The Middle Ages is a term coined around 1450 to describe a thousand years of European History. In this Very Short Introduction, Miri Rubin provides an exploration of the variety, change, dynamism, and sheer complexity that the period covers. From the provinces of the Roman Empire, which became Barbarian kingdoms after c.450-650, to the northern and eastern regions that became increasingly integrated into Europe, Rubin explores the emergence of a truly global system of communication, conquest, and trade by the end of the era. Presenting an insight into the challenges of life in Europe between 500-1500 - at all levels of society - Rubin looks at kingship and family, agriculture and trade, groups and individuals. Conveying the variety of European experiences, while providing a sense of the communication, cooperation, and shared values of the pervasive Christian culture, Rubin looks at the legacies they left behind. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

This title is endorsed by Cambridge Assessment International Education to support the Modern Europe 1750-1921 Option from the Cambridge AS History syllabus for first examination from 2021. Develop knowledge and analytical skills with engaging comprehensive coverage of the Modern Europe 1750-1921 Option from the Cambridge AS History syllabus for first examination from 2021. - Trust in the clear and authoritative content written by topic experts - Develop source skills through questions on a wide range of sources - Stay focused on the key issues you need to understand with questions throughout each chapter - Improve study and understanding through detailed chapter summary diagrams - Build confidence with applying your knowledge through exam guidance and exam-style questions Also available in the series Modern Europe 1750-1921 Student eTextbook 9781510448841 International History 1870-1945 Student Book 9781510448674 Student eTextbook 9781510448902 The History of the USA 1820-1941 Student Book 9781510448681 Student eTextbook 9781510448872

The battle of Omaha occupies a prevalent place in our collective memory due to the tragic events that took place there on June 6, 1944. The beach code-named Utah, located at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula, has attracted less attention. Wrongly. According to General Eisenhower, the U-Force mission was the most complex and risky because of its distance from the beach and the presence of many German divisions. The 4th Infantry division and the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions had to fight hard to secure the Utah area. The scale of the losses alone - 3,500 men in total - demonstrates that the Battle of Utah deserves to be investigated in a new light.

The Reign of Terror continues to fascinate scholars as one of the bloodiest periods in French history, when the Committee of Public Safety strove to defend the first Republic from its many enemies, creating a climate of fear and suspicion in revolutionary France. R. R. Palmer's fascinating narrative follows the Committee's deputies individually and collectively, recounting and assessing their tumultuous struggles in Paris and their repressive missions in the provinces. A foreword by Isser Woloch explains why this book remains an enduring classic in French revolutionary studies.

What is Venice worth? To whom does this urban treasure belong? This eloquent book by the internationally renowned art historian Salvatore Settis urgently poses these questions, igniting a new debate about the Pearl of the Adriatic and cultural patrimony at large. Venetiansare increasingly abandoning their hometown - ther's now only one resident for every 140 visitors and Venice's fragile fate has become emblematic of the future of historic cities everywhere as it capitulates to tourists and those who profit from them. In If Venice Dies, a fiery blend of history and cultural analysis, Settis argues that ` hit-and-run' visitors are turning landmark urban setting into shopping malls and theme parks. He warns Western civilisation's prime achievements face impending ruin from mass tourism and global cultural homogenisation. This is passionate plea to secure Venice's future, written with consummate authority, wide-ranging erudition, and elan.

The Battle of the Somme epitomised the cruelty of the Western Front. 1 July 1916 witnessed the opening round of the British Army's attempt to break through an eighteen-mile front of heavily defended German lines straddling the River Somme in northern France. Preceded by an artillery bombardment of over 1,500 big guns that lasted a week, the inexperienced members of Lord Kitchener's New Army went 'over the top' and suffered the deadliest day in British military history. On the first day, British losses alone totalled nearly 20,000 dead. In the next four and a half months of combat, over 350,000 British soldiers would become casualties to one of the most intense, lethal, and futile engagements in history.

This new edition of Norman Davies's classic study of the history of Poland has been revised and fully updated with two new chapters to bring the story to the end of the twentieth century. The writing of Polish history, like Poland itself, has frequently fallen prey to interested parties. Professor Norman Davies adopts a sceptical stance towards all existing interpretations and attempts to bring a strong dose of common sense to his theme. He presents the most comprehensive survey in English of this frequently maligned and usually misunderstood country.

Covering the origins, key features, and legacy of the Islamic tradition, the third edition of A New Introduction to Islam includes new material on Islam in the 21st century and discussions of the impact of historical ideas, literature, and movements on contemporary trends. * Includes updated and rewritten chapters on the Qur an and hadith literature that covers important new academic research * Compares the practice of Islam in different Islamic countries, as well as acknowledging the differences within Islam as practiced in Europe * Features study questions for each chapter and more illustrative material, charts, and excerpts from primary sources

Available for the first time in English language translation, the third volume of Totalitarianism and Political Religions completes the set. It provides a comprehensive overview of key theories and theorists of totalitarianism and of political religions, from Hannah Arendt and Raymond Aron to Leo Strauss and Simone Weill. Edited by the eminent Professor Hans Maier, it represents a major study, examining how new models for understanding political history arose from the experience of modern despotic regimes. Where volumes one and two were concerned with questioning the common elements between twentieth century despotic regimes - Communism, Fascism, National Socialism, Maoism - this volume draws a general balance. It brings together the findings of research undertaken during the decade 1992-2002 with the cooperation of leading philosophers, historians and social scientists for the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Munich. Following the demise of Italian Fascism (1943-45), German National Socialism (1945) and Soviet Communism (1989-91), a comparative approach to the three regimes is possible. A broad field of interpretation of the entire phenomenon of totalitarian and political religions opens up. This comprehensive study examines a vast topic which affects the political and historical landscape over the whole of the last century. Moreover, dictatorships and their motivations are still present in current affairs, today in the twenty-first century. The three volumes of Totalitarianism and Political Religions are a vital resource for scholars of fascism, Nazism, communism, totalitarianism, comparative politics and political theory.

Strabo's Geography, completed in the early first century AD, is the primary source for the history of Greek geography. This Guide provides the first English analysis of and commentary on this long and difficult text, and serves as a companion to the author's The Geography of Strabo, the first English translation of the work in many years. It thoroughly analyzes each of the seventeen books and provides perhaps the most thorough bibliography as yet created for Strabo's work. Careful attention is paid to the historical and cultural data, the thousands of toponyms, and the many lost historical sources that are preserved only in the Geography. This volume guides readers through the challenges and complexities of the text, allowing an enhanced understanding of the numerous topics that Strabo covers, from the travels of Alexander and the history of the Mediterranean to science, religion, and cult.

Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) ruled Imperial Germany from his accession in 1888 to his enforced abdication in 1918 at the end of the First World War. These three acclaimed books provide the most detailed account ever written of his reign. In Volume 1, on the Kaiser's early life, John Roehl charts the bitter conflict between the handicapped prince and his liberal parents, and the utter failure of attempts to turn the young prince into a liberal Anglophile. Volume 2 shows how Wilhelm's thirst for glory, his overweening nationalism and militarism, and his passion for the navy provided the impetus for a breathtaking long-term goal: the transformation of the German Reich into the foremost power in the world. The final volume examines the mounting tensions caused by the Kaiser's policies at home and abroad, and reveals his central role in the origins of the First World War.

A compelling firsthand account of Keith Devlin's ten-year quest to tell Fibonacci's story In 2000, Keith Devlin set out to research the life and legacy of the medieval mathematician Leonardo of Pisa, popularly known as Fibonacci, whose book Liber abbaci has quite literally affected the lives of everyone alive today. Although he is most famous for the Fibonacci numbers--which, it so happens, he didn't invent--Fibonacci's greatest contribution was as an expositor of mathematical ideas at a level ordinary people could understand. In 1202, Liber abbaci--the "Book of Calculation"--introduced modern arithmetic to the Western world. Yet Fibonacci was long forgotten after his death, and it was not until the 1960s that his true achievements were finally recognized. Finding Fibonacci is Devlin's compelling firsthand account of his ten-year quest to tell Fibonacci's story. Devlin, a math expositor himself, kept a diary of the undertaking, which he draws on here to describe the project's highs and lows, its false starts and disappointments, the tragedies and unexpected turns, some hilarious episodes, and the occasional lucky breaks. You will also meet the unique individuals Devlin encountered along the way, people who, each for their own reasons, became fascinated by Fibonacci, from the Yale professor who traced modern finance back to Fibonacci to the Italian historian who made the crucial archival discovery that brought together all the threads of Fibonacci's astonishing story. Fibonacci helped to revive the West as the cradle of science, technology, and commerce, yet he vanished from the pages of history. This is Devlin's search to find him.

Geographically and linguistically diverse, by 1789 the Habsburg monarchy had laid the groundwork for a single European polity capable of transcending its unique cultural and historic heritage. Challenging the conventional notion of the Habsburg state and society as peculiarly backward, Charles W. Ingrao traces its emergence as a military and cultural power of enormous influence. In doing so, he unravels a web of social, political, economic and cultural factors that shaped the Habsburg monarchy during the period. Firmly established as the leading survey of the early modern Habsburg monarchy, this third edition incorporates a quarter of a century of new, international scholarship. Extending its narrative reach, Ingrao gives greater attention to 'peripheral' territories, manifestations of high culture, and suggests links between the early modern monarchy and the problems of contemporary Europe. This elegant account of a complex story is accessible to specialists and non-specialists alike.

First published in 1991, Glasnost in Action: Cultural Renaissance in Russia is a comprehensive portrait of a society in transition as Professor Nove reflects on the changes taking place in the USSR at that time. While in English, glasnost' means ?openness?, the author questions what ?openness? actually means in the USSR. How is Soviet culture ? their art, literature, theatre, music and social life ? affected by the new freedom of speech and thought that resulted from glasnost'? Was it Gorbachev's power and charisma that propelled glasnost' or would it build up enough momentum in Soviet society to continue independently? Professor Nove uses examples from each area of Soviet life in his exploration of the new openness, referring to the release of previously banned films, writings, plays and works of art, while reflecting on the newfound honesty about the country's Stalinist past and the problems faced today.

'Moorehead paints a wonderfully vivid and moving portrait of the women of the Italian Resistance…an excellent book… She depicts a tragic fate that is timeless, of dreams forged in adversity, shattered by collisions with practical politics' MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMES

A Spectator Book of the Year

The extraordinary story of the courageous women who spearheaded the Italian Resistance during the Second World War

In the late summer of 1943, when Italy changed sides in the War and the Germans – now their enemies – occupied the north of the country, an Italian Resistance was born. Ada, Frida, Silvia and Bianca were four young Piedmontese women who joined the Resistance, living clandestinely in the mountains surrounding Turin. They were not alone. Between 1943 and 1945, as the Allies battled their way north, thousands of men and women throughout occupied Italy rose up and fought to liberate their country from the German invaders and their Fascist collaborators.

The bloody civil war that ensued across the country pitted neighbour against neighbour, and brought out the best and worst in Italian society. The courage shown by the partisans was exemplary, and eventually bound them together as a coherent fighting force. The women’s contribution was invaluable – they fought, carried messages and weapons, provided safe houses, laid mines and took prisoners. Ada’s house deep in the mountains became a meeting place and refuge for many of them.

The death rattle of Mussolini’s two decades of Fascist rule – with its corruption, greed and anti-Semitism was unrelentingly violent, but for the partisan women it was also a time of camaraderie and equality, pride and optimism. They had proved, to themselves and to the world, what resolve, tenacity and, above all, exceptional courage could achieve.

"Will appeal to a wide audience. It is beautifully presented...the illustrations add further glory to a thorough historical analysis which is based on extensive research in Europe-wide sources... particularly useful in bringing to our attention lesser-known materials from the Iberian peninsula. The level of discussion, range and thoroughness of treatment and excellence of annotation make this a useful reference work for the academic historian too: it is hard to find any aspect of tournaments that is not covered."HISTORY The first serious study of tournaments throughout Europe reveals their importance - in the training of the medieval knight, the development of arms and armour, as an instrument of political patronage, and as a grand public spectacle.

Texts written in Latin, Greek and other languages provide ancient historians with their primary evidence, but the role of language as a source for understanding the ancient world is often overlooked. Language played a key role in state-formation and the spread of Christianity, the construction of ethnicity, and negotiating positions of social status and group membership. Language could reinforce social norms and shed light on taboos. This book presents an accessible account of ways in which linguistic evidence can illuminate topics such as imperialism, ethnicity, social mobility, religion, gender and sexuality in the ancient world, without assuming the reader has any knowledge of Greek or Latin, or of linguistic jargon. It describes the rise of Greek and Latin at the expense of other languages spoken around the Mediterranean and details the social meanings of different styles, and the attitudes of ancient speakers towards linguistic differences.

The history of ancient Rome is the history of a city, of its people, and of its empire which at its height encompassed all the lands around the Mediterranean Sea and which stretched from Britain in the west to Syria in the east. Roman civilisation relied on the wealth won in war and conquest and was dependent on slavery. While much of Rome's history can be understood through the lives of its emperors, even more can be learned from the lives of its ordinary citizens and from the archaeological remains of the city, its monuments, streets, temples, bars and houses. This wonderfully illustrated, accessible introduction to ancient Rome examines the myths about the founding of Rome and explores the city's bloody transition from republic to empire. It looks at the lives of Rome's most famous rulers and the tumultuous events which led to the end of Roman civilisation. This book also explores the daily lives and beliefs of the ordinary people of Rome, its citizens and slaves, and the different peoples of the empire.

An intimate glimpse into the public and private world of one of history's most famous- and infamous-queens Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793) continues to fascinate historians, writers, and filmmakers more than two centuries after her death. She became a symbol of the excesses of France's aristocracy in the eighteenth century that helped pave the way to dissolution of the country's monarchy. The great material privileges she enjoyed and her glamorous role as an arbiter of fashion and a patron of the arts in the French court, set against her tragic death on the scaffold, still spark the popular imagination. In this gorgeously illustrated volume, the authors find a fresh and nuanced approach to Marie- Antoinette's much-told story through the objects and locations that made up the fabric of her world. They trace the major events of her life, from her upbringing in Vienna as the archduchess of Austria, to her ascension to the French throne, to her execution at the hands of the revolutionary tribunal. The exquisite objects that populated Marie-Antoinette's rarefied surroundings-beautiful gowns, gilt-mounted furniture, chinoiserie porcelains, and opulent tableware-are depicted. But so too are possessions representing her personal pursuits and private world, including her sewing kit, her harp, her children's toys, and even the simple cotton chemise she wore as a condemned prisoner. The narrative is sprinkled with excerpts from her correspondence, which offer a glimpse into her personality and daily life. Visually rich and engaging, this book offers a fascinating look at the multifaceted life of France's last, ill-fated queen.

From the seemingly insignificant theft of some bread and a dozen apples in nineteenth century rural Germany, to the high courts and modern-day property laws, this English-language translation of Habermas' Diebe vor Gericht explores how everyday incidents of petty stealing and the ordinary people involved in these cases came to shape the current legal system. Habermas draws from an unusual cache of archival documents of theft cases, tracing the evolution and practice of the legal system of Germany through the nineteenth century. This close reading, relying on approaches of legal anthropology, challenges long-standing narratives of legal development, state building, and modern notions of the rule of law. Ideal for legal historians and scholars of modern German and nineteenth-century European history, this innovative volume steps outside the classic narratives of legal history and gives an insight into the interconnectedness of social, legal and criminal history.

The Roman Empire has been a source of inspiration and a model for imitation for Western empires practically since the moment Rome fell. Yet, as Julia Hell shows in The Conquest of Ruins, what has had the strongest grip on aspiring imperial imaginations isn't that empire's glory but its fall--and the haunting monuments left in its wake. Hell examines centuries of European empire-building--from Charles V in the sixteenth century and Napoleon's campaigns of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries to the atrocities of Mussolini and the Third Reich in the 1930s and '40s--and sees a similar fascination with recreating the Roman past in the contemporary image. In every case--particularly that of the Nazi regime--the ruins of Rome seem to represent a mystery to be solved: how could an empire so powerful be brought so low? Hell argues that this fascination with the ruins of greatness expresses a need on the part of would-be conquerors to find something to ward off a similar demise for their particular empire.

Edmund Burke was the dominant political thinker of the last quarter of the eighteenth century in England. His reputation depends less on his role as a practising politician than on his ability to set contemporary problems within a wider context of political theory. Above all, he commented on change. He tried to teach lessons about how change should be managed, what limits should not be transgressed, and what should be reverently preserved. Burke's generation was much in need of advice on these matters. The Industrial Revolution, the American Revolution, and catastrophically, the French Revolution presented challenges of terrible proportions. They could promise paradise or threaten anarchy. Burke was acutely aware of how high the stakes were. The Reflections on the Revolution in France was a dire warning of the consequences that would follow the mismanagement of change. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

First published in 1911, this pioneering and ambitious work provides a history of the evolution of republican thought and practice in Europe from the fall of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the twentieth century.

Based a series of lectures delivered by the author at Lowell Institute in 1910, this is a comprehensive treatment of the subject which moves deftly from the political thought of the middle ages through to the rise of Protestantism, the wave of revolution across Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, concluding with an analysis of the republican cause and the permanence of the Republican idea in the consciousness of Europe.