The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria—Serbia—Greece—Rumania—Turkey

Arnold J. Toynbee (Arnold Joseph Toynbee)Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.0
Word count
704K words
Chapters
71

Tags

English Originals World History Historical ReappraisalRise of Great PowersMilitary StrategyRise and FallAcademic StudyWorld OrderModern ChinaMultiethnic Perspective

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria—Serbia—Greece—Rumania—Turkey by Nevill Forbes et al.Author: Toynbee, Arnold, 1889-1975,Language: English, Class: DR: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Balkan Peninsula, Turkey, Release Date: Mar 1, 2004

Editor's review

The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria—Serbia—Greece—Rumania—Turkey is a general history of the Balkan states, written by several scholars including Arnold Toynbee, with chapters tracing the histories of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Romania and Turkey respectively. Its value lies in its country-by-country structure, which gives readers an overall framework for the region from early times to the early twentieth century, and is especially useful for understanding the formation of modern nation-states and shifts in the regional order. Toynbee's involvement lends the book a civilizational and geopolitical perspective; the prose is scholarly but clearly organized. As a free Project Gutenberg e-book, it is easy to search and read alongside other sources. Note that the book was written long ago, and some of its historiography and source material are limited by its era, so it should not be treated as the latest scholarship; the narrative is mainly political history, with limited attention to social, economic and cultural life. Readers should use it as an introductory framework and correct and supplement it with contemporary research.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read chapter by chapter by country: start with the introductory chapters to build an overall framework, then go deeper into the countries that interest you.
  2. Keep a map of the Balkans at hand while reading, marking borders and major cities to help understand territorial and ethnic changes.
  3. Bear in mind when the book was written, and check contemporary general histories against key judgments.
  4. You might start with the chapters on Greece and Serbia, then read Turkey and Romania, forming a cross-comparison.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
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  6. 6
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  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
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  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
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  60. 60
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  63. 63
  64. 64
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  70. 70
  71. 71

FAQ

Is this book suitable for beginners in history? It works well as an introductory framework for regional history. The book is organized by country, with a clear structure that helps readers build a basic timeline of Balkan history. But because it was written long ago and focuses on political history, beginners should consult a contemporary general history alongside it so as not to absorb outdated judgments.
Which parts of the book did Toynbee write? Sources indicate the book was written by several scholars, with Toynbee listed as one of the authors. The specific division of labor is usually explained in the e-book's main text; readers can confirm in the author's note or chapter headings at the beginning. It is advisable to skim the table of contents and preface before reading to identify who wrote each chapter, so as to understand the differences in perspective between chapters.
Does the book's historiography have the limitations of its era? The book was written in the early twentieth century, and its nation-state narrative and geopolitical analysis bear the scholarly imprint of that era; its statements on certain ethnic and border issues may differ from contemporary research. Readers should treat it as a historical-document-style general history, examine it against more recent scholarship, and not cite it directly as settled fact.
Any practical advice for reading the e-book? The Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain English e-book with full-text search. Use the search function to look up country names, treaties and place names, and view them alongside mapping tools; you can also divide the reading by country, focusing on one at a time and making brief timeline notes after each, for later review and comparison.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Arnold J. Toynbee (Arnold Joseph Toynbee) Author · British · 1889–1975

Arnold Toynbee (1889–1975) was a British historian, born in London and died in York. He is best known for his twelve-volume A Study of History (1934–1961), in which he proposed the “challenge and response” theory to explain the rise and fall of civilizations, a view that proved widely influential. He served as a research professor at the London School of Economics and as director of studies at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, combining academic work with policy research. Three of his works are held in this collection, focused on the history and politics of the Balkans and Turkey: The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria—Serbia—Greece—Rumania—Turkey; Turkey: A Past and a Future; and The German Terror in Belgium: An Historical Record. These writings reflect his attention to international affairs, wartime responsibility and regional history, and are marked by careful use of sources and comparative analysis.