INTERCONNECTED HISTORIES: THE BALKANS AND THE BLACK SEA FROM THE EIGHTEENTH TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.

INSTRUCTOR: Nassia Yakovaki, Assistant Professor of Social and Political History, University of Athens

Course Description

This course is designed to introduce students to modern and contemporary South-eastern European history, yet from an unexpected perspective. The impact of the Black Sea, both as a natural bridge and as the bone of contention between two powerful empires, which opened its ports and hinterlands to international trade (and emigration), on the historical formation of south-eastern Europe as a distinct region (i.e. the Balkan peninsula) will be assessed in various circumstances: from the Russo-Ottoman wars of the 18th century, or the Crimean War of the 19th to the October Revolution and the Cold War of the 20th century. The specific conditions and processes of nation formation and nation-state building in this predominantly agrarian yet geopolitically strategic region will be discussed in the twofold context of imperial confrontations and of an international system under transformation.