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ABRAMS BOOKS - Alan Palmer

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297 pages

English

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Alan Palmer traces the history of the Baltic region from its early Viking days and its time under the Byzantine Empire through its medieval prime when the Baltic Sea served as one of Europe's central trading grounds. Palmer addresses both the strong nationalist sentiments that have driven Baltic culture and the early attempts at Baltic unification by Sweden and Russia. The Baltic also dissects the politics and culture of the region in the twentieth century, when it played multiple historic roles: it was the Eastern Front in the First World War; the setting of early uprisings in the Russian Revolution; a land occupied by the Nazis during the Second World War; and, until very recently, a region dominated by the Soviets. In the twenty-first century, increasing attention has been focused on the Baltic states as they grow into their own in spite of growing neo-imperialist pressure from post-Soviet Russia. In The Baltic, Alan Palmer provides readers with a detailed history of the nations and peoples that are now poised to emerge as some of Europe's most vital democracies.

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Humanities

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Publié par	ABRAMS BOOKS
Date de parution	18 décembre 2007
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781590209264
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0718€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Other books by Alan Palmer include
The Gardeners of Salonika
The Penguin Dictionary of Modern History 1789–1945
Napoleon in Russia
The Lands Between: East-Central Europe since the Congress of Vienna
Metternich
Alexander I, Tsar of War and Peace
Frederick the Great
The Life and Times of George IV
Russia in War and Peace
Bismarck
The Kaiser: Warlord of the Second Reich
The Penguin Dictionary of Twentieth Century History
Who’s Who in Modern History
The Chancelleries of Europe
The Princes of Wales
An Encyclopaedia of Napoleon’s Europe
Crowned Cousins: the Anglo-German royal connection
The Banner of Battle: the story of the Crimean War
The East End: four centuries of London life
Bernadotte: Napoleon’s Marshal, Sweden’s King
Kemal Ataturk
The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire
The Twilight of the Habsburgs: the life and times of Emperor Francis Joseph
Dictionary of the British Empire and Commonwealth
Napoleon and Marie Louise
Independent Eastern Europe, A History (co-author with C. A. Macartney)
The Royal House of Greece (co-author with Prince Michael of Greece)
Quotations in History (co-author with Veronica Palmer)
Who’s Who in Shakespeare’s England (co-author with Veronica Palmer)
Royal England (co-author with Veronica Palmer)
Who’s Who in Bloomsbury (co-author with Veronica Palmer)
The Pimlico Chronology of British History (co-author with Veronica Palmer)
Copyright
First published in the United States in 2006 by
The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc.
New York and London
N EW Y ORK :
Overlook
141 Wooster Street
New York, NY 10012
www.overlookpress.com
L ONDON :
Duckworth
90-93 Cowcross Street
London EC1M 6BF
www.ducknet.co.uk
Copyright © 2005 Alan Palmer
Originally published in the United Kingdom as Northern Shores.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.
ISBN 978-1-59020-926-4
Contents
Other books by Alan Palmer include
Copyright
Preface
Maps
Author’s Note
Alternative Place Names
1. Sentinels Above the Sound
2. Peoples on the Move
3. The Viking East
4. Pagans and Piasts
5. Holy Warriors and Hanse Merchants
6. The Rise and Fall of Marienburg
7. Ships, Pirates and Adventurers
8. The Chimera of Kalmar
9. Muscovy and Wittenberg
10. Lion of the North
11. Nemesis at Poltava
12. Imperial Russia in the Ascendant
13. Thunder from the South
14. Peaceful Change?
15. Black, Red and Gold
16. Bombarding Bomarsund
17. Finns, Poles and Danes
18. Towards Democracy
19. National Pride
20. The Last Years of the Long Peace
21. Emperors at War, 1914–1917
22. Revolution and Independence
23. Nine Nations and a Free City
24. Hitler’s Challenge
25. Nazi-Soviet Partnership
26. Nazi-Soviet War
27. Tragedy of Victory
28. Baltic Way
Royal Chronology
Notes and Select Bibliography
Index
Preface
A generation ago English-language histories of Europe neglected the Baltic past. Some names were sure of a few paragraphs: Gustavus Adolphus, for leading a Protestant army into Germany and perishing in the hour of victory; Peter the Great, for opening Russia’s window to the West; Copenhagen as the city on which Nelson belligerently turned a blind eye; and, in passing, the Hanseatic League, though rarely with mention of its origins in the inland sea. Over recent years, however, interest in the Baltic and its peoples has grown rapidly. Several universities have departments specializing in Baltic studies, if only at post-graduate level. Penguin Classics in translation introduced Thomas Mann’s Lübeck and Theodor Fontane’s Kessin, a thinly disguised Swinemünde, to a new reading public. In 1980 Eric Christiansen’s The Northern Crusades stimulated interest in a forgotten chapter of mediaeval history while, in God’s Playground , Norman Davies recorded the glory, anarchy and tragedy of Poland, the continent’s most resilient nation. A decade later Dr David Kirby’s two volumes The Baltic World 1492–1772 and The Baltic World 1772–1993 examined half a millennium in scholarly detail. I remain grateful to all these authors.
Northern Shores was conceived back in the early 1970s when, aboard a Soviet ship bound for Leningrad, I saw for the first time the sentinel castles that form a Seagate for the Baltic. A sense of the past always enhances the pleasures of travel. Was there, I wondered, scope for a narrative account of the region’s history from the Vikings to the present day? I began to consider the form of the book, deciding early on to exclude Norway, as a land that looked to the Atlantic rather than to the inland sea. Next year, with my late wife Veronica, I took the car across to Esbjerg. We ferry-hopped through much of Denmark, southern Norway and Sweden. On other journeys we visited Finland and saw a little of East Germany and Poland. But there was no way we could travel freely through the occupied Baltic republics. Notes for the projected book were put aside in favour of topics that interested me elsewhere.
By the end of the century the face of Europe had changed completely and I remembered my discarded notes. The whole region was more accessible. Regular cruise ships sailed from Dover. The 2,000 kilometre flight from Heathrow to St Petersburg took little more than three hours; Stockholm’s Arlanda airport, 1,500 kilometres distant, could be reached in two, and I found that, by changing at Copenhagen, Vilnius was only four hours away. I travelled to the Baltic in four successive years. It was pleasant to go by bus from Vilnius across much of the three independent Baltic republics and gratifying to find so many people willing to talk to me. From sixteen-year-olds to an ‘over-eighty’, I heard reminiscences of the past and speculation on the present and the future. Unfortunately we never got on surname terms and so I cannot thank them individually.
There are, however, many friends whose help it is a pleasure to acknowledge by name. The then Hungarian ambassador to Sweden, Laszlo Szöke, his wife Judit and his daughters Diana and Beata entertained me in Stockholm; I much appreciated Laszlo’s guidance on so many informative excursions. I remember with delight a car journey around the Oresund with Christopher and Charmian Johnson, Miranda and Sebastian; Chris has also spent patient hours as my computer mentor. Sir Martin Gilbert enlightened me on many facets of twentieth century history. Sinclair Third generously allowed me to use disks of his notes on the movements of German warships. Aleksas Vilčinskas clarified aspects of Lithuanian history for me and provided information for the chronology of Lithuanian rulers at the back of the book. Reija Fanous kindly answered questions on Finland and the Finnish language. For the loan of books, maps, photographs and pamphlets my thanks go to Clare and Robert Brown, Miranda Jones, Elizabeth Maylor and Sean Lang.
The staffs of the London Library and the Bodleian Library have, once again, helped me with great efficiency. I am grateful to John McLaughlin, most sympathetic of literary agents, and to my patient publishers both at Albemarle Street and Euston Road, with especial thanks to Gordon Wise and Catherine Benwell. I also appreciate the skills of Anne Boston, the cartographer Martin Collins and Douglas Matthews, the doyen of indexers.
Eight of the people whose help I acknowledge by name come from the congregation of St Mary Magdalen, Oxford, the church where I have long been a communicant, and it is with gratitude that I dedicate this book to the many friends at ‘Mary Mag’s’ who, over the years, have given me so much active support and encouragement.
Alan Palmer
Woodstock, January 2005
Maps
1. The Baltic in 2004
2. The Baltic in the Early Middle Ages
3. Sweden, Prussia and Russia, 1645–1772

Author’s Note
Unless otherwise stated, all dates are given in the Gregorian calendar, common to Western Europe but not adopted in Russia until after the Bolshevik Revolution. Personal names have been anglicized, except where indicated. Distances are expressed in kilometres and metres rather than miles and yards. For those who, like the author, think more naturally in the old system it may be convenient to remember that 8 kilometres are approximately 5 miles.
Alternative Place Names
Current name is printed first. Abbreviations used: D Danish; E Estonian; F Finnish; G German; La Latvian; Li Lithuanian; P Polish; R Russian; S Swedish; U Ukrainian. If no abbreviation is given, the form of the place name is English. Cēsis (La) Wenden (G) Daugava river (La) Düna (G) Dvina (P) Daugavpils (La) Dvinsk (P) Dünaburg (G) Elblag (P) Elbing (G) Gdańsk (P) Danzig (G) Hamëenlinna (F) Tavasterhus (S) Hamina (F) Fredrikshamn (S) Helsinki (F) Helsingfors (S) Helsingør (D) Elsinore Jelgava (La) Mitau (G) Kaliningrad (R) Königsberg (G) Kaunas (Li) Kovno (G) Kowno (P) Klaipėda (Li) Memel (G) Kolobrzen (P) Kolberg (G) Kurzeme (La) Kurland (G) Courland Lviv (U) Lwow (P) Lvov (R) Lemberg (G) Liepāja (La) Libau (G) Malbork (P) Marienburg (G) Nemanas river (Li) Niemen Oltsztyn (P) Allenstein (G) Øresund (D) The Danish Sound Oslo Christiania Oulu (F) Uleaborg (S) Pärnu (E) Pernau (G) Peipsi lake (E) Chud (R) Peipus Porvoo (F) Bogå (S) Poznań (P) Posen (G) Petrograd Saaremaa (E) Ösel (G/S) St Petersburg Sigulda (La) Leningrad Segewold (G) Stebak (P) Tannenberg (G) Suomenlinna (F) Sveaborg (S) Suursari (F) Hogland Świnoujście (P) Swinemönde (G) Szczecin (P) Stettin (G) Tallinn (E) Reval (G) Tampere (F) Tammerfors (S) Tartu (E) Dorpat (G) Toruń (P) Thorn (G) Turku (F) Åbo