European Civilisations — Germanic Peoples, Rome, Visigoths, Huns, Lombards, Vikings

The introduction explains the Migration Period through the Huns crossing the Volga in 374–375 and pushing the Ostrogoths and Visigoths west, and shows how the migrations shaped the ethnic base of today's Spaniards and English. The summary is short and clear, but its perspective is plainly that of Turkish history textbooks: the European Huns are directly identified with the «Northern Hun State» in Central Asia and presented as «Hun Turks», and Turkish forms of names such as «Balamber/Balamir» and «Uldız/Yıldız» are given. The origin and language of the Huns are debated in international scholarship, yet the book states this as an unqualified fact.

Chapter one is the main body of the book and its best part. The division of the empire between Arcadius and Honorius after the death of Theodosius I in 395, Stilicho, Alaric, the sack of Rome in 410 and Odoacer's deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476 are told vividly without losing the thread of events. Each Germanic people then gets its own heading: the Visigoths' path from Toulouse to Toledo and the battle of Guadalete in 711, the Ostrogoths' Italy and Theodoric the Great, the Vandals' North African kingdom and their sack of Rome in 455, and the Lombards' arrival in Italy. Sidebars offer short biographies of figures such as Theodosius, Alaric and Attila.

The section on the Merovingians and Carolingians is particularly successful: the political significance of Clovis I's conversion to Catholicism, the alliance between the Papacy and the Frankish kingdom, what Charlemagne's coronation as Roman emperor on Christmas Day 800 meant for Byzantium, and even Charlemagne's marriage proposal to Empress Irene are well-placed details. With the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the rise of the Capetians and Otto I's coronation in 962, the chapter reaches the beginnings of the Holy Roman Empire.

Chapters two and three are shorter. Tariq ibn Ziyad's crossing at Gibraltar in 711, the campaigns of Musa ibn Nusayr, the battle of Poitiers in 732, and the Umayyad emirate and caliphate of al-Andalus are covered concisely; the author rightly links the Muslims never again crossing the Pyrenees after Poitiers to internal turmoil in al-Andalus as well. Anglo-Saxon England, Alfred the Great, the Viking raid on Lindisfarne monastery in 793, Rollo and Normandy, the spread of the Slavs and Avar and Khazar dominance also appear here.

Weaknesses: editing flaws and some factual errors stand out. In the Ostrogoths section, those who gained independence after the battle of Nedao are mistakenly called «Visigoths»; the battle of Vouillé is dated 507 in one place and 506 in another; the Germanic peoples are said to belong to the «Indo-Aryan language group», whereas the correct term is Indo-European. Boniface, the Roman governor in North Africa, is called «the governor of Byzantium». Ciavis», «Belisarus») are not rare either.

In the end the book is not really a history of «civilisations», as its title suggests, but a short political chronicle of early and central medieval Europe — yet in this respect it is more coherent and useful than many volumes in the series. There are no pseudoscientific claims, the dates are largely correct, and, bearing in mind certain emphases typical of Turkish historiography, it can serve as an introduction to the subject.

• Chronological narrative divided by separate headings for each people and dynasty
• Short biographical sidebars on historical figures
• Colour illustrations and maps