From the Archives: Walking Hallowed Ground

Recently My Own True Love and I were at dinner with friends and the conversation turned to the Gallipoli campaign in World War I . [1]  The next day he requested that I run this post again.  It originally ran in 2011, when History in the Margins was brand-new.   I think it holds up. In…

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1925: A Year in Review

In historical hindsight, the big event in 1925 was Adolf Hitler’s publication of Mein Kampf and re-organization of the National Socialist party[1] to emphasize the the extreme nationalism that is a common element of fascist political philosophy rather than its original socialist leanings. In fact, in 1925, the Nazis were not yet a significant political…

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What Makes a Mosque, Pt. 2: Suleyman the Magnificent Builds A Mosque

Commissioning a mosque was both an act of piety and a political statement in the Ottoman empire. Surrounded by building complexes that provided social services ranging from a public fountain to a caravanserai, mosques anchored new neighborhoods in old cities. Who commissioned what was carefully linked to social status. Small officials commissioned small mosques. Grand…

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