ÿþ<html> <head> <title> WHKMLA : Historical Dictionaries : Eastern Europe </title> <!-- copyright Alexander Ganse, 2004-2006 --> </head> <body bgcolor="lightblue" text="black" link="blue" vlink="red" alink="brown"> <style> <!-- A{ font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; font-face: arial; } --> </style> <DIV align ="center"> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../index.html"> <img src = "../../whkmla2.jpg" border = "0"></a></TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Timeline </b></font></TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../timelines/wh/tleeurope.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowleft.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </a></TD> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../timelines/whchapters.html"> <img src = "../banhistdic.jpg" border = "0"> </TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../biographies/wh/bioeeurope.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowright.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </a></TD> <TD width = "100" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Biographies </b></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <font size = "3" face = "arial"><B><i>First posted on May 26th 2004 </i></b></font><BR><BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center" width = "900"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "5"><B> Historical Dictionaries : Eastern Europe </B></font> <BR> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"><i> http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histdic/wh/hdeeurope.html </i></font> </B></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "left" valign = "center" width = "150"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "albania">Albania</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "anglorussianrivalry">Anglo-Russian Rivalry</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "astrakhan">Astrakhan, Khanate</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "belarus">Belarus</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "berlincongress">Berlin Congress</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "bessarabia">Bessarabia</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "bolzheviks">Bolzheviks</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "bosnia">Bosnia</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "bosphorus">Bosphorus</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "boyars">Boyars</A> <BR> Boy Levy <BR> <A NAME = "byzantineempire">Byzantine Empire</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "bulgaria">Bulgaria</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "comecon">COMECON</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "cossacks">Cossacks</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "crimeantatars">Crimean Tatars</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "crimeanwar">Crimean War</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "cumans">Cumans</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "cyprus">Cyprus</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "decembrists">Decembrists</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> Dekabristi <BR> <A NAME = "destalinization">Destalinization</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "devsirme">Devsirme</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "dodecanese">Dodecanese</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "duma">Duma</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "enosis">ENOSIS</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "februaryrevolution">February Revolution</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "gerontocrats">Gerontocrats</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "glasnost">Glasnost</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "goldenhorde">Golden Horde</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "greekcivilwar">Greek Civil War</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "greekfire">Greek Fire</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "greekrebellion">Greek Rebellion</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "gulag">Gulag</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "herzegovina">Herzegovina</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "ionianislands">Ionian Islands</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "janissary">Janissary</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "kazan">Kazan, Khanate</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "khazars">Khazars</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "kievanrus">Kievan Rus</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "kipchaktatars">Kipchak Tatars</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "kuchukkainarji">Kuchuk Kainarji, <BR> Treaty of</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "kulaks">Kulaks</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "latinempire">Latin Empire</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "treatyoflausanne">Lausanne, Treaty of</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "gdlithuania">Lithuania, <BR> Grand Duchy of</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "battleofmantzikert">Mantzikert, Battle of</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "milletsystem">Millet System</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "moldavia">Moldavia</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "montenegro">Montenegro</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "gdmuscovy">Muscovy, <BR> Grand Duchy of</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "nep">NEP</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "empireofnicaea">Nicaea, Empire of</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "nihilists">Nihilists</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "nikeriots">Nike Riots</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "repnovgorod">Novgorod, Rep.</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "octoberrevolution">October Revolution</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "ottomanempire">Ottoman Empire</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "partizans">Partisans</A> <BR> Patzinaks <BR> <A NAME = "pechenegs">Pechenegs</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "peoplesrepublic">People's Republic</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "perestroyka">Perestroyka</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "phanariots">Phanariots</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "romania">Romania</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "romanovdynasty">Romanov Dynasty</A> <BR> <A NAME = "rsfsr">RSFSR</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "seljuks">Seljuks</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "serbia">Serbia</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "treatyofsevres">Sevres, Treaty of</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "shs">SHS</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "sickmanofeurope">Sick Man of Europe</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "sputnik">Sputnik</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "stateplannedeconomy">State-Planned Economy</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "tanzimatpolicy">Tanzimat Policy</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "timeoftroubles">Time of Troubles</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "treatyoftrianon">Trianon, Treaty of</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "ukraine">Ukraine</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "ussr">USSR</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "walachia">Walachia</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "warsawpact">Warsaw Pact</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "whites">Whites</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "yedisan">Yedisan</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "youngturks">Young Turks</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "yugoslavia">Yugoslavia</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> </font></TD> <TD align = "left" valign = "center" width = "500"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"> see also <A HREF = "hdorthodoxy.html">Historical Dictionaries : Orthodox Christianity, other Christian Churches <BR> of the East</A> <BR><BR> the Albanians are a people of Illyrian descent; they refer to themselves as Shqiptars. <BR> The name Albania was given to the area by the Venetians. During Ottoman times <BR> the majority of the population converted to Islam, while a minority remained Orthodox <BR> christian. In the first Balkan War, Serbia and Montenegro conquered Albania and <BR> planned to hold on to it; under diplomatic pressure they evacuated the area and the <BR> Kingdom of Albania was created. Annexed by Italy in 1939; liberated by partizans in <BR> 1944; People's Republic proclaimed in 1946; in 1968 Albania broke with the USSR <BR> and sided with China. Multiparty democracy was introduced in 1991. One of the <BR> poorest countries in Europe. see <A HREF = "../../region/balkans/xalbania.html">Albania pages</A> at this site <BR> In the 19th century, the United Kingdom feared that the Russian Empire, if gaining <BR> a year-round ice-free port on the oceans, could challenge her control of the seas. <BR> Thus it wanted to prevent Russia to gain that kind of access, to oceans or to the <BR> Mediterranean. So in 1853-1856 the United Kingdom fought Russia in the Crimean <BR> War; in 1878 and in 1908 it threatened such action unless Russia would cut back <BR> her plans (Berlin Congress 1878 : Bulgaria, regarded a Russian vassall, was <BR> denied a port on the Aegaean Sea). In 1913, Serbia, regarded a Russian vassall, <BR> was denied Albania. <BR> Fragment of the Khanate of the Golden Horde, which disintegrated in the 1440es. <BR> Astrakhan was seat of a Khanate in 1466; was conquered by the Russians in <BR> 1556. An Ottoman attempt to take Astrakhan from the Russians in 1569 failed. <BR> the region around Minsk; part of Kievan Rus in the 9th to 13th centuries; in the <BR> 14th to 18th centuries the core region of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which <BR> in 1569 entered in the Union of Lublin (union with Poland). Belarus, during the <BR> Second and Third Polish Partition 1793, 1795, was annexed to the Russian <BR> Empire. A Belarussian USSR was founded in 1924; Belarus became independent <BR> in 1991. see <A HREF = "../../region/russia/xbelarus.html">Belarus</A> pages at this site <BR> Held in Berlin in 1878, presided over by German chancellor Otto von Bismarck. <BR> In the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877-1878, the Russians had defeated the Turks, <BR> and in the Treaty of San Stefano, forced the Sultan to concede to the creation <BR> of a large Bulgarian state with access to the coast of the Aegaean Sea. Britain <BR> was not willing to accept this (see Anglo-Russian Rivalry). Otto von Bismarck <BR> invited the European Powers to negotiations, in order to prevent war. The <BR> B. Congress agreed on a much smaller Bulgaria, on the Austrian occupation <BR> of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Sanjak of Novipazar, and on a British protectorate <BR> over Cyprus. <BR> geographically the land between the Pruth and Dniestr rivers. Historically used <BR> for the southern part of that area or for the entire area. Ottoman until 1812 (the <BR> northern region as part of Moldavia, the south directly under Ottoman rule), then<BR> Russian. Coastal stretch ceded to Moldavia (Romania) in 1856; receded to <BR> Russia in 1878. 1918-1940, 1941-1944 entire area Romanian. Now, larger northern <BR> part = Rep. of Moldova, smaller coastal area part of Ukraine. <BR> radical faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. The name translates <BR> to the majority faction, which they had been at one time, but not in 1917 during <BR> the Russian Revolution. During the October Revolution, the well-organized Bolzheviks <BR> acted unscrupulously and established a people's republic. <BR> historical kingdom in Dinaric Alps, 12th to 15th century; in 1463 surrendered to <BR> Ottoman Turks. A part of the population converted to Islam; the remainder split <BR> in Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats. Occupied by Austria-Hungary in 1878 <BR> annexed in 1908; in Bosnian capital Sarajevo in 1914 Austrian heir Franz Ferdinand <BR> was assassinated; chain reaction lead to WW I. After that, part of SHS; then <BR> Yugoslavia. After disintegration of Yugoslavia, Bosnia battleground 1991-1996. <BR> Bosnia-Herzegovina split in groups controlled by ethnic militias - Serb area, <BR> Croatian area, Bosnian (mainly Muslim) area, combined in a fragile federation. <BR> a narrow straits separating Europe from Asia, connecting the Black Sea and <BR> the Marmara Sea. Control over the Straits, in the 19th century, was a raison <BR> d'etre for the Ottoman Empire ("Sick Man on the Bosphorus"), as it had been <BR> for the Byzantine Empire in the years of the Greek Fire. <BR> term used in Russia and Romania for landowning nobles <BR> see under Devsirme <BR> Upon the death of Emperor Theodosius in 395, the Roman Empire was divided <BR> into a Western and an Eastern Empire. The partition turned out to be lasting, <BR> and the Western Empire soon fell to Germanic invaders. The Eastern Empire, <BR> in contemporary sources, is referred to, simply, as the Roman Empire <BR> (Constantinople the Second Rome). Historians have introduced the term <BR> Byzantine Empire to distinguish the Greek and Christian Roman Empire from <BR> the previous, Latin Roman Empire, and the, for most of its history, pagan <BR> Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire adopted christianity as state religion, <BR> closed down the last institutions of Hellenistic paganism, lasted until the fall of <BR> Constantinople in 1453 (with the interlude of the Latin Empire 1204-1261). <BR> The original Bulgarians were Turkic-speaking pastoral nomads. A branch of them <BR> migrated into present Bulgaria in the 7th century A.D., converted to Orthodox <BR> christianity in 865, assimilated into the local Slavic population. The Bulgarian <BR> Kingdoms were conquered by the Byzantinians in 1018; the Bulgarian state was <BR> rrestablished in 1185, conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1393. Threatened by <BR> cultural Hellenization, monk Paissi of Hilendar in 1760 wrote a Bulgarian history <BR> that began a period of B. cultural renewal. Bulgarians rebelled against Ottoman <BR> rule in 1876; the rebellion was brutally crushed. Russia then defeated the O.E. <BR> and forced the creation of a Bulgarian state, which was reduced in size by the <BR> Berlin Congress 1878. B. became a kingdom in 1908. <BR> see <A HREF = "../../region/balkans/xbulgaria.html">Bulgaria pages</A> at this site. <BR> Council for Mutual Economic Assistance; established 1955, founding members <BR> USSR, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania; <BR> later joined by Albania, Mongolia, Cuba, Vietnam. Dissolved in 1989/1991. <BR> Russian-speaking community of free peasants, engaged in animal husbandry, <BR> living on the border to the Tatars. They defended themselves against Tatar raids, <BR> undertook raids of their own, and fought (for payment) for Poland, Russia or <BR> occasionally for/with the Ottoman / Tatar forces. Until 1648, the Cossacks <BR> recognized Polish suzerainty; in 1648 they undertook a major rebellion (caused in <BR> part by Jesuit attempts to convert them to Catholicism). The Zaporozhe Cossacks <BR> then placed themselves under Russian protection. The remainder came under <BR> Russian rule in the Polish Partitions (1793, 1795). Under Catherine the Great, <BR> the Cossacks were denied their traditional lifestyle in their ancestral lands; <BR> those who wanted to preserve their lifestyle, moved eastward to frontier land. <BR> Excellent horsemen, singers and dancers. <BR> Fragment of the Khanate of the Golden Horde; established as a separate Khanate <BR> in the 1440es; recognized Ottoman suzerainty in 1475; annexed by Russia in <BR> 1783. Under Stalin, the remaining Crimean Tatars were deported to Central Asia <BR> fought 1853 between the United Kingdom, France, Savou-Piemont-Sardinia and <BR> the Ottoman Empire on one side, Russia on the other. see <A HREF = "../../military/19cen/crimeanwar.html">Crimean War <BR> page</A> on this site <BR> a Turkic speaking people of pastoral nomads, known to the Russians as Polovtsi. <BR> Controlled the steppe of Ukraine and Walachia from the 11th to the mid 13th c. <BR> Defeated by the Kipchak Tatars in 1245. <BR> large island in the eastern Mediterranean. Roman, then Byzantinian, Crusader <BR> Kingdom under the Lusignan Dynasty 1192-1489, Venetian 1489-1571, Ottoman <BR> 1571-1878, British until 1960, since then independent. Population 80 % Greek and <BR> Orthodox, 20 % Turk and Muslim. Episodic atrocities committed against the <BR> Turkish minority committed by the ENOSIS movement and a coup d'etat by the <BR> latter in 1974 caused a Turkish invasion, in the course of which the Turkish <BR> Republic of Northern Cyprus was set up. The island of a combined population of c. <BR> 800,000 is still divided. <BR> When Czar Alexander I. died in 1825, his testament determined his second son <BR> Nicholas I. to succeed. Public perception assumed his older brother Constantine <BR> to succeed, who was out of the country at that time. Military officers, supporters <BR> of liberal reform, refused to swear an oath of allegiance to Nicholas, demanding <BR> his brother to succeed. Nicholas I. had many of them deported to Siberia. <BR> see under Decembrists. <BR> Following a speech held by Nikita Khrushchev at the 20th Party Congress of <BR> the CPSU, in which K. held Stalin responsible for ebverything which had gone <BR> wrong in the USSR, the omnipresent pictures of Stalin were taken down, his <BR> statues toppled, Stalingrad renamed Volgograd, many political prisoners were <BR> released. A spirit of liberalization spread in the USSR, the concept of a new <BR> start. <BR> In the Ottoman Empire, non-Muslim (mainly christian) villages had to pay a boy levy <BR> (devsirme), a number of healthy 10 year old boys which were to be converted to <BR> Islam and educated in Turkish. Many of them later would serve as Janissaries in <BR> the Ottoman army, or in the Ottoman administration. The practise was abolished <BR> in 1839, at the beginning of the Tanzimat reforms. <BR> group of islands in the SE Aegaean Sea, largest island Rhodes. Conquered by <BR> the Ottomans in 1526 (before held by the Knights of St. John); conquered by the <BR> Italians in 1912; occupied by the British in 1945, annexed by Greece in 1947. <BR> name of Russia's parliament, established in 1905, but powerless. In the February <BR> Revolution 1917 the Duma took power; in the October Revolution 1917 it lost <BR> power again. In Soviet times (1917-1991) a rubber stamp institution, the Russian <BR> Duma became a political force during the political restructuring under M. Gorbachev. <BR> Today Russia's parliament. <BR> literally annexation (to Greece). Name of an illegal radical underground organization <BR> of Greek Cypriots who wanted the annexation of Cyprus to Greece. Believed to <BR> have been responsible for a number of atrocities committed against the island's <BR> Turkish minority, and for the coup d'etat of 1974 which triggered the Turkish <BR> invasion which lead to the partition of the island (1974). <BR> In March 1917 (in February-March, according to the Julian Calendar, then still used in <BR> Russia), a series of demonstrations resulted in the abdication of Czar Nicholas II. for <BR> himself and his son; soon afterward his brother Michael abdicated, too. A Provisional <BR> Government was founded; the Duma now had the competence to make decisions of <BR> consequence. see entry from <A HREF = "http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/EastEurope/FebRev.html">WebChron</A> at North Park Un.<BR> Gerontocracy refers to rule of the old (presumed experienced). During the Brezhnev Era, <BR> in the USSR as well as in satellite states such as Czechoslovakia and East Germany, <BR> the political leadership (Central Committee) belonged to the same generation and stayed <BR> in power for several decades. When Brezhnev died in 1982, the choice for his successor(s) <BR> fell on septuagenarians, because few younger politicians had been granted admission to <BR> the Central Committee. Major change was inevitable, when a new generation would rise <BR> to power. <BR> Russian for openness; one of the political slogans of the Gorbachev Era in Russia <BR> 1985-1991. Gorbachev believed, Russia could only succeed in political and economic <BR> reform if political and administrative decisions were taken in a way the public could <BR> follow. <BR> the political organization of the Kipchak Tatars. Submitted to the Mongols in the early <BR> 13th century, they were charged with exploration and conquest of the lands in the <BR> west. In 1240 they took Kiev, in 1241 they were victorious in the Battles at Liegnitz <BR> and on the Sajo. They established their capital at Sarai on the lower Volga. The <BR> Golden Horde soon acted independently; the structure of the Mongol Empire <BR> formally broke apart in the late 13th century. Under Berke Khan 1255-1267 the <BR> Golden Horde converted to Islam. In 1395-1398, the Golden Horde was attacked <BR> and defeated by Tamerlane. The G.H. disintegrated in the mid 15th century; <BR> Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, Sibir and the Crimean Tatars successor states. <BR> At the Yalta conference, Churchill and Stalin had come to a general understanding <BR> concerning the post-war order on the Balkans peninsula; Greece fell into the <BR> British sphere of influence. However, after the German pullout of Greece in 1944, <BR> most of the country was controlled by Communist partizans. The British assembled <BR> Greek democratic exile politicians in Beirut, Lebanon, where these created a <BR> provisional government, then escorted to Athens by the Royal Navy. The communists <BR> were included in an all-party government, which fell apart in 1946. In a bloody civil <BR> war (1946-1949), in which the British and Americans massively supported the <BR> democratic side, the communists (supported by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia) were expelled <BR> from Greece. <BR> secret weapon used by Byzantine Emperors to defend their city against naval attack. <BR> said to have been invented in 673, it was a highly inflammable liquid lighter than <BR> water, hurled at the enemy fleet when wind conditions were favourable, and then <BR> ignited. <BR> the rebellion broke out in 1821 on the Peloponnese and on many of the Aegaean <BR> islands. While the rebels held their ground in much of the Aegaean, in 1825 the <BR> rebellion on the Peloponnese was largely suppressed by an Egyption expedition <BR> under Ibrahim Pasha. An Anglo-Russian naval victory over the Ottoman fleet in <BR> 1827 and continued international support for the Greek cause resulted in Greece <BR> being granted independence in 1832. <BR> Gulag Archipelago, name for the Soviet system of labour camps in Siberia. <BR> Title of a novel by Alexander Solshenitsyn published in 1973-1975. <BR> briefly independent as a despotate around 1400, conquered by the Ottoman <BR> Empire in c.1463; ever since; her history was tied to that of neighbouring Bosnia. <BR> See under Bosnia. Western H. has a mainly Catholic Croat population, eastern <BR> H. a mainly Orthodox Serb population. <BR> Islands stretching from the Adriatic to the Ionian Sea (Saseno, Korfu, Ithaca, <BR> Kephalonia, Zakynthos, Cythera); Venetian until 1797, then French, briefly <BR> Russian-occupied; 1809-1864 British protectorate, in 1864 after plebiscite <BR> annexed into Greece. see <A HREF = "../../region/balkans/ionislnap.html">Ionian Islands</A> page at this site. <BR> Ottoman standing army; established by Murad I. in the 14th century, dissolved <BR> in 1826. Recruits were drawn from the devsirme (christian boy levy). Janissaries <BR> were known for their fanaticism, their loyalty to dynasty and cause; from the <BR> early 17th century onward they often were entangled in palace coups. <BR> see article from the <A HREF = "http://i-cias.com/e.o/janissaries.htm">Encyclopedia of the Orient</A> <BR> created in 1445 as a breakaway state of the Khanate of the Golden Horde. <BR> Islamic. Conquered by Russia in 1552. <BR> Turkic-speaking pastoral nomads; moved into the lower Volga and Don valley in <BR> the 7th century, where they established a Khaganate. The nobility converted to <BR> Judaism in the late 8th and early 9th c. (they had contact with Jewish communities <BR> on the Crimea). Declined since the 10th century; state, except for remnant in the <BR> B Caucasus area, disappeared in the 12th c. <BR> oldest Russian state on record, founded by the Rurikids; Kiev conquered by <BR> Rurik's son Oleg in 882. Kievan Rus was a federation of principalities, in which <BR> the ruler of Kiev was regarded the head of state. Orthodox christianity was <BR> introduced in 988; Kievan Rus was destroyed by the Kipchak Tatars in 1240. <BR> Turkic-speaking people submitted to the Mongols in the early 13th century, sent <BR> westward by Genghis Khan to explore and conquer. Established Khanate of the <BR> Golden Horde and successor states, most notably Khanate of Crimean Tatars. <BR> Muslims since the mid 13th century. <BR> peace treaty concluding the Russo-Ottoman War 1768-1774. The Ottoman Empire <BR> ceded the Budchak and renounced sovereignty over the Khanate of the Crimean <BR> Tatars. Russia claimed a protectorate over the Orthodox christians living in the O.E. <BR> land-owning peasants in the USSR in 1928 (i.e. peasants who since 1921 had <BR> not joined collectivization). Stalin declared them state enemy no.1, had their lands, <BR> livestock etc. confiscated; they and their families deported; millions of them are <BR> said to have starved to death. <BR> Crusaders en route to Palestine in 1203 were diverted to conquer <BR> Constantinople for Alexius, a claimant to the Byzantinian throne. This they did, <BR> but Alexius was unable to make good on his promise to pay them. He was <BR> deposed, and a crusader, Baldwin of Flanders, elected Emperor instead <BR> (Latin Empire, 1204-1261). Baldwin died already the following year. The <BR> crusaders fought over fiefs, and by attempting to force Catholicism on the <BR> Orthodox population, alienated the latter. Outlying provinces of the Empire <BR> (Epirus, Nicaea, Trebizond) refused to recognize the sovereignty of the Latin <BR> Emperor and took up arms against him; Constantinople fell in 1261. On the <BR> Peloponnese and in the Aegaean some crusader principalities remained the <BR> last remnants of the Latin Empire, until they were conquered by the Ottoman <BR> Turks in the 15th/16th century. <BR> Treaty signed between Turkey and the Allied Powers in 1923. In recognition of the <BR> Turkish victory over Greek forces, it nullified the Treaty of Sevres and internationally <BR> recognized the new Republic of Turkey. <BR> Emerged in the 13th century; heartland on the border of modern Lithuania and <BR> Belarus; expanded in the 14th century, temporarily as far as the Black Sea, to <BR> include all of Belarus and most of Ukraine. In the 15th century entered in Dynastic <BR> Union with Poland; in 1569 Union of Lublin created common parliament (Sejm). <BR> The partnership with Poland was detrimental, as the union was dominated by <BR> Poland, and Lithuania temporarily was neglected. The Union of Brest, integrating <BR> the Orthodox Church of the G.D. into the Catholic Church, provided the Patriarch <BR> of Moscow with an opportunity to expand his influence into the G.D. Russia <BR> step by step took over G.D. territory, most of it in the Polish Partitions. <BR> fought on August 26th 1071. A Byzantine army suffered a crushing defeat at <BR> the hands of the Seljuk Turks, commanded by Alp Arslan. The Seljuk victory <BR> opened Anatolia up to Seljuk raids and settlement. <BR> the vast and multiethnic Ottoman Empire was organized along religious lines, in <BR> the so-called millets. Each millet, presided by its religious leader, administrated <BR> her internal affairs - internal judicial cases, tax collection etc. The Greek Orthodox <BR> Patriarch of Constantinople was thus responsible for all Greek Orthodox Christians <BR> in the Empire (and, for long periods of time, also for the Bulgarian, Serbian and <BR> Vlach christians). <BR> Principality located between Carpathian mountains and Dnestr River. In 14th century <BR> temporarily under Polish, Hungarian sovereignty; in 1512 became Ottoman vassal. <BR> population mainly Vlach (Romanian), Orthodox Christian. In 1775, the Bukovina was <BR> ceded to Austria; in 1812 the lands east of the Pruth River were ceded to Russia. In <BR> 1859-1862, rest-Moldavia was merged with Walachia to form the Principality, later <BR> Kingdom of Romania. <BR> name Italian translation of Crna Gora, Black Mountain. Predecessor state Zeta; <BR> in the late 15th century, reduced to the inaccessible mountain region of Montenegro, <BR> formally part of the Ottoman Empire, but practically autonomous. Frequently <BR> invaded by the Turks who were as frequently defeated. A theocracy ruled by the <BR> abbots of a monastery (Vladikas). In 1851 transformed into a hereditary monarchy; <BR> in the 19th century Montenegro expanded in several steps, at the expense of the <BR> O.E.; following WW I, forcefully annexed into SHS. see <A HREF = "../../region/balkans/xmnegro.html">Montenegro pages</A> <BR> at this site <BR> Russian principality. During the Apanage period, vassal of the Khanate of the <BR> Golden Horde. Military victories over the Tatars in 1380 and 1480 brought <BR> independence. The Grand Dukes of Muscovy pursued a policy of 'collecting <BR> Russian earth', i.e. unifying Russia under their rule. Grand Duke Ivan IV. <BR> (since 1533; Ivan the Terrible) in 1547 had himself crowned Czar Ivan of all <BR> the Russians, ending the Grand Duchy. <BR> The communist economy introduced during the Russian Civil War (1917-1921) <BR> was based on coupons; banks and money had been abolished. The peasants <BR> reduced production to serve their own needs, as they rejected coupons as payment. <BR> This caused a major famine; Lenin reacted by reintroducing money. The market <BR> economy, to a limited extent, was thus restored. The NEP (1921-1928) was <BR> terminated by Stalin in 1928, when he introduced a policy of industrialization <BR> based on Five Year Plans. <BR> When Constantinople was conquered by the crusaders in 1204 and the <BR> Latin Empire was established, the Byzantinian governor (despot) of Nicaea <BR> Theodor Lascaris did not recognize the new government and ruled <BR> independently. In 1206 he had himself proclaimed Emperor; in 1246 the <BR> Despot of Epirus recognized the sovereignty of the Orthodox Emperor of <BR> Nicaea, in 1261 Constantinople was retaken by John IV. Lascaris and the <BR> Byzantine Empire restored. <BR> movement among the Russian intelligentsia, which realized that liberal reforms <BR> could not be achieved the democratic way, and which approved the use of <BR> violence against the state as a means to reach its goals. Term first used by <BR> Turgenev in 1861. Nihilists were responsible for numerous assassinations, the <BR> most notable that of Czar Alexander II. in 1881. <BR> in the hippodrome of Constantinople, four teams used to compete - the <BR> whites, blues, greens, and reds, each one of them representing a certain <BR> district of the city, and having an organized support structure. In 531, <BR> persons belonging to the organizations of the blues and greens had been <BR> convicted of murder. The death sentence had been commuted to prison <BR> terms, but the organizations demanded full pardon. When this was refused, <BR> in 532 the organizations broke into the prison and liberated the men; the riot <BR> escalated into town, the number of victims estimated at c.30,000. Named <BR> after the rioteering crowd's victory cry 'Nike'. <BR> Novgorod was a major trading hub in the medieval Russian-Baltic trade. While the <BR> territory of Novgorod nominally was ruled by Rurikid princes (the most famous of <BR> whom Alexander Nevsky), in fact it was ruled by the cuty council of Novgorod, <BR> and in historical accounts is generally referred to as the Republic of N.; her trade <BR> declined in the 15th c.; Novgorod was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Muscovy <BR> in 1478. see <A HREF = "../../region/russia/repnov.html">Rep. of Novgorod page</A> at this site <BR> second stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917, took place in November that <BR> year (October according to the Julian Calendar, still in use in R. at that time). <BR> The Bolzheviks took control of Petrograd and Moscow, most importantly of the <BR> Duma. Begin of Russian Civil War. <BR> As a fragment of the former Seljuk Empire, the Ottoman (or Osman) Turks in the <BR> early 14th century ruled a small stretch of territory on the Asian side of Bosphorus <BR> and Dardanelles. Shipped over by one party in a Byzantine conflict over the throne, <BR> they established a foothold in Europe and, in the 14th and 15th century, quickly <BR> expanded on both sides of the Straits; aa defeat at the hand of Tamerlane 1402 <BR> proved an only temporary setback. In 1453, Constantinople was taken and became <BR> capital, and from this moment on, the expression O.E. is appropriate. Expanded <BR> further in the 16th century. A gradual decline began in 1683 and ended in the <BR> dismantling of the Empire in 1918-1920 and the formal abolition in 1924. <BR> see <A HREF = "../../region/asmin/xottoman.html">Ottoman Empire pages</A> at this site <BR> term used in eastern and central Europe to describe resistance fighters in WW II. <BR> see under Pechenegs <BR> a Turkic-speaking people of pastoral nomads, moved into southern Ukraine in the <BR> 9th century, eliminated as a military force at the close of the 11th century by <BR> Byzantine Emperor Alexius I. <BR> a constitution in which democratic elections were a formality, as voters only could <BR> either approve or reject one candidate. People's republics had a president (a rather <BR> ceremonial fugure); the dominance of the Communist Party was fixed in the <BR> constitution; the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Communist Party <BR> was the most powerful figure in the state. People's Republics usually had a <BR> state-planned economy. <BR> Russian for restructuring; slogan of Michael Gorbachev, together with Glasnost <BR> expressing his reform program (Gorbachev Era in USSR 1985-1991). <BR> privileged Greek families residing in Constantinople. They virtually held the <BR> monopoly over the influential office of dragoman (literally, court interpreter) <BR> and gained appointment to a range of other offices (late 17th century to <BR> 1821). <BR> In 1859-1862 the Principalities of Moldavia and Walachia were first united in <BR> Dynastic Union, then merged to form the Principality of Romania, since 1882 <BR> Kingdom of Romania. After WW I, Transylvania, parts of the Banat, the Bukovina <BR> and Bessarabia were acquired. see <A HREF = "../../region/balkans/xromania.html">Romania Pages</A> at this site <BR> ruled Russia from 1613 to 1917. <BR> Communist ideology rejected Imperialism. During the Russian Civil War, the new <BR> state was thus established as the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic. <BR> Other Soviet Republics were founded in Ukraine, Belarus, Transcaucasia; and, <BR> in 1922, together with the RSFSR, joined in the Soviet Union (USSR). The Russian <BR> Republic, independent since 1991, is the successor of the RSFSR. <BR> a Turkic dynasty/people; victorious over a Byzantine army in the Battle of Mantzikert <BR> in 1071, they moved into Anatolia, where they established a Sultanate, which soon <BR> was fragmentized. One of the fragments were the Ottoman Turks. <BR> the Serbian states of Zeta and Rascia were merged in 1186; the Crusader conquest <BR> of Constantinople established Serbia's independence. Golden Age under King <BR> Stephen Dusan 1331-1355. Two defeats at the hands of the Ottoman Turks (1389, <BR> 1459) ended Serbian independence; autonomy restored in 1817. The Serbian state <BR> expanded in 1878, 1913. After WW I Serbia became the nucleus of SHS / <BR> Yugoslavia, which disintegrated in 1991-1996. In 1999 Kosovo was occupied by <BR> NATO forces. While Serbia in her borders of 1840 had a clear population majority <BR> of Orthodox Serbs, in the other regions the ethnic composition of the population <BR> is rather complex. see <A HREF = "../../region/balkans/xserbia.html">Serbia Pages</A> at this site <BR> Treaty between the Allied Powers and the Ottoman Empire in 1920. The treaty <BR> foresaw the partition not only of the Arab probinces of the O.E., but also of much of <BR> present day Turkey, the creation of an Armenian state in Eastern Anatolia, the <BR> cession of Eastern Thrace and Smyrna (Izmir) to Greece, the creation of an Italian <BR> sphere of influence in the SW, of a French sphere of influence in the SE (Cilicia) <BR> etc. Not recognized by Kemal Ataturk's Republic of Turkey. The Treaty of Sevres <BR> never was implemented, and was annulled by the Treaty of Lausanne 1923. <BR> Serbo-Croat acronym for Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, established <BR> in 1918, renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. <BR> nickname for the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century. also "Sick Man on the <BR> Bosphorus". The metaphor expressed the inability of the O.E. to defend herself, <BR> a weakness which invited predators to attack. <BR> name of the Soviet satellite, the world's first, sent into space in 1957. A comparatively <BR> primitive device, which still caused the Sputnik shock in the USA. <BR> the economic system of a people's republics. Production was planned by the state, <BR> as competition was regarded a waste. Prices were fixed by the state, as was the <BR> foreign exchange rate (in comparison to western, 'hard' currencies. As people's <BR> republics claimed to be a workers' and peasants' paradise, wages were comparatively <BR> high, prices comparatively low. Thus, waiting lines in shops were normal, as the <BR> state-run enterprises did not produce according to demand, but to planned figures, <BR> and the company hardly making any profit (or even making a deficit) had no incentive <BR> to increase production. <BR> a reform policy in the Ottoman Empire, pursued by officials in the state administration <BR> with the intention to overcome the structural weakness of the O.E. by implementing <BR> western-style reforms (France being the model). Supported by a succession of <BR> Sultans. The effects of the reform were various, depending much on the area <BR> (population composition, economic structure) where they were implemented. <BR> see article from <A HREF = "http://i-cias.com/e.o/tanzimat.htm">Encyclopedia of the Orient</A> <BR> period in Russian history, from 1606 to 1613, in which several factions of Russian <BR> boyars fought each other for power, one being supported by Poland-Lithuania, the <BR> other by Sweden. Ended with the coronation of Mikhail Romanov as Czar in 1613. <BR> following WW I, peace treaty for Hungary. H. had to cede 60 % of her prewar <BR> population and territory, to Czechoslovakia, Romania, SHS. The treaty was widely <BR> rejected in Hungary. <BR> literally border land. the western end of the Steppe Road; saw a succession of <BR> conquests by pastoral nomadic people of central Asian origin. In the north, Kiev <BR> in the 9th century became the center of the Russian state (until 1240). In the 15th to <BR> 18th centuries contested between Poland-Lithuania, Russia, the Ottoman Empire <BR> and the Khanate of the Crimean Tatars; home of the Cossacks. Since the conquest <BR> of the Crimea by Russia in 1783 and the Polish Partitions 1772-1795, all of U. <BR> part of Russian Empire. 1917-1921 attempt to establish an independent R., then <BR> Ukr. Soviet Rep.; 1922-1991 part of USSR; since 1991 independent. <BR> Union of Socialist Soviet Republics; Russian abbreviation CCCP. established in 1922, <BR> dissolved in 1991. <BR> Principality located on the lower Danube, inhabited by Orthodox Vlachs; home to <BR> 'Dracul' Vlad Tepes of questionable fame; Ottoman vassal since 1396/1460. In 1859- <BR> 1862 merged with Principality of Moldavia to form Principality of Romania (Kgd. <BR> since 1882). see <A HREF = "../../region/balkans/xwalachia.html">Walachia pages</A> at this site <BR> military alliance of the USSR and her Eastern European satellites (E. Germany, <BR> Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania) est. in 1955, dissolved <BR> 1989-1991. <BR> Land on the Black Sea coast between Dnestr and Bug Rivers; Ottoman 1526-1792. <BR> today part of Ukraine. <BR> conservative faction in the Russian Civil War 1917-1921; they favoured rule by the Czars <BR> (an option practically eliminated by the execution of the Romanov family early in 1918). <BR> Poorly coordinated, they were defeated by the Bolzheviks. Main white generals include <BR> Kornilov, Kolchak, Yudenich, Denikin, Wrangel. <BR> a group of Ottoman army officers who in 1908 forced Sultan Abdulhamid II. to call a <BR> parliament to assemble in 1908. The Young Turks were Turkish nationalists and wanted <BR> to modernize the Ottoman Empire. Austria-Hungary used the event as an opportunity to <BR> annex Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece to annex Crete, Bulgaria to declare itself an <BR> independent kingdom. see article from <A HREF = "http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWyturks.htm">Spartacus Schoolnet</A> <BR> the languages of the Serbs, Croats and Bosnians are very similar in structure and much <BR> of their vocabulary; Croat 19th century nationalists propagated a Yugoslav (combined <BR> southern Slav) rather than Croat nationalism. In 1918, such a combined southern Slav <BR> state was created in form of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (SHS). Following <BR> the assassination of a Croat member of parliament in parliament by a Montenegrin fellow <BR> member in 1929, King Alexander dissolved parliament and introduced Royal dictatorship. <BR> The country was renamed Yugoslavia. Dissolved in 1941, recreated in (1943) 1945, again <BR> dissolved in 1991-1996, the remaining core of Serbia-Montenegro maintained the name <BR> Yugoslavia until 2003. <BR> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "left" valign = "center" width = "700"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"> PRINTED REFERENCE : <BR> B. Raymond, P. Duffy, <A HREF = "http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0810833573/"><B>Historical Dictionary of Russia</B></A>, Methuan : Scarecrow 1998, KMLA Lib.Sign. <B>R 947.8 R268h</B> <BR> Jan Zaprudnik, <A HREF = "http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0810834499/"><B> Historical Dictionary of Belarus</B></A>, Methuen : Scarecrow 1998, KMLA Lib.Sign. <B>R 947.8 Z35h</B> <BR> Historical Dictionary of Greece</B></A>, Methuan : Scarecrow 1995, 278 pp., KMLA Lib.Sign. <B>R 949.5 V492b</B> <BR> Zeljan Suster, <A HREF = "http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0810834669/"><B> Historical Dictionary of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia</B></A>, Methuan : Scarecrow 1999, 432 pp., KMLA Lib.Sign. <B>R 949.7 S964h</B><BR> Metin Heper, <A HREF = "http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0810841339/"><B> Historical Dictionary of Turkey</B></A>, Methuan : Scarecrow 2002, 343 pp., KMLA Lib.Sign. <B>R 956.1 H529h </B> <BR> </font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> </DIV> </DIV> <DIV align="center"> <A href="mailto:aganse@hotmail.com"> <IMG src="../../email.gif" border="0"></a><BR> </DIV><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <!-- Start of CH Counter --> <script type="text/javascript"> //<!-- // chCounter v2.0.0 // settings: cstatus = "active"; visible = "0"; path_to_counterfile = "http://www.zum.de/whkmla/counter/counter.php"; urlhp = "http://www.zum.de"; //////////////// url = unescape(location.href); file = url.substring(url.lastIndexOf(urlhp) + urlhp.length, url.length); file = (file.charAt(0) != "/") ? 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