Baltic History

THE MUST-READ BOOK ON THE WORLD'S BIGGEST FLASHPOINT A BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE, THE SPECTATOR AND DAILY EXPRESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Magnificent ... As exciting to read as it is important' Peter Frankopan 'Fascinating ... essential reading' Helen Thompson 'Alarming and uplifting' John Kampfner The...

Saints and spies, pirates and philosophers, artists and intellectuals: They all crisscrossed the grey North Sea in the so-called "dark ages", the years between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of Europe's mastery over the oceans. Now the critically acclaimed Michael Pye reveals the cultural transformation sparked by those men and women: the ideas, technology, science, law, and moral codes that helped create our modern world.

Witness a modest fishing inlet transform into a resilient Scandinavian capital through centuries of maritime trade. Perfect for your morning commute or an armchair travel escape, this atmospheric urban history invites you to walk the windswept waterfronts and cobblestone backstreets of Denmark...

Witness the epic clash of empires in this gripping military history of the Baltic conflict that birthed modern Europe. As a formidable Swedish dynasty faces off against a rising Russian superpower, you are transported directly to the freezing frontlines of the seventeenth century. Perfect for an...

Award-winning journalist and author Simon Winchester takes readers on a personal tour of the Balkans. Combining history and interviews with the people who live there, Winchester offers a fascinating glimpse into the complex issues at work in this chaotic region. Unrest in the Balkans has gone on for centuries. A seasoned reporter, Winchester visited the region twenty years ago. When Kosovo reached crisis level in 1997, Winchester thought a return visit to the beleaguered area would help to make sense out of the awful violence.

In the frozen darkness of the Baltic winter, thousands fled toward a single hope of survival—the liner Wilhelm Gustloff. Once a symbol of a rising regime, it had become the last lifeline for civilians, wounded soldiers, and naval trainees escaping the collapse of the Eastern Front. On the night of 30 January 1945, that hope was shattered. When a Soviet submarine delivered three torpedoes into the overcrowded ship, the result was the deadliest maritime disaster in history. In minutes, order dissolved into terror. Lifeboats jammed. Passages flooded. Families were torn apart in the blind ...

The Baltic War which began in the novel 1633 is still raging, and the time-lost Americans of Grantville - the West Virginia town hurled back into the seventeenth century by a mysterious cosmic accident - are caught in the middle of it. Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden and Emperor of the United States of Europe, prepares a counter-attack on the combined forces of France, Spain, England, and Denmark - former enemies which have allied in the League of Ostend to destroy the American threat to their power.

Dear Traveler, Welcome to the WanderStories™ tour of the top 10 sights in Tallinn. We are now ready to take you on your personal tour. We will also tell you the brief history of Tallinn and several additional stories about the national symbols of Estonia, Estonian cuisine, holidays, even jokes. We, at WanderStories™, are storytellers. We don’t tell you where to eat or sleep, we don’t intend to replace a typical travel reference guide. Our mission is to be the best local guide that you would wish to have by your side when visiting the sights. So, we meet you at the sight and take you...

During World War II, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia found themselves trapped between the giants of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Over the course of the war, these states were repeatedly occupied by different forces, and local government organizations and individuals were forced to choose between supporting the occupying forces or forming partisan units to resist their occupation. Devastated during the German invasion, these states then became the site of some of the most vicious fighting during the Soviet counterattack and push towards Berlin.  

Concluding his acclaimed series on the Eastern Front in World War I, Prit Buttar comprehensively details not only these climactic events, but also the "successor wars" that raged long after the armistice of 1918. New states rose from the ashes of empire and war raged as German forces sought to keep them under the aegis of the Fatherland. These unresolved tensions between the former Great Powers and the new states would ultimately lead to the rise of Hitler and a new, terrible world war only two decades later.

An authoritative history of the Ottoman dynasty, revealing a diverse empire that straddled East and West. "Panoramic and thought-provoking." —The Guardian The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic, Asian antithesis of the Christian, European West. But the reality was starkly...

The terrible months between the arrival of the Red Army on German soil and the final collapse of Hitler's regime were like no other in the Second World War. The Soviet Army's intent to take revenge for the horror that the Nazis had wreaked on their people produced a conflict of implacable brutality in which millions perished. From the great battles that marked the Soviet conquest of East and West Prussia to the final surrender in the Vistula estuary, this book recounts in chilling detail the desperate struggle of soldiers and civilians alike. 

A short memoir about in Lithuania during the first half of the 20th Century. He married Aleksandra Zubovaite, a Countess, who inherited the Ginkunai estate belonging to the Zubovs. They experienced the disruptions of history (WWI and WWII), but enjoyed a period of about 20 years of Lithuanian independence. During that time, he played a role in developing agricultural exports, organizing cooperatives and unions, raising the quality of farm produce, and enabling modern farming techniques. The Ginkunai estate was taken over by German and Russian military at various times.

The Great Northern War, fought from 1700-1721, gets its name from the fact the war focused on the Baltic, but the battlefields extended into Germany and deep into Poland and Ukraine. Sweden was a military power with a small empire in the Baltic, while Russia was still a landlocked place, backward when compared to the rest of Europe, not very powerful, and highly xenophobic. The Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth was still powerful, and the Cossacks were still free.

Astria Sommers – a daughter, a wife, a mother, a teacher. Some victims of tragedy have misfortune to blame, or God, or themselves. In Astria’s case, it was a war fought in peacetime and in city streets without victors, only casualties and mongers. When a fatal accident claimed her mother, she still tried making a life for herself, for she believed in forgiveness; when it broke and ruined her father, she still lived, for she believed in redemption. Until the War took her husband and unborn child. Then Astria Sommers stopped living and believed only in the War. All her identity stripped ...

Raeve brennt vor Rache – und vor einer Liebe, die sie nicht zulassen darf. Mit Blut an ihren Händen und einer Wahrheit, die in den eisigen Tiefen ihrer Vergangenheit lauert, muss sie sich entscheiden: den Tod jagen oder das Leben retten. Während Raeve sich ihren Erinnerungen stellt, kämpft Kaan verzweifelt um sein Königreich und tut alles, um sein Volk vor dem verheerendsten Mondfall aller Zeiten zu schützen. Geheimnisse brodeln wie Feuer unter Eis, bereit, alles zu vernichten – doch keines ist so gefährlich wie das, was in Raeve erwacht. Etwas, das alles verändern könnte.

Journey through dramatic European history as a peripheral medieval kingdom transforms into a dominant military empire. Perfect for your daily commute, this epic narrative plunges you into the shifting alliances and bloody conflicts that forged the Baltic region. Experience the intense political...

What happens when a nation loses its kingdom, its independence, and even its place on the map, yet refuses to disappear? History of Lithuania follows the extraordinary journey of a people whose story stretches from pagan Baltic tribes and medieval warriors to a modern European democracy. What you’re about to discover will change how you see Lithuania. Few people realize how powerful the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became, how far its influence reached, or how a country that once stood among Europe's great powers could later vanish under foreign rule. From the forests and sacred traditions of...

Discover the complex mythology of the legendary Nordic people who inspired Hollywood films, epic novels, and more. Beautiful goddesses, fierce warriors, formidable beasts, and Ragnarök itself--these magical tales have enthralled audiences for centuries. This classic collection of tales offers...

In 1993-94 Sigrid Rausing completed her anthropological fieldwork on the peninsula of Noarootsi, a former Soviet border protection zone in Estonia. Abandoned watchtowers dotted the coastline, and the huge fields of the Lenin collective farm were lying fallow, waiting for claims from former owners, fleeing war and Soviet and Nazi occupation. Rausing’s conversations with the local people touched on many subjects.