Ali Pasha's resistance to Turkish forces in the 19th century.

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 Sultans 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.

A highly topical analysis of European Nationalism from the French Revolution through to the aftermath of the First World War, when the nationalist issues and problems that dominate the political landscape of our own time were already fully established. Covering an enormous range of peoples -- from the Icelanders to the Gypsies, from Brittany to Wallachia -- the book presents a wealth of historical geopolitical information unavailable elsewhere. Essential as a reference work, it also provides a unique opportunity to survey systematically a crucial but fragmented subject in its full European context. For historians, political scientists, departments of European studies, and general readers.