The Political Economy of International Commodity Cartels examines how international commodity cartels in the 1930s were impacted not only by commercial rivalry, but also by international trade political and diplomatic concerns. This work presents the rise and decline of the European Timber Exporters' Convention (ETEC) and analyses how firms navigated through the cartel game under increasing international competition, pressures from the national governments, and the interventionist endeavours of the League of Nations. Cartels are often associated with, in the standard economic interpretation, business collusion. However, in using vast archive sources and historical methodology, the chapters in this book shed light onto how international relations shaped cartels. The rise of British protectionism, the emergence of the Soviet Union as an industrial power, and the economic rapprochement of the League of Nations in the early 1930s created a wave of political and diplomatic challenges in the timber trading countries and affected cartelisation. Timber firms in the biggest producer countries-Finland and Sweden-were uninterested in international cartel collaboration, but under pressure joined the ETEC nevertheless. This book makes a strong contribution to the fields of business history and cartel studies. It is an essential read for economic historians interested in how political pressure shaped international cartels and how cartels became avenues of diplomacy.

The German imperial knights were branded disobedient, criminal, or treasonous, but instead of finding themselves on the wrong side of history, they resisted marginalization and adapted through a combination of conservative and progressive strategies. The knights tried to turn the elite world on its head through their constant challenges to the princes in the realms of both culture and governance. They held their own chivalric tournaments from 1479-1487, and defied the emperor and powerful princes in refusing to obey laws that violated custom. But their resistance led to a series of disasters in the 1520s: their leaders were hunted down and their castles destroyed. Having failed on their own, they turned to Emperor Charles V in the 1540s and the imperial knighthood was formed. This new status stabilized their position and provided them with important rights, including the choice between Lutheranism and Catholicism. During the Reformation era (1517-1648), no other German group embraced diversity in religion like the imperial knights. Despite the popularity of Protestantism in the group, they stood up to their princely adversaries, now Protestant, becoming champions of the Catholic Church and proved themselves just as staunch defenders of the Church as the Habsburg and Wittelsbach dynasties.

In early modern Europe, discernment emerged as a key notion at the intersection of various domains in both learned and artisanal cultures. Often used synonymously with judgment, ingenuity, and taste, discernment defined the ability to perceive and understand the secrets of nature and art, and became explicitly connected with a kind of knowledge available only to experts in the respective fields. With contributions by historians of art and historians of science, and with geographic coverage focusing on the Low Countries and their multiple connections to different parts of the world, this volume reframes recent scholarship on what the editors term 'cultures of knowledge and discernment' in the early modern period. The collection is innovative in its focus on investigating types of knowledge linked to what was then called the 'science' (scientia) of art, to artistic expertise and connoisseurship, and to 'secrets of art and nature.'

Hanibal [1697- 1761] was probably the most outstanding African in Europe in the 18th Century, his rags to riches life, and the fact that he was the great grandfather of Russia's greatest writer, Alexander Pushkin, makes him of even greater interest. Now finally appearing in English, this was the book, based on original research, which proved fairly conclusively that Hanibal (sometimes spelt Gannibal in English) was born in Logone-Birni, in present day Cameroon rather than, as was supposed, in Ethiopia. This book recounts his life story: he was taken as a slave to Istanbul and then to Russia at the age of 8. Tsar Peter the Great and adopted educated him. He was sent to study mathematics and military engineering in France, where he joined the French army fighting against Spain and was promoted to the rank of captain. Back in Russia: he was promoted but was briefly exiled to Siberia where he designed fortresses on the frontier. His first marriage was a disaster but he went on to marry a Swedish aristocrat with whom he had seven children, one of whom, Osip, was to be the grandfather of Pushkin. There were moments in his life when he suffered for being black, yet he ended his life as a pillar of the Russian aristocracy, even owning serfs. Hanibal's contribution to the technical advancement of the Russian army was huge. He was commander-in-chief, director of fortifications and head of the engineering corps. In 1725-26 he published an important text book on geometry and fortification for engineering students and he introduced the study of civil engineering into the Russian schools of military engineering.

When Marjory Wardrop joined her diplomat brother, Oliver, in Georgia in 1894, they found themselves witnessing the birth pangs of a modern nation. Recognising the significance of these transformative years, they actively participated in the work of Ilia Chavchavadze and other leaders of the independence movement, culminating in Georgia's declaration of independence in 1918. Becoming increasingly fascinated by Georgian history and culture, the Wardrops gathered a significant collection of manuscripts dating from the eleventh to the twentieth century, including a seventeenth-century manuscript of Georgia's national epic poem, 'The Man in the Panther's Skin', which Marjory famously translated. A remarkable number of items in the collection, now housed at the Bodleian Library, illuminate an important aspect of medieval and modern Georgia. Through these items - manuscripts, royal charters, correspondence, notebooks and a draft of the 1918 declaration of Independence - Nikoloz Aleksidze narrates a history of Georgian literature and culture, from the importance of epic and folk tales, to the Georgian Church's battle against persecution, to the political activism of women in Georgia at the end of the nineteenth century. Richly illustrated with rare and previously unpublished images from the collection, this book not only offers a unique insight into Georgian culture and political history and but also tells the remarkable story of an eccentric English diplomat and his talented sister, whose monument now stands outside the parliament building in Tbilisi

This Variorum collection of articles is intended to illustrate that conflict in the late Middle Ages was not only about soldiers and fighting (about the makers and the making of war), important as these were. Just as it remains in our own day, war was a subject which attracted writers (commentators, moralists and social critics among them), some of whom glorified war, while others did not. For the historian the written word is important evidence of how war, and those taking part in it, might be regarded by the wider society. One question was supremely important: what was the standing among their contemporaries of those who fought society's wars? How was war seen on the moral scale of the time? The last two sections deal with a particular war, the 'occupation' of northern France by the English between 1420 and 1450. The men who conquered the duchy, and then served to keep it under English control for those years, had to be rewarded with lands, titles, administrative and military responsibilities, even (for the clergy) ecclesiastical benefices. For these, war spelt 'opportunity', whose advantages they would be reluctant to surrender. The final irony lies in the fact that Frenchmen, returning to claim their ancestral rights once the English had been driven out, frequently found it difficult to unravel both the legal and the practical consequences of a war which had caused a considerable upheaval in Norman society over a period of a single generation.

From flowers and perfumes to urban sanitation and personal hygiene, smell-a sense that is simultaneously sublime and animalistic-has played a pivotal role in western culture and thought. Greek and Roman writers and thinkers lost no opportunity to connect the smells that bombarded their senses to the social, political and cultural status of the individuals and environments that they encountered: godly incense and burning sacrifices, seductive scents, aromatic cuisines, stinking bodies, pungent farmyards and festering back-streets. The cultural study of smell has largely focused on pollution, transgression and propriety, but the olfactory sense came into play in a wide range of domains and activities: ancient medicine and philosophy, religion, botany and natural history, erotic literature, urban planning, dining, satire and comedy-where odours, aromas, scents and stenches were rich and versatile components of the ancient sensorium. The first comprehensive introduction to the role of smell in the history, literature and society of classical antiquity, Smell and the Ancient Senses explores and probes the ways that the olfactory sense can contribute to our perceptions of ancient life, behaviour, identity and morality.

The Medici are famous as the rulers of Florence at the high point of the Renaissance. Their power derived from the family bank, and this book tells the fascinating, frequently bloody story of the family and the dramatic development and collapse of their bank (from Cosimo who took it over in 1419 to his grandson Lorenzo the Magnificent who presided over its precipitous decline). The Medici faced two apparently insuperable problems: how did a banker deal with the fact that the Church regarded interest as a sin and had made it illegal? How in a small republic like Florence could he avoid having his wealth taken away by taxation? But the bank became indispensable to the Church. And the family completely subverted Florence's claims to being democratic. They ran the city. Medici Money explores a crucial moment in the passage from the Middle Ages to the Modern world, a moment when our own attitudes to money and morals were being formed.To read this book is to understand how much the Renaissance has to tell us about our own world. Medici Money is one of the launch titles in a new series, Atlas Books, edited by James Atlas. Atlas Books pairs fine writers with stories of the economic forces that have shaped the world, in a new genre - the business book as literature.

The chapters gathered in this volume examine the main drivers, beneficiaries and discontents of state formation across and beyond Europe in the early modern period / This book will appeal to all those interested in the political systems of Early Modern Europe / This book also covers numerous topics related to the building of the 'Early Modern State', including standing armies, monetary and financial policy, legal policy, as well as resistance and opposition to these changes

The British and French in the Atlantic 1650-1800 provides a comprehensive history of this complex period and explores the contrasting worlds of the British and the French Empires as they strove to develop new societies in the Americas. Charting the volatile relationship between the British and French, this book examines the approaches that both empires took as they attempted to realise their ambitions of exploration, conquest and settlement, and highlights the similarities as well as the differences between them. Both empires faced slave revolts, internal rebellion and revolution as well as frequent wars against one another, which came to dominate the Atlantic world, and which culminated in the eventual failure of both empires in North America: the French following the Seven Years War in 1763 and the British twenty years later in the war against American Independence. Delving into key themes, such as exploration and settlement, the creation of societies, inequality and exploitation, conflict and violence, trade and slavery, and featuring a range of documents to enable a deeper insight into the relationship between the colonising Europeans and Native Americans, The British and French in the Atlantic 1650-1800 is ideal for students of the Atlantic World, early modern Britain and France, and colonial America.

For three millennia the Mediterranean Sea served as the center of western civilization and the scene of many colossal wars and naval battles. In the early summer of 1940, this ancient body of water again played host to a new and extensive conflict as the Kingdom of Italy challenged Britain for dominance within the region. With France on the verge of collapse and Britain facing the prospect of imminent invasion, the Italians hoped to re-establish control over the Mediterranean. The only thing standing in their way was the heavily outnumbered British Mediterranean Fleet and the equally outnumbered British ground and air forces present in the region. Together, these forces would determine whether the Mediterranean reverted back to Italian control or whether the Allies would prevail and retain supremacy over this great body of water for themselves. This book tells the story of this epic struggle. This was a prolonged and colossal conflict waged at differing times against the combined forces of Italy, Germany and Vichy France over a wide area stretching from the coastal waters of Southern Europe in the north to Madagascar in the south and Africa's Atlantic coast in the west to the Persian Gulf in the east. Utilizing a variety of weapons including surface warships, submarines, and aircraft along with sizable merchant fleets, the British and their subsequent American partners maintained vital seaborne lines of communication, conducted numerous amphibious landings, interdicted Axis supply activities and eventually eliminated all semblances of Axis maritime power within the theatre. In turn, these actions facilitated multiple Allied victories that helped secure the defeat of the European Axis.

Innovative attention to biographies, to cartoons, and to popular media The volume effectively covers broad analytical and geographical ground over a long historical period Editors and contributors are well respected and important leaders in the field

In 1600, Giordano Bruno, one of the leading intellectuals of the Renaissance, was burned at the stake on the charge of heresy by the Roman Inquisition. He is remembered primarily for his cosmological theories, particularly that the universe was infinite with the Earth not being at its centre. Today, he has become a symbol of the struggle for religious and philosophical tolerance. The Trial of Giordano Bruno, originally published in Italian in 2018, provides English audiences with a complete and updated reconstruction of the inquisitorial trial by analysing the accusations, witnesses, and legal proceedings in detail. The author also gives a detailed profile of Bruno as well as the body which arrested and accused him - the Inquisition. This book will appeal to all those interested in the life and death of Giordano Bruno, as well as those interested in Early Modern legal proceedings, the Roman Inquisition, and the history of religious and philosophical tolerance.

Isabella d'Este, Marchioness of Mantua (1474-1539), is one of the most studied figures of Renaissance Italy, as an epitome of Renaissance court culture and as a woman having an unusually prominent role in the politics of her day. This biography provides a well-rounded account of the full range of her activities and interests from her childhood to her final years as a dowager, and considers Isabella d'Este not as an icon but as a woman of her time and place in the world. It covers all aspects of her life including her relationship with her parents and siblings as well as with her husband and children; her interest in literature and music, painting and antiquities; her political and diplomatic activities; her concern with fashion and jewellery; her relations with other women; and her love of travel. In this book, grounded in an understanding of the context of the Italy of her day, the typical interests and behaviour of women of Isabella d'Este's status within Renaissance Italy are distinguished from those that were unique to her, such as the elaborate apartments that she created for herself and her extensive surviving correspondence, which provides insights into all aspects of life in the major courts of northern Italy, centres of Renaissance culture. Providing fresh perspectives on one of the most famous figures of Renaissance Italy, Isabella d'Este will be of great interest to undergraduates and graduates of early modern history, gender studies, renaissance studies and art history.

The medium PKW of the German Wehrmacht is described in both photographs and text.

This book presents a comprehensive analysis of the Italian experience of transitional justice examining how the crimes of Fascism and World War II have been dealt with from a comparative perspective. Particular focus is given to the Togliatti Amnesty, the major turning point, through comparisons to the wider European post-WWII transitional scenario and other relevant transitional amnesties, allowing consideration of the intense debate on the legitimacy of amnesties under international law. The book will be essential reading for students, researchers and academics in International Criminal Law, Transitional Justice, History, Memory Studies and Political Science.

European integration is an ambitious goal that attempts to reconcile grandiose visions for the future of Europe with complicated national attitudes toward unity. The added complexity of political crises, which have characterized the European project from its outset, makes the success of the European Union far from guaranteed. Today, European unity is once again at an existential crossroad, with internal and external challenges threatening its integration. This volume uniquely brings together the novel perspectives of Europe's emergent generation of thinkers to analyze through interdisciplinary lenses these various disintegrative pressures. Students and scholars of Europe as well as those interested in the future of European cohesion will enjoy this volume, both for the interdisciplinary analysis it brings forth and for the window it provides into the thinking of Europe's next generation of leaders.

Alastair Duke has long been recognized as one of the leading scholars of the early modern Netherlands, known internationally for his important work on the impact of religious change on political events which was the focus of his Reformation and Revolt in the Low Countries (1990). Bringing together an updated selection of his previously published essays - together with one entirely new chapter and two that appear in English here for the first time - this volume explores the emergence of new political and religious identities in the early modern Netherlands. Firstly it analyses the emergence of a common identity amongst the amorphous collection of states in north-western Europe that were united first under the rule of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy and later the Habsburg princes, and traces the fortunes of this notion during the political and religious conflicts that divided the Low Countries during the second half of the sixteenth century. A second group of essays considers the emergence of dissidence and opposition to the regime, and explores how this was expressed and disseminated through popular culture. Finally, the volume shows how in the age of confessionalisation and civil war, challenging issues of identity presented themselves to both dissenting groups and individuals. Taken together these essays demonstrate how these dissident identities shaped and contributed to the development of the Netherlands during the early modern period.

"A fascinating, if disturbing, window onto the origins of racism." -Publishers Weekly "The eighteenth-century essays published for the first time in Who's Black and Why? contain a world of ideas-theories, inventions, and fantasies-about what blackness is, and what it means. To read them is to witness European intellectuals, in the age of the Atlantic slave trade, struggling, one after another, to justify atrocity." -Jill Lepore, author of These Truths: A History of the United States The first translation and publication of sixteen submissions to the notorious eighteenth-century Bordeaux essay contest on the cause of black skin-an indispensable chronicle of the rise of scientifically based, anti-Black racism. In 1739 Bordeaux's Royal Academy of Sciences announced a contest for the best essay on the sources of "blackness." What is the physical cause of blackness and African hair, and what is the cause of Black degeneration, the contest announcement asked. Sixteen essays, written in French and Latin, were ultimately dispatched from all over Europe. The authors ranged from naturalists to physicians, theologians to amateur savants. Documented on each page are European ideas about who is Black and why. Looming behind these essays is the fact that some four million Africans had been kidnapped and shipped across the Atlantic by the time the contest was announced. The essays themselves represent a broad range of opinions. Some affirm that Africans had fallen from God's grace; others that blackness had resulted from a brutal climate; still others emphasized the anatomical specificity of Africans. All the submissions nonetheless circulate around a common theme: the search for a scientific understanding of the new concept of race. More important, they provide an indispensable record of the Enlightenment-era thinking that normalized the sale and enslavement of Black human beings. These never previously published documents survived the centuries tucked away in Bordeaux's municipal library. Translated into English and accompanied by a detailed introduction and headnotes written by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Andrew Curran, each essay included in this volume lays bare the origins of anti-Black racism and colorism in the West.

National indifference is one of the most innovative notions historians have brought to the study of nationalism in recent years. The concept questions the mass character of nationalism in East Central Europe at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century. Ordinary people were not in thrall to the nation; they were often indifferent, ambivalent or opportunistic when dealing with issues of nationhood. As with all ground-breaking research, the literature on national indifference has not only revolutionized how we understand nationalism, over time, it has also revealed a new set of challenges. This volume brings together experienced scholars with the next generation, in a collaborative effort to push the geographic, historical, and conceptual boundaries of national indifference 2.0.

This book traces the origins of a financial institution, the modern corporation, in Genoa and reconstructs its diffusion in England, the Netherlands, and France. At its inception, the Casa di San Giorgio (1407-1805) was entrusted with managing the public debt in Genoa. Over time, it took on powers we now ascribe to banks and states, accruing financial characteristics and fiscal, political, and territorial powers. As one of the earliest central banks, it ruled territories and local populations for almost a century. It controlled strategic Genoese possessions near and far, including the island of Corsica, the city of Famagusta (in Cyprus), and trading posts in Crimea, the Black Sea, the Lunigiana in northern Tuscany, and various towns in Liguria. In the early sixteenth century, in his Florentine Histories (Book VIII, Chapter 29), Niccolo Machiavelli was the first to analyze the relationship between the Casa di San Giorgio's financial and territorial powers, declaring its possession of territories as the basis of its ascendancy. Later, the founders of some of the earliest corporations, including the Dutch East India Company (1602), the Bank of England (1694), and John Law's Mississippi Company (1720) in France, referenced the model of the Casa di San Giorgio.

Examining ethnic identity, memory, and use of the past through the lens of the history of Italy during the post-Roman/early Middle Ages, this book guides postgraduate and upper level undergraduate students through these new research areas and explores the importance of their study. The book focuses ethnic identity, memory, and use of the past. Particular attention is devoted to the way some authors were sometimes influenced by their own "present" in their reconstruction of the past. Enabling students to see how the past was 'used' by those who recorded it. The volume also assesses the challenges that the features of the primary sources and sometimes their scarcity poses to their interpretations, providing a useful guide for students engaging with these sources for the first time.

Examining ethnic identity, memory, and use of the past through the lens of the history of Italy during the post-Roman/early Middle Ages, this book guides postgraduate and upper level undergraduate students through these new research areas and explores the importance of their study. The book focuses ethnic identity, memory, and use of the past. Particular attention is devoted to the way some authors were sometimes influenced by their own "present" in their reconstruction of the past. Enabling students to see how the past was 'used' by those who recorded it. The volume also assesses the challenges that the features of the primary sources and sometimes their scarcity poses to their interpretations, providing a useful guide for students engaging with these sources for the first time.

Professor Rice, assisted in this edition by Professor Tony Grafton continues to argue, as in the first edition, that this century represents a shift from medieval to "early" modern.