Category Archives: France
Late Demise of Classical Chinese in Vietnam
From A Story of Vietnam, by Truong Buu Lam (Outskirts, 2010), Kindle Loc. 2744-2761: The cultural changes of the period under study [1900-1925] are dominated by one phenomenon: the replacement of classical Chinese by quoc ngu [国語 national language] as … Continue reading
Filed under China, democracy, education, France, language, literature, nationalism, Vietnam
Prussian Reactions to the French Revolution
From: Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947, by Christopher Clark (Penguin, 2007), p. 285 (Kindle Loc. 5546-5584): Tensions between the two German rivals had risen steadily during the 1780s. In 1785, Frederick II had taken charge of … Continue reading
Crowning the First King of Prussia, 1701
From: Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947, by Christopher Clark (Penguin, 2007), pp. 68, 70, 73 (Kindle Locs. 1574-1601, 1609-1619, 1672-1701): In terms of the proportion of territorial wealth consumed, the coronation of 1701 must surely be … Continue reading
Mobutu’s Mercenaries, 1996
From Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa, by Jason Stearns (Public Affairs, 2011), Kindle Loc. 2126-2158: There were few memorable battles for the rebels as they crossed the country. … Continue reading
Help the Victims of Genocide and the Perpetrators?
From Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa, by Jason Stearns (Public Affairs, 2011), Kindle Loc. 454-466: In southwestern Rwanda, the Hutu flight was stalled by the deployment of a … Continue reading
Kapuscinski on the rise of Habyarimana
From The Shadow of the Sun, by Ryszard Kapuscinski, trans. by Klara Glowczewska (Vintage, 2002), Kindle Loc. 2339-66, 2373-92: In 1972, the Hutus from Burundi, emboldened by the example of their brothers in Rwanda, attempted to stage an insurrection, slaughtering, … Continue reading
Secularizing Religious Education in Salonica
From Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950, by Mark Mazower (Vintage, 2006), pp. 220-221: The struggle for communal authority was fought out over many areas—care for the poor and sick, the upkeep of cemeteries, the administration of … Continue reading
Filed under Balkans, education, France, Greece, language, Mediterranean, nationalism, Turkey
The Near Eastern Crisis of 1875-78
From Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950, by Mark Mazower (Vintage, 2006), pp. 167-169: Beginning with a peasant uprising in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the troubles spread in 1876 to Bulgaria and the Danubian provinces and ended with an invasion … Continue reading
Belated Ottoman Religious Reform
From Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950, by Mark Mazower (Vintage, 2006), pp. 152-153: In 1851 Christian testimony was admitted in a local criminal court for the first time, but it was not for another decade that … Continue reading
Rise and Fall of the Nutmeg Monopoly
From The Spice Islands Voyage: The Quest for Alfred Wallace, the Man Who Shared Darwin’s Discovery of Evolution, by Tim Severin (Carroll & Graf, 1997), pp. 117-119: The conditions of soil and climate on Banda were so perfect for nutmeg … Continue reading
