scholarly journals “GREEK PROJECT” – CLUE TO THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA 50-90-IES OF XVIII CENTURY

Author(s):  
Mamuka Natsvaladze ◽  
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Global international project of the 70-80-s of the XVIII century envisaging a new distribution of Europe based on the areas of the Ottoman Empire is reviewed in the article. This topic acquires a final feature in a conceptual form in the correspondence between Catherine II and the Emperor of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire Josephus II under the name of "Greek Project". The article is a scientific fragment of a monograph, reviewing the Greek Project in regard of the Caucasus for the first time in historiography. Initially, Soviet historiography strictly separated itself from the Greek Project, since the objective research of the latter would ensure presenting the Russian Empire as an aggressive state. Afterwards, the research of this project was converted into a narrow political framework and presented as a plan to conquer Crimea. The Greek Project can be unequivocally considered as a key to the history of Georgia of 50-80-ies of the XVIII century. A number of studies have shown that numerous problematic questions remain unanswered until the present day without considering the Greek Project. Patience and tolerance shown by the King of Kartli - Kakheti Erekle II towards the Russian intrigues cannot be explained without the Greek Project. Georgia acquires qualitatively different and desired form of all time through the implementation of the Greek Project. The Greek Project is an attempt to create a Christian global political model, a political background that can serve as a precondition for the restoration of a real united Caucasian Home, ensuring a guarantee of irreversible development and security for all royal principalities and khanate in the Caucasus. This is the reason, the state oriented thinker Erekle II, avoids responding with aggression to the permanent intrigues of Russia. Erekle II tries to get involved in this great political game as a sovereign of a full-fledged political entity. Such attitude of Erekle is a guarantee of success for the Imperial Court of St. Petersburg. However, Russia chooses a completely different way - confronting Erekle's benevolent alliance with hostile, imperial sentiments. The main message of these sentiments is that a united Caucasus, independent Georgian kingdoms for Russia is considered to be an anti-Russian phenomenon. This consistent and hostile attitude towards the Caucasus became the reason for the failure of Russian policy - it could neither establish a model of Christian globalization nor neutralize the Ottomans. Therefore, the study and understanding of the referred problem is rather important to determine the directions and priorities of modern political processes.

Author(s):  
Tetiana Yushchuk

The article analyzes the monographic studies of T. Maсkiw, which concerned the figure of I. Mazepa. The personal contribution of the historian to the study of political circumstances and public sentiments in which the documents described by scientists were created, the genesis and texts of research sources, as well as their influence on memoirists of that era are determined. Attention is drawn to the refutation by scientists of falsified data and erroneous assumptions of other researchers about the figure of the hetman. The types and kinds of sources used by T. Maсkiw in his research are described. The differences in the factual content of texts of sources of different European countries, the dependence of these texts on the place of creation of the source and its author are studied, the structure, genesis and differences of the main works of the historian on this subject are analyzed. Emphasis is placed on new information on the history of Ukraine in the time of I. Mazepa, which T. Maсkiw found in European archives. The archeographic aspect of the historian’s activity is also reflected in the article. An important contribution of the author can be considered his reflections on the objectivity / subjectivity of the European press, which covered the events of Europe and Ukraine in the era of hetman I. Mazepa, its influence on European politicians, as well as the dependence of the press on the state. The main attention in the research is paid to the ukrainian-language monograph «Hetman Ivan Mazepa in the that time western European sources 1687-1709». An analysis of the change in assessments of political events in Ukraine by the foreign press after the transition of the hetman to the side of the Swedish king, a description of the reasons for this transition, the dependence of foreign assessments of the events of 1708 on the position of the Russian Empire, causes and consequences for I. Mazepa, vicissitudes of granting the hetman the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-319
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Alekseevna Babintseva

Taking into account the comparative analysis of establishment of environmental regulation of the specific state formations, the author considers the issue of mutual relations between Russia and Germany in the field of production and consumption of natural resources. Contrary to the periodization of the study of the ecological relations between the states in the second half of the 19th century, the earlier common grounds between the Russian side and the German side, related to the period of existence of the Holy Roman Empire and the Russian Empire, are in focus of attention. A number of ancient legal acts, including Russian chronicles such as the “Russkaya Pravda” and German local resolutions in the field of forest exploitation, are analyzed. A breach between the appearance and the borrowing of the experience in Russia is confronted. The sequence, the main stages and the nature of interstate interaction of Russia and Germany in the sphere of protection of forests and natural resources were unveiled during the research. The study concluded that the strengthening of the partnership between Russia and Germany in the field of environmental protection will have a positive impact on the Russian environmental situation. As a state with a long history of natural resource management, Germany can become a great source of experience and a model for modernization of the management of wood resources.


Author(s):  
Mamuka Natsvaladze

Studying the external policy of the king Erekle II is a topical issue for the modern historiography. The information maintained in the archives of various European cities, namely of Vienna, Vatican and Venice, convey to us the fact that while exercising pragmatic attitude toward relations with the European countries the King of Kartli and Kakheti considered the interests of both his own country and of those European countries as well. Over the years 1781-82 Erekle II sends his ambassadors to Europe twice: first he sends a Capuchin monk Domenique who dies in Constantinople in uncertain circumstances not having reached the destination; after him Erekle II sends another Capuchin Mauro the Veronese who also dies for unknown reasons while still on his way. It is a very important fact that the letters sent by the King Erekle, unlike the ambassadors, reach their destination which is the Emperor’s Court in Austria.The present article shows the international political background that the king Erekle II had at that time and that he attempted to use for the interests of his country.The plan of dividing Europe anew, officially developed by the relevant imperial authorities of Saint Petersburg and Vienna, aimed at neutralizing the Ottoman Empire and dividing its territories. According to the Greek Project, it was supposed to resurrect the Byzantine Empire that would be formally independent from Russia but factually acting as a marionette with the Romanov dynasty ruling in it and build Dacia Kingdom as a buffer between the Ottoman and the Austrian Empires.This project was topical for Erekle II who was trying to get involved in the international political processes to the maximum level as the king of a sovereign and independent country, as in the result of implementation of the Greek Project Georgia would obtain an environment of Christian countries instead of the previous encirclement by Muslim countries. Thus, Georgia would find herself in an absolutely different qualitative dimension that had been a sacred dream of the Georgian Kings at all times. This was why the Greek Plan held such a great importance for Erekle II. This international project was made secret by the empress Catherine the Great and Joseph II, therefore, the official pragmatic reason that Erekle II referred to when sending ambassadors to Austria which was obtaining financial support for two regiments was merely a mask behind which in reality the ambassadorial mission served the purpose of active involvement and participation in the implementation of the Greek Project. The Austrian Emperor’s Court, on its part, was going to use this intension of the Georgian king for its own pragmatic goals which implied strengthening of the Holy Roman Empire that had been actually made fictitious by that time. The widely acknowledged and reputed international level diplomats of the Austrian Empire Kaunitz and Kobenzl were involved in the process.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
FREDERICK G. CROFTS

ABSTRACT Examining the understudied collection of costume images from Heidelberg Calvinist, lawyer, and church councillor Marcus zum Lamm's (1544–1606) ‘treasury’ of images, the Thesaurus Picturarum, this article intervenes in the historiography on sixteenth-century German national imaginaries, emphasizing the import of costume books and manuscript alba for national self-fashioning. By bringing late sixteenth-century ethnographic costume image collections into scholarly discourse on the variegated ways of conceiving and visualizing Germany and Germanness over the century, this article sheds new light on a complex narrative of continuity and change in the history of German nationhood and identity. Using zum Lamm's images as a case-study, this article stresses the importance of incorporating costume image collections into a nexus of patriotic genres, including works of topographical-historical, natural philosophical, ethnographic, cartographic, cosmographic, and genealogical interest. Furthermore, it calls for historians working on sixteenth-century costume books and alba to look deeper into the meanings of such images and collections in the specific contexts of their production; networks of knowledge and material exchange; and – in the German context – the political landscape of territorialization, confessionalization, and dynastic ambition in the Holy Roman Empire between the Peace of Augsburg and the Thirty Years War (1555–1618).


Author(s):  
Olga Khavanova

The article is based on the materials from Russian and Austrian archives and devoted to lesser-known circumstances of the preparation and course of the 1761 diplomatic mission of Baron A.S. Stroganov to Vienna on the occasion of the wedding of the heir to the throne, Archduke Joseph, with Isabella of Parma. The embassy is considered in the context of symbolic communication through ceremonial gestures between St. Petersburg and Vienna. It emphasised the particularly friendly nature of the relationship between the two dynasties and two courts, not only united by a bilateral treaty and membership in the anti-Prussian alliance during the Seven Years War but also symbolically related as godparents. A.S. Stroganov was a young aristocrat without proper experience in the field of diplomacy and of the modest court rank of Kammer-Junker. The appointment was explained by his kinship with Chancellor M.I. Vorontsov whose daughter Anna officially accompanied her husband on the trip. The imperial ambassador to St. Petersburg Count Nicolaus Esterházy spared no effort to smooth over the awkwardness and find benevolent patrons for the young couple in Vienna. European education and the exceptional personal qualities of the ambassador allowed A. Stroganov to fulfil the commission with honour and receive the title of a Count of the Holy Roman Empire from Emperor Francis I as a reward. The embassy became the last page in the history of relations between St. Petersburg and Vienna on the eve of the break of bilateral relations and Russia’s withdrawal from the Seven Years War in 1762.


Traditio ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Gillett

Olympiodorus of Thebes is an important figure for the history of late antiquity. The few details of his life preserved as anecdotes in hisHistorygive glimpses of a career which embraced the skills of poet, philosopher, and diplomat. A native of Egypt, he had influence at the imperial court of Constantinople, among the sophists of Athens, and even outside the borders of the empire. HisHistory(more correctly, his “materials for history”) is lost, surviving only as fragments in the narratives of Zosimus, Sozomen, and Philostorgius, and in the rich summary given by the ninth-century Byzantine patriarch Photius. These remains comprise the most substantial narrative sources for events in the western Roman Empire in the early fifth century. Besides its value as a source, theHistoryis important as a monument to the vitality of the belief in the unity of the Roman Empire under the Theodosian dynasty. Olympiodorus wrote in Greek, and knowledge of his work is attested only in Constantinople, yet his political narrative, from 407 to 425, concerns only events in the western half of the empire. To understand the significance of these facts, it is necessary to set the composition of Olympiodorus's work in its proper context. Clarifying the date of publication is the first step toward this goal. Internal and external evidence suggests that the work was written in 440 or soon after, more than a decade later than the date of composition usually accepted. Taken with thematic emphases evident in the structure of theHistory, this revised dating explains why an eastern writer should have written a detailed account of western events in the early part of the century. Olympiodorus's account is a characteristic product of the highly literate class of eastern imperial civil servants, and of their genuine preoccupation with the relationship between the eastern and western halves of the Roman Empire at a time when both were threatened by the rise of the new Carthaginian power of the Vandals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-228
Author(s):  
Robert Kurelić

The counts of Krk were one of the most prestigious and most powerful noble families in late medieval Croatia, with a dominant role attained under Nicholas IV who received the last name Frankapani from Pope Martin V in 1430. Soon after his death German language sources began to refer to the family as Grafen von Krabaten or Counts of Croatia, a somewhat peculiar designation considering that there were other prominent families such as the counts of Krbava who also maintained contacts within the Holy Roman Empire. This paper traces the development of the term von Krabaten from 1440 until the election of Ferdinand I Habsburg as king of Croatia, showing how it was used throughout the century and may have been an indication of the respect and status achieved by the Frankapani under Nicholas IV and his sons. The term is also explored as a helping tool for further research into the history of the family using sources that have hitherto been overlooked or neglected.


2020 ◽  
pp. 92-106
Author(s):  
A. Kudryachenko

The article analyzes the three stages of the migration of the German ethnic group into the territory of modern Ukraine, different in nature, character and orientation, and their features are clarified. The author reveals the geography of the first migratory flows of the Goths in the second half of the II century, which went from the Wisla delta to Scythia, and were divided into the western (settled on the right bank of the Dnieper) and eastern. The latter, having settled down near the Sea of Azov, founded the state of Germanarich, and in the IV century, under the pressure of the Huns, the center of life of Goths moved to the Kerch Peninsula, the mountainous region of Crimea, where their state association Gothia existed until the XVIII century. It turns out that in the early Middle Ages there was a second wave of German settlements on modern Ukrainian lands from the West European direction. The expansion of the settlements of Germans and immigrants from other European countries on the lands of Kievan Rus was facilitated by political relations, which were also realized with the help of dynastic marriage unions. The princes of Kiev, pursuing a foreign policy worthy of a great power, have equal relations with the main European states of the medieval world - the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) and Byzantium, they invite priests, German craftsmen and merchants. Starting from the XI century, small German trade colonies appeared in Kiev, Vladimir-Volynsky, Lutsk and other cities. During the Lithuanian-Polish period, the influx of German settlers to Ukrainian lands is increasing. This was facilitated by various benefits and provision of points to the German immigrants by Lithuanian princes and Polish kings. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Magdeburg law was acquired by large trading cities. The third period, the most significant resettlement and colonization, that is, large-scale development of the South of Ukraine - the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea region and the lands of Crimea - begins in the second half - the end of the 18th century. The author emphasizes that this most powerful period and the great positive history of the development of our region is largely connected with immigrants of German origin (and representatives of other ethnic groups). This period becomes a powerful colonization and economic development of the entire South of Ukraine, the rich land of the Azov, Black Sea, Crimea. It is noted that then, on the initiative and real support of the government of tsarist Russia, the development of wide steppe spaces took place, which, together with Ukrainian lands, had recently been transferred to the Russian Empire. Since then, the history of immigrants has become part of the history of the Ukrainian people. The dynamics of the development of German colonies in different provinces of the South of Russia is analyzed separately, the social aspects of the life of settlements, the grave consequences for the colonists associated with the First World War, and revolutionary events in the Russian Empire are indicated. The gains and losses in the national development, in the arrangement, in the administrative division of the German and other settlers, which were the consequences of radical fluctuations in the national policy of the Soviet government in the pre-war period, are revealed.


Author(s):  
Jens Wolff

Luther was a point of reference in all three of the confessional cultures during the confessional age, though this was not something he had intended. His theological “self-fashioning” was not meant to secure, canonize, or stabilize his own works or his biography. Rather, he believed, and was convinced, that the hidden God rules in a strange way. He hides himself in the course of the world and realizes what we would have liked to realizes. Apart from this theological viewpoint, historiographic differentiation is needed: Luther had different impacts on each of the three confessions. Furthermore, one also has to differentiate between a deep impact and the unintended effects of Luther’s thinking. Luther was an extremely polarizing figure. From the beginning, he underwent a heroization and a diabolization by his contemporaries. Apart from this black-and-white reception of his person, it was, and still is, extremely difficult to analyze Luther, his work and medial effects. Historians have always been fixated on Luther: he was the one and only founder of Protestantism. His biography became a stereotype of writing and was an important element of Protestant (or anti-Protestant) identity politics. For some Protestants, his biography became identical with the history of salvation (Heilsgeschichte). For his enemies, his biography was identical with the history of the devil. In all historical fields, one has to differentiate between the different groups and people who protected or attacked Luther or shared his ideas. The history of Luther can only be written as a shared history with conflict and concordances: the so-called Anabaptists, for example, shared Luther’s antihierarchical ideal of Christian community, although on the other hand “they” were strongly opposed toward his theology and person. Luther or example, had conflicts with the humanists and with Erasmus especially; he argued about the Lord’s Supper with Zwingli, he criticized the Fuggers because of their financial transactions in an early capitalist society; and, last but not least, he was in conflict with the Roman Church. The legitimization of different pictures of Luther always depends upon the perspectives of the posterity: either Luther was intolerant against spiritualists, Anabaptists, or peasants who were willing to resort to violence; or he was defended by humanists like Sebastian Castellio for defending religious tolerance. During his lifetime Luther was an extremely polarizing figure. Hundreds of pro-Lutheran and polemical anti-Lutheran leaflets or texts were published. The many literary forms of parody, satire, caricature, the grotesque, and the absurd were cultivated during the confessional age. Luther’s biography was often used by Lutheran theologians as an instrument of heroization and identity politics in public discourse. Historically, one can differentiate between the time before and after Luther. The political and religious unity of the Holy Roman Empire was strongly disturbed, if not broken, through the Reformation. The end of the Universalist dreams of universal powers like theology and politics (pope and emperor) were some of the central preconditions for political, cultural, and theological differentiation of Europe. Religious differentiation was one of the unintended effects of theology and the interpretation of the scripture. Decades after Luther’s death, the Holy Roman Empire slowly and surprisingly turned into a poly-, multi- and interconfessional society.


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