Modern History Research Articles

This paper examines the translation theories and practices of Xu Zongze 徐宗澤 (1886–1947), a key figure in the Jesuit community of the Zi-ka-wei compound 徐家匯. Descending from the prominent Catholic Xu family and serving as chief editor of the Revue Catholique 聖教雜誌, Xu was uniquely positioned to engage in religious and cultural dialogues. By situating Xu within modern China’s translation history, this paper highlights his significant contributions to translation scholarship, especially in merging Western religious thought with Chinese traditions. Xu utilized the “Discussion” column of the Revue for his “Treatise on Translation” 譯書論, celebrating Jesuit translation accomplishments and examining historical policies. His works advocate for using the Jesuit legacy in contemporary translation debates to enhance cultural understanding. Xu’s efforts, including the Synopsis of Jesuit Translations during the Ming and Qing Dynasties 明清間耶穌會士譯著提要 and the “New Terms” series, resist linguistic dominance while facilitating intercultural understanding. Through his translation experience and Jesuit cultural initiatives, Xu Zongze advocated for the establishment of a Catholic translation institute aimed at developing talent and enhancing communication with Catholic publishers. By centering on Xu, this study reexamines the role of Zi-ka-wei within the context of modern Chinese translation history, evaluating how its engagement with Western knowledge effectively addressed the intellectual demands of the era, which called for contemporary interpretations.

The aim of the article is to investigate the phenomenon of recreating the glorious past of chivalry in the High and Late Middle Ages in reference to scholarly reflexion concerning the modern historical reenactment. The author discusses a series of accounts testifying to the commonness of the performances during which the chivalric past was recreated. The most informative of these stories and examples relate to the institution of Round Tables – the tournaments which directly appealed to the Arthurian past of chivalry, as the adventures of the King Arthur’s knights were perceived among knighthood and aristocracy. In the discussion of these interesting accounts, a series of topics common to both the medieval recreations of the past and modern historical reenactments is considered. These include the significance of material objects used to come into contact with past (such as gear and attire), the markers used to invoke heroic identities of figures from the past, as well as the role of experiences (characteristic of combative sports) involved in the recreations and reenactments of the past. The role of the latter in acquiring the sense of connection with the past is discussed in reference to the notions of ‘commitment’ and ‘flow’ coined by the researchers from the field of the anthropology of sport. As it appears, the social practices concerning recreating the past could be perceived by medieval men as very serious pursuits, communicating important ideological meanings and arising certain obligations. The comparison between medieval and modern practices of the kind in question reveals both close similarities and significant differences between both phenomena. Ultimately, these differences point to the aspects of medieval perceptions of the past, as both closer, more perceptible and compelling, even though one may call it an imaginary one.

ABSTRACT The 2021 National Strike marked one of Colombia’s largest protests in the country’s modern history, led primarily by youth confronting the government both in public spaces and online. Amid state repression, social media emerged as a powerful tool for demanding de-escalation of violence and police reform. K-pop fans notably contributed by subverting government-aligned hashtags on Twitter (now X), jamming them with K-pop related content. Using social network analysis, multimodal content analysis and a dataset of 15,793 tweets, this study explores the structure, information dynamics, and roles within the #ISupportMyPolice protest, shedding light on youth’s evolving repertoire of digitally mediated political participation and new forms of collective/connective action.

ABSTRACT The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) played a dominant role in Ethiopian politics from 1976 to 2018. Despite the TPLF’s significant role in shaping Ethiopia’s modern history, its brutal atrocities against the Amhara people remain insufficiently examined in academic discourse. This study delves into the TPLF’s historical crimes against the Amhara, tracing their origins to the adoption of its anti-Amhara manifesto in 1976. It investigates the motives behind the TPLF’s hostility toward the Amhara people, which escalated into state-sanctioned animosity after 1991. Through qualitative research methods and analysis of original documents, this study reveals how the TPLF’s rhetoric—rooted in Italian colonial ideologies and shaped by the Ethiopian student movement of the 1950s and 1960s—culminated in systematic oppression, displacement, and massacres of Amhara communities under the guise of ethnic federalism. Ultimately, the findings confirm that the TPLF perpetrated genocide and crimes against humanity throughout its 27-year tenure in power.

Introduction. This article aims to outline the main stages of creating an information support system for Ukraine’s road infrastructure, with a view to further developing effective mechanisms for justifying and rationally planning road construction, reconstruction, repair, and maintenance works. Problems. Without reliable information about the road network and its traffic congestion, it is impossible to adequately justify the allocation of funds for road maintenance and repair. The road network is constantly undergoing significant changes, both due to destruction caused by the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation and natural degradation, as well as a result of changes in logistics routes, which necessitates the processing of dynamically changing information in order to make the most optimal decisions. Purpose. Summarize information on the state of information support for the road industry covering the period 2000–2024. Also, the prospects for implementing an information support system for the industry and using it as information support for substantiating decisions on road maintenance and repair, and further development of the network. Systematic provision of information (data) on motorways, structures on them, road service facilities, transport flows, natural and man-made phenomena, which is necessary for planning and carrying out work, will ensure the most efficient use of existing financial resources. Materials and methods. Methods of comprehensive and systematic analysis, abstract-logical, graphical, statistical. Results. An analysis of the modern history of information support for Ukraine’s road infrastructure, as well as regulatory and technical aspects of information support, was conducted.

Abstract Early modern history abounds with descriptions of “barbarians,” a term originating in ancient Greece and later applied to people deemed uncivilized. Historical knowledge about these groups comes largely from colonial or imperialist outsiders who mischaracterized them as irrational and violent. This characterization masks the fact that these decentralized groups achieved large-scale strategic coordination in the absence of centralized power. This paper examines historical examples of such collectives, illustrating how they leveraged flexible cultural and political repertoires, including socially cooperative violence, to maintain autonomy while scaling up collective action. We present a framework for understanding these dynamics that emphasizes how groups drew upon repertoires of institutions, resources, and strategies and analyze four case studies to explore how decentralized societies coordinated effectively without central authority. Finally, we suggest ways archaeologists might identify similar patterns in the past, offering a fresh perspective on the structural dimensions of large-scale, decentralized societies.

The article analyzes the 2013–2014 Revolution of Dignity as a decisive moment in Ukraine’s modern history, shaping its political development, national identity, and European orientation. The study applies a multi-method approach, including historical-comparative analysis, the examination of official documents, online sources, and scholarship by Ukrainian and foreign authors. This enables tracing continuity between earlier civic movements – the Revolution on Granite, the Orange Revolution – and the Revolution of Dignity as sequential stages of democratic transformation. The findings show that although the immediate trigger was the refusal to sign the EU Association Agreement, the deeper causes of the protests were systemic corruption, authoritarian tendencies, and the concentration of power. The Revolution revitalized civil society, strengthened Ukraine’s European course, and marked a clear break with Soviet-imperial stereotypes. The conclusions emphasize that the Revolution of Dignity was not only a domestic protest but also a geopolitical event that redefined Ukraine’s role in Europe, accelerated decommunization, reinforced attachment to national symbols, and highlighted the European path as the safeguard of sovereignty.

The history of the long-unlabeled prostate refers to an aging story of the confrontation of Galen/Herophilos with early modern human anatomy. Attributions of discovery have been made ever since, with a supposedly pivotal role for Niccolò Massa's 1536 description of the organ. However, Massa did not credit anyone and also did not claim to be seeing something new, indeed few did for centuries after. The historical event of Massa's nomination is revisited in light of the transmission and reception of Galen, especially via Avicenna. Massa seemingly only reconfirmed Avicenna, who assimilated wisdom by Galen, whose transmission was otherwise imperfect. The subsequent discovery of the seminal vesicles was disputed and missed by Vesalius, but Guillaume Rondelet's work and piloting of this expression (vesiculae) was eventful, not least because it was nominated early on as a novum, and for the first time introduced a physiological as well as an anatomical distinction. Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia is among the first to have moved from anatomy in the direction of anatomical history at this point. Notables in the modern history of the prostate were all historians: interpreters of past writings and authors of stories of discovery. Writing the prostate's biography requires recalling how such writing got underway in early modern medicine and has been ongoing ever since.

Abstract Advances in Machine learning open new frontiers in the systematic analysis of urban form. The study presents a scalable and interpretable framework that derives an urban-form typology by performing unsupervised clustering of 17 multi-scale morphological indicators encoded at the cadastral plot scale. The method adds positional information with the Getis-Ord Gi* spatial autocorrelation metric to encourage spatially homogeneous clusters. The study employs a combination of UMAP for non-linear dimensionality reduction and BIRCH for scalable clustering. Caveats of using the plot as a spatial unit are mitigated via filtering, tessellation and buffering. Applied to the metropolitan area of Thessaloniki, Greece, the framework identifies 14 urban form types organized into five families with similar characteristics. The resulting typology reveals, in a Conzenian fashion, patterns of urban development rooted in the city’s modern history. Results are validated quantitatively with performance metrics and qualitatively using aerial imagery and established knowledge of Thessaloniki’s planning and evolution.

The purpose of this research is to identify the role of radical Islamism in Tajikistan during the civil war of 1992-1997. The article highlights key criteria of radical Islamism in Central Asia, determines which of the groups participating in the Tajik conflict can be classified as radically Islamist, and analyzes the impact of this extremist ideology on the course and outcome of the 1992-1997 war. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the systematization of scientific ideas about the essence of radical Islamism in Tajikistan in modern history and, in particular, in the civil war of 1992-1997. As a result, it was determined that during the civil war in Afghanistan, the opposition was forced to unite extremely different factions to fight against the central government: from democratic to Islamist. Gradually, as the conflict developed, a division of Islamists occurred: radical elements mainly concentrated around a number of militant leaders (the Sodirov brothers, Mullo Abdullo Rakhimov, etc.), while moderates softened their position and concentrated around the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (the organization is recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia). The influence of radical Islamism on the civil war lies in the increased brutality and prolongation of the conflict.

The 1918 influenza pandemics reached global proportions, becoming one of the greatest catastrophes in modern history, intensified by the social transformations resulting from increasing globalization and the context of the First World War. This article analyzes the impacts of the influenza epidemic, also known as the Spanish flu, on the local context of the city of Ponta Grossa, in the state of Paraná. The investigation is based on representations conveyed by the Paraná press during the epidemic period, considering them as primary sources for reconstructing the social experiences of that time. The methodology adopted is evidential paradigm, aiming to understand, through local and regional manifestations, the perceptions, coping strategies, and difficulties faced in the face of the human and social losses caused by the 1918 pandemics.

This article examines the contemporary revision in Mongolia of official narratives around what has been termed the ‘Mongolian People’s Revolution’ of 1921 and the subsequent establishment of communist rule in the country. It examines and deconstructs 20th century Soviet accounts of the role of the Soviet Red Army and the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party in this process. During the 20th century, these narratives created a transformative, ideological shift among Mongolian populations, disseminating Soviet Russian ideology in order to gain their active participation in the anti-imperialist movements that were emerging in an Asian context. These narratives still form the foundation for the teaching of national history in Mongolia today. The article presents information from a variety of archival sources in several languages and scripts, and from perspectives heretofore unheard from, including Mongolian voices, that challenge this standard account. By making these perspectives visible, an alternative account of Mongolia’s transition to communist role, at a key moment in its modern history, can be written and evaluated. This article is therefore framed within, and adds further evidence to, the ongoing historiographical debates regarding interpretations of the events of 1921 in Mongolia.

Chen Duxiu (1879–1942) was the standard-bearer and main force of the New Culture Movement, an ideological liberation movement against feudalism initiated by some advanced intellectuals in China since 1917. He was the commander-in-chief of the May Fourth Movement – a patriotic movement dominated by young students, the broad masses, citizens, businessmen and other classes, and a figure of significance in modern Chinese history (1840–1949) who cannot be ignored. The literary revolution he led was a crucial driving force behind the political revolution in modern China, and his political beliefs greatly influenced his literary views. Chen Duxiu's early guiding ideology was democracy, which later shifted to Marxism, and he widely disseminated Marxist theory through platforms such as New Youth ( La Jeunesse ) . How did Chen Duxiu's thoughts transition from democracy to Marxism, and how did his political advocacy affect his literary and artistic outlook? During the New Culture period, Chen Duxiu's literary and artistic thoughts played a programmatic and decisive role, and they still have significant reference value today for the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics under the guidance of Marxism.

Architectural documentary film has become one of the primary tools for archiving, recording, and representing the performance and changes in architectural spaces. In the city of Novi Sad, the specially established production house Neoplanta Film adopted? the modernisation of urban space in the second half of the 20th century in the short documentary footage. Through this project, an avant-garde film group of young directors, cinematographers, and screenwriters emerged. The fragmentary digitised archival material from this project records the process of radical urban transformations of the city. This work deals with creating and re-creating new urban narratives that promote the modern history of Novi Sad and redefine its monolithic identity image (Konstantinović & Zeković, 2023-2). By observing the city as a system of different architectural layers and associated urban narratives, architectural documentary film's importance in revitalising forgotten urban narratives, which has been suppressed due to unsatisfactory ideological connotations, is explored. In these processes, whether based on re-editing and re-assembling film archives or creating new film material, the role of architecture and architectural space is crucial for understanding the history, atmosphere, sentiment, and context of new urban stories. The work raises key questions about the conceptualisation of such projects: Is it possible to recreate urban narratives through documentary film? What is the role of architecture and architectural space in this? How are spatial narratives created? Can space preserve memory? Following the two projects of the research group BAZA—a spatial praxis platform—approaches will be presented on how architecture and architectural space become vital embodiments of time and how they can be employed in the storytelling of urban history.

This research paper discusses Sibaweh's study of phonology. Sibaweh was a leading grammarian, second only to Al-Khalil ibn Ahmed Al-Farahidi. He contributed a precise, brief, but comprehensive description of sounds. Therefore, he has been an exemplary model for those who followed his steps, up until our time. This research aims to re-evaluate Sibaweh's scholarship in the light of new findings in the field of phonology, especially applied phonology, and in its most prominent achievement, sonority (loudness) and whispering (lack of loudness or aspiration). What Sibaweh presented with regards to his study of the place of articulation was a novel and original scientific universal idea, acknowledged by fair-minded modern linguists. His contribution, aside from its being an Arab-Islamic legacy, is a unique one in the history of linguistics, modern and old.

The purpose of the article is to conduct a comparative analysis of the linguistic and cultural representations of the concept “state”within the paremiological frameworks of the Kazakh and English languages. The term “state”denotes a sovereign political entity characterized by defined territorial boundaries, institutional governance, and a collective cultural identity. As the most dominant form of political organization in a modern history, its conceptualization through folk wisdom provides critical anthropological insights. Proverbs, as crystallized expressions of popular ethos transmitted across generations, offer a unique lens to examine how distinct cultures encode sociopolitical values. Furthermore, similar conceptual aspects of the concept of “state”were taken into consideration, selected, and classified in the form of drawings from paremies in the Kazakh and English languages, given that the concept of “state”emerged considerably later and other alternatives were used in informal conversation among the people earlier. The study first establishes the theoretical foundations of conceptual analysis and paremiology, drawing on frameworks from cognitive linguistics (Lakoff’s metaphor theory) and cultural semioyics. Methodologically, it employs contrastive analysis to categorize and compare state —related proverbs from both languages, with data sourced from ethnological archives, literary corpuses (Kazakh oral traditions and English classical texts), and digital paremiological databases. It is noted that the concept of the “state”emerged relatively late in human history, displacing earlier models of clan-based and tribal governance; this historical shift is reflected in how proverbs reinterpret prestate metaphors (such as “the ruler as a shepherd”) to express ideas of statehood. The analysis reveals three core findings: 1) Kazakh paremiology predominantly conceptualized the state through organinc metaphors (e.g. «El birligi — eldin tiregi» (“National unity is the state’s backbone”)), emphasizing communal harmony and territorial stewardship. 2) English proverbs favor mechanistic imagery (e.g., “Laws are the pillars of the state”), highlighting institutional order and legal sovereignty. 3) Cross-cultural parallels emerge in proverbs linking state stability to collective welfare, though cultural priorities diverge: Kazakh traditions prioritize ec ological and kinship bonds, while Anglo-American paremiologies stress individual rights and institutional checks. The study acknowledges limitations, including regional dialectal variations within Kazakh and the underrepresentation of post-colonial contexts in English corpora.

This study explores the transformation of Human Resource Management (HRM) strategies in private companies from 1995 to 2024, emphasizing employee satisfaction and retention amid technological and socio-economic shifts. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the research examines how digital innovations, remote work, and evolving workforce demographics have reshaped HR practices. Findings reveal that forward-thinking HRM, such as flexible scheduling, digital platforms, and wellness initiatives, correlates strongly with higher employee satisfaction and a 15–20% improvement in retention. The influence of Millennials and Gen Z underscores the growing demand for meaningful work, work-life balance, and inclusive environments. The study also highlights the strategic pivot of HR from administrative roles to data-informed, employee-centered functions. Despite noted limitations, this research contributes valuable insights into the dynamic nature of modern HRM, offering guidance for future practice and research. It calls for continued adaptation to emerging technologies and generational expectations to sustain organizational resilience and workforce loyalty.

The relevance of the research is dictated by the need for a new understanding of Turkic culture in the optics of new culture-centric methodological approaches that will replace the Eurocentric approach and the idea of the absolute dominance of Western culture. The purpose of the article is to reveal the alternative models of modern human development and the parity of Turkic cultural thought in the global dialogue of ideas of the 21st century. The study analyzes the cultural views of outstanding creative intellectuals of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. The results of the study may be in demand in studying the modern history of the culture of the peoples and countries of the Turkic world.

The subject of this article is the discourse of European integration by 18th-century thinkers Abbé de Saint-Pierre, Rousseau, and Kant. The fact that the keyword penetrating their discourse was ‘permanent peace’ reflects the peculiarity of European modern history in the 18th century, when wars continued to exist. Europe’s state system was suffering from war, with only 16 years of no war across the entire European continent in the 18th century. The Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Year’s War in 1648, but the Westphalia system of balance of power also failed to establish peace in Europe. The history of 18th-century Europe opened with the War of the Spanish Succession(1702-1713/14). Even after that, large and small wars and conflicts persisted in 18th-century Europe. Appeals for peace continued to echo throughout the European continent as a reaction to the existing war. The logical conclusion of the peace appeal was embodied in the form of various suggestions of European political integration that began to increase in the 18th century, which will be introduced in this article.

Abstract The challenge of addressing contentious and repressive histories in authoritarian regimes that have undergone post-totalitarian transitions presents precious opportunities for historical justice, as the representation of history and the production of historiography are decentralized from the central state. Using the production of Chinese local gazetteers in post-Mao China as a case and drawing upon a combination of historiographical, archival, and field methods, we investigate three critical negotiation fields where gazetteer compilers, who also held government ranks, interacted with central leaders and other local bureaucracies to exert discretionary control over local historical production within their jurisdictions. This decentralized negotiation over historiography illuminates the intricate interplay between ideology, agency, and tradition in the production process of the Chinese county gazetteers, offering nuanced insights into modern Chinese history and the complexities of historiographical writing under authoritarian governance. Overall, our article shows that knowledge production under authoritarian rule is more interactive and horizontal than thought, and that historiographical writing can adapt to and challenge authority in pursuit of historical justice.