Bøker av George W. Gawrych

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was one of the most significant political leaders of the twentieth century. How did he rise from humble origins in modern-day Greece to become the leader of the new Turkish Republic out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire and go on to radically transform Turkish society?In this book, George Gawrych studies Atatürk's career in detail. He shows the remarkable character of the man: a war hero who considered himself 'baba' or father to his troops with a library of over 4000 books, Atatürk married the traits of the classic military man-of-action with those of the intellectual and theorist. Gawrych places Atatürk in the context of his times to reveal how with these unique character traits he harnessed wider forces of societal change and transformation to set Turkey on a path of secular nationalism, the legacy of which are explored in the text and can be seen everywhere in Turkey today, from the second names he imposed on citizens to the adoption of the Latin alphabet. Attentive, too, to the costs of Atatürk's policies, including the suppression of the minorities of the former multi-ethnic, interfaith and polyglot Ottoman Empire in the name of 'Turkification', the book presents a nuanced analysis of a figure who through force of will and expert manipulation of the conditions within which he found himself, did much to define modern Turkey today.

Mustafa Kemal - latterly and better known as Ataturk - is without doubt the towering figure of modern Turkish history. But what was his path to power? And how did his early career as a soldier in the Ottoman army affect his later decisions as President? The Young Ataturk tracks the lesser covered period of Kemal's life - from the War of Independence to the founding of the Republic - and shows that it is only by understanding Kemal's military career that one can fully comprehend how he evolved as one of the twentieth century's most extraordinary statesmen. Delving into Kemal's military writings, orders, and political decisions, speeches, proclamations and private correspondences, this book provides a rounded and nuanced portrait of the making of a major statesman.

Examines the awakening of Albanian national identity from the end of the 19th century to the outbreak of the First World War - a period of intense nationalism in the Balkans - from an Ottoman perspective. Drawing on Ottoman and European archival material, this book undermines the customary negative stereotypes of Ottoman rule.

This text argues that the quick victory by Israeli troops over the combined forces of Egypt, Jordan and Syria in 1967 led to unrealistic expectations during the second conflict in 1973. It examines the limited Egyptian war strategy, and how their armed forces were able to hold Israel at bay.