Summary of Andrew Wheatcroft's The Enemy at the Gate

Summary of Andrew Wheatcroft's The Enemy at the Gate PDF Author: Everest Media,
Publisher: Everest Media LLC
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 In 1682, the Ottoman Empire was going to war with the Habsburg Empire. The sultan, Mehmed IV, was going to lead the army himself. The presence of the sultan directed the whole force of the empire against their adversary. #2 The Ottoman war camp, by contrast, was a perfect model city. It was made of broadcloth, canvas, silk, brocade, and embroidery rather than brick and stone. The sultan and his officials had a passion for the open air, and they would often hold alfresco meals in the palace grounds. #3 The Ottoman Empire was well prepared for the campaign of 1683. The war camp was made up of 15,000 tents large and small, and every other provision was on the same scale. The soldiers were well cared for, and they did not have to forage or live off the land. #4 The Ottoman Empire had a secret weapon that justified their campaign against the Habsburgs. The truce between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans had been ongoing for almost eighty years, and there had been no signs of war. But the Ottomans had a reason to war against the Habsburgs.

The Enemy at the Gate

The Enemy at the Gate PDF Author: Andrew Wheatcroft
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1409086828
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
In 1683, two empires - the Ottoman, based in Constantinople, and the Habsburg dynasty in Vienna - came face to face in the culmination of a 250-year power struggle: the Great Siege of Vienna. Within the city walls the choice of resistance over surrender to the largest army ever assembled by the Turks created an all-or-nothing scenario: every last survivor would be enslaved or ruthlessly slaughtered. The Turks had set their sights on taking Vienna, the city they had long called 'The Golden Apple' since their first siege of the city in 1529. Both sides remained resolute, sustained by hatred of their age-old enemy, certain that their victory would be won by the grace of God. Eastern invaders had always threatened the West: Huns, Mongols, Goths, Visigoths, Vandals and many others. The Western fears of the East were vivid and powerful and, in their new eyes, the Turks always appeared the sole aggressors. Andrew Wheatcroft's extraordinary book shows that this belief is a grievous oversimplification: during the 400 year struggle for domination, the West took the offensive just as often as the East. As modern Turkey seeks to re-orient its relationship with Europe, a new generation of politicians is exploiting the residual fears and tensions between East and West to hamper this change. The Enemy at the Gate provides a timely and masterful account of this most complex and epic of conflicts.

Summary of Andrew Wheatcroft's The Enemy at the Gate

Summary of Andrew Wheatcroft's The Enemy at the Gate PDF Author: Everest Media,
Publisher: Everest Media LLC
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 44

Get Book

Book Description
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 In 1682, the Ottoman Empire was going to war with the Habsburg Empire. The sultan, Mehmed IV, was going to lead the army himself. The presence of the sultan directed the whole force of the empire against their adversary. #2 The Ottoman war camp, by contrast, was a perfect model city. It was made of broadcloth, canvas, silk, brocade, and embroidery rather than brick and stone. The sultan and his officials had a passion for the open air, and they would often hold alfresco meals in the palace grounds. #3 The Ottoman Empire was well prepared for the campaign of 1683. The war camp was made up of 15,000 tents large and small, and every other provision was on the same scale. The soldiers were well cared for, and they did not have to forage or live off the land. #4 The Ottoman Empire had a secret weapon that justified their campaign against the Habsburgs. The truce between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans had been ongoing for almost eighty years, and there had been no signs of war. But the Ottomans had a reason to war against the Habsburgs.

The Sultan's Shadow

The Sultan's Shadow PDF Author: Christiane Bird
Publisher: Random House Incorporated
ISBN: 0345469402
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
A dramatic account of the slave trade in the early 19th century Indian Ocean is presented through the stories of the Omani Sultan Said and his daughter, Princess Salme, offering insight into the Arabian Peninsula kingdom's lucrative growth and ties to America.

Lost to the West

Lost to the West PDF Author: Lars Brownworth
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307407969
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
Filled with unforgettable stories of emperors, generals, and religious patriarchs, as well as fascinating glimpses into the life of the ordinary citizen, Lost to the West reveals how much we owe to the Byzantine Empire that was the equal of any in its achievements, appetites, and enduring legacy. For more than a millennium, Byzantium reigned as the glittering seat of Christian civilization. When Europe fell into the Dark Ages, Byzantium held fast against Muslim expansion, keeping Christianity alive. Streams of wealth flowed into Constantinople, making possible unprecedented wonders of art and architecture. And the emperors who ruled Byzantium enacted a saga of political intrigue and conquest as astonishing as anything in recorded history. Lost to the West is replete with stories of assassination, mass mutilation and execution, sexual scheming, ruthless grasping for power, and clashing armies that soaked battlefields with the blood of slain warriors numbering in the tens of thousands.

The Siege of Vienna

The Siege of Vienna PDF Author: John Stoye
Publisher: Birlinn
ISBN: 0857905104
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
The Siege of Vienna in 1683 was one of the turning points in European history. It was the last serious threat to Western Christendom and so great was its impact that countries normally jealous and hostile sank their differences to throw back the armies of Islam and their savage Tartar allies. The consequences of defeat were momentous: the Ottomans lost half their European territories and began the long decline which led to the final collapse of the Empire, and the Hapsburgs turned their attention from France and the Rhine frontier to the rich pickings of the Balkans. The hot September day that witnesses the last great trial of strength between Cross and Crescent opened an epoch in European history that lasted until the cataclysm of the First World War in 1914.

The Ottomans

The Ottomans PDF Author: Andrew Wheatcroft
Publisher: Penguin Mass Market
ISBN:
Category : Osmanlı Devleti- Tarih
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
The world's last day - the fall of the Byzantine empire; at the gate of bliss - the shaping of Ottoman power; strangled with a silken cord - the constraints of Ottomanism; "The auspicious event"--The extirpation of the Janissaries; Stamboul, the city - Western images of the Ottomans; dreams from the rose pavilion - the meandering path of reform; "the lustful turk" "the terrible turk."

JAN SOBIESKI

JAN SOBIESKI PDF Author: Miltiades Varvounis
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1462880827
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Jan Sobieski was one of the most extraordinary and visionary monarchs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1674 until his death. He was a man of letters, an artistic person, a dedicated ruler but above all the greatest soldier of his time. Popular among his subjects, he won considerable fame for his decisive victory over the Ottomans at the walls of Vienna (1683). For defeating the Muslim invaders, Pope Innocent XI hailed Sobieski as the saviour of Christendom. REVIEWS "Miltiades Varvounis describes Sobieski's personality and lasting accomplishments in an exciting and illuminating way that will captivate the imagination of every reader of History books, while, at the same time, bringing back to life a period of relentless struggles between Christianity and Islam that formed the 'last chapter' of European chivalry." DR NICOLAOS NICOLOUDIS, King’s College London "This masterpiece by Miltiades Varvounis not only brings to light a forgotten genius but also sheds light onto an important part of the long turbulent Turkish history." CUMA BARAK, University of Gaziantep "The author masterfully brings to light one of the most prominent personalities of the seventeenth century who was not only a great ruler and an astute military leader but who also changed the course of history by saving Europe from the Islamic onslaught." LITHUANIAN HERITAGE magazine "A fascinating, thorough and very much needed biography of a leader whose name is virtually unknown outside of Eastern Europe. Varvounis describes Sobieski with just the right dose of historical detail and imagination - this is a work of history that reads like a work of fiction." EWA BRONOWICZ, The Post Eagle

The Enemy at the Gate

The Enemy at the Gate PDF Author: Andrew Wheatcroft
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0786744545
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
In 1683, an Ottoman army that stretched from horizon to horizon set out to seize the “Golden Apple,” as Turks referred to Vienna. The ensuing siege pitted battle-hardened Janissaries wielding seventeenth-century grenades against Habsburg armies, widely feared for their savagery. The walls of Vienna bristled with guns as the besieging Ottoman host launched bombs, fired cannons, and showered the populace with arrows during the battle for Christianity's bulwark. Each side was sustained by the hatred of its age-old enemy, certain that victory would be won by the grace of God. The Great Siege of Vienna is the centerpiece for historian Andrew Wheatcroft's richly drawn portrait of the centuries-long rivalry between the Ottoman and Habsburg empires for control of the European continent. A gripping work by a master historian, The Enemy at the Gate offers a timely examination of an epic clash of civilizations.

Blood and Faith

Blood and Faith PDF Author: Matthew Carr
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1595585249
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
In April 1609, King Philip III of Spain signed an edict denouncing the Muslim inhabitants of Spain as heretics, traitors, and apostates. Later that year, the entire Muslim population of Spain was given three days to leave Spanish territory, on threat of death. In a brutal and traumatic exodus, entire families and communities were obliged to abandon homes and villages where they had lived for generations, leaving their property in the hands of their Christian neighbors. In Aragon and Catalonia, Muslims were escorted by government commissioners who forced them to pay whenever they drank water from a river or took refuge in the shade. For five years the expulsion continued to grind on, until an estimated 300,000 Muslims had been removed from Spanish territory, nearly 5 percent of the total population. By 1614 Spain had successfully implemented what was then the largest act of ethnic cleansing in European history, and Muslim Spain had effectively ceased to exist. Blood and Faith is celebrated journalist Matthew Carr’s riveting chronicle of this virtually unknown episode, set against the vivid historical backdrop of the history of Muslim Spain. Here is a remarkable window onto a little-known period in modern Europe—a rich and complex tale of competing faiths and beliefs, of cultural oppression and resistance against overwhelming odds.

The Thirty Years War

The Thirty Years War PDF Author: C. V. Wedgwood
Publisher: New York Review of Books
ISBN: 1681371235
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description
Europe in 1618 was riven between Protestants and Catholics, Bourbon and Hapsburg--as well as empires, kingdoms, and countless principalities. After angry Protestants tossed three representatives of the Holy Roman Empire out the window of the royal castle in Prague, world war spread from Bohemia with relentless abandon, drawing powers from Spain to Sweden into a nightmarish world of famine, disease, and seemingly unstoppable destruction.