tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post7322000891315067400..comments2024-02-26T00:59:26.907-08:00Comments on Ana the Imp: The valley of deathAnastasia F-Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-21496242956294022682011-01-31T00:24:06.723-08:002011-01-31T00:24:06.723-08:00Turgid and moronic personal attacks? Well, if tha...Turgid and moronic personal attacks? Well, if that's how you want to see it so be it.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-52917717762267907572011-01-31T00:06:55.898-08:002011-01-31T00:06:55.898-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Fletch's Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16402507296202065300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-22532175329194675902011-01-31T00:04:32.366-08:002011-01-31T00:04:32.366-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Fletch's Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16402507296202065300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-38755275212202836772011-01-29T17:21:53.974-08:002011-01-29T17:21:53.974-08:00Adam, the Ottoman Empire was a force for stability...Adam, the Ottoman Empire was a force for stability?! Do please tell me you are not in earnest; you cannot possibly be in earnest. <br /><br />Do you know <i>anything</i> of the history of Ottoman Europe between 1814 and 1914? Do you know <i>anything</i> of the repeated Balkan wars, largely caused by Ottoman incompetence and mismanagement? Do you know <i>anything</i> of the <i>millet</i> system which guaranteed that the Christian minorities would be treated as second class citizens, despite repeated promises of toleration and equality by the Porte, a system which actively encouraged rebellion and instability? Do you know <i>anything</i> of the fate of the Slavs under the Ottomans, particularly the Serbs, a people whom you profess to admire? I recommended Rebecca West’s book to you once, which you clearly have not read, or, if you have, you've clearly not understood. Oh, if you ever go to Belgrade I trust you will keep your opinion about 'Ottoman stability' to yourself, especially if it's anywhere near 28 June. <br /> <br />Sorry, I know you are going to consider this yet another ‘insult’ but your imperial preference here is overwhelming your judgement. Either that or your view can only be excused by ignorance of the subject. I really could not care less about your adhesion to antiquated notions of empire - that's your prerogative - but I will simply not tolerate the cavalier treatment historical facts. That's the one thing that really makes me cross.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-27019073464872852862011-01-28T00:52:18.771-08:002011-01-28T00:52:18.771-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Fletch's Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16402507296202065300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-59206320098031042182011-01-27T17:09:45.262-08:002011-01-27T17:09:45.262-08:00I told you I was playing Devil's Advocate, but...I told you I was playing Devil's Advocate, but the facts still support this interpretation. The Ottomans were almost completely removed from Europe in the First Balkan War and only partially restored in the Second; so the verge of madness was clearly crossed.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-84637777137497326842011-01-27T16:00:44.145-08:002011-01-27T16:00:44.145-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Fletch's Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16402507296202065300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-72999810756204686312011-01-27T15:59:34.427-08:002011-01-27T15:59:34.427-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Fletch's Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16402507296202065300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-85223142444407660462011-01-27T15:54:18.862-08:002011-01-27T15:54:18.862-08:00Let me play Devil’s Advocate, Adam, and present yo...Let me play Devil’s Advocate, Adam, and present you with an alternative scenario, an alternative interpretation of Disraeli’s greatest foreign policy triumph. It goes like this.<br /><br />The Eastern Question in Europe was a running sore; it would remain a running sore right up to 1914, when successive Balkan Wars finally merged into the First World War. A solution was needed, a <i>comprehensive</i> solution, one that would have involved removing the Ottomans from most of Europe. In the 1850s Gladstone suggested such a solution in the recreation, more or less, of the Byzantine Empire. Alexander II, that well-known ‘liberal interventionist’, offered another in the 1870s in the creation of an enlarged Bulgaria. <br /><br />Then comes Disraeli ready, once again, to prop up the sick man of Europe; then comes the Congress of Berlin, a band-aid to man haemorrhaging from a major artery. Peace with honour? what utter tosh; it was no more peace with honour than Munich, though the illusion was preserved for a little longer. The inevitable reckoning was merely postponed. <br /><br />What a mirage the whole thing was. Bulgaria, as it turned out, was not the Russian Trojan Horse that Disraeli feared it would be. The Cyprus Convention merely alienated the Turks, ensuring that they would eventually take the side of Germany. The Congress of Berlin both frustrated Slav nationalism and Turkish imperialism. Worst of all it gave the Austrians a mandate over the provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was, in the long run, to be the immediate cause of the First World War. In his short sightedness and lack of vision, Disraeli merely helped lay the foundations for the tragedy to come.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-38135549812558960092011-01-26T23:53:01.530-08:002011-01-26T23:53:01.530-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Fletch's Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16402507296202065300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-18065036382464993362011-01-26T15:55:39.989-08:002011-01-26T15:55:39.989-08:00Was it not his threat to go to war with Russia tha...Was it not his threat to go to war with Russia that created jingoism in the first place? I do not see Palmerston as a 'liberal interventionist' but as an arch-imperialist.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-4171904027458344622011-01-26T15:38:35.442-08:002011-01-26T15:38:35.442-08:00Also, Nathan Rothschilds stole the money.Also, Nathan Rothschilds stole the money.anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02931330128135957439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-82222090964631620492011-01-26T00:25:51.025-08:002011-01-26T00:25:51.025-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Fletch's Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16402507296202065300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-49983032417157936052011-01-25T15:51:40.741-08:002011-01-25T15:51:40.741-08:00Adam, I’m not going to get bogged down in semantic...Adam, I’m not going to get bogged down in semantics here but there was nothing ‘illegal’ about the First Gulf War. <br /><br />Disraeli may have been critical of the Crimean operation but he was equally critical of the failure of Aberdeen to take a firmer stand against Russia. It was his threat of military action in 1877 that forced Russia to back down over San Stefano, not wishing to risk another Crimea. Do you seriously believe that he would have stood back and done nothing if they had not; would ‘peace with honour’ have been obtained simply because the Tsar liked his soulful eyes? Disraeli’s attacks on Palmerston were born of resentment as much as anything, and he was just as prepared to ring the jingo bell when it suited him. Yes, I realise that only you have a supreme understanding of world affairs, the very reverse of the ‘liberal interventionists’, the greatest straw man of all.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-64228154948267786492011-01-25T15:41:12.905-08:002011-01-25T15:41:12.905-08:00Bob, yes some of them in my teen years. Great fun...Bob, yes some of them in my teen years. Great fun!Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-48841561000521134842011-01-25T15:40:22.594-08:002011-01-25T15:40:22.594-08:00Anthony, yes that was a tremendous pity. Admiral ...Anthony, yes that was a tremendous pity. Admiral Kolchak is another of my heroes. :-)Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-29759743881939117092011-01-25T00:04:43.887-08:002011-01-25T00:04:43.887-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Fletch's Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16402507296202065300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-44765913981593382652011-01-24T23:59:49.968-08:002011-01-24T23:59:49.968-08:00Ana, have you read any of George MacDonald Fraser&...Ana, have you read any of George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman novels?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-38278781610372024692011-01-24T19:39:45.332-08:002011-01-24T19:39:45.332-08:00Helped the Bolshvics in ww2 not ww1 .The allies di...Helped the Bolshvics in ww2 not ww1 .The allies did make an effort to fight the Bolshiviks after ww1 but withdrew from russia.anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02931330128135957439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-29747826629617769652011-01-24T17:29:19.891-08:002011-01-24T17:29:19.891-08:00History of the world, conquest for empire and comm...History of the world, conquest for empire and commerce .The Brit Royals had a falling out with the Russian Royals,Helped destroy the Romanovs helped the Bolsheviks in two world wars They went broke doing this, lost their empire And have enslaved the U.S. to the world bankers and now globalization.anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02931330128135957439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-73804086785681940742011-01-24T16:31:22.623-08:002011-01-24T16:31:22.623-08:00Calvin, yes that's the guy. I've mentione...Calvin, yes that's the guy. I've mentioned that in a previous post. It was all so unnecessary, especially as he is such a good historian. He has no skill at all as an assassin. All history is relevant, but some is more relevant than others. :-)Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-58192081747225339482011-01-24T16:24:22.090-08:002011-01-24T16:24:22.090-08:00Mike, thanks. I hope you enjoy them.Mike, thanks. I hope you enjoy them.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-51187346681153922212011-01-24T16:23:53.629-08:002011-01-24T16:23:53.629-08:00Dominic, not to forget the Caucasus, on the assump...Dominic, not to forget the Caucasus, on the assumption that the perpetrator of today’s bomb outrage at Domodedovo airport is from one of the terrorist groups based there. <br /><br />I agree that the book makes an important contribution to the history of the period but the one on Russia before and after the Revolution is definitely better.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-18802466873691580342011-01-24T16:17:22.619-08:002011-01-24T16:17:22.619-08:00Isn't Figes the chap with the creative approac...Isn't Figes the chap with the creative approach to self-promotion on Amazon?<br /><br />Yesterday, elsewhere, I was reading a post about the Zulu Wars. All so irrelevant, now.Calvinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10640148105202971907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-44861403136919217352011-01-24T16:12:26.125-08:002011-01-24T16:12:26.125-08:00Ana,
Excellent thoughtful review. I'm going ...Ana,<br /><br />Excellent thoughtful review. I'm going to get this book and take this opportunity to get Fige's book on the Russian Revolution too.<br /><br />- Mike CullinaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com