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Malta

2010-03-10T03:48:00.000-08:00

The Alphabet: The Maltese Alphabet has 29 letters, made up of 5 vowels, 1 semivowel, 22 consonants and għ:

Vowels Pronounced example
a ah, as in bar raġel = man
e eh, “ bet sena = year
i ee “ been id = hand
o oh “ hot ħobż = bread
u oo “ mood huta = a fish

semi-vowel: ie Pron. eeh bieb = door

Consonants: pron. example

b b as in bit biċċa = a piece
ċ ch “ church ċiċra = chickpea
d d “ dig dar = house
f f “ fig far = a rat
g g “ garden granċ = a crab
ġ j “ jelly ġnien = garden
h mute as h in ah hu = he
ħ h as in hot ħawħa = a peach
j y “ yell bejta = nest
k k “ kill kelb = dog
l l “ lap linja = line
m m “ map mappa = map
n n “ nun pinna = pen
p p “ pipe pipa = pipe
q (no english equivalent)
pron. like a soft k qolla = a pitcher
r r (rolled) rig riga = riga
s s as in sun sinna = tooth
t t “ ten tina = a fig
v v “ veil velu = veil
w w “ win warda = flower
x sh “ sheep xatba = a gate
z ts “ tsar zalza - sauce
ż z “ zebra żunżan = a wasp

għ called għajn is mut. It is used with vowels to prolong their sound
Ex. għada (tomorrow); għeneb = grapes; għid = say; għonq = neck;
għuda = a piece of wood
There is no “y” in the Maltese alphabet. “j” is used instead.

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History

Malta is situated in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, halfway between Gibraltar and Alexandria, and Sicily and North Africa. Thus it has always been at the cross-roads of the trading and warring routes of this land-locked sea.

Malta is chiefly composed of limestone with no hills higher than 300 metres and no rivers. On the South-West side it is guarded by high cliffs whilst on the North-East side the shore is indented with sheltered harbours. These proved to be very attractive to the sailors and navigators that sailed the Mediterranean.

The origin of Maltese history goes back to some 4500 years BC, when some people from the neighbouring island of Sicily, who could see the island lying on the horizon, decided to cross the narrow waters to investigate. This obviously could not have happened unless these people had skills in sailing or rowing some form of craft which was large enough to carry with them their belongings, which included such animals as sheep, goats and cattle, as well as seeds like wheat and barley.

These people settled on the island and sheltered in the many caves which exist there. The earliest inhabited cave is called 'Ghar-Dalam', the cave of darkness, where remains of these people and their artefacts give us an insight into their way of life. They cultivated the land, growing wheat and barley and practised animal husbandry.

Around 3500 BC they started to build large buildings the like of which were not to be found anywhere else. They kept in touch with their cousins in Sicily obtaining from them obsidian and flint with which they could make tools to help them work the stones. These buildings, of which there are fifteen , are spread across the island. They are the oldest existing megalithic structures known to man - places like Hagar Qim, Mnajdra, Tarxien, etc. antedate the pyramids and Stonehenge by some 1000 years. This Neolithic peril about 1800 years, when, for no explicable reason, it ended abruptly. Nobody knows what happened, but famine, over population and disease could have been possible causes.

Around 1200 BC Phoenicia started to expand her empire. The Phoenicians were traders and great mariners who sailed their ships along the shores of the Mediterranean. They sailed to England where they traded tin. It is said that they circumnavigated the continent of Africa. They settled on the North coast of Africa and established a city called Carthage. They also settled on the West coast of Sicily and in Malta. Indeed, the name 'Malta' is said to be derived from the Phoenician word 'Maleth', meaning refuge. Their stay in Malta was to last for 320 years. Conceivably the roots of the Maltese language derive from this Phoenician period. The Phoenicians also introduced glass making and weaving and built temples were they could worship their gods.

Meanwhile, the city of Carthage grew in size and strength and eventually carved out an empire which covered the North African coast to the west of Carthage, and included Spain, Sardinia, Western Sicily and Malta. The Carthaginians got into difficulties with the Greeks in Eastern Sicily and with the arrival of Rome on the political scene during the 3rd century BC it was inevitable that the two nations would wage war for mastery of the area. Three wars, known as the Punic Wars, were fought from 264 to 146 BC ending with the fall of Carthage, and with Rome becoming supreme in the Central and Western Mediterranean. Malta became part of the Roman Empire during the 2nd Punic War (c. 218 BC) and remained part of the empire till the Vandals raided the islands in AD 395. One event of great importance to the Maltese took place in AD 5 8, when St. Paul, who was on his way to Rome as a prisoner, was shipwrecked on the Island. He stayed for three months during which time he introduced Christianity to the people. The Maltese take great pride in saying that they were one of the first nations to accept Christianity as their faith - but that is another story.

We now enter a dark period in Maltese history, the period from AD 395 to 535. No records exist as to what happened during that time. Rome fell the Vandals in AD 455 and it is quite likely that towards the end of the 4th century, Malta too became part of the Ostrogothic Kingdom centred in Rome In AD 535, Malta was conquered by General Belissarius the Byzantine to form part of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, till the arrival of the Arabs.

Islam started with the Hegira, when Mohammed fled from Mecca to Medina in AD 622. Before long his followers spread across North Africa into Spain and across the Pyrenees. Their expansion into Europe was stopped by the French King Charles Martel at Tours in AD 732, just one hundred years after the death of Mohammed. They invaded and captured Palermo in AD 832 and in 870 they invaded Malta. Once again Malta came in contact with a new and vigorous Semitic people.

Unfortunately, very little documentation relating to the two centuries of Arab rule in Malta survives today. Indeed, Arab influence in Malta lasted much longer, since the Normans, who invaded in 1090 and took over the island from the Arabs, were indeed enlightened people and they tolerated the presence of the Arabs in the island. In fact, Count Roger never garrisoned the islands. Arab influence remained more or less unrestricted till about 1224, when the Muslims were finally expelled. The chief legacy of the Arab occupation in Malta must be the Maltese language itself, which has many elements of Arabic.

Legends about the coming of Count Roger and the Normans to Malta are numerous, but most probably unfounded. Count Roger is said to have given Malta her flag based on the Hauteville colours. He is reputed to have re-Christianised the Maltese, established churches, re-appointed a bishop and even expelled the Arabs. All of this is doubtful. However, the Normans' presence opened the door for the re-Europeanisation of the Maltese people. The so-called Norman Period lasted till 1194 and though the Normans left many treasures and architecture in Sicily, hardly any relics of this period exist in Malta.

Following the death of King Roger II in 1154, a series of political struggles ensued. William the Good died childless in 1189 and a dispute arose over his successor. The rightful heir was the daughter of Roger 1, Constance, who was married to Henry VI, son of the German Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa. However, the Pope had other ideas. Fearing the penetration of the Germans in Sicily and Southern Italy, the church threw its support with Tancred. He was crowned king in 1190. However, he did not last long because Henry VI, through a series of intrigues within Tancred's court, acquired Sicily in 1194. Thus Malta became part of the German Kingdom under Frederick II - the Hohenstaufen rule. The Arabs were finally expelled from Sicily and Malta after an uprising in 1224.

Following the death of Frederick II in 1250, the Hohenstaufen dynasty declined very rapidly. Many of Frederick's enemies, including the church, were keen to rid Sicily and Southern Italy of the Germans. Sixteen years of plots and counterplots eventually brought a new master to Malta. In 1266, Pope Clement finally achieved his objective and proclaimed Charles of Anjou as King of Sicily.

Although the period of Angevin rule over Malta was short-lived (1266-1283), it is from this point onward that Malta shifted into the European scheme of government and administration. Because of high taxation, moves were made in Sicily to restore the island to Aragon, the rightful heirs to the crown of Sicily. Things came to a head in 1282 with the Sicilian uprising against the French, known as the Sicilian Vespers, which led to a bloody massacre of the French. The Aragonese took immediate advantage and installed Peter of Aragon as ruler of Sicily and Malta.

The Aragonese period in Malta was to last for 130 years. During that time the Maltese people suffered the indignity of having their island handed from one noble to another as a fief for various services rendered to the king. These individuals increased taxation which led to local unrest amongst the people. Malta remained at the mercy of these powerful Sicilian magnates, like the Alagonas and the Moncadas. It was not till 1397 that the local council for Malta and Gozo, the Universita, made a strong petition to the crown for the islands to be restored to direct rule by the King.

In 1412, Ferdinand de Antequera was elected King of Aragon, Castille and Sicily, the first Castillian to ever occupy the throne. In 1421, King Alfonso granted the Maltese islands and all the revenue from them to Don Antonio Cardona in exchange for a loan of 30,000 gold florins. He then transferred his right over Malta and Gozo to Don Gonsalvo Monroy. The Maltese disagreed with this arrangement. After five years they finally rebelled. In 1426 they pillaged Monroy's house in Mdina and laid siege to his castle at Birgu. The Maltese bought back the island for 30,000 florins. They also insisted on radical reforms including one that said that the islands wore never to be ceded again by the crown. Alfonso agreed to these reforms and finally ratified them in a Royal Charter in 1428.

In 1479, Ferdinand II married Isabella of Castille. Their daughter Joanna married Philip Archduke of Austria. In 1518, the Habsburg dynasty was consolidated when their son Charles V, became the Holy Roman Emperor. Through the intercession of Pope Clement VIII, he granted Malta, Gozo and Tripoli to the homeless Order of St. John in 1530.

The Order of St. John came to Malta after the loss of Rhodes in 1522. They had been in Rhodes since 1309. Before that they were in the Holy Land where the Order was established in 1099 by Blessed Gerard to look after the pilgrims and the crusaders. The main enemy now was Turkey. The Ottomans were the dread of the Christian powers bordering the Mediterranean and the Balkans. Malta was becoming of supreme strategic importance for the control of the Mediterranean against the alarming growth of Muslim power. In 1547 the Turks made an unexpected attack on Malta and Gozo, taking many prisoners. The attack that followed in 1551 was more serious, for they ransacked Gozo and made off with 5000 prisoners. The Order was convinced that they must prepare the defences of the island for a bigger invasion. Soon afterwards, in 1565, a great Turkish armada appeared off the coast of Malta, starting what is now called The Great Siege of Malta, which was to last for four long months. When it was finally raised on the 7th September of the same year, many knights and Maltese had lost their lives, as did many Turks.

After the siege a new city was built, called Valletta in honour of the Grand Master who led the Order through the siege. This was to be a modem, fortified city, and eventually a city of culture and commerce. The city grew and so did the wealth of the Order. The threat of Turkish invasion was ever present. In 1572 the Turkish fleet was defeated by the Christian powers, including the Order, led by Don Juan of Austria at the battle of Lepanto.

In the years that followed, Valletta became an impregnable fortress, housing imposing palaces and churches. It also became a flourishing centre for trade and learning. Successive Grandmasters initiated grand projects, such as the building of many fortifications, aqueducts and a university, where the teaching of anatomy and surgery took place.

As time went by, however, the Order began to decline. The haughtiness and despotism of some of the Grandmasters upset the Maltese, leading to the famous Rebellion of the Priests, led by Mannarino in 1775 during the magistery of Ximenes de Texada. After the death of Grandmaster de Rohan (1797) the Order elected Ferdinand von Hompesch as its leader.

The situation in Europe at the time was explosive. The French revolution had changed the face of Europe and through the influence of Napoleon Bonaparte, 'The Directory' gave him permission to invade Egypt and take Malta in the process. In 1798 he invaded Malta and expelled the Order. Thus ended 268 years of rule by the Order of St. John.

French rule in Malta lasted only two years. The Maltese rebelled within three months of their arrival, besieging them in Valletta, from where, with the help of the British, they were finally ousted in 1800. The British occupied the island and for the next fifteen years the fate of Malta was undecided. The Maltese did not want the knights back and Britain was quite undecided as to whether it wanted to stay in Malta, but equally Britain did not want either the French or the Russians, who had their eyes on Malta for quite a while, to occupy the islands. The Maltese finally made up their mind and asked the British to stay. In the treaty of Paris, the occupation of Malta by the British was finally recognised. This was legalised in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna.

The Maltese got used to British rule but it was not long before the Maltese appealed to the British for equal participation in the running of their island. Mitrovich and Sceberras made extraordinary efforts for this cause, as a result of which a Council of Government was set up in 1835, a small beginning along the road to representative government.

Despite slow progress in the field of constitutional reform, Malta moved ahead, particularly in defence and imperial strategy. Malta benefited from increased defence spending by Britain. The dockyards were enlarged with five new dry docks being completed by 187 1. Malta prospered.

The Crimean War (1854-56) again brought considerable military activity to the island and Malta's importance as a supply station and as a naval base was unquestionable. When steam replaced sails, and after the opening of the Suez canal, Malta thrived. She was now on the highway between Europe and the East. With every ship calling, the grand harbour became a beehive of activity from which everybody benefited.

As usual the island's prosperity was quickly reflected in a dramatic rise in the population. This would continue well into the 20th century. From 114,000 in 1842, the population rose to 124,000 by 1851. Twenty years later it would reach 140,000 and it would more than double by the advent of World War II. With each increase, the problem of congestion, especially in the urban areas of Valletta and the Three Cities, would become serious. Attempts were made to encourage the people to move to the newer suburbs and the older towns and villages. Despite the prosperity, employment for the ever increasing work force would not always be available. Emigration schemes were introduced which initially were not successful. However, towards the end of the century, with the trade boom on the decline and Malta's fortune ebbing, the Maltese started to emigrate, mainly to North Africa.

The political situation in Malta before World War I was increasingly overshadowed by the economic gloom that engulfed the island. The position deteriorated over a long time due to competition from other well-equipped ports in the Mediterranean. Government revenue from the slower activities in Malta's ports was falling steeply. It became clear that Malta's dependence on Britain's military spending was a severe handicap. Whenever there was a cut in defence spending, the people suffered.

The winds of change in Europe and the gathering clouds of war also weighed heavily over Malta, and when World War I broke out, the people rallied to the allied cause. The naval dockyards again came into their own - but at the close of the war Malta had to once more face reality. There were to be severe cutbacks in defence spending. Much hardship and distress followed. Men were discharged from the army and naval establishments, unemployment soared and inflation ate its way into the miserable pay packets. There were strikes and protests. On the 7th June 1919 a huge and angry crowd gathered in Valletta for one of the meetings of the assembly. The pent-up frustration of the people suddenly exploded into a riot. The mob got out of control and caused much damage. Troops were called in and they opened fire. Five men were killed.

In 1921 Malta achieved responsible government. Under a new constitution she was to have a legislative assembly composed of 32 elected members and an upper house of 16 members. All internal domestic affairs were to be in the hands of the Maltese with Britain retaining responsibility for foreign affairs and defence.

Germany started the Second World War in September 1939. Malta was soon in the thick of it, once again coveted for its great strategic position in the Mediterranean. She was bombed very heavily by the Italian and German air forces and after two and a half years of never-ending air raids, the bravery, heroism and sacrifice of its people were recognised when King George VI awarded the Maltese people the George Cross Medal.

After the war Britain started the process of decolonisation. Malta too was part of that process, but her path to independence was slow and often uncertain. Self-government was restored in 1947, but the decision of the British Government to dismiss workers from the dockyards caused massive unemployment. Consequently, there began a great exodus of Malta's people to the United States, Canada and Australia, where work was available.

By 1964 a call for independence was made by the major political parties and after discussions with the British Government, an independence agreement, tied to a ten year defence and financial accord with the United Kingdom was finally approved. On 21 September 1964, Malta became a sovereign and independent nation within the Commonwealth.

Ten years later, Parliament enacted important changes to the constitution and on the 13th December 1974, Malta was declared a Republic within the Commonwealth and appointed Sir Anthony Mamo as the first Maltese President of the Republic of Malta. Five years later, the last of the British troops on the island left Malta and on 31 March 1979 the Union Jack was finally lowered. Malta had at last reached the goal for which its people had striven for many centuries - the ability to make decisions on their own for their own good and the good of their own people, without any interference from outside powers. Malta is represented at the United Nations, takes an active part in European affairs and has finally taken its rightful place amongst the nations of the world.

Lithuania

2010-02-16T04:47:00.000-08:00

Alphabet

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Map

History

Some scholars believe that Lithuanians inhabited the Baltic area as early as 2500 BC; others believe they migrated to the Baltic area about the beginning of the 1st century AD. The first reference to them by name was in AD 1009 in a medieval Prussian manuscript, the Quedlinburg Chronicle.

The Medieval Jogailan Empire
With the rise of the medieval lords in adjacent Prussia and Russia, Lithuania was constantly subject to invasion and attempted conquest. As a result, a loose federation of Lithuanian tribes was formed in the early Middle Ages.

In the 13th century AD, when the Teutonic Knights, a German militaristic religious order, were establishing their power, the Lithuanians resisted; in about 1260 they defeated the order. About a century later a dynasty of grand dukes called the Jogailans established, through conquest, a Lithuanian empire reaching from the Baltic to the Black seas.
The Lithuanian Prince Gediminas occupied Belarus and western Ukraine; his son, Grand Duke Algirdas, added the territory between Ukraine and the Black Sea.
Jogaila, the son of Algirdas, succeeded his father in 1377. In 1386 he married Jadwiga, queen of Poland, and, after accepting Christianity, was crowned Wladyslaw II Jogaila, king of Poland. Jogaila's cousin, Vytautas, revolted against him in 1390, and two years later Jogaila recognized him as vice regent. Vytautas made the grand duchy into a prestigious state, and in 1401 Jogaila created him a duke; together, the reconciled cousins decisively defeated the Teutonic Knights in 1410.
In 1447, under Casimir IV, the son of Jogaila, Lithuania and Poland were permanently allied. From 1501, with the accession of Casimir's son, Alexander I, the countries had one ruler, and in 1569 they agreed to have a common legislature and an elective king. The political union was induced by the threat of Russian conquest, but provided little protection. As a result of the partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793, and 1795, Lithuania became a part of Russia, except for a small section awarded to Prussia. Lithuanians became a completely subject people, but they staged large-scale nationalist insurrections in 1812, 1831, 1863, and 1905.

Short-Lived Independence
During World War I (1914-1918) the German army occupied Lithuania, but at the end of the war, on 16 February 1918 in Vilnius, the Council of Lithuania declared Lithuania an independent state. In August 1922 the Lithuanian constituent assembly, in session since May 1920, approved a constitution that proclaimed the country a democratic republic. Conservative and liberal factions in the Seimas collided during the next two years. On December 17, 1926, the army and nationalists, led by the conservative statesman Antanas Smetona, engineered a coup d'état. All liberals and leftists were expelled from the Seimas, which then elected Smetona president, with Augustinas Voldemaras as premier.
Following the rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany, Lithuanian-German friction over the city of Memel (now Klaipeda) increased steadily. With the outbreak of World War II and the partition of Poland by Germany and the USSR, the Lithuanian and Soviet governments concluded a mutual-assistance treaty in October 1939. A new pro-Soviet government was installed in Lithuania the following June. Shortly thereafter the Communist Working People's Bloc, the only political party allowed to function, campaigned for inclusion of Lithuania in the USSR. Political dissidents were rounded up, and the electorate voted, on July 14 and 15, 1940, in a single-slate parliamentary election. The new parliament unanimously approved a resolution requesting incorporation of Lithuania in the USSR. The Soviet government granted the request on August 3. The United States and other democratic powers, however, refused to recognize the legality of the Soviet annexation.

Soviet Republic
Large-scale anti-Soviet uprisings in Lithuania followed the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941. Unable to contend with both the revolt and the German onslaught, the Soviet forces withdrew. The Germans systematically pillaged Lithuanian resources and, as a national resistance movement developed, killed more than 200,000 people, including an estimated 165,000 Jews, were killed. The Nazis nearly exterminated the entire Jewish population, which had constituted Lithuania’s largest minority group before the war.
In the summer of 1944 the Soviets reoccupied Lithuania, which was reestablished as a Soviet republic. The Soviet government deported about 350,000 Lithuanians to labor camps in Siberia as punishment for holding anti-communist beliefs or resisting Soviet rule. In 1949 the Communist regime closed most churches, deported many priests, and prosecuted people possessing religious images. Additional deportations and a great influx of Russians and Poles into Vilnius were noted in 1956. Subsequently, Lithuania settled into comparative calm, and most nations tacitly accepted its status as a Soviet republic, although the United States never recognized its incorporation into the USSR.

Independence Renewed
In the late 1980s, rapid political changes in Eastern Europe and the USSR sparked a resurgence of Lithuanian nationalism. Independence was declared in March 1990, but the USSR used economic, political, and military pressure to keep Lithuania within the union. After Soviet Communism collapsed in August 1991, however, the central government granted independence to Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia on September 6, and all three Baltic republics were admitted to the United Nations later that month. As in several other former Soviet republics, such as Azerbaijan and Georgia, former Communists in Lithuania staged a political comeback in the post-USSR period. Although the anti-Soviet, pro-independence Sajudis coalition (the Lithuanian Movement for Reconstruction) won the country's first open parliamentary elections in February 1990 and successfully led the struggle for Lithuanian independence, the coalition could not maintain political leadership. Their popularity dropped as a result of political infighting in the coalition, a severe economic crisis caused by the disruption of trade ties with the former Soviet republics, and a worsening of international relations with neighboring countries. As a result, the Democratic Labor party (DLP; the former Communist party of Lithuania) won a majority of seats in the Seimas in February 1992, and in November 1992 Algirdas Brazauskas, the DLP leader, was elected president with 60 percent of the vote. Popular support for the new government soon declined, however, as the DLP leadership also failed to quickly solve the country's economic problems. In 1993 Lithuania became the first of the three Baltic states to be free of a Russian military presence. The last unit of Russian troops left the country on August 31 of that year. In February 1994, Lithuania joined the Partnership for Peace program, which was set up by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as a first step for countries wishing to join the alliance. In December Lithuanian troops participated in NATO exercises in Poland, the first time former Soviet republics performed joint military operations with NATO countries. In January 1995 the Seimas passed a law that made Lithuanian the official language, prompting criticism from speakers of Polish and Russian.
Lithuania and Belarus signed a mutual friendship treaty in February and in the same month Lithuania concluded a free-trade agreement with Ukraine.
In May Lithuania became an associate member of the European Union.
In local elections held in March, the DLP made a poor showing, as center-of-right opposition parties gained seats on city and district councils.
In June Brazauskas accused the opposition of replacing appointed local government officials without due process.
December 1995 Lithuania was rocked by a major banking scandal when two of its largest commercial banks, Innovation Bank and Litimpeks Bank, shut down by the government after the discovery of widespread embezzlement.
Parliament ousted the prime minister, Adolfas Slezevicius, in February 1996 when it was revealed he had withdrawn his personal savings from Innovation Bank two days before it was closed.
President Brazauskas appointed Mindaugas Stankevicius, as acting prime minister until elections could be held in June.
After a runoff general election in November 1996, the center-left DLP was replaced by a conservative coalition comprising the Homeland Union and the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party. Gediminas Vagnorius, the chairperson of the Homeland Union, was named prime minister. President Brazauskas decided not to seek reelection in January 1998, and Valdas Adamkus, a Lithuanian American ecologist, won the presidency by a narrow margin. Although nominally affiliated with the Lithuanian Center Union Party, Adamkus campaigned as an independent intent on leading Lithuania to economic success along Western lines. Vagnorius’s government focused its efforts on economic reform and expansion. However, a financial crisis in Russia in 1998 led to economic recession in Lithuania in 1999.

In 1999 President Adamkus publicly criticized the government for failing to eradicate corruption in the public sector and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Vagnorius. In May Rolandas Paksas, the mayor of Vilnius, was appointed to replace Vagnorius as prime minister, but he resigned in October in protest of the privatization sell-off of a Lithuanian petroleum refinery to a United States company. His successor, Andrius Kubilius, succeeded in reducing the budgetary deficit, and the Lithuanian economy began to make a modest recovery in 2000.

The legislative elections of October 2000 delivered a resounding defeat to the ruling Homeland Union coalition. The newly founded Liberal Union (LU), the New Union (Social Liberals), and several minor parties formed a new ruling coalition. Former prime minister Paksas, now leader of the LU, became prime minister a second time. The coalition collapsed in June 2001, however, forcing Paksas to resign. He was replaced by former president Brazauskas, who had merged his LDLP with the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) in January 2001. The enlarged party, which took the LSDP name, commanded more seats than any other party in the Seimas after the collapse of Paksas’s coalition.

President Adamkus was widely credited with guiding Lithuania to full membership in the EU and NATO. He was also at the helm of economic policies that brought Lithuania economic growth accompanied by low unemployment. Scoring high public approval ratings, Adamkus was widely expected to win a second term in the presidential elections, and he received a clear lead in the first round of voting in December 2002. In the runoff election in January 2003, however, former prime minister Paksas—the candidate of the newly formed Liberal Democratic Party—won an upset victory after waging an aggressive populist campaign.

Paksas held office for slightly more than a year. He was impeached and dismissed from office by Lithuania’s parliament in April 2004. The parliament voted for impeachment on the grounds that Paksas unlawfully granted Lithuanian citizenship in return for financial support, leaked classified information, and meddled in a privatization deal. The charges centered around his relationship with Yuri Borisov, a millionaire Russian businessman allegedly linked to organized crime in Russia who helped finance Paksas`s election campaign in 2003. Lithuania’s Constitutional Court had previously found Paksas liable to blackmail by Borisov and a danger to national security. Paksas denied any wrongdoing.

Under Lithuania’s constitution, Paksas was succeeded by the parliamentary speaker, Arturas Paulauskas. Paulauskas was to act as interim president for 2 months when the constitution mandates that new presidential elections be held.

27 June 2004 Valdas Adamkus won a priori presidental race and put on his oath on July 12 2004, becoming President of Republic of Lithuania for a second time. The first round of parliamentary elections was held October 10, 2004 and a second round was held October 24, 2004. A new government, led by Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas, took office on December 14, 2004.

Lithuania officially became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on March 29, 2004 after depositing its instruments of treaty ratification in Washington, DC. Lithuania joined the European Union on May 1, 2004.

Latvia

2009-11-19T03:39:00.000-08:00

Alphabet

A a : u sound in fun
Ā ā : a sound in father
B b : b sound in bat
C c : ts sound in bits
Č č : ch sound in chat
D d : d sound in dog
E e : e sound in red
Ē ē : ai sound in pair
F f : f sound in far
G g : g sound in gap
Ģ ģ : dy sound in duel
H h : h sound in hot
I i : i sound in fit
Ī ī : ee sound in bee
J j : y sound in yes
K k : k sound in kit
Ķ ķ : tu sound in tune
L l : l sound in lip
Ļ ļ : sound like 'lli' in colliery
M m : m sound in mat
N n : n sound in nut
Ņ ņ : ny sound like 'n' in onion
O o : o sound in hot
P p : p sound in pin
R r : r sound in rat (often rolled)
S s : s sound in sun
Š š : sh sound in ship
T t : t sound in top
U u : u sound in push
Ū ū : oo sound in fool
V v : v sound in vat
Z z : z sound in zip
Ž ž : zh sound like 's' in treasure
Qq, Ww, Xx, Yy in foreign words only

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History

Latvia was originally settled by the ancient people known as Balts. In the 9th century the Balts came under the overlordship of the Varangians, or Vikings, but a more lasting dominance was established over them by their German-speaking neighbours to the west, who Christianized Latvia in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Knights of the Sword, who merged with the German Knights of the Teutonic Order in 1237, conquered all of Latvia by 1230, and German overlordship of the area continued for three centuries, with a German landowning class ruling over an enserfed Latvian peasantry. From the mid-16th to the early 18th century, Latvia was partitioned between Poland and Sweden, but by the end of the 18th century the whole of Latvia had been annexed by expansionist Russia. German landowners managed to retain their influence in Latvia, but indigenous Latvian nationalism grew rapidly in the early 20th century. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Latvia declared its independence on November 18, 1918, and, after a confused period of fighting, the new nation was recognized by Soviet Russia and Germany in 1920.

Independent Latvia was governed by democratic coalitions until 1934, when authocratic rule was established by President Karlis Ulmanis. In 1939 Latvia was forced to grant military bases on its soil to the Soviet Union, and in 1940 the Soviet Red Army moved into Latvia, which was soon incorporated into the Soviet Union. Nazi Germany held Latvia from 1941 to 1944, when it was retaken by the Red Army. Latvia's farms were forcibly collectivized in 1949, and its flourishing economy was integrated into that of the Soviet Union. Latvia remained one of the most prosperous and highly industrialized parts of the Soviet Union, however, and its people retained strong memories of their brief 20-year period of independence. With the liberalization of the Soviet regime undertaken by Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s, Latvians began seeking Latvia declared restoration of its independence on May, 1990 and attained full independence from the Soviet Union in August 21, 1991.

The Latvians constitute a prominent division of the ancient group of peoples known as the Balts. The first historically documented connection between the Balts and the civilization of the Mediterranean world was based on the ancient amber trade: according to the Roman historian Tacitus (1st century AD), the Aestii (predecessors of the Old Prussians) developed an important trade with the Roman Empire. During the 10th and 11th centuries Latvian lands were subject to a double pressure: from the east there was Slavic penetration; from the west came the Swedish push toward the shores of Courland.

German rule. During the crusading period, German--or, more precisely, Saxon--overseas expansion reached the eastern shores of the Baltic. Because the people occupying the coast of Latvia were the Livs, the German invaders called the country Livland, a name rendered in Latin as Livonia. In the mid-12th century, German merchants from Lόbeck and Bremen were visiting the estuary of the Western Dvina; these visits were followed by the arrival of German missionaries. Meinhard, a monk from Holstein, landed there in 1180 and was named bishop of άxkόll (Ikskile) in 1186. The third bishop, Albert of Buxhoevden, with Pope Innocent III's permission, founded the Order of the Brothers of the Sword in 1202. Before they merged in 1237 with the Knights of the Teutonic Order, they had conquered all the Latvian tribal kingdoms.

After the conquest, the Germans formed a so-called Livonian confederation, which lasted for more than three centuries. This feudalistic organization was not a happy one, its three components--the Teutonic Order, the archbishopric of Riga, and the free city of Riga--being in constant dispute with one another. Moreover, the vulnerability of land frontiers involved the confederation in frequent foreign wars. The Latvians, however, benefited from Riga's joining the Hanseatic League in 1282, as the league's trade brought prosperity. In general, however, the situation of the Latvians under German rule was that of any subject nation. The indigenous nobility was extinguished, apart from a few of its members who changed their allegiance; and the rural population was forced to pay tithes and taxes to their German conquerors and to provide corvιe, or statute labour.

Poland-Lithuania, Sweden, and the encroachment of Russia. In 1561 the Latvian territory was partitioned: Courland, south of the Western Dvina, became an autonomous duchy under the suzerainty of the Lithuanian sovereign; and Livonia north of the river was incorporated into Lithuania. Riga was likewise incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1581 but was taken by the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf in 1621; Vidzeme--that is to say, the greater part of Livonia north of the Western Dvina--was ceded to Sweden by the Truce of Altmark (1629), though Latgale, the southeastern area, remained under Lithuanian rule.

The rulers of Muscovy had so far failed to reach the Baltic shores of the Latvian country, though Ivan III and Ivan IV had tried to do so. The Russian tsar Alexis renewed the attempt without success in his wars against Sweden and Poland (1653-67). Finally, however, Peter I the Great managed to "break the window" to the Baltic Sea: in the course of the Great Northern War he took Riga from the Swedes in 1710; and at the end of the war he secured Vidzeme from Sweden under the Peace of Nystad (1721). Latgale was annexed by the Russians at the first partition of Poland (1772), and Courland at the third (1795). By the end of the 18th century, therefore, the whole Latvian nation was subject to Russia.
Russian domination. In the period immediately following the Napoleonic Wars, the Russian emperor Alexander I was induced to grant personal freedom to the peasants of Courland in 1817 and to those of Vidzeme in 1819. This did not imply any right of the peasant to buy the land that his ancestors had tilled for centuries. Consequently, there was unrest in the Latvian lands until the emancipation of the serfs throughout the Russian Empire (1861) brought the right to buy land in ownership from the state and from the landlords, who were still mostly German.

In step with the growing economic strength of the local peasantry came a revival of national feeling. Educational and other national institutions were established. The idea of an independent Latvian state was openly put forward during the Russian Revolution of 1905. This revolution, evoked as it was simultaneously by social and by national groups, bore further witness to the strength of the Latvian reaction to economic and political German and Russian pressure.

Independence. After the Russian Revolution of March 1917 the Latvian National Political Conference, convened at Riga, asked for complete political autonomy in July. On September 3, however, the German army took Riga. After the Bolshevik coup of November 1917 in Petrograd, the Latvian People's Council, representing peasant, bourgeois, and socialist groups, proclaimed independence on Nov. 18, 1918. A government was formed by the leader of the Farmers' Union, Karlis Ulmanis. The Soviet government established a communist government for Latvia at Valmiera, headed by Peteris Stucka. The Red Army, which included Latvian units, took Riga on Jan. 3, 1919, and the Ulmanis government moved to Liepaja, where it was protected by a British naval squadron. But Liepaja was still occupied by German troops, who the Allies wished to defend East Prussia and Courland (Kurzeme) against the advancing Red Army. Their commander, General Rόdiger von der Goltz, intended to build a German-controlled Latvia and to make it a German base of operation in the war against the Soviets. This intention caused a conflict with the government of independent Latvia supported by the Allies. On May 22, 1919, von der Goltz took Riga. Pushing northward, the Germans were stopped near Cesis by the Estonian army, which included 2,000 Latvians. The British forced the Germans to abandon Riga, to which the Ulmanis government returned in July. In the meantime, the Red Army, finding itself attacked from the north by the Estonians, had withdrawn from Latvia.

In July the British demanded that the German troops retreat to East Prussia. But von der Goltz now raised a "West Russian" army, systematically reinforced by units of German volunteers. These forces, headed by an adventurer, Colonel Pavel Bermondt-Avalov, were to fight the Red Army, cooperating with the other "White Russian" armies of Kolchak, Denikin, and Yudenich, supported by the Allies. But on October 8 Bermondt-Avalov attacked the Latvian troops and occupied the suburbs of Riga south of the river. By November 10, however, the Latvians, aided by the artillery of an Anglo-French naval squadron cooperating with Estonian forces, defeated von der Goltz's and Bermondt-Avalov's troops, attacked finally also by the Lithuanians. By December 1919 all German troops had abandoned Latvia and Lithuania. Only Latgale remained in Red hands; but this province was soon thereafter cleared of Red troops.

A Latvian constituent assembly, elected in April 1920, met in Riga on May 1; and on August 11 a Latvian-Soviet peace treaty was signed in Riga, the Soviet government renouncing all claims to Latvia. The Latvian constitution of Feb. 15, 1922, provided for a republic with a president and a unicameral parliament, the Saeima, of 100 members elected for three years.

The multiplicity of parties in the Saeima (22 in 1922 and 24 in 1931) made it impossible to form a stable government; and in 1934 Ulmanis, prime minister for the fourth time since 1918, proposed a constitutional reform. This was angrily opposed by the Social Democrats, the communists, and the national minorities. The German minority became Nazified, and Ulmanis had to suppress the Latvian branch of the Baltischer Bruderschaft ("Baltic Brotherhood"), whose program was the incorporation of the Baltic state into the Third Reich; but a Latvian fascist organization called Perkonkrust ("Thundercross") developed fierce propaganda. On May 15, 1934, Ulmanis issued a decree declaring a state of siege. The Saeima and all the political parties were dissolved. On April 11, 1936, on the expiration of the second term of office of President Alberts Kviesis, Ulmanis succeeded him. The country's economic position improved considerably.

The Soviet occupation and incorporation. When World War II started in September 1939, the fate of Latvia had been already decided in the secret protocol of the so-called German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of August 23. In October Latvia had to sign a dictated treaty of mutual assistance by which the U.S.S.R. obtained military, naval, and air bases on Latvian territory. On June 17, 1940, Latvia was invaded by the Red Army. On June 20 the formation of a new government was announced; on July 21 the new Saeima voted for the incorporation of Latvia into the U.S.S.R.; and on August 5 the U.S.S.R. accepted this incorporation. In the first year of Soviet occupation about 35,000 Latvians, especially the intelligentsia, were deported to Russia. During the German invasion of the U.S.S.R., from July 1941 to October 1944, Latvia was a province of a larger Ostland, which included Estonia, Lithuania, and Belorussia.

About two-thirds of the country was occupied by the Red Army in 1944. the Germans held out in Kurzeme until the end of the war. About 100,000 fled to Sweden and Germany before the arrival of Soviet forces.

The first postwar decade proved particularly difficult. The uncompromising effort of the regime to transform the country into a typical Soviet bailiwick compounded the devastation of the war. Severe political repression accompanied radical socioeconomic change. Extreme Russification numbed national cultural life. Several waves of mass deportation to northern Russia and Siberia--altogether involving at least 100,000 people--occurred, most notably in 1949 in connection with a campaign to collectivize agriculture. Large-scale immigration from Russia and other parts of the Soviet Union began and continued throughout the postwar period. In just over 40 years the proportion of Latvians in the population dropped from roughly three-fourths to little more than one-half.

The ruling Communist Party was disproportionately composed of immigrants. A concerted effort made to nativize the party and especially its ruling cadres triggered a wholesale purge in 1959 of indigenous high-level officials. The immigrant element headed by first secretary Arvids Pelse and his successors Augusts Voss and Boriss Pugo remained entrenched in positions of power during the following three decades.

Restoration of independence. A national renaissance developed in the late 1980s in connection with the Soviet campaigns for glasnost ("openness") and perestroika ("restructuring"). Mass demonstrations on ecological questions in 1987 were the first non-officially-staged political gatherings in the country in postwar times. In 1988 the Latvian Popular Front emerged in opposition to the ruling establishment. It triumphed in the elections of 1990. On May 4, 1990, the Latvian legislature passed a declaration on the renewal of independence. A period of transition was provided. Soviet efforts to restore the earlier situation culminated in violent incidents in Riga in January 1991. In the aftermath of the failed coup in Moscow in August of the same year, the Latvian legislature declared full independence.

Korea

2009-11-13T04:15:00.000-08:00

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Archaeological evidence indicates that the Korean Peninsula was inhabited by lower Paleolithic people at least as early as 500,000 B.C. Many archaeological sites, mostly located along rivers, have been excavated. The most famous are Sokchang-ri in Ch'ung-ch'ongnam-do province and Chon-gok-ri in Kyonggi-do province. Various stone tools, including hand-axes and chopper-scrapers, have been found at these sites, leading archaeologists to believe that their inhabitants engaged in hunting and fishing. These people are thought to have dwelt in caves, as the bones of many extinct animals and relics of their daily life have been unearthed in such places. The supposed connection between these Paleolithic peoples and today's Koreans is blurred at present by the lack of sufficient archaeological excavations and anthropological evidence.

Scholars generally agree that the ancestors of today's Koreans were late-comers of the Neolithic Period. According to anthropological and linguistic studies, as well as legendary sources, Koreans trace their ethnic origins to those who lived in and around the Altaic mountains in Central Asia. Several thousand years ago, these people began to migrate eastward until they finally settled in an area that included Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula.

When these migrants entered the Korean Peninsula around the third millennium B.C., they were confronted by natives called Paleoasians, who were eventually driven into various areas outside the Korean Peninsula. The Ainu of the northern tip of Japan, the natives of Sakhalin and the Eskimos of the eastern coast of Siberia are all descendants of these Paleoasian tribes.

Archaeological studies have uncovered two different types of pottery of this period, which raises the possibility that the inhabitants of the Korean Peninsula belonged to two very different cultural eras. For example, two distinctly different kinds of pottery have been discovered: the comb pattern pottery of a Neolithic Age people and the plain pottery of a Bronze Age people. The patterned pottery, believed to be the product of a food-gathering, hunting and fishing people, has been discovered near riverbanks and along the seashore, while the plain pottery, believed to have come from a food-producing people, has been unearthed mostly in the hilly regions of the country. Although these two peoples appear to have possessed different technologies, they shared the same culture, distinct from the Han Chinese.

As noted, most of the natives were subsequently driven north to Sakhalin, Kamchatka, and to the Arctic region by these newcomers, while a few were assimilated. Some of the migrants continued to move and eventually reached the southwestern shores of Japan. As a result, cultural similarities, such as belief systems (for example, shamanism, myths and customs) as well as shared physical traits among the ancient Koreans, Japanese and Siberian Eskimos still exist.

Agriculture was introduced during the Bronze Age, which began around the 15th century B.C. Increased food production and population growth led to social differentiation based on an unequal access to economic resources on one hand, and clan or kin group formations on the other. Tribal societies of various sizes were established on the basis of clan relations, with some established chiefdoms and mini-states competing with each other. At the same time, people continued to migrate to Japan. Possessing more advanced civilization and culture, these migrants enjoyed a ruling class status and even established their own small mini-states. The southwestern part of Japan, in particular, offered easy access to culture from the Korean Peninsula. This region provides ample archaeological evidence of significant cultural and ethnic relations with Korea. More archaeological study is required to draw an exact map showing how widely Koreans were dispersed during this period. Based on Chinese records and archaeological reports, however, it is assumed that they were living not only on the Korean Peninsula but also in the vast areas of Manchuria and the region along the lower Yellow River basin of the Shandong Peninsula in China.

Cultural contact with the Chinese also was significant. Around the fourth century B.C., iron making was introduced through contacts with the Chinese. Intertribal competition as well as interethnic contact with the Chinese became more frequent. The numerous Korean mini-states and tribal groups banded together into several leading states, to resist Chinese military expansion. A strong sense of ethnic identity and cultural distinctiveness enabled them to remain ethnically and culturally different from China.

As the ancient history of Korea shows, various small states were composed of dialectal groups within the Altaic language family. During the latter half of the 7th century, these early states were unified into the Shilla Kingdom, a significant event because this political unity was to consolidate the homogeneity of the Korean people who now began to speak one language and share the same culture.

However, the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and the whole of Manchuria, which had been the territory of another state called Koguryo, came under the reign of a new state called Parhae, established by a refugee group from the defeated Koguryo. This state was highly heterogeneous both ethnically and culturally. The ruling class was composed exclusively of Koreans, while the general public was made up of various non-Korean local ethnic groups including the Manchurian Tungus. The ruling Koreans failed to incorporate the non-Koreans, and as a result, their state was challenged and gave way to the largest of the native ethnic groups. From that time onward, Manchuria was inhabited by various groups of Tungusic people.

While there was a considerable mixing of races among the various peoples in Manchuria, the inhabitants of the Korean Peninsula maintained their ethnic identity with only minimal mixing with external groups. Although cultural contacts were extensive between Korea and China from the early stages of their history, ethnic assimilation did not occur. Koreans were (and still are) highly conscious of ethnic differences and cultural distinctions, which meant safeguarding their ethnic identity despite relations with China and Japan. Koreans exported their own culture and transmitted Chinese culture to Japan from ancient times, but they did not attempt to engage in any ethnic mixing with the Japanese. Many ethnic groups in Manchuria lost most of their ethnic identity and were even completely assimilated with dominant groups; Koreans, however, have kept their ethnic identity and culture intact.

There are, at present, over 1 million Koreans residing in the United States; over 600,000 currently reside in Japan. Approximately half a million ethnic Koreans now live in Central Asia, while more than 2 million Koreans reside in the vast areas of Manchuria. Despite their minority status in their respective communities, however, Koreans abroad have maintained their ethnic and cultural identity, using their own language as well as maintaining their own traditional social institutions and lifestyles.

According to a 1995 Sports Indicators of Korea published by Korea Sport Science Institute, the average height of a modern Korean, ages 25-29, is 172.5 centimeters for men and 158.8 centimeters for women. In terms of height, this means that Korean males belong to the upper middle scale and Korean females to the medium scale, compared to other Asian people. Their most distinctive physical features are almond-shaped eyes, black hair and relatively high cheek bones. It may also be noted that all Korean babies are born with blue spots on the lower part of the back, which is also typical of Mongolians.

Population

The population of the Republic of Korea as of 1997 was 45.9 million. The registered density of the country is 463 persons per square kilometer. As of 1996 the population of North Korea was 22.4 million. Fast population growth was once a serious social problem in the Republic, as in most other developing nations. Due to successful family planning campaigns and changing attitudes, however, population growth has been curbed remarkably in recent years. The annual growth rate was 0.98 percent in 1997.

A notable trend in the population structure is that it is getting increasingly older. The 1997 census revealed that 6.3 percent of the total population was 65 years old or over. The number of people of productive age, 15 or above, rose from 24.7 million in 1980 to 34.7 million in 1997.

Japan

2009-11-10T03:53:00.000-08:00

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The First Japanese

Human beings have lived in Japan for at least 30,000 years. During the last ice age Japan was connected to mainland Asia by a land bridge and stone age hunters were able to walk across. When the ice age ended about 10,000 BC Japan became a group of islands.

About 8,000 BC the Japanese learned to make pottery. The period from 8,000 BC to 300 BC is called the Jomon. The word Jomon means 'cord marked' because those people marked their pottery by wrapping cord around it.

The Jomon people lived by hunting, fishing and collecting shellfish. The Jomon made tools of stone, wood and bone. They also made clay figurines of people and animals called dogu.

Between 300 BC and 300 AD a new era began in Japan. At that time the Japanese learned to grow rice. They also learned to make tools of bronze and iron. The Japanese also learned to weave cloth.

This period is called Yayoi. (It was named after a village called Yayoicho). Farming meant a more settled lifestyle. Yayoi people lived in villages of wooden huts. Farming and other skills also meant society became divided into classes. The leaders of Yayoi society were buried in mounds away from the ordinary people's burial grounds.

The Kofun

The Yayoi period was followed by the Kofun (from 300 AD to 710 AD). At this time Japan gradually became united. The rich and powerful men of the era were buried in vast tombs called Kofun. Clay figures called haniwa were placed around the tombs to guard them.

At that time Japan was heavily influenced by China. About 400 AD writing was introduced into Japan from China. The Japanese also learned to make paper from the Chinese. They also learned to make porcelain, silk and lacquer. The Japanese also learned to plan cities in the Chinese way.

According to tradition in 552 AD the king of Paekche in Korea sent priests to convert Japan to Buddhism. The native Japanese religion is called Shinto, which means 'the way of the gods'. Shinto teaches that spirits are present everywhere in nature. Every natural phenomena such as a mountain, lake, tree, waterfall and even rock has a spirit. Shinto does not have prophets or a sacred book but its teachings were passed on in myths. Shinto has many ceremonies and festivals.

The two religions, Buddhism and Shinto co-existed peacefully. Shinto is more concerned with this life and its followers frequently pray for things they need or desire. Buddhism is more concerned with what happens after death. Most of the Japanese were happy to practice both religions.

Furthermore in the 7th century AD the emperor became more powerful. Prince Shotoku (574-622) ruled as regent to Empress Suiko. He was a patron of the arts and learning. He brought scholars from China and Korea to Japan and he adopted the Chinese calendar.

Shotoku also built the Horyuji Buddhist temple and monastery in 607. It burned down in 670 but it was rebuilt and became a centre of Buddhist learning. Today they are the world's oldest surviving wooden structures.

After him, in 646, a series of reforms were made known as the Taika. From then on all land in Japan belonged to the emperor. Peasants were made to pay taxes to the emperor either in goods like rice or cloth or in labour by working on building sites or by serving as soldiers. In 670 a census was held to find out how many taxpayers there were.

By the late 7th century Japan was a centralised and highly civilised kingdom.

At that time the capital of Japan was moved when an emperor died as people believed it was unlucky to stay in the same place afterwards. However following the Chinese custom the Japanese decided to create a permanent capital. They built a city at Nara in 710.

At that time Japan was divided into provinces. In 713 the governor of each Japanese province was ordered to write a report about his province. The reports described the products of each province as well as its plants, animals and other resources.

However in the 8th century Buddhist monks and priests began to interfere in politics. So in 784 Emperor Kammu (737-806) decided to move his capital. Eventually in 794 he moved to Heian-Kyo, which means 'capital of peace'. Later the city's name changed to Kyoto and it remained the official capital of Japan till 1868.

The Heian

The era from 794 to 1185 is called the Heian period. During this period the arts and learning flourished. About 1000 Ad Lady Murasaki Shikibu wrote the world's first novel The Tale of Genji a story about the life of a prince called Genji. Another book from that time is a diary written by a lady in waiting named Sei Shonagon. It is called The Pillow Book.

Meanwhile at the beginning of the 9th century Dengo Daishi founded the Tendai sect of Buddhism. Slightly later Kobo Daishi founded the Shingon sect.

Meanwhile in the late 7th century an aristocratic family called the Fujiwara became very powerful. They had an increasing influence on Japanese politics.

Moreover outside Kyoto the emperor's power grew weaker. Rich landowners became increasingly powerful and they employed private armies. (Japanese warriors were called Samurai).

In feudal Japan the Samurai were hereditary warriors who followed a code of behaviour called bushido. Samurai were supposed to be completely loyal and self-disciplined. Rather than by captured by the enemy samurai were supposed to commit suicide by disembowelling themselves. This was called seppuku.
Samurai fought with long swords called katana and short swords called wakizashi. They also used spears called yari and daggers called tanta. Samurai also had skewers called kogai and small knives called kozuka.

The main piece of armour to protect a samurai�s torso was called a haramaki. It had skirts called kasazuri to protect the lower torso. A samurai�s helmet was called a kabuto. A kabuto had neckguards called shikoro. It sometimes had a crest called a kasjirushi. The neck was also protected by a piece called the nowdawa. Samurai also wore masks called mempo. They wore armoured sleeves called kote to protect their arms.

Eventually in 1180 civil war broke out between rival powerful families. On one side were the Taira family (also called the Heike). On the other side were the Minamoto family (also called the Genepi). The Minamoto were supported by the Fujiwara. They were led by two brothers Yoritomo and Yoshitsune.

The Taira were finally defeated by the Minamoto in a naval battle at Dannoura in 1185.

FEUDAL JAPAN

In 1192 the emperor gave Yoritomo the title Sei Tai Shogun, which means barbarian conquering great general. The shogun became the real power in Japan ruling in the emperor's name. This new form of government was bakufu, which means tent government as generals gave commands from their tents during wartime.

After Yoritomo's death two of his sons ruled Japan in turn. However the second son was assassinated in 1219. Power then passed to Yoritomo's wife's family, the Hojo. Afterwards Japan had an emperor, who was only a figurehead, a Shogun and a Hojo regent ruling on behalf of the shogun.

In the 13th and 14th centuries town and trade in Japan grew and merchants became wealthy. They organised themselves into guilds.

Also at this time Zen Buddhism became popular. Zen emphasises meditation. Some followers meditate by trying to empty their minds of all worldly thoughts and desires. Others meditate on riddles called Koan such as 'what is the sound of one hand?'. Zen had a tremendous influence on arts like gardening and flower arranging. (Japanese flower arranging is called Ikebana and from the 15th century it developed into a sophisticated art).

Also at this time the tea ceremony evolved. According to tradition a monk named Eisai (1141-1215) brought tea seeds from China in 1191. He believed that tea helped monks remain alert when they were meditating. To maintain the calm mood the tea was prepared slowly and carefully. Gradually the process of making and drinking tea in a peaceful and relaxing environment spread to the nobility and merchants. Finally in the late 16th century the tea ceremony or cha-no-yu was developed into its modern form by Sen no Rikuyu (1522-1519).

In the middle of this era the Mongols tried to conquer Japan. They sent fleets in 1274 and 1281. In 1274 the Mongols landed but withdrew when their fleet was endangered by a storm. In 1281 the Mongols landed again. For seven weeks they held a bridgehead in Japan but again their fleet was scattered by a typhoon. The Japanese called it Kamikaze, which means divine wind.

Fighting the Mongols cost a great deal of money. That in turn meant high taxes and inevitably the government became deeply unpopular. Meanwhile the emperor Go-Daigo was not content to be a mere figurehead and in 1333 he raised an army to fight the Hojo. The Hojos sent a force under a general named Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358). However Takauji changed sides. He joined forces with Emperor Go-Daigo and the Hojos committed suicide.

However Go-Daigo and Ashikaga Takauji soon quarrelled. In 1336 Takauji led a rebellion. Go-Daigo fled to Yoshino. Takauji created a rival emperor in Kyoto and ruled as shogun. So until 1392 Japan had two emperors.

The Muromachi

The era from 1333 to 1573 is called the Muromachi period because the Ashikaga family ruled from the Muromachi district of Kyoto.

During the Muromachi period Noh theatre developed. Actors were masks and perform on a bare stage with a painted backdrop. Musicians accompany the actors.

Furthermore two great monuments survive from the Muromachi period, the Kinkaku-ji and the Ginkaku-ji, (gold and silver pavilions) in Kyoto.

However in 1466 the Ashikaga family argued over who would be the next shogun. The argument became the Onin War from 467-1477. The fighting took place mostly in and around Kyoto and much of the city was destroyed.

By the end of the 15th century central authority had virtually disappeared. While there was still an emperor he was only a figurehead and Japan was afflicted by a long series of civil wars as rival landowners, called daimyos, fought for power.

The Portuguese arrive in Japan

In 1543 the Portuguese arrived in Japan. Two Portuguese were passengers on a Chinese ship that landed at Tanegashima Island. The Portuguese were keen to trade with the Japanese and they soon returned. Very quickly the Japanese learned to make guns from the Portuguese. The Portuguese also brought tobacco and sweet potatoes to Japan. They also brought clocks. The Japanese called the Portuguese namban, which means southern barbarians because they sailed to Japan from the south.

In 1549 Jesuit missionaries led by Francis Xavier arrived in Japan and attempted to convert the Japanese to Christianity. At first the Japanese tolerated them. In 1571 Nagasaki was founded to trade with the Europeans and it became a centre of missionary activity.

Meanwhile Japanese warfare was radically changed by the introduction of handguns and cannons. A warlord called Oda Nobunaga quickly learned to use the new weapons and in 1569 he captured the port of Sakai. In 1575 he won a great victory at Nagashino. By the time he died in 1582 he controlled central Japan.

Oda Nobunaga was assassinated in 1582 but his general Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) avenged his death and continued the work of reuniting Japan. In 1587 he subdued the southern island of Kyushu and by 1590 he had also conquered eastern Japan.

Toyotomi then attempted to conquer Korea. However he failed and the Japanese withdrew in 1598. Toyotomi died shortly afterwards.

Toyotomi wanted his son Hideyori to succeed him. Before he died Toyotomi persuaded his general Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) to promise to support his son. However Ieyasu soon broke his promise and seized power for himself. In 1600 he crushed his rivals at Sekigahara although Hideyori survived.

In 1603 Ieyasu was made shogun and in 1615 his forces captured Osaka castle, Hideyori's stronghold. Hideyori killed himself.

Japan was now united under a strong central government and the Tokugawa family ruled as shoguns until 1868.

The Tokugawa period

During the Tokugawa period Japanese society was strictly divided. At the top were the daimyo, feudal landowners. Below them were the samurai, hereditary warriors. Below them came the farmers, the craftsmen then the merchants. (The merchants were at the bottom because they did not make anything. However in reality many merchants became very rich).

Meanwhile in 1600 a badly damaged Dutch ship landed in Japan. On board was an Englishman, William Adams (1564-1620). He was taken to Ieyasu, who questioned him. Adams showed the Japanese how to build two European style ships. He also married a Japanese woman and lived in Japan until his death.

In 1609 another Dutch ship arrived in Japan. The shogun granted the Dutch the right to trade with Japan. In 613 an English ship came the shogun gave them too the right to trade. Meanwhile Japanese merchants sailed to Thailand and the Philippines (a Spanish colony). In 1610 a Japanese merchant called Tanaka Shosuke sailed to Mexico.

However despite trading with foreigners the Japanese began persecuting Christians. The government feared Christians were a threat to Japan's internal security. In 1597 Toyotomi Hideyoshi had 26 Christians including 9 European missionaries, crucified in Nagasaki.

In 1612 Christianity was banned altogether and persecution of Christians grew worse and worse. Finally in 1637 Christians in the Shimbara area rebelled. However in 1638 the rebellion was crushed and Christians were massacred.

The Japanese government then shut their country off from the rest of the world. Between 1633 and 1639 laws were passed forbidding the Japanese to travel abroad or to build ocean-going ships. Only the Chinese and the Dutch were allowed to trade with Japan.

In 1641 the Dutch were restricted to an island in Nagasaki Harbour called Dejima. This policy of isolating Japan was called sakoku.

However Japan did not cut itself off from the outside world completely. Dutch books were still imported and the Japanese ruling class were quite well informed of what was happening in the outside world.

The Tokugawa government went to great lengths to maintain order. They directly controlled about one quarter of the land in Japan. Around their land they gave estates to trusted daimyos. Land around the edges of Japan was given to their former enemies. The Tokugawa also employed spies to watch powerful families in Japan.

The arts flourished during the Tokugawa period. So did trade and commerce. However Japan was not entirely peaceful. There were many peasant rebellions. Nevertheless samurai were less useful than in former times and many became ronin or masterless samurai.

In the late 17th century Kabuki theatre developed in Japan. Male actors play the female roles and actors are accompanied by music and singing.

The martial art of kendo developed into its modern form in the late 18th century. It was derived from samurai training but practitioners use bamboo staves instead of swords.

By 1853 the Western powers wanted Japan to open her market to their goods. The Americans also wanted to use Japan as a coaling station for steam ships. So in July 1853 4 American ships commanded by Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Japanese waters near Edo. Perry handed over a message asking for trading rights, coaling ports and protection for shipwrecked sailors. Perry warned he would return next year with a much larger force. He returned in February 1854 with 9 ships.

Japan's armed forces were in no state to resist so the shogun agreed to open two ports to American ships. By 1856 France, Britain, the Netherlands and Russia had also forced Japan to sign similar treaties. In 1858 the Americans forced the Japanese to open more ports to trade. Britain, France and Russia forced Japan to sign similar treaties. The treaties stated that the Japanese could only charge low import duties on imported goods. Furthermore foreign citizens were exempt from Japanese law.

MODERN JAPAN

The Meiji Restoration

Not surprisingly the humiliating treaties were bitterly resented by the Japanese who called them unequal treaties. Furthermore the shogun lost face because of his weakness. Many Japanese thought that Japan would only be strong if the shongunate was abolished and the emperor was restored to power. Some Japanese wanted to resist the foreigners. Others wanted to copy western technology. Opinion was bitterly divided.

Finally in 1868 there was a short civil war. Pro-emperor and pro-shogun forces clashed at Fushimi and the pro-emperor force won.

Afterwards the Emperor Meiji and his followers were determined to modernise Japan. And they succeeded. In an astonishingly short period of time Japan was transformed from a primitive, agricultural country to a modern industrial one.

The government encouraged industrialisation with loans and grants. Soon many new industries such as shipbuilding were flourishing.

In 1870 the first mechanised silk mill opened in Japan. Also in 1870 a telegraph was laid between Tokyo (as Edo was renamed) and Yokohama. A railway was built between them in 1872.

Meanwhile in 1871 private armies kept by daimyos were abolished. Many samurai joined the new national army. The same year the first Japanese newspaper was published.

In 1872 compulsory education was introduced in Japan. The same year conscription was introduced. In 1878 the Japanese army was reformed to be like the German army. The Japanese navy was modelled on the British navy.

In 1873 Japan adopted the Western calendar. The same year a land tax was introduced and the emperor and empress began wearing Western clothes.

In 1889 the Emperor Meiji granted a constitution based on the German one. Japan gained a parliament called a diet but only a small minority of men were allowed to vote.

However these rapid changes were not popular with everyone. In 1877 samurai led by Saigo Takamori (1827-1877) rebelled in Satsuma. A conscript army led by Marshal Yamagata crushed the rebellion. Afterwards the samurai lost their privileges and most were forced to take civilian jobs.

In 1894 Japan and Korea quarrelled over Korea. China regarded Korea as being under its 'influence' and in 1894 sent troops into that country. The Japanese objected and went to war. The Sino-Japanese war was a stunning victory for Japan. The Japanese quickly drove the Chinese out of Korea and captured Port Arthur. By the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895 Japan gained Formosa (Taiwan) and Port Arthur. China was also forced to pay a large indemnity and to refrain from interfering in Korean politics. However Russia, France and Germany forced Japan to give back Port Arthur.

Then on 30 January 1902 Japan signed a treaty with Britain. Both agreed to help the other if they were attacked by two other countries.

Meanwhile Russia was increasing her influence in Manchuria, which brought her into conflict with Japan. On 9 February 1904 the Japanese navy sank two Russian ships at Port Arthur (Russia had leased this Chinese port in 1898). The Japanese then laid siege to Port Arthur but they took 5 months to capture it. Nevertheless the Japanese army gradually advanced in Manchuria and on 27 May 1905 the Japanese navy won a complete victory at Tsushima.

The Americans mediated between Russia and Japan and the two signed the Treaty of Portsmouth in September 1905. (Portsmouth in New Hampshire USA not Portsmouth in Britain). Japan gained Port Arthur and the southern part of Sakhalin.

Japan also gained great prestige. She was the first Asian power to defeat a European power.

Then in 1910 Japan annexed Korea. Furthermore by 1911 all foreign countries had agreed to abolish the 'unequal treaties' of the 1850s. By the time Emperor Meiji died in 1912 Japan was a power to be reckoned with.

When the First World War began Japan joined Britain's side. Japan took German colonies in Asia. However after the war Japan's growing economic and political power brought her into conflict with the USA.

In 1921 the Washington Conference was held. Britain and the USA pressed Japan to accept a naval treaty. For every 5 tons of warship Britain and the USA had in the Pacific Japan was allowed 3. So the Western powers were determined to keep Japan in her place.

Then on 1 September 1923 an earthquake devastated Tokyo. After the actual tremor fire swept through the city. about 107,000 people died.

In 1924 Japan suffered another 'slap in the face' when the USA banned immigration from Japan.

In 1926 Hirohito became emperor. In the first years of Hirohito's reign the Japanese economy did well but in 1929 the world entered a severe recession.

Meanwhile Japan had an army stationed in Manchuria around Port Arthur. The Japanese also controlled much of the Manchurian economy. The Japanese army thought Japan should take over Manchuria and in 1931 the army engineered a takeover. Japan controlled a railway running through Manchuria. On 18 September 1931 an explosion near Muckden damaged it. Japanese troops claimed they saw Chinese troops running away. The Japanese army then acted independently and seized Muckden. In December 1931 the army took over all of Manchuria. The Japanese government could not stop them.

Meanwhile the Chinese emperor had been overthrown in 1911. In 1932 he was made puppet ruler of Manchuria, which was renamed Manchuko. However the real power in the region was the Japanese army. Japanese politicians were powerless to stop the generals.

The Japanese army gradually took control of Japan. Civilian politicians were still the nominal rulers but the army held real power. Politicians were too weak to resist them.

Many in the army pressed for expansion into China. In 1936 China was forced to accept Japanese occupation of an area of China called Fengtai near Beijing. Tension then grew between Japanese and Chinese troops in that region and on 7 July 1937 fighting broke out. Japan rushed troops to the area and soon it became a full scale invasion of China, although there was no formal declaration of war.

In December 1937 the Japanese captured Nanking and massacred civilians.

Then in July 1941 Japanese troops occupied French Indo-China. The USA objected, fearing Japan was a threat to its interests in the Pacific. The USA banned exports of oil to Japan. Japan imported 80% of her oil from the USA and was faced with the choice between a humiliating climb-down and war. The Japanese chose war.

Japan sent a force of aircraft carriers and on 7 December 1941 they attacked the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbour. The Japanese sank many ships but vitally they missed several American aircraft carriers that were on manoeuvres.

At first the Japanese had amazing success. In February 1942 they captured Singapore the main British base in the Far East. In the months January to May 1942 they also captured the Philippines and most of Indonesia. However the tide turned at the battle of Midway Island in May 1942 when they lost 4 aircraft carriers.

In January-February 1943 the Japanese were forced to evacuate Guadalcanal and in August 1943 they were defeated by the Australians in New Guinea. Meanwhile in June 1943 the Americans began submarine warfare and Japanese shipping suffered terrible losses. The Americans also began a campaign of 'island hopping'. They attacked certain Pacific Islands held by the Japanese and left others nearby to 'wither on the vine'.

The Japanese suffered a severe naval defeat at Leyte Gulf in October 1944. Meanwhile a British army from India pushed the Japanese back into Burma.

In the end Japan was defeated by the USA's overwhelming industrial strength.

From March 1945 Japanese Kamikaze pilots flew suicide missions, deliberately crashing into American ships. But it was to no avail. In June 1945 the Americans captured Okinawa. Meanwhile American bombing was destroying Japanese cities.

On 26 July 1945 Truman and Churchill demanded Japan surrender and threatened the Japanese with 'prompt and utter destruction' if they did not. Japan refused.

On 6 August 1945 an American bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. On 9 August another was dropped on Nagasaki.

Japan capitulated on 15 August 1945. An official surrender document was signed on 2 September.

Following the Japanese surrender the Americans occupied Japan. General MacArthur led the US troops. Under him 7 Japanese war criminals were hanged including wartime Prime Minister Tojo Hideki.

The emperor publicly announced that he was not divine and in 1946 the Americans drew up a new constitution for Japan. Women were allowed to vote. The constitution also contained a clause renouncing the 'threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes'. In 1951 a peace treaty was signed in San Francisco and the American occupation ended in 1952. However the Treaty of Mutual Co-operation and Security gave the USA the right to keep bases in Japan. Furthermore the island of Okinawa was occupied until 1972.

Meanwhile the Korean War began in 1950. It provided a boost to Japanese industry and by 1954 Japanese industrial production was back to 1939 levels.

In 1955 the Liberal Democratic Party took power and it ruled Japan for most of the period from 1955 to 2009.

Meanwhile during the 1950s and 1960s the Japanese economy boomed. Japanese industry exported huge numbers of electronic goods and vehicles. The Japanese people saw a great improvement in their standard of living. Rapid economic growth in Japan continued during the 1970s and 1980s while much of the rest of the world was mired in recession.

However in the 1990s the period of rapid economic growth ended and a long recession began, although Japan remained a rich country. Worse in 1995 the city of Kobe was devastated by an earthquake.

Emperor Hirohito died in 1989 and was succeeded by Emperor Akihito.

In 2009 a major political change took place in Japan. The Liberal Democratic Party ruled Japan for all of the years 1995-2009 except for a period of 11 months. However in 2009 the Democratic Party of Japan won a majority in the lower house of parliament.

Today the population of Japan is 127 million.

Italy

2009-11-02T03:15:00.000-08:00

Alphabet

Aa as in the word “ask” and never as in the word “able”
Bb same as in English
Cc like “tsh” before “i” or “e”, otherwise like "k” in Creole.
Dd same as in English
Ee as in “elevated”
Ff same as in English
Gg like the "dg", before “i” or “e”, otherwise like the "g" in "Good".
Hh silent most of the time.
Ii as in the word “ink” never as in the word “island”
Jj as in “Job”, or the “s” of “pleasure”.
Kk same as in English
Ll same as in English
Mm same as in English
Nn same as in English
Oo ame as in English “Old” never as in “Hot” which is pronounced somehow like {hat}
Pp same as in English
Qq same as in English
Rr Spanish “r”
Ss between vowels as “z”, and as “s” otherwise.
Tt same as in English not as sharp.
Uu as in the “ultra”, never as in the word “up” or “university”
Vv same as in English
Ww as in English, sometimes as “v”
Xx same as in English
Yy same as in English although rare.
Zz as in “ts”, or “dz”.
cc as “tshee” before “i” and “e”, or as “kee” elsewhere.
ch like “k” as in “kid”.
gg as in “dgee” before “I” and “e”, or as the “gee” in “geese”.
gh like “g” in “God”
gli as in “gli”
gn like “n” in “news”
qu like “kw” in “quest”
sc like “sh” before “i” and “e”, or like “k” elsewhere.
J- K- W- X- Y appear mainly in foreign loan words.

Flag

Map

History

ANCIENT ITALY

The Etruscans

The first civilisation in Italy was the Etruscan, which arose about 800 BC. The Etruscans built cities on a grid pattern. Some these cities still exist (including Arezzo, Chiusi, Cortona, Perugia and Cerveteri). The Etruscans were also engineers who drained marshes and built roads.

They were also skilled artists. The Etruscans made terracotta sculptures and worked in bronze. Their craftsmen also made jewellery of gold and silver. Etruscan artists painted frescoes on the walls of rich people's tombs. They also painted pottery.

Upper class Etruscans lived in splendid houses of many rooms arranged around a courtyard. They had luxurious furniture. Poor Etruscans lived in simple huts of wood and brick.

By 600 BC the Etruscans came to rule central Italy, including Rome. They also had a powerful navy. However in 510 BC the Romans rebelled and they gradually encroached on Etruscan territory. The last Etruscan city fell to the Romans in 265 BC.

The Etruscans were influenced by the Greeks, with whom they traded. About 750 BC the Greeks established a colony on the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples. Later they created colonies in Sicily such as Catania and Messina. They also founded colonies on mainland Italy such as Reggio Calabria.

The Roman Republic

There was a settlement at Rome by the mid-8th century BC. In the 6th century BC it was ruled by Etruscan kings. The kings were advised by the senate, a body that consisted of Roman aristocrats or patricians. However in 510 BC the Romans rebelled and expelled the last king Tarquinius Superbus.

Afterwards Rome was ruled by two officials called consuls who were elected from among the Senators. The consuls served for a period of one year.

Middle and working class Romans were called plebeians. In the 6th century there was antagonism between the two classes. Finally in 494 BC the plebeians left Rome and founded their own settlement on the Aventine Hill. The patricians were forced to make concessions to win them back.

From the beginning Rome was an aggressive and expansionist state. At first the Romans conquered central Italy. In 396 they conquered the important Etruscan city of Veii. However in 390 the Gauls captured and sacked Rome.

Yet Rome recovered and conquered southern Italy. By 272 BC almost all the south of Italy was in Roman hands.

Rome then came into conflict with Carthage. The Phoenicians from Lebanon founded a colony in North Africa, which they called Carthage. In time Carthage became very powerful, ruling North Africa, Sardinia, Corsica and part of Spain.

The wars between Rome and Carthage are called the Punic wars. The first lasted from 264 to 241 BC and it was mainly a naval war. It ended with the Romans capturing Sicily. Shortly afterwards they also occupied Sardinia and Corsica.

The second Punic War lasted from 218 to 202 BC. In 218 Hannibal marched a great army including elephants from Spain, through southern France and over the Alps into Italy. He defeated the Romans in several battles, Ticinus and Trebia in 218 BC, Lake Trasimeno in 217 and at Cannae in 216.

However Hannibal did not have the resources to completely destroy Rome and the Romans sent an army to North Africa. Led by Scipio the Romans won a decisive battle at Zama in 202 BC.

Meanwhile the Romans expanded northwards. North Italy was inhabited by Celts but the Romans conquered them piecemeal. By 90 BC all of northern Italy was in Roman hands.

Furthermore the Romans fought a series of wars with the Macedonians. The wars ended in 148 BC when Macedon became a Roman province.

Some Romans became very rich as a result of these successful wars. Furthermore prisoners of war were made slaves and so there was a huge influx of slaves into Roman territory. Some wealthy Romans made fortunes by using slave labour on large estates. However many peasants were forced to leave the land and move to the cities. Fortunately there were plenty of jobs for them. As Rome grew more and more prosperous many public were built such as roads and temples. However the dramatic social changes caused much unrest in Rome.

Meanwhile the slaves sometimes rose in rebellion. The first rebellion or servile war lasted from 135 to 132 BC when slaves in Sicily rebelled. Sicilian slaves rebelled again in 103 BC but they were crushed in 99 BC. Finally Spartacus led a rebellion of Italian slaves in 73 BC. However the rebellion was crushed in 71 BC.

Then non-Roman Italians rose against Rome in the Social War of 91-89 BC. They demanded certain rights and privileges. Roman troops under Cornelius Sulla crushed the revolt. Nevertheless in 89 BC all free Italians were granted Roman citizenship.

In the first century BC the Roman republic slowly broke down and power was increasingly in the hands of successful generals. In times of emergency the Romans sometimes appointed a temporary dictator to take charge. In 83 BC Sulla made himself dictator. He ruled until 80 BC.

Then, in 67 BC another powerful general, Gnaius Pompey waged a successful campaign against pirates in the Mediterranean. In 66-62 BC he added parts of Turkey, Syria and the surrounding area to the Roman empire.

In 60 AD he formed a triumvirate with two other men Crassus and Julius Caesar. The triumvirate only lasted about one year but it was renewed in 56 BC. However Crassus died in 52 BC and Pompey was made sole Consul.

Meanwhile the third member of the triumvirate, Julius Caesar conquered Gaul. His military victories made him very popular with his men. However in 49 BC the Senate voted that Caesar should give up command of the army and return to Rome without his troops. Caesar refused and instead marched on Rome. Lacking troops to defend the city Pompey fled to Greece to raise an army. Caesar followed and defeated him. Pompey fled to Egypt where he was murdered.

Julius Caesar was dictator of Rome until 44 BC when he was assassinated.

After his death another triumvirate took power. It was made up of Marcus Antonius (Mark Anthony), Marcus Lepidus and Gaius Octavius (Octavian), Julius Caesars great-nephew. Lepidus was deposed in 36 BC and Octavian and Mark Anthony soon fell out. Octavian defeated mark Anthony at the naval battle of Actium in 31 BC. Octavian became the first Roman emperor (in all but name). In 27 BC he was granted the title 'Augustus'. The Roman republic was at an end.

The Roman Empire

Augustus kept the senate but he held the real power. He controlled the army and the civil service. Augustus managed to restore order to the Roman empire and when he died in 14 AD it was peaceful and prosperous.

He was followed by his stepson Tiberius (14-37 AD). The next emperor was Gaius or Caligula (37-41 AD), who ruled so badly he was assassinated by his bodyguard, the praetorian guard. He was succeeded by his uncle Claudius (41-54 AD). During his reign the Romans conquered Britain. Next came Nero (54-68).

Vespasian (69-79) built the coliseum and under Trajan (98-117) and Hadrian (177-138) the Roman empire was at its peak.

Marcus Aurelius 169-180 followed the philosophy of stoicism and he wrote a famous book Meditations. However he died in 180 in a terrible plague that killed many people throughout the empire. He was succeeded by his unworthy son Commodus (180-192).

In 212 the emperor Caracalla granted Roman citizenship to all free people in the empire. By then the Roman empire was beginning to decline. When the emperor Severus Alexander was murdered in 325 there were decades of political instability. Between 235 and 284 there were 22 emperors.

Order and prosperity were temporarily restored by Diocletian (284-305). He abdicated in 305 and there was a struggle for the succession. Constantine was proclaimed emperor in 306 but he was not in complete control of the empire until 324.

Crucially Constantine introduced a policy of tolerating Christianity. He was baptised on his deathbed in 337.

Diocletian split the empire into two halves, western and eastern. Constantine united them in 324 but they split again after his death. Gradually there was less and less co-operation between the two halves. In the western Roman empire there was a relentless economic decline with raging inflation. Meanwhile the Germanic tribes beyond the border were growing stronger and stronger.

In the 5th century the Roman empire collapsed piecemeal. In 406-407 Germanic people invaded Gaul and in 407 the Roman army left Britain. Then in 410 Alaric the Goth captured Rome. Nevertheless the Roman empire survived for some time afterwards. However in 429-430 a people called the Vandals crossed from Spain to North Africa. That had serious consequences for the Romans because they imported much of their grain from there. Worse in 455 the Vandals sacked Rome. Finally in 476 the last Roman emperor was deposed and a German called Odoacer made himself king of Italy. That is usually regarded as the end of the Roman empire.

ITALY IN THE MIDDLE AGES

However for most people in Italy life went on as usual. The Germanic kings respected Roman culture and laws.

Odoacer was followed by Theodoric the Ostrogoth in 493. He ruled until 526 and under him Germans and Romans in Italy lived together peacefully.

Meanwhile the eastern half of the Roman empire was still flourishing. It was now called the Byzantine empire. In 535 the Byzantine emperor Justinian sent an army to Italy under his general Belisarius. So began a long period of warfare which devastated much of Italy.

Belisarius marched north through Italy and he captured Ravenna in 540. However under their leader Totila (541-552) the Goths recaptured most of Italy. Only Ravenna and some other coastal towns stayed in Byzantine hands. The Pendulum then swung the other way. Under their general Narses the Byzantines took all of Italy again by 562.

Then in 568 a people called the Lombards invaded north Italy. Under their leaders Authari (584-590) and Agilulf (590-616) the Lombards fought their way south but they were halted by the Byzantines at a line from Ravenna to Rome. Gradually the Lombards intermarried with the native Italians and they also adopted Italian customs. They also adopted the Italian language.

In 751 the Lombard king Aistulf took Ravenna and threatened Rome. The Pope appealed to the Franks for help. Under their leader Pepin III the Franks invaded northern Italy. They defeated the Lombards and Pepin handed Ravenna and some territory in central Italy to the pope. So the Popes came to rule their own state in central Italy.

The Franks then withdrew but in 772 they invaded Italy again. This time they conquered the Lombard kingdom. Charlemagne, leader of the Franks, confirmed the pope's rule over part of central Italy.

After Charlemagne died in 814 the emperor's of Germany continued to rule Italy and were called its kings. However they had little power and in the 10th century the 'kingdom' of Italy broke up. Finally in 1024 the people of Pavia burned the royal palace. That symbolised the end of the German 'kings of Italy'.

During the 11th century the Normans took control of southern Italy. Then in 1061-1091 they conquered Sicily and in the 12th century they created a strong state in Sicily and south Italy.

Meanwhile the breakdown of the kingdom of Italy allowed several city-states to emerge. In the 11th and 12th centuries trade in the Mediterranean boomed and cities in north and central Italy grew rich and important. They were also independent. However in the south the Normans prevented cities from becoming autonomous.

However in the 12th century the German emperor Frederick Barbarossa tried to restore German authority over the cities of northern Italy. In 1162 Barbarossa destroyed Milan. As a result the north Italians formed the Lombard League against him. Barbarossa invaded Italy in 1174 but his army was soundly defeated at the battle of Legnano in 1176. Barbarossa was forced to recognise the independence of the north Italian cities by the Peace of Constance in 1183.

Frederick Barbarossa died in 1190. His successor Henry VI conquered Sicily from the Normans. However the Germans did not hold Sicily for long. In 1266 the French conquered the kingdom of Sicily (which included a large part of southern Italy as well as the island).

However in 1282 the people of Palermo rose in rebellion. Peter of Aragon (a kingdom in northern Spain) then captured the island of Sicily, which, for a time became independent of the mainland.

Meanwhile the populations of north Italian cities grew rapidly. Their trade and prosperity also increased. The rise of the north Italian cities was temporarily interrupted by the disaster of the Black Death in 1348, which killed about one third of the population. However they recovered and in the late 14th century a new chapter in Italian history began.

RENAISSANCE ITALY

In the late 14th and 15th centuries a great cultural change came over Italy. It is called the Renaissance, which means 'rebirth'. In the Middle Ages education was mostly controlled by the church for the church. In the late 14th century there were an increasing number of secular educated men in Italy. There was also an increasing interest in the art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome. At the time Greek scholars (from the Byzantine Empire) came to Italy.

The Renaissance benefited from the printing press, which was introduced into Venice by 1470.

Furthermore rich Italians patronised the arts.

Meanwhile Italian trade and commerce prospered. The city-states flourished. In the 15th century Florence was ruled by the Medicis, a family of bankers. (Florence was a republic ruled by an oligarchy but the Medicis managed to control it). The greatest Medicis were Cosimo who ruled from 1434 to 1464 and Lorenzo the Magnificent who ruled from 1469 to 1492.

However at the end of 15th century Italy fell prey to foreign powers. In 1494 the French king claimed the throne of Naples. He invaded Italy that year and he entered Naples in February 1495. However he was soon forced to withdraw.

ITALY IN THE 16th CENTURY

In the 16th century the French and Spanish fought over Italy. Instead of uniting against the invaders the Italian states split into two factions supporting either France or Spain.

In 1515 the French captured Milan. However in 1519 Charles V became emperor of Spain and other parts of Europe. In 1521 the Spaniards took Milan from the French. At the battle of Pavia in 1525 the French were decisively defeated. However the French then formed an alliance with some Italian states called the league of Cognac. The Spaniards sent an army against the League and in 1527 they sacked Rome.

In 1529 the French were forced to renounce their claims to Italy by the treaty of Cambrai. However they fought more wars with the Spanish until 1559 when the treaty of Cateau-Camresis finally ended the French presence in Italy. Afterwards Italy was dominated by the Spaniards.

During the 15th century free thought and enquiry flourished in Italy. Unfortunately the 16th century was an age of intolerance and bigotry. The Inquisition cruelly persecuted Protestants. Furthermore in 1558 an 'Index of Prohibited Books' was drawn up. It banned books by great Italian writers. Italian intellectuals were also persecuted. In 1600 Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake. In 1633 the great scientist Galileo was tried and sentenced to imprisonment for daring to teach that the earth orbits the Sun.

ITALY IN THE 17th CENTURY

In the 17th century the Italian economy entered a long recession. Trade and industry declined. (This was partly due to the decreasing importance of Mediterranean trade and the rise of trade outside Europe). Italian agriculture stagnated. Poverty and banditry increased. Meanwhile Italy was struck by plague. Once the most advanced part of Europe Italy became a relatively backward part.

Meanwhile the Spanish continued to rule southern Italy. However in 1647 the people rose in rebellion. Yet the rebellion was crushed in 1648.

Nevertheless by the end of the 17th century Spain was a declining power. Finally the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1713) ended Spanish domination of Italy. Spain was replaced by Austria. The Austrians took Naples (southern Italy) in 1707. They also gained Sardinia but in 1720 they swapped it for Sicily.

Also in 1720 the Duchy of Savoy (in northwest Italy) became the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.

ITALY IN THE 18th CENTURY

In 1734 Spain captured Naples and Sicily from Austria. A Spanish prince, Carlos, became king of Naples and Sicily. On the other hand in 1737 the Grand Duchy of Tuscany passed to Francis of Lorraine, one of the Austrian royal family.

the 18th century was an age of enlightenment when the power of the church was curtailed. It was also a period when Italian rulers carried out reforms.

Naples suffered a terrible famine in 1764. Meanwhile famine also struck Tuscany in 1763-1766. However under Grand Duke Leopold (1765-1790) a number of reforms were introduced in Tuscany. Tax privileges were abolished, communal land was sold and the Florentine guilds were abolished. In 1786 torture and capital punishment were abolished in Tuscany.

In the late 18th century guilds were also abolished in Lombardy and the power of the church was restricted. In Naples the Jesuits were expelled and the power of the church was reduced.

Napoleonic Italy

In 1796 Napoleon led a successful invasion of Italy. Afterwards he re-drew the political map. he created a new state out of Bologna, Ferrara and Milan. It was called the Cisalpine Republic. At first Venice was neutral but in May 1797 Napoleon declared war. In October 1797 he placed Venice under Austrian control. Then, in 1798 Napoleon captured the mainland part of the kingdom of Naples. (The kingdom included Sicily. The king and queen fled there and it remained outside French control).

However in 1799 the Austrians and Russians drove the French out of Italy. Yet in 1800 Napoleon won a great victory at Marengo. This time Piedmont was absorbed into France. The Cisalpine Republic was restored and renamed the Italian Republic.

In 1805 Napoleon turned the Italian Republic into the Italian kingdom - with himself as king. In 1806 the French took the mainland part of the kingdom of Naples again. Napoleon made his brother the king of that part of Italy.

However after Napoleon's defeat in 1815 the old order returned.

ITALY IN THE 19th CENTURY

The old kingdoms were restored but the republics of Venice and Genoa were not. Genoa was taken by Piedmont. However there was much discontent in Italy and many people joined secret societies such as the Carbonari. In 1820 the Carbonari led a rebellion in Naples. They led another rebellion in Piedmont in 1821. However the Austrians intervened to crush both rebellions.

In 1831 there were other rebellions in Italy but they too were suppressed by the Austrians.

Enter Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872). Mazzini was a great nationalist and he did much to popularise the idea of a united Italy. Mazzini was involved in the rebellion in Piedmont in 1831 and he was forced to flee to France, where he formed an organisation called Young Italy. From 1837 Mazzini lived in Britain where he continued to stoke the fire of Italian nationalism.

Then in 1848 revolutions broke out all over Europe. The first was in Palermo in January. The king of Naples was forced to grant a constitution. IN March public pressure forced the king of Piedmont to grant a constitution. Also in March 1848 Venice became an independent republic again.

The king of Piedmont decided to take Lombardy from the Austrians and he declared war. Another army was sent from Naples. Meanwhile Giacomo Durando commanded the army of the Papal States. The Pope ordered him to defend the border. However he exceeded his orders by marching to fight the Austrians.

Many people hoped the Pope would lead the Italians to independence and unity. However on 29 April he issued an allocution making it clear he had no intention of fighting the Austrians. Worse on 25 May the King of Naples used Swiss mercenaries to stage a coup and restore his power. Finally the Austrians crushed the Piedmontese at Custozza on 24 July.

However in the autumn of 1848 the Pope was forced to flee from his home. Rome became a republic. Its army was led by Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882). Unfortunately the French sent an army to crush the Roman Republic and restore the Pope.

In March 1849 Piedmont went to war with Austria again but was quickly defeated at Novara. The king of Piedmont abdicated in favour of his son.

Italian Unification

In 1852 Camillo Cavour became Prime Minister of Piedmont. In 1855 he led Piedmont into a war with Russia, alongside Britain and France. The war ended with Russian defeat in 1856.

Then, in 1858, Cavour and the French emperor, Napoleon III agreed to fight a war to drive the Austrians out of Italy. However neither wanted a united Italy. Cavour wanted to enlarge Piedmont by taking northern Italy. The two men also agreed to create a central Italian kingdom. In the south the kingdom of Naples (which had been renamed the kingdom of the Two Sicilies) would remain the same.

The war with Austria began in 1859 and the French won the battles of Magenta and Solferino. However Napoleon III, fearing Prussian intervention, decided to end the war. Without consulting Cavour he made peace with Austria at Villafranca on 11 July 1859. As a result of the peace Piedmont was given Lombardy. That was much less than Cavour hoped for and he resigned rather than accept the peace. He became Prime Minister again in January 1860.

Nevertheless the Italians themselves decided their future. The people of Romagna, Modena, Parma and Tuscany all demanded unification with Piedmont. In 1860 Cavour arranged for referenda in these states. All voted to join Piedmont. However in order to obtain Napoleon III's agreement Cavour was obliged to give him Savoy and Nice.

Garibaldi was enraged by the loss of Nice and he gathered a force on the coast near Genoa in 1860. With his force of 1,000 Garibaldi planned to prevent the French annexation. However he was persuaded not to.

Meanwhile a rebellion occurred in Palermo. On 6 May Garibaldi and his men sailed to support the rebels. They landed unopposed and Garibaldi declared the king of Piedmont Victor Emmanuel king of Italy. The Neapolitan king sent an army, which was defeated at Calatafimi. Joined by many new supporters Garibaldi and his men captured Palermo in June and crossed the Straits of Messina in August. They marched into Naples on 7 June.

However Cavour was alarmed by Garibaldi's success. He feared that Garibaldi would enter the Papal States and take Rome, which would enrage the Catholic powers. Cavour decided to act first. He sent an army to occupy the Papal States - but not Rome. Finally in October 1860 King Victor Emmanuel met Garibaldi. At the meeting Garibaldi surrendered all his powers to the king.

In January 1861 a parliament was held for the new united Italy. In March it declared Victor Emmanuel king of Italy.

However the Austrians still controlled Venice. In 1866 Italy joined Prussia in a war with Austria. The Italians were defeated in a land battle at Novara and in a naval battle at Lissa. However Prussia won the war. Afterwards Italy gained Venice.

Meanwhile the French still had troops stationed in Rome. However in 1870 France was defeated by Prussia. Needing every man they could get the French withdrew their troops from Rome. The Italians took advantage of French weakness to occupy Rome.

In the late 19th century Italy was still a pre-industrial society. Other parts of Europe were being transformed by the industrial revolution. However it did not reach Italy until the very end of the century. In the late 19th century most Italians worked in agriculture.

Italy also suffered from grinding poverty, especially in the south. Peasants in southern Italy lived in squalid huts with thatched roofs. They shared their homes with their animals (if they had any). Illiteracy was common. (Compulsory primary education was introduced in 1877 but in the south truancy was common).

In the late 19th century many Italians emigrated, hoping for a better life overseas.

Meanwhile in 1882 Italy signed the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria. The two great powers agreed to help Italy if France attacked her. However Italy agreed to help Germany if she was attacked by France. Germany, Austria and Italy agreed to help any of the three who were attacked by two other powers.

Ominously in 1882 a writer named Pasquale Turriello claimed that liberal government was not working in Italy. Instead strong government was needed.

Francesco Crispi (1819-1901) was prime minister from 1887 to 1891 and from 1893 to 1896. Under him Italian government gradually became more authoritarian.

At the end of the 19th century socialism was growing in Italy. There was unrest among the Sicilian peasants, which Crispi ruthlessly crushed. Under his rule one man came to control the government more and more. However Crispi was destroyed by his foreign policy.

In 1885 the Italians took the port of Massawa on the Red Sea Coast. However in January 1887 an Italian force was massacred by the Abyssinians at Dogali. The Italians tried to capture Abyssinia (Ethiopia) again. However on 1 March 1896 an Italian army was annihilated at Adowa.

ITALY IN THE 20th CENTURY

In 1900, King Umberto was assassinated at Monza. He was succeeded by Vittorio Emanuele III.

Meanwhile in the years 1896-1915 the Italian economy boomed. Northern Italy rapidly industrialised and many ordinary Italians saw a rise in their standard of living. Fiat was founded in Turin in 1899. Other Italian car manufacturers soon followed it. Other industries such as chemicals, textiles and sugar production also boomed. However southern Italy remained poor and backward.

At that time Giovanni Giolitti introduced social reforms including, in 1902 a law banning children under 12 from working. Women were limited to 11 hours work a day. (Despite these measures socialism continued to grow in Italy). In 1912 all literate men over 21 were given the vote.

Meanwhile in 1908 Sicily suffered a terrible earthquake. About 75,000 people died in and around Messina.

Then in 1911-1912 the Italians conquered Libya.

Italy in the First World War

When the First World War began in 1914 Italy at first remained neutral. However Britain and France persuaded Italy to join their side by offering her territory from Austria-Hungary. In April 1915 Italy signed the Treaty of London, in which she promised to join the war within one month. In return she was promised Austrian territory including the port of Trieste.

When the war began a socialist called Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), who was editor of the newspaper Avanti! opposed Italy joining the war. However he soon changed his mind. By October 1914 Mussolini decided Italy should join. He resigned from Avanti! and founded his own newspaper called Popo d'Italia. In November 1914 he was expelled from the Socialist Party.

However Italy declared war on Italy on 23 May 1915. However the war proved to be a long and terrible one. In the following three and a half years 5 million Italians served in the army and more than 600,000 were killed. For two and a half years there was stalemate. However in October 1917 the Germans and Austrians launched an offensive at Caporetto. The Italians were severely defeated and over 250,000 men were taken prisoner. However the Italians finally rallied at the River Piave.

By October 1918, bolstered by allied troops, the Italians were advancing rapidly. On October 30 1918 the Italians won a great victory at Vittorio Veneto. Finally the Austrians surrendered on 4 November 1918.

After the war Italy gained Trieste and the South Tyrol. However the Italians had also been promised part of the Dalmatian Coast. Yet the Americans had not signed the treaty of London and they refused to be bound by it. In the end the Dalmatian Coast went to Yugoslavia. The Italians also wanted the Adriatic port of Fiume although were not promised it in the treaty of London. However they were not given it.

The Italians were deeply disappointed by the eventual peace treaty with Austria and were very angry at their treatment. Then in September 1919 a poet named Gabriele d'Annunzio decided to take Fiume regardless of the Italian government. He led 2,000 Italian nationalists who occupied the city for over a year. Finally in December 1920 the Italian Prime Minister, Giolitti, sent in the navy and d'Annunzio surrendered. Italy formally annexed Fiume in 1924.

Meanwhile Italy suffered a severe economic crisis. There was mass unemployment as soldiers were laid off and war production ceased. There was also high inflation.

There was unrest among the peasants and workers. Many poor peasants had believed that the government would give them their own land after the war. When it did not some simply occupied uncultivated land and the government did nothing to stop them. Meanwhile in northern Italy there were many strikes among industrial workers in 1919. Finally in September 1920 the workers occupied shipyards and factories. The government refused to use force to move them and instead negotiated with them. Eventually the old management were allowed to return but the unrest among the workers and peasants alarmed the upper and middle classes and they were willing to support right wing movements to stop them.

FASCIST ITALY

Meanwhile in 1919 Mussolini founded the Fasci di Combattimento. Mussolini's fascists were thugs who acted as strike breakers and committed arson. They also beat up socialists and forced them to drink castor oil. The fascists claimed they were acting to restore law and order and were saving Italy from communism. The police and the army turned a blind eye.

The fascist movement grew rapidly and in May 1921 35 fascist deputies were elected. Finally at a mass rally in Naples on 24 October 1922 the fascists demanded a march on Rome to take power by force. So on 28 October 1922 a force of fascists marched on Rome (although Mussolini remained in Milan in case anything went wrong). At first the king planned to use the army to resist the fascists. However at the last moment he changed his mind and refused to sign an order placing Italy under martial law. Instead he summoned Mussolini to be Prime Minister. Mussolini travelled from Milan and arrived in Rome to take up the post on 29 October 1922.

Mussolini gradually strengthened his grip on Italy, although his first cabinet was made up of fascists and members of other political parties. In 1923 Mussolini formed the fascist militia as an 'auxiliary' army. He also gained the support of the Roman Catholic Church by making religious education compulsory in primary schools.

In 1923 Mussolini also passed a law which stated that whichever party got most votes should get two thirds of the seats in parliament. In the event, in April 1924 the fascists won 64% of the vote so the new law was hardly needed.

However on 10 June 1924 Giacomo Matteotti, the leader of the socialists disappeared. His body was found in August and it was clear that the fascists murdered him. The press accused Mussolini of being involved in the murder.

Mussolini now faced a crisis. However the opposition responded weakly by simply withdrawing their MPs from parliament. Yet Mussolini became increasingly isolated and faced attacks from the press.

Finally on 3 January 1925 Mussolini called his opponent's bluff. He made a speech in which he said 'I and I alone assume the political, moral and historical responsibility for all that has happened'. His opponents did nothing.

Mussolini then created a dictatorship. Between 1926 and 1929 the Fascist party was purged. Meanwhile in October 1926 all opposition parties were banned. The fascists also gained control of the press by persuading newspaper owners to sack anti-fascist editors and replace them with friendly ones.

The police were given much greater powers and a secret police force the Opera Vigilanza Repressione Antifascismo or OVRA was formed.
Mussolini also created the 'cult of the Duce'. (He called himself Il Duce). Mussolini was praised to the skies in the press and his slogans were painted everywhere. They included 'believe, obey, fight' and 'Mussolini is always right' (possibly the stupidest slogan ever invented).

Finally in 1929 the fascists made an agreement with the Roman Catholic Church. it was called the Lateran Pact. The Vatican was made a sovereign state and in Italy religious education was extended to secondary schools. The Pope recognised the kingdom of Italy for the first time and he accepted that Rome was now the capital of Italy.

Mussolini was helped by a world economic recovery in 1922-1929. The Italian economy benefited and for some (though not all) Italians some degree of prosperity returned.

However in 1927 Mussolini revalued the Italian currency. As a result it was overvalued and Italian industry had difficulty exporting goods. Unemployment rose.

Meanwhile in 1927 Mussolini launched the so-called battle of the births to increase Italy's population. It consisted of propaganda and some financial incentives to try and persuade women to have more children. A special tax was placed on single men and in 1934 family allowances were introduced. Nevertheless the Italian birth rate continued to fall. The population of Italy did increase but only because of a fall in the death rate.

In the 1930s Italy suffered from the worldwide depression. The fascists responded by increasing public spending. New public buildings were erected. Roads and other public works were created.

Nevertheless southern Italy remained very poor. Crime also remained rife although the south's problems were covered up by the fascist regime.

From 1925 Mussolini also campaigned to make Italy self sufficient in grain. The so-called battle of the grain did succeed in increasing grain production. However much Italian land was not well suited to growing wheat. It was better suited to growing other crops such as olives or grapes. Nevertheless some of it was used to grow wheat, which made no economic sense.

Ultimately Mussolini led Italy into disaster. In November 1935 he ordered an invasion of Ethiopia. The Ethiopians had little chance against a modern army and bomber planes. The fascists also used poison gas and Ethiopia was soon overrun. The League of Nations (forerunner of the UN) imposed economic sanctions but they had little effect. Instead they just drove Mussolini into Hitler's arms.

In the late 1930s Italy was increasingly dominated by Germany. Eventually Italy became a German satellite and Mussolini became a puppet ruler.

In 1938 there was a sign of increasing German influence when Mussolini introduced anti-Semitic laws. Italian Jews were banned from marrying non-Jews. They were also banned from joining the fascist party and from working in the public sector. Jews were also forbidden to own more than 50 hectares of land.

When World War II began in 1939 Mussolini stayed neutral. However in 1940 Germany overran Norway, Holland and Belgium and invaded France. Like a vulture Mussolini declared war on Britain and France on 10 June 1940, hoping to gain overseas territory from them. However when Italian forces attacked France the French army easily held them at bay.

In October 1940 the Italians invaded Greece. However the Greeks easily defeated them. Meanwhile in September 1940 the Italians invaded British Egypt from Libya. However in December 1940 the British counterattacked. The Italians were routed and by January 1941 the British had taken 133,000 prisoners. The British would have taken all of Libya but the Italians were 'rescued' by the Germans. Hitler sent troops under General Rommel to North Africa.

However in May 1941 the British liberated Ethiopia from the Italians.

Meanwhile in November 1940 the British utterly defeated the Italian navy at Taranto.

Italy had proven to be a broken reed. The ordinary Italian soldiers were not interested in Mussolini's foolish dream of a 'new Roman Empire'.

Worse from 1940 Italy suffered air raids. By 1943 60% of Italy's industrial production was destroyed by bombing.

Furthermore when the Germans invaded Russia in 1941 Mussolini sent troops to support them. The Italian troops in Russia suffered terrible losses.

At the end of 1941 Italy and Germany declared war on the USA. The British won a great victory at El Alamein in November 1942. At the beginning of 1943 the Russians were victorious at Stalingrad. The Germans and Italians) were now clearly losing the war.

In March 1943 there were strikes in Turin and Milan. Fascism was crumbling. Then on 10 July 1943 the allies landed in Sicily. Finally Mussolini agreed to allow the Fascist Grand Council to meet. It met on 24 July and voted that the king should resume all his constitutional powers.

On 25 July 1943 Mussolini visited the king and was arrested. The king and parliament took power again.

The king appointed Marshal Pietro Bagdolio prime minister. Publicly Bagdolio said that Italy would continue to fight but secretly he sought an armistice with the allies.

Italy surrendered on 8 September 1943. On 9 September the allies landed at Salerno. The Germans then poured troops into Italy. On 11 September the captured Rome. They also kidnapped Mussolini and made him puppet ruler of northern and central Italy, which they called the Salo Republic.

The allies were in control of southern Italy but they advanced slowly. They captured the monastery of Monte Cassino in May 1944 and they entered Rome on 4 June 1944. Meanwhile the Germans retreated to the north. As well as the allied army the Germans were faced with a force of Italian partisans acting behind their lines. In 1945 the partisans liberated Milan, Turin and Genoa. They also captured Mussolini and shot him on 28 April 1945. The German army in north Italy surrendered on 1 May 1945.

MODERN ITALY

The task of reconstruction then began. In May 1946 the king, Victor Emmanuel, abdicated in favour of his son. However on 2 June 1946 a referendum was held and the majority of Italians voted for a republic.

On the same day elections were held for a constituent assembly to draw up a new constitution. It came into effect on 1 January 1948. The first president was Luigi Einaudi.

From 1949 to 1953 Italy was helped by Marshall Aid from the USA. Furthermore in the 1950s and early 1960s Italy experienced an 'economic miracle'. Italian industry boomed and living standards rose sharply.

However there was still acute poverty in the south and many southern Italians migrated to the north in search of jobs.

Italy was also a founder member of the EEC (forerunner of the EU) in 1957.

After 196s the economy entered a temporary downturn. However during the rest of the 1960s living standards continued to rise. Nevertheless at the end of the decade unrest began in Italy. In 1967-68 there were demonstrations and sit-ins in Italian universities. Then in 1968-69 labour unrest began in the north and there were many strikes.

However labour unrest declined in the early 1970s as wages grew rapidly and the government introduced some reforms. (In 1965 less that 50% of households had a TV. By 1975 the figure was 92%.

Meanwhile church attendance fell rapidly as the Catholic church lost its grip on Italian society. In 1956 70% of adults attended church regularly. By 1972 the figure was only 35%.

Furthermore some reforms were introduced despite the church's opposition. In 1970 a new law allowed divorce. (The measure was approved by a referendum in 1974). In 1978 limited abortion was allowed. (This measure was approved by a referendum in 1981).

Unfortunately in the 1970s Italy suffered from terrorism both right and left wing. In 1978 left wing terrorists kidnapped and murdered the leader of the Christian Democrats, Aldo Moro. In 1980 a bomb planted by fascists killed 84 people in Bologna railway station. Fortunately in the early 1980s terrorism declined.

In the early 1980s Italy, like the rest of the world, suffered a recession. However by 1983 it was over and the decade was one of prosperity for most (not all) Italians. Poverty persisted in the south.

Today Italy is a prosperous country. The north is highly industrialised. Italy also has an important fishing industry. Wine is also an important export. However in recent years service industries such as tourism, education and finance have become the most important ones.

Today the population of Italy is 58 million.

Ireland

2009-10-23T04:06:00.000-07:00

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PREHISTORIC IRELAND

The first humans arrived in Ireland between 7,000 and 6,000 BC after the end of the last ice age. The first Irish people lived by farming, fishing and gathering food such as plants and shellfish. The stone age hunters tended to live on the seashore or on the banks of rivers and lakes where food was plentiful. They hunted animals like deer and wild boar. They also hunted birds and, with harpoons, they hunted seals.

About 4,000 BC farming was introduced to Ireland. The stone age farmers kept sheep, pigs and cattle and raised crops. They probably lived in huts with wooden frames covered with turfs and thatched with rushes. The farmers made tools of stone, bone and antler. They also made pottery. For centuries the farmers and the hunters co-existed but the old hunter-gatherer lifestyle gradually died out.

The stone age farmers were the first people to significantly affect the environment of Ireland as they cleared areas of forest for farming. They were also the first people to leave monuments in the form of burial mounds known as court cairns. The stone age farmers sometimes cremated their dead then buried the remains in stone galleries covered in earth.

They also created burial places called dolmens, which consist of massive vertical stones with horizontal stones on top, and passage graves which have a central passage lined and roofed with stones with burial chambers leading off it. The passage graves were covered with mounds of earth.

CELTIC IRELAND

About 2,000 BC bronze was introduced into Ireland and was used for making tools and weapons. The bronze age people also erected stone circles in Ireland. They also built crannogs or lake dwellings which were easy to defend.

Then about 750 BC the Celts arrived in Ireland. They brought iron tools and weapons with them. The Celts were a warlike people. (According to Roman writers they were passionately fond of fighting) and they built stone forts across Ireland). Ireland was divided into many small kingdoms and warfare between them was frequent. Fighting often took place in chariots.

The priests of the Celts were called Druids and they practised polytheism (worship of many gods).

Celtic society was divided into 3 classes. At the top were the kings and aristocrats. Below them were the freemen who were farmers. They could be well off or could be very poor. At the bottom were slaves. Divorce and remarriage were by no means unusual in Celtic society and polygamy was common among the rich.

CHRISTIANITY COMES TO IRELAND

In the 4th century Christianity spread to Ireland, probably through trade with England and France. In 431 Pope Celestine sent a man named Palladius to Ireland. However he was killed shortly after his arrival.

Then in 432 a man named Patrick arrived in Ireland. Patrick was probably born about 390 or 400. He lived in Western England until he was captured by Irish raiders at the age of 16 and was taken to Ireland as a slave. Patrick was forced to work as a herdsman and so had much time for thinking about religion. After 6 years as a slave Patrick managed to escape back to England.

However he had a vision in which he read a letter asking him to come to Ireland. This he did. Patrick became a missionary to Ireland until his death in 461.

Patrick tried to organise the church in Ireland along 'Roman' lines with Bishops as the leaders. However the Irish church soon changed to a system based on monasteries with Abbots as the leaders.

From 500 to 800 was the golden age of the Irish church. Many monasteries were founded across Ireland and soon the Irish sent missionaries to other parts of Europe such as Scotland and Northern England. Irish monks also kept alive Greek-Roman learning during the Dark Ages. In Irish monasteries learning and the arts flourished. One of the greatest arts was making decorated books called illuminated manuscripts. The most famous of these is the Book Of Kells, which was probably made at the beginning of the 9th century. However this golden age ended with the Viking raids.

THE VIKINGS IN IRELAND

The Vikings first attacked Ireland in 795. They looted monasteries. They also took women and children as slaves. However the Vikings were not only raiders. They were also traders and craftsmen. In the 9th century they founded Ireland's first towns, Dublin, Wexford, Cork and Limerick. They also gave Ireland its name, a combination of the Gaelic word Eire and the Viking word land. In time the Vikings settled down. They intermarried with the Irish and accepted Christianity.

Around 940 the great High King Brian Boru was born. At that time the Danes had conquered much of the kingdom of Munster. Brian defeated them in several battles. In 968 he recaptured Cashel, the capital of Munster. After 976 Brian was king of Munster and in 1002 he became the High King of Ireland. However in 1014 Leinster, the people of Dublin and the Danes joined forces against him. Brian fought and defeated them at the battle of Clontarf on 23 April 1014, although he was killed himself. This victory ended the Viking threat to Ireland.

To read more about the Vikings click here.

THE ENGLISH INVASION

During the 11th and 12th centuries the church in Ireland flourished once again. In the early and mid 12th century it was reformed. Synods (church meetings) were held at Cashel in 1101, at Rath Bresail in 1111 and Kells in 1152. The church was reorganised on diocesan lines and bishops became the leaders rather than Abbots. However Pope Adrian IV (actually an Englishman called Nicholas Breakspear) was not satisfied. He was determined to bring the Irish church to heel. In 1155 he gave the English king, Henry II, permission to invade Ireland to sort out the church.

However Henry did not immediately invade Ireland. Instead Dermait MacMurrough, the king of Leinster, brought events to a head. In 1166, another king, Tiernan O'Rourke forced MacMurrough to flee from Ireland. However MacMurrough appealed to the English king Henry II for help. Henry gave him permission to recruit in England. MacMurrough enlisted the support of a man named Richard FitzGilbert de Clare (better known as Strongbow) to help him regain his kingdom. In return MacMurrough promised that Strongbow could marry his daughter and would become king of Leinster after him.

MacMurrough returned to South Leinster in 1167. The first English soldiers arrived in 1169. They landed at Bannow Bay in County Wexford and soon captured the town of Wexford. The High King, Rory O'Connor led an army against the English but Dermait came to terms with him. He agreed to submit to O'Connor as High King.

However the next year, 1170, Strongbow led an army to Ireland and captured Waterford and Dublin. Askluv the king of Dublin sailed away. However the next year he returned with a Norwegian army but some English knights sallied out on horseback and defeated them. Askluv was captured and executed. Next Rory O'Connor led an army to Dublin and laid siege to the town. However the English slipped out and made a surprise attack, routing the Irish.

Henry II became alarmed that Strongbow was becoming too powerful and ordered all English soldiers to return to England by Easter 1171. Strongbow made Henry an offer. He agreed to submit to king Henry and accept him as Lord if he was allowed to continue. Henry decided to accept the offer on condition he could have the towns of Dublin, Waterford and Wexford. In the meantime Dermait died and Strongbow became king of Leinster. The English king Henry landed in Ireland in October 1171. Strongbow submitted to him. So did most of the Irish kings. In 1175 Rory O'Connor submitted to Henry by the treaty of Windsor.

THE ANGLO-IRISH

In the early 13th century the English extended their control over all of Ireland except part of Connacht and Western Ulster. The English also founded the towns of Atheny, Drogheda, Galway and New Ross. The first Irish parliament was called in 1264 but it represented only the Anglo-Irish ruling class.

However after 1250 the English tide ebbed. In 1258 Brian O'Neill led a rebellion. The rebellion failed when O'Neill was defeated and killed in 1260. However the English landowners were gradually absorbed into Irish society. Many of them intermarried and slowly adopted Irish customs. In 1366 the Kilkenny Parliament passed the Statutes of Kilkenny. The Anglo-Irish were forbidden to marry native Irish. They were also forbidden to speak Gaelic or to play the Irish game of hurling. They were not allowed to wear Irish dress or ride bareback but must use a saddle. However all such attempts to keep the two races separate and distinct failed.

In 1315 the Scots invaded Ireland hoping to open up a second front in their war with the English. Robert the Bruce's brother led the Scottish army with considerable success and was even crowned king of Ireland. However the English sent an army to oppose him and he was defeated and killed in 1318.

In 1394 the English king Richard II led an army to Ireland to try and re-assert English control. The Irish submitted to him but promptly rebelled once he had left. Richard returned in 1399 but he was forced to leave due to trouble at home. From then on English control continued to wane until by the middle of the 15th century the English only ruled Dublin and the surrounding 'Pale'.

THE TUDOR CONQUEST OF IRELAND

Henry VII (1485-1509) tried to bring Ireland to heel. In 1494 he made Sir Edward Poynings Lord-Deputy of Ireland. In 1495 Poyning persuaded the Irish parliament to pass 'Poyning's Law' which stated that the Irish parliament could only meet with the permission of the English king and could only pass laws previously approved by the king and his ministers.

Henry VIII (1509-1547) continued his father's policy to trying to bring Ireland under his control but he adopted a 'softly, softly' approach of trying to win over the Irish by diplomacy. In 1536 the Irish parliament agreed to make Henry head of the Irish church (although the reformation made little headway in Ireland and the country remained overwhelmingly Catholic). In 1541 the Irish parliament agreed to recognise Henry VIII as king of Ireland.

Under Henry's son Edward VI (1547-1553) English policy hardened. The English undertook military campaigns against Irish chiefs in Laois and Offaly who refused to submit to the king. They then made the first attempt to 'plant' loyal English people in Ireland as a way of controlling the country. Land confiscated from the Irish was given to English settlers. However in the face of attacks from the Irish the English colonists were forced to abandon the 'plantation'.

After Edwards death his sister Mary (1553-1558) became queen. She carried out the first successful plantation of Ireland. Again people were settled in Laois and Offaly but this time they were better prepared for war.

Further plantations took place under Elizabeth (1558-1603). From 1579 to 1583 the Earl of Desmond led a rebellion against the English. When the rebellion was finally crushed much of the land in Munster was confiscated and was given to English colonists.

Then in 1592, Elizabeth founded the first university in Ireland, Trinity College, Dublin.

Finally in 1593 rebellion broke out in Ulster. Hugh O' Neill the Earl of Tyrone, joined the rebellion in 1595. At first the rebellion was successful. The rebels won a great victory at Yellow Ford in 1598. However O'Neill was severely defeated at the battle of Kinsale in 1601. The rebellion ended in 1603.

IRELAND IN THE 17th CENTURY

After the rebellion O'Neil was, at first, treated leniently. He was allowed to return to his land. However after 1605 English attitudes hardened. In 1607 Hugh O'Neil and Rory O'Donnell, the Earl of Tyrconnell, fled to France with their supporters. This event became known as the flight of the Earls.

Afterwards their land in Ulster was confiscated by King James who decided on a plantation of Ulster. This time the plantation was to be far more thorough. This time Protestant settlers would outnumber the native Irish. Between 1610 and 1613 vast numbers of English and Scots settled in Ulster on confiscated land. Many new towns were founded.

Naturally the native Irish resented the plantation and in 1641 Ulster rose in rebellion. Some massacres of Protestants undoubtedly occurred. However the extent of the massacres was later greatly exaggerated.

In the South in 1642 the Anglo-Irish and the native Irish formed an alliance called the Confederation of Kilkenny. They quickly took over all Ireland except Dublin and some other towns and part of Ulster. Meanwhile in England civil war was raging between the English king and parliament so Ireland was largely left to its own devices for several years. However divisions between the Anglo-Irish and the native Irish weakened the rebellion. Moreover the English civil war ended in 1646. King Charles I was executed in January 1649. Afterwards the English parliament turned its attention to Ireland.

Oliver Cromwell was determined to crush Irish resistance and impose Protestantism on Ireland. He also sought revenge for the massacres of 1641. When Cromwell captured Drogheda in 1649 the defenders were massacred. A similar massacre took place in Wexford. Cromwell left Ireland in 1650 and his Son-in-law took over. By 1651 all of Ireland was in English hands.

In 1653-654 another plantation took place. Land belonging to Irish Catholics was confiscated. Those who could prove they had not taken part in the rebellion of 1641 were given other (less fertile) land west of the Shannon. The confiscated lands were given to Englishmen.

In 1660 Charles II became king of England and Scotland. At first it looked as if he would undo the Cromwellian confiscation of Irish land. However the king soon back-pedalled, fearing a backlash among his own people if he treated Catholics too kindly.

Furthermore during the 1660s the export of cattle from Ireland to England was banned. Yet exports of meat and butter boomed. The population of Ireland also rose rapidly in the late 17th century. English merchants also resented competition from the Irish wool trade. Labour costs were lower in Ireland than in England and Irish wool was exported to many other countries. In 1699 the Irish were forbidden to export wool to any country except England. However the English already charged high import duties on Irish wool and there was little demand for it. So exports of Irish wool were effectively ended.

In 1685 a Catholic, James II, succeeded Charles II. The Irish hoped James would treat them more kindly but he was deposed in 1688 and fled to France. The Dutchman William of Orange and his English wife Mary were invited to come and rule in James's place.

However James was not willing to give up his crown so easily. The Lord-Deputy of Ireland, the Early of Tyrconnell was still loyal to him. So were most of the Irish. In March 1689 James landed at Kinsale and quickly took most of Ireland.

Londonderry was one of the few places that stood by William. In December 1688 Catholic troops attempted to enter but 13 apprentice boys shut the gates against them. In April 1689 James laid siege to Londonderry and his men laid a boom across the River Foyle to prevent supplies reaching it by water. However in July a ship called the Mountjoy broke the boom and relieved the town.

William's army landed in Ireland in August 1689 and on 1 July 1690 the two armies met at the battle of the Boyne near Drogheda. James was decisively defeated. William entered Dublin on 6 July 1690. The next year his army lay siege to Limerick. That town surrendered in October 1691. The treaty of Limerick ended the war in Ireland.

THE PROTESTANT ASCENDANCY

Following the defeat of James II the Irish Protestants passed certain laws to repress the Catholics. In 1695 Catholics were forbidden to carry arms. In 1697 the Banishment Law ordered all bishops and priests to leave Ireland (although many did not). In 1704 Catholic priests were required to register and to swear an oath of allegiance to the king.

Furthermore from 1704 all members of the Irish parliament and all holders of office had to be members of the Church of Ireland. (This Act applied to Presbyterians as well as Catholics. As a result many Presbyterians left Ireland for North America during the 18th century).

Another Act of 1704 stated that Catholics could not buy land. They could not leave their land to a single heir, and they could not inherit land from Protestants. These measures meant that by 1778 only 5% of the land in Ireland was owned by Catholics. Both Catholics and Dissenters (Protestants who did not belong to the Church of Ireland) had to pay tithes to the Church of Ireland which naturally caused great resentment.

An Act of 1719 reaffirmed the British parliaments right to legislate for Ireland. The Irish parliament was made definitely subordinate.

In 1727 Catholics lost the right to vote.

There was a great deal of dire poverty in Ireland, at its worst during the famine of 1741. This disaster killed hundreds of thousands of people.

In the 1760s the grievances of Irish peasants boiled over into violence. In Munster the 'whiteboys', so called because they wore white smocks or shirts to disguise themselves burned buildings and maimed cattle. In the 1770s they were followed in the north by the oak boys and the steel boys.

From 1778 the penal laws were gradually repealed. From that year Catholics were allowed to lease land for 999 years. From 1782 they were allowed to buy land. In 1782 Poyning�s Law is repealed after nearly 300 years. The law of 1719, which gave the British parliament the right to legislate for the Irish, was also repealed. In 1792 Catholics were allowed to practise as lawyers and to marry Protestants. From 1793 Catholics were allowed to vote (but were not allowed to sit as MPs).

In the 18th century a linen industry grew up in Northern Ireland. A Linen Board was formed in Dublin in 1711. However the linen industry soon became concentrated in the north and another Linen Board opened in Belfast in 1782. From the late 18th century Britain began to industrialise. In Ireland industrialisation was limited to the north. The south of Ireland remained agricultural, exporting huge quantities of meat and butter to Britain. During the 18th century the population of Ireland rapidly increased from less than 2 million in 1700 to nearly 5 million in 1800. Trade with Britain boomed and the Bank of Ireland opened in 1783.

However at the end of the 18th century the ideas of the American Revolution and the French Revolution reached Ireland. They influenced a Protestant lawyer, Theobald Wolf Tone who, in 1791, founded the Society of United Irishmen. The society wanted Ireland to become an independent republic with religious toleration for all. In 1794 Britain went to was with France. The United Irishmen were regarded as a dangerous organisation and were suppressed. Wolf Tone fled abroad and tried to persuade the French to invade Ireland. In 1796 they sent a fleet but it was prevented from landing by a storm.

Then in May 1798 risings took place in Wexford, Wicklow and Mayo. However the rebellion was defeated at Vinegar Hill near Enniscorthy on 21 June. French soldiers landed at Killala in August but they were forced to surrender in September. The French sent another fleet but their ships were intercepted by the British navy and most of them were captured. On board one was Wolf Tone. In November he committed suicide in prison.

IRELAND IN THE 19TH CENTURY

The British government then decided that radical reform was needed. They decided the answer was to abolish the Irish parliament and unite Ireland with Britain. In 1800 they managed to persuade the Irish parliament to agree to the measure. It came into effect in 1801.

In 1803 Robert Emmet (1778-1803) and a small group of followers attempted an uprising in Dublin. They killed the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland and his nephew but the rising was quickly crushed. Emmet was hung, drawn and quartered.

In the early 19th century a movement to remove remaining restrictions on Catholics was led by Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847). In 1823 he founded the Catholic Association. In 1829 their wishes were granted. The Catholic Emancipation Act allowed Catholics to become MPs and to hold public office.

In 1840 O'Connell began a Repeal Association to demand the repeal of the Act of Union. He arranged 'monster meetings' of his supporters. In 1843 he called for one at Clontarf. However the British government banned the meeting. O'Connell cancelled the meeting and his movement collapsed.

THE POTATO FAMINE

In 1845 a large part of the Irish population lived on potatos and buttermilk. It was an adequate diet but if anything happened to the potato crop there would be disaster. In 1845 potato blight hit Ireland. Peel, the British Prime Minister, appointed a scientific committee to study the disease. Unfortunately they did not understand its true nature.

Faced with famine Peel started relief works to provide work for the starving. (Peel was reluctant to give away free food). The potato blight returned in 1846. By 1847 the situation was so bad that Peel's successor, Lord John Russell realised direct relief was necessary and soup kitchens were set up. Private charity also struggled to cope with the calamity.

However hundreds of thousands of people died each year of starvation and disease such as cholera, typhus and dysentery. (In their weakened condition people had little resistance to disease).

The famine was worst in Southern and Southwest Ireland. The North and the East coast were less affected.

Many people fled aboard. In 1851 alone some 250,000 people emigrated from Ireland. (Many of them died of disease while on board ship). The population of Ireland fell dramatically. From over 8 million in 1841 it fell to about 6 1/2 million in 1851 and it continued to fall. An estimated 1 million people died during the famine. Many others emigrated.

The failure of the British government to deal with the famine caused a lasting bitterness in Ireland.

THE HOME RULE MOVEMENT

In 1842 an organisation called Young Ireland was formed to campaign for Irish independence. (They were called 'Young Ireland' because they were opposed to O'Connell's 'Old Ireland', which advocated peaceful methods. In 1848 Young Ireland attempted an uprising. Led by William Smith O'Brien 1803-64 a group of Irish peasants fought with 46 members of the Irish Constabulary at Ballingary in County Tipperary. The skirmish later became known as 'the battle of the Widow McCormack's cabbage patch'. Afterwards O'Brien was arrested. He was sentenced to death but instead was transported to Tasmania.

In 1858 another movement called the Fenians was formed. In 1867 they attempted a rising in England, which did not succeed. In 1870 they were banned by the Catholic Church but they continued to operate.

Also in 1870 a lawyer named Isaac Butt (1813-1879) founded the Irish Home Government Association. The aim was to gain MPs in the British parliament and fight for independence. The Association was a success in that it soon gained a large number of MPs but Butt was regarded as too moderate. He soon lost control of the movement to a Protestant Lawyer called Charles Steward Parnell (1846-1891).

THE LAND WAR

In the late 1870s Irish agriculture entered a recession and many tenant farmers were evicted. Then in 1879 a Fenian called Michael Davitt (1846-1906) founded the Irish National Land League to demand land reform. He asked Parnell to lead the movement. The land war of 1879-1882 followed. Rents were withheld until the last moment. Anyone who took the land of an evicted tenant was boycotted. This word came from a Captain Charles Boycott. He managed an estate in Mayo. Local people refused to work for him but in 1880 50 labourers from Ulster, protected by troops, were sent to harvest his farm. However life was made so unpleasant for Boycott he was forced to leave.

During the land war some people became violent. As a result in 1881 the British government passed the Coercion Act, which allowed them to imprison people without trial. The leaders of the land league were arrested. At the same time Gladstone passed another land act. Tenants could apply to a special land court for a fair rent. Gladstone's land acts of 1881 and 1882 also gave tenant farmers greater security of tenure.

The land war ended with an agreement called the Kilmainham Treaty. The government released the leaders and agreed to some more concessions and the violence died down (although the Chief Secretary for Ireland Lord Frederick Cavendish and the Under Secretary were murdered in Phoenix Park, Dublin).

THE HOME RULE BILLS

In 1886 Gladstone introduced his first Home Rule bill but it was rejected by the House of Commons. Gladstone introduced a second Home Rule bill in 1893. This one was passed by the House of Commons but it was rejected by the House of Lords.

Gladstone introduced a second Home Rule bill in 1893. The House of Commons passed this one but the House of Lords rejected it. Nevertheless some reforms were made to land ownership. In 1885 money was made available for leaseholders to borrow to buy their land. The loans were repaid at low rates of interest. The loan system was extended in 1891. More land acts were passed in 1903 and 1909. As a result many thousands of tenant farmers purchased their land.

In 1893 the Gaelic League was founded to make Gaelic the main language of Ireland once again.

Meanwhile Protestant opposition to Home Rule was growing. The Ulster Unionist Party was formed in 1886. Other unionist organisations were also formed at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

However Sinn Fein (Gaelic 'we ourselves') was formed in 1905.

In the 1900s Ireland moved towards civil war. The Ulster Volunteer Force was formed in 1913. In the South Nationalists formed the Irish Volunteers. Both sides obtained arms.

Finally a Home Rule Bill received the Royal Assent on 15 September 1914. However it was put on hold for the duration of the First World War. The war split opinion in Ireland. Some people were willing to wait for the end of the war believing that Ireland would then become independent. Some were not. The Irish Volunteers split. About 12,000 men broke away but kept the name Irish Volunteers. The rest (0ver 100,000 men called themselves the Irish National Volunteers).

THE EASTER RISING

In the early years of the 20th century the Irish Republican Brotherhood remained a powerful secret organisation. Many of them joined the Irish Volunteers. In May 1915 the IRB formed a military council. In January 1916 they planned an uprising and set Easter Day (April 24) as the date. MacNeill, the leader of the Irish Volunteers, wa sonly informed about the planned uprising on 21 April. At first he agreed to co-operate. He ordered the Volunteers to mobilise on 24 April. However a German ship called the Aud, which was carrying rifles to Ireland was intercepted by the British Navy and her captain scuttled her. MacNeill changed his mind and cancelled the Volunteer Movements. As a result the uprising was confined almost entirely to Dublin and therefore had no chance of success.

The insurgents occupied the Post Office in O'Connell Street where their leader Patrick Pearse announced an Irish Republic. However the British crushed the rebellion and the insurgents surrendered on 29 April. The British then court-martialed the insurgents and 15 of them were executed. Public opinion was appalled and alientated by the executions.

THE FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE

In December 1918 a general election was held and Sinn Fein won 73 seats. However the Sinn Fein MPs refused to sit in the Britsh parliament. Instead they formed their own parliament called the Daill Eirann, which met in Dublin.

In January 1919 the Irish Volunteers renamed themselves the IRA the IRA began a guerilla war when they shot two RIC men. The guerilla war continued through 1920 and 1921. The British recruited a force of ex-soldiers called the Black and Tans to support the RIC. The Black and Tans were sent to Ireland in March 1920. They undertook reprisals against the IRA by burning buildings. In Dublin on 21 November 1921 they fired upon a crowd watching a football match killing 12 people. Shortly afterwards the Black and Tans burned part of Cork city centre.

The war continued into 1921. On 25 May 1921 the IRA burned Dublin Customs House However 5 of them were killed and 80 were captured. Shortly afterwards, in July 1921, the war ended.

Meanwhile in 1920 the British government passed the Government of Ireland Act. By it there would be 2 parliaments in Ireland, one in the north and one in the south. However both parliaments would be subordinate to the British parliament. An election was held for the southern Irish parliament in May 1921. Sinn Fein won almost all the seats but their MPs refused to sit in the new parliament. Instead the Dail continued to meet.

Then in October 1921 a group of 5 men were appointed by the Dail to negotiate with the British. The British prime minister demanded that Ireland be partioned and he threatened the delegates with war if they did not sign a treaty. Therefore they did so.

The Dail approved the treaty on 7 January 1922. However opinion split over the treaty with some people willing to accept it as a temporary measure and some people bitterly opposed. Fighting broke out between the IRA and the National Army. Michael Collins was killed in an embush on 22 August 1922. The civil war lasted until May 1923.

IRELAND IN THE EARLY 20th CENTURY

During the 1920s and 1930s unemployment was high in Ireland. Furthermore many people lived in overcrowded conditions. As a result emigration continued. However things slowly improved. In the years 1925-1929 the government created a hydro-electricity scheme called the Shannon scheme. By 1943 all the towns in Ireland had electricity. So did most of the villages. In the 1930s the government tried to help the unemployed with a road-building scheme. Furthermore some industry developed in Ireland at that time.

In 1937 a new constitution made an elected president head of state. Furthermore the name 'Irish Free State' was replaced with either Eire or Ireland. Then in 1948 Ireland was made a republic and the last ties with Britain were cut.

In the 1930s Ireland fought an 'economic war' with Britain. Before 1922 many tenant farmers borrowed money from the British government to buy their farms. As part of the treaty of 1922 the Irish state was to collect this money and pass it on to the British. However in 1932 de Valera stopped paying. In response the British imposed a tariff of 20% on Irish goods. This caused great harm to the Irish cattle trade. However de Valera imposed import duties on British goods such as coal. He hoped Ireland would become economically self-sufficient and Irish industries would develop. In reality the war hurt both sides. In 1935 they made a coal-cattle pact, which made trade in the two commodities easier. In 1938 a general trade treaty brought the economic war to an end.

THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

In 1949 an Industrial Development Authority was founded to promote industrialisation and from the late 1950s the Irish economy developed rapidly. During the 1960s and 1970s the Irish economy grew an average of 4% per year. The first Irish motorway opened in 1962. Also in 1962 Irish television began broadcasting.

However Irish people continued to emigrate abroad during the 1950s and 1960s. Despite emigration the population of Ireland rose in the 1960s and 1970s (for the first time since the mid-19th century.

In 1973 Ireland joined the EEC (forerunner of the EU). Membership brought great benefit to Ireland both in direct aid and in investment by foreign companies.

During the 1980s the Irish economy was in the doldrums. Unemployment was only 7% in 1979 but it rose to 17% in 1990. Then in the 1990s the situation changed completely. The Irish economy boomed and it became known as the Celtic Tiger. By 2000 unemployment in the Irish Republic had fallen to less than 4%. In 2002 Ireland joined the euro.

Irish society also changed rapidly in the last years of the 20th century. Mary Robinson was elected the first woman president in 1990. In 1995 the Irish people voted in a referendum to allow divorce.

In the early 21st century the Irish economy grew rapidly. In 2008 Ireland entered a recession. Nevertheless Ireland is a prosperous country with a bright future.

Today the population of Ireland is 4.2 million.

Iceland

2009-10-23T03:59:00.000-07:00

Alphabet

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History

The first people known to have inhabitated Iceland were Irish monks or hermits who came in the eighth century, but left with the arrival of the pagan Norsemen, who systematically settled Iceland in the period 870 - 930 A.D. Iceland was thus the last European country to be settled.

The main source of information about the settlement period in Iceland is the Landnαmabσk (Book of Settlements), written in the 12th century, which gives a detailed account of the first settlers. According to this book Ingσlfur Arnarson was the first settler. He was a chieftain from Norway, arriving in Iceland with his family and dependents in 874. He built his farm in Reykjavνk, the site of the present capital. During the next 60 years or so, viking settlers from Scandinavia, bringing some Celtic people with them, spread their homesteads over the habitable areas. In the year 930, at the end of the Settlement period, a constitutional law code was accepted and Alώingi established. The judicial power of Alώingi was distributed between four local courts and a type of a Supreme Court held annually at the national assembly at ήingvellir.

In the year 1000 Christianity was peacefully adopted by the Icelanders at Alώingi, which met for two weeks every summer, attracting a large proportion of the population. The first bishopric was established at Skαlholt in South Iceland in 1056, and a second at Hσlar in the north in 1106. Both became the country's main centres of learning.

In the late tenth century Greenland was discovered and colonized by Icelanders under the leadership of Eirik the Red, and around the year 1000 Icelanders were the first Europeans to set foot on the American continent, 500 years before Columbus, although their attempts to settle in the New World failed.

In 1262-64 internal feuds, amounting to a civil war, led to submission to the King of Norway and a new monarchial code in 1271. When Norway and Denmark formed the Kalmar Union in 1397, Iceland fell under the sovereignty of the King of Denmark. After the "Golden Age" of Iceland's independence had ended, the situation went from bad to worse. The Danish kings brought about the Reformation of the Church in 1551, which resulted in Danish control over the Church, and confiscation of its great wealth. They replaced the Hansa and English trade with an oppressive Danish trade monopoly, and established absolute monarchy in 1662, thus transfering all governing power to Copenhagen. While this arrangement was very profitable for the Danish Crown, these changes were disastrous for the Icelandic economy. Further problems arose in the food supply due to cooling of the climate during the 16th and 17th centuries.

The eighteenth century marked the most tragic age in Iceland's history. In 1703, when the first complete census was taken, the population was approximately 50,000, of whom about 20% were beggars and dependents. From 1707 to 1709 the population declined to about 35,000 because of a devastating smallpox epidemic. Twice more the population declined below 40,000, both during the years 1752-57 and 1783-85, due to a series of famines and natural disasters.

At the end of the 18th century Alώingi had been dissolved and the old diocese replaced by one bishop residing in Reykjavνk. As a consequence of the plight of the populace the trade monopoly was modified in 1783 and all subjects of the Danish king given the right to trade in Iceland.

In 1843 Alώingi was reinstituted as a consultative assembly. In 1854 trade monopoly was abolished entirely. In 1874, when Iceland celebrated the millenium of the first settlement, it received a constitution from the Danish king and control of its own finances.

In 1904 Iceland received home rule and finally in 1918 sovereignty, but was united with Denmark under the Danish crown. In 1940 Iceland was occupied by British forces, which were replaced in 1941 by American troops by special agreement between the Icelandic and American governments. Finally, on 17 June 1944, the Republic of Iceland was formally proclaimed at ήingvellir.

Hungary

2009-10-20T04:52:00.000-07:00

Alphabet

A a : aw sound in law
Á á : a sound in father
B b : b sound in bat
C c : ts sound in bits
CS cs : ch sound in chat
D d : d sound in dog
DZ dz : sounds like 'ds' in deeds
DZS dzs : sounds like 'j' in job
E e : e sound in red
É é : e sound in prey
F f : f sound in far
G g : g sound in gap
GY gy : dy sound like 'd' in adulation
H h : h sound in hot
I i : i sound in fit
Í í : ee sound in bee
J j : y sound in yes
K k : k sound in kit
L l : l sound in lip
LY ly : y sound like 'y' in yes (silent 'l')
M m : m sound in mat
N n : n sound in nut
NY ny : ny sound like 'n' in onion
O o : o sound in hole
Ó ó : o sound in rode
Ö ö : e sound in her
Ő ő : e sound in her (elongated)
P p : p sound in pin
R r : r sound in rat (always rolled)
S s : sh sound in ship
SZ sz : s sound in sun
T t : t sound in top
TY ty : ty sound like 'tu' in situation
U u : u sound in push
Ú ú : oo sound in fool
Ü ü : u sound in début
Ű ű : u sound in début (elongated)
V v : v sound in vat
Z z : z sound in zip
ZS zs : sounds like 's' in treasure
Qq, Ww, Xx, Yy in foreign words only

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Map

History

By 14 B.C., western Hungary was part of the Roman Empire's provinces of Pannonia and Dacia. The area east of the Danube was never part of the Roman Empire and was largely occupied by various Germanic and Asiatic peoples. In 896 all of Hungary was invaded by the Magyars, who founded a kingdom. Christianity was accepted during the reign of Stephen I (St. Stephen), 977–1038. A devastating invasion by the Mongols killed half of Hungary's population in 1241.

The peak of Hungary's great period of medieval power came during the reign of Louis I the Great (1342–1382), whose dominions touched the Baltic, Black, and Mediterranean seas. War with the Turks broke out in 1389, and for more than 100 years the Turks advanced through the Balkans. When the Turks smashed a Hungarian army in 1526, western and northern Hungary accepted Hapsburg rule to escape Turkish occupation. Transylvania became independent under Hungarian princes. Intermittent war with the Turks was waged until a peace treaty was signed in 1699.

After the suppression of the 1848 revolt, led by Louis Kossuth, against Hapsburg rule, the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary was set up in 1867. The dual monarchy was defeated, along with the other Central Powers, in World War I. After a short-lived republic in 1918, the chaotic Communist rule of 1919 under Béla Kun ended with the Romanians occupying Budapest on Aug. 4, 1919. When the Romanians left, Adm. Nicholas Horthy entered the capital with a national army. The Treaty of Trianon of June 4, 1920, by which the Allies parceled out Hungarian territories, cost Hungary 68% of its land and 58% of its population.

In World War II, Hungary allied with Germany, which aided the country in recovering lost territories. Following the German invasion of Russia on June 22, 1941, Hungary joined the attack against the Soviet Union, but withdrew in defeat from the eastern front by May 1943. Germany occupied the country for the remainder of the war and set up a puppet government. Hungarian Jews and Gypsies were sent to death camps. The German regime was driven out by the Soviets in 1944–1945.

By the Treaty of Paris (1947), Hungary had to give up all territory it had acquired since 1937 and to pay $300 million in reparations to the USSR, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. In 1948, the Communist Party, with the support of Soviet troops, seized control. Hungary was proclaimed a People's Republic and one-party state in 1949. Industry was nationalized, the land collectivized into state farms, and the opposition terrorized by the secret police.

The terror, modeled after that of the USSR, reached its height with the trial and life imprisonment of József Cardinal Mindszenty, the leader of Hungary's Roman Catholics, in 1948. On Oct. 23, 1956, an anti-Communist revolution broke out in Budapest. To cope with it, the Communists set up a coalition government and called former prime minister Imre Nagy back to head the government. But he and most of his ministers sympathized with the anti-Communist opposition, and he declared Hungary a neutral power, withdrawing from the Warsaw Treaty and appealing to the United Nations for help. One of his ministers, János Kádár, established a counterregime and asked the USSR to send in military power. Soviet troops and tanks suppressed the revolution in bloody fighting after 190,000 people had fled the country.

Under Kádár (1956–1988), Communist Hungary maintained more liberal policies in the economic and cultural spheres, and Hungary became the most liberal of the Soviet-bloc nations of eastern Europe. Continuing his program of national reconciliation, Kádár emptied prisons, reformed the secret police, and eased travel restrictions.

In 1989, Hungary's Communists abandoned their monopoly on power voluntarily, and the constitution was amended in Oct. 1989 to allow for a multiparty state. The last Soviet troops left Hungary in June 1991, thereby ending almost 47 years of military presence. The transition to a market economy proved difficult. In April 1999, Hungary became part of NATO, and in May 2004, it joined the EU.
(Source: The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia "Hungary: History.")

Finland

2009-10-20T04:34:00.000-07:00

Alphabet

A aa
B bee
C see
D dee
E ee
F äf
G gee
H hoo
I ii
J jii
K koo
L äl
M äm
N än
O oo
P pee
Q kuu
R är
S äs
T tee
U uu
V vee
W kaksoisvee
X äks
Y yy
Z tseta
Å ruotsalainen
Ä ää
Ö öö

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Map

History

ANCIENT FINLAND

The first humans arrived in Finland about 7,000 BC after the end of the last ice age. The earliest Finns were stone-age hunters and gatherers. Over the millennia successive waves of people entered Finland. After 2,500 BC people in Finland lived by farming. About 1,500 BC they learned to make tools and weapons from bronze. About 500 BC people in Finland learned to use iron. However the Finns had little or no contact with the classical civilisations of Greece and Rome.

FINLAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES

The recorded history of Finland began in the 12th century. By 1120 Christian missionaries were operating there. They were prepared to use force to convert Finland! The Swedish king Eric led a crusade in 1157. An Englishman, Bishop Henry of Uppsala, assisted him. Henry stayed after the Swedish soldiers left and he was martyred. Later he became the patron saint of Finland. However in 1172 the Pope said that the Finns would convert then renounce their faith as soon as their enemies had left. He advised the Swedes to subject the Finns by permanently manning fortresses in Finland.

However the Swedes had rivals in Finland. The Danes invaded Finland twice, in 1191 and in 1202. Furthermore the Novgorodians (from part of what is now Russia) hoped to control Finland and convert the people to the Eastern Orthodox Church. They fought the Swedes at the River Neva in 1240 and won a decisive victory. However the Swedes returned in 1249. Earl Birger led this second crusade. He succeeded in conquering Hame and built a castle at Hameelinna.

In 1291 a native Finn was made bishop of Turku.

However the Swedes were keen to conquer Karelia. In 1293 they sent an expedition under Marshal Torgils Knutsson. At first they were successful but in 1381 the Novgorodians counterattacked. The two sides made peace in 1323. Karelia remained in Novgorodian hands.

Meanwhile Swedish colonists migrated to Finland in large numbers and after 1323 Finland became a province of Sweden. Swedish law came to apply in Finland (although it was tempered by Finnish custom). In 1362 the Swedes allowed the Finns to participate in the election of a Swedish king. Then, in 1397, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Finland). The Union broke up in 1523.

FINLAND 1500-1800

Helsinki was founded in 1550.

The reformation in Finland was led by Mikael Agricola who became bishop of Turku in 1554. When he died in 1557 Finland was firmly Lutheran.

In 1581 Finland was made a Grand Duchy.

In 1596-97 Finnish peasants rose in rebellion in the Club War (so called because the peasants were armed with clubs). The nobles ruthlessly suppressed the rebellion. Afterwards the peasants condition did not improve but Finland became an integral part of Sweden.

The end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th were years of hardship for the Finns. In 1696-97 there was a severe famine. Malnutrition and disease reduced the population of Finland by about a third.

Then came the Great Northern War of 1709-21. In 1713 the Russians invaded Finland and marched across it. The Swedish-Finnish army made a last stand at Storkyro but was defeated. The Russian occupation from 1713 to 1721 is known as the Great Wrath. Wealthy Finns fled to Sweden but peasants could not escape. King Charles XII ordered the Finns to start guerrilla warfare against the Russians, which naturally led to reprisals. In 1721 peace was made but Charles XII had to surrender the south-eastern part of Finland to Russia.

Meanwhile in 1710 plague reached Helsinki and devastated the population.

War broke out again between Sweden-Finland and Russia in 1741. The Swedes were defeated at Villmanstrand. The Russian army occupied the whole of Finland but the treaty of Albo, which ended the war in 1743 left the status quo unchanged except that Russia took a small part of Finland.

War broke out again in 1788. This time a man named Magnus Sprengporten led a separatist movement. However he attracted few followers and the war ended in 1790.

FINLAND IN THE 19th CENTURY

Finland was finally detached from Sweden in 1809. The Russians invaded Finland on 21 February 1808. The Russians captured a fortress at Sveaborg in May but the Swedish-Finnish army won a victory at Lapua in July. However in September 1808 the Russians won a decisive victory at Oravainen. Swedish troops then abandoned Finland and left to their own devices the Finns made peace with the Tsar. During the 18th century Sweden was declining and Russia was growing more and more powerful so the Finns bowed to the inevitable.

In March 1809 the Finnish Diet (a form of parliament) accepted Tsar Alexander as their ruler. He agreed that Finland would become a Grand Duchy rather than a part of Russia and he promised to respect Finnish laws. In 1812 the Tsar moved the capital of Finland from Turku to Helsinki.

Little changed in Finland in the early 19th century. Then in 1856 the Saimaa canal was built. It enabled the Finns to export timber from their great forests to western Europe more easily.

In the late 19th century Finnish nationalism began to grow. As early as 1835 Elias Lonnrot published a collection of Finnish folk poems called Kalevala. After 1850 interest in the Finnish language and culture grew stronger. In 1858 the first Finnish speaking grammar school opened. By 1889 half of the grammar schools in Finland spoke only Finnish.

However at the end of the 19th century Tsar Nicholas II tried to clamp down on Finnish nationalism. In 1899 he issued a manifesto which said he had the power to make laws for Finland, without the consent of the Finnish Diet if those laws affected Russian interests.

FINLAND IN EARLY THE 20th CENTURY

The pendulum then swung the other way. In 1902 Finnish was made an official language along with Swedish and in 1905 the Tsar withdrew the manifesto of 1899. In 1907 a new assembly was elected to replace the old Diet. This time all men were allowed to vote.

Finnish women were also allowed to vote. Finland was the first European country and the third in the world, after New Zealand and Australia to allow women to vote in national elections. Furthermore in 1907 Finnish women became the first in the world to win seats in a national parliament.

However in 1910 the Tsar severely restricted the power of the Finnish legislature. He declared that he had the power to pass laws for Finland if its effects are not limited to the internal affairs of that region.

But the reign of the Tsar was soon over. He abdicated in March 1917. In July 1917 the Finnish Diet declared that it had authority in all matters except foreign policy. Then on 6 December 1917 the Diet declared Finland an independent Republic.

Meanwhile in October 1917 a conservative government was elected in Finland. The far left decided to try and take power by force. The Red Finns seized Helsinki and other towns. However General Gustaf Mannerheim led the White Finns. In April 1918 they captured Tampere. Meanwhile the Germans intervened. German troops captured Helsinki. By the middle of May the rebellion had been crushed. Subsequently 8,000 reds were executed. Another 12,000 died in prison camps.

In October 1918 a German Prince, Charles Frederick of Hesse was made king of Finland. However his reign was extremely short. After Germany signed the armistice on 11 November 1918 Mannerheim was made regent. Shortly afterwards, in 1919 Finland gained a new constitution. In July 1919 Finlands first president K J Stahlberg replaced Mannerheim. Finland became a republic.

Following Finnish independence farming was reformed. In the years 1918-1992 many lease holders became small holders.

In 1929 the Communists demonstrated in Lapua. As a result right-wingers foamed an anti-Communist movement called the Lapua movement. In February 1932 the Lapua movement tried to seize power in Mantsala. President Stahlberg defeated the rebellion but the rebels were treated leniently.

Finland became involved in the Second World War. In 1939 Stalin feared attack from the west. He wanted to take territory from Finland to protect his northern flank. Stalin offered to give Finland other territory in exchange but the Finnish government refused so Stalin decided to use force.

The Winter War began on 30 November 1939. The Finns were heavily outnumbered but they fought bravely. The Russians invaded north of Lake Lagoda but they were defeated at Tolvajari and Suomussalmi. Meanwhile along the Karelian Isthmus Finland was protected by the Mannerheim line, a network of forts and concrete bunkers and trenches. The Russians tried to break through but the Finns held them up for several weeks.

However on 14th February 1940 the Russians penetrated the Mannerheim line and Finland was forced to seek peace. The war ended with the Treaty of Moscow on 12 March 1940. Afterwards Finland was forced to surrender the southeast including the city of Viipuri (Vyborg) and more territory north of Lake Lagoda. About 22,000 Finns died in the Winter War.

In June 1941 Finland joined with Germany in attacking Russia. The Finns called it the Continuation War. The Finns quickly recaptured their territory. However in December 1941 Britain declared war on Finland and after the German defeat at Stalingrad in 1943 the Finns realised they must leave the war.

Negotiations began in March 1944 but Finland rejected the Russian demands. However defeat was inevitable and Finland made a cease fire with Russia on 5 September 1944.

After the war Finland was forced to surrender large amounts of territory to Russia. The Finns also had to pay reparations. The Continuation War cost 85,000 Finnish lives.

A final peace treaty was made with Russia in 1947.

MODERN FINLAND

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 the treaty of 1947 was replaced by a new treaty in 1992 in which both sides agreed to settle their differences in a friendly manner.

There were about 450,000 refugees from the territory taken by the Russians, which added to the strain on Finlands economy. However Finland slowly recovered from the war. By the early 1970s the Finnish economy was booming. However in the late 1970s it declined. In the mid and late 1980s Finland enjoyed rapid economic growth but it ended with recession in the early 1990s. There was mass unemployment. However at the end of the century Finland recovered and it is now a prosperous country.

Before the Second World War the main occupation in Finland was agriculture. Since 1945 metalworking, engineering and electronics industries have grown but Finland is still less industrialised than the other Scandinavian countries. The main resource of Finland is timber.

In 1995 Finland joined the EU and in 2002 the Finnish currency was replaced by the euro.

Meanwhile in 2000 Tara Halonen was elected the first woman President of Finland. In the same year Helsinki celebrated its 450th anniversary.

Today the population of Finland is 5.2 million.

India

2009-10-16T02:43:00.000-07:00

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History

THE INDUS VALLEY

The first Indian civilisation arose in the Indus valley about 2,600 BC. It actually straddled modern India and Pakistan. By 6,500 BC the people of the area had begun farming. By 5,500 BC they had invented pottery. By about 2,600 BC a prosperous farming society had grown up. The farmers used bronze tools. They grew wheat, barley and peas. They also raised cattle, goats and sheep. Water buffalo were used to pull carts. The people spun cotton and they traded with other cultures such as modern day Iraq. Some of the people of the Indus Valley began to live in towns. The two largest were at Mohenjo-daro and Harrapa.

Mohenjo-daro probably had a population of 35-50,000. By the standards of the ancient world it was very large. It consisted of two parts. One part was a citadel. It contained a public bath and assembly halls. It also held a granary where grain was stored. The lower part of the town had streets laid out in a grid pattern. The houses were 2 or even 3 stories and were made of brick as stone was uncommon in the area. Bricks were of a standard size and the Indus Valley civilisation had standard weights and measures. The streets had networks of drains.

Life in Mohenjo-daro was obviously highly civilised and ordered although most of the people of the Indus Valley civilisation were farmers outside the towns. The Indus Valley civilisation had a form of writing but unfortunately it has not been deciphered so nothing is known of their political system or their religion. However many engraved seals and terracotta figurines have been found. The Indus Valley civilisation was at its peak in the years 2,300-1,700 BC. Then after 1,700 BC it declined.

The reasons for this are not clear. Perhaps there was a climatic changed and the area grew cooler and drier. It has also been suggested that rivers changed course. In those days less rainfall or a changed in the course of a river would have had severe consequences for farming and of course, like all early civilisations the Indus Valley depended on farming. Civilisation was only possible if the farmers made a surplus. They could exchange their surplus with craftsmen for manufactured goods. They could also exchange some for goods from far away. However if the farmers no longer made a surplus they could no longer support the craftsmen who lived in the towns. The populations of the towns would drift away to the countryside. Trade and commerce would decline.

As society grew less prosperous people would return to a simpler way of life and the invention of writing would disappear. The Indus Valley civilisation vanished and it was forgotten. It was not rediscovered until the 1920s.

THE ARYANS

After the collapse of the Indus Valley civilisation a new wave of people entered India. The Aryans came from central Asia and they probably entered India through Afghanistan after 1500 BC. There were probably waves of invasions over a period of time rather than just one. The Aryans were a semi-nomadic race of pastoralists.

At first they wandered about with their herds of cattle rather than live in one place. They had 2-wheeled chariots which allowed them to subdue the native people. By 1,000 BC they had learned to use iron. However in time the Aryans settled down and became farmers.

Slowly a more ordered and settled society evolved. Tribes became kingdoms. The Aryans became the priests, rulers and warriors, free peasants and merchants. The subdued people became the slaves, labourers and artisans. In time this stratified society crystallised into the caste system.

The Hindu religion also evolved at this time. The sacred literature called The Vedas was created. (At first they were orally transmitted. Later they were written down.)

In time the Aryans learned to farm rice rather than crops like barley. By 600 BC rice cultivation was flourishing in India. With a more settled and ordered society trade and commerce flourished. In time people began to live in towns again and writing was re-invented. By 600 BC a highly civilised society had emerged in India.

Although Buddha was born in India about 483 BC the religion he founded failed to take root in the country. At approximately the same time the Persians captured the extreme North-west of India. Alexander the Great destroyed the Persian Empire and penetrated the far North-west of India.

However after his death in 317 BC the Greeks withdrew. The Persians and Greeks had little affect on Indian civilisation. The various Indian kingdoms had begun to conquer one another and after 322 BC the first great empire arose.

THE MAURYAN EMPIRE

In 322 BC Chandragupta Maurya became king of the powerful and highly centralised state of Magadha in the North of India. Aided by his able advisor Kautilya Chandragupta created an empire. After Alexander the Great died his empire had split up. Seleucos took the eastern part. He attempted to reclaim the Indian provinces one ruled by Alexander.

However his army was stopped by Chandragupta in 305 BC. Seleucos was then forced to cede most of Afghanistan to Chandragupta, who also conquered parts of central India.

This new empire was rich and trade thrived. Its capital was one of the largest cities in the ancient world. In 296 Chandragupta abdicated in favour of his son Bindusara who pushed the frontier of the empire further south.

The greatest Mauryan ruler was Ashoka or Asoka (269-232 BC). He conquered Kalinga (modern day Orissa). Afterwards he declared he was appalled by the suffering caused by war and decided against any further conquest.

Asoka also converted to Buddhism. He decreed that the Buddhist principles of right conduct should be engraved in stone pillars or on rocks throughout his kingdom to teach the people how to live. Asoka set about pacifying and consolidating his empire. However despite his conversion to Buddhism Mauryan rule was authoritarian and punishments for wrongdoers were severe.

After his death the Mauryan empire declined, as all empires do. It suffered an economic decline and political instability as different brothers strived to become king. A general assassinated the last Mauryan ruler in 185 BC. The general then took over running the empire and founded the Shunga dynasty. However in 73 BC the last Shunga ruler was, in turn, assassinated. They were replaced by the Kanva dynasty which ruled from 73-28BC.

The influence of the Mauryans penetrated into Southern India. In the time of the Mauryans the farmers there became more advanced. By the first century BC organised kingdoms had grown up and trade and commerce were flourishing there.

THE INDO-GREEKS

After Alexander the Great's death his empire was split between his generals. The various successor states fought each other until a strong state emerged in Bactria (roughly modern Afghanistan). The Greek rulers of Bactria attempted to control Northwest India.

About 185 BC King Demetrius invaded India. About 160 BC one of his successors, King Menander conquered most of northern India. However after the death of Menander this empire broke up into separate states and Indian civilisation developed without European influence.

THE KUSHAN

India now faced a new invader. Nomads from Central Asia conquered Bactria in about 120 BC. They then settled down and gave up their nomadic lifestyle. They were split into 5 tribes. One of the tribes, the Kushanas conquered the others. They then turned their attention to Northern India. Gradually they conquered more and more territory. Successive kings carved out a bigger and bigger empire in Northern India.

The Kushan Empire reached its peak under King Kanishka (about 78 AD to 114 AD. During his reign Northern India was prosperous and did much trade with the Roman Empire. Kanishka was also a patron of the arts, which flourished. However after his death the empire declined and broke up. By the early 3rd century AD India was once again split into small states.

THE GUPTA EMPIRE

A new empire was founded early in the 4th century AD by Ghandragupta. After his death in 335 AD his son Samudragupta (335-375) conquered the whole of Northern India and much of Central India. India once again became prosperous and stable and much trade was done with China. Mathematics, astronomy and medicine flourished. Literature also blossomed. This was the age of the great poet Kaidasa.

However Gupta rule was less strict then Mauryan rule. Punishments were less harsh and provinces of the empire were given some autonomy. The Gupta Empire reached a peak under Chandragupta II 375-415 AD. However it then went into decline. The Gupta Empire broke up in the early 6th century.

THE HUNS

In the mid 5th century AD, the Huns, a fierce and warlike people from Central Asia invaded Northwest India. However about 460 AD they were repulsed by Skandagupta (454-467). Nevertheless the Huns returned at the end of the 5th century. This time they conquered most of North-western India.

However their rule lasted no more than about 30 years. About 528 AD the Indians, led by a ruler called Yashodharman defeated them in battle and drove them out.

HARSHAVARDANA

The next great ruler in Indian history was king Harshavardhana (606-647). He created an empire to rival the Guptas. Harsha began as ruler of the kingdom of Thanesar, north of India. He then carved out an empire in Northern India. However in 630, when he attempted to conquer Southern India he was severely defeated by a king called Pulakesin (610-643). (By this time the South of India was definitely equal to the North).

Despite this setback Harsha remained a powerful ruler. During his reign his biography was written. It was called the Harschacharita. Nevertheless Harsha's kingdom really depended on his personality to hold it together. After his death it quickly broke up.

India once again became a land of several kingdoms, which were frequently at war with each other. The three most important dynasties were the Rajputs, the Pallavas and the Chalukyas. However in the 9th century a new empire arose in Southern India - the Cholas.

THE CHOLAS

In the late 10th century the Chola king Rajaraja I began to expand his kingdom. He conquered his neighbours and took Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The next king, Rajenda I took more territory including the Ganges and the Andaman Islands. The Chola was a prosperous empire with many merchants organised into guilds to protect their interests. Trade with Southeast Asia thrived. So did trade with the Arabs.

The empire of the Cholas, although powerful, was less centralised than older empires such as the Gupta. Rulers, once conquered were often reinstated as vassals called samantas and they were allowed a certain amount of autonomy. In some ways this political system resembles European feudalism. Of course there was always a risk that a samanta would rebel!

THE TURKS

In the 10th century Turks from central Asia conquered Afghanistan. Under their ruler Mahmud 971-1030 they conquered Punjab. He led raids deep into India and plundered temples. The Turks returned in 1191, this time as conquerors not raiders. They were led by Sultan Muhammad. He was defeated in 1191 at the battle of Tarain but he returned the following year. This time he prevailed. The Turks were able to conquer large parts of Northern India and they created a powerful state - the Delhi Sultanate

THE DEHLI SULTANATE

Under the Sultans Qutubuddin 1206-1211 and Iltumish 1211-1236 the Sultanate flourished. However Iltumish was succeeded by his daughter Raziyyat. She reigned for only 3 years before she was deposed and later murdered. The Sultanate reached a peak under Alauddin 1296-1316. In 1298 he conquered Gurjarat. In 1309 he invaded Southern India. He looted southern cities and forced rulers there to submit to him and become vassals.

Meanwhile a new threat came from the North - the Mongols. In 1296-97 they raided Northwest India. The Mongols returned in 1299. This time they penetrated as far as Delhi then, like a swarm of locusts they disappeared. The Mongols returned in 1306 but this time they were repulsed.

Muhammad Tughluq 1324-1351 extended the Sultanate still further. He decided he wanted a new, more central capital and he moved it to Daulatabad. However he was later forced to move his capital back to Delhi. The Sultanate of Delhi declined rapidly in the late 14th century.

The final blow came in 1498 when Timurlane, a descendent of Genghis Khan sacked Delhi and massacred many of the inhabitants. In the early 15th century independent Sultanates appeared and the Delhi Sultanate became one of several. Under Sultans Bhalul 1451-1489 and Sikander Lohdi 1489-1517 Delhi revived to a certain extent but it never regained its former importance. Meanwhile another empire arose in the South - the Vijayangar.

THE VIJAYANGAR

The Vijayangar Empire was founded by 2 brothers, Harihara and Bukka. According to legend they were officers of Muhammad Tughluq. They were sent to crush a rebellion in the South. Instead they broke away and founded their own kingdom. Harihara was crowned king in 1346. His brother Bukka I ruled after him, 1357-1377. The Vijayanagar Empire is named after its capital city (Its name means city of victory). The rulers of Vijayanager gradually conquered more and more territory and the empire reached a peak early in the 16th century. However in 1564 Vijayngar was utterly defeated in battle. By then a new empire had arisen - the Mughals.

THE RISE OF THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

This great empire was founded by Babur 1483-1530, a descendant of Genghis Khan. From 1504 he was ruler of part of what is now Afghanistan. From the Turks he had learned to use cannons and muskets. Guns enabled him to win great victories over the Indians who were still using traditional methods of warfare. He had also learned new cavalry tactics from the Turks. Instead of charging straight at the enemy Babur's cavalry rode round their flanks and attacked from the rear.

Babur first raided India in 1517. In 1525 he invaded. In 1526 Babur crushed the army of Ibrahim Lhodi at the battle of Panipat. Babur made a barricade of carts. Behind them he positioned his cannons and musketeers. The enemy attacked but they faced withering cannon and musket fire. Babur's cavalry then rode around the enemy army and attacked from the rear. The Indians were routed.

Other Indian rulers now united against Babur but they were crushed at the battle of Khanau in 1527. Babur placed his cannons and guns behind ramparts. The Indians attacked on horseback again and again but were mowed down. Babur then became ruler of Northern India.

He was succeeded by his son Humayan 1508-1556. However in the 1530s an Afghan ruler named Sher Shah attacked the empire. By 1540 Sher Shah prevailed and made himself ruler of much of Northern India. Humayan went into exile and wandered from place to place. Then in 1542 his son Akbar was born. Humayan then moved to Persia. Sher Shah died in battle in 1545 and his empire split up. Humayan was then able, with Persian help to re-conquer the Mughal empire.He invaded India in 1554 and by 1556 was in control of the North. Unfortunately he died after falling down some stairs.

However his son Akbar 1556-1605 was, perhaps, the greatest Mughal ruler. He took Gujarat in 1574, Bengal in 1576, Kashmir in 1586, Orissa in 1592 and Baluchistan in 1595. Akbar also reorganised the government and he created an efficient civil service. Akbar was a Muslim but he was tolerant in matters of religion. He abolished a tax previous rulers levied on non-Muslims. He also gave Hindus high office.

Akbar admired Persian culture and promoted it in India. Persian language literature flourished in India during his reign (although Hindi literature flowered too). Persian and Hindu styles of painting merged to form a new style of Mughal painting.

Akbar was succeeded by his son Selim, who called himself Jahangir. Under him Mughal influence in the South of India increased and the empire flourished. His wife was named Mehrunissa (later she was called Nur Jahan or light of the world). She was Persian and because of her Persian culture became even more influential in the Mughal realms. During the reign of Jahangir the arts continued to flourish. An elaborate and intricate school of painting existed. It was also a great age for architecture. When Jahangir died in 1627 his wife was forced into retirement but she occupied herself by building a magnificent mausoleum for her father in Agra.

THE MUGHAL EMPIRE AT ITS PEAK

The Mughal Empire reached its zenith in the 17th century its only weakness being powers struggles among the ruling family and occasional rebellions. Shah Jahan became ruler in 1627. Under him the empire prospered. He is famous for building the Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. It was erected as a memorial to his queen Mumatz Mahal 1594-1630. Shah Jehan was devastated when she died. After her death he began building the Taj Mahal. It took an 'army' of 20, craftsmen and labourers 22 years to build. It was begun in 1631 and completed in 1653.

Aurngzeb (1658-1707) greatly expanded the empire. He conquered almost all of southern India by 1687. Under him the empire became so vast it was difficult for one man to rule. However he undid the religious toleration of his predecessors. In 1664 he banned the repair of Hindu temples and in 1669 he banned his subjects from building new ones. Also, in 1679 he reintroduced a poll tax on Hindus called the jizira. Aurangzeb also taxed his subjects heavily. The result was a series of rebellions.

Aurangzeb's greatest enemy was Shivaji, leader of the Marathas in southern India. Shivaji led a form of guerrilla warfare. His bases were in mountains but mounted on horses his men could raid caravans then fell back to the mountains.

In 664 his men raided the port of Surat. Aurangzeb sent an army to intimidate Shivaji then invited him to the capital, Delhi and tried to come to terms with him by offering him a post in the empire. However the two men fell out and Shivaji escaped from Delhi by hiding in a basket. He then returned to raiding. Shivaji was succeeded by his son Sambhaji. He was captured by the Mughals and executed in 1689 but the guerrilla war went on.

THE DECLINE OF THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

Aurangzeb was succeeded by his son Bahadur Shah 1707-1712. By his time cracks were appearing in the empire. Oppressive taxation caused more and more rebellions. After 1712 powerful nobles in the empire began to break away and form virtually independent states.

Meanwhile the old enemy, the Marathas attacked the Mughal Empire led by a man named Baji Rao. The Mughals were forced to cede territory to them. Then in 1739 disaster struck when the Persians launched an attack on the Mughal Empire. They sacked Delhi. The empire continued but its power was rapidly fading. Delhi was sacked again in 1761, this time by an Afghan kingdom.

EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM IN INDIA

The decline of the Mughal Empire caused a vacuum into which the Europeans moved. The first Europeans to reach India by sea were the Portuguese who arrived in 1498 and began importing spices from India. They formed a base at Goa in 1510. However in the 17th century the Portuguese declined and the English and Dutch took their place.

The English East India Company was formed in 1600 to trade with India. In 1639 the English established a trading base in India. Itgrew into Madras. In 1662 the English king married a Portuguese princess and he was given Bombay. In 1668 it was sold to the East India Company. In 1690 the English established a base in Bengal, which grew into Calcutta. In the late 17th century the Dutch also declined and the French replaced them. In 1673 the French established a base at Pondicherry.

In the 18th century French and English became bitter rivals and they both began to interfere in Indian politics.

The Seven Years war between Britain and France began in 1756. With the outbreak of war the Nawab (ruler) of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daula captured the British base at Calcutta. Notoriously he forced captives into a small cell and most of them suffocated overnight. This became known as the Black Hole of Calcutta. The East India Company sent a force led by Robert Clive (1725-1774) to recapture Calcutta. They soon did so.

However Clive was not satisfied and he decided to take the whole of Bengal. Clive won a great victory at Plassey in June 1757. (The battle was won largely because one of the commanders of the Bengali army, Mir Jafar, changed sides and refused to join the battle). Clive then overthrew the ruler of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daula and replaced him with Mir Jafar. However Mir Jafar was only a puppet.

In 1765 the company began to rule Bengal directly. Clive's victory at Plassey ensured that India would eventually become a British colony not a French one. However the Company did not take over India straight away. It was a gradual process, which took several decades. The East India Company eliminated French influence in India and began to subdue other Indian states.

British imperialism was bitterly resisted by the state of Mysore under the two rulers Haidar Ali 1761-1782 and Tipu Sultan 1782-1799. The army of Mysore was formidable fighting force. A series of wars were fought in the years 1767-1769, 1780-1784, 1790-1792 and 1799. The resistance of Mysore finally ended in 1799 and Mysore was forced to hand over half its territory.

The British then took over more territory in India. Indian states were forced to accept British 'protection'. One state, Hyderabad made a treaty with the British in 1798 and retained some independence but other states were forced to accept British rule.

In 1803 war broke out between the British and the Marathas. The British were led by Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington). Wellesley was Governor General 1798-1805 and he was an unashamed imperialist. In 1803 the chiefs of the Marathas were disunited and the British were able to make some gains. They took Agra and Delhi. (At that time Delhi was still ruled by the last Mughal. When the British took the city the Mughal Empire was finally extinguished).

However in 1804 the British suffered some defeats and they made peace. Another war broke out in 1817. This time the Maratha chiefs were all defeated and they were forced to accept British rule. By 1819 the East India Company was in control of most of India except the North West.

Assam was annexed in stages between 1826 and 1838. There were revolts in parts of India between 1819 and 1839 but most of it was at peace. The British now began to impose their culture on India. In 1829 the custom of suttee or sati, which involved a widow throwing herself onto her husbands funeral pyre was abolished. In 1835 English was made the official language of Government and education.

Outside British control was a powerful Sikh kingdom. However the leader of the Sikhs, Ranjit Singh, died in 1839 and fighting began over the succession. In 1845-46 the British fought a war against the Sikhs. After bitter fighting they captures Lahore. The Sikhs were forced to surrender Kashmir and parts of the Punjab. However a second war was fought in 1848-49. The fighting was bitter but in March 1849 the East India Company took control of all of Punjab.

THE INDIAN MUTINY

The East India Company had long employed Indians as soldiers. There were supposed to be not more than 4 Indian soldiers to every British one. However the British had withdrawn troops to serve in conflicts elsewhere. By 1857 there were only 40,000 British troops in India and 311,000 Indians. The mutiny began on 10 May 1857. The spark that lit the fire was the fact that soldiers were issued with a new rifle - the Enfield. It was said that the cartridge was greased with fat from a cow (sacred to Hindus) or pigs (unclean to Muslims).

The mutiny began at Meerut or Mirat 60 miles from Delhi.The soldiers massacred the British and the uprising spread rapidly. The rebels took Delhi and proclaimed the restoration of the old Mughal Empire. The rebellion spread across Central and Northern India but the south did not rise. Soldiers in Madras and Bombay stayed loyal to the British. Eventually the British were able to re-establish control.

Rebels besieged the British in Cawnpore and Lucknow. The British in Cawnpore surrendered on 27 June 1857. They were then massacred. However the British quickly sent reinforcements to India. Sir Henry Havelock led a force to relieve Lucknow. He defeated the rebel leader Hana Sahib at Cawnpore on 16 July 1857. Havelock reached Lucknow on 25 September 1857. However he then found himself besieged by the rebels. A relief force was sent under Sir Colin Campbell (1792-1863). He reached Lucknow on 16 November and the garrison escaped. Campbell decisively defeated a rebel force outside Cawnpore on 6 December.

Meanwhile the British recaptured Delhi in September. The British recaptured Lucknow in March 1858. Sir Hugh Rose took the rebel stronghold of Jahnsi on 3 April. He decisively defeated a rebel leader, Tantia Topi, on 19 June 1858 at the battle of Gwalior. This blow broke the back of the rebellion. The British then 'mopped up' the remaining rebels. By the end of 1858 the rebellion was over. However the East India Company lost control of India. On 1 September 1858 control was transferred to the British government.

INDIA IN THE LATE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

After the lesson of the Indian Mutiny the British became a little more respectful of Indian culture. However the desire for independence did not die. On the contrary it slowly grew. The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885. The Muslim League was founded in 1906.

In 1861 legislative bodies was formed for India. However the members were not elected. They were appointed by the governor-general or by provincial governors. Most of their members were British. Furthermore after the mutiny the ratio of British soldiers to Indians was increased. In 1877 Queen Victoria was made Empress of India.

In the late 19th century the British created a network of railways in India. By 1900 there were 25,000 miles of railway in India. The first train made in India was built in Bombay in 1865. The British also built new roads across India. Improved communications meant the different parts of India were bought closer together and Indians began to feel a greater sense of national identity. In the late 19th century many newspapers were founded and they helped to mobilise public opinion.

In 1905 the British divided Bengal. They did this to make it easier to rule. This move provoked unrest in Bengal. People demonstrated and boycotted British goods.

In the late 19th century India was an agricultural society. Jute, raw cotton and tea and coffee were exported to Britain. In return textiles and other manufactured goods were imported from there. The Indian textile industry could not compete with cheap, mass produced British goods. However in the early 20th century Indian industries began to develop. It was still an overwhelmingly agricultural country but it was just beginning to change.

At the same time Britain was in decline. In the mid-19th century Britain was the most powerful country in the world but by the end of the century other powers such as Germany and the USA had caught up. Britain was weakened by the first world and continued to decline in the 1920's and 1930's. As Britain declined Indian nationalist feeling grew stronger.

Indian public opinion was embittered by the Amristar massacre, which took place on 13 April 1919. A crowd of thousands gathered in a square named Jallianwalla Bagh to protest against recent legislation. General Reginald Dyer decided on a show of force. Dyer told his men to open fire. They did so, killing 379 people and wounding about 1200 more.

At this point a remarkable individual rose to be the leader of the struggle for independence. This was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948). Gandhi was a lawyer. For a time he lived in South Africa and became the leader of the Indians in that country. In 1915 he returned to India and soon emerged as the leader of the nationalists. In 1920 he launched a campaign of non-co-operation with the British. This included boycotting British textiles and their schools. Against Gandhi's wishes some people turned to violence. Gandhi was arrested in 1922 and remained in prison for 2 years.

Not everyone agreed with Gandhi's desire for peaceful campaigning. Nevertheless his skill as a politician and his personal charisma ensured that he became the leader of the independence movement. In 1930 he began a campaign to end the governments monopoly of salt production. He led a march to the sea to collect salt. The British arrested Gandhi and tens of thousands of others. However in 1931 they were forced to back down. They released Gandhi and most (not all) of the other prisoners. They also allowed people to make salt for their own personal use. In 1932 the army began to recruit Indian officers.

In 1931 the capital of India was moved from Calcutta to New Delhi.

Gandhi continued campaigning. He was arrested again in 1932 and in 1933 but both times was soon released. By 1935 the British realised that Indian independence was inevitable, sooner or later. In that year they granted a new constitution. When it came in effect, in 1937, Indians were allowed to elect provincial assemblies. (Although the British retained control of central government).

In 1939 the Viceroy of India declared war on Germany, without consulting the Indians, much to their chagrin.

INDIAN INDEPENDENCE

By 1940 the Muslims demanded their own separate state made up of those provinces where Muslims were the majority.

In 1942 the National Congress demanded that the British quit India. The British responded by imprisoning their leaders, including Gandhi, who was released in 1944.

In 1946 the Viceroy appointed an interim cabinet with Jawaharlal Nehru as prime minister. However the divide between Muslims and Hindus had become unbridgeable. The leader of the Muslims, M A Jinnah declared a 'day of action' on 16 August 1946. In Calcutta the 'day of action' led to violence between Muslims and Hindus. About 5,000 people were killed in what became known as 'The Great Killing'.

Mountbatten was then made viceroy. He quickly realised the Muslims must be granted their own state (modern Pakistan and Bangladesh). India and Pakistan became independent on A4 August 1947. Mountbatten agreed to stay in India as Governor-general for an interim period.

Unfortunately some provinces had mixed populations of Muslims and Hindus and violence broke out between them. Many Hindus fled to India and Muslims fled to Pakistan but about half a million people died in the violence.

The violence threatened to overwhelm New Delhi but Gandhi managed to prevent it by fasting and threatening to fast to death unless the violence stopped. It did but some extreme Hindus became angry with Gandhi. One of them murdered Gandhi on 30 January 1948.

In December 1946 a Constituent Assembly met to draw up a constitution for India. The new constitution came into force in January 1950. India became a secular state. Prime minister Nehru made the economy a 'mixed economy' of some state owned industry and some private enterprise. Industry was strictly regulated. Unfortunately this restricted free enterprise.

Nevertheless in the 1950s a series of 5 year plans were devised. The first increase irrigation and boosted agriculture. The second and third plans boosted industry. On the other hand India's population grew rapidly. Poverty and illiteracy remained common.

INDIA IN THE LATE 20th CENTURY

In the 1960s India fought two wars. In 1962 there was a conflict with China. There were clashes along the border between India and Tibet in the late 1950s. The on 20 October 1962 Chinese troops attacked along the North-eastern border of India. They quickly captured key mountain passes and redrew the border. On 21 November the Chinese declared a ceasefire.

India also fought a war with Pakistan in 1965. The two countries always disagreed over the border. On 1 September 1965 Pakistani troops attempted to capture Kashmir. However the Indians won a tank battle and drove them back. On 27 September both sides agreed to a ceasefire.

Nehru died in 1964 and Indira Gandhi became prime minister in 1966. At first she proved to be a popular politician.

In 1971 India fought another war with Pakistan. At that time Pakistan was divided into two parts, West and East Pakistan (modern Bangladesh). Then in March 1971 East Pakistan broke away and declared its independence. West Pakistan refused to accept the move and sent troops to force the East to submit. Refugees flooded into India.

Then on 3 December 1971 the Pakistani air force attacked air bases in North West India. Pakistani ground forces attacked but were unable to make much headway. Meanwhile on 4 December Indian troops entered East Pakistan. The Pakistani forces in the East, under General Niazi surrendered on 16 December. Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire on 17 December 1971. Bangladesh then became independent.

In 1974 India exploded an atomic bomb.

However in 1973 oil prices rose sharply triggering rapid inflation in India. That harmed agriculture by making fertiliser much more expensive. Indian industry also entered a recession. Growing discontent in India led to strikes such as a railway strike in 1974.

Then a High Court declared that Mrs Gandhi's election in 1971 was invalid because of election malpractice. However Mrs Gandhi persuaded the president to declare a state of emergency on 17 June 1975. Civil liberties were suspended and Mrs Gandhi's opponents were arrested. Her son Sanjay led a mass sterilisation campaign in Northern India to combat the population explosion. The emergency was lifted in January 1977. During it inflation was curbed and industry revived.

Elections were due to be held in 1976 but they were delayed until March 1977. However Mrs Gandhi lost anyway. The Janata party held power from 1977 to 1980 when Mrs Gandhi returned.

In the early 1980s India, like the rest of the world, entered a recession. Worse was to come. Sikhs in Punjab were demanding independence. A man named Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (1947-1984) and his supporters took over the Golden Temple in Amristar. Then in May 1984 the Indian army surrounded the temple. They attacked the fundamentalists in the temple but in the process they destroyed the holiest place in the Sikh religion. Two of Mrs Gandhi's Sikh bodyguards killed her in revenge.

She was succeeded by her son Rajiv. He started to deregulate industry and the Indian economy began to grow rapidly. However Rajiv was assassinated in 1991.

In the 1990s the Indian economy was deregulated further and today it is booming. There is still considerable poverty in India but there is every reason to be optimistic and to believe that India is becoming another 'tiger economy'. Between 1997 and 2007 the Indian economy grew at a rate of over 7% a year

Today the population of India is 1,148 million.

Israel

2009-10-16T02:28:00.000-07:00

Alphabet

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Map

History

The people of Israel (also called the "Jewish People") trace their origin to Abraham, who established the belief that there is only one God, the creator of the universe (see Old Testament). Abraham, his son Yitshak (Isaac), and grandson Jacob (Israel), are referred to as the patriarchs of the Israelites. All three patriarchs lived in the Land of Canaan, that later came to be known as the Land of Israel. They and their wives are buried in the Ma'arat HaMachpela, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, in Hebron.

The name Israel derives from the name given to Jacob (see Old Testament). His 12 sons were the kernels of 12 tribes that later developed into the Jewish nation. The name Jew derives from Yehuda (Judah) one of the 12 sons of Jacob (Reuben, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Yisachar, Zevulun, Yosef, Binyamin). So, the names Israel, Israeli or Jewish refer to people of the same origin.

The descendants of Abraham crystallized into a nation at about 1300 BCE after their Exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses (Moshe in Hebrew). Soon after the Exodus, Moses transmitted to the people of this new emerging nation, the Torah, and the Ten Commandments. After 40 years in the Sinai desert, Moses led them to the Land of Israel, that is cited in The Bible as the land promised by G-d to the descendants of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The people of modern day Israel share the same language and culture shaped by the Jewish heritage and religion passed through generations starting with the founding father Abraham (ca. 1800 BCE). Thus, Jews have had continuous presence in the land of Israel for the past 3,300 years.

The rule of Israelites in the land of Israel starts with the conquests of Joshua (ca. 1250 BCE). The period from 1000-587 BCE is known as the "Period of the Kings". The most noteworthy kings were King David (1010-970 BCE), who made Jerusalem the Capital of Israel, and his son Solomon (Shlomo, 970-931 BCE), who built the first Temple in Jerusalem as prescribed in the Tanach (Old Testament).

In 587 BCE, Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar's army captured Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and exiled the Jews to Babylon (modern day Iraq).

The year 587 BCE marks a turning point in the history of the region. From this year onwards, the region was ruled or controlled by a succession of superpower empires of the time in the following order: Babylonian, Persian, Greek Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Empires, Islamic and Christian crusaders, Ottoman Empire, and the British Empire.

After the exile by the Romans, the Jewish people migrated to Europe and North Africa. In the Diaspora (scattered outside of the Land of Israel), they established rich cultural and economic lives, and contributed greatly to the societies where they lived. Yet, they continued their national attachments and prayed to return to Israel through centuries. In the first half of the 20th century there were major waves of immigration of Jews back to Israel from Arab countries and from Europe. During the British rule in Palestine, the Jewish people were subject to great violence and massacres directed by Arab civilians or forces of the neighboring Arab states. During World War II, the Nazi regime in Germany decimated about 6 million Jews creating the great tragedy of The Holocaust.

In 1948, Jewish Community in Israel under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion reestablished sovereignty over their ancient homeland. Declaration of independence of the modern State of Israel was announced on the day that the last British forces left Israel (May 14, 1948).

Arab-Israeli wars

A day after the declaration of independence of the State of Israel, armies of five Arab countries, Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon and Iraq, invaded Israel. This marked the beginning of the War of Independence. Arab states have jointly waged four full scale wars against Israel:

* 1948 War of Independence
* 1956 Sinai War
* 1967 Six Day War
* 1973 Yom Kippur War

Despite the numerical superiority of the Arab armies, Israel defended itself each time and won. After each war Israeli army withdrew from most of the areas it captured (see maps). This is unprecedented in World history and shows Israel's willingness to reach peace even at the risk of fighting for its very existence each time anew.

Note that with Judea and Samaria Israel is only 40 miles wide. Thus, Israel can be crossed from the Mediterranean coast to the Eastern border at Jordan river within one hour of driving.

Ingathering of the Israelites

This drawing by Dr. Semion Natliashvili depicts the modern ingathering of the Jewish People after 2,000 years of Diaspora.

The center image of the picture shows young and old man attired in prayer shawl and reading from a Torah scroll that has united the Jewish People. The written portion shows Shema Yisrael Adonay Eloheynu Adonay Echad (Hear, Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One).

The Star of David symbolizes the gathering of the Jewish People from all corners of the world including Georgia (country of birth of the artist), Morocco, Russia, America, China, Ethiopia, Europe and other countries joining together in dance and celebration. Other images inside the star symbolize modern Israeli industry, agriculture and military. The images on the margins of the picture symbolize the major threats that the Jewish People faced in Exile starting from the Exodus from Egypt, followed by Romans, Arabs and culminating in the gas-chambers of the Holocaust in Europe.

Philippines

2009-10-13T01:49:00.000-07:00

Alphabet

The 28 Filipino alphabets are basically in English with the addition of ng and ñ. There are five vowels and 23 consonants. The alphabets are consist of the original 20 Abakada (Tagalog alphabets) and 8 Spanish letters (C, F, J, Ñ, Q, V, X and Z), which are mainly used for proper names and Chabacano, a Spanish derived-creole dialect in Zamboanga and Cavite.
Vowels

a – is read as “a” in apple
e – is read as “e” in egg
i – is read as “i” in igloo
o – is read as “o” in ostrich
u – is read as “u” in urban

Consonants

b – is read as “b” in bag
c – is read as “c” in center if placed before the vowels e and i; everywhere else it is read as k (usually used in proper names)
d – is read as “d” in dog but instead of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth behind the teeth, it should touch the teeth themselves.
f – is read as “f” in fat
g – is read as “g” in goat
h – is read as “h” in horse
j – is read as “h” like in jus sanguinis
k – is read as “k” in kit
l – is read as “l” in lamp
m – is read as “m” in man
n – is read as “n” in now
ñ – is read as eñe in años (Spanish)
ng – is read as “ng” in thing
p – is read as “p” in pan
q – is read as “q” in queen
r – is read as “r” in rat
s – is read as “s” in sat
t – is read as “t” in tap but instead of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth behind the teeth, it should touch the teeth themselves.
v – is read as “v” in van (usually used in proper names)
w – is read as “w” in wag
x – is read as “equis” like ks in extra on its own; it’s read as “j/h” when combined with other letters like Méjico (Mexico) (usually used in proper names)
y – is read as “y” in yoyo
z – is read as “z” in zap (usually used in proper names)

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Map

History

Philippine history, many argue, did not begin with the coming of the Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. Rather, it began in the 13th century, when 10 datus from Borneo, each with a hundred of his kinsmen, landed in what is now known as Panay Island in the Visayas.

Yet, it was Magellan and succeeding expeditions from Spain, who put the Philippine archipelago on the map of the world. The intrepid Magellan was dubbed as the discoverer of the Philippines after he landed in Homonhon Islet, near Samar, on March 17, 1521. He was later killed in Mactan Island of Cebu in a clash with native warriors, led by a chieftain named Lapu-Lapu.

The Philippines was a prize catch for Spain which, at that time, was locked in a fierce struggle for world colonization with Portugal. The archipelago, named Filipinas for Spain's Philip II, was composed of 7,107 islands and islets spanning 1,854 kilometers from north to south. The Philippines, also a window to the New World, stretched from China to the north and the Indonesian archipelago to the south. The northernmost tip of the country, Y'ami of the Batanes Island group, is 241 kilometers south of Taiwan, while the southernmost tip, Sibutu of the Tawi-Tawi group of islands, is just 14.4 kilometers north of Borneo.

The Philippines, in fact, is at most strategic location, making it a natural hub for commerce. Manila and Cebu are premiere centers of trade in the region. To the east is the vast Pacific Ocean and beyond it, the New World. To the west are the kingdoms of Indochina, including Cambodia and Thailand; while southwest is Malaysia.

There are three major geographical groups in the country: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The northern portion of the archipelago is composed of the largest island, Luzon. The Visayas region is made up of about 6,000 islands, including Panay, Leyte, Samar, Cebu, and Bohol. Mindanao is the second largest island and encompasses about 400 smaller islands.

Spanish colonizers succeeded in introducing Christianity in Luzon and Visayas but were unsuccessful in Mindanao, where Muslims staved off Spanish efforts.

Spain's rule lasted from the 16th to the 19th century but was marked with a series of revolts. When three Filipino priests were executed for national activities, a group of reformists formed the Propaganda Movement that would later paved the way for the Philippine Revolution. A young doctor-writer, Jose Rizal, was arrested and later executed by Spanish officials for his scathing criticisms of Spanish rule in the Philippines through two novels. Rizal, who was just 30 years old when he was executed, would later be recognized by historians as Asia's first nationalist. His contemporaries include Gandhi and Dr. Sun Yat-sen.

The Philippine Revolution was launched after Rizal's death and was led first by Andres Bonifacio and then by Emilio Aguinaldo. Philippine independence was proclaimed on June 12, 1898, on the balcony of Aguinaldo's home in kawit, Cavite. However, the Philippines was annexed by the Americans by means of the Treaty of Paris with Spain on December 10, 1898. This brought about the Filipino-American War. The Philippines then remained an American colony for nearly 50 years. In 1935, a semiautonomous Philippine Commonwealth was inaugurated in Manila, with President Manuel L. Quezon and Vice-President Sergio Osmena. This became the Philippine goverment in exile during the war.

From 1941 - 1945, the Philippines came under the Japanese empire. A puppet goverment, the Second Philippine Republic, was established, with President Manuel A. Roxas. This was the first fully independent and internationally recognized Filipino goverment.

The Philippines then became the showcase of democracy in Asia and had peaceful transition of power through many successive presidents - Roxas, Quirino, Magsaysay, Garcia, Macapagal, and Marcos. On September 21, 1972, President Marcos declared Martial Law and pushed through a new constitution in 1973, which prolonged his stay in power. He jailed his political rivals, dismissed Congress, silenced media critics, and ruled as a virtual dictator in what he called "Constitutional Authoritarianism."

On August 21, 1983, his arch-rival, former Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, returned home from three years of self-exile abroad. At the airport, Aquino was shot dead by a military assasin. This galvanized the Filipino people to fight the dictator. And on Febuary 22, 1986, Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, Deputy Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, and reformist military officers broke away from the Marcos camp and prepared to fight a bloody confrontation with Marcos and his loyalist forces. They were supported by the "People Power Revolution" of Febuary 22-25, 1986, which forced Marcos and his party to flee to Hawaii on board the US Air Force planes.

Mrs. Corazon "Cory" Aquino became the Philippines' First Lady President on February 25, 1986. She was succeeded by President Fidel V. Ramos in 1992.

Estonia

2009-10-13T01:42:00.000-07:00

Alphabet

A a aa
B b bee
C c tsee
D d dee
E e ee
F f eff
G g gee
H h haa
I i ii
J j jott
K k kaa
L l ell
M m emm
N n enn
O o oo
P p pee
Q q kuu
R r err
S s ess
Š š šaa
Z z zett
Ž ž žee
T t tee
U u uu
V v vee
W w kaksisvee
Õ õ õõ
Ä ä ää
Ö ö öö
Ü ü üü
X x iks
Y y üpsilon (also known as igrek)

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Map

History

EARLY ESTONIA

The Estonians are a Finno-Ugrian people related to the Finns. A first century Roman writer named Tacitus mentioned the Estonians. He called them the Aesti. Amber was exported from Estonia to other parts of Europe.

However for centuries the tribes of Estonia had little contact with Western civilisation. They traded with the Vikings. In the 11th and 12th centuries the Estonians fought the Russians several times and they remained unconquered. Then in the 13th century the Germans conquered Estonia.

German monks had tried to convert the pagans of the Baltic to Christianity with little success. They then decided to use force to 'convert' the pagans of Estonia. In 1202 Albert von Buxhoerden the bishop of Riga founded an order of crusading knights called the Knights of the Sword to subdue the pagans. In 1208 they invaded Estonia. Lemitu led the Estonians but he was killed in battle in 1217. The Germans then captured southern Estonia.

Then Albert made an agreement with the Danes. In 1219 the Danes invaded northern Estonia. They built a fort, which the Estonians called Taani Linn (Danish town). By 1227 the whole of Estonia had been conquered.

In 1237 the Knights of the Sword were absorbed into another crusading order, the Teutonic Knights. In the 13th century Estonia was split in two. The Teutonic knights ruled southern Estonia while the Danes ruled the north. Germanic people became the ruling class in Estonia. They remained the upper class until the 20th century.

However the Estonians did not accept the situation. In 1343-1346 they rebelled in the St George's Night Uprising. However the rebellion was crushed.

In the 16th century both Sweden and Russia coveted Estonia. In 1558 the Russians invaded Estonia. However the Swedes captured Tallinn in 1561 to forestall the Russians. The Swedes and the Russians then fought a long and terrible war over Estonia. The Swedes finally drove out the Russians in 1582.

However when the war ended Estonia recovered. For a time Estonia prospered under Swedish rule. Tartu University was founded in 1632.

However in 1695-97 Estonia was struck by famine, which killed many of its people. In 1710 plague struck Tallinn and tens of thousands of people died.

Moreover Sweden and Russia fought another war, the Great Northern War at the beginning of the 18th century. When the war ended in 1721 the Swedes ceded Estonia to the Russians.

MODERN ESTONIA

In 1816 serfdom was abolished in Estonia.

During the 19th century nationalism was a growing force in Estonia, as it was in the rest of Europe. In the late 19th century the Russians tried to 'Russify' Estonia by making the Russian language compulsory in schools. However Estonian language books and newspapers were published and interest in Estonian culture and history grew.

In 1905 a liberal revolution broke out in Russia. There was also unrest in Estonia. Manor houses owned by Germans were burned. There were also many demonstrations. However the Russian army restored order and many Estonians were executed or deported.

Then in March 1917 another revolution broke out. This time the Tsar abdicated. The Estonians clamoured for independence. The Russians were not willing to grant complete independence but they were willing to grant some autonomy. In March 1917 the Russian parliament agreed to it and in July 1917 an Estonian parliament met. However in November 1917 the Communists seized power in Moscow. They were not willing to let the Estonians have even limited autonomy and they set up a Communist administration in the country.

However by the end of 1917 the Russian army was collapsing and the Germans were advancing. In February 1918 the Germans marched into Estonia. The Russian Communists fled and on 24 February 1918 the Estonian parliament declared Estonia independent. However the next day the Germans entered Tallinn. They then occupied Estonia till the end of the war.

The Germans surrendered to the western allies on 11 November 1917 and the Russians invaded Estonia. They soon captured most of the country. However in January 1919 the Estonians fought back under General Laidoner and by 24 February 1919 and Russians were driven out of Estonia.

Meanwhile a British fleet was sent to Estonia. The British sailors fought a number of naval battles with the Russians.

Finally on 3 January 1920 the Russians agreed to a cease fire and by the treaty of Tartu, signed on 2 February 1920 they recognised Estonia as an independent country.

Like all countries Estonia suffered severely in the depression of the early 1930s. In 1934, following a referendum a new constitution was introduced, which greatly increased the power of the president and reduced the powers of the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu. Then in October 1934 President Konstantin Pats dismissed the Riigikogu and replaced it with a bi-cameral assembly. The lower chamber was elected but the upper chamber was appointed by the president and the chambers of commerce.

Pats ruled as virtual dictator until 1938 and under him the economy recovered.

However in 1938 Pats introduced a new constitution. He voluntarily gave up some of his powers.

Disaster struck Estonia on 17 June 1940 when the Russians invaded. Soon Estonia was absorbed into the Soviet Union and a Communist regime was imposed.

In June 1941 thousands of Estonians were deported to Estonia.

However shortly afterwards the Germans invaded Russia. At first they were amazingly successful and they quickly captured Estonia. German rule was extremely brutal but in the summer of 1944 the Russians invaded Estonia again. On 17 September 1944 Hitler ordered all his forces to leave Estonia. On the same day a provisional government was formed under Otto Tief (1889-1976). Unfortunately it met for only 5 days. The Russians captured Tallinn on 22 September 1944 and they dissolved the government.

The Russians then imposed a tyrannical regime. Between 1947 and 1952 farming was collectivised. Under the Communists industrialisation took place in Estonia but it caused terrible damage to the environment.
Meanwhile, in 1949, thousands of Estonians were deported. Some Estonians fled to the forests and fought the Russians. They became known as Forest Brothers but the last one died in 1978.

However in the late 1980s the Communist tyranny began to unravel. The Soviet leader, Gorbachev, introduced policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (reconstruction). Once again the Estonian began to clamour for independence. In November 1988 the Supreme Soviet (a kind of parliament) in Estonia declared that Soviet laws would only apply in Estonia if it agreed to them. Also in 1988 Estonia was given some economic autonomy.

Events then moved quickly. In March 1991 most of the population of Estonia voted in favour of independence in a referendum. Then on 19 August 1991 hardliner Communists in Moscow attempted a coup. On 20 August Estonia declared its independence. The coup was defeated and Russia recognised Estonian independence on 6 September 1991.

Communism was then dismantled in Estonia and replaced with a market economy. Today Estonia is a small but prosperous country.

Estonia adopted a new constitution in 1992 and the last Russian troops left the country in 1994.

Today Estonia is a small but prosperous country. In the early years of the 21st century the economy grew rapidly. In 2008 Estonia entered recession but no doubt that is temporary and Estonia has a bright future.

Today the population of Estonia is 1.3 million.

Netherlands

2009-10-09T03:28:00.000-07:00

Alphabet

A ah As in Amsterdam
B bay As 'b' in boy, like “p” at the end of the word.
C say As 's' before i, e and y; as 'k' in 'cat' before a, o, u and consonants
D day As 'd' in 'Dutch' but as 't' at the end of the word
E ay As in “met”
F ef As in “Fish”
G khay As in the Scottish loch, or Spanish jota “khota”
H hah As in “Hand” or “Holland”
I ie As in “Ink”
J yay “y” as in “you” and not as “J” in “Job”
K kah As in “Kiss”
L el As in “Language”
M em As in “Moon”
N en As in “Netherlands”
O oh As in “Old”
P pay As in “Poland”
Q kuuh As in “Queen”
R err As in “Russian”
S ess As in “Swedish”
T tay As in “Turkish”
U uuh As in “Put” and not like “But”
V vay As “f”, or as “v” in “voice”
W way As in “Windmill”
X iks As in “Complex”
Y eh-ee As in “type” or “Yiddish”
Z zet As in “Zulu”

Flag

History

Historical accounts of the Netherlands date from the 1st century BC, when Roman forces conquered Germanic and Celtic tribes inhabiting the area. Under Roman rule, peace and prosperity prevailed for more than 250 years. About AD 300 German tribes invaded from the east. The Franks, the most powerful of the invaders, subjugated local tribes and converted them to Christianity. By 800 the territory was ruled by Charlemagne, the greatest of the Frankish kings. During the 9th and 10th centuries, Scandinavian Vikings frequently raided the coastal areas and sailed far up the rivers. These raids led to the emergence of fortified towns. In the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries, the area became an important trading center, and wealthy merchants in the towns challenged the power of the nobles who ruled the countryside. The Netherlands and the surrounding area, known as the Low Countries, passed from the control of the dukes of Bourgogne during the early 16th century into the hands of the Habsburg emperor Charles V, who held territories throughout Europe. In 1555 Charles granted control of Spain and the Netherlands to his son, Philip II, whose oppressive rule led to a war of independence waged by the Dutch from 1568 to 1648.

A well-organized Protestant church movement developed in the Netherlands, and the disaffection with Catholic Spain coincided with the Protestant revolt against the Roman Catholic church. In 1566 anti-Catholic riots spread across the country. Philip sent Spanish troops, whose harsh actions resulted in open revolt. William I, prince of Orange, led the revolt and eventually took control of most northern towns. In 1579 the Union of Utrecht, an alliance of all northern and some southern territories, was formed. The provinces that joined the union would become the Netherlands; those that did not would become Belgium. In 1581 the Union of Utrecht proclaimed independence from Spain. The new nation suffered a series of reverses in the war with Spain, but eventually the tide turned. In 1648 the Spanish recognized the sovereignty of the Dutch Republic.

About 1600 a merchant expedition of three vessels sailed from Amsterdam to Indonesia, the first of numerous journeys that resulted in lucrative Dutch trading stations throughout the world. By the mid-17th century the Netherlands was the foremost commercial and maritime power of Europe, and Amsterdam was the financial center of the continent. Inevitably, the Dutch and the English, the leading maritime trading nations, came into conflict. Two Anglo-Dutch Wars were waged during the 1650s and 1660s. Other wars, costly in lives and money, followed against England and France.

Eventually the Dutch Republic was overshadowed by the expanding power of Great Britain at sea and France on land. In the late 18th century a struggle broke out between conservatives and those who desired democratic reforms. The conflict became moot after Napoleon I incorporated the Low Countries into the French Empire in 1810. After the fall of Napoleon, the Kingdom of the Netherlands was restored, with the addition of the territory that is now Belgium, but the union was short-lived. In 1830 the Belgians revolted and established their independence.

The second half of the 19th century witnessed a liberalization of government. Suffrage was gradually extended, the administration of the colonies was reformed, and agitation for social reform increased. From about 1880 to 1914 the Netherlands enjoyed an era of economic expansion. During World War I (1914-1918), the nation suffered hardship through loss of trade as a result of the Allied blockade of the Continent. During World War II (1939-1945), the Netherlands was occupied by the Germans and suffered heavy destruction. The years following the war were marked by intensive efforts to rebuild the country and to restore trade and industry. In the colonies, the Netherlands lost a war against nationalists in Indonesia, which gained its independence in 1949. Netherlands New Guinea gained its independence in 1962; Suriname in 1975. Since the 1960s coalition governments have ruled the Netherlands, led in the 1960s by the Roman Catholic People's Party, from 1973 to 1977 by the Labor Party, and from 1977 to 1994 by the Christian Democratic Party. The Labor Party assumed control of the Dutch government again in 1994. In 1995 the Dutch battled serious flooding when rivers throughout northwestern Europe overflowed. Damages and evacuation expenses were estimated at more than $1 billion.

The Netherlands and the Dutch

Situation:
The Netherlands is situated in the lowlands of Northwest Europe between 50°45' and 53°52' latitude and 3°21' and 7°13' longitude. It is flanked to the north and west by the North Sea, to the east by Germany and to the south by Belgium. The country covers 41,526 square kilometers. Belgium is a little smaller than the Netherlands, but Germany is nearly nine times its size.
The capital is Amsterdam (the seat of government is in The Hague). Rotterdam is the biggest port in the world and Schiphol airport one of the most modern and biggest airports in Europe.

The name the Netherlands refers to the low-lying nature of the country(nether means low). Its highest point is the Vaalserberg hill in the south east, which reaches 321 meters above sea level. Many areas in the north and west, constituting more than 25% of the total area of the country, are below sea level. The lowest point near Rotterdam is some 6.7 meters below sea level. The name Holland is frequently used instead of the Netherlands, but it actually refers to the two Western coastal provinces, North and South Holland, which have played an important role in the country's history.

The Netherlands has been plagued by flooding throughout its history and the Dutch have had to fight a constant battle against the sea, culminating in the Zuyder Zee and Delta Projects. Thanks to the sea, however, the fishing industry and trade have flourished, and the fact that the Netherlands is situated on the estuaries of three major Western European rivers, the Rhine, the Maas and the Scheldt, has greatly enhanced its position as a trading country.

In its economic activities the Netherlands has always been strongly outward looking. It has had major ports since the Middle Ages, with a hinterland stretching across large parts of Western and Central Europe. But not only trade and transport benefit by good relations with other countries. Many companies in the agricultural and industrial sectors use imported raw materials, fuels and additives and their products often find their way back over the borders.

Climate:

The Netherlands lies in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. The proximity of the sea and the warm North Atlantic Gulf Stream ensure a temperate maritime climate. The temperature therefore does not fluctuate greatly in the course of a day or a year. The average temperature as measured by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute in De Bilt, fluctuates between 2 °C in January and 17 °C in July. This does not imply that extreme temperatures never occur. The lowest temperature ever recorded in the Netherlands was -24.8 °C and the highest +36.8 °C. Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed over the year, although spring is usually dryer than autumn. About 800 millimeters of rain fall each year.
Variations in climate between regions are small. The distance of more than 300 kilometers from north to south does have some influence on temperature, and the influence of the sea decreases towards the east. The average number of summer days (maximum temperature reaching at least 25 °C) varies from less than five on the Wadden Islands in the north to more than 35 °C in the southern province of Limburg.
The Netherlands experiences both advantages and disadvantages from its climate, to which the agricultural sector and traffic are the most exposed. The mild, damp climate favors the pastures needed for stock breeding, as it does horticulture in the coastal regions, where there is less frost than inland. There is however too little sunshine in summer for the production of certain types of crop. Shipping suffers very little hindrance from ice during the mild winters.
The soil of the upper Netherlands (east and south) was formed during the Pleistocene age (the period of ice ages which ended around 10,000 years ago). This soil consists mostly of sand and gravel. The soil of the lower Netherlands (west and north) is more recent. This was deposited during the Holocene period (less than 10,000 years ago) and consists largely of clay and peat. These differences are readily apparent from the landscape.
The upper Netherlands is more hilly and alternates between woods and heaths. The lower Netherlands consists largely of flat polders, areas surrounded by dikes where the water table is regulated artificially. In the past this was done with the help of windmills, but now pumping stations are used.

Landscape:

This part of the country is crisscrossed by countless rivers and canals, important for both shipping and water management. Although the Netherlands is a very small country, its landscapes vary widely. Human intervention has played a great part in this, firstly in various measures to make and keep the land habit able, including the building of dikes, land reclamation and the draining of bogs. Farming then led to land division, tillage and the building of farms and villages.

Water control and land reclamation:

More than 25% of the area of the Netherlands is below sea level, so an effective system of water control is needed to keep the land dry and habitable for the many people 60% of the population that live in these low lying areas. Sea water can, however, flood the land via estuaries and inlets and as a result of infiltration, and an excess of melt and rainwater in Central Europe can cause the great rivers to burst their banks. Modern pumping stations work day and night to drain off excess water.

The Zuyder Zee Project:

The most renowned example of land reclamation was the closure of the Zuyder Zee in the thirties, which entailed the construction of the 30 kilometer long Afsluitdijk (Closure-Dike) connecting the provinces of Friesland and North Holland. The dam transformed the Zuyder Zee into an inland sea, which gradually became a freshwater lake (the IJsselmeer). Four enormous polders were drained in the IJsselmeer, with a gain of 165,000 hectares of new land. The two oldest the Wieringermeer Polder and the North East Polder are used for agriculture. The newest, Southern Flevoland, is mainly used for housing, employment and recreation to alleviate some of the congestion in the Randstad conurbation. Eastern Flevoland combines all three functions, being used for agriculture, housing and employment. This polder contains Lelystad, the provincial capital of Flevoland.

The Delta Project:

The last occasion that the sea launched a fierce attack on the land was on 1 February 1953, when a combination of spring floods and heavy storms put large areas in the south-western part of the country under water. This disaster, which cost hundreds of lives, underlined the urgency of completing the Delta Project, the plan to construct a network of barriers closing off the estuaries in the south west. All the estuaries have now been closed, with the exception of the New Waterway and the Western Scheldt, which remain open to allow shipping access to the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp (in Belgium).

The Eastern Scheldt basin has been closed off by means of a storm surge barrier which is over 3,200 meters long, and is made up of piers between which steel gates are suspended. Under normal conditions the gates remain open and permit the sea to flow in and out of the Eastern Scheldt; in stormy weather they are lowered to protect the estuary from high water levels. This method of closure was chosen to conserve the shellfish in the Eastern Scheldt which depend on tidal movement to survive. On 4 October 1986, Queen Beatrix officially opened the storm surge barrier in the Eastern Scheldt, marking the official completion of the Delta Project. The inland lakes which have been created will safeguard arable land from further becoming brackish. They will also be used for recreation purposes. .

Population

The Netherlands currently has a population of over 16 million. This number was around 5 million in 1900. The country covers a total area of 41,526 square kilometers. As this figure not only includes land but also rivers, canals and lakes, each square kilometer accommodates an average of 449 people, making the Netherlands one of the most densely populated countries in the world. The most densely populated area is the Randstad conurbation in the west of the country, which centres around the cities of Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht.

Most people (62%) are between 20 and 65 years old, 25% are younger than 20 and 13% are older than 65. The birth rate dropped from 18.3 per thousand in 1970 to 13.2 per thousand in 1991. The death rate fluctuates between 8 and 8.6 per thousand. Net gain through migration (the number of immigrants less the number of emigrants) has increased since the early sixties.

Immigration:

Up to the sixties, the Netherlands was a country from which people mostly emigrated. More people sought homes elsewhere than entered the country. The situation has now changed, under the influence of four different migration flows: the migration and remigration of Dutch nationals from the former overseas territories (including migration among people of Surinamese, Antillean and Aruban origin); migration among foreign workers from the Mediterranean area (followed by family reunification and migration for marriage); migration among foreign EU subjects; increasing numbers of refugees and asylum seekers. In 1991, around 700,000 of the total population of 15 million were foreign nationals.

The number of foreign nationals settling in the Netherlands is increasing each year. Since the mid eighties at least 20,000 more people have entered the country each year than have left it while this figure increased sharply in 1990 and 1991 to 48,700 and 50,000 respectively. The majority around 40,000 each year come to be reunited with their families.
Originally, those involved were usually non-Dutch men who were joined by the wives and children. Now, however, more and more Dutch men and women are bringing their foreign partners into the country. In addition, more than 21,000 foreign nationals applied for asylum in 1990 and 1991. In 1991, 2,695 asylum seekers were granted a residence permit.
Some 500 to 600 refugees are invited to enter the country each year. This is part of the country's contribution towards housing refugees unable to return to their country of origin or settle in a neighboring country. Since the Netherlands is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, it has to pursue a restrained admissions policy. Foreign nationals are admitted if they require protection, as in the case of refugees, have the right of entry on the basis of international treaties, or when their admission is deemed genuinely to serve the national interest. Active integration policies mean that any foreign national admitted has the chance to play a full part in Dutch society.

The Dutch language:

Dutch is the first language of more than 21 million Dutch and Flemish people. Dutch is thus a middle ranking language, roughly the 30th largest in the world. Dutch is one of the nine official languages of the European Union. There are 60,000 Dutch speakers in Northwest France. Dutch is spoken in the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba and Surinam, chiefly as the language of government and education. Antillean, Aruban and Surinamese literature has been written in Dutch. Historical links mean that Dutch is mostly used in Indonesia by lawyers, the military and historians. 17th century Dutch dialects provided the basis for Afrikaans, which is spoken in South Africa. Dutch has also exerted an influence on other languages, particularly in the areas of shipping, water technology and agriculture.
In French speaking Belgium, northern France and Germany, many school students opt for Dutch as a second language. In addition, Dutch is taught at almost 250 universities around the world. The Flemish and the Dutch organize summer courses in Dutch as a foreign language. In the past few years, Dutch has become the second language of foreign nationals living in the Netherlands, such as Moroccans, Turks and Spaniards. Their children learn Dutch and are also taught their mother tongue at school. In 1982, the Netherlands and Flanders set up an organization which draws up guidelines for government policy on Dutch. The Dutch Language Union, which has a unique position as an intergovernmental organization, works on the position of Dutch in the world and draws up rules for spelling and grammar.
Friesian is spoken as a second language in the province of Friesland. This minority language is the first language of around 400,000 Friesians and has much in common with languages such as English.

Religion:

The Reformation gave rise to a divide in the Netherlands. The area north of a line running roughly from the province of Zeeland in the south west to the province of Groningen in the north east was predominantly Protestant, while the area to the south of that line was predominantly catholic. The Protestant community is further divided into a great number of groupings, such as the Re formed Church, freethinkers and Lutherans. The influence of the church in the Netherlands has been on the decline since around 1950. The tradition of adherence to the religion of one's parents has disappeared. This has resulted in secularization among both Protestants and Catholics in the past few decades. Though the majority of Dutch people are no longer members of a church, religious communities still exert a strong influence on social affairs. The number of Moslems and Hindus in the Netherlands has in creased as a result of immigration from countries like Morocco, Turkey, Indonesia and Surinam, and the constitution guarantees freedom of religion.

Denmark

2009-10-09T03:20:00.000-07:00

Alphabet

A B C D E F G H I J K L M V O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Æ Ø Å

Vowels/Vokaler :

A (a) - sounds like a in ban

E (e)– sounds like e in open

I (i) – sounds like e in seek

O (o) – sounds like o in old

U (u) – sounds like o in booth

Y (y) – sounds like ew in few

Æ (æ) – sounds like a in ache

Ø (ø) – sounds like ir in weird

Å (å) - sounds like o in old bur long

Consonants/Konsonanter:

B (be) - sounds like b in bid

C (se) – sounds like k in kids

D (de) – sounds like d in dog

F (æf) – sounds like f in food

G (ge) – sounds like g in good

H (hå) – sounds like h in house

J (jåd)– sounds like y in yet yellow

K (kå) – sounds like k in keen

L (æl) – sounds like l in lime

M (æm) – sounds like m in men

N (æn) – sounds like n in notice

P (pe) – sounds like p in pen

S (æs)– sounds like s in son

T (te) – sounds like t in tip

V (ve) –sounds like v in vote

W (dobbelt-ve) – sounds like v in world

X (æks)– sounds like x in tax

Z (sæt) – sounds like s in sun

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History

ANCIENT DENMARK

The first humans in Denmark arrived about 10,000 BC after the end of the last Ice Age. The first Danes were Stone Age hunters and fishermen. However about 4,000 BC farming was introduced into Denmark. The earliest Danish farmers used stone tools and weapons. However about 1,800 BC bronze was introduced into Denmark. Danish craftsmen soon became expert at making goods from bronze. By 500 BC iron was introduced into Denmark. The Iron Age Danes had contact with the Romans. They sold Roman merchants slaves, furs, skins and amber in return for Mediterranean luxuries.

By about 200 AD the Danes had started to use Runes (a form of writing) for inscriptions.

After the fall of the Roman Empire in the West in the 5th century the Danes continued to trade with the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which became known as the Byzantine Empire.

Like the rest of Europe Denmark suffered a terrible outbreak of plague in the 6th century, which killed a large part of the population. Despite this trade flourished and in the 8th century the first trading settlements in Denmark grew up at Hedeby and Ribe.

VIKING DENMARK

In the 9th century Denmark was divided into different kingdoms. However during the 10th century it became one.

In the 9th and 10th centuries the Danes raided other parts of Europe such as England and Ireland. However they were more than just raiders. The Danes created the first towns in Ireland, Limerick, Cork and Dublin.

In the early 19th century the Danes raided English monasteries and took people as slaves. However in the later 9th century they turned from raiding to conquest. In 865 the Danes invaded England (which was then divided into 3 kingdoms). By 874 only the southernmost kingdom remained. However under their leader Alfred the English defeated the Danes in 878. In 879 Alfred and the Danish leader Guthrum made a treaty. England was divided between them, the Danes taking the eastern part. Guthrum also became a Christian.

The Danish part of England was called the Danelaw and over the following decades the English conquered it piece by piece. The English and the Danes settled down and lived together peacefully. However in 1002 Ethelred the Unready, king of England ordered the massacre of Danish settlers. Among the dead were relatives of the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard.

Sweyn became king of Denmark about 985 and in 1000 he conquered Norway. Enraged by the murder of his relatives he attacked England and demanded money in compensation. Afterwards, for some years, Sweyn demanded money for not attacking England. Nevertheless in 1013 he drove out the English king Ethelred and he became king of England. However he died in 1014.

His son Canute fled to Denmark, fearing the revenge of Ethelred. Moreover in 1015 Norway became independent of Denmark. However Ethelred died in 1016. Some of the English were willing to accept Canute as king but some elected a man named Edmund Ironside. The two fought for the crown.

Edmund was defeated but Canute allowed him to rule part of England until his death. Conveniently Edmund died the same year (1016). Canute then became king of England as well as Denmark. In 1028 he also conquered Norway and became the ruler of a northern empire. However his empire did not long survive his death. England became independent in 1042 and Norway became independent in 1047.

In 826 a monk named Ansgar went to Hedeby to try and convert the Danes to Christianity, but he had little success. However about 960 King Harald Bluetooth became a Christian and most of his subjects followed.

DENMARK IN THE MIDDLE AGES

In 1047 Sweyn Estridson became king of Denmark. He increased the power of the crown and during his reign Denmark was divided into 8 bishoprics (areas presided over by a bishop). Sweyn was followed by 5 of his sons in turn. However in 1131 the kings son Magnus the Strong murdered one of his relatives Cnut Lavard, fearing that Cnut might try to claim the throne one-day. The result was civil war which dragged on for 26 years until Valdermar the son of Cnut became king of Denmark in 1157.

Valdermar went to war with a people called the Wends who lived between the River Ellbe and the River Oder. In 1169 he captured an island called Rugen. In 1184 his son Absalon conquered Pomerania and Mecklenburg. His brother Valdermar II, known as the victorious, followed him. Valdermar II was ambitious and he wished to control all the Baltic. By 1215 he controlled all the land between the Elbe and the Oder. In 1219 he invaded Estonia. He crushed the Estonians at the battle of Lydanis and became their ruler.

However in 1223 Valdermar was captured by a German Prince. He was released in 1225 on condition he surrender all his conquests except Rugen and Estonia (in 1346 a Danish king, desperate for money sold Estonia).

In Viking times land in Denmark was farmed on a 2-field system. One half was sowed with crops and one half was left fallow. In the 12th century a more advanced 3-field system was used. The land was divided into 3 large fields. One was sowed with Spring crops, one with autumn crops while the third was left fallow. Denmark grew steadily richer. Trade in the Baltic region prospered and Danish towns grew larger and more important. However in 1349-1350 Denmark, like the rest of Europe was devastated by the Black Death, which probably killed 1/3 of the population.

Later in the century a lady named Margaret became regent of both Denmark and Norway. In 1388 Swedish nobles rebelled against their king and declared Margaret regent of Sweden. In 1389 her soldiers captured the Swedish king although his supporters held out in Stockholm until 1398.

In 1397 Erik, grandson of her sister was crowned king of Denmark, Sweden and Norway at Kalmar. This union of three kingdoms was called the Union of Kalmar. Its capital was Copenhagen.

However in 1434 a rebellion broke out in Sweden. It spread and in 1348 Erik was deposed as king of Denmark. In 1439 he was deposed as king of Sweden and in 1442 as king of Norway. In 1440 he was replaced as king of Denmark by his nephew Christopher, who later became king of Sweden and Norway as well. However Christopher died in 1448 and union broke up. In 1449 the Danes elected Count Christian of Oldenburg king.

In 1481 John became king of Denmark. In 1483 he also became king of Norway. The Swedes also recognised him as their king but he was not actually crowned until 1497. Furthermore his reign over Sweden was short lived. In 1501 the Swedes rebelled against him. From 1506 to 1513 John fought against Sweden but failed to regain the Swedish crown.

DENMARK IN THE 16th CENTURY

Nevertheless his son Christian II was made King of Sweden in 1520. However his reign was short. The Danes rebelled against Christian and imprisoned him in 1523. His uncle was made King Frederick I of Denmark and Norway in his place. Meanwhile the Swedes chose one of their own people as king of Sweden. Afterwards Sweden was separated from Denmark forever.

When Frederick I died in 1533 the Reformation was splitting Europe. His oldest son Christian favoured Lutheranism, while his younger son, Hans, was brought up a Catholic. After Fredericks death the election of a new king was postponed for a year. Then in 1534 the people of Lubeck sent an expedition under Count Christopher of Oldenburg to demand that the former king Christian II be released from prison and reinstated. The expedition landed in Zealand and civil war ensued. The people of Copenhagen supported the expedition and the people of Jutland rose in rebellion in support of ex-king Christian.

However a man named John Rantzau, a Lutheran noble, crushed the rebellion in Jutland and the Danes defeated Lubeck at sea. In 1536 Copenhagen was starved into submission and the civil war, known as the Counts War ended. Subsequently the king confiscated the land belonging to the church and Lutheranism became the religion of Denmark.

Both Denmark and Sweden sought to control the Baltic States. The result was a war in the years 1563-1570. Neither side was able to totally defeat the other and the Peace of Stettin ended the war. The devastation caused by the war was followed by a long period of peace. However the king of Denmark was forced to pay for the war partly by imposing taxes on farmers and partly by charging duties on cargoes carried through the Sound.

DENMARK IN THE 17th CENTURY

In 1611-1613 yet another war was fought between Denmark and Sweden. Neither side was able to inflict decisive defeat on the other.

Meanwhile Christian IV (1588-1648) founded new towns in Denmark and gained overseas possessions. However Christian insisted on intervening in the Thirty Years War in Germany (1618-1648). However in 1626 the Danish army was severely defeated and was forced to retreat. The enemy army occupied Jutland for 18 months. In 1629 Christian made peace by the treaty of Lubeck.

In 1643 Dnemark and Sweden fought again. Denmark was defeated and was forced to make peace in 1645.

The Danes and the Swedes fought again in 1658-1660. The Treaty of Copenhagen ended the War. For Denmark the terms were humiliating. The Danish king was forced to surrender territory to the Swedish king. The Swedes were also granted exemption from tolls charged on ships passing through the Sound.

Nevertheless after the war the king of Denmark greatly increased his power. In 1660 the Danish assembly, the Rigsdag, granted him autocratic powers. From then on the Danish king was an absolute monarch, at least in theory.

in 1675-1679 Denmark and Sweden went to war again. The great Danish admiral Niels Juel defeated the Swedes at sea. Nevertheless after the war the Danes were forced to surrender Skane in Southern Sweden.

DENMARK IN THE 18th CENTURY

By 1700 the population of Denmark was about 2/3 of a million.

During the 18th century Denmark was an overwhelmingly agricultural society. There was little industry. The peasants were not free. Each man had to live in the village he was born in between the ages of 4 and 40 and he had to spend some of his time working on his landlords land rather than his own.

Denmark took part in the Great Northern War 1709-1720 against Sweden but at the wars end had little to show for it. However most of the 18th century was a peaceful one for Denmark and quite a large merchant navy was built up.

From 1784 Crown Prince Frederick was Regent of Denmark and he introduced reforms. Peasants were made free and no longer had to work on their lords land. Tenant farmers often became small landowners. Furthermore rich landowners no longer had the right to physically punish their tenants e.g. by whipping them. Trade was also deregulated and tariffs on imported goods were cut.

DENMARK IN THE 19th CENTURY

During the war the British navy tried to stop France importing war materials so they stopped and searched vessels from neutral countries. In 1794 Denmark and Sweden formed an armed neutrality to stop the British doing this .In 1800 Russia and Prussia joined. Britain decided to take action. In 1801 a British fleet under Nelson attacked a Danish fleet in Copenhagen Harbour and destroyed part of it.

In 1805 the French fleet was destroyed at Trafalgar. Britain feared the French might seize the Danish fleet and use it to attack Britain. Therefore the British fleet attacked Copenhagen. The British ships bombarded the city and fired congreve rockets at it. Parts of Copenhagen were burned. Copenhagen was forced to surrender and the British took the Danish fleet.

Worse was to come. In 1813 the Swedes attacked Norway. In 1814 Denmark was forced to surrender Norway to them.

On a brighter note in 1814 universal primary education was introduced into Denmark.

Moreover during the 19th century the kings power was gradually reduced. In 1834 the king created 4 assemblies called diets for the islands (including Iceland), Jutland, Slesvig and Holstein. Only men who owned a certain amount of property could vote and the diets only had the power to advise the king but it was a start

Furthermore between 1837 and 1841 local self-government was created in Denmark. Yet the liberals demanded more reforms. So finally in 1849 King Frederick VII agreed to a new constitution. A new assembly was formed made up of 2 houses, the Folketing and Landsting. Freedom of the press and of religion were also granted in Denmark.

Joined to Denmark were two duchies, Holstein and Slesvig. Holstein was German but Slesvig had a mixed German and Danish population. The Danes tried to make Slesvig an integral part of Denmark. As a result a rebellion began in Slesvig-Holstein. The Prussians and other Germans intervened but the Tsar persuaded them to withdraw. The war against Slesvig-Holstein ended in January 1851. By agreements of 1851 and 1852 the Danes agreed not to try and make Slesvig closer to Denmark than Holstein.

However war began again in 1864. Despite the agreement Denmark tried to absorb Slesvig in 1863. On 1 February 1864 Prussian and Austrian forces crossed the Eider. The Danes fought bravely but the Germans occupied Jutland and they captured the island of Als (a Danish stronghold). So on 20 July peace talks began. In October the two duchies were surrendered to Prussia and Austria by the Treaty of Vienna.

Despite this disaster the Danish economy grew rapidly in the late 19th century. Land was drained for farming. The brewing and sugar beet industries boomed. Engineering and shipbuilding flourished. Meanwhile Copenhagen grew very rapidly. By 1911 it had a population of 560,000.

In 1870 only about 25% of the population of Denmark was urban but by 1901 it had reached 44%. (Today the figure is about 70%).

DENMARK IN THE 20th CENTURY

Denmark remained neutral during World War I and in 1915 the constitution was changed to make it more democratic. Women in Denmark were granted the right to vote.

Denmark suffered severely during the depression of the 1930s. Unemployment soared. At the worst point in 1932-1933 it reached 42.8%. The government responded by creating public works to reduce the numbers of unemployed. At the same time a number of laws were passed to create a generous welfare state.

When World War II began in 1939 Denmark stayed neutral. However the Germans occupied Denmark in 1940. On 9 April 1940 the German army crossed the border and German troop transports sailed to Copenhagen. The Germans threatened to bomb Copenhagen and so the Danes surrendered. At first the Germans treated the Danes leniently as they wanted the Danish food supply. However Danish resistance gradually increased. Acts of sabotage took place and on 29 August 1943 the Germans clamped down. They declared a state of emergency. The Danish army was disarmed and the Danish fleet was seized. The Danish cabinet was replaced by a group of civil servants who ran the country.

However during World War II nearly 7,000 Jewish Danes were smuggled into Sweden.

After the German surrender in May 1945 some 46 Danes were executed for collaborating with the enemy.

However the country benefited from Marshall Aid, which was given by the USA in the years 1948-1953. It helped Denmark to recover.

In 1949 Denmark joined NATO.

In 1953 the Danish constitution was changed.

The 1960s were years of prosperity for Denmark. There was full employment. Danish agriculture became highly mechanised and Danish industry grew rapidly. In 1973 Denmark joined the Common Market (forerunner of the EU).

Unfortunately in the late 1970s the Danish economy deteriorated. Unemployment rose. In the 1980s the government introduced austerity measures to try and curb inflation. However in the early 21st century the Danish economy began to flourish. Today Denmark is a prosperous country with a high standard of living.

Today the population of Denmark is 5.5 million.

Czech

2009-10-07T02:44:00.000-07:00

Alphabet

A a : u sound in fun
Á á : a sound in father
B b : b sound in bat
C c : ts sound in bits
Č č : ch sound in chat
D d : d sound in dog
Ď ď : dy sound like 'du' in duel
E e : e sound in red
É é : ai sound in pair
Ě ě : ye sound in yes
F f : f sound in far
G g : g sound in gap
H h : h sound in hot
CH ch : ch sound in loch (aspirated)
I i : i sound in fit
Í í : ee sound in bee
J j : y sound in yes
K k : k sound in kit
L l : l sound in lip
M m : m sound in mat
N n : n sound in nut
Ň ň : ny sound like 'n' in onion
O o : o sound in hot
Ó ó : oo sound in door
P p : p sound in pin
R r : r sound in rat (often rolled)
Ř ř : rž sound like 'rg' in bourgois
S s : s sound in sun
Š š : sh sound in ship
T t : t sound in top
Ť ť : ty sound like 'tu' in tune
U u : u sound in push
Ú ú : oo sound in fool
Ů ů : oo sound in fool
V v : v sound in vat
Y y : i sound in bit
Ý ý : ee sound in bee
Z z : z sound in zip
Ž ž : zh sound like 's' in treasure
Qq, Ww, Xx in foreign words only

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History

The term Bohemia is apparently derived from the Boii, a Celtic tribe dominant in this region in Classical Roman times. Archaeological and circumstantial historical evidence suggests that the Slavs first moved into Bohemia in the 6th century AD, having reached Moravia and Slovakia somewhat earlier.

These Central European Slavs emerge dimly into history in a chronicled account of a 7th-century union against the Avars, led by Samo, a Frankish merchant. By the late 8th century, during the reign of the Frankish Emperor Charlemagne, Moravia had received its first Western Christian missions, and by the 830s a proto-state habitually called “Great Moravia” had arisen along the upper Danube, ruled by its prince Mojmír and incorporating Nitra, in present-day Slovakia. Nitra already had its own church, while other early church sites have also been found in Moravia, notably at Mikulčice. The conversion of Moravia is traditionally associated with the 9th-century mission recorded in the Lives of the Byzantine Slav brothers Cyril (Constantine) and Methodius. Born in the area of Salonika, they were sent on their mission, we are told, by the Byzantine Emperor Michael II, following a request from the Moravian prince Rostislav. Use of Slavonic in the liturgy went against the Latin-centred practice of the Western Church, but the Papacy is recorded as giving the mission some backing. Cyril died in Rome, but Methodius resumed his work in Moravia, despite conflict with the Frankish clergy. After his death, however, the Slavonic rite was expelled from Moravia, and its main centres became Bulgaria, the Slav Balkans, and Kievan Russia. By the early 10th century the Moravian state had collapsed under pressure from the incoming Magyars (Hungarians), and Moravia later became a province of the emerging Bohemian kingdom.

To what extent the Slavonic rite also flourished in Bohemia is a matter of dispute. Until the 14th century Bohemia was ruled by the Přemyslid dynasty, of legendary origin. One day, as the story goes, the Czech nobles refused to be ruled over by a woman, Princess Libuše, any longer; she told them to follow her horse till it led them to Přemysl, her husband-to-be, ploughing in a field. The nation, in turn, traditionally derives its origins from the patriarchal leader Czech, who stood Moses-like upon Bohemia's Mount of Říp and pronounced the land vacant, and fit to inhabit. Bohemia began to receive Christianity by the 9th century, when fourteen Bohemian princes were baptised at Regensburg, while according to legend an early Přemyslid prince Bořivoj was christened by Methodius, founding the first Bohemian church at Levý Hradec, and later another at Prague Castle. Under his grandson Wenceslas (Václav in modern Czech, “Good King Wenceslas” in the 19th-c. English carol), Bohemia's westward affiliation was marked by a church at Prague Castle, now its Cathedral, dedicated to the Saxon St. Vitus. Wenceslas, who subsequently became Bohemia's patron saint, was murdered in 935 by his brother Boleslav, and his piety was soon celebrated in both Latin and Slavonic legends of his life. The use of Old Church Slavonic, perhaps temporarily revived, reached its end in 1097, when the Slavonic monks of Sázava were driven out. (Much later, Charles IV brought some Croat monks of the Slavonic rite to Prague, to the Emmaus Monastery, but this was a brief episode.)

By the 13th century Přemysl Otakar I had obtained from the Emperor the hereditary title of King and the Bohemian rulers later became imperial electors. Large-scale immigration began in the 13th century from Germany, bringing population to settle new towns and develop mines, such as the rich silver deposits of Kutná Hora, as well as to occupy the less fertile border areas. Queens, royal advisers and church figures were often German too, while German-language culture obtained a strong position at court, and amongst some of the nobility, who often adopted German names for their castles and families. The towns later became more Czech in character, through assimilation, and during the Hussite Wars, but the process later reversed, under the Habsburgs. When, however, a 14th-century chronicler writes that “German speech is commoner than Czech almost in all towns and at the court”, this may be taken as referring in particular to the speech habits of the upper nobility and prosperous burghers.

In 1278 Přemysl Otakar II was killed in battle against the Emperor Rudolf of Habsburg, having failed to secure territorial gains into Austria. His successor Václav II expanded into Poland and Hungary, but his son Václav III was assassinated in 1306, only a year after his father's death, and the male line of the Přemyslid dynasty came to an abrupt end.

After a four-year tussle, the choice of ruler rested upon John of Luxembourg, the Emperor's youthful son, who married a daughter of Václav II. John was a largely absentee monarch who indulged in tournaments and military adventure, dying at the Battle of Crécy, a blind man, in 1346. Under his son Charles IV, however, Prague became the imperial capital, and it rapidly expanded, acquiring the New Town, much of its Gothic architecture (including St. Vitus Cathedral) and the Charles Bridge. In 1348 Charles founded Prague University, the first in this part of Europe, which attracted many foreign scholars, but its very success, coupled with growing resentment at foreign privilege and the enlarged benefices of the Church, helped to engender later religious and social turmoil. His son Wenceslas IV faced growing difficulties, both with the nobility, and with the Church, whose authority was weakened by the Papal Schism, and undermined by mounting criticism of ecclesiastical wealth and often blatant corruption. Zealous and scholarly preachers, encouraged at first by King and Archbishop, contributed to the growth of a powerful religious reform movement, increasingly Czech in complexion, and centred around the figure of Jan Hus, a University scholar appointed to preach at the popular Bethlehem Chapel in Prague and influenced by the English Wyclif. Wenceslas IV added to existing national animosity by his Kutná Hora decree of 1409, which gave dominance to the Bohemian nation at the University. The losers, who had refused to endorse Wenceslas's favoured Pope, departed in anger to found Leipzig University. Meanwhile this Pope condemned Hus's ideas, and his successor excommunicated him. Summoned to the Council of Constance, Hus failed to submit to authority, and he was burnt at the stake in 1415.

National indignation was further fuelled by the burning of Hus's friend Jerome of Prague. Following the death of Wenceslas IV in 1419, soon after the throwing of Mayor and councillors to their deaths by Hussites from the windows of the New Town Hall (the first of two famous “Defenestrations” in Bohemian history), the Hussite party refused to accept his brother Sigismund. As German King, Sigismund had failed to save Hus at Constance. Sigismund pursued his claim by invading crusades, while the radical Hussites, based at their biblically named town of Tábor, split from the more moderate party known as Utraquists (named from the taking of both bread and wine in the communion). The famous Táborite leader Jan Žižka scored repeated victories over Sigismund's armies, but the Hussite factions remained at odds. Eventually, some years after Žižka's death, the Catholics and Utraquists combined to crush the radicals at Lipany (1434), and a compromise was reached with the Church, the so-called Compactata of 1436. Following Sigismund's death soon after, in 1437, an interregnum ensued, ended finally by the crowning in 1458 of the “Hussite King” George of Poděbrady, who attempted to reconcile Utraquists and Catholics, and is remembered for plans to establish a kind of “Peace Confederation” in Europe. Another religious group, the Unity of Czech Brethren, formed in 1457-58 as a sterner counterpart to the Utraquists, lacked legal status, and later they were periodically persecuted.

After George's death in 1471 rule passed to the Polish Jagiellonians. Vladislav II, though a disliker of Utraquism, was obliged by his coronation oath to respect their form of worship. Overshadowed by barons, he later inherited the throne of Hungary and moved his capital to Buda. His successor and son Louis was drowned in the marshes near Mohács retreating from battle against the Turks in 1526, and rule passed to his brother-in-law Ferdinand I of Habsburg.

So began the long era of Habsburg imperial rule in Bohemia. By now there were Lutheran adherents among Czech Utraquists as well as Germans, while attempts to suppress the Brethren left them based mainly in Moravia. Ferdinand strengthened the Catholic party by introducing the Jesuits, but his son Maximilian II eventually assented to the Confession of the Czech and German-speaking Lutherans, also recognised by the Brethren. Maximilian's son Rudolf II, famous for his interests in the arts, alchemy, astronomy, astrology, and magic, transferred his imperial court from Vienna to Prague. He too sought to strengthen the Catholic party, stronger amongst the lords than the lesser nobility and burghers, and he issued a decree against the Unity. However, after political inroads by his brother Matthias, in 1609 Rudolf issued a Letter of Majesty, granting freedom of worship to both Catholics and those of the Bohemian Confession. Rudolf was soon deposed by Matthias, and open Protestant rebellion erupted not long after. Two governors, accused of violating the Letter of Majesty, were thrown from a window of Prague Castle in 1618, escaping with minor injuries. Soon after this 2nd Defenestration Matthias died, his nephew Ferdinand 11 was rejected by the Bohemian estates, and Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate (son-in-law of James I of England) was crowned in his stead. However, Frederick, called the “Winter King”, was swiftly defeated at the Battle of the White Mountain (as historians call it), which was fought at Bílá hora, just outside Prague, on November 8, 1620, an event which marks the start of the Thirty Years' War between Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe.

Bohemia's rebels were treated harshly for their disloyalty to Habsburg rule. Apart from the execution of 27 rebel leaders, landowners who had participated had estates confiscated, royal powers were enlarged, and the official use of German was also authorised alongside Czech. No Christian faith other than Roman Catholicism was permitted. Those from the upper classes could choose either conversion or emigration, and many went abroad, especially to Saxony. Many newcomers obtained land for services rendered in the years up to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. But others to take advantage were local, including that famous freebooter and imperial generalissimo Albrecht von Waldstein (Wallenstein), murdered in 1634. The rise of magnates was accompanied by the political collapse of the gentry and towns. Subsequent decades brought lengthy wars with the Turks and French, with economic burdens, and aggravation of peasant obligations, accompanied by periodic revolts. The Kingdom of Bohemia retained its administrative autonomy, albeit subordinated to a Vienna-based regime working through powerful Catholic magnates and the Church (who also controlled education).

From 1740 the Empress Maria Theresa faced Bavarian invasion and three costly wars with Frederick the Great of Prussia, fought largely in Bohemia and Moravia, as a result of which she lost most of Silesia. She and her son Joseph II brought in a number of modernising and centralising administrative reforms, aiming to create a closer union of the Bohemian crown lands with the Alpine provinces. Joseph's reforms included his popular decrees of 1781, abolishing restrictions on the personal freedom of peasants, and permitting Protestant worship, and this period also saw the general establishment of primary schooling, while German ousted Latin from its primacy in education. The post-Josephine reaction, frightened by the French revolution (the battle of Austerlitz in 1805, in which Napoleon defeated the Austrian and Russian armies, took place near Slavkov in Moravia) did not overturn these fundamental reforms, with their long-term social consequences. Primary education, though stressing the learning of German, also led to increasing literacy in Czech, the daily language of the majority. German cultural nationalism, including the cult of native historical tradition and Rousseauist elevation of “natural” folk and national culture by Herder and others, produced its own Czech counterpart, which reacted against claims of German cultural, hence general superiority, just as German culture had been asserting itself against French intellectual and artistic imports.

Initially a patriotic, scholarly and broadly literary-cultural movement, often espousing Enlightenment, and later semi-Romantic, but also more conservative, even traditional clerical values, Czech nationalism first emerged as a political force in that revolutionary year of 1848, when the Metternich regime in Vienna was overthrown, and the leading Czech historian František Palacký refused the German liberals' invitation to attend the Frankfurt National Assembly, declaring that he was not a German, and Bohemia was not a German historic province. A Slav Congress in Prague led to nationalist demonstrations and the imposition of order through bombardment by Windischgrätz, the Austrian military commander, whose wife had been killed in the fray by a stray bullet. Czech federalist constitutionalist ambitions, promoted by Palacký, František Rieger, and the outstanding Czech journalist Karel Havlíček Borovský, were brought to nothing by the Habsburgs' military defeat of Hungary (with Tsarist Russian aid) and re-establishment of central, “neo-absolutist” rule, under Franz Joseph, who succeeded to the throne in 1848 on his uncle Ferdinand's abdication, and proceeded to reign until 1916. Some concessions however remained, including the freeing of the peasants from compulsory service, and the censorship never regained its previous force.

The second half of the century saw strengthening of the status of Czech language and culture vis-a-vis German within the Lands of the Bohemian Crown; this included steady advances in Czech educational provision at all levels. After the establishment of a new constitution in 1861, triggered by Austrian defeat in Italy, Czech claims to historic state rights were promoted by middle-class nationalist politicians, led by Rieger, who for some years pursued this goal by boycotting both the Vienna Reichsrat and the Bohemian diet. The 1866 Austro-Prussian war, which resulted in Austrian defeat at Königgrätz (Sadová, near Hradec Králové) and a brief Prussian occupation of Prague, led to further constitutional change, in the form of the 1867 Compromise or Ausgleich, under which Hungary received far-reaching autonomy. Attempts to replace Dualism by a tripartite solution giving Bohemia its own historic autonomy foundered in 1871, lacking support from German Liberals, Hungarians and the Emperor. Franz Joseph was never crowned in Prague with the crown of St. Wenceslas. In 1878-9 the Czechs recognised the failure of their policy of passive resistance by returning to the Bohemian diet and the Reichsrat, joining a government coalition under Count Taaffe along with the German clericals, aristocrats and Poles. In return Czech was designated an “outer” language, recognised for public use in courts of law and government offices, and in 1882 Prague University was divided into Czech and German institutions. By the mid 1880s it was the Germans' turn to feel under some threat. By the end of that decade the original Czech nationalist party, known as the “Old Czechs”, had lost ground heavily to the more radical, initially oppositionist “Young Czechs”, but in the mid nineties the Young Czech party itself joined the government of Badeni, who agreed to make Czech an “inner” language. But a storm of German protest forced the rescinding of this change. This was a period of bitter nationalist agitation, accompanied by a good deal of upward Czech economic, social and cultural mobility. The broadening electoral franchise, while strengthening Czech political influence, also undermined the older nationalist parties, especially when in 1907 universal manhood suffrage was introduced for the Reichsrat elections, for this encouraged the formation of new parties reflecting diverse socio-economic interests, such as the Agrarians and the Social Democrats, with a separate Czech Social Democratic party from 1911. Class interests cut across and fragmented nationalist interests, but also vice versa.

Czech politicians did not seriously anticipate the dissolution of the Habsburg monarchy or entertain the idea of an independent republic until some time into the First World War of 1914-18. In December 1914 Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, an academic and leader of a small Czech political party, left Prague and went abroad, organising opposition to the Habsburgs and eventually propagating the idea of an independent Czechoslovak state. From Rome he went to Geneva, Paris, and London, where he stayed from 1915-17, then to Russia, to help organise Czechoslovak forces formed from deserting units and prisoners of war. In 1916 Franz Joseph died and was succeeded by Charles I, who attempted political reforms, and pursued chances of a separate peace. After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Czechoslovak troops became involved in struggles for the Siberian railroad from May 1918, shortly after Masaryk had left via the Far East for the United States. In January 1918 President Wilson's Fourteen Points statement had supported “autonomous development” for the peoples of Austria-Hungary, while Czech politicians at home had also begun to make pro-independence declarations. After the prospect of separate peace with Austria was abandoned, the French and other Allies moved to support the idea of an independent Czechoslovak state. A declaration of Czechoslovak independence was issued in Washington on 18 October; Austria surrendered on 28 October; and the Prague National Committee proclaimed an independent state that same evening.

The Czechoslovak Republic was established in its western part largely within the historic frontiers of Bohemia and Moravia, but to the east it incorporated the northern Slovak counties of pre-1918 Hungary, and also Carpathian Ruthenia. This of course meant the inclusion of a substantial German population within the state, as well as a considerable Hungarian minority in Slovakia, in addition to the Slovaks themselves. There was also dispute with Poland over the Těšín frontier area. A constitution was adopted in 1920, with reasonably liberal guarantees of minority rights, but classifying Czechs and Slovaks on the grounds of similar language as a single Czechoslovak, and hence numerically dominant nationality. Masaryk became first president, and the republic was served by a series of coalition governments, elected under a system of proportional representation. Though the Germans initially opposed the constitution, in 1925 the German Agrarians and Christian Socialists joined the government, and later the German Social Democrats also joined the German "activists". Slovak anti-centralist dissatisfaction was expressed by the Slovak People's Party, led by Msgr Andrej Hlinka. The originally strongest Czech party, the Social Democrats, split on the formation of the Communist party in 1921, leaving the Czech Agrarians under Antonín Švehla as the mainstay of successive coalitions. Foreign policy centred on the alliance with France, loyalty to the League of Nations, and treaties with Yugoslavia and Romania creating the so-called Little Entente. Relations with the Germans, quite good in the later 1920s, deteriorated soon after 1930, with the severe impact of the Great Depression on industry in German-speaking areas, and militancy was boosted by Hitler's coming to power in 1933: in the 1935 elections Konrad Henlein's Sudeten German Party gained almost two-thirds of the German vote. Masaryk retired in December 1935 at the age of eighty-five, and his close associate Edvard Beneš was elected in his stead.

By the time Masaryk died, in September 1937, Czechoslovakia was about to succumb to collapse over the German question. Austria was taken over by Germany in March 1938. The British prime minister Chamberlain's talks with Hitler in September led to the infamous Munich agreement whereby Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain and Daladier presented Beneš with an ultimatum to cede territory to Germany. Czechoslovak capitulation to this demand was followed by Beneš's resignation, Poland and Hungary were also granted territorial gains, while, bereft of its border fortifications, the republic was now militarily incapacitated. In March 1939 the final collapse came when Bohemia and Moravia were proclaimed a protectorate of the Third Reich, while Msgr Tiso, Hlinka's successor in the Slovak People's Party, established a separate Slovak state under Hitler's tutelage.

In Prague Hitler installed Konstantin von Neurath as Reichsprotektor, while a Czech government with limited powers continued under President Emil Hácha. Neurath was replaced in September 1941 by the much harsher Gestapo leader Reinhard Heydrich. Following his death on 4 June 1942 after an assassination attack on May 27th by parachutists sent from London, terrible reprisals were taken, including slaughter of the inhabitants of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky. Under Heydrich the first transports of Jews from Prague to concentration-camp ghettos took place: in October 1941 to Łódź in Poland, in November to Terezín (Theresienstadt) in northern Bohemia, which became a staging post for thousands of Jews sent on to the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Birkenau and elsewhere. Many died of disease and malnutrition in Terezín itself. Thousands of others were transported to the death camps from Slovakia. Romany gypsies were another Nazi extermination target.

Beneš was in the United States when Hitler entered Prague, and in London when the war broke out. Leading the exile Czechoslovak Provisional Government recognised by the British in July 1940, Beneš worked first for the repudiation of Munich. When Hitler attacked Russia in June 1941 Beneš moved to negotiate a new Czechoslovak-Soviet alliance. He also began to work to gain approval for a post-war transfer of German population out of Czechoslovakia. In May and June 1943 Beneš was in the United States, meeting Roosevelt and putting a positive gloss on Russian intentions, and in December 1943 he reached Moscow, had a number of meetings with Stalin, and obtained his treaty of alliance. By now the Czechoslovak Communists, led by Klement Gottwald, were acquiring an increasingly strong influence. It was crucial of course that it was the Red Army which crossed the frontiers of the republic months before the Western Allies were able to enter Bohemia. [Kalinov, north of Medzilaborce was liberated by the Red Army on 21 Sept 1944; the Dukla pass was taken on October 6; Sobrance, Snina, Humenné, Kráľovský Chlmec, Svidník, Michalovce on 23-27 Nov 1944.] An abortive Slovak uprising, proclaimed on 29 August 1944, and commanded by regional army chief-of-staff Ján Golián, held out until Banská Bystrica fell on 27 October. In January 1945 Russian troops liberated Košice, in March Banská Bystrica. In March Beneš travelled again to Moscow, a post-war programme was elaborated, and the new government was set up in Košice on April 3, 1945, with key positions awarded to Communists. Fighting continued in Bohemia and Moravia for another month or so: American units under General George Patton crossed into Czechoslovak territory on 21 April, reaching Aš and on 6th May Plzeň; on May 5 an uprising was launched in Prague, but Prague was liberated by the Red Army, on 9th May, while the Americans were halted, respecting an agreement to halt along the Karlovy Vary-Plzeň-České Budějovice line. Churchill wanted Eisenhower to advance to Prague, but Eisenhower declined to risk his troops unnecessarily. (A reconnaissance mission went from Plzeň to Prague however on May 7th.)

Ruthenia was taken by Stalin. Soviet and American forces withdrew by the end of 1945. The majority of Germans were expelled from the republic in 1946, and their numbers fell from well over 3 million in 1930 to a mere 250,000 or so in 1947. Almost 2 million went to West Germany, almost I million to East Germany. In the May 1946 election the number of political parties was limited to 7: 4 in the Czech lands, 3 in Slovakia, and the strong pre-war Agrarian party was banned. All parties campaigned in a common National Front, and the Communists secured about 38% of the vote (about 40% in the Czech lands, 30% in Slovakia), emerging as the largest single party, though without an absolute majority. Klement Gottwald became Prime Minister, and the Communist Ministers of Information and the Interior asserted control over the media and the police, while the non-party Minister of Defence (General Svoboda) co-operated with the Communists too. When Czechoslovakia was offered American aid under the Marshall Plan in 1947 initial Czechoslovak acceptance was vetoed by the Soviet Union. The final crisis between Communists and non-Communists came in February 1948 when a Cabinet majority ordered the Interior Minister to stop packing the police force with Communists, and on 20 February twelve non-Communist Ministers resigned, hoping to force Gottwald's resignation and bring about an early election. However, following organised pro-Communist mass demonstrations, the forming of “action committees” to protect the achievements of the revolution, and other threats, President Beneš agreed on Feb 25 to the formation of a new government, nominally still representing all the National Front parties, but using members of other parties hand-picked by the Communists. On March 10 the body of the Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk (who had not resigned) was found beneath a window of the Foreign Ministry. In the scheduled election of 30 May 1948 there was only one list of candidates, producing a vote of over 86% for the National Front. Gottwald became President, Antonín Zápotocký Prime Minister. Beneš resigned on 7 June 1948, refusing to sign a new constitution promulgated on May 9th. He died three months later.

During the first 3 years of Communist rule something like 70 thousand citizens left the country as refugees, including many non-Communist leaders, intellectuals, managers and business people. Nationalisation of business and industry had begun already under the Košice programme; by 1950 it had reached even small shops and restaurants. Change was less swift in agriculture: in 1955 about 57% of agricultural land was still private, but in 1960 only 12%, in 1965 only 10%, the rest having become cooperatives or state farms. Education was quickly invaded by Marxist-Leninist style indoctrination. Religion was discouraged and limited from 1949 by administrative measures, internments and imprisonments. The systems of policing and justice were remoulded (e.g. abolishing the jury system) to enable them when required to follow the Party line and operate as “weapons in the class struggle”. In June 1950 a number of non-Communist politicians were tried for anti-state activities and four were executed, including Milada Horáková, the most prominent woman in the National Socialist Party, and the ex-Communist Záviš Kalandra. Literature was deeply affected by the nationalisation and state control of publishing houses, newspapers and magazines, and the media. Lists of forbidden books affected not only a considerable amount of pre-war writing (ruralists, Catholics, Czech legionaries), but also writers who emigrated (Ivan Blatný, Jan Čep, Ferdinand Peroutka, Egon Hostovský and others). A significant number of Catholic writers and scholars were imprisoned and interned on trumped up charges, e.g. Zdeněk Rotrekl, Bedřich Fučík, Zdeněk Kalista (1951-60), Jan Zahradníček (arrested 1951, imprisoned 1952-1960, died same year). Other non-Communist writers imprisoned included the ruralists Josef Knap and František Křelina, and the poet and translator Josef Palivec. Gottwald was also under pressure from the Soviet Union after Tito's break with Stalin to find “Trotskyite Titoists”, “bourgeois nationalist traitors” and the like in his own ranks. In February 1951 the Slovaks Vlado Clementis, former foreign minister, Gustav Husák, and others were arrested, and in December 1952 Clementis was executed, along with ten other former Party prominents, including Rudolf Slánský, former first secretary. Some were Jewish.

Stalin died suddenly in March 1953, and Gottwald, more unexpectedly, died within days of the funeral. Monetary reform on 1 June 1953 deprived many people of savings, and workers' demonstrations took place, notably in Plzeň. Antonín Novotný became first secretary in September, then president also, on the death of Zápotocký in 1957. But there was no real “thaw” in the Khrushchev years, even after his famous speech condemning Stalin, and certainly no challenge to Communist rule, as in Hungary. Indeed, the system consolidated itself, albeit with less violence, and in 1960 a new Constitution renamed the country the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, and confirmed the “leading role” of the party. Rehabilitation of victims was slow and faltering, as the incumbent rulers were themselves heavily implicated in the organisation of the show trials. Criticism however began to be expressed with increasing effectiveness within the party itself, as young Stalinist intellectuals turned into less starry-eyed, more middle-aged reformers, disaffected by economic failures. Indeed, by the mid sixties there was considerable de facto liberalisation in cultural life. An internal power struggle grew during late 1967, and when Brezhnev refused to intervene to support Novotný while in Prague in December, Novotný was left isolated. His resignation in January 1968 was succeeded by the election of the Slovak Alexander Dubček as first secretary, who in the following months was carried along in a wave of reforms.

The reformers' Action Programme, issued in April, planned greater democracy within the Party, and economic reforms, but what most alarmed conservatives in this “Prague Spring” was the wholesale abandonment of controls over the mass media, which began openly discussing the re-establishment of opposition parties and other unthinkable subjects. Dubček's growing domestic support went hand in hand with growing alarm in Moscow, which finally decided to crush the reforms. On the night of 20th - 21st August, troops from the USSR, helped by troops from Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and the GDR invaded the country.

Opposition was basically passive, later symbolised in public memory by the self-burning of a student Jan Palach in January 1969. Dubček's group had been taken to the Ukraine, General Svoboda, now President, intervened for their release, but during October 1968 the reformers were bullied into retreat, and signed an agreement for Soviet troops to be stationed “temporarily” in the country. Attempts to preserve at least some of the reforms were reduced to confirmation of the federal structure of Czech and Slovak republics. Dubček was replaced by Gustav Husák, one of the victims of the fifties purges, who turned out to be prepared to take the stiff measures required to “normalise” political and cultural life, as a result of which many reformers and others, especially in management, education, the media and the arts, who refused to submit to coercion lost their jobs. Over a hundred thousand people chose to emigrate, many highly qualified professionals. Mass discontent was deflected by increased scope given for private consumption: car-ownership, colour TVs, country cottages, etc. At the same time, much of industry was increasingly antiquated, polluting and inefficient in its energy use, even if Czechoslovakia did avoid the problems of massive foreign debt incurred by countries such as Poland and Hungary in these decades.

Opposition was especially associated with the underground presses or samizdat, and writers, academics and artists who had lost their jobs, refused to conform, and were officially prevented from pursuing their professions officially, but many others who were allowed to keep their positions were also active in circumventing official regimentation where they found opportunity. In late 1976 the prominent playwright Václav Havel was one of the founders of the much persecuted association known as Charter 77, formed to publicise infringements of the Helsinki agreements on human rights.

The driving force for change however eventually came from the outside, fundamentally from the liberalising Gorbachev regime in the Soviet Union, which disastrously undermined the prospects of the Husák regime by adopting and even going beyond the kind of reforms discussed during the Prague Spring. On the one hand somewhat lukewarm attempts at face-saving economic and cultural reforms were pursued, limited by justified apprehension of the likely chain-reaction of consequences, - on the other, repressive police measures were taken against public demonstrations, in an effort to stave off political nemesis. The collapse of the East German regime in October 1989, with its mass exodus of citizens, through Hungary, but also through Prague, left the regime hanging by a few threads, and an officially permitted student march on 17 November, commemorating the death of Jan Opletal at the hands of the Nazis in 1939, turned, not unexpectedly, into an anti-government demonstration, violently quelled by riot police.

If this was an underhand attempt to restore the situation by instilling fear, an attempt moreover possibly to replace one discredited Communist clique by another, it failed, for the scenes of police violence (and rumours of a student death) produced a mass public response, spreading from strikes and demonstrations by students, young people, and figures in the theatre and the arts to wide sections of the public. Political opposition was organised with theatrical skill and in a theatre building under a coalition called Civic Forum, in which Havel played a leading role (in Slovakia a similar movement was called Public Against Violence). After successive negotiations and concessions a government with a non-Communist majority was sworn in on 10 December. Immediately after this President Husák resigned, party first secretary Miloš Jakeš having already gone along with his entire secretariat, and on 29 December Havel was elected President by the Federal Assembly. One of his first steps, as a man imprisoned and detained several times by the previous regime, was to declare a wide ranging amnesty for prisoners in Czechoslovak jails, an act whose haste led to some predictable public disorder. His first foreign visit was to Germany, where he stressed support for unification and controversially apologised for the way in which Germans had been expelled after 1945.

The election of 8 June 1990 brought a controlling voice in Federal Parliament for Civic Forum/Public Against Violence. However, not long afterwards, under finance minister Václav Klaus, a programme of far-reaching economic privatisation was embarked upon, and Civic Forum split. Other hot issues were the political future of Slovakia, restitution of alienated property, and the extent to which past Communist regime collaborators, real or alleged, were to be excluded from public office. Much time and energy was devoted to the latter issue, with acrimonious debate about specific alleged informers. Complex large-scale restitution and reassignment of property ownership took place. In the election of June 1992 the stauncher private-marketeers under Klaus became the dominant Czech party (Civic Democratic Party - ODS), while in Slovakia a more national-style party (Movement for a Democratic Slovakia - HZDS) under Vladimír Mečiar, feeding on traditional discontent with Czech political attitudes to Slovakia and renewed economic anxieties, gained the upper hand. After failure to agree on a common federal programme, the leading Czech and Slovak politicians drew up a timetable for governmental and state separation by the end of 1992. In July of that year Havel also resigned as President, the Slovaks in parliament having blocked his re-election; it was not long however before he again became President, this time of the now separate Czech republic.

Croatia

2009-10-07T02:34:00.000-07:00

Alphabet

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History

Ancient Croatia

Before 5,000 BC the people of what is now Croatia learned to farm although they only had stone tools. Later they learned to use bronze then iron.

After 390 BC Greeks settled in colonies along the coast. Then after 229 BC the Romans gradually took control of Croatia. By 12 AD the Romans were in complete control. The Romans divided up the area into provinces. The coast was made the province of Dalmatia. Part of Croatia became the province of Noricum (which included part of Austria). The rest of Croatia became the province of Pannonia (which included part of Hungary).

In time the Croatians became Romanised. The Romans founded new towns and they built roads. However Roman rule collapsed in the 5th century.

Early in the 7th century a Slavic people called the Croats migrated to the area. At first they settled in Dalmatia. However in the 8th century they expanded northwards and inland. Two separate Croatian states emerged, one by the coast, the other inland. In the 9th century the inland Croatians became subject to the Franks, a powerful people who ruled most of Europe.

Meanwhile in the 9th century the Croats were converted to Christianity. However the Croats became part of the western Catholic Church based in Rome rather than the Eastern Orthodox Church based in Constantinople.

Meanwhile in the 8th and early 9th centuries trade and commerce grew in Croatia. Roman towns were revived and new towns were created.

Then in the eleventh century King Petar Kresimir (1058-1074) managed to united the two Croatian states.

However in 1102 the Hungarian king Koloman conquered Croatia and the two states were united under one crown.

During the Middle Ages trade and town life flourished in Croatia and many towns grew large and important.

However Venice coveted parts of Croatia. In 1202 Crusaders agreed to take the town of Zadar to repay a debt they owed to the Venetians. They captured it in 1204. In 1205 the Venetians captured Dubrovnik and Istria.

In 1358 the Hungarian-Croatian king defeated the Venetians and took back Croatian territory in Dalmatia. However in 1382 Dubrovnik bought its independence. It remained an independent republic until 1808.

Meanwhile the Venetians still had designs on the Croatian coast. In 1409 after a war the king of Hungary-Croatia sold Dalmatia (except Dubrovnik) to Venice. So the Venetians were left in control of Istria and most of Dalmatia.

In 1493 the Ottomans defeated the Croatians at the battle of Krovsko Poje. In 1526 the Hungarians were crushed by the Turks at the battle of Mohacs. The king of Hungary-Croatia was killed and his kingdom passed to an Austrian, Archduke Ferdinand of Habsburg. However the Turks continued to advance and by the late 16th century they controlled most of Croatia.

Yet in the late 17th century the Turks were pushed back. They were driven back from Vienna in 1683 and in 1716 they were defeated at the battle of Petervaradino, which led to the liberation of Croatia.

The 18th century was a relatively peaceful one for Croatia. However Croatian society changed little.

Modern Croatia

In 1797 Venice was forced to hand over its territory in Croatia to Austria. However in 1809 Napoleon formed the territory in the area into a new state called the Illyrian Provinces but the new state was short lived. After Napoleons defeat in 1815 the old order returned. Austria took all the territory that once belonged to Venice. The Austrians also took Dubrovnik.

Yet the ideas of the French Revolution did not die. In the early and mid-19th century Croatian nationalism grew and Croatian culture and literature flourished.

Then, in 1847 the Croatian parliament, the Sabor made Croatian the official language. It also abolished feudalism.

In 1848 a wave of Revolutions swept across Europe and rebels took power in Hungary. However Hungarians and Croats fell out and they went to war. Yet the Austrian monarchy soon regained power and both Hungary and Croatia became firmly a part of the Austrian Empire again. Still in 1867 the Austrian Empire split into two halves, Austria and Hungary. The Austrian monarch remained the king of both halves but otherwise they were largely independent. Croatia was split. Dalmatia was ruled by Austria while most of Croatia was ruled by Hungary.

In the late 19th century Croatian nationalists were divided into two schools of thought. One wanted a new state uniting all Southern Slavs. The other wanted an independent Croatia.

In 1914 the First World War began. Even before it ended in November 1918 the Austro-Hungarian Empire was breaking up. Croatian declared its independence in October 1918.

Nevertheless on 1 December 1918 the Croats agreed to join with Slovenes and Serbs to form a new state called the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The Croats soon became disenchanted as they wanted the new sate to be federal whereas it became a unitary state. Demands for autonomy were led by Stjepan Radic, who was shot in 1928.

In 1929 King Alexander suspended parliament and introduced a royal dictatorship. The state was renamed Yugoslavia.

In the 1930s there were 2 extremist parties in Croatia. The Communists and the Fascist Ustase, which was founded by Ante Pavelic in 1929.

In 1939 the Yugoslav government gave in to demands for Croatian autonomy and created an autonomous region called the Banovina.

The same year the Second World War began. At first Yugoslavia was neutral but in March 1941 a coup was held by pro-British officers. As a result the Germans attacked Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941 and they quickly conquered the country.

The Germans set up a puppet state in Croatia with the fascist Ustase in charge. However Croatia was liberated by partisans in 1945 and afterwards a Communist regime was imposed.

However during the 1960s Croatian nationalism re-emerged. Some people demanded more autonomy but in 1971 Tito, the Communist leader put a lid on all demands for reform. However Tito died in 1980.

Communism collapsed in most of Eastern Europe in 1989. The same year non-Communist organisations were formed in Croatia. In May 1990 elections were held. The Croatians sought to leave Yugoslavia but there was a substantial minority of Serbs living in Croatia. In May 1991 the Croatians voted for independence. However on the pretext of protecting Serbs living within Croatian borders the Yugoslav army invaded and a long war began.

Meanwhile the EU nations recognised Croatian independence on 15 January 1992. The war ended in 1995 with the Erdut Agreement. Eastern Slavonia was administered by the UN until 1998 when it was handed over to Croatia.

Today tourism is flourishing in Croatia. The population of Croatia is 4.5 million.

China

2009-10-06T02:28:00.000-07:00

Alphabet

The Chinese language has no alphabet. Or, to be more precise, the Chinese written language does not have an alphabet in the traditional sense of a set of letters that are combined to represent the sounds of words. The idea of the alphabet can be helpful, though, in understanding how Chinese characters are constructed. Just as a standard alphabet consists of a small number of letters that can be recombined to form a large number of words, so the "Chinese alphabet" consists of a (relatively) small number of structural elements that are recombined to form a much larger number of characters.

A typical Chinese character consists of two component parts, referred to as the radical and phonetic. The radical part often provides some indication of the meaning of the character, while the phonetic part often provides a clue as to the pronunciation of the character. The complete set of all the radicals (189 in simplified Chinese) and all the phonetics (several thousand) can be understood as forming something like a "Chinese alphabet."

While mastering this Chinese alphabet is obviously much more difficult than learning the 26 letters of the standard alphabet, understanding how radical and phonetic elements from the Chinese alphabet come together to form Chinese characters is very useful in learning to read or write Chinese.

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History

The oldest records about China date back to the period of ruler Fu Si, who lived in 30th centuries BC. Supposedly gods inspired him to write the holy book of ancient China "Itzin" from which originated the theory that Universe arose and developes due to alternation of Ing and Yang. Historical sources do not mention any rulers of China preceeding to Shang dynasty (1766-1122 BC). Shang rulers were subdued by Zhou dynasty, who built their capital nearby the modern Xian. Later, aproximately in 750 BC, they had to escape from barbarians who invaded the country and new capital was founded near the present day Liaoyan, In the early period of ruling power was concentrated in the hands of Emperor. Later local rulers managed to create soveraign fiefdoms. From 770 BC these rulers were constantly involved in wars with each other and the whole period from 476 till 221 BC was called The period of Warring States. At the same time China was attacked by barbarians from the north and north-east. It was decided to build gigantic walls for defence of territory. Finally the central power was concentrated in the hands of prince Qin, whose army overthrew the Zhou ruler.
New Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi ( First Emperor) became the founder of Qin dynasty in 221 BC. He was one of the most famous Emperors in the history of China and the first one who united Chinese Empire. After the death of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi in 210 governors of two provinces started the struggle for power. The winner Liu Ban founded new Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). During the rule of Han dynasty territory of China expanded.

The Silk Road originated in the 2nd century BC from a desire for military and political purpose instead of for trade. In order to seek allies to against Xiongnu repeated invasion, a court official named Zhang Qian was sent by Han Wudi to the Western Regions. However, on the way to the Western Regions, the Xiongnu captured Zhang and detained him for ten years. Escaped from Xiongnu's detention, Zhang Qian continued his journal to the Central Asia. While at that time, the local rulers were satisfied with their status and refused to ally with Han Empire. Although the mission failed in its original purpose, the information Zhang Qian conveyed to China about Central Asia, and vice versa, made people in each area desire goods produced in the other.

While when the Silk Road was first established, silk was not the chief commodity. Han dynasty made very little profit from it until the Romans became fanatic about silk that the large profits came in. During the Tang dynasty, thirty percent of the trade on the Silk Road was accounted for silk.

The fall of the Han dynasty in the early 3rd century once caused Silk Road trade to decline. However, the rise of the Tang dynasty in the 7th century revived this commerce and by mid 8th century the route reached its height.

At the same time, with the spread of various religions in the world, more and more missionaries reached the east via this road. With the Silk Road acting as an information superhighway, the exchange of ideas grew to a larger scale than ever before. And as a result, the Tang dynasty fortunately experienced the best flourishing period of the Silk Road.

The fall of the Tang in the early 10th century gave a deathblow to the trade on the Silk Road. The trade on the road declined sharply till in the 13th century, when the conquests of the Mongols ushered in an era of frequent and extended contacts between the East and the West. This increased contact created a demand for Asian goods in Europe, a demand that eventually inspired the search for a sea route to Asia.
The discovery of a sea route from Europe to Asia in the late 15th century dealt a damaging blow to the Silk Road trade again. Since then, the prosperous Silk Road was on its downhill.

After the fall of Han dynasty three kingdoms commenced strife for domination - Wei, Shou and Wu. In short period 16 provinces joined the war. In 581 the founder of Sui dynasty took hold of the power and made efforts to unite the Empire. The activity started from Great Canal, which connected lower part of Yantze with middle flow of Huang He.

After the fall of Sui dynasty, during the Tang epoch, the history of China reached its heyday.

Just in this period China became the strongest state of the world and constituted the main power in Asia. The population of Xian, the capital of empire, exceeded million. The art and culture flourished: the development of classic painting, music, dance and opera, production of finest pottery, discovery of secrets of semi-transparent white porcelain happened in this period. Confucian ethics and Buddhism dominated in all fields and progress was observed in science - mainly in astronomy and geography.

At the end of 9th century the neighbouring tribes started invading the territory of China, also internal rebellions broke out. In 907 the dynasty fell and very soon was replaced by five others. This instable period of Chinese history was marked by invention of paper money and the primitive printing-press. In the beginning of 13th century Genghis Khan conquered part of China to the north from Huan He. Sung dynasty was rooted in 1279 when Hubilai conquered the whole of China and became Emperor. He founded the mongol Yuang dinasty and the capital was moved to Khanbalik, modern Peking. At that time China was the part of huge Empire stretching from Europe and Persia in the west till plains and stepps of Siberia in the north. In 14th century the mongols were driven from China and replaced by Ming dynasty. Ming Emperors ruled till 17th century which was marked by development of architecture and marine expeditions to Yava, Sri-Lanka and even Persian Gulf and Africa. In 1644 China was conquered by Manchus and the following 150 years were the period of stability and peace, but in the beginning of 19th century Opium War was initiated by Britain and the British troops occupied Shanghai and Nankin and later Hong Kong. In 1894 the war with Japan started and China lost Korea, Taiwan and Pescador islands. Qing dynasty of Manchus was uprooted in 1911 by revolutionary movement of Sun Yatsen and in 1912 China was declared as Constitutional Republic.In 1916 Japan invaded China and power passed to Japanese. In 1917 China took part in World War I. In 1925 Sun Yatsen died and national government was headed by Chan Kaishi who ruled the country for ten years. Japan conquered Manchuria in 1933 and querilla war commenced. In 1935 Mao Zedong became the leader of communist party. In 1945 after Japanese capitulation the civil war broke out which ended in 1949 by creation of People's Republic of China which was headed by Mao Zedong. The period of Mao's rule was that of experiments in economy, agriculture and social life. In 1976 Mao Zedong died and Den Siaoping became the leader of communist party. China started developing with programm of "four modernisations", i.e. industry, agriculture, scince and defence. In 1989 during dispersal of students' demonstrations troops were involved. Hundreds of people died, thousends were arrested. Zhao Tziang was removed from governing. Since 1994 when the official control of money exchange was abolished, China's economy is developing intensively.

Arabia

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Alphabet

History: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is not only the homeland of the Arab peoples—it is thought that the first Arabs originated on the Arabian Peninsula—but also the homeland of Islam, the world's second-largest religion. Muhammad founded Islam there, and it is the location of the two holy pilgrimage cities of Mecca and Medina. The Islamic calendar begins in 622, the year of the hegira, or Muhammad's flight from Mecca. A succession of invaders attempted to control the peninsula, but by 1517 the Ottoman Empire dominated, and in the middle of the 18th century, it was divided into separate principalities. In 1745 Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab began calling for the purification and reform of Islam, and the Wahhabi movement swept across Arabia. By 1811, Wahhabi leaders had waged a jihad—a holy war—against other forms of Islam on the peninsula and succeeded in uniting much of it. By 1818, however, the Wahhabis had been driven out of power again by the Ottomans and their Egyptian allies.

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is almost entirely the creation of King Ibn Saud (1882–1953). A descendant of Wahhabi leaders, he seized Riyadh in 1901 and set himself up as leader of the Arab nationalist movement. By 1906 he had established Wahhabi dominance in Nejd and conquered Hejaz in 1924–1925. The Hejaz and Nejd regions were merged to form the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, which was an absolute monarchy ruled by sharia. A year later the region of Asir was incorporated into the kingdom.

Oil was discovered in 1936, and commercial production began during World War II. This oil-derived wealth allowed the country to provide free health care and education while not collecting any taxes from its people. Saudi Arabia was neutral until nearly the end of the war, but it was permitted to be a charter member of the United Nations. The country joined the Arab League in 1945 and took part in the 1948–1949 war against Israel. Saudi Arabia still does not recognize the state of Israel. On Ibn Saud's death in 1953, his eldest son, Saud, began an 11-year reign marked by an increasing hostility toward the radical Arabism of Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser. In 1964, the ailing Saud was deposed and replaced by the prime minister, Crown Prince Faisal, who gave vocal support but no military help to Egypt in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

Faisal's assassination by a deranged kinsman in 1975 shook the Middle East, but it failed to alter his kingdom's course. His successor was his brother, Prince Khalid. Khalid gave influential support to Egypt during negotiations on Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Desert. King Khalid died of a heart attack in 1982, and he was succeeded by his half-brother, Prince Fahd bin 'Abdulaziz, who had exercised the real power throughout Khalid's reign. King Fahd chose his half-brother Abdullah as crown prince.

Saudi Arabia and the smaller oil-rich Arab states on the Persian Gulf, fearful that they might become Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's next targets if Iran conquered Iraq, made large financial contributions to the Iraqi war effort during the 1980s. At the same time, cheating by other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), competition from nonmember oil producers, and conservation efforts by consuming nations combined to drive down the world price of oil. At the time Saudi Arabia had one-third of all known oil reserves, but falling demand and rising production outside OPEC combined to reduce its oil revenues from $120 billion in 1980 to less than $25 billion in 1985, threatening the country with domestic unrest and undermining its influence in the Gulf area.

At the start of 1996, King Fahd passed authority to Crown Prince Abdullah, after suffering an incapacitating stroke. In 1998 the country's oil income fell by 40% because of a worldwide decline in prices, and it entered its first recession in six years.

In 2000, Saudi Arabia, along with other OPEC nations experiencing a recession, decided to reduce production to raise oil prices. In 2001, OPEC cut oil production three additional times.

Saudi Arabia's relations with the U.S. were strained after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks—15 of the 19 suicide bombers involved were Saudis. Despite the monarchy's close ties to the West, much of the extremely influential religious establishment has supported anti-Americanism and Islamic militancy. In Aug. 2003, following the U.S.-led war on Iraq in March and April 2003, the United States withdrew its troops stationed in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. had maintained troops in the country for the past decade, a source of great controversy in the strongly conservative Islamic country. One of the major reasons given for the Sept. 11 attacks by Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden was the presence of U.S. troops in the home of Islam's holiest sites, Medina and Mecca. On May 12, 2003, suicide bombers killed 34, including 8 Americans, at housing compounds for Westerners in Riyadh. Al-Qaeda was suspected. Saudi Arabia's commitment to antiterrorist measures was again called into question by the U.S. and other countries. In July, the U.S. Congress bitterly criticized Saudi Arabia's alleged financing of terrorist organizations. While the Saudi government arrested a sizable number of suspected terrorists, little was done to quell Islamic militancy in the kingdom. Several attacks against Westerners took place in 2003 and 2004.

In Feb. 2005, Saudi Arabia held its first elections ever: municipal council elections to choose half of the new council members in Riyadh. The other half continued to be appointed, in keeping with the previous Saudi system. Women were not eligible to vote, and less than a third of eligible voters registered.

In Aug. 2005, King Fahd bin 'Abdulaziz died. His half-brother Abdullah, who had been the de facto ruler of the country for the past decade, assumed the throne.

Saudi Arabia brokered talks between the Afghan government and Taliban leaders in September 2008. In the talks, the first attempt to end the protracted armed conflict, the Taliban said it is severing ties to al-Qaeda.

King Abdullah took bold steps to reshuffle his government in February 2009, promoting reformers, firing controversial officials, including the conservative head of the religious police and the country's most senior judge, and appointing his first-ever female minister, for women's education.

Romania

2009-10-06T02:07:00.000-07:00

Alphabet

Letter Name
A, a a
Ă, ă ă
Â, â â din a
B, b be
C, c ce
D, d de
E, e e
F, f fe / ef

G, g ghe / ge
H, h ha / haş
I, i i
Î, î î din i
J, j je
K, k ka
L, l le / el
M, m me / em

N, n ne / en
O, o o
P, p pe
Q, q kü / chiu
R, r re / er
S, s se / es
Ș, ș / Ş, ş șe / şe
T, t te

Ț, ț / Ţ, ţ țe / ţe
U, u u
V, v ve
W, w dublu ve
X, x ics
Y, y igrec / i grec
Z, z ze / zet

Flag

History

Romania is situated in Central Europe, in the northern part of the Balkan peninsula and its territory is marked by the Carpathian Mountains, the Danube and the Black Sea. With its temperate climate and varied natural environment, which is favorable to life, the Romanian territory has been inhabited since time immemorial. The research done by Romanian archaeologists at Bugiulesti, Valcea Country, has led to the discovery of traces of human presence dating back as early as the Lower Palaeolithic (approximately two million years BC).

Cucuteni pottery
These vestiges are among the oldest in Europe, revealing a period when "man," a humanoid in fact, went physically and spiritually through the stages of his coming out of the animal status. A denser human population, ("the Neanderthal man") can be proved to have lived about 100,000 years ago; a relatively stable population can only be found beginning with the Neolithic (6-5,000 years BC).
At the time, the population on the territory of present-day Romania created a remarkable culture, whose proof is the polychrome pottery of the "Cucuteni" culture (comparable to the pottery of other important European cultures of the time in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East) and the statuettes of the "Hamangia" culture (the Thinker of Hamangia is known today to the whole world).

The Thinkers of Hamangia (Neolithic statuette)

At the turn of the second millennium, when the Palaeolithic age made way for the Bronze age, the Thracian tribes of Indo-European origin settled alongside the population that already lived in the Carpathian-Balkan region. From the time of the Thracians on, the uninterrupted phenomenon of the Romanian people’s birth can be traced. In the former half of the first millennium BC, in the Carpathian-Danube-Pontic area - which was the northern part of the large surface inhabited by the Thracian tribes - a northern Thracian group became individualized: it was made up of a mosaic of Getae and Dacian tribes. Strabo, a famous geographer and historian in the age of emperor Augustus, informs that "the Dacians have the same language as the Getae".

A Geto-Dacian nobleman (tarabostes)
wearing the traditional pileus on his head
Basically, it was the same people, the only difference between the Dacians and the Getae being the area they inhabited: the Dacians - mostly in the mountains and the plateau of Transylvania; the Getae - in the Danube Plains. In the Antiquity, the Greeks, who first got to encounter the Getae - used this name for the whole population north of the Danube, while the Romans, who first got to encounter the Dacians-extended this name to cover all the other tribes on the present-day territory of Romania; after the conquest of this territory, the Romans created here the Dacia province. This is why the whole territory of present-day Romania is called Dacia in all ancient Latin and Early Middle Ages sources.

The contact of the Geto-Dacians with the Greek world was made easy by the Greek colonies created on the present-day Romanian Black Sea shore: Istros (Histria), founded in the 7th century BC, Callatis (today: Mangalia) and Tomi (today: Constanta); the latter two were founded a century later. In the recorded history, the population north of the Danube (the Getae) was first mentioned by Herodotus, "the father of history" (the 4th century BC). He told the story of the campaign of Persian king Darius I against the Scythians in the northern Pontic steppes (513 BC). He wrote that the Getae were "the most valiant and just of the Thracians". They had been the only ones to resist the Persian king on the way from the Bosporus to the Danube.

The Dacian stronghold of Sarmisegetuza
Burebista (82 - around 44 BC), who succeeded to unite the Geto-Dacian tribes for the first time, founded a powerful kingdom that stretched, when the Dacian sovereign offered to support Pompey against Caesar (48 BC), from the Beskids (north), the Middle Danube (west), the Tyras river (the Dniester), and the Black Sea shore (east) to the Balkan Mountains (south).

In the 1st century BC, as the Roman empire was expanding and Roman provinces were being created in Pannonia, Dalmatia, Moesia and Thracia, the Danube became, along 1,500 Km., the border between the Roman Empire and the Dacian world. In Dobrudja, which was under Roman rule for seven centuries beginning with the reign of Augustus, poet Publius Ovidius Naso spent the last years of his life, "among Greeks and Getae," as he was exiled there, to Tomi (8-17, AD) by order of the same Caesar.
Dacia was at the peak of its power under King Decebal (87-106 AD). After a first confrontation during the reign of Domitian (87-89), two extremely tough wars were necessary (101-102 and 105-106) to the Roman empire, at the peak of its power under Emperor Trajan (98-117) to defeat Decebal and turn most of his kingdom into the Roman province called Dacia.

King Decebal

Emperor Trajan

Trajan's Column in Rome -
the birth certificate of the Romanian people
Trajan’s Column erected in Rome and the Triumphal Monument at Adamclisi (Dobrudja) tell the story of this military effort, which was followed by a systematic and massive colonization of the new territories that were integrated into the empire.

The Dacians, although they had suffered heavy casuals, remained, even after the new rule was established, the main ethnic element in Dacia; the province was subjected to a complex Romanization process, its basic element being the staged but definitive adoption of the Latin language.

The Roman monument of Adam Clisi (second century AD)

The Romanians are today the only descendants of the Eastern Roman stock; the Romanian language is one of the major heirs of the Latin language, together with French, Italian, Spanish; Romania is an oasis of Latinity in this part of Europe.

The Roman mosaic of Tomis (Constanta)
The natives, be they of Roman or Daco-Roman descent, continued their uninterrupted existence as farmers and shepherds even after the withdrawal, under emperor Aurelian (270-275) of the Roman army and administration, which were moved south of the Danube. But the ancestors of the Romanians remained for several centuries in the political, economic, religious and cultural sphere of influence of the Roman Empire; after the empire split in 395 AD, they stayed in the sphere of the Byzantine Empire. They lived mostly in the old Roman hearts that had now decayed and survived in difficult circumstances under successive waves of migratory tribes.

At the time when the Daco-Roman ethno-cultural symbiosis was achieved and finalized in the 6-7th centuries by the formation of the Romanian people, in the 2-4th centuries, the Daco-Romans adopted Christianity in a Latin garb.

Therefore, in the 6-7th centuries, when the formation process of the Romanian people was done, this nation emerged in history as a Christian one. This is why, unlike the neighboring nations, which have established dates of Christianization (the Bulgarians - 865, the Serbs - 874, the Poles-966, the eastern Slavs - 988, the Hungarians - the year 1000), the Romanians do not have a fixed date of Christianization, as they were the first Christian nation in the region.

In the 4-13th centuries the Romanian people had to face the waves of migrating peoples - the Getae, the Huns, the Gepidae, the Avars, the Slavs, the Petchenegs, the Cumanians, the Tartars - who crossed the Romanian territory.

The migratory tribes controlled this space from the military and political points of view, delaying the economic and social development of the natives and the formation of local statehood entities.

The Slavs, who massively settled since the 7th century south of the Danube, split the compact mass of Romanians in the Carpathian-Danubian area: the ones to the north (the Daco-Romanians) were separated from the ones to the south, who were moved towards the west and Southeast of the Balkan Peninsula (Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians and Istro-Romanians). The Slavs that settled north of the Danube were assimilated little by little by the Romanian people and their language left traces in the vocabulary and phonetics of the Romanian language. To the Romanian language, the Slavic language (similarly to the Germanic idiom of the Franks with the French people) was the so-called super-imposed layer. The Romanians belonged to the Orthodox religion so they adopted the Old Church Slavic as a cult language, and, beginning with the 14-16th centuries, as a chancery and culture language. The Slavic language was never a living language, spoken by the people, on the territory of Romania; it played for Romanians, at a certain time during the Middle Ages, the same role that Latin played in the West; in the early modern age it was replaced for ever, in church, chancery and culture included, by the Romanian language.

Owing to their position, the Romanians south of the Danube were the first to be mentioned in historical sources (the 10th century), under the name of vlahi or blahi (Wallachians); this name shows they were speakers of a Romance language and that the non-Roman peoples around them recognised this fact.

After the year 602, the Slavs massively settled south of the Danube and they established a powerful Bulgarian czardom in the 9th century; this, cut the tie between the Romanian world north of the Danube and the one south of the Danube. As they were subjected to all sorts of pressures and isolated from the powerful Romanian trunk north of the Danube, the number of Romanians south of the Danube continuously decreased, while their brothers north of the Danube, although living in extremely difficult circumstances, continued their historical evolution as a separate nation, the farthest one to the east among the descendants of Imperial Rome.

In fact the Romanians are the only ones who, through their very name - roman - (coming from the Latin word "Roman") - have preserved to this day in this part of Europe the seal of the ancestors, of their descent, that they have always been aware of. This will show later in the name of the nation state - Romania.

Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania

Beginning with the 10th century, the Byzantine, Slav and Hungarian sources, and later on the western sources mention the existence of statehood entities of the Romanian population - kniezates and voivodates - first in Transylvania and Dobrudja, then in the 12-13th centuries, also in the lands east and south of the Carpathians. A specific trait of the Romanian’s history from the Middle Ages until the modern times is that they lived in three Principalities that were neighbors, but autonomous - Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania.

This phenomenon - which is by no means unique in Mediaeval Europe - is extremely complex. The underlying causes pertain to the essence of the feudal society, but there are also specific factors. Among the latter, we wish to mention the existence of powerful neighboring empires, which opposed the unification of the Romanian state entities and even occupied - for shorter or longer periods of time - Romanian territories. For instance, to the west the Romanians had to face the policy of conquests conducted by the Hungarian kingdom. In 895, the Hungarian tribes, who came from the Volga lands, led by Arpad, settled in Pannonia. They were stopped in their progress towards the west by emperor Otto I (995) so the Hungarians settled down and turned their eyes to the south-east and east. There they encountered the Romanians.

A Hungarian chronicle describes the meeting between the messengers sent by Arpad, the Hungarian king, and voivode Menumorut of the Biharea city in western Transylvania. The Hungarian ambassadors demanded that the territory be handed over to them. The chronicle has preserved for us the dignified answer given by Menumorut: "Tell Arpad, the Duke of Hungary, your ruler. Verily we owe him, as a friend to a friend, to give him all that is necessary because he is a foreigner and a stranger and lacks many. But the land that he has demanded from our good will we shall never give to him, as long as we are alive".

The Church of Densus
Despite the resistance of the Romanian kniezates and voivodates, the Hungarians succeeded in the 10-13th centuries to occupy Transylvania and make it part of the Hungarian kingdom (until the beginning of the 16th century as an autonomous voivodate.) In order to consolidate their power in Transylvania, where the Romanians continued to be, over the centuries, the great majority ethnic element, as well as to defend the southern and eastern borders of the voivodate, the Hungarian crown resorted to the colonization of Szecklers and Germans (Saxons) in the 12-13th centuries in the frontier areas.
In the 14th century, with the decline of the neighboring imperial powers (the Poles, the Hungarians, the Tartars), south and east of the Carpathian Mountains range the autonomous feudal states were formed: Wallachia, under Basarab I (around 1310) and Moldavia, under Bogdan I (around 1359). The Polish and Hungarian kingdoms attempted in the 14-15th centuries to annex or subordinate the two principalities, but they did not succeed.

Scene from the Painted Chronicle of Vienna showing
the victory of the Romanians at Posada (1330)
against the army of the Hungarian King

In the second half of the 14th century a new threat against the Romanian lands emerged: the Ottoman Empire. After first setting foot on European soil in 1354, the Ottoman Turks began their rapid expansion on the continent, so the green banner of the Islam already flew south of the Danube in 1396.

Mircea the Old,
Voivode of Wallachia (1386-1418)

Vlad the Impeller,
Voivode of Wallachia
(Dracula of the Mediaeval legends, 1456-1462)

Stephen the Great and Holy,
Voivode of Moldavia (1457-1504)
Alone or in alliance with the neighboring Christian countries, more often in alliance with the neighboring voivodes of the other two Romanian principalities, the voivodes of Wallachia Mircea the Old (1386-1418) and Vlad the Impeller (Dracula of the Mediaeval legends, 1456-1462), with Stephen the Great and Holy (1457-1504), the voivode of Moldavia and Iancu of Hunedoara, the voivode of Transylvania (1441-1456) fought heavy defence battles against the Ottoman Turks, delaying their expansion to Central Europe.

The whole Balkan Peninsula became a Turkish-ruled territory, Constantinople was captured by Mohammed II (1453), Suleiman the Magnificent captured the city of Belgrade (1521), and the Hungarian kingdom disappeared following the battle of Mohacs (1526). Therefore, Wallachia and Moldavia were surrounded and they had to recognize for over three centuries the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. After Buda was captured and Hungary became a pashalik, Transylvania became a selfruling principality (1541) and it, too, recognized the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, as the other two Romanian lands.
Unlike all the other peoples of south-east Europe, unlike the Hungarians and the Poles, the Romanians were the only ones who maintained their state entity during the Middle Ages, along with their own political, military and administrative structures. The tribute paid to the sultan was the guarantee for the preservation of domestic autonomy, but also for the protection against more powerful enemies.

City of Soroca on the Dnister river bank

The Curtea de Arges Monastery, founded by Neagoe Basarab
(1512-1521), Prince of Wallachia
Wallachia and Moldavia, owing to their autonomy status, continued after the fall of the Byzantine Empire to foster their Byzantine cultural traditions, taking at the same time upon themselves to protect the Eastern Orthodox religion; on their territory, scholars from all over the Balkan Peninsula, chased away by the intolerant Islam, were able to continue their work without any obstacles; they prepared the cultural revival of their nations.
The end of the 16th century was dominated by the personality of Michael the Brave. He became voivode of Wallachia in 1593, joined the Christian League - an anti-Ottoman coalition initiated by the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire and he succeeded, following heavy battles (Calugareni, Giurgiu) to actually regain the independence of his country. In 1599-1600 he united for the first time in history all the territories inhabited by Romanians, proclaiming himself "prince of Wallachia, Transylvania and the whole of Moldavia." The domestic situation was very complex, the neighboring great-powers - the Ottoman Empire, Poland, the Hapsburg Empire - were hostile and joined forces to overthrow him; so this union was short-lived as Michael the Brave was assassinated in 1601.

Michael the Brave (1593-1601),
prince of Wallachia,
the first to unite the Romanian feudal states

Michael the Brave entering Alba Iulia on November 1, 1599
The union achieved by the valiant voivode became, however, a symbol to the posterity. In the 17th century, in various forms and with evanescent success, other princes attempted to restart the ambitious political program of Michael the Brave, by trying to form a united anti-Ottoman front, made-up of the three principalities and to restore the unity of ancient Dacia.

Michael the Brave (1593-1601) who first united the three Romanian lands.

The end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century brought about changes in the politics of Central and Eastern Europe. The Ottoman Empire failed to capture Vienna in 1683 and following that, the Hapsburg Empire began its expansion to the south-east of Europe. The Austrian-Turkish peace treaty of Karlowitz (1699) sanctioned the annexation of Transylvania and its organization as an autonomous principality to Hapsburg Austria (since 1765 great principality), ruled by a governor. Poland was divided and Russia, by successive conquests, reached under Peter the Great (1696-1725) the Dniester river, thus becoming Moldavia’s eastern neighbor.

The ambitious dream of the czars to dominate the Bosporus strait and Constantinople placed the Romanian Principalities in the way of Russian expansionism. The Ottoman Empire, in an attempt to defend its old position, introduced in Moldavia (1711) and Wallachia (1716) the "Phanariot regime," (until 1821), under which the Sublime Porte appointed in the two principalities Greek voivodes recruited from the Phanar district of Istanbul and considered faithful to the Turks. That was a time when the Ottoman political control and economic exploitation increased and corruption spread; but some social reforms were also introduced - such as the abolition of serfdom - as well as administrative and modernizing reforms, modeled on the European ones in the age of the Enlightenment. The domestic autonomy, although limited, was basically preserved and the two principalities continued to be distinct entities from the Ottoman Empire; this situation was recognized in several international treaties (for instance that of Kuchuk-Kainargi, 1774). Lying at the borders of three great empires and wanted by all three of them, Wallachia and Moldavia became for over 150 years not only territories of contention but also a battlefield on which the armies of the empires fought each other.

Many wars were fought by Austria and Russia against the Ottoman Empire (1710-1711, 1716-1718, 1735-1739, 1768-1774, 1787-1792, 1806-1812, 1828-1829, 1853-1856): those battles took place on Romanian soil, always
accompanied by a foreign military occupation, which was often maintained long after the war proper was over, so the Romanian lands endured not only through devastation and irrecoverable losses but also through population displacements and painful territory amputations. So, Austria temporarily annexed Oltenia (1718-1793) and Northern Moldavia that they called Bukovina (1775-1918). Following the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812, Russia annexed the eastern part of Moldavia, the land between the Prut and Dniester rivers, later called Bessarabia (1812-1918).

National Revival

In the 18th and early 19th centuries huge economic and social changes took place, the feudal structures were deeply eroded, the first capitalist enterprises emerged and at the same time Romanian goods were attracted step by step into the European circuit. The national idea, as everywhere else in Europe, was becoming the soaring dream of intellectuals and the underlying element in the plans for the future made by the politicians.
The union of part of the clergy in Transylvania with the Catholic Church (the Greek- Catholics), achieved by the House of Hapsburg in 1699-1701, played an important part in the emancipation of Transylvanian Romanians. Their fight for equal rights with the other ethnic groups (although the Romanians accounted for over 60% of the principate’s population, they were still considered "tolerated" in their own country) was begun by Bishop Inocentiu Micu-Klein and continued by the intellectuals grouped in the "Transylvanian School" movement: Gheorghe Sincai, Petru Maior, Samuil Micu, Ion Budai-Deleanu, a.o.

Greek-Catholic bishop Inocentiu Micu-Klein (1692-1768), promoter of the national struggle
of the Romanians in Transylvania

These scholars proved the Latinity of the Romanian language and people and, even more, the fact that they had uninterruptedly been the autochthonous population here. By virtue of this ancients, they demanded equal rights with the other "nations" in Transylvania - Hungarians, Szecklers and Saxons. The claims of the Romanians in Transylvania were submitted to the Court of Vienna in the long petition called Supplex Libellus Valachorum (1791), which did not receive any answer.

Tudor Vladimirescu, the leader of the 1821 Romanian revolution
The quest for renewal in Wallachia was expressed in the revolution led by Tudor Vladimirescu (1821), which broke out at the same time with the Greek’s movement for liberation.

Although the Ottoman and Czarist troops occupied the Danube principalities that same year, the sacrifices made by the Romanians brought about the abolition of the Phanariot regime and native voivodes were again appointed on the thrones of Moldavia and Wallachia. The peace treaty of 1829 signed at Adrianople (today Edirne) ended the Russian-Turkish conflict of 1828-1829, which had broken out in the final stage of the war for national liberation fought by the Greeks; this treaty greatly weakened the Ottoman suzerainty, but it increased Russia’s "protectorate." Now that trade was freed, Romanian cereals began to penetrate European markets. Under Pavel Kiseleff, the commander of the Russian troops that occupied the two Romanian principalities (1828-1834), quasi-identical Organic Regulations were introduced in Wallachia (1831) and Moldavia (1832); until 1859 these Regulations served as fundamental laws (constitutions) and they contributed to the modernisation and homogenisation of the social, economic, administrative and political structures that had started in the preceding decades. Therefore, in the first half of the 19th century, the Romanian principalities began to distance themselves from the Oriental Ottoman world and tune into the spiritual space of Western Europe. Ideas, currents, attitudes from the West were more than welcome in the Romanian world, which was undergoing an irreversible process of modernization. Now the awareness that all Romanians belong to the same nation was generalized and the union into one single independent state became the ideal of all Romanians.

Union and Independence

The winds of 1848 also blew over the Romanian principalities.
They brought to the centre-stage of politics several brilliant intellectuals such as Ion Heliade Radulescu, Nicolae Balcescu, Mihail Kogalniceanu, Simion Barnutiu, Avram Iancu and others.

Nicolae Balcescu, one of the 1848 revolution leaders

In Moldavia the unrest was quickly cracked down on, but in Wallachia the revolutionaries actually governed the country in June-September 1848.

Avram Iancu,
leader of the 1848 Romanian revolution in Transylvania
In Transylvania the revolution was prolonged until as late as 1849. There, the Hungarian leaders refused to take into account the claims of the Romanians and they resolved to annex Transylvania to Hungary; this led to a split of the revolutionary forces between the Hungarians and the Romanians. The Hungarian government of Kossuth Lajos attempted to crack down on the fight of the Romanians, but he encountered the resolute armed resistance of the Romanians in the Apuseni Mountains, under the leadership of Avram Iancu.

Although the brutal intervention of the Ottoman, Czarist and Hapsburg armies was successful in 1848-1849, the renewal tide favoring democratic ideas spread everywhere in the next decade.

Russia was defeated in the Crimean War (1853-1856) and this called into question again the fragile European balance. Owing to their strategic position at the mouth of the Danube, as this waterway was becoming increasingly important to European communications, the status of the Danube principalities became a European issue at the peace Congress in Paris (February-March 1856). Wallachia and Moldavia were still under Ottoman suzerainty, but now they were placed under the collective guarantee of the seven powers that signed the Paris peace treaty; these powers decided then that local assemblies be convened to decide on the future organization of the two principalities. The Treaty of Paris also stipulated: the retrocession to Moldavia of Southern Bessarabia, which had been annexed in 1812 by Russia (the Cahul, Bolgrad and Ismail counties); freedom of sailing on the Danube; the establishment of the European Commission of the Danube; the neutral status of the Black Sea.

In 1857 the "Ad-hoc assemblies" convened in Bucharest and Iasi under the provisions of the Paris Peace Congress of 1856; all social categories participated and these assemblies unanimously decided to unite the two principalities into one single state. French emperor Napoleon III supported this, the Ottoman Empire and Austria were against, so a new conference of the seven protector powers was called in Paris (May-August 1858); there, only a few of the Romanians’ claims were approved.
But the Romanians elected on January 5/17, 1859 in Moldavia and on January 24/February 5, 1859 in Wallachia Colonel Alexandru Ioan Cuza as their unique prince, achieving de facto the union of the two principalities.

The Romanian nation state took on January 24/February 5, 1862 the name of ROMANIA and settled its capital in Bucharest.

Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859-1866),
Voivove of the United Principalities

Mihail Kogalniceanu (1817-1890),
father of the program to make Romania a modern country
Assisted by Mihail Kogalniceanu, his closest adviser, Alexandru Ioan Cuza initiated a reform program, which contributed to the modernization of the Romanian society and state structures: the law to secularise monastery assets (1863), the land reform, providing for the liberation of the peasants from the burden of feudal duties and the granting of land to them (1864), the Penal Code law, the Civilian Code law (1864), the education law, under which primary school became tuition free and compulsory (1864), the establishment of universities in Iasi (1860) and Bucharest (1864), a.o.
After the abdication of Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1866), Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a relative of the royal family of Prussia, who was supported by Napoleon III and Bismark, was proclaimed on May 10, 1866, following a plebiscite, ruling prince of Romania, with the name of Carol I.

Carol I, first King of Romania

The new Constitution (inspired from the Belgian one of 1831), which was promulgated in 1866 and was in use until 1923, proclaimed Romania a constitutional monarchy. In the next decade the struggle of the Romanians to achieve full state independence was part of the movements that took place with other peoples in the south-east of Europe - Serbs, Hungarians, Montenegrins, Bulgarians, Albanians - to cut off their last ties to the Ottoman Empire. Within a favorable international framework - in 1875 the Oriental crisis broke out again and the Russo-Turkish war started in April 1877 - Romania declared its full state independence on May 9/21, 1877. The government led by Ion C. Bratianu, in which Mihail Kogalniceanu served as Foreign Minister, decided, upon the Russian request for assistance, to join the Russian forces that were operative in Bulgaria.

Attack of Grivita stronghold
Engraving of the Independence War period (1877-1878)
A Romanian army, under the personal command of Prince Carol I, crossed the Danube and participated in the siege of Pleven; the result was the surrender of the Ottoman army led by Osman Pasha (December 10, 1877).

The independence of Romania, similarly to that Serbia and Montenegro, as well as the union of Dobrudja with Romania were recognized in the Russian-Turkish peace treaty of San Stefano (March 3, 1878). Upon the insistence of the great powers, an international peace Congress was held in Berlin (June-July 1878), which acknowledged and maintained the status that Romania had proclaimed by herself more than a year before; it also re-established, after a long period of Ottoman rule, Romania’s rights over Dobrudja, which was re-united to Romania. But at the same time Russia violated the convention signed on April 4, 1877 and forced Romania to cede the Cahul, Bolgrad and Ismail counties of Southern Bessarabia.

On March 14/26, 1881, Romania proclaimed itself a kingdom and Carol I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was crowned King of Romania.

After gaining its independence, the Romania state was the place to which the hopeful eyes of all Romanians who lived on the lands still under foreign occupation turned. The Romanians in Bukovina and in Bessarabia were facing a systematic policy of assimilation into the German and Russian worlds, respectively. Immigration of foreign peoples was directed to their territory. The Romanian enclaves in the Balkan Peninsula had increasing difficulties in opposing the denationalization tendencies. At the turn of the 20th century, the Romanians were a people with over 12 million inhabitants, of whom almost half lived under foreign occupation.

At the same time in Transylvania, the Romanians suffered the serious consequences of the accord by which the Hungarian state was re-established more than three centuries after its collapse and the dual Austria-Hungary state was created (1867). Transylvania lost the autonomous status it had under Austrian rule and it was incorporated into Hungary. The legislation passed by the government in Budapest, which proclaimed the existence of only one nationality in Hungary - the Magyar one - sought to destroy from the ethno-cultural point of view the other populations, by forcing them to become Hungarian. This subjected the Romanian population, along with other ethnic groups, to heavy ordeals. At that time the National Romanian Party in Transylvania played an important role in asserting the Romanian national identity; the party was reorganized in 1881 and it became the standard bearer in the struggle to achieve recognition of equal rights of the Romanian nation and it the resistance against the denationalization projects.
In 1892 the national struggle of the Romanians reached a climax through the Memorandum Movement. The memorandum was drafted by the leaders of the Romanians in Transylvania, Ion Ratiu, Gheorghe Pop of Basesti, Eugen Brote, Vasile Lucaciu, a.o. and it was sent to Vienna to be submitted to emperor Franz Joseph I; it advised the European public opinion of the Romanians’ claims and of the intolerance shown by the government in Budapest regarding the national issue.

The Group of memorandum champions,
members of the Romanian National Party of Transylvania, sentenced to hard years of prison by the
Hungarian courts of law in 1894

The 1878-1914 period was one of stability and progress for Romania. Politics got polarized around two huge parties - the conservative one (Lascar Catargiu, P.P. Carp, Gh. Grigore Cantacuzino, Titu Maiorescu, a.o.) and the liberal one (Ion C. Bratianu, Dimitrie A. Sturdza, Ion I.C. Bratianu, a.o.). They alternatively came to power and this became the characteristic trait of the epoch’s politics.

The expansionist policy of Russia determined Romania to sign in 1883 a secret alliance treaty with Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy; the treaty was renewed periodically until World War I. After staying neutral in the first Balkan war (1912-1913) Romania joined Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Turkey against Bulgaria in the second Balkan war. The peace treaty of Bucharest (1913) marked the end of that conflict and under its provisions Southern Dobrudja - the Quadrilateral (the Durostor and Caliacra counties) became part of Romania.

Ion I.C. Bratianu, Prime Minister of Romania
In August 1914, when World War I broke out, Romania declared neutrality. Two years later on August 14/27, 1916 it joined the Allies, which promised support for the accomplishment of national unity; the government led by Ion I.C. Bratianu declared war on Austria-Hungary.

After the first success, the Romanian army was forced to abandon part of the country, Bucharest included and to withdraw to Moldavia, owing to the joint offensive of the armies in Transylvania, commanded by General von Falkenhayn and those of Bulgaria, commanded by Marshal von Mackensen.
In the summer of 1917, in the great battles of Marasti, Marasesti and Oituz, the Romanians aborted the attempt made by the Central Powers to defeat and get Romania out of the war by occupying the rest of her territory.

Fighting at Marasesti - Engraving of WWI

But the situation changed completely following the outbreak of the revolution in Russia (1917) and the separate peace concluded by the Soviets at Brest-Litovsk (March 3, 1918); this triggered the end of the military operations on the eastern front. Romania was compelled to follow in the steps of her Russian ally, because on the Moldavian front the Romanian troops were interspersed with the Russian ones and it was impossible for combat to continue on one area of the front and for peace to settle on another front area, and so on. Cut off from its western allies, Romania was forced to sign the peace treaty of Bucharest with the Central Powers (April 24/May 7, 1918). The ratification procedure was never carried through, so from the legal standpoint the treaty was never operative; in fact, in late October 1918, Romania denounced the treaty and re-entered the war.

Romanian army crossed the Carpathians
to free Transylvania, an ancient Romanian land
The right of the peoples to self-rule triumphed in the final stage of World War I and this served the cause of the Romanians who lived in the Czarist and Austro-Hungarian Empires.

The collapse of the czarist system and the recognition by the Soviet government of the right of the exploited peoples to self-rule allowed the Romanians in Bessarabia to express through the vote of the national representative body - the Country Council which convened in Chisinau - their will to be united with Romania (March 27/April 9, 1918). The fall of the Hapsburg monarchy in the autumn of 1918 made it possible for the nations that had been under Austrian-Hungarian oppression to emancipate themselves.
On November 15/28, 1918, the National Council of Bukovina voted in Cernauti to unite that province to Romania.

The Metropolitan Palace of Cernauti, where the union of Bukovina with Romania was voted (November 28, 1918)

The Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia, on December 1 1918
In Transylvania the National Assembly called at Alba Iulia on November 18/December 1, 1918 voted, within the presence of over 100,000 delegates, to unite Transylvania and Banat with Romania.
So, in January 1919, when the peace conference was inaugurated in Paris, the union of all Romanians into one single state was an accomplished fact.

The act proclaiming the union of Transylvania to the kingdom of Romania on December 1, 1918

The international peace treaties of 1919-1920 signed at Neuilly, Saint-Germain, Trianon and Paris, established the new European realities and also sanctioned the union of the provinces that were inhabited by Romanians into one single state (295,042 square kilometers, with a population of 15.5 million).

The universal suffrage was introduced (1918), a radical reform was applied (1921), a new Constitution was adopted - one of the most democratic on the continent (1923) - and all this created a general-democratic framework and paved the way for a fast economic development (the industrial output doubled between 1923 and 1938). With its 7.2 million metric tons of produced oil in 1937, Romania was the second largest European producer and number seven in the world. The per capita national income reached $94 in 1938 as compared to Greece - $76, Portugal - $81, Czechoslovakia - $141, and France - $246.
In politics many parties competed with one another, so the government was controlled over the years by several of them: the People’s Party (Alexandru Averescu), the National Liberal Party (Ion I.C. Bratianu, I.G. Duca, Gheorghe Tatarescu) and the National Peasant Party (Iuliu Maniu).

Iuliu Maniu,
President of the National Peasant Party

The Romanian Communist Party, established in 1921, and which had an insignificant number of members, was banned in 1924. The Iron Guard, an extremist right-wing nationalist movement, established by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu in 1927, was equally banned. In 1930 Carol II changed his mind about his earlier decision to give up the throne, he dethroned his minor son, Michael (who had become king in 1927) and he took the throne. Eight years later he established his personal dictatorship (1938-1940).

Nicolae Titulescu, Romanian Foreign Minister,
supporter of collective security in Europe

The goals of the foreign policy in the inter-war period, when Nicolae Titulescu played a major role, sought to maintain the territorial status quo by creating regional alliances, supporting the League of Nations and the collective security policy, as well as by promoting close co-operation with the Western democracies - France and Great Britain.

With Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, Romania lay the foundation in 1920-1921 for the Little Entente and in 1934 Romania created with Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey a new organization of regional security - the Balkan Entente.

Nazi Germany was rising and, together with Italy it supported the revisionist states neighboring Romania; the force policy was successful on the continent and this was marked by the Anschluss, the Munich Pact (1938), the break-up of Czechoslovakia (1939); there was rapprochement between the Soviet Union and the Third Reich; all this led to Romania’s international isolation. The von Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact (August 23, 1939) stipulated in a secret protocol the Soviet "interest" in the Baltic states, eastern Poland and the Soviet similar "interest" in Bessarabia.

When World War II broke out, Romania declared neutrality (September 6,1939) but she supported Poland (by facilitating the transit of the National Bank treasure and granting asylum to the Polish president and government). The defeats suffered by France and Great Britain in 1940 created a dramatic situation for Romania.

The Soviet government applied Plank 3 of the secret protocol of August 23, 1939 and forced Romania by the ultimatum notes of June 26 and 28, 1940 to cede not only Bessarabia, but also Northern Bukovina and the Hertza land (the latter two had never belonged to Russia). Under the Vienna "Award" - actually a dictate - (August 30, 1940) Germany and Italy gave to Hungary the north-eastern part of Transylvania, where the majority population was Romanian. Following the Romanian-Bulgarian talks in Craiova, a treaty was signed on September 7, 1940, under which the south of Dobrudja (the Quadrilateral) went to Bulgaria.

Romania's map with the territorial losses of the '40s

The serious crisis in the summer of 1940 led to the abdication of King Carol II in favour of his son Michael I (September 6, 1940); equally, it led to General Ion Antonescu’s take-over of the government (he became a Marshal in October 1941). In an effort to win support from Germany and Italy, Ion Antonescu joined forces in government with the Iron Guard Movement. The Movement attempted by way of the rebellion of January 21-23, 1941 to take over the entire government and, as a result, it was eliminated from politics.

June 22, 1941: the Romanian army crosses the river Prut
to liberate Bessarabia occupied by the Soviets

Wishing to get back the territories lost in 1940, Ion Antonescu participated, side by side with Germany, in the war against the Soviet Union (1941-1944).

The defeats suffered by the Axis powers led after 1942 to enhanced attempts made by Antonescu’s regime, as well as by the democratic opposition (Iuliu Maniu, C.I.C. Bratianu) to take Romania out of the alliance with Germany. On August 23, 1944, Marshal Ion Antonescu was arrested under the order of King Michael I.
The new government, made up of military men and technocrats, declared war on Germany (August 24, 1944) and so, Romania brought her whole economic and military potential into the alliance of the United Nations, until the end of World War II in Europe.

Romanian machine gunners in action
in the mountains of Czechoslovakia

The Romanian army was triumphal received
in all the localities of Transylvania
Despite the human and economic efforts Romania had made for the cause of the United Nations for nine months, the Peace Treaty of Paris (February 10, 1947) denied Romania the co-belligerent status and forced her to pay huge war reparation. payments; but the Treaty recognized the come-back of north-eastern Transylvania to Romania while Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina stayed annexed to the USSR.

On the territory of Romania Soviet troops were stationed and the country was abandoned by the Western powers, so the next stage brought a similar evolution to that of the other satellites of the Soviet Empire. The whole government was forcibly taken over by the communists, the political parties were banned and their members were persecuted and arrested; King Michael I was forced to abdicate and the same day the people’s republic was proclaimed (December 30, 1947).

The single-party dictatorship was established, based on an omnipotent and omnipresent surveillance and repression force.

The industrial enterprises, the banks and the transportation means were nationalized (1948), agriculture was forcibly collectivized (1949-1962), the whole economy was developed according to five-year plans, the main goal being a Stalinist type industrialization. Romania became a founding member of COMECON (1949) and of the Warsaw Treaty (1955).

The communists took charge of the state,
guided by their utopian, noxious creed

At the death of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1965), the communist leader of the after-war epoch, the party leadership, which was later identified with that of the state as well, was monopolized by Nicolae Ceausescu. In a short period of time he managed to concentrate into his own hands (and those of a clan headed by his wife, Elena Ceausescu) all the power levers of the communist party and of the state system. Romania distanced herself from the USSR (this publicy inaugurated in the "Statement" of April 1964); the domestic policy was less rigid and there was some opening in the foreign policy (Romania was the only Warsaw Treaty member-state that did not intervene in Czechoslovakia in 1968); all this, as well as the political capital built on such a less Orthodox line were used to consolidate Ceausescu’s own position, to take over the whole power within the party and the state. The dictatorship of the Ceausescu family, one of the most absurd forms of totalitarian government in the 20th century Europe, with a personality cult that actually bordered on mental illness, had as a result, among other things, distortions in the economy, the degradation of the social and moral life, the country’s isolation from the international community. The country’s resources were abusively used to build absurdly giant projects devised by the dictator’s megalomania; this also contributed to a dramatic decline of the population’s living standard and the deepening of the regime’s crisis.

The Romanian Revolution of December 22, 1989
Under these circumstances, the spark of the revolt that was stirred in Timisoara on December 16, 1989 rapidly spread all over the country and in December 22 the dictatorship was overthrown owing to the sacrifice of over one thousand lives.

The victory of the revolution opened the way for a re-establishment of democracy, of the pluralist political system, for the return to a market economy and the re-integration of the country in the European economic, political and cultural space.

Catalan

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Alphabet

A a a

B b be

C c ce

Ç ç ce trencada

D d de

E e e

F f efa

G g ge

H h hac

I i i

J j jota

K k ke

L l ela

M m ema

N n ena

O o o

P p pe

Q q cu

R r erre

S s esse

T t te

U u u

V v ve baixa

W w ve doble

X x ics, xeix

Y y i grega

Z z zeta

Flag

Map

History

As early as the sixth century BC, Greek merchants established trading posts along the Catalan coast, then inhabited by proto-Iberian tribes. By the third century BC, the Phoenicians and Carthaginians had settled in (Barcelona is said to derive its name from the Carthaginian rulers Hamilcar and Hannibal Barca). They in turn were replaced after the Punic wars by the Romans, who established Tarraco, now Tarragona, at their capital for northeastern Iberia. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the Visigoths swept down from the north and took over as of the early fifth century AD.

Tarragona's Roman coliseum. Lions, lions don't be slow, eat those Christians - go cat go!In the eight century, Catalan Christians sought help from Charlemagne in repulsing the Moorish invaders, after which local counts achieved effective independence from the Frankish kings. The period following the Reconquest and the reign of Wilfred the Hairy (857 - 902) is recognized as the origin of the Catalan nation, and Barcelona soon became the dominant political and military force in the region. By the 13th century, under Jaume II, Barcelona rivaled Genoa and Venice as a maritime power, ruling over an empire that encompassed a large part of the Mediterranean. This is Catatonia's Golden Age. Prosperity led to the beginning of an important building boom, including many of the Romanesque and Gothic monuments described in this section.

CardonaDescendents of Wilfred the Hairy acquired the throne of neighboring Aragon by marriage, and from then on, the fate of Catalonia was linked, however tenuously, to that of Spain. Although the Catalan's obstinately defended the partial independence embodied in their ancient usatges (code of rights), pressure from Castille, especially the need for men and money for constant warfare, led to conflict and rebellion. The 1640 revolt, during which the Catalans changed their allegiance to Louis XIII of France, was crushed with the end of the 1652 siege of Barcelona by Don Juan of Austria. When the Catalan's again attempted to secede from Philip V's monarchy during the Spanish War of Succession, Catalonia finally lost its privileges with the humiliating surrender of Barcelona on September 11, 1714, today "celebrated" as Catalonia's National day.

La Manzana de la Discordνa in BarcelonaForever prosperous, republican and separatist, the Catalan's regained their autonomy briefly during the Second Republic, 1932 - 1939, only to be crushed by Franco and the Nationalists, whose repression of everything Catalan lasted until the new Constitution of 1977 reestablished a measure of self government. Since then, Catalonia has flourished in every way, becoming Spain's leading economic region with almost 20% of GNP for a region that is only 6% of Spain's land mass and 15% of the population.

France

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Alphabet

A ah
B beh
C seh
D deh
E uh
F eff
G zheh
H ahsh
I ee
J zhee
K kah
L ell
M em
N en
O oh
P peh
Q koo
R air
S ess
T teh
U ooh
V veh
W doo-blah-veh
X eeks
Y ee-grek
Z zed

Flag

Map

History

Europe began being occupied from about 200,000 BC by the Homo sapiens, but they all died 30,000 years ago, supposedly during a period of cold weather. Around 2500 B.C, the Celts came from Central Europe and settled in Gaul. The Celts were iron workers and dominated Gaul until 125 B.C., when the Roman Empire began its reign in southern France. The Greeks and Phoenicians established settlements along the Mediterranean, most notably in Marseille. Julius Caesar conquered part of Gaul in 57-52 B.C., and it remained under Roman rule until the Franks invaded Gaul in the 5th century A.D.

Gaul was divided into seven provinces. The Romans were afraid of populations having local identities and began to displace them, so they avoided a threat to the Roman integrity. That's why many Celts were moved and enslaved out of Gaul. Many changes occurred during the cultural evolution under the Roman Empire. One of them was the change of the Gaulish language by to vulgar Latin. The similarities between the two languages favoured the transition. Gaul was under Roman control for centuries.

In 486, Clovis I, leader of the Salian Franks, defeated Syagrius at Soissons and then united most of northern and central Gaul under his rule. Christianity in France received a boost when in 496, Clovis adopted the Roman Catholic form of Christianity. In some ways Clovis' reign brought stability and unity to France, but in some other ways it contributed to fragmentation, because Clovis divided up the territory as gifts and rewards.

Charles Martel was the first leader of the Carolingian dynasty and was responsible for the expansion of the Frankish kingdom and also stopped the Muslim advance. Charlemagne was not only an able military leader, but was also a great supporter of education and the arts. During Charlemagne's period, there was a Carolingian renaissance, but shortly after his death the kingdom was divided. Hugh Capet was elected to the throne of France, and this way the Carolingian dynasty ended and the Capetian Dynasty began. In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy invaded England and was crowned as the English King of England on Christmas Day, 1066. Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was once married to King Louis VII of France, married Henry II of England, and as a result, most of the western part of France was yielded to the British Crown. After the death of the last Capetian King, Charles IV, Edward III of England claimed the French Throne and started the Hundred Years' War in 1337. With the help of a French peasant girl, Joan of Arc, Charles VIII emerged victorious in the war and drove the English back to Calais.

France became a centralized state where an absolute monarchy was established, retaining the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings and the explicit support of the established Church. The long Italian Wars (1494-1559) marked the beginning of early modern France. Once Francis I was captured at Pavia, the French monarchy had to look for allies and found one in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Admiral Barbarossa captured Nice on 5 August 1543, and handed it down to Francis I. During the 16th century, the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs were the dominant power in Europe, controlling some other duchies and kingdoms across Europe. Despite all of this, French became the preferred language of Europe's aristocracy.

During the early 16th century, Francis I strengthened the French Crown. He also welcomed many Italian artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, who was an Italian polymath: scientist, architect, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, engineer, painter, sculptor, musician, and writer. Their influence assured the success of the Renaissance style.

Between 1562 and 1598 there was an increase in the number of Protestants, which this led to the Religious Wars between Catholics and Protestants. Catherine de Medici, Queen of France, wife of King Henry II of France, ordered the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of hundreds of Protestants. Henry IV, of the Bourbon dynasty, issued the Edict of Nantes (1598), granting religious tolerance to the Huguenots (French Protestants).

The 17th century was a period of extravagance and power for the French Monarchy. King Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu transformed France's feudal monarchy to an absolute monarchy. But the French King most associated with this period is Louis XIV. Also known as the Sun King, Louis strengthened his own power having all the local Princes and Lords engaged within the elaborate court life in his palace at Versailles. The objective of this court life was to keep the local Princes and Lords from focusing on trying to undermine his power. This period is also famous for the genius of the writers, architects and musicians who were promoted by the royal court. The extravagance of Louis XIV, the costly foreign wars that weakened the government, plunged France into an economic and financial crisis. Louis XIV died in 1715 and Louis XV assumed the throne. The Bourgeoisie began to demand more political rights, and this became a big problem for Louis' successors.

France was the scene of many battles during the French Revolution. At the beginning of 1789. The First Republic was also established and an authoritarian period under Napoleon Bonaparte began. He had successfully defended the infant republic from the enemy and then made himself first consul in 1799 and emperor in 1804. The Congress of Vienna (1815) tried to restore the pre-Napoléonic order in the person of King Louis XVIII, but industrialization and the middle class, were under Napoléon and they demanded change. Finally Louis Philippe, the last of the Bourbons was driven into exile in 1848. In 1852, Prince Louis Napoléon, a nephew of Napoléon I, declared the Second Empire and took the throne as Napoléon III. But he was against the rising power of Prussia and that ignited the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), and that war ended in his defeat, his abdication, and the creation of the Third Republic.

This is how the French Monarchy came to an end in 1871 and the Third Republic was formed. In 1889, what is now one of the world's most impressive and visited monuments was constructed. The Eiffel Tower was built to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution. The paintings of the Impressionists, the works of the satirist Zola and the novelist Flaubert, and the Art Nouveau style also made a big and important contribution in nineteenth century France.

World War I meant great losses for France's troops and army. The northeast of France had been reduced to ruins, although despite this France became one of Europes main powers. Beginning in 1919, France's objective was to keep Germany away from its territory and an elaborate system of border defences and alliances was created. But unfortunately this was not enough and on May 10, 1940 at the beginning of World War II, the Nazis attacked and occupied Paris, the Italians joining with German troops. On July 10, 1940 the Vichy Government was established. In August of 1944, France was finally liberated by the Allied armies and a transitorial government headed by Charles de Gaulle was established. The Fourth Republic was born on 24 December, 1946. France joined NATO in 1949.

But in May 1968 many violent student protests and factory workers strikes brought down the government of Charles de Gaulle. The next year de Gaulle's policies were modified by his sucessor Georges Pompidou with a policy of a classical laissez-faire in relation to domestic economic affairs. The conservative, pro-business climate contributed to the election of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing as President in 1974.

The winner of the 1981 presidential election was the socialist François Mitterrand. The first two years of government created a 12% rate of inflation and the devaluation of the Franc. In 1995 the neo-Gaullist Jacques Chirac was elected. French leaders are increasingly tying the future of France to the continued development of the European Union. France is one of the founding members of the European Union, and has the largest land area of all members. During President Mitterrand's tenure he stressed the importance of European integration and advocated the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty on European economic and political union which France's electorate narrowly passed in September 1992.

Nowadays France is a developed country with the sixth-largest economy in the world. Its main ideals are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. France is also a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of the Latin Union, the Francophonie, and G8. It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council wielding veto power, and it is also an acknowledged nuclear power. It is considered as one of the post World War II great powers. France is the most popular international tourist destination in the world, receiving over 75 million foreign tourists annually.

Albania

2009-10-05T01:43:00.000-07:00

Alphabet

Letter Pronunciation
A, a far
B, b boot
C, c bats
Ç, ç chat
D, d drop
DH, dh there
E, e enter
Ë, ë abuck
F, f flee
G, g gulf
GJ, gj join (soft g)(there is no equivalent english sound)
H, h hotel
I, i see
J, j yawn
K, k keep
L, l leave
LL, ll balloon
M, m mingle
N, n no
NJ, nj onion
O, o post
P, p pencil
Q, q mature (soft ch, no english equivalent,like german ich)
R, r read
RR, rr borrow (rolled)
S, s sun
SH, sh shoot
T, t trespasser
TH, th thin
U, u food
V, v vivid
X, x adz
XH, xh Jupiter
Y, y new(no english equivalent, like turkish,hungarian,german ü)
Z, z zoo
ZH, zh pleasure

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Map

History

Although the exact origin of Albania is not entirely known, records exist that trace their evolution from the ancient Illyrians. The Illyrians, who are believed to have evolved directly from the Stone Age, occupied the western area of the Balkans, from modern Slovenia to approximately half of the way through modern Greece. Shkodra, now the most important city of northern Albania, was the capital.

The Illyrians were sociable and hospitable people, much like Albanians today. They were also daring fighters and known for their bravery in war.

Around eight to six century B.C., the neighboring Greeks began to create a string of colonies along the Albanian borders. Closer now to the more advanced Greeks, the Illyrians were greatly influenced and began to evolve politically and economically.

Unfortunately, the evolution was hampered by what would become a continuous string of foreign attacks. Seeing Albania as a valuable entrance to the Adriatic Sea, Rome attacked and defeated the Illyrians in 229 B.C. The Romans ruled for six centuries, a time in which art and culture flourished. The Illyrians, however, resisted assimilation and allowed their language and traditions to survive.

Eventually, the Roman Empire did fall, dividing Albania into halves, and allowing the Byzantine Empire to assume control. Under the rule of the Byzantines, the Illyrians suffered constant devastation by raids from the Visigoths, Huns and Ostrogoths. Once again, however, the Illyrians allowed their language to survive by resisting all attempts by their attackers at assimilation.

Although possessing a common territory, language, and culture, the Illyrians lacked the unity of a name until geographer Ptolemy of the Albanoi tribe prompted the name of his central Albanian tribe to be used across the land. Thus the name Shqiperia(Albania in the native language) was created, meaning the land of eagles.

The newly named Albania reached a high point of development during the middle ages. Commerce and economy flourished, so much to the point that many Albanian merchants had agencies in other countries.

However, as the ruling Byzantine Empire weakened, Albania was attacked by more foreign powers. The Bulgarians, Norman crusaders, Serbs and Venetians all wreaked havoc on the Albanians until the conquest by the Ottoman Turks in 1388.

Although the Turks brought about oppression and violence unseen by the Albanians before, it also brought a change. In 1443, an Albanian military genius, Gjergj Kastrioti(Skanderberg), rallied the Albanians together and drove out the Turks. Although Kastrioti's death meant the eventual return of the Turks in 1468, the 25 years of resilience gained two accomplishments for the Albanians. Recognizing the successful fight against the most powerful empire of the time, Naples, Venice and Ragus granted monetary and military aid to the Albanians. More importantly, though, the success gave the Albanians an everlasting symbol of strength and an inspiration for a quest for independence. A statue of Skanderberg stands at the back of Skanderberg Square in Albania's capital, Tirana, today.

The re-emergence of the Turks during the Renaissance period hampered Albania's growth in spite of their new found inspiration. Under the dominance, Albania was excluded from the exchanges with western Europe during the time. Art, economy and culture were destroyed, forcing many Albanians to leave their native land.

Albanian rebellions were numerous throughout the time. Many Albanians refused to pay taxes, surrender their arms or serve in the army. The Turks, recognizing the disobedience, thought that by converting the Christian population to Muslim, the Albanians would be brought together and spiritually closer to Albania. Two-thirds of the population converted, many fearing violence and exploitation if they did not do so.

The drive for independence was still strong within the Albanians. Throughout the 19th Century, resisting the Turks attempts at assimilation, leaders led their country with the rallying cry,"The religion of Albanians is Albanianism!" The leaders formed the Albanian League in 1878 to unite the country and develop the native language, literature, education and to adopt a new alphabet. In 1908, the Albanians fought again, and by 1912, they succeeded in making the Turks agree to their demands for autonomy.

With their independence, Albania faced new problems with the rise of the communist People's Republic of Albania in 1941. College instructor Enver Hoxha became ruler of the party, and eventually a cunning, ruthless, and oppressive leader.

Hoxha, a friend and follower of Stalin, did not believe in freedom of expression or thought. Instead, Hoxha believed in the independence and isolation of Albania. Bunkers still exist today, scattered throughout the country, constructed during the time to fend off invaders. But as the influence of foreign technology and advancements were kept away from Albania's workers, industry and economy declined. By the time Hoxha died in 1976, Albania had gone back to rely on manual labor and only it's own resources.

Although Hoxha's death meant new hope for the Albanians, it wasn't until the early 1990s that change was prominent. On February 20, 1991, rioters toppled the statue Hoxha had erected of himself in Tirana. With the new election of Democratic Party in December of 1992 Albania saw new hope. Priests who had been jailed for their views were released finally, religion was legalized, the country was free. In 1992, Sali Berisha was elected president, promising reform in the economic and social foundations of the country.

Albania is now facing new problems and challenges, but not from an insurgence of foreign attacks, from it's own people. This time they are not united as before, but divided in their struggle.

Bulgaria

2009-10-02T03:46:00.000-07:00

Alphabet

А	а	:	a	sound in father
Б	б	:	b	sound in bat
В	в	:	v	sound in van
Г	г	:	g	sound in gig
Д	д	:	d	sound in dog
Е	е	:	e	sound in red
Ж	ж	:	zh	sound like 's' in treasure
З	з	:	z	sound in zip
И	и	:	i	sound in fit or
		:	ee	sound in fee at end of word
Й	й	:	i	sound like 'y' in yes
К	к	:	k	sound in kit
Л	л	:	l	sound in leg
М	м	:	m	sound in mat
Н	н	:	n	sound in nut
О	о	:	o	sound in hot

П	п	:	p	sound in pin
Р	р	:	r	sound in rat
С	с	:	s	sound in sun
Т	т	:	t	sound in top
У	у	:	u	sound in rule
Ф	ф	:	f	sound in fan
Х	х	:	h	sound in loch (aspirated)
Ц	ц	:	ts	sound in bits
Ч	ч	:	ch	sound in chat
Ш	ш	:	sh	sound in ship
Щ	щ	:	sht	sound like end of rushed
Ъ	ъ	:	â	sound like 'u' in run
Ь	ь	:		softens the preceding consonant
Ю	ю	:	yu	sound in you
Я	я	:	ya	sound in

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Map

History

Prehistory

Primitive tribes were living on Bulgarian soil as far back as the Neolithic period (40,000-10,000 BC). Around 3000 BC the Thracian people arrived and settled in the area now known as the valley of Thrace. They lived by breeding cattle, making ceramics or working gold and copper. They carried on trade with the Dacians (Romanians), Mycennaen Greeks, Illyrians (Albanians) and the Macedonians.

About 300 BC, one of the tribes, called the Odrysses, laid the foundations for the Thracian state which flourished during two centuries, despite invasions from Scythians, Sarmatians and Celts. In 29 BC the Thracian hero Spartacus resisted a Roman invasion but in 45 AD the Romans finally managed to crush resistance and the Thracian state became part of the Roman Empire. By 300 AD the weakness of the Roman Empire led to invasions from the North of Visigoths, Huns and Ostrogoths, when Thracian villages were burned and plundered. When the Roman Empire was divided in 395 AD Thrace remained under the jurisdiction of Byzantium.

In the late 5th and early 6th centuries Slav tribes arrived from the North. Seven of these tribes invaded the Danube Plain which was called the Moesia Region at this time. When the Byzantines tried to reconquer this territory the Slav tribes united to resist and thus formed a Slavonic state. Around 650 AD the Bulgars, a Turkic-Tartar tribe, were forced to emigrate from the Russian Plains. One third moved South under the leadership of Tartar Khan Asparuh and settled on the Thracian plain.

First Bulgarian state

In 681 AD the Bulgars defeated the Byzantine army and united themselves with the Slavonic tribes against the Byzantines, founding the first Bulgarian state. This new state was governed by a khan with the help of Slavic and Bulgar princes. There was a period of assimilation for 200 years which created a nationality which took the name of the Bulgar but culturally was strongly influenced by Slavonic civilisation.

The 8th and 9th centuries were considered to be the Golden Age of Bulgaria. The state grew in size and strength and many of the khans (especially Kroum, 803-14, Boris, 852-89, Simeon, 893-927) enlarged the territory at the expense of the Serbs, Macedonians, Greeks and Romanians and drove back the Barbarians and Byzantines. A feudal nobility was formed and Christianity was introduced. Khan Boris was christened in 865 and set up the first self-governing Eastern church. Many churches were built and richly decorated. Bulgaria became the centre of Slavonic culture.

In 886 Khan Boris invited disciples of St Cyril and St Methodius including St Kliment to settle in Ohrid, which was at that time the second city in Bulgaria. St Kliment devised an alphabet for writing Bulgarian which he named Cyrillic after St Cyril. This alphabet was later adopted by the Russians.

Khan Simeon defeated the Byzantine army at Aheloi in 917 which led to the annexation of Macedonia and Thrace. The reigns of Petar 1 (927-69) and Boris II (969-71) were marked by increasingly violent conflicts among the nobility. Byzantium also posed a constant threat. Religious unrest was also evident. Bulgarians began to question Christian teachings as they heard them in their own language. The Bogomils of Bulgaria were a religious sect who practised a radical dualistic doctrine, severe asceticism and imitation of the apostles' lives. The Kathari sect which spread to France and Italy developed out of this doctrine. A full-scale onslaught by Byzantium reduced the Bulgarian Kingdom to a rump known as the Western Kingdom which was ruled from Ohrid. Khan Samil was responsible for partly restoring the old kingdom until he died after the battle of Strumnitsa in 1014. Ohrid was captured in 1018 and the whole of Bulgaria became a Byzantine province.

During the period of Byzantine domination the Orthodox church was largely Hellenised and Bulgarian architecture and art were influenced by Byzantine styles. The Bulgarians also suffered from the first and fourth Crusades which passed through the country.

1185-1393 2nd Bulgarian state

In 1185 a revolution led by the boyars (feudal lords) Petâr and Asen resulted in the Khans taking back territory and proclaiming the Second Kingdom with its capital in Veliko Târnovo.

Khan Kaloyan (1197-1207) recaptured Varna and parts of Macedonia and Thrace from Byzantium and won victory over the Latin Empire at Adrianople in 1205.

Ivan Asen II (1218-41) restored order following a period of anarchy during the reign of Khan Boril. In 1230 he defeated Epirus in the battle of Klokotnitsa. At this time Bulgaria's frontiers ranged from the Adriatic and Aegean to the Black Sea. This was the zenith of medieval Bulgarian development. Decoration from this period can be seen in churches such as Sveti Nikolas in Ohrid and monasteries such as Rila.

In 1235 a Bulgarian patriarchy was established. From 1242 there were Mongol incursions and in 1285 the Empire disintegrated into feudal territories, being revived briefly during the reign of Ivan Aleksander (1331-71). This feudal disorder meant that the threat from the Ottoman Turks could not be withstood and in 1393 two-thirds of Bulgaria was overrun and Veliko Târnovo destroyed. In 1396, despite desperate resistance by the town of Vidin, the rest of the country was conquered and Bulgaria became the province of Roumelia in the Ottoman Empire.

Ottoman rule

During the Ottoman rule the social and economic development of the Bulgarian people stood still. The Turks forbade any building that might rival their own constructions. New churches were not allowed to be taller than the Turkish mosques so churches were built half sunk into the ground and decorated in the simplest manner. A sizable Muslim population grew up among the Bulgarians as taxes were lower for Muslims. Some conversions were made at the point of a sword especially in the Rhodopes and some children were taken from their parents as a form of tax, brainwashed, and made fanatical Muslims. These Janissaries, as they were called, formed the backbone of the Turkish army.

National revival and the 3rd Bulgarian state

A movement for national and religious independence developed around the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries. There was also a Bulgarian economic and cultural renaissance as painters and craftsmen joined the revolutionaries. As the Turks reduced their hold a class of tradesmen grew up who traded with the West on behalf of the Ottoman Empire. Houses were built in a new style with two storeys and very ornate woodwork. Resistance against the Turks meant that many Bulgarians became Haiduks or outlaws who took refuge in the mountain regions. These men were honoured in many folk songs (for example the song which accompanies the dance Širto is "Sleznai Paule ot Balkana" - Sleznai Paule from the Balkans).

In 1870 the struggle for religious independence from the Greek Patriarchate was successful. After the Crimean War (1853-56) the Bulgarian national liberation movement gained force. Vasil Levsky went round the country setting up revolutionary committees to prepare for the uprising. In 1873 he was captured and hanged by the Ottoman authorities but the liberation movement continued.

The poet Kristov Botev (1848-76) carried on the political struggle against the Turks. He died in the Pirin mountains at the age of 28 while leading a group of soldiers.

In 1876 the April uprising was suppressed with much bloodshed which aroused indignation throughout Europe and in 1877 Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire, thus helping to liberate Bulgaria from the Turks. Russians, Romanians and Bulgarians fought together in the War of Liberation 1877-78, and 1878 marked the end of Ottoman domination with the Peace of San Stefano. Bulgaria was split and the Turks regained control over Macedonia and Thrace and Eastern Roumelia. Sofia was named as capital of Bulgaria.

In 1885 Bulgaria acquired Eastern Roumelia against the wishes of Russia & Serbia. This acquisition was formally recognised in the Treaty of Bucharest in 1886.

Alexander von Battenburg, nephew of the Tsarina, was chosen to be the reigning Prince, but was later forced to resign due to his incompetence. He was succeeded by Prince Frederick of Saxe-Cobourg-Kohary.

The 1st and 2nd Balkan Wars were fought in 1912 and 1913. These wars began when Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece united to drive the Turks out of Eastern Roumelia (Lower Thrace and Macedonia) and then proceeded to squabble over the division of the spoils! In the Peace of Bucharest Bulgaria was forced to renounce claims on Macedonia and surrender Southern Dobrudža to Romania. Following the outbreak of the First World War Bulgaria was promised the return of both these territories if they formed an alliance with Germany. This alliance led to punishment in the Peace treaty signed at Neuilly in 1919, when Bulgaria was forced to cede South West Thrace to Greece and most of Macedonia to Serbia. This meant that Bulgaria lost access to the Aegean Sea.

Bulgaria was ruled by a government led by the Agrarian party under Alexander Stamboliiski. This government did not last very long. In June 1923 a military fascist coup d'état was carried out and in September the world's first anti-fascist uprising led by the Bulgarian Communist Party under Dimitâr Blagoev and Georgi Dimitrov broke out. This was brutally suppressed and was followed by a period of rule by the right wing "Peoples Alliance". The Communist party was banned.

Southern Dobrudža was regained from Romania in 1940.

In the 2nd World War Bulgaria again succumbed to alliance with Germany following the promise of the return of Macedonia. On September 8th 1944 the USSR declared war and crossed the Danube. Bulgarian army officers and partisan brigades joined forces with the Soviets and Sofia was taken. On the next day the rest of Bulgaria was taken. The 9th September was named as Liberation Day. The Fatherland Front took over the government and the Communist party increased from 15,000 members to 250,000 members during the following six months. In 1946, following a referendum the monarchy was abolished and on September 15th the Fatherland Front led by Georgi Dimitrov proclaimed the Peoples' Republic. In 1947 opposition by the "peasant party" was shattered, a new constitution was drawn up and 2273 enterprises were nationalised.

Dimitrov's successor Valko Chervenkov was nicknamed "Little Stalin". In 1956 Todor Zhivkov succeeded him as Party Leader.

In 1971 a new constitution entrusted leadership of society and state to the Communist Party with Zhivkov as Chairman of Council of State. In 1987 Zhivkov announced the Bulgarian equivalent of Perestroika and in 1989 Bulgaria underwent a bloodless revolution. The first open election took place in 1990 and this resulted in the return of the restructured "Communist" party (called the Socialist party") to power. Finally in 1991 the Communist party lost its hold and a coalition government was appointed.