...One of his greatest endeavors was the conquest of Bulgaria. This was the last land grab of significance that the Empire saw. Soon after his rule the Empire collapsed. He was known for many things, but most importantly for his conquest of Bulgaria. Basil II inherited the throne in 963 at the age of three. The empire was run by a court eunuch named Basil the Chamberlain until Basil II was old enough to rule. After a while the eunuch began making decrees and ruling the area as if he had become the emperor. Before Basil II could take the throne the Chamberlain attempted to have the young, soon to be emperor tried for treason. However, before turning eighteen, with the support of the army, Basil II was able to take the throne and have Basil the Chamberlain stripped of their land and exiled. Upon taking the throne Basil II was faced with a serious issue, the Bulgars. This problem arose when Khan Krum, nicknamed the Horrible, brought the tribes of Bulgaria together to unite under one flag. After uniting the Bulgarians then conquered a large area of land around the Balkans while fighting and winning against three Byzantine rulers.1 The Bulgarians had become a huge problem for the empire that needed to be dealt with. When Basil II took the throne, the leadership of Bulgaria shifted to Khan Samuel. The Bulgarians were slowly growing in power and would raid Byzantine cities, killing and plundering. Basil II needed to push these ravenous foes back to Bulgaria. An army of six thousand was gathered...
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...command the ghazis to begin the occupation and invasion of other territories for power and wealth thus he founded the Osmanli dynasty, with Bursa at its capital. The Osmanlis were later known as the Ottomans. The Ottoman’s power and dominion became stronger after capturing Bosporus and Dardanelles. Though the Byzantine empire (Eastern Roman Empire) influence can’t be denied especially in the countries of the Middle East and the Latin West, their “supreme authority” image had gradually weakened after the Siege or Sack of Constantinople (also called the Fourth Crusade) in 1204 and the Western occupation of much of the empire for the next half century. Orkhan (1326-1360) replaced Osman as the leader and made Gallipoli as their first base for conquests in Europe. After some time, their territory had expanded up to the Balkans. The Turkish forces had joined forces with the Bulgars and Serbians in order to defeat the Byzantines in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul). Orkhan was able to expand the empire’s territory by capturing the remaining Byzantine towns in northwestern Anatolia and making the area as their residency. The Turkish provincial governor known as the Beys “knight” ostracized the previous landlords of Byzantine and collected taxes from the local residents. Orkhan began the military policy of hiring Christian mercenary troops, lessening his dependence on the nomads. Here the title Sultan was given to the Ottoman leader. After Murad I (1360-1389), the son of Orkhan, succession...
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...engineering. Practically speaking the rights of the sultan were constrained by the Muslim authoritative law (sharia), and he generally imparted his power to the central preserver (sheyhülislam) of the sharia and with the vizier. “Although crowning achievement of the Ottoman empire was the conquest of Constantinople, the Turks weren't done expanding, and continued pushing the boundaries of their territory into the 16th century. At their peak, the Ottoman empire governed some 15 million people spread over 2 million square miles. The Ottomans, however, were not immune to the same political laws of gravity that brought down the Byzantine empire before them.”(Seeker, 2016) There were considerable factors which caused the rise and sustenance of this...
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...The Balkan Crisis represents a series of tensions in the region that arose, in part, due to the decline of the Ottoman regime in Europe. This culminated in the 1908 annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary and the Balkan Wars preceding World War I. While not directly causing WWI, these events laid the foundations for disputes amongst the Great Powers as well as solidifying the existing Bismarckian alliance system. Furthermore, the competing nationalistic interests manifested themselves in the Balkan Wars which were largely a war for control of Macedonia, under the guise of liberation from Ottoman rule. The role of nationalism was not the traditionally espoused Serbian aggression, but political elites in all European states using nationalism as a vehicle to manipulate their populations. The Balkan Wars deserve study because they show the burgeoning role of nationalism in European politics and set the precedent for events that unfolded later in the twentieth century. Historians often attribute nationalism as one of the major causative factors WWI. This statement cannot be blindly accepted because although nationalism is clearly one of the dominant trends of the twentieth century, it was still in its infancy before WWI. The decision to go to war is decided by rulers, not at least initially by the populace. Therefore, nationalism is worthy of definition, especially with respect to a region as complex as the Balkans, where these issues are still a problem today. Although...
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...were also formed against the French aggression, therefore we can say the alliance systems had been occurring in Europe before the coming of Bismarck, but for the purpose of our study the system of alliance that was going to change the political order of Europe, both in the east and west was formed between 1871-1907. This system of alliance was not aggressive but gradually it generated into the outbreak of the First World War which occurred as a result to the Balkan crisis and various territorial dispute in Africa and Europe.The alliance system was started by Bismarck, the German chancellor from 1871-1890. After the franco-prussian war, Bismarck held that Germany was a “satiated state” which should give up the ideas of expansion or further conquest. Thus Bismarck organized system of alliances designed to maintain Germany’s hegemony on the European continent. France was determined to challenge the...
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...The Balkans is a strategically important region of South Eastern Europe. It has been a source of conflict for hundreds of years because of its’ critical geopolitical significance. Not only it serves as a gateway between Europe and the Near East but is also a melting pot of different cultures; a place where East meets the West. In the period preceding the First World War, this region was undergoing dramatic changes that eventually went on to impact not just the rest of Europe but the entire world. These developments manifested in the form of the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of Nationalism in the region. The political landscape was further transformed through Austria’s attempts to secure its imperial integrity and Russia’s evolving ideology of Pan-Slavism and territorial expansion. These developing trends threatened the sustainability of the centuries-old ‘Balance of Power’ in Europe and caused extreme tension and stress in the Balkan region. War seemed inevitable and only a ‘spark’ was required to set off the fuse.1 The dreaded stimulus was soon provided through the assassination of the Austrian Archduke, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie at Sarajevo in June 1914. The casus belli that the assassination presented Austria was too good to be missed. The prospects of an all-out war also aligned with Germans desire for establishing their military supremacy in the region. Hence they became actively engaged in the ensuing July Crisis and staunchly supported Austria....
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...The end of World War 2, the start of the Cold War. World War II started with Germany’s Hitler looking to achieve his domination of central and Eastern Europe for Germanys expansion. Hitler’s war was primarily to establish Germany as the superior race, as well as his hatred against the Jews and Russia. With the closing of World War II, atrocities all around the world occurred. Estimates of 50 million lives lost displayed the great casualties in World War II than in any war. The closing WWII developed a new problem between the United States and Russia that would lead to the Cold War. On June 6th 1944, The US lead storming of Normandy would essentially turn the war around and begin the process of ending the war. “The Normandy invasion took place in the Bay of the Seine, on the south side of the English Channel between the Cotentin Peninsula and the port of Le Havre, France. Some 55 miles broad and 20 deep, its waters were shallow, had a considerable tidal range and could be very choppy.” (Anonymous, 2011) Russia and United states allied to launch a massive attack on German troops to advance and liberate France. As the allies were making swift progress, an assassination attempt on Hitler in 1944 within the chain of command failed. On April 30th 1945, Hitler committed suicide shortly after and removed Germany from the war. In August of 1945, the United States would drop atomic bombs on both Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The bombs known as “Fat Man” and “Little Boy” put an...
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...Tamara Wilkerson AC 1105565 HS 150 World Civilization Assignment 02 December 29, 2012 Alexander the Great Alexander the Great was one of the greatest conquers in all of the history of Rome. His genius and ability to think in hard situations helped greatly to the country of Macedonia, which he ruled. Most of his life he lived as a fighter and warrior. Alexander was a smart, brilliant man who used his brains when it came down to fighting. Alexander was born in an age of violence, conquest, and civil war. Alexander was born in 356 B.C. in Pella. His father was Phillip the second who ruled all of Macedonia. He was a shrewd king and general who conquered Greece. He stole the reign of Macedonia from his brother’s son. Alexander’s mother was Olympias. She was brilliant yet hot-tempered. Her father was King Neoptoelemus the first of Epirus. Alexander’s sister was Cleopatra (but not the Egyptian queen.) Alexander’s ancestor was a man known as the hero Achilles. Alexander through his life carried a copy of “Iliad.” Phillip taught Alexander that all the Macedonian kings were descendents from the hero Hercules, son of Zeus, and the high god. Alexander’s parents hated each other. Philip had lesser wives and children. One child was Philip Arridaeus who was retarded. The rumor was that Olympias had poisoned the mother of Arridaeus. Olympias once told Alexander that Philip was not his real father. Philip never admitted to it though. Yet he...
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...Alexander the Great Alexander the Great was one of the greatest conquers in all of the history of Rome. His genius and ability to think in hard situations helped greatly to the country of Macedonia, which he ruled. Most of his life he lived as a fighter and warrior. Alexander was a smart, brilliant man who used his brains when it came down to fighting. Alexander was born in an age of violence, conquest, and civil war. Alexander was born in 356 B.C. in Pella. His father was Phillip the second who ruled all of Macedonia. He was a shrewd king and general who conquered Greece. He stole the reign of Macedonia from his brother’s son. Alexander’s mother was Olympias. She was brilliant yet hot-tempered. Her father was King Neoptoelemus the first of Epirus. Alexander’s sister was Cleopatra (but not the Egyptian queen.) Alexander’s ancestor was a man known as the hero Achilles. Alexander through his life carried a copy of “Iliad.” Phillip taught Alexander that all the Macedonian kings were descendents from the hero Hercules, son of Zeus, and the high god. Alexander’s parents hated each other. Philip had lesser wives and children. One child was Philip Arridaeus who was retarded. The rumor was that Olympias had poisoned the mother of Arridaeus. Olympias once told Alexander that Philip was not his real father. Philip never admitted to it though. Yet he always had made fun of Alexander because of his high voice. There were many legends about Alexander. As a boy Alexander tamed a horse...
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...commonly used to describe the artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire from about the 5th century until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. (The Roman Empire during this period is conventionally known as the Byzantine Empire.) The term can also be used for the art of states which were contemporary with the Byzantine Empire and shared a common culture with it, without actually being part of it, such as Bulgaria, Serbia or Russia, and also Venice, which had close ties to the Byzantine Empire despite being in other respects part of western European culture. It can also be used for the art of peoples of the former Byzantine Empire under the rule of the Ottoman Empire after 1453. In some respects the Byzantine artistic tradition has continued in Greece, Russia and other Eastern Orthodox countries to the present day. The finest work, the most elegant, and the most accomplished technically, was, naturally enough, associated with the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, which was the very hub of the civilized world from the foundation of the city as capital around 330 till its conquest by the Turks in 1453. But there were other great centers too. In Rome, Milan, Ravenna, and elsewhere in the West works of the greatest importance that were in no way provincial were executed in the early years of Christendom, though little of quality was produced there that belongs to the period covered by this essay. In Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and elsewhere in the East a great deal was also being...
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...“Why Byzantine economy remained one of the most powerful in Europe through Early Middle Ages?” The Byzantine cconomy was one of the largest systems throughout Europe and the Mediterannean for many centuries. Both local and international trade were of huge importance for the Byzantine Empire. Lower class, including traders, depended on the upper class. Their need of the foreign goods in order to stay in Local trade was much less popular. Throughout the fourth and sixth centuries, long-distance trade was operating successfully, until the plague appeared, which killed around one-third of the citizens in the Byzantine Empire, and ruined the trade networks. The Byzantine economy had recovered in the tenth century, and Italian merchants contributed to its steady growth in the Mediteranian through the tenth and eleventh centuries (Katz 27-39). To begin, the decades of instability as well as foreign invasions mostly by Germanic tribes, led to an establishment of a new military, political, and administrative framework under Diocletian (284-305), and Constantine I, which also led to a new economic power in Byzantine and Constantinopole. From 395 to 476, the Empire was in a big crisis until the Germans left the territory. Emperor Justinian I provided the growth of the economy, but also the growth period ended with the “Justinian Plague” that broke out in Egypt in 542, and reduced the population in all provinces of the empire. The “Justinian Plague” continued until the 8th century. At...
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...“Why Byzantine economy remained one of the most powerful in Europe through Early Middle Ages?” The Byzantine cconomy was one of the largest systems throughout Europe and the Mediterannean for many centuries. Both local and international trade were of huge importance for the Byzantine Empire. Lower class, including traders, depended on the upper class. Their need of the foreign goods in order to stay in Local trade was much less popular. Throughout the fourth and sixth centuries, long-distance trade was operating successfully, until the plague appeared, which killed around one-third of the citizens in the Byzantine Empire, and ruined the trade networks. The Byzantine economy had recovered in the tenth century, and Italian merchants contributed to its steady growth in the Mediteranian through the tenth and eleventh centuries (Katz 27-39). To begin, the decades of instability as well as foreign invasions mostly by Germanic tribes, led to an establishment of a new military, political, and administrative framework under Diocletian (284-305), and Constantine I, which also led to a new economic power in Byzantine and Constantinopole. From 395 to 476, the Empire was in a big crisis until the Germans left the territory. Emperor Justinian I provided the growth of the economy, but also the growth period ended with the “Justinian Plague” that broke out in Egypt in 542, and reduced the population in all provinces of the empire. The “Justinian Plague” continued until the 8th century. At...
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...The Crimean war is one of the most memorable and significant wars fought in 19th century Europe. It was a conflict that affected all of Europe from a geographical standpoint since Russia came to war with Britain, France, and Turkey after the decay of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire called upon the aid of the British and French to help them in repelling the Russians, who wanted to expand their geopolitical interests as well as financial dependence. The result of every war has its winners and casualties, who suffer the consequences of the aftermath. Russia strived to gain territory in its attempt for even greater European conquest, but failed and lost its dominating title and leading position in Europe as well as Asia. The Crimean War is a pertinent historical event that marked Russian attempt to conquer in order to become a dominant hegemony in Europe and where the outcomes of the war geographically changed Europe as well as affected people’s nationalistic/identity beliefs. Often times named one of the bloodiest battles, yet technologically advanced wars of the nineteenth century; the Crimean war was a vital event in European history. It was a conflict where Russia lost to an alliance of France, the United Kingdom, the Ottoman Empire, after Russia’s attempt to expand commercial and strategic designs as the Ottoman Empire was slowly deteriorating . The fall of the Empire would allow Russia to gain control and obtain the Dardanelles, as well as naval access to the Mediterranean...
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...‘A cold war between East and West was inevitable after 1945.’ Do you agree? Up until May 7th 1945 Germany had been Europe’s main defence against Russian hegemony. Once the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany was complete, this defence no longer existed and the USSR held onto the territorial gains it had made during its monumental war effort. Germany’s fate had not yet been decided but in the meantime it had been divided into four areas by the former Allies. The tension between the remaining post war Superpowers, the United States and The Soviet Union were ever increasing. Britain became economically and militarily dependant on the US as its empire floundered. British rhetoric and ‘scaremongering was born of Britain’s desire to keep America involved in Europe.’ Stalin began to consolidate the Soviet area and the anti-Western language of the Soviet regime became just as scathing as Churchill’s. The ‘Iron Curtain’ was now in place and America, Britain and Russia were coming to realise that their respective ideologies were for the most part irreconcilable. Although it is often said that nothing is inevitable, there are times when the consequences of decisions and policies gather momentum and become an unstoppable force. By considering their differences and how the individual iron willed leaders involved expressed their intentions and shaped their stances against each other it will become apparent that the consequences and the forces that the East and the West put in motion made the Cold...
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...On the 21st May 1864 marked the last of the Circassian resistance and this saw the mass exodus of these people to regions under the Ottoman Empire such as Turkey. More so, Circassians today can also be found in counties such as Ukraine, Syria, United States of America, Serbia, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Bulgaria ("Syrian Circassians Fly to Freedom"). Following the Russian expansion in the 17th century, the Circassians were thereby targeted due to their traditional location along the Black Sea and their political and social contacts with the Ottoman Empire. Perhaps, due to the protection of the Circassian people by the Ottomans, the Russian were bound to break that relationship and eventually conquer the Black Sea regions through their expansion. Additionally, the Russian wanted to gain control over the northeastern end of the Black Sea, inhabited by the Circassians because the Southern side was controlled by the Ottomans. Consequently, breaking the connection between the Ottomans and the Circassians would greatly ensure that they gained such control...
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