beginning ◽  
History Of ◽  
French Colonial ◽  
The Military ◽  
Upper Volta

Burkina Faso has a remarkable history owing to repeated dissolution and reunification of its territory. Following the French colonial conquest in 1896, a military territory was established over a large part of what would become Upper Volta. In 1905, the military territory was integrated in the civilian colony of Upper Senegal and Niger with headquarters in Bamako. Following a major anticolonial war in 1915–16, the colony of Upper Volta with Ouagadougou as its capital was created in 1919, for security reasons and as a labor reservoir for neighboring colonies. Dismantled in 1932, Upper Volta was partitioned among neighboring colonies. It was recreated after World War II as an Overseas Territory (Territoire d’Outre-mer) within the newly created French Union (Union française). In 1960, Upper Volta gained its independence, but the nation experienced a new beginning in 1983 when it was renamed Burkina Faso by the revolutionary government of Thomas Sankara. The policies and debates that shaped the colonial history of Burkina Faso, while important in themselves, are a reflection of the larger West African history and French colonial policy.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Michael Llewellyn-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
World War ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Great Idea ◽  
Just Society ◽  
British Embassy ◽  
First World

The book is about Eleftherios Venizelos, the great Greek leader of the modern period, his achievements and personality. It addresses Greek nationalism, political leadership, and Venizelos's influence on Greek history and politics. He dominated Greece from 1910 to 1936. He worked for the expansion of Greek territory to include as many Greek communities as possible (the 'Great Idea'). Also for reform and modernization of Greek institutions, a more just society, and to bring Greece closer to western Europe. The author describes his charisma, liberalism, and decisive role in the constitutional and political reforms of his early administrations, leading to the Balkan Wars in which Greece's territory and population were almost doubled. A second volume will deal with the First World War, the division of the country into hostile Venizelist and anti-Venizelist camps in the so-called national schism, the Asia Minor catastrophe and Venizelos's subsequent career. The author states his personal interest, symbolized by the British Embassy Athens, formerly Venizelos's house, where he served as British ambassador.

The Campaign of Cn. Manlius Vulso in Asia Minor

1995 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 23-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Grainger
Keyword(s):  
Police Work ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
The Military ◽  
Critical Investigation

The unanimity of opinion on the purposes and methods of the military expedition led by Cn. Manlius Vulso into Asia Minor in 189 B.C. arouses suspicion. Investigation shows a process of repetition of phrase and attitude traceable to the ancient sources, without any serious consideration of actual events. Thus Livy quotes a hostile description of Manlius as “a mercenary consul” who had conducted “a private piratical expedition” (38.45.8). Scullard, in more than one account, allows that he had “reduced to submission the Galatians… but he marred this necessary piece of police work by his cruelty and avarice”, and in it he “acquired a staggering amount of booty and money by systematic extortion and warfare”. This wholesale swallowing of the Livian account without any critical investigation is repeated by Errington, who has it that Manlius led “a major plundering expedition… primarily directed against the Gauls (Galatians), who had supported Antiochos, though he also passed through northern Caria, Lycia and Pisidia”.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF GEOGRAPHY IN THE EXERCISE OF FOREIGN POLICY AND DIPLOMACY

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesia Zastavetska ◽  
◽  
Nataliia Taranova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Social Geography ◽  
Cultural Construction ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Common Denominator ◽  
National Interests ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Military

One of the most promising areas of modern science is geopolitics, which determines the main trends of today's social life. The research pays detailed attention to the theoretical aspects of the development of geopolitics as an important area of modern social geography. The main geopolitical trends of the twentieth century and the brightest representatives of each of them are described. The purpose of this study is to systematize the existing geopolitical schools and demonstrate the peculiarities of the formation of each of them. Geopolitics has existed since the existence of states. Whether small or large, states are always worried about their borders, while others express a desire to expand to countries with which they border. But beyond the natural and demarcated borders of each country, there are other geographical factors that favor or discourage the development of a country into a Great Power. It seems, therefore, that over the centuries geography has been a common denominator in shaping the foreign policy of states, the implementation of a geostrategic and geo-economic policy in order to maintain or increase their power at regional or international level. Although geopolitics has at times been condemned and rejected by the scientific community, it is clearly demonstrated that it is one of the most important factors in shaping the foreign policy of all states, regardless of whether they are characterized as Great Powers or not. The difference between the less powerful states and the Great Powers is that the latter have the ability and the opportunity to formulate their foreign policy and to advance their national interests, while the less powerful states simply endure the effects of these politics. Geopolitics is defined by many manuals and dictionaries of geography as a field of knowledge, which considers the concept of «space» important for understanding the nature of international relations. Understood mainly as «the geography of power» and having from time to time received various slightly different interpretations, geopolitics involves the following stable core of interpretation: it is the study of the interaction of natural geographical division and human purpose with cultural construction ensuring the economic and the military condominium a force on a particular area of the globe.

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