Erzincan during the First World War, 1915-1917: The Farthest Caucasian Battlefront, Place of Armistice and a Site of Massacres

Erzincan was not only an important industrial and trade centre but also served as the headquarters for an Ottoman army during the First World War. From the winter of 1915 onward, Russia held the strategic initiative on the nearby Caucasus front. In May 1915, Turkish forces exterminated the local Armenian population, an episode in the genocide of Armenians whose loyalty to the Ottoman cause was supposedly suspect. When the Russian army reached the town on 25 July 1916 (Julian calendar), its farthest point of advance in the war, it captured a largely empty town in only two days. This battle was the last major combat action between Ottoman and tsarist Russian forces on this front. While the victory opened the way for the Russian military to the Ottoman interior, for it threatened Sivas and the main road to Angora (Ankara), the February Revolution of 1917 halted all Russian military operations. The subsequent departure of Russian troops gave the Turks the opportunity to recover their pre-war frontiers. On 18 December 1917 at Erzincan, they signed an armistice with the Transcaucasian Commissariat, which formally brought the fighting between Turks and Russians in the Caucasus to an end.

Europe Facing East in the Age of Ottoman Power: War, Diplomacy, and the Composite State James D. Tracy, New York: Berghahn Books, 2026. Maps. 264 pp. E-book: $24.95 [Hardcover: $135.00] ISBN: 9781836952701.

The Medusa Gaze in war media: Trauma, shame, envy, and voyeurism in the eyes of an analyst-victim

In this article, I argue that war victims, unlike distant viewers, turn to war media not only to satisfy unconscious sadistic and masochistic desires or voyeuristic pleasure, but also as a strategy for psychic survival. Amid trauma, they seek containment and control. They imagine the media screen, like a containing mother, to frame war experiences – making them digestible and offering a coherent mirror in which the fragmented self can find recognition. For war victims, the media is not a neutral window onto the world but a reflective surface – a gaze they hope will reflect an integrated image of self. When sensational, graphic violence is broadcast, the media gaze dehumanises the victims depicted and destabilises the viewers, amplifying emotional disarray and psychic fragmentation. The media’s gaze morphs into an Evil Eye , whose envious power inflicts psychic harm. Those consuming footage of their war become both subjects of this gaze and its casualties. Their shame in helplessness transforms into envy, and their gaze turns into defensive voyeurism, where vulnerability and complicity coexist. Instead of providing containment, trauma coverage – like dreaming and dream-telling – should facilitate the psychic digestion and symbolisation of shared experience.

Spying in South Asia: Britain, the United States, and India’s Secret Cold War By Paul McGarr Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 2024, 348 pp., $39.99 (hardback), ISBN: 9781108843676

From Warriors to Soldiers: Militarizing Fijian Identity during the Second World War

During the Second World War, colonial conceptions of Indigenous Fijians as naturally warlike were reframed and deployed in a modern military context in ways that were shaped by diverse British and Fijian aims. In this article, I apply Bernard Cohn’s concept of the ‘investigative modality’ to examine a host of official reports, telegrams, and histories that reveal how British military and colonial authorities, informed by particular understandings of race, sought to refigure and make use of Fijians as military assets. Fijians, in turn, applied their own cultural conceptions – particularly that of reciprocity – to this process of militarization to make claims upon colonial power by constituting themselves as ‘favoured’ subjects who had served the British Crown during the war. This analysis shows how the militarization of Fijians during the Second World War was shaped by both British and Fijian discourses and practices for divergent British and Fijian ends.

Labor migration and agrarian reform in post-war Italy: the case of the Marsica (1950–1965)

This paper explores the Marsica area, an isolated part of Central Italy, during its “agrarian reform era” from 1950 to 1965. This transformative period was marked by profound agricultural changes and significant migration flows. Drawing on E.S. Lee’s (1966) push-and-pull factors theory and B. Thomas’s (1954) economic development framework, our study examines how these dynamics shaped migrations patterns and the socio-economic landscape of the area. In this context, the Ente Fucino, created during the agrarian reform, played a pivotal role by promoting agricultural and infrastructural improvements and support for assisted emigration. This support system became a crucial outlet, alleviating demographic pressure and improving living conditions through remittances. The combination of emigration, remittances, and modernization initiatives gradually improved socio-economic conditions in Marsica, transforming it from a struggling area into one with a more promising outlook for future development. Based on a mix of unpublished archival documents, existing scholarly works, and oral testimonies, this paper questions the impact of push-and-pull factors and seeks to identify correlations between migration movements and socio-economic growth in an area as marginalized and depressed as Marsica. This study aims to address a gap in migration literature, focusing on how migrations influenced the productivity of underdeveloped areas.

Leftism at an Islamic school: indoctrinating the youth at Saida’s Makassed Islamic Secondary

In the period between Lebanon’s independence and the outbreak of the Civil War, Saida’s Makassed Islamic Secondary School became a hotbed of radical leftist and pan-Arabist politics. The article looks at how various political groups, including Nasserists, the Baʿth, and the Movement of Arab Nationalists, were able to turn the school into a centre for their political activities in their attempts to politicize and indoctrinate students. The article examines how the structure of the Makassed’s governing institutions, as well as the political atmosphere in Saida allowed them to spread their influence at the school. The article adds to the existing literature on youth and politics in twentieth-century Lebanon as well as to the overall understanding of the processes of politicization and radicalization that eventually contributed to the outbreak of the political violence of the Civil War.

The dynamics of Détente: Greece’s support for Turkey’s accession to the League of Nations, 1930 − 1932

This study examines Greece’s pivotal role in supporting Turkey’s accession to the League of Nations between 1930 and 1932, highlighting the broader implications for Greek-Turkish rapprochement and interwar diplomacy. Following the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) and the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), the two nations embarked on a path of diplomatic reconciliation, culminating in the Greek-Turkish Friendship Treaty of 1930. Against this backdrop, Turkey’s bid for League membership became a test of bilateral cooperation and regional stability. Initially hesitant, Athens gradually recognized the strategic benefits of Turkey’s inclusion, particularly in countering revisionist pressures in Europe. While Turkey sought League membership as a means of consolidating its international standing, Greece viewed its support as a means to reinforce the postwar territorial and political status quo. The study explores the geopolitical factors influencing this decision, including Soviet-Turkish relations and the shifting alliances of the early 1930s. Ultimately, Turkey’s accession to the League with Greek backing exemplified the capacity for former adversaries to achieve diplomatic cooperation within multilateral frameworks. By analyzing this historical episode, the research contributes to understanding the role of international organizations in fostering regional stability and diplomatic engagement.

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar – a man of melancholy

The name and fame of Ahmed Hamdi Tanpınar, regarded as one of the most important Turkish poets and novelists of the twentieth century, have now spread far and wide, with the result that some of his works have been translated into many languages. Tanpınar’s life spanned the first six decades of the twentieth century, and he witnessed the enormous political, economic and social changes that resulted both from the defeat of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in the First World War as well as the establishment of the new Republic, after the armies under Mustafa Kemal Pasha [later Atatürk] regained full control of the area of modern Turkey. However, success came somewhat late to Tanpınar and, although he became a professor and his works attracted attention and praise, his personal life – as well as his finances – lagged behind. In spite of a great desire to get married and have a family, he died a bachelor. In the final years of his life he began labelling himself ‘a man of melancholy’. The aim of the present article is to provide insight into Tanpınar’s life and works, and his cultural milieu.

Open source intelligence: newspapers and the Ottoman Intelligence Department in the First World War

The role of newspapers in the Ottoman Empire was pivotal in shaping public opinion and disseminating state policies. Particularly during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the evolution of the press emerged as a critical factor in the political and social metamorphosis within the Ottoman context. Newspapers transcended their traditional function of merely reporting news; they also became instrumental in education, propaganda and the establishment of ideological frameworks. Newspapers also served as open-source intelligence for intelligence organisations. The Ottoman Empire’s intelligence department (The Second Branch of the General Staff) used information from various newspapers and translated and disseminated them to decision makers. They were also under the control of this branch for possible information leakage. Therefore, the impact of censorship and regulatory oversight significantly shaped the operational landscape of the press. This article is a descriptive one that will try to identify the role of the Intelligence Department and the press.