International Historiography Research Articles

“In Pursuit of Reform”

The religious and intellectual history of early modern and modern Islam is often reduced to a teleological and Arabo-centric narrative, in which modernity began with Napoleon’s Egyptian Expedition or the Nahḍa, the Arab Renaissance. Within this narrative, the succession of Sufism, Islamic reformism, Islamism, and Salafism is seen as a “genealogy of Islamism.” Using a regressive history approach, and presenting the currents of international historiography on Islam between the fifteenth and the twenty-first century, this article seeks in contrast to illuminate the plurality of possible pathways and the heterogeneous nature of historical moments. Moving backward through time, it attempts to identify ruptures and continuities, and to highlight successive interpretations of medieval authors and concepts (such as salafiyya). In so doing, it endeavors to demonstrate the constructed nature of the received historiographical narrative of late nineteenth-century “Islamic reformism,” as well as that of “Arabic thought in the liberal age.” Historiographical debates on the “neo-Sufism” and Aufklärung of the eighteenth century have led to a better understanding of Islam in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, a thirst for renewal (tajdīd) flourished in hadith, Islamic law, and Sufism. Recent research on the process of “confessionalization” over the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has highlighted the importance of political factors in developments of Islam during the age of the three Empires (Mughal, Safavid, and Ottoman).

Authority, Vigilance, Paranoia: Placing the Dutch Civil Militia in the History of the Paramilitary Radical Right, 1918–1940

The formation of the civil militias (burgerwachten) in 1918 across a range of Dutch cities, in response to the threat of revolution, has received extremely limited attention in both Dutch and international historiography. They have never been studied in their own right, having been considered a largely local and politically irrelevant phenomenon. In fact this large voluntary organisation existed both locally and nationally, and recruited over 100,000 men and women, and had ties to state and fringe groups abroad. Reconstructing the formation and development of the militias, and analysing its character as a paramilitary and strikebreaking organisation, this article demonstrates that the militias were an important ideological formation. The militia institutionalised anti-Bolshevism and radical right paramilitarism in the Netherlands, and as such had a role to play in the counter-revolutionary network that was developed across Europe.

«National historiographies» on the history of Russia in the 16th–18th centuries, published in the Hungarian journal «RussianStudiesHu»

In 2021 and 2022, review articles on the latest international historiography on the history of Russia in the 16th-18th centuries were published in the Hungarian online scientific journal on historical Russian studies RussianStudiesHu. The journal issues also introduce readers to new research by Russian historians, but in this article I will primarily focus on the current state of Russian studies about the 16th-18th centuries in Central, Eastern and Western Europe and the United States. In review articles on the history of Russia from 1462-1689, historians from Hungary, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the United States, as well as French-speaking scholars, call this period of Russian history the "late medieval", "pre-modern" or "early modern" era. Some researchers argue that until the mid-17th century, Muscovy had little in common with European states. And based on review articles of international historiography, it can be established that the central figures of the historiography of the 18th century in almost every country are Peter I and Catherine II, and there is still no consensus regarding the periodization of Russian history in the 18th century.

Repentance and Reappraisal

In this introduction to a special issue on the history of anti-abolitionism in the Netherlands, the 160th anniversary of the Dutch abolition of slavery is discussed in relation to the culture of commemoration in the Netherlands and the international historiography of abolition. A reappraisal of the role of the State in the commemoration of slavery coincides with a more critical view of history and a change in perspective on the colonial past. The recent trend of cities and institutions investigating their ties to slavery and subsequently often apologising for centuries of compliance and collaboration necessitates a more integrated approach to the analysis of the ideas that shaped colonial policy. Each contribution in this issue adds to the rich historiography on Dutch abolitionism but redirects the attention towards politicians, governors, investors, publishers and authors who defended the trade in people and their enslavement. The case studies presented here range from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, which makes this special issue the first presentation of how the Netherlands normalised colonial slavery over more than 250 years.

Kautsky’s Unexpected Comeback: Understanding the Re-emergence of the Second International in Contemporary Debates

Abstract In the history of the left, the conjuncture 1914–1917 is the “bifurcation point” per definition. Leaving an enduring mark on the labor movement, it also shaped subsequent historiographies. For the pro-Bolshevik left, 1914 epitomized the betrayal of a group of reformist leaders. Conversely, anti-communist social democrats regarded the Second International as an uncomfortable political heritage. Despite irreconcilable disputes, both traditions shared a lack of interest in defending the period 1889–1914, let alone delving into its history. The real take-off of Second International historiography came later and coincided with the outset of the Cold War, experiencing a “golden age” in the 1960s and 1970s. Studies of socialism lost momentum from the 1980s onwards, but the last 15 years have seen a resurgence of interest in the Second International and even a popular reappraisal of Karl Kautsky. Linking historiography to wider social and political phenomena, this article reflects on this new interest in the Second International in both activist and academic circles. The first section summarizes the historical significance of the International and examines how the crisis of 1914 became a crucial “bifurcation point” with significant political and historiographical impact. The second section explores recent trends in scholarly research on the subject. The third section provides an analysis of the vindication of Karl Kautsky among radicals and socialists in the United States over the past 10 years. The conclusion summarizes the main arguments and reflects on the contribution this analysis can make to a discussion about the “long cycle” of socialism.

Introduction

AbstractThis cluster of articles explores the gendered history of the military in the Russian imperial and Soviet contexts during periods of imperial conquest, war, and their complex aftermaths. The cluster began at the 2021 ASEEES virtual convention, when the contributors joined the Zoom panel while their respective countries were in various stages of lockdown. Chronologically, the cluster stretches from the middle of the nineteenth century to the 1960s, with two articles on the Russian Empire and two covering the Soviet period. From the imperial borderlands of the Caucasus in the nineteenth century to the Nazi‐occupied western frontiers of the Soviet Union during the Second World War, ideas about appropriate feminine and masculine behavior shaped the enactment of and reactions to violence. Veterans of the Russo‐Japanese and Second World Wars drew on vocabularies of military masculinity to claim authority within their respective postwar societies. In this short introduction, we reflect on the relationship between gender history and military history and underline the importance of integrating the Russian/Soviet case into international historiographies of gender and war.

Invisible landscapes. Historical research and groundwater

Groundwater is an essential part of the planet's water reserves. In modern times, this resource has become increasingly important in determining production methods, modernisation processes and urban settlement patterns, often with contradictory connotations: sometimes a complementary factor, other times a completely alternative resource to the large-scale water infrastructure projects promoted by the state and hydraulic technocracies. Yet, Italian and international historiography has so far paid little attention to groundwater as an object of study in its own right. From a methodological point of view, this requires a close dialogue with other scientific disciplines, involving categories such as the Anthropocene, the hydrosocial cycle and shadow waters, as well as a focus on international historiography, looking in particular at the national or subcontinental contexts that have had to deal with the presence of large underground aquifers.

Food Shortages during the Post-Habsburg Transition in the Bohemian Lands and Slovenia

Abstract This article introduces the forum on food shortages during the post-Habsburg transition in the Bohemian Lands and Slovenia. Using examples from these regions, it first outlines the food crisis that developed during World War I and contributed to the internal disintegration of the Habsburg Empire. The article then turns to Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, successor states which, despite their victorious status and optimistic prospects for the future, had to contend with food shortages that lasted well beyond 1918. Shortages remained one of the main challenges to the consolidation of these newly formed states. Finally, and most importantly, the article provides an overview of the state of the art in Czech, Slovene, and international historiography, identifies gaps in knowledge, and presents our approach to the topic.

Image of the Soviet Authorities in the Perception of the Siberian Peasants during the Russian Civil War and the Period of New Economic Policy

The article explores the ideas of the Siberian peasantry regarding Soviet authorities during the Russian Civil War and the Period of Implementation of the New Economic Policy (NEP). The importance of this issue lies in the fact that the population’s perception of the governing bodies plays a significant role in the life of any society since it influences the political sentiments and the behavior of different social groups. However, this topic has not been extensively studied by Russian or international historiography. The research is based on a wide range of official documents, including newly discovered ones, produced by various Communist Party (Bolsheviks) bodies, the Joint State Political Directorate, and letters from ordinary people to authorities. The authors of the article analyze how different categories of Siberian peasants imagined the Soviet power vertical, what factors and how influenced formation and transformation of ideas about authorities during the Russian Civil War and NEP period. The article concludes by arguing that different social groups of the Siberian peasantry had different perceptions of Soviet authorities, which did not remain unchanged but varied over time. From the end of 1917 until the end of 1919, ideas about the Soviet authorities arose mainly independently, without significant external influence. The situation changed after the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The government’s policies and practices of implementation were the determining factors that shaped the image of the Soviet authorities throughout the 1920s

International historiography of modern Italy since 1945. Developments and trends

ABSTRACT The Italian historiography has changed considerably since 1945. This can be attributed to processes of societal and political transformation, and also to the internationalization of historical sciences. The reception of studies of non-Italian historians on national history of Italy played an important role in this context, although the international historiography never constituted a unified current. Rather, it can be considered a kind of collection of heterogenous groups, that remained anchored in national intellectual traditions, used different historiographical methods und cooperated seldom across national borders. Notwithstanding, the reception of international historiography on Italy triggered debates among Italian historians, e.g. on the history of the Risorgimento, of Liberal Italy or Fascism. Since the 1990s, historiography is shaped by a phase of growing internationalization and globalization. This tendency also influences the research of international historiography on Italy, bringing new opportunities as well as the risk of a further fragmentation of the discipline.

Autonomy Over Independence: Self-Determination in Catalonia, Flanders and South Tyrol in the Aftermath of the Great War.

The end of the First World War was a crucial time for nationalist leaders and minority communities across the European continent and beyond. The impact of the post-war spread of self-determination on the redrawing of Eastern European borders and on the claims of colonial independence movements has been extensively researched. By contrast, the international historiography has paid little attention to minority nationalist movements in Western Europe. This article focuses on three regions (Catalonia, Flanders and South Tyrol) that experienced considerable sub-state national mobilization in the interwar period. We aim to understand whether the leaders of Western European minorities and stateless nations shared the same enthusiasm as their anti-colonial and Eastern European counterparts for the new international order that self-determination seemed to foreshadow in the months following the end of the First World War. Because the American President Woodrow Wilson stood out as the most prominent purveyor of the new international legitimacy of self-determination, the article further examines how Western European nationalist movements exploited Wilson's image and advocacy to achieve their own goals. Nationalist forces in Catalonia, Flanders and South Tyrol initially mobilized self-determination and referred to Wilson as a symbol of national liberation, but this instrumentalization of self-determination was not sustained. Large-scale mobilization occurred only in Catalonia, and, even there, it disappeared suddenly in spring 1919. Furthermore, sub-state nationalist movements in Western Europe tended to mobilize self-determination to gain regional autonomy, rather than full independence, thus pursuing internal, not external, self-determination. The willingness of these movements to privilege autonomy over full independence made them more receptive to compromise. Radical forces would become stronger only in the 1930s and largely for reasons not directly connected to the post-war mobilization around self-determination.

Thessaloniki: A City in Transition, 1912–2012 ed. by Dimitris Keridis and John Brady Kiesling

Reviewed by: Thessaloniki: A City in Transition, 1912–2012 ed. by Dimitris Keridis and John Brady Kiesling Iakovos D. Michailidis (bio) Dimitris Keridis and John Brady Kiesling, eds., Thessaloniki: A City in Transition, 1912–2012. London and New York: Routledge, 2021. Pp. xvii + 390. 54 illustrations. Paper £29.59. The history of Thessaloniki attracts many researchers from various countries, not only Greeks—and not without good reason. Thessaloniki has some features [End Page 145] which set it apart from most other cities of the Balkans and the southeastern Mediterranean. Among recent synthetic studies, Mark Mazower’s Salonica, City of Ghosts (2004) undoubtedly stands out, because Mazower introduced Thessaloniki to international historiography in an inspired and narratively unique way. Now, a new edited volume includes contributions delivered at an international conference held in Thessaloniki in October 2012 on the occasion of the centennial of the city’s liberation from Ottoman rule and its incorporation in the modern Greek state. The volume contains twenty-three articles and an extensive introduction written by the editors. It may be pointed out that a corresponding Greek version of this volume includes more articles than the English one—yet nowhere is it explained by what criteria some articles have been included here while others have been left out. According to the editors, the involvement of the then-mayor of Thessaloniki, Giannis Boutaris, was decisive in the organization/direction of the conference. For example, the original plan to focus on the Greek presence in the city was revised and replaced by an attempt to enrich its history with new perspectives and to confirm its position in international literature (2–3). The twenty-three articles in this volume are organized into three sections: “Searching for Identity,” “A City in Transition,” and “Mapping the Future of Thessaloniki.” The editors have tried to summarize and evaluate the city's centenary history through these three general themes, and the volume features contributions by renowned historians, including, among others, Mark Mazower, Paschalis M. Kitromilides, Philip Mansel, Eyal Ginio, Evangelos Hekimoglou, and Basil Gounaris. Still, the list of renowned researchers, whose papers are undoubtedly of high quality, does not automatically imply a thematic completeness and balance that would justify the ambitious title of the international conference and the corresponding volume. This is why both the introduction and the conclusions to the volume are often disconnected from the other articles. The editors correctly declare that their purpose was not to record the entirety of Thessaloniki's historical past. The first main axis of their approach is to “search for identity” in the city and to understand “the debates over the identity before and immediately after 1912” (7). The second axis relates to “the transition from an imperial to a national system and how that affected the city and its residents,” while the third involves discussion of how to “foster debate on what future the city deserves” (6–7). Properly studying all three axes—and especially the first two—requires a tightly structured theoretical approach. However, the topic of “identities” has been largely limited here to the study of national and religious minorities, with an emphasis on Jews, Muslims, and Bulgarians. Other identities—e.g., the Greeks—seem to be absent or are featured [End Page 146] only in a rather distorted manner (for instance through the arrival of Greek refugees) and mainly as a result of the Greco-Turkish War. In their introduction the editors focus, very aptly, on the Young Turk movement of 1908 as a pivotal point not only for the Muslim community of Thessaloniki but also for the whole region and for the personality of Mustafa Kemal, who was born in the city. With regard to Kemal, the editors note that he was “raised in a multi-ethnic and cosmopolitan imperial city gradually encircled by the hostile nationalisms of the bordering Christian states,” and they admit that he “distilled the ideas but also the contradictions of Young Turk nationalism” (3–4). But what are the contradictions of Young Turk nationalism? The reader will never know. And this might not have been of great importance if not for the connection to two other seminal events Thessaloniki’s history. The first of these...

The USSR – Czechoslovakia Commission of Historians: Particularities of Creation and Activities in the 1960s

In the article, the authors examine the history of the establishment and early years of the USSR – Czechoslovakia Commission of Historians. The relevance of the subject in question is conditioned, on the one hand, by the growing interest in the problem of the formation and functioning of “socialist science” in Russian and international historiography and, on the other hand, by the study of the methods and instruments by which the Soviet leadership reacted to the liberalisation of the political regime in Czechoslovakia and the search for ways to influence its intellectual elite. The authors draw on the archive collections of the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History, the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Archive of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In addition, they draw on sources of personal origin, contrasting official party documents with curious evaluative sketches. On the basis of these sources, the authors construct a study in two dimensions. The authors conclude that the creation of the commission was a political and ideological project, a circumstance which determined both the composition of the Soviet section of the institution and the topics chosen for joint studies. The Commission was established far too late to become an effective instrument for maintaining the prestige and authority of the Soviet Union even among Czechoslovak intellectuals, let alone the population at large.

The Position of the Russian Federation Regarding the “Bulldozer Revolution” in Serbia in 2000

The authors examine the evolution of Russia's position regarding the “Bulldozer Revolution” in Serbia in 2000. The response of official Moscow to the 'colour revolutions' at the beginning of the twenty-first century is a blank spot in Russian scholarly discourse, and the issue is being analysed in Russian and international historiography for the first time. In the course of the study, the documents of the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, the Digital Library of B. Clinton (USA), the Federal Election Commission of Yugoslavia, statements by major Russian politicians and diplomats, materials from leading domestic and Western media, many of which are published for the first time in the academic literature. The authors come to the conclusion that the official reaction of the leadership of the Russian Federation to the crisis events of autumn 2000 in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was cautious and restrained, which excluded open support for one of the parties to the internal political confrontation. While the collective West openly advocated the removal of Slobodan Milošević from power, Russia sought to ensure that the president of the country was elected by the Yugoslav people legally, without foreign interference and internal unrest. That is why, during the elections and before the victory of the “Bulldozer Revolution”, Russian officials and diplomats did not speak out in favour of any candidate, but also did not succumb to the pressure of Western politicians who sought to use Moscow to put pressure on Milošević. Russia attempted to play the role of mediator between the authorities and the opposition, yet in the face of proactive action by Western countries to overthrow the ruling regime, this policy was doomed to failure.

Sagas in Time and Time in the Sagas: an Attempt at a Historiographical Review

This article is devoted to the perception of time in early Iceland (from the establishment in 930 of the Althing, an annual national assembly, to the submission of the Icelanders to the Norwegian king in 1262—1264). This is not, however, a result of my work with medieval sources (first of all, Icelandic sagas and historical writings) but an attempt to present an overview of this issue in the assessment of international historiography, mainly of the last fifty years, but with a significant emphasis on the 2020s. If by 2017, as noted in the scholarly literature, very little had been published on time in medieval literature in general, and in the sagas in particular, in the last few years three monographic studies have been published that deserve attention and evaluation. The article is divided into two parts. The first one contains a description of general trends and methods of studying time in the works of Old Norse literature, while the second one presents the analysis of three recent works, thematic and methodological intersections in which are an obvious consequence not of interdependence, but of the general situation in the study of this issue.

Što je novo u historiografiji o (Francuskoj i Ruskoj) revoluciji?

The historiography of both the French and Russian revolutions has evolved from classical political history to social and (new) cultural history as well as gender history. Furthermore, the tendency toward global history is becoming more noticeable, especially in the study of the French revolution, but it is gradually encompassing the Russian revolution as well. Moreover, both the French and Russian revolutions have been analysed comparatively, but also with emphasis on interconnections with other revolutions. Certainly, referring to these great revolutions of modern history is unavoidable in the historical and comparative study of revolutions put into practice by various social sciences and humanities. All in all, it is definitely worthwhile to continue following new developments in the international historiography of the French and Russian revolutions, as well as revolutions in general.

A centuries-long enslavement? Gender and Islam in the Hispanic Enlightenment: an exploratory approach

This article explores the role of gender in the construction of images of Islam in the Hispanic Enlightenment. Although Spanish Arabism has been largely neglected in international historiography, research has proved that Spanish erudites since the 16th century had an important role in the study of the Arabic language and sources; also, interest in the Islamic world was popularized via fictional works and coverage in newspapers and journals. Spain is a distinctive and particularly interesting case within European Orientalism because Islam was part of its history and cultural legacy and a close neighbour in the north of Africa, but also because orientalization of the country by European travellers and philosophers – not yet as intense as during Romanticism – had already started, notably in relation to gender. If the Enlightenment developed a less aggressive, more open – although not devoid of stereotypes – vision of Islam, is the same true in the Hispanic world? To what extent was the tendency to bracket together the Hispanic and the Islamic either accepted or challenged by Spanish and creole intellectuals? Did the country’s own Islamic past help create more nuanced visions of the «Orient» or did it instead lead to highlighting the contrasts in order to claim a place for Spain in European modernity? This article will address in an exploratory way these questions, seldom considered from the point of view of gender, through an analysis of learned works and reformist essays.

The Globetrotter’s Identity: Michel Sittow in the International Historiographies

Michel Sittow was a disciple of Hans Memling and a follower of the fifteenth-century school of Bruges, who led the art of northern portraiture through the Renaissance. This painter from Reval (currently Tallinn) travelled around Europe, working for the most significant monarchs of that time: Isabella of Castile, Margaret of Austria, Charles V, Christian II Oldenburg and perhaps Henry VIII. Even though studied by multiple researchers from Europe and the US, his oeuvre is still giving rise to many questions for art historians. This study’s aim is to analyse the international historiography of Michel Sittow, starting with the first attributions of his artworks, and comparative studies of German historians who called the painter Michel Sittow and the Spanish school where he was known as Melchior Alemán. In 1940 Paul Johannsen published the document that indicates Michel Sittow’s stay in Spain. The post-war historiography was not interested in Sittow’s life, except in the work of the Latvian origin Belgian researcher Jazeps Trizna, who published the first monograph on his artworks in 1976. He was the first to unify both historiographical personalities the one of Michel Sittow, and the one of Miguel Alemán. Meanwhile in Estonian literature, Sittow’s story appeared as a romantic symbol of independence from the Soviet Union in Jaan Kross’s novel. In the last twenty years, with the development of the radiographic method of artwork analysis, researchers such as Else Kai Sass, Matthias Weniger, Chiyo Ishikawa, and Pilar Silva Maroto have revived many questions about Sittow’s career, style, and globetrotting around European courts. However, the first exhibition that reunited Michel’s artworks, held in 2018 in Washington and Tallinn marking the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Estonian independence, did not solve many of Sittow’s life secrets.

Between Academia and Activism: Revisiting the History of Social Democracy at the Time of the Second International

Abstract The last fifteen years witnessed a remarkable revitalization in the field of Second International historiography. This renewed literature put forward different approaches and perspectives, as the interest for the history of social democracy draws on academic as well as political considerations. Whereas an important trend of this revitalization came from studies that focused on social and cultural aspects, this review explores two recent volumes published by North American authors that propose a different, and explicitly political, approach towards the history of social democracy in the years of the Second International.

The international ‘debt crisis’ of the 1980s in the Middle East and North Africa: a review, an outline

The year 2022 marks the fortieth anniversary of the 1982 Mexican debt crisis, the first of a long series of financial turbulences that would soon spread to most of the developing world and beyond. Ever since, international historiography has produced a wide arrange of analyses that, despite their diversity, came to see the 1980s international debt crisis as a momentous event through which the United States and Western Europe reimposed their financial hegemony over the decolonised world and socialist camp. The contributions to this special issue of Middle Eastern Studies primarily aim at reassessing the process that brought economic neoliberalism throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in the context of debt crises. In particular, they challenge ‘teleological’ views that see the opening to market economy as a result of the creditors’ agenda, thus depriving actors in debtor countries of their agency. The essays published herein explore the levers, instruments and policy-making process to which debtor states resorted to shape their own integration process in the global neoliberal economy.