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Barbara Jelavich, who died recently, taught history for nearly four decades at the University of California, Berkeley, and Indiana University. With her husband Charles, she was one of the pioneers of Balkan historical scholarship in North America. When the American universities became the prime center of Balkan studies after the Second World War, the role of the Jelaviches acquired a broader significance both in research and the training of graduate students. The two-volume history of the modem Balkans, recently published in Hungarian translation, represents the apex of Barbara Jelavich’s lifelong accomplishment.
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This paper argues that the process of turning an uprising into a legitimate freedom fight for the elimination of the excesses of the Habsburg administration in the Kingdom of Hungary, including the recognition of the Hungarians as a negotiating party by the English and Dutch diplomacy at the beginning of the 18th century, was largely dependent on the military progresses made by the insurgent troops of Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II. However, it would be quite misleading to assume that the weakening of the Emperor, the most important ally of the Maritime Powers during the War of Spanish Succession, concerned the English and Dutch diplomats from a military point of view exclusively. The overwhelmingly Protestant public of England certainly had strong sympathies towards the Protestant subjects of the Kingdom of Hungary fighting against their Catholic Habsburg ruler, as a result of which the Whig government launched a media campaign to convince the public that the conflict in Hungary should by no means be deemed as a religious war. By doing so, Rákóczi’s movement was no longer regarded as an isolated regional conflict which is corroborated by the fact that English and Dutch diplomats were acting as mediators from late 1704 onwards to have the Court of Vienna and the Hungarians come to terms concerning a possible peaceful settlement in Hungary. Although the motivation of English diplomacy was largely influenced by the need of having to achieve the massive withdrawal of Imperial troops from Hungary and deploy them on the Rhine under the command of Marlborough, there were some English government figures who were keen on convincing the Habsburg ally to alter its attitude to the Hungarians. George Stepney, as an envoy extraordinary, who acted as a mediator with other Dutch diplomats was instrumental in presenting the Hungarian political, economic as well as religious grievances to his superiors in a balanced manner. According to English diplomatic reports and Stepney’s correspondence, the debacle of the negotiations between the Court of Vienna and the Hungarians did raise the prospect of threatening „the cause of Europe” as was put by an English government official.
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The paper addresses the question how the ceremonies surrounding the diplomatic contacts between the prince of Transylvania and the beylerbeyi of Buda mirror their place in the Ottoman international society. As rulers with (admittedly limited) sovereignty over their territories, according to a Christian European hierarchy, the former should have had a higher position than the latter, who functioned as local governors, deriving their power from the sultan’s authority. According to the rules of the Ottoman international society, however, this hierarchical difference did not exist: the princes of Transylvania also counted as the sultan’s servants and through the procedure of their investiture their rule was also based upon the padishah’s consent. An analysis of the Ottoman titulature of both dignitaries shows similar results to the earlier research on the Transylvanian princely insignia, that is that the princes were regarded to be on the same level as the beylerbeyi of Buda, who nevertheless had a prominent position among the Ottoman office-holders at the northwestern part of the empire. The ceremonies of the envoys’ reception at Buda show many similarities to the diplomatic rituals at the Sublime Porte. The exchange of gifts between the two sides (including the donation of kaftans by the beylerbeyi) also mirrors mutuality and no hierarchical difference between the princes and the pashas. Exactly this is why it is noteworthy that according to some reports the envoys kissed the hand of the beylerbeyi, which is a clear sign of subordination. A thorough analysis however, with comparative materials from Habsburg embassies and the Ottoman diplomacy of other tributary states at the province level shows that the envoys did not kiss the beylerbeyi’s hand in their quality as their ruler’s representative, rather in their own name – a peculiarity of the Ottoman international society in comparison to the Christian European one. The few personal meetings between the princes of Transylvania and the beylerbeyis of Buda included no such element of subordination.
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The Eastern Pact on Mutual Assistance (called at the beginning ‘Eastern Locarno’) was a Franco-Soviet initiative which drew much attention of politicians and public opinion in Europe in 1934. It was a proposal to be implemented into the collective security system. The article addresses the following questions: What was the main aim of British diplomacy in European affairs in 1934? Was London interested in the idea of an Eastern Pact on Mutual Assistance? Did the British diplomats see any profit for their country’s security in a Franco-Soviet proposal? Were they active in European diplomatic relations in the case of the Eastern Pact and if so to what extent? How did they understand collective security in East Central Europe? And how did they assess attitudes and motivations of the proposed signatories of this new coalition of states?
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The article examines some of the earliest influences of the Paleological art in the Medieval Bulgarian fortress town of Ochrida and partly in the surrounding areas. The pre-Revival tendencies in secular and icon painting are followed mainly in the Church of Holy Mother of God Peribleptos (St. Clement), built at the end of the 13th century, icons of the Ochrida school (13th-14th century), and some other town, village and cave churches in the region from the 13th to the 15th century.
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After the Berlin Congress the organized national liberation movement in Macedonia and the Adrianople region was led by the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization.
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The present research centers on a Bulgarian dialect that has not been described so far by any author — the Vrabnik dialect in the extreme South-West of the Bulgarian language territory (which is now within the borders of Albania).
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The purpose of the article is to present the Iran Hostage Crisis from the perspective of the Polish authorities. On the basis of a rich array of literature on the subject, comparison of Polish and American archival materials and research into the Polish contemporary press, the study presents a little-known Polish-American-Iranian picture of events occurring in relation with the American Embassy in Tehran, called by the authorities in Iran the “nest of spies” or “espionage den”.
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The seizure of Vilnius Region by Gen. Lucjan Żeligowski, development of the structures of Central Lithuania, elections to the Vilnius Parliament and a resolution of Vilnius Region to join the Polish Republic created a new quality in the bilateral Polish-Lithuanian relations. The seizure of Vilnius Region was a success of Warsaw. The Lithuanian state consequently avoided the establishment of diplomatic relations with Poland, while the geopolitical position of the Second Polish Republic made it necessary for Poland to have Lithuania as an ally supporting Polish efforts to form a common front against threats in the region.
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Under article 256 of the Treaty of Versailles, the states to which German territory was ceded, acquired all property and possessions situated therein belonging to the German Empire or to the German States. The technical part of this resolution for the former Prussian partition was regulated mainly by the Polish-German Agreement ceding the civilian administration signed in Berlin on 25 November 1919. The taking over of the state customs properties, initiated in Poznań province in January 1920, was concluded by the end of January of the following year.
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Functions performed by Polish consular posts in 1945–1949 (apart from standard administrative and official ones) were conditioned by the post-war situation, staff shortage, and by goals of foreign policy set by the leaders of the communist party. In the analysed period they consisted in caring for Polish citizens, repatriation and re-emigration operations, registration of war damages, and actions aiming at gaining the Polonia (often with the use of propaganda against the Polish governments in London). It is worthy of notice that, despite obvious influence of the communist authorities on the structures and forms of work of Polish consular offices at that time, there were also some positive aspects of their operations, such as, undoubtedly, their help to thousands of Poles in coming back to Poland, in getting old-age or disability pensions, compensations, inheritances, or their actions on behalf of searching people who went missing during the war. The initial years of the analysed period of post-war operations of Polish consular offices were characterised also by a strong commitment to the problems of assistance for Polish citizens in socialist countries, but with the lapse of time this function of consulates was becoming less and less important. This, together with some limitations of economic and commercial functions of the consul, resulted from the introduction of Soviet models into the structure of Polish foreign services after the World War Second.
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The paper outlines the events of the last year of the longest lasting Bulgaro-Byzantine war (967 – 1018). At the time, part of the Bulgarian aristocracy defended the independence of the Bulgarian Tsardom until the very end. Many leaders of the Bulgarian people died in battle with the Romaioi. Such was the fate of the Bulgarian Tsar John-Vladislav, the commanders Ivats and Sermon, etc. Others preferred to save themselves and retain their privileges. Among them were the Bulgarian Tsaritsa Maria, the ruler of the Inner region Bogdan, the Patriarch John, and the Governors of Pernik – Krakra, of Strumitsa – Dragomazh, of Skopje – Nikolitsa, etc. Left without its last ruler who had until then personified the independence of the Tsardom, some members of the Bulgarian aristocracy accepted their fate to be driven out of Bulgaria, but to keep their economic privileges. In their place, Romaioi from Asia Minor, Armenia and other provinces of the Empire were appointed administrative and military heads in the conquered Bulgarian lands.
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In the 16th century, the Balkan peoples live within the borders of the Ottoman Empire. The present paper outlines briefly the history of the town of Kratovo from Antiquity until the period of the Ottoman invasion. Special emphasis is put on Kratovo of the 16th century – the mining, the settlement pattern, the crafts, the population, Christianity and Islam. The life and deeds of St. George the New of Sofia, born in Kratovo and murdered in Sofia in 1515, and the distribution of his cult in the Bulgarian lands are also taken into account.
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