What influence did Akko have on Europe ?
Akko is old Acre or Acco and is in Israel. At one time it was a leading port city in the Middle East and competed for trade with such highly regarded places as Constantinople in Greco-Rome and Alexandria in Greco-Egypt.
It starts out as a settlement on a mount sometime between 2000 and 1500 BC. Back then it was called Tel Akko, or Tel el-Fukhar, or Mound of Potsherds.
Pot-sherds are fragments of pottery. These ceramic shards can contain great information about history since ceramic pottery was often decorated with pictorial stories or anecdotes of the time the clay was moulded.
Akko becomes St Jean d'Acre in about 1100 AD when the crusaders founded the Kingdom of Jerusalem. After a few years of crusader battles against fortified Akko the city is surrendered to King Baldwin I. The crusaders got busy in rebuilding the city and fortified it as best they could. They invested plenty of time and money in securing the seaport at Acre. However their efforts were no match for the Muslim who recaptured the Akko mound in 1187 at the Battle the Battle of the Horns of Hattin. A Muslim victory for Saladin meant that the Christian were once again moved off St John's Acre.
But King Richard I of England soon returns and in 1191, with the help of Philip Augustus, King of France, he leads a third crusade and ousts the Muslims.
A long time before these battles the Tel el Fukhar had been a Phoenician port of trade and a pivot point in mercantilism along the silk trade road. It was a point that could take goods from the middle east or even the far east to the any location along the Mediterranean shores. It was such a good location that it attracted the mighty armies of Alexander the Great who won it over. Tel Akko becomes Ptolamais.
These notes are just thoughts and the fuller story is told here under Akko : The Maritime Capital of the Crusader Kingdom.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Europe city-states
In an attempt to understand the Europe city-states mentioned in European history, I went searching.
This is what I found about the city-states of Europe.
Any of these names are associated to city-state.
City-states were garrisoned by walls and within these walls industry and commerce was what kept the political machine working. Outside the walls, much land was available for farming, or for working mines and raising animals. These lands became feudal grounds and areas often defended by condottieri, merchant military leaders who dealt in providing mercenary soldiers to any feudal king, monarch, or pope who could afford to pay the price.
Until about 1200 AD city-states were run by feudal nobility or by landed aristocrats who shared power with rich merchants. This often led to power struggles within the city-state walls. Craftsmen guilds and other unions became powerful enough to challenge the nobles and the aristocrats. City-states also were vulnerable to struggles with neighbouring city-states. After 1200 AD new politics are emerging in the garrison walled cities of Europe.
A type of republic was tried were officials were elected by citizens. The elected chief had two councils. One of public opinion and one of private opinion. One public. One secret. Much of the Renaissance saw city states run by the rules of despotism which is basically a system of oligarchy or autocracy where a single person called a despot rules. Oligarchal rule is usually bloodline oriented and family names like Medici, Orsini, and others are popular brands of bloodline despotic ruling class.
Cosimo de Medici, a Republican era leading Florence figure, for example, revived Plato when he sponsored Gemistus Pletho who founded a discussion group called the Platonic Academy in Florence. The Neo-Platonic Academy continues to exist when Cosimo's grandson is heading Florence. Lorenzo is well acquainted with the greats of the Renaissance. Michelangelo is often at is table and joins Lorenzo in the meetings of the Platonic Academy.
___________________
Where to next.....
Shifting allegiances with the political winds of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines.
____________________
Always open to suggestions and corrections
This is what I found about the city-states of Europe.
Any of these names are associated to city-state.
- Milan
- Rome
- Florence
- Venice
- Genoa
- Bologna
City-states were garrisoned by walls and within these walls industry and commerce was what kept the political machine working. Outside the walls, much land was available for farming, or for working mines and raising animals. These lands became feudal grounds and areas often defended by condottieri, merchant military leaders who dealt in providing mercenary soldiers to any feudal king, monarch, or pope who could afford to pay the price.
Until about 1200 AD city-states were run by feudal nobility or by landed aristocrats who shared power with rich merchants. This often led to power struggles within the city-state walls. Craftsmen guilds and other unions became powerful enough to challenge the nobles and the aristocrats. City-states also were vulnerable to struggles with neighbouring city-states. After 1200 AD new politics are emerging in the garrison walled cities of Europe.
A type of republic was tried were officials were elected by citizens. The elected chief had two councils. One of public opinion and one of private opinion. One public. One secret. Much of the Renaissance saw city states run by the rules of despotism which is basically a system of oligarchy or autocracy where a single person called a despot rules. Oligarchal rule is usually bloodline oriented and family names like Medici, Orsini, and others are popular brands of bloodline despotic ruling class.
Cosimo de Medici, a Republican era leading Florence figure, for example, revived Plato when he sponsored Gemistus Pletho who founded a discussion group called the Platonic Academy in Florence. The Neo-Platonic Academy continues to exist when Cosimo's grandson is heading Florence. Lorenzo is well acquainted with the greats of the Renaissance. Michelangelo is often at is table and joins Lorenzo in the meetings of the Platonic Academy.
___________________
Where to next.....
Shifting allegiances with the political winds of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines.
____________________
Always open to suggestions and corrections
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
countries of europe
What are the countries of Europe ?
How many countries are in Europe ?
There are 10 countries in eastern Europe.
How many countries are in Europe ?
There are 10 countries in eastern Europe.
- Belarus
- Bulgaria
- Czech Republic
- Hungary
- Moldova
- Poland
- Romania
- Russian Federation
- Slovakia
- Ukraine
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Faroe Islands
- Finland
- Greenland
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Northern Ireland
- Norway
- Scotland
- Sweden
- United Kingdom
- Wales
- Albania
- Andorra
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Italy
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Montenegro
- Portugal
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovania
- Spain
- Turkey
- Vatican City
- Austria
- Belgium
- France
- Germany
- Liechtenstein
- Luxembourg
- Monaco
- Netherlands
- Switzerland
Plato and the Thirty tyrrants
One of the main characters in Greek history is Plato the philosopher.
Here's an attempt at understanding Plato and the thirty tyrrants who ruled Athens after the Peloponnesian war ended.
Some notes come from AE Taylor (1869-1945) - British philosopher, writer and educator, Oxford educated. Books include
About Plato he writes that the life story of the Greek philosopher is recounted by Apuleius in about 200 AD and then by Diogenes of Laerte in about 250 AD. Further attempts at writing biographies about Plato come in about 600 AD with the neo-platonic age.
Plato himself only writes two facts about his life, states Taylor.
Xenophon, the contemporary of Plato, states that the philosopher was a member of the inner Socrates circle.
Aristotle tells that Plato had been a pupil of Cratylus the Heracitean philosopher before meeting up with Socrates.
Plato is born at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, in 427 BC. He dies at the age of 81 in 346 BC. (mentioned in the work of Diogenes).
The Peloponnesian war was fought in three stages from 431 BC to 404 BC and reshaped the Greek world. It was a war fought with the empire of Athens going up against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta.
Wars
Phase One - Archidamian war ends with the Peace of Nicias treaty ( 431-421)
Phase two - not named by Taylor starts in 415 BC
Phase three - Decelean war - aka. Ionian war
At the beginning of the war Athens is one of the most powerful city-states in Greece. By the end of the war Athens is left nearly powerless and suzerains to the now powerful Spartans.
Athens had been attempting to live in a democracy.
Sparta meanwhile was going to lead by the rules of oligarchy.
The Athenian democracy had started some 50 years earlier when the Delian league, a group of city-states who’d fought for sovereignty against the Persian and who’d chosen to keep their treasury on the island of Delos, began to conquer and influence all of Greece. However they Delian league never got into the politics of the Spartan who were themselves working with the Peloponnesian league.
Greece had been invaded by Persia in 480 BC.
Plato and the thirty tyrants is a story that unfolds when the golden age of Greece is said to end.
Who were the thirty tyrants ?
Did Athens recover from the might of the oligarchs from Sparta who were known as the Council of Thirty ?
We look at that in a future post....
Here's an attempt at understanding Plato and the thirty tyrrants who ruled Athens after the Peloponnesian war ended.
Some notes come from AE Taylor (1869-1945) - British philosopher, writer and educator, Oxford educated. Books include
- elements of metaphysics
- Plato
- The Mind of Plato
- Platonism and its influence
- Plato and the Authorship of the Epinomis
- The Faith of a Moralist
- more
Plato himself only writes two facts about his life, states Taylor.
- In Apology, Plato states “ present in the court of my master Socrates and he was one of the friends who offered to be surety for payment of any fine which might be imposed on the old philosopher.
- In Phaedo, “ absent from the famous death scene in the prison, owing to an illness....
Xenophon, the contemporary of Plato, states that the philosopher was a member of the inner Socrates circle.
Aristotle tells that Plato had been a pupil of Cratylus the Heracitean philosopher before meeting up with Socrates.
Plato is born at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, in 427 BC. He dies at the age of 81 in 346 BC. (mentioned in the work of Diogenes).
The Peloponnesian war was fought in three stages from 431 BC to 404 BC and reshaped the Greek world. It was a war fought with the empire of Athens going up against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta.
Wars
Phase One - Archidamian war ends with the Peace of Nicias treaty ( 431-421)
- Sparta invades Attica more than once
- Athens mighty navy raids the Peloponnese coast in the hopes of putting an end to civil unrest
Phase two - not named by Taylor starts in 415 BC
- fighting breaks out in the Peloponnese
- Athens attacks Syracuse in Sicily and lose the entire fleet by 413 BC.
Phase three - Decelean war - aka. Ionian war
- Persian forces ally with Sparta and subdue Athens
- Persian and Peloponnese League destroy Athens fleet
 |
| Plato and Aristotle ________ Interesting long bearded Plato maybe he was an early lombard ??? |
Athens had been attempting to live in a democracy.
Sparta meanwhile was going to lead by the rules of oligarchy.
The Athenian democracy had started some 50 years earlier when the Delian league, a group of city-states who’d fought for sovereignty against the Persian and who’d chosen to keep their treasury on the island of Delos, began to conquer and influence all of Greece. However they Delian league never got into the politics of the Spartan who were themselves working with the Peloponnesian league.
Greece had been invaded by Persia in 480 BC.
Plato and the thirty tyrants is a story that unfolds when the golden age of Greece is said to end.
Who were the thirty tyrants ?
Did Athens recover from the might of the oligarchs from Sparta who were known as the Council of Thirty ?
We look at that in a future post....
Monday, October 4, 2010
Italy before being a European Union nation
What was Italy like before joining the EU and before being one of the current seventeen nations that trade the Euro?
Italia, with the magnificence of its eternal city of Roma, offers some of the most interesting history on the planet.
A common question about the ancient history of Italy is whether or the history of Italy is the history of Rome. Italy as we know it today is a peninsula with the Alps forming the north and northwest boundary, the Adriatic sea being the east border, the Mediterranean on the south, and Mare Tyrrhenum or the Tyrrhenian sea forming the western border. The Alps form a natural barrier which seperates Italy from the rest of Europe. From Mont Blanc to the sea the mountains which peak in places at 15 thousand feet above sea level formed a natural defense for the ancient cultures of this peninsula. The Appenines (maritime Alps ) are another mountain range which adds to the Italian landscape. On the Mediterranean side the Islands of Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia also play a major role in the historical development of the Eternal City of Rome and of Italy. Fresh water rivers such as the Po and the Athesis are fed by tributary streams like the Duria, and the Trebia. Italian fresh water lakes mark the landscape along these waterways.
From the time of the ice age to the Holocene period (c. 10 BC ) there were frequent periods where glaciers either formed or retreated from the Alps and Apennines. Hunter gathering cave dwellers shifted with these climatic changes. There is half a million years of prehistory in the Italian peninsula. Sometime between 10 thousand years ago and six thousand years ago the early Italians became agricultural city dwellers, capable of raising animals, weaving textiles, and building clay structures and wooden sea fairing vessels. Cultures such as the Veneto, the Campignian, the Gargano, and others advance into the copper age and the bronze age.
By 1000 BC the are into the iron age as are the neighbouring Greeks and Phoenician and others. About this time the Etruscan civilization is developing and occupying lands. The Veneti culture is older. While Venitian is a romantic language it is not the original language of the Veniti culture. This Veniti cultural language looks more like a precursor to Latin and as similarities to some Celtic and Germanic languages ( wikipedia ). The Adriatic Veneti go on to battle the Celts and the Greeks and later ally with the Romans in the Second Punic War. The origin of the Veneti culture is likely the Eneti people mentioned by Homer in the Iliad. Other ancients who mention assimilations of the Enotoi and Veneti include Titus Livius and Pliny the Elder.
The Etruscans are more mystical in nature. The people of Etruria are the Tyrrhenians and they were an advanced culture which predate the Romans. Once Rome was established the Etruscans seem to have conquered the Eternal city for a time. What art and architecture is left of these mysterious people seems to show some Greek influence. In the end the Etruscans, like the Veneti, were assimilated in the Roman empire.
Since history is open to interpretation then here is our take on the Etruscans. It is pure speculation however. Herodotus mentions that the Etruscans are a revolutionary group who took stem from Anatolia and who invaded Etruria sometime between 1000 and 800 BC. Another legend goes that the god Mars, through the magic of poiesis, created Remus and Romulus. These two brothers were revolutionaries who went on to build the foundation of a new culture. Remus and Romulus needed a city to promote their sovereignty and they argued about the name of this city. In the heat of the argument Romulus kills Remus and names his eternal city Roma.
Could Remus and Romulus have been Etruscans or separatists from a Greek influenced people from Anatolia who were looking to build a new breed of people ? It's all just speculation..............and it's all just politics.....
The Etruscans were chased from Rome in 509 BC states the story of the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus. And thus began in earnest the process of unifying Italy. ( see Etruscans )
However this is but the first attempt at unifying the Italian peninsula and not the political and military events of the 1800's which led to the Italian Risorgimento or Italian Unification and Kingdom of Italy founded in 1861.
Here's a quick tour of what happens in the Italian peninsula from 800 BC to 1800 AD.
Twentieth Century Italy.
In WW1 Italy allies itself with Britain and France who promise all types of global real estate concessions upon victory. By the end of WW1 Italy is not receiving payment and suffered economically much like Germany when the Deustche Mark hit hyperinflation. Like in Germany where Hitler came to the rescue, Mussolini found means of generating an economy inside Italy.
In 1922 Mussolini is building is reputation by working to expand the pre war Italian conquests. He is looking to Africa and the Ottoman Empire.
In WWII as a socialist military strategist he allies himself and his countrymen to the Nazi Germans when the trio group Italy, Germany, and Austria-Hungary are formed. This may seem strange when one considers that only a few years before the Italian found independence from Austrian rule through the Risorgimento. However, Austria had recently been purged into the German Nazi web. Mussolini was head of government for the Kingdom of Italy and his socialist political intents are said to have paved the way for full out fascism. He was the leader of National Fascist Party. He had joint control of the Italian military with Vittorio Emanuele III, son of the risorgimento newly elected king. Mussolini was intent on reviving the Roman Empire.
In 1940 the Italian Prime Minister Mussolini declares war on France and Britain. In 1943 Mussolini, the wantabee Hitler, loses all political support from the King Emanuele III who had him arrested and imprisoned. However, Hitler's Nazi came and rescued Mussolini and put him back to work towards building the new Roman Empire. They were now going against Italy.
After the war Italians were immigrating out of Italy towards places like Australia and America in order to get away from the horrendous living conditions. Italy is under reconstruction and many people are unemployed. Many Lira's are being made available by the government for infrastructure projects like running water and sewers but it is a slow process.
By 1957 the Kingdom of Italy joins itself to the European Economic Community which makes Italy one of the six founding members of the European Union.
In 1962 the Vatican under Pope John XIII the right to Italian freedom of democratic government as per the conscience of the voting public
In 1999 Italy adopts the Euro as it's currency of trade both inside the nation and on the international markets. It is amongst the first of the seventeen nations of the Eurozone to replace its fiat currency which up to 1999 was the Italian Lira.
Italia, with the magnificence of its eternal city of Roma, offers some of the most interesting history on the planet.
A common question about the ancient history of Italy is whether or the history of Italy is the history of Rome. Italy as we know it today is a peninsula with the Alps forming the north and northwest boundary, the Adriatic sea being the east border, the Mediterranean on the south, and Mare Tyrrhenum or the Tyrrhenian sea forming the western border. The Alps form a natural barrier which seperates Italy from the rest of Europe. From Mont Blanc to the sea the mountains which peak in places at 15 thousand feet above sea level formed a natural defense for the ancient cultures of this peninsula. The Appenines (maritime Alps ) are another mountain range which adds to the Italian landscape. On the Mediterranean side the Islands of Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia also play a major role in the historical development of the Eternal City of Rome and of Italy. Fresh water rivers such as the Po and the Athesis are fed by tributary streams like the Duria, and the Trebia. Italian fresh water lakes mark the landscape along these waterways.
From the time of the ice age to the Holocene period (c. 10 BC ) there were frequent periods where glaciers either formed or retreated from the Alps and Apennines. Hunter gathering cave dwellers shifted with these climatic changes. There is half a million years of prehistory in the Italian peninsula. Sometime between 10 thousand years ago and six thousand years ago the early Italians became agricultural city dwellers, capable of raising animals, weaving textiles, and building clay structures and wooden sea fairing vessels. Cultures such as the Veneto, the Campignian, the Gargano, and others advance into the copper age and the bronze age.
By 1000 BC the are into the iron age as are the neighbouring Greeks and Phoenician and others. About this time the Etruscan civilization is developing and occupying lands. The Veneti culture is older. While Venitian is a romantic language it is not the original language of the Veniti culture. This Veniti cultural language looks more like a precursor to Latin and as similarities to some Celtic and Germanic languages ( wikipedia ). The Adriatic Veneti go on to battle the Celts and the Greeks and later ally with the Romans in the Second Punic War. The origin of the Veneti culture is likely the Eneti people mentioned by Homer in the Iliad. Other ancients who mention assimilations of the Enotoi and Veneti include Titus Livius and Pliny the Elder.
The Etruscans are more mystical in nature. The people of Etruria are the Tyrrhenians and they were an advanced culture which predate the Romans. Once Rome was established the Etruscans seem to have conquered the Eternal city for a time. What art and architecture is left of these mysterious people seems to show some Greek influence. In the end the Etruscans, like the Veneti, were assimilated in the Roman empire.
Since history is open to interpretation then here is our take on the Etruscans. It is pure speculation however. Herodotus mentions that the Etruscans are a revolutionary group who took stem from Anatolia and who invaded Etruria sometime between 1000 and 800 BC. Another legend goes that the god Mars, through the magic of poiesis, created Remus and Romulus. These two brothers were revolutionaries who went on to build the foundation of a new culture. Remus and Romulus needed a city to promote their sovereignty and they argued about the name of this city. In the heat of the argument Romulus kills Remus and names his eternal city Roma.
Could Remus and Romulus have been Etruscans or separatists from a Greek influenced people from Anatolia who were looking to build a new breed of people ? It's all just speculation..............and it's all just politics.....
The Etruscans were chased from Rome in 509 BC states the story of the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus. And thus began in earnest the process of unifying Italy. ( see Etruscans )
 |
| Adalaide of Italy - image courtesy Wikimedia |
Here's a quick tour of what happens in the Italian peninsula from 800 BC to 1800 AD.
- 753 BC Rome is founded
- 616 BC Tarquinius is crowned
- 534 BC Tarquinius II rises to power
- 509 BC Rome becomes a Republic and the main player in Latium
- 400 BC Gauls plunder Rome
- 334 BC ++ Rome conquers and colonized through the Samnitic wars
- 280 BC Roman coins are circulating
- 264 BC Carthago wars begin
- 100 BC Ally wars and civil wars lead to the dictatorship of Sulla and the rebellions of Spartacus
- 49 BC Caesar becomes new dictator but is killed in 44 BC which leads to the election of Augustus ( Octovianus ) to the rank of Emperor of Rome.
- Rome is rocked by the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD
- 97 AD human sacrifice is outlawed throughout Roman Empire
- Christian persecution is widespread until Constantine becomes Emperor in c. 324 AD - capital is moved to Constantinople 330 AD in Anatolia near Byzantium
- The Roman Empire begins a great division where east is centred around Constantinople and west is ruled by a western emperor and vandals plunder Rome.
- 402 AD Imperial court is moved to Ravenna
- 476 AD Fall of the Western Roman Empire and Romulus Augustus is last Western Emperor.
- c. 500 AD Rome looks to Frankish kingdom and British legion for protection and Theodoric the Great king of the Ostrogoths becomes king of Italy
- Rise of Papal power in Italy begins with the monk Gregory who established six monasteries in Sicily. Gregory is born in c. 540 AD and does is missionary work on the island of Britain
- 540 AD Greco-Roman Byzantium reconquers Italy in Gothic Wars
- 551 AD Lombard King Aistulf captures court city of Ravenna
- 568 to 774 AD Lombard Kings rule Italy - lombards = longobards or men with long beards - start out as Aryan or a mix of community oriented belief but end up accepting Catholicism
- 590 AD Gregory the Monk becomes Gregory I, the Great pope and lord of the city of the Eternal City of Rome
- 774 AD Charlemagne the Frank monarch conquers the northern Italy Lombards and is crowned Emperor of Rome in 800 AD by Pope Leo III at St Peters Basilica
- Under Charlemagne and his successors Italy is part of the Frankish empire.
- c. 850 AD northern Italy is again an independent kingdom
- 950 AD Adelaide, daughter of Rudolf II of Burgundy, consort wife of Otto the Great Holy Roman Emperor, inherits Italy which becomes linked to the German estates and remains this way until the end of the middle ages during which time Holy Roman Emperors rule out of Germany
- Lombard leagues continue to exist and Lombard duchies grow wealthy in the north where cities are left to self styled governments ( vassals to the German based Emperors ). They will eventually move their estates out of feudalism and make them Republics
- The Hohenstaufen German ruling Roman Emperors gain the throne of Italy in the late 1200's which is a crown of the Normans and includes Naples and the island of Sicily and which is associated to the popes who are Catholic oriented
- Middle ages is a period of Holy Crusades and the Catholic popes have a certain amount of power in dictating who is considered the Holy Roman Emperor - an ongoing battle between popes from the south and emperors from the north - a battle between Guelphs and Ghibellines - feudal Italy
- 1389 AD Cosimo the Medici, a wealthy Florentinian leads the Renaissance through institutions like the Platonic Academy which is a revival of the philosophical foundation of the Classical Greek Plato.
- 1449 AD Lorenzo de Medici, son of Cosimo, openly rules as a totalitarian ruler. Pope Leo X is counted amongs his many children.
- 1453 AD conquest of Constantinople can be a marker for end of middle ages and beginning of Renaissance
- Renaissance in Italy begins in Tuscany in the city-states of Florence (Republic), Venice(Republic), Milan (Duchy), Naples (kingdom), and Romagna ( Papal State ).
- During the Renaissance common bankers and capitalists not of the noble class begin to redistribute wealth through commerce via the merchant class (high nobles).
- Renaissance meant returning to a classical learning style but it is a period when many human rights are abolished or downgraded - ie. slavery and human trafficking becomes more prominent, women's right are diminished.....
- Many of these slaves ended up in America via the merchant ships which followed the flags of the earliest European explorers.
- 1796 AD Napoleon Bonaparte sieges the Papal States and established French Roman Republics but papal sovereignty was soon restored - papal secular order was again the norm this highly conservative orthodoxy was not well received after the liberal french methods had been introduced and revolters (Italian Nationalists) brought on the end of the Papal States via a war with Austria ( closer to the House of Savoy and the Kingdom of Sardinia which was under the rule of Ottoman Sultans) and revolts against the northern central duchies, kingdoms, and papal states - the idea was for the creation of a single state for all Italian speaking people
- The duke of Savoy ( Savoie ) in 1720 becomes the king of Sardinia.
- In 1860 the Kingdom of Sardinia under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi set out to conquer southern Italy and the dual rulers become known as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
 |
| The Italian Totalitarian Lorenzo de Medici |
Twentieth Century Italy.
In WW1 Italy allies itself with Britain and France who promise all types of global real estate concessions upon victory. By the end of WW1 Italy is not receiving payment and suffered economically much like Germany when the Deustche Mark hit hyperinflation. Like in Germany where Hitler came to the rescue, Mussolini found means of generating an economy inside Italy.
In 1922 Mussolini is building is reputation by working to expand the pre war Italian conquests. He is looking to Africa and the Ottoman Empire.
In WWII as a socialist military strategist he allies himself and his countrymen to the Nazi Germans when the trio group Italy, Germany, and Austria-Hungary are formed. This may seem strange when one considers that only a few years before the Italian found independence from Austrian rule through the Risorgimento. However, Austria had recently been purged into the German Nazi web. Mussolini was head of government for the Kingdom of Italy and his socialist political intents are said to have paved the way for full out fascism. He was the leader of National Fascist Party. He had joint control of the Italian military with Vittorio Emanuele III, son of the risorgimento newly elected king. Mussolini was intent on reviving the Roman Empire.
In 1940 the Italian Prime Minister Mussolini declares war on France and Britain. In 1943 Mussolini, the wantabee Hitler, loses all political support from the King Emanuele III who had him arrested and imprisoned. However, Hitler's Nazi came and rescued Mussolini and put him back to work towards building the new Roman Empire. They were now going against Italy.
After the war Italians were immigrating out of Italy towards places like Australia and America in order to get away from the horrendous living conditions. Italy is under reconstruction and many people are unemployed. Many Lira's are being made available by the government for infrastructure projects like running water and sewers but it is a slow process.
By 1957 the Kingdom of Italy joins itself to the European Economic Community which makes Italy one of the six founding members of the European Union.
In 1962 the Vatican under Pope John XIII the right to Italian freedom of democratic government as per the conscience of the voting public
In 1999 Italy adopts the Euro as it's currency of trade both inside the nation and on the international markets. It is amongst the first of the seventeen nations of the Eurozone to replace its fiat currency which up to 1999 was the Italian Lira.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Estonia before it joined the European Union
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| Estonia Flag |
No such entity as Estonia existed before the twentieth century states Toivo Raun in Estonia and Estonians. In 1918 the Republic of Estonia is created.
Estonia borders the Baltic sea, Russia, and Latvia. The Estonian capital is Talinn and it is situated near the Baltic Sea and only about 100 miles across water from Helsinki, Finland.
There are less than 1.5 million people in this small Baltic country. Estonia became a member of the European Union on May 1, 2004 and it is the last of the seventeen nations to adopt the currency rules or the Eurozone or Euro area.
Much of Estonia is completely flat and the highest peak is a mere 318 meters above sea level. The average peak is 100 meters above sea level. This flat land is abundant in limestone and dolomite which is a good resource to have when construction materials are needed. However the economy of Estonia is based on the production of electronic and telecommunication gadgets. It's main trading partners are neighbouring countries such as Finland, Sweden, and Germany. The gross domestic products are 3 percent agricultural, 71 percent services, and 26 percent industry.
About 70 percent of Estonians speak a Uralic language while about 25 percent of the population speaks Russian.
Eurasia was populated by the earliest of humans. The Finno-Ugric emerged in the area where Estonia is today. In about 9000 BC gatherer hunters find resources around the River Parnu and the Kunda culture begins to develop around lakes like Peipsi and Vortsjar.
Recall that 9000 BC is when the period of the great floods occuring. It is the beginning of the Holocene period and the ice is giving way to land. Flash floods would certainly have been a hazard of pre-Estonians for many centuries.
Bronze working appears in about 1800 BC and during the Viking age the Kundra culture mixes heavily with Germanic tribes and Scandinavian tribes. Cattle raising, seal hunting, seems to lead the trade potential of these early Estonians who are now very able in using the dolomite and limestone quaries to their constructions. With wealth comes a need to defend sovereignty and fortified settlements begin to emerge. In about 500 BC Estonia enters the iron age. In this age of iron working the Estonian are also advancing their funerary rituals and "Celtic fields", or underground enclosed burial graves are replacing the earlier "burial mounds".
The Romans make their appearance in the first centuries AD. The Estonians are placed on trading routes between Scandinavia and Byzantium. While the Estonians are more into raising animals than into agriculture they nonetheless have surpluses of grains which they export in about 1200 AD.
In the 1700's Russian Czars became the rulers of pre-Estonian society. With the Czars of Russia came the Orthodox Russian Church. This period is marked by places of worship like the Alexander Nevski cathedral in Tulinn.
In 1945 the Soviets occupy the Republic of Estonia and religious worshippers were persecuted. This religious repression continued into the 1980's. The fight for indepence sees a resurgence of the Lutheran movement.
The currency of Estonia before it joined the European Union and adopted the Euro was the Estii Kroon which was broken into 100 senti. The Kroon replaced the Ruble in 1992 and became pegged to the Euro.
Albert I of Germany
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| Rex Albert I of Germany |
From his mother's bloodline, Duke Albrecht blood reaches into the bloodline of the kings of the German dynasty. Gertrude is the daughter of Count Buchard V of Hohenberg and his wife Mechntild of Tubingen.
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| House of Habsburg Coat of Arms (wikimedia) |
Albert I of Habsburg is the eldest son and goes on to inherit the kings crown for Germany but not on the death of his father. When Rudolf I dies his crown goes to Adolf of Nassau-Weiburg. Albert I does become King of the Roman later when Adolf met his death in the Battle of Golheim (1298).
Albert marries Elizabeth who is of the bloodline of the Babenberg. This lineage stretches farther back than the Habsburg bloodline.
Albert and Gertrude have about ten children.
He is said to be the founder of the great house of Habsburg in some books.
Albert I dies in 1308 and he is succeeded as King of Germany by Henry VII. He is succeeded as Margrave of Mai(b)en by Friedrich II. He is succeeded as Duke of Austria and Styria by Frederick III the Fair and Leopald I.
Sidenote - A Graf is the equivalent of a Count. A Margrave is a noblemam of the mediavel period who inherited the military responsibility of defending a bordered land or province within a kingdom. A duke
Rudolf Von Hapsburg
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| cenotaph Rudolf von Hapsburg |
The name is synonymous to a system of monarchy which ruled parts of Europe for some 400 years. The Habsburg Empire ends in 1918.
The story of the House of Habsburg starts in 1250 BC when the faith of the Roman empire is passed into the hands a new lord. The Hohenstaufen dynasty is a time when German kings rule the Roman Empire. It's a period that lasts between 1138 and 1254 BC. The Hohenstaufen dynasty is often referred to as the German dynasty.
Some Habsburg had served as Counts to the German kings in parts of what is now Switzerland and south-west Germany.
A legitimate successor to the deceased German King Frederick II ( Holy Roman Emperor ) was being looked for. The gap in time to find this new Roman Emperor is called an interregna (between reigns ) and lasted some 20 years.
Count Rudolf Hapsburg is gaining wealth and territory in this period and is crowned as king in 1273. History has it that since the time of Constantine the papacy has had a lot of power in dictating who will be named the Holy Roman Emperor.
Count Rudolf von Hapsburg becomes a king of the Romans in 1273 but not "the" king of the Holy Roman Empire. He makes several pacts with pope Gregory X which are contracts to leave the powers of several Roman Empire territories in the rule of others.
King Rudolf sets up the stage for what would later become the Hapsburg dynasty. Rudolf Von Hapsburg begins life as Rudolph the fourth. Later he would become Rudolph I of Germany.
Rudolf Von Hapsburg lives from 1218 to 1291.
The Habsburg influency is continued by Albert I of Germany, Hartmann, and Duke Rudolf II of Austria.
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| Entry of Emperor Rudolf of Germany into Basle - painted by Pforr ( German Romantic Painter 1788-1812 ) |
What is the EuroMed ?
Travellers in Europe often use the EuRail system. The Euromed is one such train service. Euromed travels on a train line that runs through Barcelona, Valencia, and Alacant.
Other similar trains are the Altaria, and the Alaris. Eurail passes can be purchased for first class or second class transportation. Eurail services no less than 25 countries in Europe and Eurail passes are available for each of these European countries.
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| What is Euromed ? It is a rail service in Europe. |
Other similar trains are the Altaria, and the Alaris. Eurail passes can be purchased for first class or second class transportation. Eurail services no less than 25 countries in Europe and Eurail passes are available for each of these European countries.
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