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Ali Pasha, Lion of Ioannina: The Remarkable Life of the Balkan Napoleon Kindle Edition

by Quentin Russell (Author), Eugenia Russell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 19 ratings
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A fascinating biography of Ottoman Greece and Albania’s notorious despot—a major player in the power struggles of Revolutionary and Napoleonic Europe.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the life of a petty tyrant in an obscure corner of the Ottoman Empire became the stuff of legend. What propelled this cold-blooded archetype of Oriental despotism, grandly known as the Lion of Yanina and the Balkan Napoleon, into the consciousness of Western rulers and the general public? This book charts the rise of Ali Pasha from brigand leader to a player in world affairs and, ultimately, to a gruesome end.

Ali exploited the internal weakness of the Ottoman Empire to carve out his own de facto empire in Albania and Western Greece. Although a ruthless tyrant guilty of cruel atrocities, his lavish court became an attraction to Western travelers, most famously Lord Byron, and his military prowess led Britain, Russia and France to seek his alliance during the Napoleonic Wars. His activities undermined the Sultan’s authority and ultimately led to the Greek War of Independence.

Quentin and Eugenia Russell describe his remarkable life and military career as well as the legacy he bequeathed in his homeland as a nationalist hero and further afield as inspiration for writers and artists of the Romantic movement.

“An intriguing tale from the edges of the Empire.” —The Armourer
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  1. Print length
    384 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Pen & Sword Military
  5. Publication date
    September 30, 2017
  6. File size
    24848 KB
  7. Page Flip
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr Eugenia Russell is an author and Lecturer in History at St Marys University, Twickenham. She has lectured on the history of empires, Renaissance learning and exploration, the Ancient World, art history and political philosophy.

Dr Quentin Russell is a historian, writer and producer. His TV documentary, An Exile in Paradise: The Adventures of Edward Lear in Greece and Albania, won the New York Festival’s Arts Silver Medal in 2009 and was broadcast internationally. He holds a PhD in 19th Century Anglo-Greek relations and his essays have appeared in various prestigious publications such as British Art Journal.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07B7LX6BZ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pen & Sword Military (September 30, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 30, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 24848 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 19 ratings

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Quentin Russell

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
19 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Michael
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect book.
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2020
Verified Purchase
I think this book is perfect for this subject and it had everything in it that I could ever need. I read it because I was going to write a paper and presentation (both of which I did) and I found this to be invaluable for helping me with those two projects. This book tells the story of the rise, reign and fall of Ali Pasha, but it also explains the political situation that he was born into and lived in.
The way the Ottoman Empire never conquered the mountain regions of Albania and Greece, which led to independent and warlike peoples in those areas to the way the Ottoman Sultan was content to let governors be practically independent as long as the governors kept peace and sent their tributes to the Sultan were some interesting pieces of history for me to read here. I also liked how the authors put various primary sources into this book, which helped me a lot.
I could say more, but I really think this book is perfect as it explains the history of some people and states in the Balkan areas from roughly 1740 to 1820 very well.
2 people found this helpful
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Raymond dusek
4.0 out of 5 stars interesting book
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2019
Verified Purchase
gives a good insight to the history in that area
One person found this helpful
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Shmeki
4.0 out of 5 stars sorry dachte es wär eine echte buch !!
Reviewed in Germany on September 18, 2020
Verified Purchase
habe mich vercklickt
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Gregory Ticker
3.0 out of 5 stars Somehow useful book related to the modern History of Greece and Albania
Reviewed in Canada on October 5, 2018
Verified Purchase
Ali Pasha Tepeleni, nowadays an obscure figure of no interest except for those who are interested to know more about modern History of Greece, Albania and in broader context of Balkans. He was one of the many of the local power brokers and enforcers, nominally serving in some official capacity to Sultan, but using conditions of the decaying Osman Empire trying to carve out for themselves fiefdoms, and kind of kingdoms. The most successful was another Albanian, Mehmet Ali who had managed to get for himself de facto independent kingdom of Egypt and founded dynasty surviving until 1950s.
In early XIX century a cultural shift was happening in Europe, Classicism was slowly replaced by Romanticism. Variation of it was a fad of Orientalism. Bored European chattering classes were looking for picturesque violence, brutality and Shakespearean passions, they thought they were finding all these in the Orient. Byron depicted Ali Pasha in his Childe Harold, and provided him with timeless fame, however who now reads Byron. Duma wrote highly fictitious book about him, and presented his fictitious daughter in his Monte Cristo, acting as a tool for destruction of Fernan one of the vilaines. Authors are not specialists on Balkans,Turkey, or Eastern Question. They are a kind of populizers interested in Byron, thus their attention to Ali Pasha. The book is of secondary nature, definitely not a fruit of sophisticated and original scholarship and arduous work in archives. It is based on retelling notes and books of the European travellers, military diplomats and spies, albeit forgotten and not known to the modern reader. By virtue of this it gives a broad picture of the Greece and Albania during Napoleonic Wars and on the eve of the Greek Revolution, machinations of the Great powers and the beginning of what had become known The Eastern Question, and in the end the cause of the WW I. The book is somehow useful, but not a must to buy and keep on your shelf, until as I said you are particularly interested in the history of the area in question.
One person found this helpful
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P Box
5.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing subject!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2018
Verified Purchase
A super book. Well written and informative. Clearly a writer who knows the subject. Highly recommended.
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