Thomas to Give Talk Tuesday at UPB

Dr. Marvin Thomas, professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, will speak on the Turkish invasions of Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, on April 13.

The lecture, “Europe in the Shadow of the Crescent; the Turkish Invasions of the 16th and 17th Centuries,” begins at 8 p.m. in Rice Auditorium in Fisher Hall. A part of the university’s Spectrum Series, this is the 34th year Thomas has presented his popular historical talk.

With the Turkish occupation of the Balkan peninsula after the battle of Kosovo in 1389 and the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Europe lay wide open for invasion. The Turks, in collusion with the rising French monarchy, decided to take advantage of the political and religious disarray of Germany. The French would gain German lands to the west with the Turks taking the German lands to the east. This opportunity occurred in the 1520s and again in the 1680s. Both attempts climaxed with a siege of Vienna. Had the city fallen, Turkish and Muslim expansion could have been contained and European history, and with it European expansion in the New World, would have been quite different.

Thomas has been teaching at Pitt-Bradford since 1969. In 1997, he was chosen as the recipient of the Pitt-Bradford Alumni Association’s Teaching Excellence Award. He teaches survey courses across the entire spectrum of European history from the ancient, medieval and renaissance periods through modern history.

He holds a doctorate in history from Penn State University and earned a master’s degree in history from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in history from Long Island University.

For disability-related needs, contact the Office of Disability Resources and Services at 814-362-7609 or arj4@pitt.edu.