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Courland is an entity that no longer exists. With the Gulf of Riga to the north, the Baltic to the west and Lithuania at its southern border, and now part of modern Latvia, the region was by occupied by Nazi Germany and returned to Soviet Russia after the war, remaining largely inaccessible until 1991. Once ruled by descendants of the Teutonic Knights, it is now a nowhere land of wide skies and forests, deserted beaches, ruined castles and ex-KGB prisons. For years Jean-Paul Kauffmann has been irresistibly drawn to this place, the buffer between the Germanic and Slav worlds. His digressive travels at the wheel of a Skoda become an investigation into the whereabouts of a former lover, a search for an excavator of tombs, and he follows in the footsteps of Louis XVIII, for whom Courland was once a place of exile. Author of Voyage to Desolation Island and The Dark Room at Longwood, which won six prizes on its publication in France, Kauffmann has come to be known as an erudite and witty observer of the world's most desolate reaches.
Modern Russian identity and historical experience has been largely shaped by Russia's imperial past: an empire that was founded in the early modern era and endures in large part today. The Russian Empire 1450-1801 surveys how the areas that made up the empire were conquered and how they were governed. It considers the Russian empire a 'Eurasian empire', characterized by a 'politics of difference': the rulers and their elites at the center defined the state's needs minimally - with control over defense, criminal law, taxation, and mobilization of resources - and otherwise tolerated local religions, languages, cultures, elites, and institutions. The center related to communities and religions ...
Until recently, there have not been many researches on border zones in Early Modern Europe. For the time before the emergence of nation-states, however, it is convenient to think in European cases, which indicate instability or cooperation in these zones of contact. Three representative geographic regions have been central to an international conference, which was questioning the specificities of zones of fracture. Poland-Lithuania has been linked with two zones (the Baltic Sea and the Balkans). The Northern Italian States were situated between two tectonic regions (the Balkans and the Rhine valley). The Balkans by themselves were divided into various mini zones, and confronted with the Ottoman Empire. The panels did not only try to look for comparisons, but intended to find out the complexity and the different experiences within zones of frontiers in an European context. The overlapping of various lines, especially in the fields of law, taxes and the Church has been brought into sharper focus.
Defense of the Baltic gained unprecedented prominence in the West after 2014. The West's East presents a historical-strategic perspective on the region's 800 year geopolitical significance and applies strategic theory to analyze the contemporary strategic balance and potential dynamics of armed conflict between the West and Russia over the Baltic.
This postperestroika historical narrative should contribute significantly to assessing the likelihood of Latvia's survival as an independent republic."--BOOK JACKET.
The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Lithuania will serve as a useful introduction to virtually all aspects of Lithuania's historical experience, including the country's relations with its neighbors. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and over 300 cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant persons, places, and events; institutions and organizations; and political, economic, social, cultural, and religious facets.
The new, sixth and thoroughly updated edition of Bradt’s Latvia remains the only standalone guide to this fascinating and ever-changing Baltic nation. This is a small but enchantingly varied country that will appeal to culture vultures, history buffs, outdoors enthusiasts and foodies alike. Latvia is best known internationally through its capital city Riga, whose centre is a UNESCO World Heritage site combining a medieval core providing testimony of its importance as a port of the Hanseatic League and an outer area containing the most extensive assemblage of Art Nouveau buildings in Europe. Latvia is much larger than Denmark or Switzerland yet, with a population of under two million, is on...
An integrated history of three Baltic peoples - Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians - from their origins as tribal societies to separate nations.