Thanks to current developments I have started to understand and appreciate Caligula and his times more.

France; the new sick man of Europe. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Interesting. "Trump admin has been quietly pushing to retake Afghan base from the Taliban for months, sources say" edition.cnn.com/2025/09/18/p...

"20,000 members of the American Nazi Party once rallied in Madison Square Garden. Could it happen again?" johnmenadue.com/post/2024/10...

You can download and read my new edited book The Routledge Handbook of Modern Turkish History from the link below www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Come across this pamphlet of Nesta Webster. She had all the ingredients to be an ideal right wing social media troll.

While scrolling through Ottoman documents I usually come across idiosyncratic documents. See an example it has an interesting letterhead but content is simply useless

Scrolling the pages of a high school textbook. And it starts with a claim that the Australians helped 'liberate' Palestine from the Ottoman Empire. I don't know what to say about this 'liberation'.

Always inspiring to read Machiavelli

I have uploaded my book chapter "Ottoman Strategy and War Aims during the First World War" Enjoy www.researchgate.net/publication/...

30 Ağustos vesilesiyle benimle askeri tarih konulu yapılan söyleşi www.perspektif.online/cografya-loj...

“The reality is that the Israelis are fast destroying the remaining chances of Palestinian statehood and there is little the UK can do about it.” I wrote about the UK’s recognition of Palestine for @engelsbergideas.bsky.social

Ankara lights up Atakule Tower with the colours of Ukrainian flag

Predicting future of a new weapon system is very tricky even for experts. As an example see Admiral Sir Cyprian A. G. Bridge's article published in 1923. As an admiral surprisingly Bridge believed in airpower which he thought would eliminate submarine threat.

"Where does Asia begin?" According to Scottish politician Sir Walter Elliot the answer is Dinaric Alps. So forget about Turkey, most Balkan nations including Monte Negro, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria are living in Asia. Source: The Nineteenth Century and After, January 1923

Enjoy reading Andrew Green's very good book "Writing the Great War". It is most unfortunate that Green confuses Hans von Wangenheim with Marschall von Bieberstein. The so-called German bull was certainly von Wangenheim. Bieberstein died two years before the FWW.

Joke of the day

Reading Lunt's popular book "The Story of Islam" which was published in 1909. The most striking feature of the book is its dedication which is very prophetic when you take into account of what British public school boys did in the Middle East during and after the FWW.

When in doubt

Pretty soon Çok yakında

Pretty soon Çok yakında

I have uploaded my book chapter about the Turkish official military histories and personal war narratives of the First World War. Enjoy www.researchgate.net/publication/...

#BookoftheDay. Reading Hawes's book. Don't know the comments of the German history experts but I find it very informative and entertaining.

When you lost your interest (to a certain extent appetite) in reading an article after coming across a footnote seemingly providing additional info but in reality a false one. Note. Atatürk did not have kids so no one has Atatürk surname other than him

I am a soldier-scholar. In my previous professional life I was a light infantry officer. Unfortunately I have managed to publish only two book chapters about my military experiences. The first one is about my first experience as military observer in Georgia. www.researchgate.net/publication/...

The wonderful begining of Hawkes's The Shortest History of Germany.

I have uploaded my book chapter about the Ottoman expeditionary force to the Romanian front during the First World War. Enjoy! www.researchgate.net/publication/...

I am supposed to be an international relations professor but for the first time today I learnt about Prof. Mustapha Kamal Pasha of Aerystwyth University. And his most famous book is titled Islam and International Relations. Apparently he was named after founder of the Turkish Republic Atatürk.

See what Golding was writing about the problems of higher education in June 1960. Nothing new under the sun.

"There is even a memorial garden dedicated to our old enemy from World War I Kemal Ataturk" Not a kind way to promote construction for your favourite monument.

Reading Golding's biography by John Carey. Not an easy read but I learnt a lot not only about Golding but general drama of writing. It is difficult to balance writing, job, and family. Golding was a talented author but a terrible teacher and a problematic husband and father.

Signed bsky.app/profile/mich...

Our current understanding of cutting edge military technology

It is serious Gallipoli Campaign FWW

Book of the day

In October 1827, Leopold von Ranke submitted a slip of paper to a government office in Vienna, describing state documents that he wanted to read. He had the backing of the Chancellor so officials reluctantly opened archives thereby the birth of modern historiography www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Pain of being scooped. Prof Socolow worked on a manuscript about the University of Washington crew team for many years. But Daniel J. Brown published a prominent book on the same subject, using—among other sources—interviews Socolow himself had conducted. www.insidehighered.com/views/2016/1...

Book of the day

#OTD From my private collection Turkish airborne propaganda leaflets dispersed at the beginning of the Turkish amphibious and airborne operation to Cyprus on 20 July 1974. Turkish Special Operations Department prepared 12 leaflets in 5 colours

Tomorrow will the 51. anniversary of the Turkish amphibious and airborne operation to Cyprus. With Ed Erickson we have written an introductory military history of this war. You can download whole book for free from the link below. www.researchgate.net/publication/...

This is where I post from

Türk askerlerinin Kore Savaşı'nda en ağır zayiatı verdiği Kunuri Muharebesinin kaynaklarını irdelediğim kitap bölümünü internete yükledim. İndirip okuyabilirsiniz. www.researchgate.net/publication/...

My new edited documents publication. I believe these long-forgotten manuscripts offer historians and general readers valuable insights into the war, its participants, and the broader societal context. www.researchgate.net/publication/...

In Turkish we have a saying "Ya devlet başa ya kuzgun leşe" it can be translated as "Either be the president of the state, or be a feast for ravens" www.bbc.com/news/article...

Don't forget #Srebrenitsa

My edited work about the Turkish War of Independence which includes two unpublished books written by British officers has finally published. www.theisispress.org/b1476-two-br...

Reading Lord Kinross's travel book about the Aegean coast of Turkey. Instead of Asia Minor he named the book Europa Minor. See the below page for the reason

Çok yakında Kurtuluş Savaşı We're getting there Turkish War of Independence (1919-22)

Military historian Ed Erickson published his account of Hood Incident of 2003 which caused a huge problem between Turkey and the US. Ed was the POLAD of division commander Ray Odierno. dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/tws/i...

Ramadan Mahya lights of Selimiye Mosque in Nicosia in Cyprus late 1950s. This photo has been used (of course cropping the writing underneath) often by Islamist social media accounts to accuse 1940s İnönü presidency of Turkey as being anti-Islamist.