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Oded Y Steinberg
I was trained as a modern intellectual and cultural historian at the University of Oxford (DPhil, Lincoln College) and at the Hebrew University (BA and MA). I have published widely on nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain and central Europe, focusing on the intellectual, cultural and diplomatic interactions between Britain and Central Europe. Following my DPhil submission, I was awarded a joint postdoctoral fellowship at the Freie Universität Berlin and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2015-2017), and then a postdoctoral fellowship at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, working on the themes of migration and borders at the Humphrey Institute for Social Research.
I am interested in the shift of ideas across social and national borders in modern Britain and central Europe. Within this framework, my publications have explored various aspects of British and central European intellectual, cultural and diplomatic history. My book Race, Nation, History: Anglo-German Thought in the Victorian Era (University of Pennsylvania Press, forthcoming June 2019) shows how historical periodization converged with racial, national and cultural themes and shaped the perceptions of important English and German scholars (who migrated to Britain) during the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. My peer-reviewed articles are especially focused on the development of certain racial, historiographical and cultural views in Britain and central Europe. These include articles on the unique and radical racial periodization of E.A. Freeman (Modern Intellectual History, 2017), the early historical readings and writings (1870s) of the famous economist Alfred Marshal (Global Intellectual History, 2017) and the treatment of the Armenian Question in British discourse during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Journal of Levantine Studies, 2015; Études arméniennes contemporaines, 2018).
I am interested in the shift of ideas across social and national borders in modern Britain and central Europe. Within this framework, my publications have explored various aspects of British and central European intellectual, cultural and diplomatic history. My book Race, Nation, History: Anglo-German Thought in the Victorian Era (University of Pennsylvania Press, forthcoming June 2019) shows how historical periodization converged with racial, national and cultural themes and shaped the perceptions of important English and German scholars (who migrated to Britain) during the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. My peer-reviewed articles are especially focused on the development of certain racial, historiographical and cultural views in Britain and central Europe. These include articles on the unique and radical racial periodization of E.A. Freeman (Modern Intellectual History, 2017), the early historical readings and writings (1870s) of the famous economist Alfred Marshal (Global Intellectual History, 2017) and the treatment of the Armenian Question in British discourse during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Journal of Levantine Studies, 2015; Études arméniennes contemporaines, 2018).
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Jews towards the suffering of the Armenians during the
Hamidian massacres (1894–7). The essay argues that this
humanitarian act is a very early and hardly known attempt
by Jews to aid members of other non-Jewish groups. This
“external” humanitarian act perhaps fits the scholarly
argument concerning the nineteenth century’s watershed
of humanitarianism: the transition from an earlier more
inward-looking based relief action, to aiding, in the name
of all humanity, other, distinct religious or ethnic groups.
Most importantly, as this essay argues, these Jewish
humanitarian activities mainly derived from rational,
practical reasons, primarily resulting from Jewish
vulnerability. Rational rather than sentimental
humanitarianism, hence, was the main cause for the
humanitarian response of British Jews. Indeed, the essay
argues, the endorsement of the Armenians was an
influential affair in Britain, moving the public as well as
British Jews into action. However, some British Jews, and
interestingly also German Jews objected to any formal or
even non-formal support that might endanger their Jewish
brethren in the Ottoman Empire. The support of the
Armenians, thus, was also controversial, arousing inner
conflicts within the community and even between British
Jews and German Jews.
Le diplomate, juriste et historien James Bryce (1838-1922) a été le plus grand avocat de la cause arménienne en Grande-Bretagne pendant plusieurs décennies. Cet article retrace un itinéraire militant depuis les années 1870, mettant l’accent sur le tournant constitué par les années 1894-1896, lors desquelles ses appels en faveur des Arméniens et d’une intervention auprès de la Sublime Porte remportèrent un grand écho, non seulement en Grande-Bretagne mais aussi aux États-Unis.
Keywords: James Bryce; Armenian Massacres; Armenia; Realpolitik; Sasun
Ararat in his 1876 expedition. Bryce’s association with Armenia became well known
from his (and Arnold Toynbee’s) famous Blue Book on the Armenian Genocide
(1916). However, only a handful of studies have been published about Bryce’s lifelong,
and especially about his “early,” Armenian engagements. As this article aims
to show, his Armenian mission from the 1870s until the massacres of 1894–1896
deserves greater attention. In these years Bryce attempted to stir up awareness of
the suffering of the Armenian communities in the Ottoman Empire. These efforts
were mainly aimed toward the internal British scene. Some followed Bryce’s lead
and supported his Armenian cause, while others doubted his reports and regarded
them as “exaggerations.” Bryce’s comprehension of the Armenian Question resulted
from his general assessment of the power struggle between the major European
powers. This struggle has in recent years become, as seen for instance in Donald
Bloxham’s 2005 book, a central theme in the study of the Armenian Question. In
the context of this power struggle, especially between Britain and Russia, Bryce had,
quite uniquely, grasped the ominous potential of the Armenian Question by the
end of the 1870s. As elaborated in the article, despite Bryce’s firm position about
the urgent need to intervene in Armenia, there was an almost unbridgeable gap
during these years between his moral or ideological stance and the actual abilities of
the British government. In short, a breach existed between Bryce’s compulsion and
Britain’s realpolitik constraints.
Jews towards the suffering of the Armenians during the
Hamidian massacres (1894–7). The essay argues that this
humanitarian act is a very early and hardly known attempt
by Jews to aid members of other non-Jewish groups. This
“external” humanitarian act perhaps fits the scholarly
argument concerning the nineteenth century’s watershed
of humanitarianism: the transition from an earlier more
inward-looking based relief action, to aiding, in the name
of all humanity, other, distinct religious or ethnic groups.
Most importantly, as this essay argues, these Jewish
humanitarian activities mainly derived from rational,
practical reasons, primarily resulting from Jewish
vulnerability. Rational rather than sentimental
humanitarianism, hence, was the main cause for the
humanitarian response of British Jews. Indeed, the essay
argues, the endorsement of the Armenians was an
influential affair in Britain, moving the public as well as
British Jews into action. However, some British Jews, and
interestingly also German Jews objected to any formal or
even non-formal support that might endanger their Jewish
brethren in the Ottoman Empire. The support of the
Armenians, thus, was also controversial, arousing inner
conflicts within the community and even between British
Jews and German Jews.
Le diplomate, juriste et historien James Bryce (1838-1922) a été le plus grand avocat de la cause arménienne en Grande-Bretagne pendant plusieurs décennies. Cet article retrace un itinéraire militant depuis les années 1870, mettant l’accent sur le tournant constitué par les années 1894-1896, lors desquelles ses appels en faveur des Arméniens et d’une intervention auprès de la Sublime Porte remportèrent un grand écho, non seulement en Grande-Bretagne mais aussi aux États-Unis.
Keywords: James Bryce; Armenian Massacres; Armenia; Realpolitik; Sasun
Ararat in his 1876 expedition. Bryce’s association with Armenia became well known
from his (and Arnold Toynbee’s) famous Blue Book on the Armenian Genocide
(1916). However, only a handful of studies have been published about Bryce’s lifelong,
and especially about his “early,” Armenian engagements. As this article aims
to show, his Armenian mission from the 1870s until the massacres of 1894–1896
deserves greater attention. In these years Bryce attempted to stir up awareness of
the suffering of the Armenian communities in the Ottoman Empire. These efforts
were mainly aimed toward the internal British scene. Some followed Bryce’s lead
and supported his Armenian cause, while others doubted his reports and regarded
them as “exaggerations.” Bryce’s comprehension of the Armenian Question resulted
from his general assessment of the power struggle between the major European
powers. This struggle has in recent years become, as seen for instance in Donald
Bloxham’s 2005 book, a central theme in the study of the Armenian Question. In
the context of this power struggle, especially between Britain and Russia, Bryce had,
quite uniquely, grasped the ominous potential of the Armenian Question by the
end of the 1870s. As elaborated in the article, despite Bryce’s firm position about
the urgent need to intervene in Armenia, there was an almost unbridgeable gap
during these years between his moral or ideological stance and the actual abilities of
the British government. In short, a breach existed between Bryce’s compulsion and
Britain’s realpolitik constraints.