The Adriatic has long been a centre of international relations and a vital crossroads between East and West Europe at the heart of the Roman Empire. Later it became the all-important trading route of the Venetians. Besides being a strategic waterway, in the south it provided a way through the Narrow Strait of Otranto into the wider Mediterranean. This book explores how over many centuries the Adriatic became central to the lives and ambitions of a variety of peoples, among them the Goths, Normans, Spanish, Albanians, French, British, Austro-Hungarians, Italians, Germans and also those collectively called Yugoslavs. The long history of the Adriatic region is marked by commercial and political rivalries, conflicts, changing governments and fluid borders, and the author has tried to condense this to bring the whole area together and she has included some figures from outside the region like the Holy Roman Emperors, and various foreign dignitaries or invaders. The book spans over 2000 years of history and the whole of the eastern Mediterranean region around the Adriatic sea and part of the neighbouring Ionian sea. These lands have included great empires, occupation by the British in recent centuries, the demise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after the First World War which had its origins in this combustible region and the book untangles a rich and complex history into the 20th century before the former Yugoslavia once again fractured. It is detailed on the alliances that countries formed, often through trade or royal marriage, and on the negative side the rivalries that divided states and ended in war, invasion or the overthrow of government. The narrative is filled with personal stories of individuals from the many different periods that illuminate the political, cultural and economic developments, together with the major conflicts from earliest Roman times, through the Crusades, right up to the battles of the Second World War. Everything is here, beauty, beautiful islands and beaches and coastal towns, Roman emperors, traders and crusaders, the Polish queen from Bari, the Serenissima's last days of carnival, Napoleon's expanding empire, Ali Pasha and Lord Byron, the unification of Italy, Archduke Maximillian's dreams, assassinations and opposition and Italy's dictators like Mussolini. A magnificent work of history, 448pp, maps and 16 pages of colour photos.
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