History of the Caucasus
Volume 2: In the Shadow of Great Powers
Published on 5. October 2023
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-0-7556-3628-0 (ISBN)
Description
In the Shadow of Great Powers is the second volume of Christoph Baumer's History of the Caucasus. It covers the period from the Seljuk domination of the Southern Caucasus around 1050 CE to the present day. After the Kingdom of Georgia's golden age of independent power and cultural blossoming in the 12th and early 13th centuries, the Caucasus was overrun by the Mongols and soon disintegrated into innumerable smaller kingdoms, principalities and khanates. At the same time, an Armenian kingdom in exile maintained a precarious independence in Cilicia, today's southern Turkey, by applying a three-way diplomatic policy balanced between the Mongol Il-Khanate, the Crusader states and, to a lesser degree, the Mameluke Empire. Then followed four centuries during which the highly fragmented polities of the North and South Caucasus became political pawns of the regional great powers, above all the Ottomans, Iran and Russia.
In the wake of World War I the South Caucasus enjoyed a short-lived independence whereas its northern neighbours were engulfed by the Russian civil wars. But by 1921 the Soviet Union had re-established Russian dominance over the whole region and, from a Western perspective, the region 'disappeared' behind the Iron Curtain. Nevertheless, the Caucasian nations kept their pronounced identities even under Soviet rule, giving rise at the dissolution of the Soviet Union to a number of internecine conflicts. Whereas the Russian Federation managed to maintain its supremacy over the North Caucasus - albeit at the cost of bloody wars and insurrections - Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia succeeded in more or less gaining control over their destiny. Of these three republics, only Azerbaijan secured a wide-ranging independence thanks to its fossil fuel resources. Following Russian interference, Georgia lost control over two of its provinces while Armenia remains dependent on Russian support in the face of its notoriously antagonistic relations with neighbouring Azerbaijan and Turkey over the unresolved issue of Karabakh. In the Shadow of Great Powers includes some 200 full-colour images and maps which further bring the turbulent history of this region to light.
In the wake of World War I the South Caucasus enjoyed a short-lived independence whereas its northern neighbours were engulfed by the Russian civil wars. But by 1921 the Soviet Union had re-established Russian dominance over the whole region and, from a Western perspective, the region 'disappeared' behind the Iron Curtain. Nevertheless, the Caucasian nations kept their pronounced identities even under Soviet rule, giving rise at the dissolution of the Soviet Union to a number of internecine conflicts. Whereas the Russian Federation managed to maintain its supremacy over the North Caucasus - albeit at the cost of bloody wars and insurrections - Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia succeeded in more or less gaining control over their destiny. Of these three republics, only Azerbaijan secured a wide-ranging independence thanks to its fossil fuel resources. Following Russian interference, Georgia lost control over two of its provinces while Armenia remains dependent on Russian support in the face of its notoriously antagonistic relations with neighbouring Azerbaijan and Turkey over the unresolved issue of Karabakh. In the Shadow of Great Powers includes some 200 full-colour images and maps which further bring the turbulent history of this region to light.
Reviews / Votes
It's a splendid achievement - informed, considered and clear ... There's certainly no shortage of fascinating material ... Baumer enthrals us ... Once in a while there comes along a book by a fellow explorer that you wish to heaven you'd had the wherewithal and body of knowledge to write yourself. This is such a book. -- Benedict Allen * The Spectator * Covering the last millennium of the region's history, this scholarly yet atlas-sized, sumptuously illustrated volume tells the story of a too-often overlooked corner of our continent with impressive even-handedness. Part coffee-table browser, part detailed history, this is a valuable telling of a turbulent history. -- Charlie Connelly * New European * This book, based on over a thousand sources, is a worthy successor to volume one, completing an overview running from prehistory to the present day. Baumer's austere prose is free from the nationalism and ethnocentricity that, he warns, infect many accounts of the region's history. His book is an extraordinary achievement. -- John Mann * Literary Review * In Christoph Baumer the Caucasus has a capable chronicler willing to plunge into even the most convoluted aspects of its past and emerge to present a clear-eyed account of a many-layered, often labyrinthine story ... Baumer has a knack for distilling extensive research from a wide range of sources about complicated and often recondite topics into a highly readable narrative. * Geographical * Splendidly illustrated ... [Readers] will be well rewarded to plunge in and learn from Baumer's thorough and insightful narrative. -- David Chaffetz * Asian Review of Books * This is very much a political history of the Caucasus...fine pictures of churches and monasteries, coins, manuscripts, and modern monuments bring to life the period itself, and its modern political resonances...beautifully produced. * Current World Archaeology * An absorbing record of the history and life of this extraordinary and important part of the world. -- The Revd Dr John Binns * Church Times * [L]avishly illustrated yet surprisingly affordable combination of colourful coffee-table book and detailed historical survey aimed at the general reader. * Iran and the Caucasus * The second volume of Christoph Baumer's extraordinary History of the Caucasus traces the history of the region from 1050 BC up to the modern age, brought to life through more than 200 colour images and maps. * Choice * Meticulously researched and detailed. * Preetorius Foundation (Bloomsbury translation) * This superb, sweeping history of the Caucasus in the modern period promises to be the new standard set text in its field. * Alex Marshall, University of Glasgow, UK *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Illustrations
180 colour illus
Dimensions
Height: 297 mm
Width: 248 mm
Thickness: 38 mm
Weight
2358 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7556-3628-0 (9780755636280)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2023
1st Edition
I.B. Tauris
€44.49
Available for download
Person
Christoph Baumer is a leading explorer and historian of Central Asia, Tibet and the Caucasus - has written many well-received books in the fields of history, religion, archaeology and travel. These include The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity (2006), Traces in the Desert: Journeys of Discovery across Central Asia (2008), China's Holy Mountain: An Illustrated Journey into the Heart of Buddhism (2011) and the seminal History of Central Asia in four volumes (2012-2018), all published by I.B.Tauris.
Dr Baumer is President of the Society for the Exploration of EurAsia, Senior Research Fellow at the Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Explorers' Club, New York, the Royal Asiatic Society, the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, London. He is a recipient of the prestigious Sir Percy Sykes Memorial Medal, awarded to him by the Royal Society for Asian Affairs in 2015.
Dr Baumer is President of the Society for the Exploration of EurAsia, Senior Research Fellow at the Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Explorers' Club, New York, the Royal Asiatic Society, the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, London. He is a recipient of the prestigious Sir Percy Sykes Memorial Medal, awarded to him by the Royal Society for Asian Affairs in 2015.
Content
I. A Fragmented Identity: An Introduction to Contemporary Ethnic and Political Conditions in the Caucasus
II. In the Wake of International Great-Power Politics
1.The Golden Age of Georgia
2.The Mongol incursions and supremacy
III. The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia
1.Semi-independent Armenian warlords and Muslim Armenian viziers
2.The Rubenids of Cilicia: From principality to kingdom
3.The Kingdom of Cilician Armenia
IV. The South Caucasus under Turkmen, Ottoman and Iranian Safavid Domination
1.Georgia and the devastations of Timur-e Lang
2.The partition of Georgia
Excursus: The Armenian catholicosate's return to Etchmiadzin and a renewed schism
3.The South Caucasus as battleground for eight Ottoman-Safavid wars
4.The South Caucasus under Safavid rule
Excursus: The Armenian Mekhitarist congregation
5.A brief reunification of Kartli and Kakheti and the foundation of independent khanates
V. First Russian Advances into the North Caucasus
1. The defence pact of 1557 between Kabarda and Russia
2. The Cossacks and the first Russian military lines
3. Mongol Kalmyks in the North-Eastern Caucasus
VI. The Caucasus under Russian Rule
1.From the Treaty of Georgievsk (1783) to the annexation of Georgia in 1801
2.Iran's interlude with Napoleon and Russia's conquest of the South Caucasian khanates and sultanates
3.The resistance of North Caucasian mountain peoples
3.1Yermolov's first offensives north of the Greater Caucasus
3.2The jihad of the imams
3.3The conquest, resettlement and expulsion of the Circassians
4.Russian administration and the rise of nationalism
5.The Russian conquest of former West Armenia 1877-78
Excursus: Oil-drilling at Baku and the Nobel brothers
6.The emergence of nationalist and social-revolutionary parties, Armenian massacres and ethnic unrest
6.1Armenian nationalist and socialist parties in the Russian and Ottoman empires
6.2Georgian socialists
6.3Pan-Turkism and socialism in the South Caucasian Muslim provinces
VII. A Short-Lived Independence and Foreign Interventions
1.World War I, the Armenian Genocide and the collapse of the Russian Empire
2.The Transcaucasian Republic, the declaration of independence of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, and foreign interventions
2.1The short-lived Transcaucasian Republic
2.2Ethnic and social conflicts in Georgia
2.3The Republic of Armenia
2.4The race for Baku
2.5War in Karabakh, Nakhchivan, Zangezur and Kars
2.6Armenia and the Paris Peace Conference
3.The Russian Civil Wars 1917-1920 and the short-lived North Caucasian states
VIII. Under Soviet Rule
1.Soviet consolidation of power, collectivization and Stalin's purges
2.Operation Edelweiss: The battle for the Caucasus in World War II
Excursus: Richard Sorge, Stalin's master spy
3.Deportations and the start of the Cold War
4.Political stagnation and the rise of nationalism
IX. Independence in the South Caucasus
1.The disintegration of the Soviet Union
2.The Armenian declaration of independence and the issue of Karabakh
3.The Azerbaijani declaration of independence and the development of the oil and gas industry
4.The First Karabakh War 1992-1994
5.Georgian independence and the South Ossetian and Abkhazian wars
X. Autonomy and Failed Independence in the North Caucasus
1. The northern region: Rostov, Krasnodar, Adygea, Stavropol and Kalmykia
2. The western and central region: Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North
Ossetia-Alania and Ingushetia
3. The eastern region: Chechnya and Dagestan
XI. The Caucasus in the Twenty-First Century
1.Republics and regions of the northern Caucasus
2.The independent republics in the southern Caucasus
2.1Azerbaijan
2.2The Second Karabakh War, 27 September-10 November 2020
2.3Armenia
2.4Georgia
2.4.1The Georgian-Russian War, 7-12 August 2008
2.4.2Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia since the 2008 war
3.Outlook
Appendices
Notes
Bibliography
List of Maps
Photo credits
Acknowledgements
Indexes
Concepts
People
Places
II. In the Wake of International Great-Power Politics
1.The Golden Age of Georgia
2.The Mongol incursions and supremacy
III. The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia
1.Semi-independent Armenian warlords and Muslim Armenian viziers
2.The Rubenids of Cilicia: From principality to kingdom
3.The Kingdom of Cilician Armenia
IV. The South Caucasus under Turkmen, Ottoman and Iranian Safavid Domination
1.Georgia and the devastations of Timur-e Lang
2.The partition of Georgia
Excursus: The Armenian catholicosate's return to Etchmiadzin and a renewed schism
3.The South Caucasus as battleground for eight Ottoman-Safavid wars
4.The South Caucasus under Safavid rule
Excursus: The Armenian Mekhitarist congregation
5.A brief reunification of Kartli and Kakheti and the foundation of independent khanates
V. First Russian Advances into the North Caucasus
1. The defence pact of 1557 between Kabarda and Russia
2. The Cossacks and the first Russian military lines
3. Mongol Kalmyks in the North-Eastern Caucasus
VI. The Caucasus under Russian Rule
1.From the Treaty of Georgievsk (1783) to the annexation of Georgia in 1801
2.Iran's interlude with Napoleon and Russia's conquest of the South Caucasian khanates and sultanates
3.The resistance of North Caucasian mountain peoples
3.1Yermolov's first offensives north of the Greater Caucasus
3.2The jihad of the imams
3.3The conquest, resettlement and expulsion of the Circassians
4.Russian administration and the rise of nationalism
5.The Russian conquest of former West Armenia 1877-78
Excursus: Oil-drilling at Baku and the Nobel brothers
6.The emergence of nationalist and social-revolutionary parties, Armenian massacres and ethnic unrest
6.1Armenian nationalist and socialist parties in the Russian and Ottoman empires
6.2Georgian socialists
6.3Pan-Turkism and socialism in the South Caucasian Muslim provinces
VII. A Short-Lived Independence and Foreign Interventions
1.World War I, the Armenian Genocide and the collapse of the Russian Empire
2.The Transcaucasian Republic, the declaration of independence of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, and foreign interventions
2.1The short-lived Transcaucasian Republic
2.2Ethnic and social conflicts in Georgia
2.3The Republic of Armenia
2.4The race for Baku
2.5War in Karabakh, Nakhchivan, Zangezur and Kars
2.6Armenia and the Paris Peace Conference
3.The Russian Civil Wars 1917-1920 and the short-lived North Caucasian states
VIII. Under Soviet Rule
1.Soviet consolidation of power, collectivization and Stalin's purges
2.Operation Edelweiss: The battle for the Caucasus in World War II
Excursus: Richard Sorge, Stalin's master spy
3.Deportations and the start of the Cold War
4.Political stagnation and the rise of nationalism
IX. Independence in the South Caucasus
1.The disintegration of the Soviet Union
2.The Armenian declaration of independence and the issue of Karabakh
3.The Azerbaijani declaration of independence and the development of the oil and gas industry
4.The First Karabakh War 1992-1994
5.Georgian independence and the South Ossetian and Abkhazian wars
X. Autonomy and Failed Independence in the North Caucasus
1. The northern region: Rostov, Krasnodar, Adygea, Stavropol and Kalmykia
2. The western and central region: Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North
Ossetia-Alania and Ingushetia
3. The eastern region: Chechnya and Dagestan
XI. The Caucasus in the Twenty-First Century
1.Republics and regions of the northern Caucasus
2.The independent republics in the southern Caucasus
2.1Azerbaijan
2.2The Second Karabakh War, 27 September-10 November 2020
2.3Armenia
2.4Georgia
2.4.1The Georgian-Russian War, 7-12 August 2008
2.4.2Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia since the 2008 war
3.Outlook
Appendices
Notes
Bibliography
List of Maps
Photo credits
Acknowledgements
Indexes
Concepts
People
Places