The capture Ḥaṭrā in light of military and political activities of Ardašīr I

Author(s): Katarzyna MAKSYMIUK / Language(s): English Issue: 6/2017

Ḥaṭrā was a city in Upper Mesopotamia which gained strategic importance in Irano-Roman border zone in2nd century AD and managed to successfully resist the attempts of capturing by the Roman army. Power shift in Iranwhich resulted in taking over of Iranian throne by Ardašīr I (224-242) changed the situation of Ḥaṭrā. Belowconsiderations are an attempt to analyze economic, political and first of all military factors which allowed capturingthe city in 240/241 by the Sasanian army

The Rebellion of Anōš Āzād

Author(s): Michael Richard Jackson Bonner / Language(s): English Issue: 5/2016

This article analyses the sources of the Rebellion of Anōš Āzād, son of Xusrō Anōšīrvān. The truth of what happened during this important period of Iranian history may never be known. But historical sources have transmitted fragments of the story from various different perspectives – often in lacunary form. Reading the relevant sources together, and analysing them, allows us to determine why some sources are fragmentary or deliberately misleading. It is possible to infer why certain authors, such as Procopius and Dinawari, might have been motivated to suppress or distort certain details also.

Some Remarks on the Eurocentricism and Imperialism in the Construction of International Law

Author(s): Punsara Amarasinghe / Language(s): English Issue: 9/2020

The modern international law is considered an offshoot of European intellectual contributions as its basic foundation is deeply imbued with the political and social upheavals took place in European history. As an example, the Westphalian order emerged in the culmination of thirty years war in 1648 was regarded as the most pivotal mile stone in modern history of international law. Yet the European domination and its intellectual contribution to the development of international law systematically excluded non-European nations from international law and its protection, which finally paved the path to use international law in the 19th century as a tool of legitimizing the colonial expansion. This paper seeks to trace the historiography of modern international law and its dubious nature of disdaining non-Europeans and their civilizational thinking. Furthermore, this paper argues how European historical encounters carved the map of international law from a vantage point, which gave an utter prominence upon the European intellectual monopoly. The results emerge from this paper will strongly suggest the need of an alternative scholarship to unveil the history of international law.

Michael R. Jackson Bonner, The Last Empire of Iran. Gorgias Press, Piscataway 2020, ISBN: 978-1-4632-0616-1

Author(s): Anita SMYK / Language(s): English Issue: 9/2020

The Dethronement of Bernardo II in 1615. The Role of a Violence and Christianity in Ideology of Power in Kongo in the first half of the 17th century

Author(s): Robert Piętek / Language(s): English Issue: 10/2021

The article presents a spectacular occurrence of violence in Kongo during the first half of the 17th century related to power struggles, shown mainly on the example of Bernardo II being dethroned by Álvaro III. Executing rivals in such a striking fashion was both meant as a warning to potential rebels against taking similar actions, and as a way to emphasize the monarch’s power. Christianity played also important role in Kongolese ideology of royal power, which obviously did not exclude referring to pre-Christian customs. Despite such actions, the Kongolese monarchs did not manage to gain full control of the territory during the first half of the 17th century or to counteract the revolts.

Personnel policy of the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Finance in the Kingdom of Poland in the years 1850-1862

Author(s): Krzysztof LATAWIEC / Language(s): English Issue: 10/2021

In 1851 the Kingdom of Poland was placed under the Russian customs jurisdiction, which resulted in the emergence of the Russian customs administration. For the system to function properly, the selection of appropriately trained clerical staff was needed. Moreover, the functioning of the customs administration in the consecutive years was only possible thanks to permanent full staffing of customs offices. The research into archival sources made it possible to analyze the personnel policy conducted in the Kingdom of Poland by the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Finance in the Russian Empire. As it turned out, the customs administration, despite being Russian in structure, was dominated by clerks of Polish origin and Roman Catholic denomination. Furthermore, the Russian authorities tried to rely on employees experienced in working for the customs offices operating in the Kingdom of Poland before 1851.

О некоторых вопросах зарождения и деятельности политических партии Казахстана конца ХIХ и нач. XX-го века

Author(s): Bakyt NURPEISSOVA / Language(s): Russian Issue: 10/2021

The article highlights the history of the origin and activities of various political partiesin Kazakhstan that came to the political arena in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On the basis of archival documents and other sources, the program provisions, goals and objectives of their activities have been studied. The article describes and analyzes the composition of the participants in political parties and movement. The forms, methods of struggle are described, the reasons and conditions for the emergence of political parties and movements that existed at that time are analyzed. Also important in the political life of Kazakhstan at the beginning of the twentieth century, the history of the origin and activities of the national party ‘Alash’. The article devotes a special place to political exiles who deserve an assessment of their tireless activity, who, despite the strict and secret surveillance of the gendarmerie, continued the struggle against the tsarist autocracy. The political exiles of the beginning of the 20th century, who found themselves in a foreign land in captivity and cut off from their own living environment, already in the new conditions are organized into political unions and continue to fight.

The attitude presented in the press published by the Polish Socialist Party towards Gypsies in the interwar period – social and political issues

Author(s): Alicja GONTAREK / Language(s): English Issue: 10/2021

The publication discusses the Polish Socialist Party's (PPS) attitude to Gypsies and the Gypsy question in the interwar period from 1918 to 1939. An extensive search of the PPS press, including around 1600 articles on the Gypsy population, has shown that this issue also interested the PPS. However, the socialists had a decidedly negative attitude to Gypsies. This was conditioned by the fact that the party found itself in opposition to the government camp, which supported the aspirations of Gypsy kings from the Kwiek clan, and it was with them that the PPS identified Gypsies. Secondly, the strong ideologization of the party's press, based among other things on the cult of work, led to a rejection of the lifestyle of the majority of Gypsies, who represented a nomadic and semi-nomadic culture of life.

The attitude of the soviet authorities to the first wave of ‘nomaders’ according to the documents of the ‘special folders’ of the CC CP(B)K

Author(s): Madi Tursynbekovich SHOTAYEV,Kairat Shakarimovich ALIMGAZINOV,Gulbanu ZHUGENBAYEVA / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2022

The central party organs dealt with all issues of the internal and foreign policy of the republic, led the national economy, public organizations, and personnel policy. Therefore, the documents of the ‘special folders’ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) Kazakhstan reflect various spheres of the life of the republic, which for a long time were not available to researchers due to the highest secrecy stamp imposed. The article deals with one of such areas of the problem – the settlement of Kazakh repatriates and representatives of other nationalities from China, who left during the civil war, collectivization, famine and repressions, who, unable to withstand the attitude of local residents and the persecution of the authorities of the country, republic or regions to which they moved, returned back to Kazakhstan. The ways of solving problems related to their settlement in Soviet farms, organization of trade with them, their cultural services, medical care, their resettlement, maintenance and veterinary services for their livestock are analyzed. Authors describes the reasons and measures to prevent the mass return of "nomads" back to China, despite all the decisions taken, the measures taken by the leadership of the republic in connection with the gaps made by some representatives of local authorities during their placement.

Russia’s war with Ukraine and Russia’s revisionism on the international stage

Author(s): Tomasz STĘPNIEWSKI / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2022

Russia’s armed conflict with Ukraine, ongoing since 2014, has created conditions for Russia to revise the balance of power in Eastern Europe, and even the international order established after the Cold War. The aim of this article is firstly to show Ukraine, in a highly synthetic way, as a state at a crossroads but simultaneously a key state in terms of Russia’s interests in the post-Soviet area, then the motives for Russia’s redrawing the post-Cold War international order, taking into account the location and role of Ukraine. The article merely indicates the problem of research, and does not claim the right to comprehensively cover the issue in question.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: Politics of Bloodline after Brexit

Author(s): Marina-Cristiana Rotaru / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

The aim of this paper is to try and identify political meanings attached to the wedding of Prince Harry of Great Britain and his biracial wife, the American Meghan Markle. Given the particular context triggered by Brexit and the recent approval of Prince Charles as the next head of the Commonwealth, it is not far-fetched to consider that there may be components of the wedding ceremony that carefully carry particular political meanings. Traditionally, foreign policy was the prerogative of the Crown, but starting with the reign of Queen Victoria, things progressively began to change in spite of the queen’s robust opposition to being deprived of what she considered to be her powers. Today, British foreign policy is established by the Foreign Office, but the monarch and the royal family still play important diplomatic roles, being the spearheads of British interests abroad. This analysis makes use of the concepts of “dress” and “dressing” coined by Roland Barthes in order to decodify the symbolism of the uniform of the groom and the wedding veil of the bride. This investigation aims to highlight the connection between the royal attire and the potential roles the two spouses may play in the relationship between Great Britain and the Commonwealth.

Co to jest Naród?

Author(s): Michał K. Pawlikowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 32/2022

Przed wiekiem [XIX w.] zaczęła się w Europie wielka dyskusja dokoła nazwy czegoś, co jakoby wtedy dopiero zostało odkryte, a nawet jakoby wtedy dopiero w ogóle powstało: dokoła problemu narodu. Tymczasem istota narodu była stara jak świat, bez względu na to, jaką miała nazwę – i nie można o niej nawet tego powiedzieć, iż dopiero w XIX w. została odkryta. Prawdą jest tylko, że wiek ten dopiero wysunął na pierwsze miejsce problemy społeczno-polityczne, a wraz z nimi problem narodu.

Što pišem, to (ne)mislim? Riječi vs misli intelektualca u NDH - slučaj Josipa Horvata

Author(s): Tomislav Kardum / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 7/2022

In the paper, the author deals with the neglected activities of Croatian journalist and author Josip Horvat during the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). Horvat’s activities can’t be explained properly if we, as previous researchers have done, look upon them as just the marginal aspect of the Horvat opus. The author compares Horvat’s views from his posthumously published diary and numerous texts written during the Second world war. Casting doubt about the authenticity of certain parts of the diary, the author concludes that „private” views are secondary, while the public sphere is primarily relevant when studying the intellectuals. Namely, during the NDH, Horvat wrote numerous texts from a clearly articulated Croatian nationalist, conservative and pro-Axis perspective. He praised the state leadership, for which he received an award from poglavnik Ante Pavelić in april of 1945. In articles and the book Kultura Hrvata kroz 1000 godina (Croat Culture Through a 1000 Years) Horvat espoused conservative criticism of economic liberalism, praising the conservative way of life of Croatian peasants, as well as the institution of zadruga. His views about recent political history are in line with the views of the ruling ustasha movement in the NDH, while he espoused many views in line with the Croatian interwar nationalism. Also, he defended the foreign policy of the NDH, as well as the participation of Croats in the Battle of Stalingrad, which he dubbed a battle for European culture against bolshevism.

Pukovnik Ivan Babić - život i djelo

Author(s): Đuro Škvorc / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 7/2022

In the following article, I will summarize and reconstruct the life and work of Ivan Babić based on sources, literature, and memories of his cousin Srećko Solar from Sveti Ivan Žabno. He was born in 1904 in Sveti Ivan Žabno and died in 1982 in Torremolinos, Spain. He is best known to the public for escaping from the Independent State of Croatia to the Allies in early 1944 to Italy by plane. The overall activity in the homeland was marked by military service in the Royal Yugoslav Army and the Croatian Home Guard, and abroad by political activity in emigration. In 1941, as an adjutant to military commander Slavko Kvaternik, he was one of the most important officers in the organization of the Croatian Home Guard. On behalf of the Home Guard and the Croatian Peasant Party, he led unsuccessful negotiations with representatives of the partisan movement from June 1943 to the beginning of December 1943. Fearing that the Croatian people would see the end of the war alongside the defeated Germans, he tried to establish cooperation with the Allies in agreement with the Croatian Peasant Party in early 1944. It was too late because they had already opted for the partisans led by Josip Broz Tito.

Dalmatinski jugomonarhisti u dokumentima OZNE-e i UDBE-e. Dr. Čedomilj Medini, dr. Vlade Matošić, Slavko Arneri, Vojin Arambašin

Author(s): Nikola Milovančev / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 7/2022

The documents (that cover the period between 1937 and 1951) of the communist authorities such as „The Department for People’s Protection” and „The State Security Administration” from Dalmatia were published in this article. Documents on this topic have been published as part of document collections until now. The purpose of this paper is to describe the fates of several individuals in the communist repressive system at the end of World War II and the subsequent years following its conclusion. The documents selected represent the fates of several well-known individuals who were of monarchist, Yugoslav unitarian political orientation.

Željko Karaula, Sekula Drljević 1885.-1945. Politička biografija

Author(s): Husnija Kamberović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 7/2022

Review of: Željko Karaula, Sekula Drljević 1885.-1945. Politička biografija, Crnogorski kulturni forum - Dukljanska akademija nauka i umjetnosti, Cetinje, 2022.

Dražen Kovačević, Ivanićgradski križni putovi

Author(s): Stipo Pilić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 7/2022

Review of: Dražen Kovačević, Ivanićgradski križni putovi, Sisačka biskupija, Sisak, 2022.

Tragom jedne misli Emilija Laszowskog: Krčingrad kao moguće prvobitno sjedište Drežničke županije

Author(s): Hrvoje Kekez,Petar Sekulić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 64/2023

The medieval fortress of Krčingrad is situated on a wooded peninsula between the Kozjačko and Gradinsko lakes, within the Plitvice Lakes National Park. Archaeological investigations conducted so far have confirmed that the visible remains of the fortress date back to the late 13th or early 14th century, while a broad contextualization of the preserved written sources suggests that it was most likely built by the Babonić Counts to protect the entrance to their political and economic domain. Krčingrad occupied a strategic position along a significant traffic route that, transversing the Plitvice Lakes area, connected the territories of medieval Drežnik and Krbava Counties with Lika County. The paper explores Emilij Laszowski’s hypothesis that Krčingrad was the original centre of the medieval Drežnik County, analysing the previous opinions expressed in historiographical literature while also taking into account medieval written sources, various later testimonies, and an assessment of the geostrategic importance of the Plitvice area during the High Middle Ages through the spectrum of the central functions of a settlement.

Šibenski kršćanski robovi u Napulju i otkup šibenskoga plemića Ivana Krstitelja Zavorovića iz turskoga zarobljeništva: prilog poznavanju porobljavanja na Jadranu i u Ugarskoj u 16. i 17. stoljeću

Author(s): Iva Kurelac / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 64/2023

Starting from the insufficient scholarly research of enslavement and slavery in Šibenik and its district during the Renaissance and the early modern period, which coincided with intense Ottoman incursions, this article analyses and presents two historical sources from the first half of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century. These sources offer first-hand testimonies regarding the fate of individuals who were enslaved and taken from the border areas to the Ottoman Empire, specifically from the Šibenik Hinterland and Hungary. The first document (National University Library, Zagreb, Collection of Manuscripts and Old Books, shelf mark: R-3931/4, Šibenik. Documenta ad illustrandam historiam civitatis Sibenicensis) focuses on a group of Christian slaves (Morlacs) from Šibenik and the part of its district under Ottoman administration, who were forcefully taken to Naples, probably in the first half of the 16th century, where they were considered Turks. The second source (Šibenik Diocesan Archive, Šibenik, 18/1: Šibenik Diocese, Diocesan Curia, vol. 48, Liber diuersorum) presents the testimony of the Šibenik Chapter concerning the redemption of Šibenik’s nobleman Iohannes Baptista Zavoreus, the son of Šibenik’s humanist and historian Dominicus Zavoreus (ca. 1540-1608), from Turkish captivity in 1606. He had been captured while involved in the Hungarian military forces defending Esztergom against Ottoman attacks in 1605. Both sources are contextualized within the historical circumstances of their creation and then examined in the broader scholarly knowledge of enslavement in the Adriatic and Hungary during the Renaissance and early modern period. The research aims to determine the extent to which the fate of slaves and captives from the Šibenik area aligns with the general treatment of slaves and prisoners during that time. The findings confirm the hypothesis put forth by N. Budak that individuals from all social classes were at risk of being captured and that despite legal prohibitions in the Eastern Adriatic communes, including Šibenik, enslavement remained a widespread activity aimed at profiting from the sale or purchase of enslaved individuals. The document from the Šibenik Diocesan Archive about the redemption of Iohannes Baptista Zavoreus from Turkish captivity also reveals previously unknown facts about his life, contributing to a better understanding of the history of the Šibenik noble family Zavoreus and their involvement in anti-Turkish wars.

Vjerska problematika u pravaškom tjedniku Hervatska 1871. godine

Author(s): Jasna Turkalj / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 64/2023

Based on scholarly literature and periodicals, primarily articles published in the Party of Rights’ weekly Hervatska, this paper offers an overview of the opinions expressed by Ante Starčević, Eugen Kvaternik, the young associates in the editorial office, and the weekly’s correspondents on various religious and church-related matters. The weekly engaged in discussions influenced by domestic and European political events, addressing the abolition of the Papal State in 1870, the secular authority of the Pope, and the appointment of bishops in Croatia. During this time, there was intense criticism directed towards Bishop Strossmayer for his statements regarding Protestants and the dogma of papal infallibility, which had been confirmed during the First Vatican Council. These discussions marked the beginning of a fierce conflict that would escalate in the subsequent months, particularly during the May elections for the Croatian Parliament in 1871 and thereafter. The conflict emerged between the supporters of the Party of Rights and the Catholic clergy who aligned themselves with Strossmayer’s National Party. The First General Assembly of Croatian Teachers provided the collaborators of Hervatska with an opportunity to express their support for the secularization of education. Additionally, debates on the Paris Commune brought to light differences between the deeply religious Kvaternik and his young collaborators in the editorial office of Hervatska regarding social issues, particularly the notion of religion and its role in the society.