Military History

Abstract: In this work we present the results of the initial works related to this new archaeological site discovered in Allande (SW Asturias) in June, 2007: the enclosure camp of Moyapán. The site shows a formal characteristics of the Roman forts already known about the Cantabrian surrounding area. We expound two interpretive principal ways (military camp of campaign in the frame of the operations of conquest and control of the territory by Roman army; or military establishment related to the exploration, the control and the putting in exploitation of the mining surrounding landscape) with the archaeological evidences which we have at the moment.

A brief article written in the aftermath of the two independent reviews into the seizure, at sea, of 15 British sailors and marines by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in early 2007. I argue that the specific requirements of littoral warfare should inform both defence procurement and the Royal Navy's planning for future operations.

A brief article looking at the factors that affected mounted combat during the American Civil War, including training; tactical doctrine and the condition of the mounts. In particular, I focus on the utility, and limitations, of both the the modern revolver and the traditional cavalry arm, the sabre.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the longbow was rendered redundant as a weapon of war by technological developments such as the musket.  Yet at the end of the eighteenth century, archery was revived as a fashionable pastime amongst the English aristocracy thanks to a nostalgic taste for the gothic and medieval.  Archery societies were set up across the country, each with its own strict entry criteria, outlandish costumes and extravagant dinners.  In a period that saw the making of the modern British upper class, as landowners became more powerful, more unified and more status conscious, archery societies were havens of exclusivity and a way of reinforcing and reassuring one’s own position in society.  Furthermore, women could not only compete in the contests but retain and display their ‘feminine forms’ whilst doing so, and thus the clubs also acted a forum for introductions, flirtation and romance. This article explores the meaning of archery for upper-class men and women and demonstrates how wider social needs and interests shaped play, recreation and fashion.

Bilateral agreements between the EU and Switzerland offer very interesting, original and also paradoxical cases when considering approximation of laws by non-EU countries.

Conceptualizing and even more modelling the EU negotiating
position in the Swiss case could be of great interest to its future partners in bilateral agreements.

This essay explores how the Explosive Ordnance Disposal robot, is represented to the mass media by the US military as a ‘life saving device’. Such descriptions of the EOD robot discursively organize it in relation to other objects and actors, endow it with values and capacities, and ultimately situate it in social action. Focusing primarily upon US Department of Defense press releases, the paper highlights how the reports create a sense of automation and agency on the part of the remote-controlled devices that is actually beyond the technology. It is then argued that the IED combating robot functions as a kind of fetish. Following Baudrillard, the fetish value of the robot stems not from a misunderstanding of its actual or ‘real’ capacities but rather its positive valuation according to a code of functionality that rests upon the risk-transfer labour of the robot.

During WWII many US colleges and universities administered college-level  training for those interested in working in defense industries. This training was federally funded. Many women and minorities who would otherwise have never enrolled in college courses took part in this training. The College of Engineering at the University of Toledo was a participating institution.

This book proposes a significant reassessment of the history of Iraq, documenting democratic experiences from ancient Mesopotamia through to the US occupation. Such an analysis takes to task claims that the 'West' has a uniquely democratic history and a responsibility to spread democracy across the world. It also reveals that Iraq has a democratic history all of its own, from ancient Middle Eastern assemblies and classical Islamic theology and philosophy, through to the myriad political parties, newspapers and protest movements of more recent times. This book argues that the democratic history of Iraq could serve as a powerful political and discursive tool where the Iraqi people may come to feel a sense of ownership over democracy and take pride in endorsing it. This could go a long way towards mitigating the current conflicts across the nation and in stabilizing and legitimating its troubled democracy. Taking an interdisciplinary approach and referring to some of the most influential critical theorists to question ideological assumptions about democracy and its history, this book will be useful to those interested in political and legal history, human rights and democracy.Reviews: 'This book is a serious and in-depth reading of Iraqi political history. Isakhan's argument, bolstered by an impressive array of source material, is a direct affront to the use of violence to impose a wholesale American "democracy" on a society that has its own rich history of egalitarian and collective forms of governance.' Muhsin Al-Musawi, Columbia University, USA 'Democracy in Iraq expertly excavates democratic traditions that have long been buried in Western Orientalism and Bathist totalitarianism. In demonstrating that a will towards collective and participatory governance has existed over the centuries, Benjamin Isakhan rescues assessments for Iraqi democratisation from the kind of negative determinism, deracinated from history and local culture, that has dominated scholarly and policy debates.' James Piscatori, Durham University, UK

Democracy has never been more popular. It is successfully practiced today in a myriad of different ways by people across virtually every cultural, religious or socio-economic context. The forty-five essays collected in this companion suggest that the global popularity of democracy derives in part from its breadth and depth in the common history of human civilization. The chapters include exceptional accounts of democracy in ancient Greece and Rome, modern Europe and America, among peoples’ movements and national revolutions, and its triumph since the end of the Cold War. However, this book also includes alternative accounts of democracy’s history: its origins in prehistoric societies and early city-states, under-acknowledged contributions from China, Africa and the Islamic world, its familiarity to various Indigenous Australians and Native Americans, the various challenges it faces today in South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the latest democratic developments in light of globalization and new technologies, and potential future pathways to a more democratic world. Understanding where democracy comes from, where its greatest successes and most dismal failures lie, is central to democracy’s project of inventing ways to address the need of people everywhere to live in peace, freedom and with a say in the decisions that affect their lives.

Although the history of the Mongol Empire has caught the attention of scholars since the beginning of 20th century, little research has been done on the role of women among this nomadic society. The present article focuses on revising the role of women within the traditional medieval Mongol society. 
In order to do so, the paper is structured in two main areas of study. Firstly, it summarizes different general patterns of female role in the Mongol Empire.The second part of the article explores the role of the mother (Hö’elün) and the wife (Börte) of Chinggis Khan.
The main goal of the article is to underline the influential role played by these women during the early life of the “conqueror of the world”.

This inquiry focuses on warfare in the Coast Salish past. Located in the Northwest Coast of North America, the Coast Salish practiced warfare as a basic component of their culture, and warfare manifested in two main periods. Archaeologically, fortified defensive sites were constructed from 1600 to 500 BP. According to ethnohistoric documents and oral histories, conflicts also erupted in the decades after Euroamerican contact, about AD 1790. For this study, I incorporate archaeological, ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and oral historical data for an investigation of warfare, including Coast Salish practices, protocols, and ideology. I assess the types of settings in which warfare occurred and evaluate the motivations for conflict. Finally, I examine these practices for insights into Coast Salish sociopolitical organization and how it altered through time. 

To evaluate the array of data, I employ a theoretical framework integrating power, practice, and anarchism. For power, I implement Eric Wolf’s modes of power to assess the intensity of conflicts and scales of defensive site construction. For practice, I harness Pierre Bourdieu’s materialist approach to culture, which is focused on historical, human actions, or practices; moreover, Bourdieu’s multiple types of capital provide a rubric for assessing motivations for warfare as individuals pursue and exchange various forms of capital. The theory of anarchism provides principles for evaluating the dynamics of societies without formal governments. These include an emphasis on local autonomy, voluntary association, mutual aid, network organization, and the decentralization of authority (and resistance to concentrations of authority).

This framework illuminates how these principles varied throughout the Coast Salish past and highlights significant differences in defensive structures between precontact and colonial periods. Both periods of warfare appear after phases of increasing entrenchment of elite power and hegemony (2400 - 1600 BP and ca. 500 to 200 BP). Both periods also exhibit a broader expanse of elites, or nouveau riche. I conclude that warfare was an anarchic practice implemented by Coast Salish factions to destabilize elite power structures and allow non-elites to gain wealth and prestige. These practices resulted in the decentralization of power––a heterarchy of chiefs, rather than a centralized chiefdom.


Title: "They recognize no superior chief": power, practice, anarchism and warfare in the Coast Salish past

Author: Angelbeck, William O.
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
Program: Anthropology
Copyright Date: 2009

A technology is used ethically when it is intelligently controlled to further a moral good.  So we can easily extrapolate that the ethical use of telerobotic weapons technology occurs only when that technology is intelligently controlled and advances a moral action.  This paper deals with the first half of the conjunction; can telerobotic weapons systems be intelligently controlled?  At the present time it is doubtful that these conditions are being met, I suggest some ways in which this situation could be improved.

A short detailed History of Fort Edgecomb, a small second system fortification built in 1808-1809 on the Maine coast.  This work explores the fort's construction, the lives of its soldiers, the garrison's interaction with the community, and its use as a prisoner of war camp during the War of 1812.  Published by the Friends of Fort Edgecomb as part of their bicentennial celebrations in 2009.

Al-Qaeda is widely regarded by the military, law enforcement, diplomatic, and intelligence communities as being the foremost threat to U.S. national security and safety. The nature of this threat, however, has changed since al-Qaeda first emerged in the late 1980s. This article describes the emergence of a new form of transnational terrorism and details al-Qaeda's progression from being an organization to an ideological movement. Drawing on a theory of social movements, we analyze its trajectory and the levels of influence. We also offer a behavioral perspective in explaining how al-Qaeda has adapted as a learning organization with new leadership, tactics, and patterns of recruitment and training.

"Review
“Addressing a long-neglected facet of the archaeology of our modern world—our institutions—this volume reveals the interesting and insightful past of a class of sites that are deeply and inextricably tied to a core aspect of modernity.”—Jamie C. Brandon, Arkansas Archeological Survey

Product Description
Institutions pervade social life. They express community goals and values by defining the limits of socially acceptable behavior. Institutions are often vested with the resources, authority, and power to enforce the orthodoxy of their time. But institutions are also arenas in which both orthodoxies and authority can be contested. Between power and opposition lies the individual experience of the institutionalized. Whether in a boarding school, hospital, prison, almshouse, commune, or asylum, their experiences can reflect the positive impact of an institution or its greatest failings. This interplay of orthodoxy, authority, opposition, and individual experience are all expressed in the materiality of institutions and are eminently subject to archaeological investigation.  A few archaeological and historical publications, in widely scattered venues, have examined individual institutional sites. Each work focused on the development of a specific establishment within its narrowly defined historical context; e.g., a fort and its role in a particular war, a schoolhouse viewed in terms of the educational history of its region, an asylum or prison seen as an expression of the prevailing attitudes toward the mentally ill and sociopaths. In contrast, this volume brings together twelve contributors whose research on a broad range of social institutions taken in tandem now illuminates the experience of these institutions. Rather than a culmination of research on institutions, it is a landmark work that will instigate vigorous and wide-ranging discussions on institutions in Western life, and the power of material culture to both enforce and negate cultural norms.

CONTRIBUTORS: Sherene Baugher / April M. Beisaw / David R. Bush / Eleanor Conlin Casella / Lu Ann De Cunzo / Lois M. Feister / James G. Gibb / Owen Lindauer / Susan Piddock / Deborah L. Rotman / Suzanne M. Spencer-Wood / Stephen G. Warfel"

A 17. szá za di Eu ró pa la ko sai szá má ra a há bo rús ál la pot min den na pi élmény nek szá mí tott. A pon tos szá mok ról nyil ván va ló an le het vi tat koz ni, ám a Johannes Burkhardt ál tal ki mu ta tott ará nyok ál ta lá ban még is el fo gad ha tók: a kora új kor kö zép sõ év szá za dá ban min den na gyobb ha ta lom részt vett va la milyen há bo rús ko dás ban a szá zad mint egy 60 szá za lé ká ban, há bo rús éve ik szá ma te hát na gyobb, mint a bé ké ben töl töt te ké. 1 Ez ter mé sze te sen nem azt je len ti, hogy bár mely te rü le ten élõ kö zös ség 100 év bõl hat van ban kény te len volt el visel ni a ke resz tül ha la dó, ál lo má so zó, il let ve csa tá kat vívó se re gek nyo má sát: a há bo rú kat az ál lam ha tá ra in kí vül is vi sel het te, és nyil ván va ló, hogy egy ál lam te rü le tén be lül is sok szor vál to zott a front el he lyez ke dé se. Annyi azon ban bizto san le szö gez he tõ: a há bo rú min den 17. szá za di ál lam szá má ra ál lan dó el foglalt ság volt, sõt, egyes elem zé sek sze rint a mo dern ál lam ki ala ku lá sa jó részt a had se re gek gya ra po dá sá nak és az ezek kel kap cso la tos lo gisz ti kai prob lé máknak a kö vet kez mé nye. A há bo rút ter mé sze te sen nem csak a se re gek vív ták: az a dip lo má cia, az állam kö zi kap cso la tok ide o ló gi ai szint jén is folyt. Bár -mint a fen ti ek bõl lát ha tóa há bo rú a kora új ko ri ál lam ter mé sze tes ál la po tá nak te kint he tõ, meg in dí tá sa még sem volt ma gá tól ér te tõ dõ: egy-egy had üze net össze ál lí tá sa ko moly esz mei ap pa rá tus fel vo nul ta tá sát is igé nyel te. Mi vel -a gya kor lat tal el lent mon dó, ám még is ál ta lá no san el ter jedt el kép ze lés sze rint -az em ber, el sõ sor ban pe dig a keresz tény em ber ter mé sze tes ál la po tá nak a bé két tar tot ták, az ural ko dók szá mára há bo rú ik meg in dí tá sa kor majd nem min den eset ben szük sé ges volt, hogy alapo san meg in do kol ják a konf lik tus fegy ve res útra te re lé sé nek szük sé ges sé gét. A leg több ször nyom ta tás ban is nap vi lá got látó, így az ural ko dók szûk kö ré nél széle sebb nyil vá nos sá got kapó, az egyes há bo rúk le gi ti má ci ó já val fog lal ko zó írá sok egész pamf let ára dat tal árasz tot ták el Eu ró pa ol va só kö zön sé gét. Vi tat ha tó, hogy 1 Johannes Burkhardt: Der Dreißigjährige Krieg. Frank furt am Main 1992. 9. 2 A há bo rú kora új ko ri sze re pé re l. Matthew Smith Anderson: War and Society in Europe of the Old Regime 1618-1789. Lon don 1988. A há bo rú sze re pé rõl a kora új ko ri ál lam ala ku lá sá ban: Charles Tilly: Coercion, Capital, and the European States, AD 990-1990. Camb rid ge, MA 1990. 67-95. A had ügyi for ra da lom té zi se, Michael Roberts ál tal fel ve tett ere de ti for má já ban szin tén el sõsor ban erre, és nem annyi ra a -ké sõbb so kak ál tal vi ta tott -ha di tech ni kai vál to zá sok ra fó ku szált: Michael Roberts: The Military Revolution, 1550-1650. In: Uõ: Essays in Swedish History. Lon don 1967. 195-225. Újabb, a had ügyi for ra da lom és az ál lam, il let ve a tár sa da lom össze füg gé sé re koncent rá ló elem zés Robert I. Frost: The Northern Wars: War, State and Society in Northern Europe 1558-1721. Harlow 2000.

Re-published on paper with some amendments in: Gábor Kármán - András Péter Szabó (eds.): Szerencsének elegyes forgása: II. Rákóczi György és kora [The Diverse Turns of Fortune: György Rákóczi II and His Age]. Budapest: L'Harmattan, 2009. pp. 243-269.

There are three major cultural uses of the hooligan concept that concern the discussion of Norman Manea’s last memoir-novel, referred to in the title of the present paper. Mircea Eliade used the term in reference to the amoral young generation that contributed to the Iron Guard activities in his novel The Hooligans (1935). Mihail Sebastian employed it in his composite pamphlet How I Became a Hooligan (1935), which answered Nae Ionescu’s anti-Semitic Preface to his novel For Two Thousand Years (1934). The self-ironic hooligan self-denomination referred to his scandalizing both the Romanian anti-Semites and the Romanian Jews in his honest, direct novel. Finally, Norman Manea took the term over, ironically too, but also as a post-modernist inter-textual reference to Sebastian’s case, in The Hooligan’s Return (2003), wherein the hooligan stands for the Jewish anti-Communist artist’s condition opposing the Romanian anti-Semitic Communist and post-Communist mainstream.
The social outsider and rebel status suggested by this Jewish-Romanian hoodlum condition dramatizes Manea’s triple minority group exilic allegiance: ethnically as a Jewish Transnistrian Holocaust victim of the Romanian nationalist Antonescu regime (1934 – 1945), politically as an anti-Communist inmate of the Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej’s (1952 – 1965) and Nicolae Ceausescu’s gulag (1967 – 1986), and artistically as an immigrant writer in danger of losing his native linguistic foothold in the multicultural United States of America (1987-to date). Back in Romania, for a brief reluctant visit (1997), he will have the opportunity to doubly confirm the foreigner condition of his now dual cultural hyphenation as a Romanian-Jewish-American artist

The book concerns the less known and worked out stage of naval operations in the Dardanelles and Izmir (Smyrne) region prior to the Allied landings on the Gallipoli Peninsula in April, 1915. The author confronted for the first time in such a wide scope the sources (mainly diaries and memories) and contemporary books of all fighting sides written in English, French, German, modern Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Russian and Polish. The battlefield research expeditions made personally by himself more than 10 times in the period 1993-2005 had also a great influence on the final conclusions of the research work.
The author managed to verify a lot of ungrounded opinions (but pressed since years by many historians) about the actual input of the Germans in the victory over the Allied fleet, about the real Turkish defense potential and about the role of the Turkish officers in the final success. Being able to see the battlefield both from the still existing forts and from the ship’s deck the author was able to appreciate how brilliant was the defensive tactic invented and applied mainly by the Turks and how wrong was the British offensive conception from the very beginning.

Claiming that Russian Federation has regained its superpower position
enabling some of its influence through energy policy and using not only changes in its
security concept but also the examples of latest events such as Iran nuclear
programme, U.S.A. intention to deploy missiles and radar systems in Poland and
Czech Republic, Kosovo’s status and other, author argues within realist discourse that
one of the greatest security challenges in this century will be situation similar to Cold
War. Difference that brings concerns that this „Second Cold War“ might be even
more dangerous is the fact that there are control mechanisms which no longer
function. Those control mechanisms are not only Organization of United Nations
(OUN), but also international law as basic limitation factor reached through consensus
which is now lost and disappearance of buffer zone. Power perception which served
as one of the tools to maintain status quo during Cold War is now impaired with the
fact that Russia has to fight for its, once lost, position in international scene which if
not addressed properly might increase probability of conflict.

NOW OUT OF PRINT   
The Prussian Army was disastrously defeated of Prussian Army at Jena-Auerstädt in 1806. In 1808, the remnants of the 227 infantry battalions formed eleven infantry regiments (IR), a Guard infantry regiment and six grenadier battalions. The regimental history, organisation, colours (Fahne) and uniforms are explored and lavishly illustrated in this first volume on the Prussian Army during the late Napoleonic Wars (1808-14).

The 180 plates include 44 colours (Fahne), 160 uniform depictions and 80 uniform/equipment details in colour. The 19th Century plates from the Bauer Plates, Herbert & Richard Knötel, Eckert & Monten, Krefeld, Neumann, Pietsch, Röchling and Wolf are supplemented by specially commissioned illustrations by Bob Marion and the author. In addition, there are 16 OOBs and 18 Tables.

The Cossacks earned an impressive reputation during the Napoleonic Wars. They were loathed for their "barbarism" and feared as fierce warriors. This book enlightens the reader about the fascinating history of these troops, the uniforms, armament and the Cossacks hosts. The second book called (2007) The Brazen Cross: Russian Opolchenie, Partizans and Freikorps during the Napoleonic Wars, completes the story on the Irregular forces of Russia.

Dr Alexander Mikerberidze said in his review on the Napoleon Series
"The book is lavishly illustrated - all 80 pages are printed on a gloss paper and the book contains 27 B&W illustrations and 11 color plates by Patrice Courcelle! [of Cossack Uniforms]"
"… Among the strongest features of the book are the numerous tables covering almost every aspect of the Cossack organization and armament."
"… It reads very easily and author's special drop-out boxes with quotes from various memoirs and little known facts only enhance the experience. …. This book is recommended to anyone interested in the Napoleonic Wars and especially to wargamers, who would certainly welcome its concise and informative style."

The Introduction describes swiftly the history of Cossacks and their initial conflict with the expanding Russian state. A small section reconciles the Cossack table of ranks of Cossack Khorunzhii, Uriadnik or Esaul with those of the regular army.

The Cossack military organization, tactics and involvement in the Napoleonic Wars. The 'Armament and Uniforms' section also discusses the much overlooked Cossack horse.

The 'Cossack Hosts' chapter deals with seven major Cossack hosts that existed [Black Sea Cossacks, Bug Cossacks, Don Cossacks, Orenburg Cossacks, Siberian Cossacks, Ukrainian Cossacks Ural Cossacks]. Each host is dealt in 2-3 paragraphs and the Don Host is covered in far more detail. In addition the minor Cossack hosts of the Danube Mouth, Ekaterinoslavl, Terek and Volga are discussed. The 'Regular Cossacks' provides information on establishment and military service of Leib Garde Cossack, Black Sea Leib-Garde Sotnia, Chuguev Cossack and Teptiar Cossacks. The 'Other Irregular Cavalry' details the overlooked Kalmyks, Bashkyrs, and Mesheriaks.

A detailed chronology which covers the Cossack history between late 14th century and 1917. Appendices 'A' and 'C' contain Cossack and general Russian military terms and explanation. Appendix 'B' serves as a reference list for various hosts and nations while Appendix 'D' deals with the uniform and armament terms.


Available from
Caliver Books in UK
www.caliverbooks.com

This article argues that Russia's Empire in Central Asia is best understood in comparison with the other Western Colonial Empires of the nineteenth century, specifically Britain's Indian Empire. It examines nineteenth-century Russian travellers' accounts of British India, and the `Asianist' tradition which argued that Russians had a greater affinity with Asian peoples than other Europeans, and that the nature of their empire was consequently different. In the case of Turkestan it rejects this assumption on the basis of research in Russian and Uzbek archives, and of the differing views expressed in books and journals by Russian military officers and imperial administrators of the day.

"Russian Rule in Samarkand uses a comparative approach to examine the structures, personnel, and ideologies of Russian imperialism in Turkestan, taking Samarkand and the surrounding region as a case-study. The creation of a colonial administration in Central Asia presented Russia with similar problems to those faced by the British in India, but different approaches to governance meant that the two regimes often stood in stark contrast to one another.

Opening with the background to the political situation in Central Asia and a narrative of Russian conquest itself, the book moves on to analyse official attitudes to Islam and to pre-colonial elites, and the earliest attempts to establish a functioning system of revenue collection. Uncovering the religious and ethnic composition of the military bureaucracy, and the social background, education and training of its personnel, Alexander Morrison assesses the competence of these officers vis-à-vis their Anglo-Indian counterparts. Subsequent chapters look at the role of the so-called 'native administration' in governing the countryside and collecting taxes, the attempt to administer the complex systems of irrigation leading from the Zarafshan and Syr-Darya rivers, and the nature and functions of the Islamic judiciary under colonial rule.

Based on extensive archival research in Russia, India, and Uzbekistan, and containing much rare source material translated from the original Russian, Russian Rule in Samarkand will be of interest to all those interested in the history of the Russian Empire and European Imperialism more generally.


"Evocative [and] thoughtful book." - Jeff Sahadeo, Steppe

"Morrison...has drawn on much additional source material, including some from the Russian and Uzbekistan archives, and has contrived an interesting and detailed picture of features of Russian administration, notably its organisation and personnel, its relations with Islam and its work in the crucial area of irrigation." - M.E Yapp, Times Literary Supplement

"Morrison has achieved a pioneering work. Neither in Russian nor in Western research is there another study which gives such a full and detailed view of Tsarist ruling practices in Central Asia. But even beyond the Tsarist Empire, this book is of significance for its impressive illustration of the limits to which Colonial Rule can be subject." - Ulrich Hofmeister, H-Soz-u-Kult

"This is an engaging and elegantly written examination of Russian rule in Central Asia post-1865...an impressive study." - Nick Walmsley, Central Asian Survey

"Pioneering... This is truly ground-breaking work and provides our understanding of tsarist Central Asia with a new level of detail." - Adeeb Khalid, Slavic Review

"The depth of research, the detailing of complexities of critical fields of colonial control such as administration, irrigation and law, and its comparative approach make this work a significant contribution to the history of Tsarist Central Asia." - Jeff Sahadeo, English Historical Review

"Morrison's work is probably the best account of the Russian administration in the settled parts of Turkestan; it is at least the best I have read so far, because he discusses the general lines of the Russian strategy in some detail. The comparative perspective also helps to explain many specifics of the Russian situation." - Jürgen Paul, Central Asian Survey

"Morrison's work shows an intimate familiarity with British literature on empire, and he has done important archival work in both India and Central Asia. The result is an innovative study on imperial governance concerning aspects as varied as administration, irrigation, law, and religion." - Jeff Sahadeo, Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History

"A wonderful book, one which significantly advances our knowledge of tsarist Central Asia, European colonial methods of rule in the late nineteenth century, and the native response... a richly interwoven quilt of a study, where delight is offered as much by the care taken over individual details as in the overall sweep of the whole." - A. G. Marshall, The Slavonic & East European Review

"This work constitutes, through its rigour, its degree of erudition and its novelty, a contribution of high quality to the imperial history of Central Asia which has been developing in recent years." Isabelle Ohayon, Cahiers du Monde Russe

"Alexander Morrison has managed to write a multifaceted account, which impresses both through the strength of his philological expertise and through his solid mastery of the sources." Christian Teichmann, Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas"