His vivid and forceful chronicle, full of psychological insight and deep understanding of power politics, is a historical and literary document of the first importance. Recent scholars have shattered forever the view that the Byzantine Age was just a shabby and disreputable appendage to the...

A collection of essays by European and American specialists offering new and authoritative analyses of the Greek civil war and its international dimensions.

The Greek civil war that broke out at the end of World War II was one of the formative events in the early days of the Cold War. In the fall of 1944, at the moment of liberation from the German occupiers, Greece stood at the "crossroads," in need of a new constitutional and social order. However, the factions that vied for influence over the state promoted their particular agendas with a vehemence, exclusiveness, and...

Few people are knowledgeable about the history of the Greek Civil War. Often termed the hidden war, this conflict of the late 1940s is still highly controversial and a source of extreme emotion for those Greeks who remember it. This book details the events leading to the outbreak of the war and examines the unique means by which United Nation's intervention was able to restrain a conflict that threatened to engulf the Balkans and southeastern Europe. Nachmani demonstrates how the United Nations Special Committee on the Balkans (UNSCOB)--the first U.N. observation mission--stood out as a...

An explanation of the failure of the Communist insurgency in Greece between 1945 and 1949, this study provides a striking lesson in what happens to an armed revolutionary movement when it lacks adequate manpower and logistical resources, and is divided against itself on such basic matters as foreign policy and the employment of its military capabilities. During the period of 1945-1949, the Greek Communist Party was split into competing factions, each with its own idea of which course the rebellion should take. The Stalinist faction, led by Secretary-General Nikos Zachariades, was pitted...

Kkarakatsanis analyzes the processes through which a stable, consolidated, and fully democratic regime was brought into existence in the 1970s and early 1980s in Greece. Focusing primarily on the roles played by political elites during and in the decade after the transition to democracy, she analyzes how Greece moved from a long history of political instability and elite disunity to a consolidated democratic regime to which all major political actors were loyal and committed.

Four distinct transformations which forged the consensual unity required to establish a stable and consolidated...

Roudometof provides an in-depth analysis of inter-ethnic relations in the southern Balkans. He examines the evolution of the Macedonian Question and the production of rival national narratives by Greeks, Bulgarians, and Macedonians. He introduces the concept of a national narrative in order to account for the production and proliferation of different forms of collective memory among the rival nation-states. Roudometof deconstructs the national narratives of the competing sides and shows the limits of these narratives and their biases. He also develops an alternative interpretation of...

This is an account of Byzantine culture, from the foundation of the Empire in 330 to its downfall in 1453. The book is devoted to the history of the Byzantine Empire and to short essays on various aspects of its political, religious and cultural life.

Discover how ordinary people lived during the Middle Ages in the eastern Mediterranean in this unparalleled exploration of life in the Byzantine Empire. Learn how the subjects of the Byzantine Empire kept track of time with sundials and water clocks. Witness a typical wedding and all of the traditions followed by the bride, groom, and guests. Find out how the Byzantines kept up their appearance, covering everything from skincare to dental care. Learn the rules of games that children played, and explore everything in the city of Constantinople, from tourist attractions to city...