Bøger om Det osmanniske rige

"Enestående, medrivende og overdådig" SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE"Et usædvanligt levende og autoritativt værk." SUNDAY TIMES"Rogans fremragende bog er skarp og afbalanceret." THE SPECTATOR"Fængslende læsning … en elegant fortælling om arabernes håb og skuffelser." THE GUARDIAN"Et medrivende, flot og øjenåbnende indblik i en række folk, hvis historie, kultur og karakter så ofte er blevet misforstået … Læs den! Du har meget at lære." FOREIGN POLICY Siden slutningen af middelalderen har araberne og europæerne gensidigt inspireret og invaderet hinanden; fra korstogene og siden osmannernes erobringer i 1500-tallet over europæisk imperialisme til alliancer på kryds og tværs under den kolde krig. Også i dag tiltrækker de arabiske folk og lande sig geopolitiske roller som både fjender og allierede. Den britiske historiker og Oxfordprofessor Eugene Rogan fortæller hele denne fascinerende historie fra senmiddelalderen til i dag, fra Nordafrika til Den Arabiske Halvø. Gennem et væld af kilder og øjenvidneberetninger – politikere og intellektuelle, forfattere og soldater, kvinder og mænd, berømte såvel som berygtede – giver bogen et indlevende og sanseligt billede af arabernes vej ind i den moderne verden. Samtidig viser Rogan, hvordan europæernes syn på de arabiske folk er skiftet gennem tiden. Til tider har man betragtet dem som eksotiske og spændende venner, andre gange som uforståelige eller fanatiske fjender. Et medrivende og særdeles vigtigt værk, hvis man vil forstå de arabiske folks historie, selvforståelse og fremtid. EUGENE ROGAN er professor i moderne mellemøsthistorie og leder af Mellemøstcentret ved Oxford University. Han er forfatter til en række værker, bl.a. den internationale bestseller "Osmannerrigets fald", der udkom på dansk i 2016. ARABERNES HISTORIE er udkommet på en lang række sprog.

Tyrkiet er et land fuld af kontraster. På kanten mellem Europa og Mellemøsten og mellem sekularisering og islam rummer landet historisk, religiøst og samfundsmæssigt en række spændende temaer, der kan danne grundlag for emnebaseret og tværfagligt arbejde på ungdomsuddannelserne.Tyrkiet 1923-2018 giver en nuanceret analyse af landets historie, politik og samfundsforhold. Bogens forfatter begynder med at beskrive osmannerrigets fald, det armenske folkemord og oprettelsen af republikken i 1923. Herefter gennemgår han statsideologien kemalismen, afskaffelsen af sharia og indførelsen af sekularisme, der stadig i dag kan give spændinger i det tyrkiske samfund, bl.a. mellem land og by.Herudover indeholder bogen en række kapitler om de væsentligste temaer i tyrkisk historie og politik: demokratiets vækst i skyggen af de mange militærkup, forholdet til EU og ønsket om medlemskab, Tyrkiet som regional stormagt i Mellemøsten samt ikke mindst undertrykkelsen af de religiøse og nationale mindretal eksemplificeret ved hhv. alevierne og kurderne. Slutteligt kommer et kapitel om Tyrkiets forhold til Syrien og den syriske borgerkrig.Tyrkiet 1923-2018 er skrevet til undervisningen i historie, men kan lige så vel bruges i fagene religion og samfundsfag samt som baggrundslæsning inden studieture til Tyrkiet.Deniz B. Serinci er BA i historie og Tyrkiet-analytiker for Kristeligt Dagblad.Bogen indgår i serien His2rie, der er et netbaseret undervisningsmateriale specielt tilrettelagt historieundervisningen i gymnasiet, på hf og hhx. Som supplement til bøgerne i serien findes hjemmesiden his2rie.dk, hvor du finder kildetekster m.m. til hver bog i serien.

”Yderst velresearchet populærhistorie når den er bedst." – The New York Review of Books "Enhver som vil forstå verden, bør læse Frankopan.” – Berliner Zeitung ”Ud over at være en meget begavet forfatter og en fantastisk historiker er Frankopan også ekstremt modig. Dette er intet mindre end en klassiker.” – Süddeutsche Zeitung Silkevejen er kendt som et historisk begreb. Handelsvejen, som egentlig bestod af flere karavaneruter, kendes fra 1. årh. f.Kr. og var, indtil søvejen syd om Afrika blev åbnet ca. 1500, den vigtigste trafikåre for Kinas eksport af teknologi og luksusvarer, herunder silke, til Sydasien og Europa. Færre ved måske, at denne region i mere end tusind år bandt den østlige og vestlige civilisation sammen mellem verdenshavene. Imperier opstod og forsvandt igen. Verdens største religioner udsprang herfra, ligesom sprog, ideer og sygdomme bredte sig undervejs langs netværket af hoved- og biveje – Silkevejene, som Peter Frankopan kalder det. Vikingerne var her – vi ved med sikkerhed, at de nåede så langt som til Konstantinopel. Måske de ikke lod sig omvende af de nye religioner som islam og kristendom, de mødte undervejs, men bogen viser, at uanset religiøse, politiske eller ideologiske uenigheder så kunne de forskellige etniske grupper og folkeslag altid finde ud af at handle med hinanden. Silkevejen har fået fornyet aktualitet. Vore dages Kina, Sydøstasien og Indien gør Vesten rangen stridig som førende handelsnationer. Silkevejen er kort og godt igen blevet verdens centralnervesystem. "Silkevejene" er blændende historieformidling. Et overflødighedshorn af viden og perspektiver. Bogens mange spor og temaer væver sig ind og ud ad hinanden, indtil de – ligesom i et persisk tæppe – samler sig i et mønster. OM FORFATTERENPeter Frankopan, født 1971, er en af Englands førende yngre historikere. Han er leder af Center for byzantiske studier ved universitetet i Oxford. Skribent ved en række toneangivende medier som The New York Times og The Guardian.

This book describes and illustrates the armies of the embattled Ottoman Turkish Empire involved in 19th-century wars during the Empire's long spiral of decline.During the so called 'long 19th century', between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the difficulties faced by the Ottoman Turkish Empire were a recurrent factor in international geopolitics. Against a background of Russian-Ottoman rivalry, France and Britain supported the Empire during the Crimean War (1854-56), but not in the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78). Portraying the uniforms, arms and appearance of Ottoman troops during this period, this book traces the history of the Ottoman Empire throughout this period, when no fewer than ten wars of regional insurgency and foreign expansion against the Empire were fought in territories in south-eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Using rare photos and illustrations from Turkish, Balkan and other sources, author, Gabriele Esposito details the history of the multi-ethnic Ottoman armies periodic attempts to modernize which enabled them to win some victories at a tactical level. But the Empire - 'the sick man of Europe' - lacked a coherent strategy or sufficient resources, and failed attempts to crush regional uprisings and to defend borders, saw the steady loss of territories. Due to misgovernment and economic failure, unrest finally boiled over in 1908-09, reducing the sultan's court to a largely ceremonial role, and installing a military government by the 'Young Turks' led by the general Enver Pasha. This book is a vivid description of the organization, operations, uniforms and equipment of one of the most active and varied armies of the 'long 19th century' and paints a detailed picture of the Ottoman Empire's struggle to maintain control of its territories.

The book provides a global perspective on the history of Jewish law during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, focusing on the codification works of R. Joseph Karo.

1456, the night of Vlad's coronation: a dastardly plot, a joint venture between the Ottoman Empire and Catholic Hungary to kill the Impaler's beloved, sets off some of the worst atrocities in history, enshrining the name Dracula as a synonym for terror. He drank the blood of his victims, and filled the castles of the land with wretches destined for the stake: Scourge of the Saxons, champion of the peasants, national hero who saved his country from Islamic conquest, Vlad was all of these, and much, much more... His name has become a byword for cruelty, Vlad's draconian policies the horror of Europe. But who was the man behind the legend? Written off by historians, the Dacians were thought to have vanished immediately after the Roman conquest of Dacia, but Vlad, Son of the Devil, would revive the ancient Gaulish pride, bringing hope to the oppressed Wallach remnants of Transylvania through a dastardly series of impalements: he would become known in Romanian as Vlad ¿epe¿, the Impaler! A man more terrifying than any vampire.

Described as the "sick man of Europe" by the Great Powers, the Ottoman Empire in the early twentieth century was in terminal decline. The newly independent Balkan states¿Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgariäeach had significant ethnic populations who had remained under Ottoman rule. Under the guidance of Russia, which had its own interests in south-east Europe, they joined forces against the Ottomans, under the name of the Balkan League, in 1912.In the first phase of the Balkan Wars, Bulgarian, Greek, Montenegrin and Serbian armies fought together against the Ottoman Empire, dealing the Ottomans a heavy defeat in a result that made headlines around the world. In the second phase, the Balkan states fought each other, and Romania also entered the war. In the conflict¿s aftermath, new borders failed to satisfy any of the belligerent parties. Interventions by the Great Powers further increased tensions in the region. As the ultimate result, the first bullet that triggered the First World War was fired in Sarajevo in June 1914.The causes and effects of the Balkan Wars have remained controversial despite the passage of time. In this volume, writers from various Balkan nations and from across various disciplines have come together under the aegis of the Balkan History Association to address little-known and little-studied aspects of the wars. Collectively they analyze a huge range of political, historical, medical, sociological and religious aspects of the conflict. The book, with its ground-breaking content and unique bibliographies, will be an important guide for undergraduate and graduate students studying the political, military and social history of the Balkan Wars and the Balkan nations."The Balkan Wars of 1912/13 were a disaster for the Ottoman Empire, a triumph for the Balkan governments, and a tragedy for the population of the belligerent states.This well structured collection brings together contributors from various backgrounds. Together they help to understand overarching issues far beyond the military event, and especially the still underresearched Ottoman perspective."¿Katrin Boeckh, LMU Munich/IOS Regensburg

During the formation of the Turkish national movement, while Istanbul was under British, French, and Italian occupation, a distinct factional split emerged. One side supported the Ottoman sultanate's sovereignty, while the other championed a populist, republican path. An Istanbul at the Threshold of Nation State contextualizes this history of coalition, political disintegration, and power struggles in Turkey between 1918 and 1923 to highlight the rise of anti-communist movements and the emergence of national labor and merchant confederations that formed xenophobic, Christian exclusionary policies in the 1920s and 30s.

In the ominous arcades of Constantinople, where the grandeur of the Ottoman Empire concealed both beauty and shadows, Anna's fate was forever altered by the relentless forces of power. "Anna - Three Years as a Caucasian Slave in the Ottoman Empire" reveals the daunting tale of resilience and daring escape in a city of stark contrasts.Constantinople, a nexus of culture and opulence during the Ottoman zenith, boasted breathtaking architecture and cultural richness. Its splendid facade belied the darker underbelly, where the lives of enslaved individuals were marred by unrelenting struggles within the empire's shadowed domains.Beneath the city's beauty lay concealed corners-ominous arcades that echoed with clandestine activities and harbored the unseen struggles of those ensnared by bondage. While not a complete representation of the entirety of Constantinople, these hidden enclaves hinted at the veiled challenges faced by many, offering a nuanced perspective of the city's complex landscape during that era.Amidst this stark dichotomy, Anna's journey epitomized the plight of countless souls ensnared within Constantinople's gilded confines. Bound by chains but fueled by hope, she dared to defy the suffocating grip of enslavement, her tale etching an indelible mark upon the pages of history."Anna - Three Years as a Caucasian Slave in the Ottoman Empire" is a poignant testament to the resilience of the human spirit, navigating the contrasting landscapes of beauty and darkness that defined Constantinople during the height of the Ottoman Empire.This daunting narrative unveils the harrowing chronicle of resilience and daring escape in a world where liberty was a distant dream.From the serene embrace of the Caucasus Mountains to the opulent corridors of Constantinople's elite, Anna's journey epitomizes the struggles of countless souls ensnared by the empire's insatiable thirst for human capital. Bound and taken as a prized possession, Anna navigates the unrelenting cycle of servitude, finding solace in whispered tales of freedom shared among enslaved companions, each harboring dreams beyond captivity.On a moonless night, Anna and her fellow captives dared the unthinkable-an audacious attempt at liberation orchestrated by clandestine allies. Maneuvering through the shadows of the city, they embraced trepidation and hope, venturing towards the elusive promise of emancipation.Their journey traversed concealed passages and convoluted streets, culminating at the towering city gates where the scent of freedom mingled with the acrid tang of fear. Faced with the final obstacle, a patrol obstructed their path, threatening to extinguish the fragile ember of hope.In a pulse-pounding moment, Anna's resolve solidified, igniting a collective surge towards freedom. Their frantic scramble shattered the blockade, their cries for liberty echoing through the night as they vanished into the cloak of darkness, shedding the shackles of enslavement."Anna - Three Years as a Caucasian Slave in the Ottoman Empire" etches the indomitable spirit of Anna and her companions against the backdrop of the Ottoman Empire's dominance. This gripping tale illuminates their relentless pursuit of freedom, a defiance eternally woven into the annals of history.

Embark on a thought-provoking exploration of slavery's persistence and transformation in the Ottoman Empire and the early years of the Turkish Republic during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This book meticulously analyzes the interplay between slavery, the evolving liberal political landscape, and the international anti-slavery movement. At its core, it scrutinizes the legal and social changes surrounding the categorization of certain ethnic groups as "enslavable," with a focus on the impact on citizenship. Discover how slavery played a pivotal role in shaping the concept of citizenship during this critical period.

IV. Murad ¿stanbul'unda geçen ve cinsellik, para, äk ve ¿iddet gibi konular¿ i¿leyen T¿flî hikâyeleri, 19. yüzy¿l Osmanl¿ düzyaz¿ edebiyat¿n¿n önemli bir türünü olu¿turur. Bu edebî türle ilgili ilk ve tek kapsaml¿ çal¿¿ma olan T¿fli Hikâyeleri, 19. yüzy¿l Osmanl¿ kültürünün de çarp¿c¿ bir panoramas¿n¿ sunuyor. Kitap, hikâyelere ili¿kin inceleme d¿¿¿nda eski yaz¿dan çeviri yaz¿s¿ yap¿lan hikâye metinlerini de içeriyor. English: The Tifli Stories are a genre of Ottoman prose literature set in Istanbul during the reign of Murad IV (r. 1623-1640) and revolving around themes such as sex, money, passion, and violence. The first and only comprehensive study of this literary genre, Tifli Hikayeleri (The Tifli Stories) analyzes the stories to offer a vivid panorama of 19th-century Ottoman culture. The book further includes a comprehensive corpus of stories transliterated from Ottoman into modern Turkish.

"...an invaluable read for anyone interested in the Gallipoli operation, but also for those seeking to understand combat, in any conflict." -- The NYMAS ReviewThe Gallipoli Landing of 25 April 1915 is arguably Australia's best known battle. It is commemorated each year with a national holiday, services, parades and great media attention. 2015, the centenary of the Gallipoli Campaign, was marked by great publicity and the release of many books, articles, films, documentaries and television series. Despite this attention, the Landing is still a poorly understood battle, with the historiography colored by a century of misinformation, assumption, folklore and legend. The Landing in the Dawn: Dissecting a Legend - The Landing at Anzac, Gallipoli, 25 April 1915, re-examines and reconstructs the Anzac Landing by applying a new approach to an old topic - it uses the aggregate experience of a single, first-wave battalion over a single day, primarily through the investigation of veteran's letters and diaries, to create a body of evidence with which to construct a history of the battle. This approach might be expected to shed light on these men's experiences only, but their accounts surprisingly divulge sufficient detail to allow an unprecedented reconstruction and re-examination of the battle. Thus it effectively places much of the battlefield under a microscope. The use of veterans' accounts to re-tell the story of the Landing is not new. Anecdotes have for many years been layered over the known history, established in C.E.W. Bean, Official History of Australia in the War: The Story of ANZAC, Volume I, as the standard existing narrative. Here, detail extracted from an unprecedented range of primary and secondary sources, is used to reconstruct the history of the day, elevating participants' accounts from anecdote to eye-witness testimony. This shift in the way evidence is used to reinterpret the day, rather than simply painting it into the existing canvas, changes the way the battle is perceived. Even though more than 100 years have passed since the Landing, and well over 1,000 books have been written about the campaign, much can be learned by returning to the "primary source, the soldier." The Landing has not been previously studied at this level of detail. This work complements Bean's by providing new evidence and digging deeper than Bean had the opportunity to do. It potentially rewrites the history of the Landing. This is not an exclusive Australian story - for example, one third of the battalion examined were born in the British Isles. This volume, the most current and comprehensive study since Bean's, has been rightly described as a major contribution that will change the way the legendary amphibious operation is viewed.

This collection sheds light on different aspects of the history of the Kurds in Syria during the Ottoman period.

Explores the historic sieges of Rhodes in 1480 and 1522 and encompasses tales of heroism and strategic shifts in military history.The Sieges of Rhodes 1480 and 1522 provides accounts of the two epic sieges when the Knight Hospitallers of the Order of St John faced the might of the Ottoman Empire. Photographs and maps included in the book illustrate what a nearly impossible task the Ottomans faced in both sieges. The two sieges illustrate the changes in warfare in the 40 years between them and the revolution in artillery that was taking place during this period. The Sieges of Rhodes contains grand tales of the greatest heroes and the worst of villains, stories of ingenuity, bravery, cruelty and cowardice, tales which echoed across Christendom.When Grand Master Phillipe Villiers de l`Isle-Adam and the few surviving knights and brothers of the Order of St John departed from the port of Rhodes on 1 January 1523, the long history of the Crusades ended.The Order of St John had protected the Latin States for almost 200 years until forced to leave after the fall of Acre in 1291. Unlike the Templars, they survived the disgrace of defeat and re-established themselves on the island of Rhodes. Here they remained a militant presence, always a challenge to the power of Islam and hopeful of reclaiming the Holy Land. The rise of Ottoman power in the mid-fifteenth century led to two great sieges, the first in 1480 during the reign of the Sultan Mehmed II and the second in 1522 by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.Both sieges were epic in their character and scale and added to the fame and prestige of the Hospitallers, and on both occasions the Grand Masters provided inspiration for the garrisons and for Christendom. The sieges occurred at a critical period in Europe's political, religious and military history. In 1480, Christendom was united, and both the means of attack and the forms of defense were fundamentally late-medieval in nature - both sides even built trebuchets, which had been thought long obsolete. In 1522, Europe was deeply divided, and the weapons and fortifications had dramatically changed. This book considers the medieval fortifications and their transformation in the intervening years, according to the most up-to-date ideas. It also outlines the artillery revolution that occurred over the same period, with the massive, clumsy, but still powerful, stone-throwing bombards giving way to narrow-bore, cast bronze pieces firing iron projectiles at much higher velocities with significantly greater effect.The sieges are also of great technical interest to military historians because of the extensive use of pyrotechnics and mining. Fire was an especially horrible addition to the Hospitallers' arsenal, and the book summarizes the flame weapons that were available and how they were used. The mining and countermining that took place in the second siege was an epic in its own right. Recent groundbreaking research has highlighted why the war underground was so extensive and became the most effective Ottoman strategy.The soldiers that faced each other were utterly unlike one another in arms, armor and tactics, although similar in their disparate religious devotion. What effect did this have on the outcome? The Ottoman army, especially the Janissaries, were the terror of the East and the West, yet they met their match on both occasions. How was it that a vastly numerically inferior force managed to fight their enemy to a standstill? This can only be understood by studying the sieges in detail, which is possible because of the excellent first-hand accounts produced soon after the events themselves. The reader can, therefore, experience the sieges through the words of those who fought in them. The extraordinary survival of Hospitaller armor from Rhodes and the superb collections of Ottoman and Mameluke armor and weapons help illustrate the contrast between these warrior cultures.

A portrait of Enlightenment science, religious identity and empire in the making of the modern Middle Eastern world

This invaluable resource offers a comprehensive overview of the Iraq War, with more than 100 in-depth articles by leading scholars on an array of topics and themes and more than a dozen key primary source documents.This book provides everything the reader needs to know about the Iraq War, from the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq, through the U.S. troop surge in 2007, to the rise of the Islamic State. It offers insight into the war through the events, organizations, and people who have had a major impact on the conflict. It also explains the inadvertent consequences of the conflict including worsening regional sectarian divisions, the Arab Spring, the increase in Iranian influence in the Middle East, and the expansion of international terrorism.The book begins with a sweeping overview of the Iraq War that provides context for each of the reference entries that follow. The introductory material also includes detailed essays on the causes and consequences of the war. The bulk of the book consists of more than 120 reference entries on such topics as Saddam Hussein, the battles of Fallujah, and private military contractors such as Blackwater and Halliburton. In addition, the book includes more than a dozen curated and contextualized primary source documents along with a comprehensive chronology and extensive bibliography.

A comprehensive overview of the history of Turkey ranging from the earliest Neolithic civilizations, to the establishment of the Republic in 1923, to the present-day tenure of President Erdogan.For travelers or students looking for the story behind the evolution of modern-day Turkey, this informative guide traces this country's history and culture from ancient times through the present day. The first half of this book surveys the centuries up to 1923, with the latter half exploring events since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923. By following the timeline of Turkey's development in clear, chronologically ordered chapters, the work lays out the various civilizations whose remains still sit side by side today. This second edition delves into the full scope of Turkey's events since 2001, covering the leadership of the Justice and Development party, the prime ministry and controversial presidency of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the Gezi Park protests of 2013. The updated content includes a notable figures appendix, glossary, and bibliography that supplies electronic resources for students.

This book examines the period of political violence in Turkey between 12 March 1971 and 12 September 1980. It sets out a close analysis of the tactics used by the various protagonists in the conflict, showing how they took over public institutions, the first of which was the police. This book challenges the myth of a 'strong' Turkish state viewed as authoritative and autonomous from society, instead reflecting a state that was unable to contain the political mobilisation actually taking place. In the book, Benjamin Gourisse analyses the structure, mobilisation, and strategies of antagonistic radical political groups caught up in this dynamic of violence, including the far-left organisations and the Nationalist Movement, comprising the Nationalist Movement Party and its satellite organisations. Gourisse demonstrates that from 1975 to 1980, the state was never "out of play". Quite the contrary, in fact, for its institutions, together with the practices, beliefs, and representations of their members and users, were central to the processes constituting the crisis.

"Verily, you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will her leader be, and a wonderful army will that army be!"For eight centuries, Muslims made countless attempts to fulfill this prophecy made by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). In 1453, Sultan Mehmed II's conquest of Constantinople is believed to have realised and embodied this prophecy. At the age of twenty-one, Mehmed toppled one of the greatest empires, the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantine. His military genius and his disciplined army were unmatched. For the next thirty years, he ruled and conquered much of Asia Minor and stretched Ottoman power into Europe reaching the borders of Hungary and Italy. Mehmed was the most admired and feared leader of the 15th century. His people called him Al-Fatih, the Conqueror, but he was also known as the prince of the Renaissance as his rule gave birth to the golden age of the Ottoman Empire. This biography of Sultan Mehmed II will immerse the reader into the legendary life of one of the most influential and brilliant leaders of all time.

This book looks at uniforms, rank-system, and organization for a new type of Turkish Soldier, other than Janissary providing the main Soldier-type during the French Revolution, and Early Napoleonic Wars. Debut of the Levend Chiftlik Regiment in 1799, during the French siege of Acre, and in the British-Turkish campaign in Egypt to expel the French occupation, introduced the Nizam-i Cedid: New Order Army. Having its beginning as part of the reforms of Sultan Selim III (1789 till 1807), several Anatolian Infantry Regiments, a Field Artillery Regiment, and two Galeonjees: New Order Army Marine Regiments came into existence. The book also covers Arnaut: Albanian Infantry; late-18th Century Turkish Generalship and Officers' command; Standing Army's tactics; New Order Army Infantry Soldier's weapons and equipment; and, the 1806 till 1807 events leading to the New Order Army's suppression and demise of Sultan Selim III.

Bojtjo Ognjanov flygter fra fængslet for at vende hjem til sin bulgarske hjemby og deltage i oprøret mod osmannerne, der i årevis har undertrykt bulgarerne med hård hånd. Her møder han både venner og fjender, der ikke har glemt deres udestående med ham. Alligevel må de stå sammen mod overmagten, som alle har hver sin grund til at gøre oprør mod."Under åget" er baseret på Ivan Vazovs egne oplevelser under opstanden mod osmannerne i april 1876. Bogen giver et levende indblik i skæbnedagene for Bulgarien, der førte til udbruddet af krigen mellem osmannerne og russerne. Bogen udkom første gang i 1890 og er en sand klassiker inden for bulgarsk litteratur.Ivan Vazov (1850-1921) var en bulgarsk forfatter og digter, der ofte bliver kaldt bulgarsk litteraturs patriark, fordi han har haft så enorm indflydelse på sit lands litteraturhistorie. Hans værker er blevet oversat til et væld af fremmedsprog, og i 1917 blev han nomineret til Nobelprisen i litteratur.