Lubomir Krastev<\/strong><\/p>\n Sofia University<\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53656\/his2025-5-1-two<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract.<\/strong> The article examines two cartoons by the British artist William Chasemore that reflect on the Congress of Berlin 1878. The Congress was famous for the creation of other cartoons, but the two works by William Chasemore do not fall into this category and may represent an interesting addition to the more popular aspects of satire dedicated to the diplomatic forum after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 \u2013 1878. Leading European politicians are depicted curiously, including German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield), Russian Foreign Minister Prince Gorchakov, and other important participants in the meeting in Berlin in the summer of 1878. The satirical presentation of the event is filled with many scathing but accurate observations about international politics in the context of the Eastern Question.<\/p>\n Keywords:<\/em> Congress of Berlin, cartoons, Bismarck, Disraeli, Salisbury, Gorchakov, Eastern Question, satire<\/p>\n SEE MORE<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Georgi Burdarov<\/strong><\/p>\n Sofia University<\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53656\/his2025-5-2-con<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract<\/strong>.<\/strong> War is the natural state of humankind, and its traumas mark entire generations, being transmitted through collective memory to the next. One of the key questions we address in this article is whether revisiting the history of military conflicts can help protect us from future ones. Through literary sources and field research, a comparison is made between post-war Germany and its attempt to deal with the most painful and shameful part of its history, that of Nazism, and the nations of the former Yugoslavia, which failed to cope with the traumas of their history and inherited antagonism and ended up in the bloody Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. The specific factors and reasons why in one place they succeeded and in the other not to rework their history and, consequently, what are the consequences of this are highlighted.<\/p>\n Keywords<\/em>:<\/em> reworking history, collective memory, war, Nazism, prevention of conflicts<\/p>\n SEE MORE<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Antoaneta Balcheva<\/strong><\/p>\n Institute of Balkan Studies with Centre of Tracology<\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53656\/his2025-5-3-spo<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract.<\/strong> The study attempts to shed light on an insufficiently studied moment in the personal biography of Ivan Shishmanov, related to his visit in 1898 to Bishop Josip Juraj \u0160trossmayer in Dzhakovo. The aim of the present text is to conceptualize the meeting of the eminent Bulgarian scholar with the bishop as a dynamic process of receptive communication, of getting to know one\u2019s own through the foreign, accompanied by a careful analysis of the circumstances that determined the individual stages in the development of national self-consciousness and national self-determination from the end of the 19th century. In this aspect, the travelogue \u201cBishop Josip \u00a0\u0160trossmayer. Memories of a Personal Meeting\u201d is viewed as a vision of the specific tasks and pragmatic strategies for implementation by our cultural elites, based on the accumulated time experience and the hermeneutics of our historical destiny, in which the author\u2019s reflections on the era and events surrounding the personality and work of the Dzhakovo bishop are woven. At the same time, the story of the journey can also be perceived as a kind of panopticon, in which pictures of the real and imaginary past, present and future, the ideological pathos of the narrator and the aspiration for psychological penetration into the human microcosm alternate. The process of reflexive determination of identity gives rise to the act of comparing interiority, memory and time. Ivan Shishmanov unfolds the image of Josip Juraj \u0160trossmayer focusing on the phenomenology of memory and the temporality that evokes it. The composition of the text is conventionally divided into three parts, each of which leads to the final understanding of the personality of the bishop of \u00a0D\u017eakovo a posteriori<\/em> based on the historical context, the different levels of acquired human and social experience and psychological attitudes. Far from naive, romantic notions, Ivan Shishmanov outlines a detailed biographical portrait of the enlightener, philosopher, theologian, politician, writer, patron and benefactor, equally significant for the destinies of his own people and for the history of all humanity.<\/p>\n Keywords<\/em>: Ivan Shishmanov, Josip Juraj \u0160trossmayer, reception, own, foreign, cultural memory, folk psychology, phenomenology of memory<\/p>\n SEE MORE<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ivelin Ivanov<\/strong><\/p>\n St. Cyril and St. Methodius University, Veliko Tarnovo<\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53656\/his2025-5-4-arm<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract<\/strong>. The beginning of the 13th<\/sup> century marked a particularly intense period of military clashes in the Balkans, especially in the lands of Latin Romania, resulting from the Fourth Crusade and the rise of the Latin Empire (1204 \u2013 1261). In these military campaigns, different military systems and correspondingly different types of armament collided: the traditional Byzantine warfare, the Bulgarians\u2019 and Cumans\u2019 one, and the Latin Western European military art. The author analyzes the key characteristics of the armament and the modes of warfare typical of these three political powers. In conclusion, the author draws some basic findings about the specific characteristics and mutual influences in the military clashes in the lands of Latin Romania during the considered period.<\/p>\n Keywords<\/em>: Latin Romania, Fourth Crusade, Latin Empire, medieval warfare<\/p>\n SEE MORE<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Desislava Vladimirova<\/strong><\/p>\n Faculty of History,<\/em><\/p>\n Sofia University \u201cSt. Kliment Ohridski\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53656\/his2025-5-5-ber<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract. <\/strong>This article explores the elusive presence of Berbers in Islamic Sicily between the 9th and 11th centuries. A major challenge of the topic is the lack of ethnic differentiation in medieval narratives: both Christian and Muslim sources typically categorize Sicily\u2019s population according to religious affiliation, rather than ethnic identity. In contrast to al-Andalus, where Berber communities are more visibly represented in the sources, their presence in Sicily appears fragmentary and often ambiguous.<\/p>\n The aim of the study is to identify, systematize, and interpret the historical evidence relating to Berbers in Sicily. Methodologically, it combines a comparative analysis of data from various medieval Arabic chronicles with a critical review and reassessment of existing historiographical approaches.<\/p>\n A key contribution of the study is the discussion of the possible presence of Berber Christians in Sicily prior to the Islamic conquest of the island in the 9th century. A chronological synthesis of references concerning Muslim Berbers is presented and analyzed. The study situates developments in Sicily within the broader political dynamics of North Africa, with particular emphasis on the role of the Kut\u0101ma Berbers in the 10th century and the increasing involvement of the Berber Zirid emirate in the 11th century.<\/p>\n The article also explores literary stereotypes about the Berbers in Arabic historical writing \u2013 both in general terms and in relation to their role in Sicily. Particular attention is given to the spread of Ib\u0101\u1e0d\u012b Kh\u0101rijism, which may have been introduced by Berber settlers. As a marginal movement within regions dominated by Sunn\u012b Islam, Kh\u0101rijite groups are often depicted in a negative light in Arabic chronicles. The article engages with these contested issues in an effort to offer a nuanced perspective on the Berber presence in medieval Sicily.<\/p>\n Keywords<\/em>: Berbers, Islamic Sicily, Mediterranean, Medieval period, Arabic historiography<\/p>\n SEE MORE<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yordan Peev<\/strong><\/p>\n Sofia University<\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53656\/his2025-5-6-gyp<\/a><\/p>\n SEE MORE<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Albena Simova<\/strong><\/p>\nRemaking History \u2013 a Path to the Future in Conflict Zones<\/h3>\n
Memories of a Personal Meeting. Ivan Shishmanov on a Visit to the Bishop Josip Juraj \u0160trossmayer<\/h3>\n
On The Armament in The Military Conflicts in Latin Romania at The Beginning of The 13th Century<\/h3>\n
The Berbers and Arab Rule in Sicily (9th \u2013 11th Centuries): Recovering the Missing Voices<\/h3>\n
A Contribution to the History of the Balkans. A Delight for the Reader and a Challenge for the Researcher<\/h3>\n
Discussion Forum \u201cWar and Propaganda in Contemporary Europe: Three Perspectives\u201d<\/h3>\n