Tag Archives: History

Russia, the Armenians, and the Ottoman Empire: A First World War Memoir

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 3 March 2026

Gavriil Korganov, whose name is sometimes Anglicised as Gabriel Korganov, was born on 3 May 1880 in Tiflis in the Russian Empire, what is now Tbilisi, the capital of the Republic of Georgia. Korganov was from a military family and joined the Tiflis Cadet Corps in 1897. Two years later, Korganov enrolled in the Mikhailovskaya Military Artillery Academy in Saint Petersburg and went on to the General Staff Academy. Korganov would become a General in the Imperial Russian Army, and at some point joined the Freemasons. Korganov was to be a significant player in the First World War.

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A Note on the Mu’tazilites and the Office of the Caliph

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 4 June 2025

Muslim belief is that the Qur’an is “uncreated” (ghayr makhluq). While the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad over twenty-three years (610-32 AD), the “speech of God” (kalam Allah) in these revelations had existed co-eternally with God. This was once a point of serious dispute in Islamic theology, and the outcome of that debate was an important waymarker in the development of Islam.

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Gerald Hawting on the Mystery of the Ka’ba

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 1 June 2025

Below is a reproduction of an academic book chapter by G.R. Hawting, “The Origins of the Sanctuary at Mecca”, in G.H.A. Juynboll [ed.] (1982), Studies on the First Century of Islamic Society, pp. 23-47.

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Ahmad al-Shara Met Donald Trump, and the Islamic State is Not Pleased

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 30 May 2025

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Rome’s Worst Emperor? Assessing the Sources About Elagabalus

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 7 February 2025

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A Note on Massachusetts and Slavery

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 26 January 2025

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Tucker Carlson’s Interview with Vladimir Putin Didn’t Go Quite As He Planned

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 10 February 2024

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A Flawed Film Brings Attention to the Soviet Terror-Famine in Ukraine

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 28 April 2023

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Al-Qaeda’s Statement Twenty-One Years on From 9/11

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 11 September 2022

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Al-Qaeda Has Never Been More Dominated by States

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on September 11, 2020

In writing a chapter earlier this year about the current status of Al-Qaeda, part of the process was reviewing the organisation’s history since its formation in the late 1980s. What really struck me was how extensively Al-Qaeda is now manipulated, under the influence of, and in places even controlled by state powers. To mark the nineteenth anniversary of 9/11, I thought I could give a brief sketch of this development.

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