The Ukrainian Cossacks, often compared in historical literature to the pirates of the Mediterranean and the frontiersmen of the American West, constituted one of the largest Cossack hosts in the European steppe borderland. They became famous as ferocious warriors, their fighting skills developed in their religious wars against the Tartars, Turks, Poles, and Russians. By and large the Cossacks were Orthodox Christians, and quite early in their history they adopted a religious ideology in their struggle against those of other faiths. Their acceptance of the Muscovite protectorate in 1654 was also influenced by their religious ideas. This study examines the confessionalisation of religious life in early modern period Ukraine, and shows how Cossack involvement in the religious struggle between Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism helped shape cultural identities not only in the Ukraine but also in Russia and Poland.

Vol. 1 : 1933-40. - 2002. - 64 p.

Many books, pamphlets & reports have been written about the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49. These have ranged from the almost encyclopaedic British Air Ministry publication to short leaflet summaries. They have been concerned primarily with the truly impressive statistics, & some have concentrated almost exclusively on the aircraft. But none has seemed to approach this historical event from the viewpoint of its historical perspective. John Provan & Ron Davies have now cooperated in this Paladwr Press book to try to compensate for this past shortcoming. The first part of the narrative explores the political & economic circumstances that led to the crisis of May 1948, & it also takes a look at the situation as it probably appeared to the Soviet Union. To have a capitalist enclave within its jealously (& military)-guarded sphere of influence must have seemed something of an imposition in Muscovite eyes. On the other hand, many readers may be surprised to realize that Berlin is only 30 miles from Poland. And--again to remember perspectives of time, as well as of place & motivation--how many recall that the Airlift was launched only three years after the end of the Second World War? In addition to picture-descriptions of all the transport aircraft, U.S. & British, military & civilian, involved in the Airlift, this book has delved into the problems of logistics, on the ground as well as in the air & has not forgotten the human aspects, for example, the famous exploits of the Candy Bomber & the Camel Caravan. Here is a book that, in addition to being a useful reference to one of the great events of transport aviation history, should delight the eye; & even, here & there, amuse. For without a sense of humor, the Berlin Airlift would have been a grim experience for all the participants.

  Текст у форматі PDF 4.77 Мб

The events of 1989 that brought an end to the so-called East Bloc may have increased women's opportunities to write and publish, or at least changed the circumstances under which they do so. Still writing from a certain historical and cultural margin, these women from East Central Europe have begun to explore a new freedom whose fruits are displayed to exhilarating effect in this book-a freedom to experiment, to innovate, to create a literature uniquely expressive of their world. This volume for the first time allows English-speaking readers to discover the pleasures of these women's writing. A rich compendium of fiction by twenty-five women from eighteen different nations ranging from Lithuania to Ukraine to Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Albania, and Slovenia, The Third Shore brings to light a whole spectrum of women's literary accomplishment and experience virtually unknown in the West. Gracefully translated, and with an introduction that establishes their political, historical, and literary context, these stories written in the decade after the fall of the Iron Curtain are tales of the familiar-of illness and death, love and desire, motherhood and war, feminism, and patriarchy-reconceived and turned into something altogether new by the distinctive experience they reflect.

Hitler's War (Published as The War That Came Early: Hitler's War in paperback, Del Rey, 2009) is an alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove. It is the first volume in The War That Came Early, an alternate history of World War II. The Point of Divergence has José Sanjurjo surviving a plane crash in 1936. Subsequently, during the Munich Conference in 1938, Konrad Henlein, a political leader of Sudetenland Germans is assassinated. Hitler uses this act as a pretext for war with Czechoslovakia, knowing that the Spanish Nationalists will side with him. Britain, France, and the Soviet Union declare war on Germany. Poland, despite previous ties with France, sides with Germany against the USSR. Further, Japan, which has been expanding into the Asian mainland, begins skirmishes with the USSR in Mongolia. The United States is on the sidelines, although it has troops in China, and volunteers participate in the Spanish Civil War. The novel was (evidentally) originally announced in early 2008 as Appeasement at amazon.co.uk, but Turtledove denied writing or contracting such a project at the time.

British-Polish relations during the Second World War were dogged by the fact that Polish demands on the Soviet Union threatened Soviet relations with Britain and the United States, and Soviet participation in the war. In this book Anita Prazmowska relates British policies and war-time strategy to Polish expectations and policies. She describes a tragic situation where Polish soldiers were trapped between the unrealistic plans of their government and the harsh realities of a war that they fought for Britain with no prospect of a satisfactory outcome for them or their country.

Sincerest thanks are due to Teresa Glazer, Irena Haniewicz, Jan K. Siedlecki, Walery Choroszewski, Adam Lasocki, Wadzia Ta÷ski, Louise McCall, Christopher Muszkowski and Mr Naharnowicz – all of whom found time to talk to me about their experiences of the September Campaign. Dr Andrzej Suchcitz, at the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, Chris Summerville, my editor, Pamela Covey, my proofreader, as well as the staff at the National Archives and in the Reading Room of the Imperial War Museum, were unfailingly helpful whenever I approached them. The author would also like to thank Ewa Haren, Taisa Kiczkajo and Jerzy Chodyrew for help with sources and Polish spellings, and the following for granting him permission to use copyright material: Teresa Glazer, Irena Haniewicz, Jan K. Siedlecki, Walery Choroszewski and Louise McCall, all of whom lent him copies of unpublished manuscripts. He would also like to thank the owners of the following papers in the Imperial War Museum, London: B.M. Poloniecki, R. Zolski, Wiktor Jackiewicz, Peter Fleming (P.Z. Tarczynski), B.J. Solak, F. Kornicki, M.A. Rymaszewski, R. Smorczewski, S. Kurylak, W. Krey, A. Golebiowski and S. Goldberg. Special thanks are also due to the Taylor Library for the use of images. Finally, the author would like to acknowledge his debt to S.J. Zaloga’s and V. Madej’s book, The Polish Campaign 1939, which greatly assisted in technical matters associated with the September Campaign. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and the author and the Imperial War Museum would be grateful for any information which might help to trace those whose identities or addresses are not currently known.

Ukraine ( Ukraïna in Ukrainian) means “on the edge” or “borderland,” and for most of its history Ukraine has served as a sort of middle ground, divided between Russia and Poland (later Austria-Hungary) and occupying the far western edge of the vast Eurasian steppe, centered between Europe and Asia, West and East. During most of twentieth century, it was part of the Soviet Union, but it gained independence in 1991 when the Soviet Union disintegrated into 15 different countries. In terms of population, it is the second largest (after Russia) of the post-Soviet states, and, among all European countries, it is the second largest (again, after Russia) in territorial size. Although a new country, it has a long and complicated history, and the importance of this history is manifested today in various ways: the regional divisions between western and eastern parts of the country; its inexperience with both capitalism and democracy that has arguably made the post-Soviet transition more difficult; its lack of previous statehood that has complicated notions of Ukrainian identity; and, perhaps above all else, its relations with neighboring states, especially Russia, which ruled, either as the Russian Empire under the tsars or as the Soviet Union under the Communist Party, over most of Ukraine for centuries. Coming to grips with aspects of its history and charting its own course have been challenges for the new Ukrainian state.

Is everyday life possible in a situation of total war, foreign occupation and subjection to a Nazi or Fascist political order? Europe, between 1939 and 1945, was in the grip of a war of ideology, extermination and genocide which resulted in as many casualties among civilians as among combatants. While combatants engaged in battles with immense fire-power from Stalingrad to Normandy, and over 3 million out of 5 million captured Russian soldiers died in German prisoner of war camps, civilians bore the brunt of bombing by Axis and Allied planes alike and the scorched-earth policy of both Soviets and Germans. Civilian populations were displaced in their millions, whether fleeing before invading armies, fearful of atrocities, evacuated from bombed cities, or moved by the Soviet authorities as unreliable ethnic minorities away from the front line. The economies and labour forces of occupied Europe were riveted to the needs of the German war machine, with over eight million people brought to work in Germany. In the absence of their menfolk, whether as soldiers or as deported workers, women were frequently the main breadwinners as well as heads of the family, and were liable to seduction or rape by invading or occupying forces. Occupying forces purged or exterminated target groups that were seen as a menace to their war effort, the Germans in occupied Poland getting rid first of intellectuals, then of Jews. In the heart of occupied Europe Nazi and fascist ideology was imposed by propaganda, schooling, youth movements and the persecution of churches. Food was generally in short supply, and famine stalked the land from Greece to Russia. Where civilians took up arms against the occupying forces as partisans or maquisards, regular armies having dwindled away, they found themselves fighting an unequal battle, sustaining heavy losses and subjected to torture to betray their comrades. Where resistance fighters struck, then the occupying forces resorted to collective reprisals against civilians suspected of harbouring them, from the execution of hostages to the torching of villages.

The subjects of this book are the transformation of national ideas, the causes of ethnic cleansing, and the conditions for national reconciliation. One theme is the contestation of territory, and contested places are known by different names to different people at different times. Another theme is the difference between history and memory, a difference revealed when care is taken with names. The body of this book will name cities between Warsaw and Moscow according to the usage of the people in question at the relevant moment. This minimizes anachronism, recalls the importance of language to nationalism, and emphasizes that the disposition of cities is never final. The gazetteer provides toponyms in eight languages in use as of this writing. The names of countries also require some attention. In this work, attributes of the medieval principality of Kyivan Rus’ are denoted by the term “Rusian.” The culture of East Slavs within the early modern Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is called “Ruthenian.” The adjective “Russian” is reserved for the Russian empire, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and the Russian Federation. “Ukrainian” is a geographical term in the medieval and early modern periods, and a political term in modern contexts. The use of “Belarus” signals an orientation toward local traditions; “Belorussia” suggests a belief in an integral connection with Russia. “Lithuanian” and “Polish” refer to the appropriate polities and cultures in the period in question. The historical lands of “Galicia” and “Volhynia” will be named by these Latinate English terms throughout. This book draws on archival materials; document collections; parliamentary records; ministerial memoranda; local, national, and national-minority newspapers of various countries and periods; diaries, memoirs, and correspondence; scholarly publications; other printed and unprinted sources; and interviews with civil servants, parliamentary deputies, ministers, and heads of state. Archives are cited by four-letter abbreviations, and document collections by short titles: a key is found at the back of the book. Books and articles are cited in full at first, and then by author surname and short title. Other sources are cited in full. Authors’ names are spelled as they appear in the cited work, even when this gives rise to inconsistencies of transliteration. Transliteration is the unavoidable practice of rendering words spelled in one alphabet legible in another. The Polish, Lithuanian, and Czech languages, like English, French, and German, use various orthographies within Roman script. Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian use various orthographies within Cyrillic script. Like translation, transliteration abounds in intractable problems: so critical readers will know that all solutions are imperfect. With certain exceptions for well-known surnames, Cyrillic script is here rendered by a simplified version of the Library of Congress system. Translations, except from Lithuanian, are my own.