The Forgotten Revolution

The period from the late fourth to the late second century B. C. witnessed, in Greek-speaking countries, an explosion of objective knowledge about the external world. WhileGreek culture had reached great heights in art, literature and philosophyalreadyin the earlier classical era, it is in the so-called Hellenistic period that we see for the ?rst time — anywhere in the world — the appearance of science as we understand it now: not an accumulation of facts or philosophically based speculations, but an or- nized effort to model nature and apply such models, or scienti?ctheories in a sense we will make precise, to the solution of practical problems and to a growing understanding of nature. We owe this new approach to scientists such as Archimedes, Euclid, Eratosthenes and many others less familiar todaybut no less remarkable. Yet, not long after this golden period, much of this extraordinary dev- opment had been reversed. Rome borrowed what it was capable of from the Greeks and kept it for a little while yet, but created very little science of its own. Europe was soon smothered in theobscurantism and stasis that blocked most avenues of intellectual development for a thousand years — until, as is well known, the rediscovery of ancient culture in its fullness paved the way to the modern age.

After the ravages of World War I and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Budapest was engulfed by revolution and marauding foreign armies in 1919. Factory workers, disillusioned ex-soldiers, landless peasants, artists, and intellectuals began forming grassroots councils to get the country back on its feet. This groundswell produced a unique cross-class alliance in pursuit of social justice, constitutionalism, and sustainable economic development, which quickly led to the formation of the Hungarian Republic of Councils. After only four months, however, this radically new experiment in self-government ended in tragedy and virtually all of the Republic's leadership were executed. Over time, the revolution has not only been smeared by the Hungarian right wing but also misunderstood and largely forgotten by the rest of the world. This volume will set the historical record straight on the heroic but tragic events of 1919, paying tribute to the people who gave their lives to a tenacious and courageous idea. These essays bring together internationally respected scholars from Europe and North America, including Péter Csunderlik, Raquel Varela, Kari Polanyi Levitt, Magda Aranyossi, Lajos Csoma, Susan Zimmermann, Christopher Adam, András B. Göllner, Marie-Josée Lavallée, and Dimitrios Roussopoulos.

For many the Russian Revolution of 1917 was a symbol of hope. In the eyes of its critics, however, Soviet authoritarianism and the horrors of the gulags have led to the revolution becoming synonymous with oppression, threatening to forever taint the very idea of socialism. The experience of Georgia, which declared its independence from Russia in 1918, tells a different story. In this riveting history, Eric Lee explores the little-known saga of the country’s experiment in democratic socialism, detailing the epic, turbulent events of this forgotten chapter in revolutionary history. Along the way, we are introduced to a remarkable cast of characters – among them the men and women who strove for a more inclusive vision of socialism that featured multi-party elections, freedom of speech and assembly, a free press and a civil society grounded in trade unions and cooperatives. Though the Georgian Democratic Republic lasted for just three years before it was brutally crushed on the orders of Stalin, it was able to offer, however briefly, a glimpse of a more humane alternative to the Soviet reality that was to come.

As the United States gained independence, a full fifth of the country's population was African American. The experiences of these men and women have been largely ignored in the accounts of the colonies' glorious quest for freedom. In this compact volume, Gary B. Nash reorients our understanding of early America, and reveals the perilous choices of the founding fathers that shaped the nation's future. Nash tells of revolutionary fervor arousing a struggle for freedom that spiraled into the largest slave rebellion in American history, as blacks fled servitude to fight for the British, who promised freedom in exchange for military service. The Revolutionary Army never matched the British offer, and most histories of the period have ignored this remarkable story. The conventional wisdom says that abolition was impossible in the fragile new republic. Nash, however, argues that an unusual convergence of factors immediately after the war created a unique opportunity to dismantle slavery. The founding fathers' failure to commit to freedom led to the waning of abolitionism just as it had reached its peak. In the opening decades of the nineteenth century, as Nash demonstrates, their decision enabled the ideology of white supremacy to take root, and with it the beginnings of an irreparable national fissure. The moral failure of the Revolution was paid for in the 1860s with the lives of the 600,000 Americans killed in the Civil War. "The Forgotten Fifth" is a powerful story of the nation's multiple, and painful, paths to freedom.

The first Soviet in either Ireland or Britain was set up in Limerick in 1919. It published its own newspapers, issued its own currency and won worldwide publicity. Regarded by the British authorities as a major threat to security and a source of potential revolution, the city was soon put under strict military control.

Combining compelling narrative and grand historical sweep, Forgotten Allies offers a vivid account of the Oneida Indians, forgotten heroes of the American Revolution who risked their homeland, their culture, and their lives to join in a war that gave birth to a new nation at the expense of their own. Revealing for the first time the full sacrifice of the Oneidas in securing independence, Forgotten Allies offers poignant insights about Oneida culture and how it changed and adjusted in the wake of nearly two centuries of contact with European-American colonists. It depicts the resolve of an Indian nation that fought alongside the revolutionaries as their valuable allies, only to be erased from America's collective historical memory. Beautifully written, Forgotten Allies recaptures these lost memories and makes certain that the Oneidas' incredible story is finally told in its entirety, thereby deepening and enriching our understanding of the American experience.

The Forgotten Revolution depicts battlefields, encampments and sites of many critical events of the American Revolution that have been lost or neglected by history. Man-made changes to terrain have been enormous since that time and this work revives these forsaken locations with fresh research from original military records and onsite visits. The author's onsite visits to battlefields, encampments and places of many critical events of the Revolutionary War shed light on revered places where patriots fought and died but are unmarked, shrouded in mystery, distorted by mythology and unknown even to local people. Bob Mayers' quest for these sites took many unexpected turns. Analysis of obscure sources ignored by earlier writers yielded many surprises and unknown details were revealed at well-known sites. He made detours outside of known boundaries and textbook timelines and found that myths were often created when the winner wrote the history. Little known British, Hessian and Loyalist accounts often reveal more than the details we have traditionally accepted as authentic. At each of the places he sought out "witnesses," people with special local knowledge. They were staff at national and state parks, regimental re-enactors, members of historical societies, private owners who live on the land and descendants of original settlers whose ancestors are buried in local cemeteries. All have become caretakers of local history and they provided him with special insights and information that cannot be found in recorded history. An index to full-names, places and subjects completes this work.

In Limerick, Ireland's fourth largest city, the workers and their representatives take over running the city and their action is declared a 'Soviet'. The British authorities see it as a serious threat to their rule in Ireland.