Introduction: Anatomy of the yildiz bombing: Tracing the global in the particular

Abstract

In the introductory chapter, the editors explain and situate the main questions and objectives of the book. It is suggested that the book can be seen as a form of ‘transnational microhistory’: through a detailed and multi-perspectival reconstruction of the failed assassination plot against Sultan Abdülhamid II and the events it triggered, the different contributors to this edited volume collectively elucidate the international and global interconnections that not only forged the 1905 conspiracy, but also defined its aftermath. These interconnections are disparate and complex, but this book lays them bare through its focus on embodied experiences: the micro-reality of macro-phenomena. This introduction evokes and engages with different historiographical (sub)fields and debates that are relevant for such a wider understanding of the dramatic events of 1905: the history of European imperialism and the international position of the Ottoman Empire during the Hamidian era; the growth of transnational anarchism and radicalism, noticeable in the Ottoman Empire as well and eliciting reaction from the government; the intensifying spiral of terrorism and state repression; the turn to violent action by Armenian revolutionary organizations; the rise of the figure of the political prisoner and, finally, of transnational humanitarian activism.