Empire's Twilight

Empire's Twilight PDF Author: David M. Robinson
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674036086
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 474

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Book Description
Four themes dominate this study of the late Mongol empire in Northeast Asia: the need for an all-inclusive regional perspective; pan-Asian integration under the Mongols; the tendency for individual and family interests to trump those of dynasty, country, or linguistic affiliation; and the need to see Koryŏ Korea as part of the wider Mongol empire.

Empire's Twilight

Empire's Twilight PDF Author: David M. Robinson
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1684170524
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 458

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Book Description
The rise of the Mongol empire transformed world history. Its collapse in the mid-fourteenth century had equally profound consequences. Four themes dominate this study of the late Mongol empire in Northeast Asia during this chaotic era: the need for a regional perspective encompassing all states and ethnic groups in the area; the process and consequences of pan-Asian integration under the Mongols; the tendency for individual and family interests to trump those of dynasty, country, or linguistic affiliation; and finally, the need to see Koryo Korea as part of the wider Mongol empire. Northeast Asia was an important part of the Mongol empire, and developments there are fundamental to understanding both the nature of the Mongol empire and the new post-empire world emerging in the 1350s and 1360s. In Northeast Asia, Jurchen, Mongol, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese interests intersected, and the collapse of the Great Yuan reshaped Northeast Asia dramatically. To understand this transition, or series of transitions, the author argues, one cannot examine states in isolation. The period witnessed intensified interactions among neighboring polities and new regional levels of economic, political, military, and social integration that explain the importance of personal and family interests and of Korea in the Mongol state.

Battle For Rome

Battle For Rome PDF Author: Ian James Ross
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1468315358
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
In this “well-crafted, atmospheric” war novel set in ancient Rome, an officer battles under Constantine while in the midst of personal turmoil.(Ben Kane, author of Fields of Blood) The Roman Empire is on the brink of civil war. Only Maxentius, tyrant of Rome, stands between the emperor Constantine and supreme power in the west. Aurelius Castus is now a tribune in Constantine's army. But great honor brings new challenges: Castus is tormented by suspicions that his young wife has been unfaithful. And as Constantine becomes increasingly devoted to Christianity, he is forced to ask himself whether he is backing the wrong man. The coming war will decide the fate of empire. But Castus's own battle will carry him much further. “Hugely enjoyable. The author winds up tension into an explosion of fast-paced events.” —Conn Iggulden, author of Stormbird ”A thumping good read . . . thoroughly enjoyable.” —Ben Kane, author of Lionheart “This is up there with Harry Sidebottom and Ben Kane.” —M.C. Scott, author of Into the Fire

Twilight of Empire

Twilight of Empire PDF Author: Greg King
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250083036
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
On a snowy January morning in 1889, a worried servant hacked open a locked door at the remote hunting lodge deep in the Vienna Woods. Inside, he found two bodies sprawled on an ornate bed, blood oozing from their mouths. Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary appeared to have shot his seventeen-year-old mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera as she slept, sat with the corpse for hours and, when dawn broke, turned the pistol on himself. A century has transformed this bloody scene into romantic tragedy: star-crossed lovers who preferred death together than to be parted by a cold, unfeeling Viennese Court. But Mayerling is also the story of family secrets: incestuous relationships and mental instability; blackmail, venereal disease, and political treason; and a disillusioned, morphine-addicted Crown Prince and a naïve schoolgirl caught up in a dangerous and deadly waltz inside a decaying empire. What happened in that locked room remains one of history’s most evocative mysteries: What led Rudolf and mistress to this desperate act? Was it really a suicide pact? Or did something far more disturbing take place at that remote hunting lodge and result in murder? Drawing interviews with members of the Habsburg family and archival sources in Vienna, Greg King and Penny Wilson reconstruct this historical mystery, laying out evidence and information long ignored that conclusively refutes the romantic myth and the conspiracy stories.

Torture and the Twilight of Empire

Torture and the Twilight of Empire PDF Author: Marnia Lazreg
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691173486
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
Torture and the Twilight of Empire looks at the intimate relationship between torture and colonial domination through a close examination of the French army's coercive tactics during the Algerian war from 1954 to 1962. By tracing the psychological, cultural, and political meanings of torture at the end of the French empire, Marnia Lazreg also sheds new light on the United States and its recourse to torture in Iraq and Afghanistan. This book is nothing less than an anatomy of torture--its methods, justifications, functions, and consequences. Drawing extensively from archives, confessions by former torturers, interviews with former soldiers, and war diaries, as well as writings by Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and others, Lazreg argues that occupying nations justify their systematic use of torture as a regrettable but necessary means of saving Western civilization from those who challenge their rule. She shows how torture was central to guerre révolutionnaire, a French theory of modern warfare that called for total war against the subject population and which informed a pacification strategy founded on brutal psychological techniques borrowed from totalitarian movements. Lazreg seeks to understand torture's impact on the Algerian population--especially women--and also on the French troops who became their torturers. She explores the roles Christianity and Islam played in rationalizing these acts, and the ways in which torture became not only routine but even acceptable. Written by a preeminent historical sociologist, Torture and the Twilight of Empire holds particularly disturbing lessons for us today as we carry out the War on Terror.

Imperial Twilight

Imperial Twilight PDF Author: Stephen R. Platt
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307961745
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 609

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Book Description
As China reclaims its position as a world power, Imperial Twilight looks back to tell the story of the country’s last age of ascendance and how it came to an end in the nineteenth-century Opium War. As one of the most potent turning points in the country’s modern history, the Opium War has since come to stand for everything that today’s China seeks to put behind it. In this dramatic, epic story, award-winning historian Stephen Platt sheds new light on the early attempts by Western traders and missionaries to “open” China even as China’s imperial rulers were struggling to manage their country’s decline and Confucian scholars grappled with how to use foreign trade to China’s advantage. The book paints an enduring portrait of an immensely profitable—and mostly peaceful—meeting of civilizations that was destined to be shattered by one of the most shockingly unjust wars in the annals of imperial history. Brimming with a fascinating cast of British, Chinese, and American characters, this riveting narrative of relations between China and the West has important implications for today’s uncertain and ever-changing political climate.

The Fractured Void

The Fractured Void PDF Author: Tim Pratt
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1839080477
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
A brave starship crew are drawn into the schemes of interplanetary powers competing for galactic domination, in this epic space opera from the best-selling strategic boardgame, Twilight Imperium Captain Felix Duval and the crew of the Temerarious quietly patrol a remote Mentak Coalition colony system where nothing ever happens. But when they answer a distress call from a moon under attack, that peaceful existence is torn apart. They rescue a scientist, Thales, who’s developing revolutionary technology to create new wormholes. He just needs a few things to make it fully operational… and now, ordered to aid the scientist, the Temerarious is targeted by two rival black-ops teams intent on reacquiring Thales. Can Felix trust Thales? Or is this a conspiracy to tip the balance of power in the galaxy forever?

Empires Unraveled

Empires Unraveled PDF Author: Blythe Mallory
Publisher: Publifye AS
ISBN: 8233932221
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 151

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Book Description
""Empires Unraveled"" explores the evolution of imperial power throughout history and its impact on contemporary global dynamics. This thought-provoking book examines the lifecycle of historical empires, the transformation of colonialism, and the emergence of new forms of global influence. By tracing the patterns of imperial rise and fall, the author argues that while traditional empires may have dissolved, the fundamental drivers of imperial ambition continue to shape our world in subtle ways. The book's unique perspective on the cyclical nature of power sets it apart, challenging readers to reconsider their understanding of current geopolitical landscapes. It employs innovative data visualization techniques to illustrate complex historical trends, making the information accessible to a broad audience. By bridging the gap between history, political science, and economics, ""Empires Unraveled"" demonstrates how imperial legacies continue to influence international relations and global economic systems. Progressing from ancient civilizations to modern power structures, the book guides readers through a comprehensive analysis of imperial history. It culminates in a critical assessment of contemporary global influence, offering practical frameworks for analyzing current events through the lens of historical patterns. This approach empowers readers to apply historical insights to present-day geopolitical situations, making it an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand the forces shaping our interconnected world.

Empires at War

Empires at War PDF Author: Robert Gerwarth
Publisher:
ISBN: 0198702515
Category : History, Modern
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
Empires at War, 1911-1923 offers a new perspective on the history of the Great War, looking at the war beyond the generally-accepted 1914-1918 timeline, and as a global war between empires, rather than a European war between nation-states.The volume expands the story of the war both in time and space to include the violent conflicts that preceded and followed World War I, from the 1911 Italian invasion of Libya to the massive violence that followed the collapse of the Ottoman, Russian, and Austrian empires until 1923. It argues thatthe traditional focus on the period between August 1914 and November 1918 makes more sense for the victorious western front powers (notably Britain and France), than it does for much of central-eastern and south-eastern Europe or for those colonial troops whose demobilization did not begin inNovember 1918. The paroxysm of 1914-18 has to be seen in the wider context of armed imperial conflict that began in 1911 and did not end until 1923.If we take the Great War seriously as a world war, we must, a century after the event, adopt a perspective that does justice more fully to the millions of imperial subjects called upon to defend their imperial governments' interest, to theatres of war that lay far beyond Europe including in Asia andAfrica and, more generally, to the wartime roles and experiences of innumerable peoples from outside the European continent. Empires at War also tells the story of the broad, global mobilizations that saw African soldiers and Chinese labourers in the trenches of the Western front, Indian troops inJerusalem, and the Japanese military occupying Chinese territory. Finally, the volume shows how the war set the stage for the collapse not only of specific empires but of the imperial world order.

Twilight of the Empire

Twilight of the Empire PDF Author: Simon MacDowall
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN: 9781841761121
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Although Rome's traditional legions of heavy infantry decreased in numbers between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD, the pedes remained the backbone of the Roman army until well into the 5th century. The pede was unlike the legionary who preceded him, and perhaps he was not as well disciplined, but in many ways he was more flexible - ready for deployment to trouble spots, and for fighting both as a skirmisher and a heavy infantryman. Simon MacDowall explores the changing nature of the Roman infantryman between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD, covering such topics as recruitment, training and armour, and providing an excellent evaluation of Roman infantry tactics.

Rainy Lake House

Rainy Lake House PDF Author: Theodore Catton
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421422921
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 423

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Book Description
"Exiles in Indian Country weaves together the biographies of three men who cast their fortunes with the Western fur trade in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. John Tanner was a 'white Indian' who was taken captive and raised by Ottawa, and lived among the Ottawa and Ojibwa for thirty years, hunting across the northern forests and plains of present-day Ontario, Manitoba, and northern Minnesota. Dr. John McLoughlin fled the law in Quebec at the age of eighteen to work for the Hudson's Bay Company in the Lake Superior region during its two decades of war with the North West Company. Major Stephen H. Long explored the northern borderlands in a time when the United States aimed to take over British-Indian trade in its new western territories. The three men met at the HBC's Rainy Lake House near the Boundary Waters in 1823 after Tanner was badly wounded while trying to take his daughters out of Indian country, to save them from being raped by the white traders. Foregrounding this incident, Theodore Catton examines the events leading up to this fateful encounter through a Rashomon-like tale about the British-American-Indian frontier. Through these three colliding vantage points, the book describes the world of the fur trade: American, British, and Indian; imperial, capital, and labor; explorer, trader, and hunter. In its competing viewpoints, Exiles in Indian Country deftly crafts one grand narrative out of three and reveals the perilous lives of the white adventurers and their Indian families who lived on the fringe--truly the hands of empire"--Provided by publisher.