This Yataghan was made in 1525 in by the Ottoman imperial sword maker Ahmed Tekelu. The sword was produced during the reign of Suleiman I. The blade is intricately detailed, with religious inscriptions and motifs as well as designed influenced by the Chinese. The yataghan is currently found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Citations

Kid, Jesper, and Balfe, Lorne. “Byzantium.” Assassin’s Creed Revelations Soundtrack. Prod. Hans Zimmer. Ubisoft Music, Montreuil, 2011. CD.

Kid, Jesper, and Balfe, Lorne. “Welcome to Kostantiniyye.” Assassin’s Creed Revelations Soundtrack. Prod. Hans Zimmer. Ubisoft Music, Montreuil, 2011. CD.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. N.p., 2000-2015. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.

“Yataghan from the Court of Süleyman the Magnificent (reigned 1520–66).” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. N.p., 2000-2015. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.

For this selfie assignment, I decided to look for a book on World War I. I wanted to find a book that told a personal story, that did not simply include facts and summaries about the war. While searching, I came across the book Through Blood and Ice by Ferenc Imrey. Imrey was a Hungarian artist and professor who became a member of the Austria-Hungarian army when the war broke out. While fighting the Russians for Austria-Hungary, he was captured and imprisoned in Siberia. He was a prisoner of war before, during, and after the Bolshevik Revolution. He was ultimately able to escape from the camp and travelled through Siberia and China. I feel that this perspective of the war is interesting, as its seems that students in America mostly look at the allied side of the conflict. It also feels unique to get a perspective of the war by not only a man from the Austria-Hungarian Empire, but from an artist. Surrounding the book were more books regarding the war from the perspective of Russia and Austria-Hungary.

Imrey, Ferenc. Through Blood and Ice. First Edition ed. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1930. Print.

A Concise History of China

I was able to find A Concise History of China by searching “History of China” and using the keywords “Ming” and “Qing”. I used these two keywords to identify a book that discusses the Chinese Dynasties of the pre-modern era that was detailed in the Empires In World History textbook used for class. I picked out the book because it seemed to offer information that was clear and had information regarding the content discussed in class.

The book itself details China’s history from prehistoric times until the early 1990s. Therefore, it contains a section about what was discussed in class, as well as how China was connected to the rest of the world during this time. This section is about the Ming Dynasty and the rise of the Manchus and the Qing Dynasty. Some specific parts of Chinese history in this section of the book are the rise of Confucianism and the Emperor Kangxi.

Nearby books were mostly about more specific Chinese events, many of which were from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Roberts, J.A.G. A Concise History of China. Hong Kong: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1999. Print.