tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354611912024-03-07T18:24:59.841-08:00Lite StraboLite stories from HistoryAntonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-86711961729911566862008-05-21T16:22:00.000-07:002008-05-21T17:16:28.466-07:00Pennsylvania, land of sectsHave you ever seen "Witness"? <a href="http://www.800padutch.com/amish.shtml">Amish</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mennonite">Mennonites</a> are Christian communities th<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNUUEEkUTzsJ-zv9QSvXh0NBSazPy8-ZzXwSP6ktV6PEf9jJvmgmGHJd1sBjF2y502GaMcTOm2b-7MhVOO9duN-ChNx2AkL-ajAPBaS-JBJ-aiXQsyw_aHhk03f88bvLWQ2x-c2Q/s1600-h/amish.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 128px; height: 128px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNUUEEkUTzsJ-zv9QSvXh0NBSazPy8-ZzXwSP6ktV6PEf9jJvmgmGHJd1sBjF2y502GaMcTOm2b-7MhVOO9duN-ChNx2AkL-ajAPBaS-JBJ-aiXQsyw_aHhk03f88bvLWQ2x-c2Q/s200/amish.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202988402074889826" border="0" /></a>at reject certain aspects of modern society and, by own decision, do not follow its pace of life nor many of the habits related to technology and progressis ideas. But where did they come from, and how their particular way of understanding religion arose? And, why did they settle such deep roots in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania">Pennsylvania</a> (USA)?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Religious unrest in Europe</span><br /><br />It all started in the Swiss city of Zurich, in January 1525. They were the years of the religious reformation started by <a href="http://www.luther.de/en/">Luther</a>. In every European city, new Christian theologies, interpretations and trends arose that questioned the Roman doctrine. The priest <a href="http://wsu.edu/%7Edee/REFORM/ZWINGLI.HTM">Ulrich Zwingli</a>, leader of the reformist movement in Zurich, had a quarrel with a group, led by <a href="http://cat.xula.edu/tpr/people/grebel/">Conrad Grebel</a>, that wanted a faster, more radical reform. They called theirselves "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabaptist">anabptists</a>" (re-baptizers), as they opposed children baptism for considering that unvolunteer, and claimed all baptism to be made during the adult life. However, they also defended the total separation between Church and State, and this led them to problems. The Zurich Council supported Zwingli and banished them from the city.<br /><br />Faced with the bad welcome from the governors towards the new community, in 1527 the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyrs%27_Synod">Martyrs Synod</a>" was held in Augsburg, where the main followers of the movement settled the theological bases for the Anabaptism. Little after its celebration, most of its participants were arrested and executed.<br /><br />From this moment, Anabaptists (called thereafter Mennonites, on behalf of <a href="http://www.mhsc.ca/index.asp?content=http://www.mhsc.ca/mennos/hmenno.html">Menno Simons</a>, one of its Dutch spiritual leaders) were persecuted as much by Catholics as by Lutherans, and murdered by thousands. This forced them to gather in secrecy at night, in caves or in their homes. Little by little, they closed their minds towards society, and changed their intention for evangelization to living in a humble way, "evangelizing with the example". One of its groups joined, during the 17th Century, the official Swiss State Church, and achieved a ceasement of prosecutions. Because of this, the rest of the Mennonites split. In 1693, the young <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Amman">Jacob Amman</a> broke up with his community, accusing it of being tolerant with the Mennonites integrated in the Church. He eventually formed, together with some followers, the Amish community, representing since then the radical trend of Mennonite ideology.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">America: freedom and fiscal exemptions? Let's go then!</span><br /><br />During the 17th Century, the existence of Amish and Mennonites in Europe was more or less accepted, but never ceased to disturb the princes, and in fact, in some territories prosecutions lasted until 1710. These comunities roamed from country to country, subject to the tolerance of Gonvernments and the usefulness they could see in them. In effect, Mennonites were famous by their tenacity in work, their pacifism and lack of interest in politics. Thus, if they could be conveniently isolated from society, they would become useful to recover empoverished soil and plow wild lands. Governors just had to invent laws to force them not be seen from the public: they were forced to build their churches in the back streets, and were forbidden to toll the bells before the masses. Higher taxes than the rest of the population finished to cut off their influence power.<br /><br />In the middle of the 17th Century, most Mennonites fled the Netherlands, were they had enjoyed a relative calm for years. Harder living conditions led them to move to Germany, in the regions of Westphalia, Saxony and Hamburg, where they joined a group of existing <a href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/quaker1.htm">Quakers</a>, also confined to those lands. Quakers were had recently appeared in puritan England, as a movement that defended a free, personal meditation about religion, and were appropiatedly persecuted by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_England">Anglican Church</a>.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3rqazyBY1VciGDsVqCs8PnqsJslc2HjTQB8BFxMmyxQFGVwBZJeeGt_uJV4wOnVVNTEFcNoSLtcYsOZljs7gNZVU2hTAVQmF6ioNfzKmXyz_eXf1Fos57OKG4gjCYzq6VkWL1Lg/s1600-h/penn.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3rqazyBY1VciGDsVqCs8PnqsJslc2HjTQB8BFxMmyxQFGVwBZJeeGt_uJV4wOnVVNTEFcNoSLtcYsOZljs7gNZVU2hTAVQmF6ioNfzKmXyz_eXf1Fos57OKG4gjCYzq6VkWL1Lg/s200/penn.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202988307585609298" border="0" /></a><br />It was among this group of discriminated Quakers and Mennonites that land owner <a href="http://www.quaker.org/wmpenn.html">William Penn</a> (also a Quaker) asked for settlers for his new colony. Penn had received in 1681, thanks to his influential family, the lands of the region named Sylvania by him (later switched to Pennsylvania on his name), and he there created a territory with its own laws that guaranteed freedom of cult and an equitative tax fee. The first American colony of this kind was a Mennonite family and twelve Quaker ones, who founded <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germantown,_Philadelphia,_Pennsylvania">Germantown</a>, outside Philadelphia, in 1683. During the next years, 2500 Mennonites and 500 Amish reached the region, slowly moving to the western <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster_County,_Pennsylvania">Lancaster County</a>, of wilder and cheaper lands. A variant of Dutch and German was, and is still today in some groups, their official language.<br /><br />Among these communities, new splits soon happened, contrary to their European analogues, who eventually merged into a single Mennonite Church. In America, the <a href="http://grebel.uwaterloo.ca/mao/archivesfonds/VIII.htm">Old Order Mennonite</a> eventually differentiated from other communities. Those became the typical, simple farms inhabited by long-bearded characters, reluctant to the use of technology, even using buttons, and the high education of their children. Their values have always been the feeling of belonging to a community, love for the land, and a religious education oriented to craft jobs.<br /><br />Amish have been, since their appearing, exempt from military service and out of the social security system, as they believe themselves as the only ones with the right to take care of the community. This also happens in other services, almost every church has a life insurance for the community members. Mennonite Disaster Service is an American network of volunteers who act in national or local emergencies. The example of Amish Lancaster County is curious, as they created their own firemen brigade in 1885.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dissident Mennonites</span><br /><br />The rest of Mennonite groups (<a href="http://www.hutterites.org/">Hutterites</a>, <a href="http://www.bibleviews.com/holdeman.html">Mennonites of the Church of God in Christ</a>, <a href="http://www.bic-church.org/">Brethren in Christ</a>) , some more puritan and others more progressist, share most of their doctrine with th first, but varying some behaviours or interpretations from some Bible versicles. Probably, the oddest of these is the one that founded the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephrata_Cloister">Ephrata Cloister</a>, in Lancaster County (Pennsylvania) in 1732. These descended from a<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwMnj4xj4HejPhDdorWt2sX4az9W4KeZGzeHiv_lJqFDS8i56A6XkZfqgWvSN3EdvCSkCO0EnrU-Cdj9xxxv57SoncmZRE_LJDuOYQmCT3p7cpKpi3YM-m1_aKqJ-go8YQJOY7jQ/s1600-h/images.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 165px; height: 114px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwMnj4xj4HejPhDdorWt2sX4az9W4KeZGzeHiv_lJqFDS8i56A6XkZfqgWvSN3EdvCSkCO0EnrU-Cdj9xxxv57SoncmZRE_LJDuOYQmCT3p7cpKpi3YM-m1_aKqJ-go8YQJOY7jQ/s200/images.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202988170146655810" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzenau_Brethren">pietistic</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzenau_Brethren"> branch</a> of German Mennonites settled in Germantown, from which in 1728, the Seventh Day Dunkers had split. They only differentiated from the first in their use of Saturday as sacred rest day.<br /><br />Among them, charismatic <a href="http://www.famousamericans.net/johannconradbeissel/">Conrad Beissel</a> founded the hermit community of which he self-proclaimed the leader. This community tried to live as similarly as possible to the imagined life in Heaven. Living in the monastery was subject to a very harsh discipline, involving a six hour sleep per day in a wooden box, and eat a single vegetarian meal per day (although the Bible never mentions that in Heaven one must eat, it was thought that without that, the community would not last long). Life expectancy in the cloister was always quite low. Beissel was convinced that Christ would come back to the World while he would still be alive, and He would do it "as a robber in the night". So, every night, the whole monastery had to wake up from 0 AM to 2 AM to watch fir His arrival. At the leader's death in 1768, the community lost its meaning and most of its members were integrated into the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Day_Baptist">Baptist Seventh Day Church</a>, which actually was the closest to their doctrine.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com178tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-10821488236175272312008-04-23T15:56:00.000-07:002008-04-27T13:53:24.230-07:00Caporetto: The battle that changed Italy<a href="http://www.comune.villarperosa.to.it/speciali/territorio_storia/images/caporetto.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.comune.villarperosa.to.it/speciali/territorio_storia/images/caporetto.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>The dawn of October 24th, 1917, started with huge explosion sounds. A bombardment by the Austro-Hungarian artillery in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Caporetto">Caporetto</a> area (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobarid">Kobarid</a> in Slovenian) starts the <a href="http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/caporetto.htm">12th Battle of Isonzo</a>. The attack, lead by German special troops -"<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stormtrooper">Sturmtruppen</a>"- , quickly breaks the front and threatens to isolate the 3rd Italian Army defending it, forcing the enemy to withdraw in total disarray. The fleeing troops are overwhelmed with panic and they cannot hold a proper resistance anymore. Only at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piave_River">Piave River</a>, 100 km away from the place where the offensive started, and the last defense line before Venice, the front is finally established after the Germans and Austro-Hungarians have stretched their supply lines for too long. In only 15 days, German and Austro-Hungarian armies achieve one of the greatest victories in the war, causing more than 30,000 casualties to the Italians, and making 275,000 prisoners.<br /><br /><a href="http://venus.unive.it/itals/caporetto.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px;" src="http://venus.unive.it/itals/caporetto.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>During the battle, a young German captain, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Rommel">Erwin Rommel</a>, stands out when leading a 250 men company to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Matajur">Mount Matajur</a>, capturing more than 9,000 prisoners and thus receiving the greatest German medal, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pour_le_M%C3%A9rite">Pour le Mérite</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A demoralized army</span><br /><br />The day before the battle, the Italian soldiers formed a tired, demoralized army. Since May 1915, Italy had launched up to <a href="http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/isonzo.htm">eleven offensives</a> at the Isonzo River (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So%C4%8Da">Soča</a> in Slovenian), with minimal territorial gains at a terrible cost (around half of the 600,000 Italians fallen in combat during the Great War died at the Isonzo). The area is particularly easy to defend, because of its high cliffs and passes behind a wide water flow which usually floods.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldwar1.com/itafront/jpg/cap_pow1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.worldwar1.com/itafront/jpg/cap_pow1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Despite all that, the Italian High Command chose this place to launch their attacks, mainly because it offered the best chances for territorial expansion. The great losses, together with the harsh discipline imposed by the officers, the long duration of this endless war, and the unpopularity of an offensive war, made an antiwar national feeling arise in the country.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A victorious army</span><br /><br />The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution_%281917%29">Russian Revolution</a> in February 1917, and the decision of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Provisional_Government">Russian provisional Government</a> to continue the war with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerensky_Offensive">catastrophic offensive</a> during the summer eventually brought down the Russian army's ability to continue fighting. After that, mutinies, mass desertions and surrendering of whole units with no resistance become normal. In this context, Germany and Austria-Hungary decide moving a large amount of units to the Italian front for the great offensive.<br /><br /><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Stosstrupp_2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Stosstrupp_2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Besides, Germans came from the Eastern front with new efficient combat techniques, called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infiltration_tactics">infiltration tactics</a>. Conceived by general <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_von_Hutier">Oskar von Hutier</a> to break the stalemate caused by the trench war, they pursued surprise and quickness in the attack. They started with brief, intense bombings, followed by an attack lead by "sturmtruppen", supported by aircraft, with the aim of trespassing and disorganizing the rearguard, suppressing artillery support and communication lines. Then, the bulk of the infantry forces would clean the remaining pockets of resistance. These tactics had been successfully tested in September ending the siege of Riga, but they were used in large scale for the first time in Caporetto.<br /><br />After their success, they were further used in the Western front, where the Germans almost reached the total victory at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Offensive">Ludendorff Offensive</a>. These tactics eventually settled the base of the German doctrine developed during the inter-war period, resulting in the principles of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitzkrieg">Blitzkrieg</a>, the tactics that kept Nazi Germany undefeated during the first half of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II">Second World War</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Italy reacts</span><br /><br /><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Armando_Diaz.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Armando_Diaz.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>The first consequences of the battle of Caporetto in Italy were the replacement of field marshal <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Cadorna">Luiggi Cadorna</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armando_Diaz">Armando Diaz</a> as the army chief commander, and also the formation of a new Government, somehow unavoidable after the continues quarrels between the defenders of neutrality and those for intervention.<br /><br />However, the most influent change during the following years was the transformation of public opinion about the war. Before that, the army had fought in foreign territory with the aim of obtaining territorial acquisitions. Caporetto, on the contrary, was almost completely fought inside Italian land, switching the war objective to a matter of patriotic defense. This fact, together with the extent of the Italian defeat were skilfully exploited by some public figures, such as nationalist poet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Annunzio">Gabrielle d'Annunzio</a>, precursor of ideals and techniques in Italian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism">fascism</a>, and specially <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mussolini">Benito Mussolini</a>, then editor in chief of Il Popolo d'Italia. They called for patriotic feelings, discipline and fight against invaders and managed to rise the spirits of more than half a million new recruits, who contributed with the necessary strength to hold <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Piave_River">Austro-Hungarian attacks at the Piave</a> and save Italy from occupation.<br /><br />One year later, taking advantage of the <a href="http://revista.libertaddigital.com/articulo.php/477">high visibility and leadership</a> he had managed to reach, <a href="http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/WW2Timeline/Prelude05.html">Mussolini</a> founded the Fascist movement, starting the darkest stage of Italian modern History.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-80707818718824779812008-04-10T13:47:00.000-07:002008-04-13T15:22:35.200-07:00Artistic geniuses of Austria-Hungary<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna">Vienna</a>, at the dawn of the 20th Century, was a huge city, capital of the <a href="http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761579967_1____7/austria-hungary.html#s7">Austro-Hungarian Empire</a>, and the fourth World political and financial centre. It is the classical era of Franz Joseph and Sissi, valses and operas, and viennois luxurious palaces and eclectic buildings. However, near the antiquated atmosphere led by the decadent Habsburg aristocracy and the close-minded artistic rationalism, there was an avant-garde hive of artists in the shadows, bursting with intellectual and sensual energy. This "clandestine" generation's works, progressist and provocative, constantly clashed with the conservatism in Austro-Hungarian culture. Nowadays, our modern point of view considers this one of History's most creative movements.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Symbolism vs Realism</span><br /><br />During the last years of the previous century, the influence of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolism_%28arts%29">symbolist</a> trend arrived in Austria. This style had arisen as opposition to the prevailing realism and naturalism, which had stopped making sense after the spreading of photography. Symbolism rejected the mere representation of apparency in favor of ideas, a neo-romantic, spiritual new way of thinking. Thoughts are depicted about life and death, love, divinity, nature, the seasons of the year, etc. Specially the woman's figure is generally painted, itself symbolizing both desire and death (Klimt), a sensual being that becomes nearly magic (Mucha) and finally, simply provoking (Schiele).<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ6b0rpoXIhhYUvpa46BG9Rj6LzU7HtTkdRziBBhLtfIzgbzSS-LN9KfL2CkaU15Q93dCCLp9yDLPpiHy5hoJP3uCO-vLInrmgcUmcSEy5VxK3YnFS6Lfeu0NG7FBhd2pXvRrb4A/s1600-h/200px-Gustav_Klimt_039.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 67px; height: 143px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ6b0rpoXIhhYUvpa46BG9Rj6LzU7HtTkdRziBBhLtfIzgbzSS-LN9KfL2CkaU15Q93dCCLp9yDLPpiHy5hoJP3uCO-vLInrmgcUmcSEy5VxK3YnFS6Lfeu0NG7FBhd2pXvRrb4A/s200/200px-Gustav_Klimt_039.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188858419599517266" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcrLlYMyPWTyJA24O48xlKe-v9_B5Dyh0my_6BvzLKUZTdtH1KZ-fd3zx3r2w0dVa55UmW2BttWdHAMi6IYgNcQvKCE7kZBz4cuQZjjNDkP-Hz8kpay66LMVomQC4yZydBlFYm0g/s1600-h/423px-Gustavklimt.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 101px; height: 144px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcrLlYMyPWTyJA24O48xlKe-v9_B5Dyh0my_6BvzLKUZTdtH1KZ-fd3zx3r2w0dVa55UmW2BttWdHAMi6IYgNcQvKCE7kZBz4cuQZjjNDkP-Hz8kpay66LMVomQC4yZydBlFYm0g/s200/423px-Gustavklimt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188858492613961314" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Surrounded by this atmosphere between academism and symbolism, by old and new generations of artists from the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts, the young <a href="http://www.expo-klimt.com/">Gustav Klimt</a>, son of a Bohemian immigrant, made his studies. He grew up in a poor, but close to art, family, and became an admirer of classicist painter <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Makart">Hans Makart</a>. However, his experiments with allegoric motifs and his golden works in architectural decoration shaped his personal style, together with the search of the symbology transmitted by feminine sensuality.<br /><br />In fact, he had trouble with the latter, when he performed the paintings called <span style="font-style: italic;">Philosophy</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Medicine</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Jurisprudence</span> for the University of Vienna in 1894. The conservative personalities in politics, arts and religion from the Empire were scandalized by the explicit sexual language in these works, openly considered as "pornographic". Klimt never accepted assignments from public institutions anymore.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The secession of Vienna</span><br /><br />Meanwhile, in France and Britain, <a href="http://lartnouveau.com/">Art Nouveau</a> appeared. Directly related with symbolism, but much more focused on aesthetics than concepts, one of its greatest representatives was the Czech painter and designer <a href="http://www.mucha.cz/index.phtml?S=biog&Lang=EN">Alfons Mucha</a>, born in <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSsLJYXSvY_LCCV2syWF-t9VrsKojiqyJBUqqrYkBaF3xxgwQZ15HSzcn07DqR0jfoZ2XEWLDTK5MAyjPpB2e7oFAT7p0Qy-Ma8L7Zj2P1Tjf0meVS0se3fGshGJ1ahNjcVMUdcQ/s1600-h/482px-Alfons_Mucha_LOC_3c05828u.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 109px; height: 136px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSsLJYXSvY_LCCV2syWF-t9VrsKojiqyJBUqqrYkBaF3xxgwQZ15HSzcn07DqR0jfoZ2XEWLDTK5MAyjPpB2e7oFAT7p0Qy-Ma8L7Zj2P1Tjf0meVS0se3fGshGJ1ahNjcVMUdcQ/s200/482px-Alfons_Mucha_LOC_3c05828u.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188857887023572530" border="0" /></a>Moravia. After his failure in Vienna, he moved to Paris, where he achi<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz23JXYe0_Asb8F9ya-vqZHW_fd-aa-Mo92iOwH4zi550n4zhz2aDlfHULcLTp0k8Lb3yyPcaQr_rKIWYHWZr8rbdoKAOSaXOrttMRz1DhI_ZlVFelnk0Xc5CZjcqwzr_X04r95Q/s1600-h/alfons-mucha_lithographie.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 85px; height: 137px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz23JXYe0_Asb8F9ya-vqZHW_fd-aa-Mo92iOwH4zi550n4zhz2aDlfHULcLTp0k8Lb3yyPcaQr_rKIWYHWZr8rbdoKAOSaXOrttMRz1DhI_ZlVFelnk0Xc5CZjcqwzr_X04r95Q/s200/alfons-mucha_lithographie.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188857998692722242" border="0" /></a>eved great prestige and an unexpected commercial success, specially designing the posters for actress <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Bernhardt">Sarah Bernhardt</a> and in symbolist magazines (<span style="font-style: italic;">La plume</span>, 1898). Even without being related to Klimt, he also pursued spirituality through sensually depicting the feminine body, while treating woman as an untouchable character from a fairy tale.<br /><br />The Austrian version for this kind of arts was represented by the movement of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Secession">Sec</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Secession">ession of Vienna</a>, founded by Klimt and other artists in 1897, as a copy of those in Munich and Berlin. Years later, this would eventually have more influence than the latter in Art Nouveau trends. The aim for this institution was opposing the insipid prevailing eclecticism and encourage experimentation in new materials and decorative forms that, again, broke the classic trends of that time. In fact, they built their own exhibition pavilion, designed by one of its members, architect <a href="http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/J._M._Olbrich.html">Joseph Maria Olbrich</a>. Other artists in the institution were architects <a href="http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Otto_Wagner.html">Otto Wagner</a> and <a href="http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Otto_Wagner.html">Joseph Hoffman</a>, and painter <a href="http://www.senses-artnouveau.com/biography.php?artist=MOS">Koloman Moser</a>.<br /><br />For five years, the company effectively created a new style, seceded from anything else existing at that time, by using purer, more abstract shapes and motifs in their works. Besides, they managed to mix different decorative arts in a single one -architecture, painting, metal work, decoration- nearly reaching the pursued idea of "total work of art".<br /><br />In 1903, three of the main artists of the movement, Klimt, Hoffman and Moser, could not coexist with a faction opposed to the fusion of decorative arts anymore -the so-called naturalists-, and founded the independent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_Werkst%C3%A4tte">Wiener Werkstätte</a>. This institution eventually created the most truly distinctive style of Art Nouveau, by applying beauty to practical objects, characterized by simple shapes, minimalist decoration and use of geometric patterns.<br /><br />Some years before, in 1899, in his <span style="font-style: italic;">Nuda Verita</span>, Klimt had introduced a quote from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiller">Schiller</a>: "If you cannot please everybody with your facts and arts, then just please a few". In effect, the arts produced at the Werkstätte defended the value of being manual and unique, in opposition to industrialist tendencies from schools of Arts and Crafts all along Europe, progressively more oriented to mass production. This elitist spirit was confirmed by Hoffman, when quoting that "as it is not possible to work for all the market anymore, then let us concentrate in those that can afford it".<br /><br />Clashing with the surrounding social trends had a price: Both Hoffman and Olbricht were banished, the first to Brussels, the latter to Darmstadt (Germany), where he continued taking an active part in the city's modernist school. Meanwhile, Hoffman went on pursuing the practical application of arts into everyday objects, eventually creating the bases for the future <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Deco">Art Deco</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">New secessions. Expressionism</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBA7uwsADwkB0EOnhRLfcWfPxDRATOGK6H0NbXs1sM6VTYiGAeLPnDnQkM63UKTYAgkrwbkdxwbzIti14TbwMcq9dC9vCzleXtlgyZ9NUaOJ3Qb19hm1nNdO9j_DasZFseeiL7Og/s1600-h/schielefemmeassise.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 95px; height: 140px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBA7uwsADwkB0EOnhRLfcWfPxDRATOGK6H0NbXs1sM6VTYiGAeLPnDnQkM63UKTYAgkrwbkdxwbzIti14TbwMcq9dC9vCzleXtlgyZ9NUaOJ3Qb19hm1nNdO9j_DasZFseeiL7Og/s200/schielefemmeassise.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188857302908020258" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8_CICZzBXtVTWwOrJYd7wqVgOaxN8pQJBRxsUGLIa2ZubhdshGUpUvsSlgyYoaueXahLm5vn7qHI6RGk5ThJZZ4sxYqIXIHJI8WwTuJsZKW9dL6-EaE8rJkbvxAipb3HEuobTWw/s1600-h/foto_schiele.gif.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 101px; height: 139px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8_CICZzBXtVTWwOrJYd7wqVgOaxN8pQJBRxsUGLIa2ZubhdshGUpUvsSlgyYoaueXahLm5vn7qHI6RGk5ThJZZ4sxYqIXIHJI8WwTuJsZKW9dL6-EaE8rJkbvxAipb3HEuobTWw/s200/foto_schiele.gif.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188857204123772434" border="0" /></a><br />Together with his disciple, <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/schiele/">Egon Schiele</a>, Klimt created the Vienna Kunsthalle (Arts Hall) in 1917, in order to attract local artists and prevent them from fleeing abroad. Klimt became very interested in the young painter, introduced him to the Wiener Werkstätte, and in 1908 he got his first exhibition. Together they experimented with new symbolist trends, more focused on dreams and darker aspects of human conscience, such as anger and loneliness. Schiele's style, however, got increasingly different from his master's, as he overlooked the aesthetics of his works in order to concentrate in the pure expression of the idea. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressionism">Expressionism</a> had arrived.<br /><br />We should not forget, with more a personal style, the genial, eccentric Hungarian painter <a href="http://hungart.euroweb.hu/english/c/csontvar/">Csontváry</a>, also in the middle between symbolism and expressionism, and his mysterious paintings full of metaphors and dramatic sentiments.<br /><br />Schiele abandoned Klimt to completely focus on the new style. Same as his master, Schiele gained great reputation all over Europe despite disliking traveling, in fact he preferred installing in his studio, far from the noises of Vienna. However, he did not cease to observe the neurotic behaviors of the population in the city, decadent and closed on itself, which were<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgab53WEXikk_wek6Ov1rsiCczAcSWnECMJQGbwoHUIAaec4st_Lx17pAkUYCdKXMXnDyf4UhV2wndWAy_2-8KBDabA5K5-qFkG71OG8-exprpzAxu7XJ3fijno_SINdLYByp7NhA/s1600-h/k545050a.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 78px; height: 104px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgab53WEXikk_wek6Ov1rsiCczAcSWnECMJQGbwoHUIAaec4st_Lx17pAkUYCdKXMXnDyf4UhV2wndWAy_2-8KBDabA5K5-qFkG71OG8-exprpzAxu7XJ3fijno_SINdLYByp7NhA/s200/k545050a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188856491159201266" border="0" /></a> describe<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRCTOBKOn7P5YcTN8X1TtMPAgGtBQsfluw63wT5ZX0XzquH1VABx6g42ZX70px8qlqpSquO6cs7OZxFzKu1kEJeq5xAGuQWSI64V5b5gN4iOEzosq4-jUKMFkg81wHKNVhhOWoGA/s1600-h/300px-'Bride_of_the_Wind',_oil_on_canvas_painting_by_Oskar_Kokoschka,_a_self-portrait_expressing_his_unrequited_love_for_Alma_Mahler_%28widow_of_composer_Gustav_Mahler%29,_1913.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 131px; height: 106px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRCTOBKOn7P5YcTN8X1TtMPAgGtBQsfluw63wT5ZX0XzquH1VABx6g42ZX70px8qlqpSquO6cs7OZxFzKu1kEJeq5xAGuQWSI64V5b5gN4iOEzosq4-jUKMFkg81wHKNVhhOWoGA/s200/300px-'Bride_of_the_Wind',_oil_on_canvas_painting_by_Oskar_Kokoschka,_a_self-portrait_expressing_his_unrequited_love_for_Alma_Mahler_%28widow_of_composer_Gustav_Mahler%29,_1913.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188856641483056642" border="0" /></a>d by Sigmund Freud and depicted by Schiele and his contemporaneous <a href="http://www.spaightwoodgalleries.com/Pages/Kokoschka.html">Oskar Kokoschka</a>, also disciple of genial Klimt. The latter became, after the premature deaths of the master and Schiele in 1918, arguably the most intense expressionist painter during the 20th Century, whose works, declared "depraved" by the Nazis and persecuted, showed the darkest, most heart-rending aspects of the hard period he lived.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-72705795804412572422008-03-30T15:58:00.000-07:002008-03-30T17:07:44.447-07:00Intrigues of the UmayyadUnder the rule of the <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Ebatke/itl/denise/umayyads.htm">Umayyad</a> caliphs, the then young Muslim world reached its maximum expansion and the greatest levels of culture and creativity. However, it was a highly unstable empire, in which the caliph's power was continuously questioned by rebel factions. During about one hundred years, from 644 to 759, up to fifteen caliphs reigned, of which six were eventually murdered. There were three great civil wars and more than ten generalised revolts.<br /><br />The family descended from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayya_ibn_Abd_Shams">Umayyad</a>, who shared a great-great-grandfather with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad">Muhammad</a>, from the <a href="http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/rfamily_hashemites.html">Hashemite</a> family. As both families belonged to the same tribe -the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quraysh">Quraysh</a>-, and close to power, they hated each other. In fact, the Umayyad were the main opposers to the new Muslim religion, until they were subdued by Muhammad and converted in 630.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyhgqddxGZOZ21R0hiMR8NQhfeg14WlMXY4k4H0vn7LtcMRZ0ZOcYo3pz9McwsbSuGhERRtY4JGUoX5IWNJH90wQn-CtqibKVpHwfS5sRH2oEiM7jlPcZEL4ZLrwqgd_RcjT2hw/s1600-h/name.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 125px; height: 159px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyhgqddxGZOZ21R0hiMR8NQhfeg14WlMXY4k4H0vn7LtcMRZ0ZOcYo3pz9McwsbSuGhERRtY4JGUoX5IWNJH90wQn-CtqibKVpHwfS5sRH2oEiM7jlPcZEL4ZLrwqgd_RcjT2hw/s200/name.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183690713931967890" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The first Umayyad caliph was <a href="http://answering-christianity.com/uthman.htm">Uthman</a>, elected in 644 by a community of tribal leaders (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shura">shura</a>) according to the Quraysh tradition, as he was one of the first to be converted to Islam, with the opposition of his entire family. Nevertheless, when caliph, he started creating a dynasty, prioritizing Umayyad members to become governors. His prosperous and politically liberal reign gave place to the first intrigues, caused by tribal fights, personal enemies of the caliph and foreign powers afraid of the Islamic expansion -Uthman multiplied by three the Empire's territory-. But it was especially <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali">Ali</a>, another disciple of the prophet, who denied the validity of shura decisions and defended Muhammad had personally designed him as successor before his death. A revolt appeared in Egypt eventually finished with the caliph's assassination in 656.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sunnites, shiites and kharijites</span><br /><br />Officially, Ali was proclaimed caliph by the families from Medina. However, <a href="http://www.damascus-online.com/se/bio/muawiyah.htm">Muawiyah</a>, governor of Siria and Uthman's cousin, accused Ali of inspiring the murder and doing nothing to convict the murderers. After supporting, but not participating, in the rising led by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisha">Aisha</a>, Muhammad's widow, which eventually failed, he organised his powerful Syrian army and confronted Ali in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Siffin">Siffin</a>. The battle was a draw, and Ali finally bargained with Muawiyah a truce -Adroj arbitration (658)-, by which both kept their former positions. This caused a faction of Ali's followers, belonging to Hanifa and Tamin tribes, consider him a traitor and separate, named kharijites and under the motto "there is not rule <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.google.es/url?q=http://z.about.com/d/atheism/1/0/t/e/MuhammadKaaba.jpg&usg=AFQjCNELJDKy0M5mExr2_zgj8jbS3zDDpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://images.google.es/url?q=http://z.about.com/d/atheism/1/0/t/e/MuhammadKaaba.jpg&usg=AFQjCNELJDKy0M5mExr2_zgj8jbS3zDDpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>but God's", defendind the caliph cannot decide the partition of power in the World. Ali could not crush all the rebels during the mutiny, and they eventually killed him three years later.<br /><br />Muawiyah, already self-proclaimed caliph in 660, hurried to the capital, <a href="http://i-cias.com/e.o/kufa.htm">Kufa</a>, with his reorganised army from Damascus, to get the throne. Ali's first-born son, Hasan, not counting with enough forces, fled to Medina and left free space to Muawiyah. His brother <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Husayn_ibn_Ali">Husayn</a> tried to get his rights back, but was defeated and killed in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karbala">Karbala</a> in 680. At his death in the beginning of that same year, the caliph Muawiyah had officially created the Umayyad dynasty, when forcing the noblemen to accept his son <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazid_I">Yazid</a> as his successor. This allowed him to consolidate caliphal power, but he also gained many enemies that continuously fought for the throne.<br /><br />From this moment on, authority was always divided in the Islamic World. Opposing Muslim orthodoxy, or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunni_Islam">sunnism</a>, the defeated followers of Husayn constituted the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia">Shiite</a> sect, that would be back to war several times, specially in Arabia and Irak, and was eventually a key element in the fall of the dynasty. Basically, shiites did not accept Umayyad authority, and created the Imam title instead, as spiritual leader -in order to differentiate it from the more terrenal caliph title- for Ali's heir. Centuries later, an imam died without any descendants, which made the Shiism break into several rival sub-sects.<br /><br />Meanwhile, kharijites were a faction self-declared as the defender of Islamic purity. This sect, now practically disappeared, argued the caliph should not be designated in an hereditary way, but it should arise from the community. After killing Ali, they constituted an important opposition focus against the Umayyad, causing several local revolts specially among berbers of recently conquered Maghreb, in Mesopotamia, Irak and North Arabia, although Shiism became a larger problem.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Caliph at the caliph's place</span><br /><br />Yazid died in 683 while besieging Mecca, trying to defeat <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd-Allah_ibn_al-Zubayr">Abdallah ibn Zubayr</a>, who had supported Husayn and, at his death, proclaimed himself caliph in Arabia and Egypt. Abdallah caused great headaches to Damascus caliphs, as he had the main Islamic pilgrimage place under control. In order to compete with it, the Umayyad built the <a href="http://architecture.about.com/library/bldomeoftherockmosque.htm">Mosque of the Rock</a> in Jerusalem. The existence of two caliphs lasted for ten years, as one of the main Syrian tribes, the <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Ebatke/itl/denise/qaysite.htm">Qaysites</a>, supported him against the <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Ebatke/itl/denise/qaysite.htm">Kalbites</a>, allied to Damascus. The fight between these tribes was a long civil war, which a third faction joined, that of rebel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Mukhtar">al-Mukhtar</a>, strong in Irak and defending the rights of another Ali's heir -Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya- without his permission.<br /><br />The new Damascus caliph, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Malik">al-Malik</a>, chose to wait until both rebel factions destroyed each other, instead of attacking openly. Eventually, al-Mukhtar was defeated in Kufa by Abdallah in 687. That was the<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTRIwCoqvHdX4HYaGSm80dWSOMZjOKM_6g9uWhH4-woixgWSgRLOC6Wf_kToI-jwzq6n16MckTrIl6HJbGVWnNz6YC27SmBk1o6LM4Jm35jz8MtPx-HkIVpS_W25Ct2g7F9njd1A/s1600-h/domeofrockext.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 158px; height: 119px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTRIwCoqvHdX4HYaGSm80dWSOMZjOKM_6g9uWhH4-woixgWSgRLOC6Wf_kToI-jwzq6n16MckTrIl6HJbGVWnNz6YC27SmBk1o6LM4Jm35jz8MtPx-HkIVpS_W25Ct2g7F9njd1A/s200/domeofrockext.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183690426169159042" border="0" /></a> momento to attack his weakened army, that fell in Mecca five years later, after a harsh siege which destroyed the Holy Place of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaba">Kaaba</a>. Abdallah was beheaded, and his body exposed for potential rebels. The new sovereign of the whole Islamic world had a reign of centralization and internal peace. Thanks to the governor of Irak and personal lieutenant, <a href="http://i-cias.com/e.o/hajjaj.htm">al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf</a>, no revolt was succesful during those years. This allowed carrying on the conquests and reaching the maximum extension of the Empire, from Spain to India.<br /><br />When great al-Malik's sons, less authoritary, reigned, rebels stroke back. When inheriting such a large and heterogeneous Empire, in which Arabs enjoyed privileges and tax exemptions over non-Arabs, union was progressively more difficult to keep. Although one of the sovereigns, <a href="http://www.islamweb.org/ver2/archive/article.php?lang=E&id=135186">Umar</a>, tried to abolish this differentiation, the consequent tax income drop became impossible, and going back to tax raising led to general revolts, specially in Transoxiana in 734. To make things worse, the caliph <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hisham_ibn_Abd_al-Malik">Hisham</a> was defeated all along the Empire borders (Tours, Samarkand, Akroinon, etc.) and more unhappiness caused new rebellions in a territory impossible to control: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zayd_bin_Ali">Zayd</a>'s shiites in Irak, Berbers in North Africa -Morocco and Spain were lost in 740-, kharijites in Iran, and the feuds of conflictive Syrian tribes bleeding each other. Meanwhile, decadence and palace intrigues were increasing: the family members, togethers with generals and governors, were fighting each other for the power -the drunkard, corrupt <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Walid_II">al-Walid II</a> was murdered by his own cousin <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazid_III">Yazid</a>, who proved no more brilliant-.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Abbasid executioners</span><br /><br />The end of the Umayyad came from the hand of the <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Ebatke/itl/denise/abbasids.htm">Abbasids</a>, descendants of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbas_ibn_Abd_al-Muttalib">Abbas</a> and -far- political family of Muhammad. It is in fact believed that they were not Arabs, but converse Persians, which explains why they had the support of non-Arab citizens from Iran. Using the excuse that the Umayyad had betrayed the Islam spirit, they attracted shiites and kharijites, gathering all possible opposition -needless to say that, after the dynasty overthrown, they kept opposing the new caliphs-.<br /><br />The Abbasids consolidated their power in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khorasan">Khurasan</a>, North-eastern Iran, far from central power, and started an open revolt in 747. In 749, the Abbasid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As-Saffah">Abu</a> proclaimed himself caliph in Kufa. Next year, they defeated the Umayyad in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Zab">Zab</a>, and the caliph <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marwan_II">Marwan II</a> was persecuted and killed in Egypt. Liberating all the resentment of a century, the winners outraged the tombs of the Umayyad and killed the remaining members of the family. Only one saved, Abd al-Rahman, who fled to the border province of Cordoba, and there extended the dynasty, but that is a different story.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com165tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-56816450785292626312008-03-11T08:18:00.000-07:002008-03-12T02:20:23.208-07:00Science and technology in Nazi GermanyThat should be admitted. Germany during the years 1932 to 1945 became une of the main World centres, maybe even the main one, in scientific and technologic research. During that period, the bright German engineers created more than 300,000 patents, which, after the war, were appropiated by the Allies, who took advantage from them in further developments, that lead to many products we use nowadays.<br /><br />This post is not at all a support or identification with National-socialist ideology or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler">Hitler</a>'s regime. It just tries to show the technological advances achieved during this time and political context.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Military advances</span><br /><br />Considering Hitler's military objective, there was a strong financial support to war oriented research. However, many of the achievements in weaponry were unused because of confrontations between different factions of the army, as well as Hitler's unstable planning abilities. Many resources were wasted in politically impressive but unrealistic projects, while little effort was made to make the new inventions practical. Despite all that, the Germans had technological advantages in the war, as they used inventions such as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmgewehr_44">first automatic rifle</a> and the first <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun">railgun</a> type guns.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.2worldwar2.com/me-262.htm">Messerschmitt Me 262</a> -called "Schwalbe", the swallow- was the first oprational jet plane in History. After a series of changes and failur<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG_rGrSRrCmScCBrvQpcSolhzsO89gDcxs4-au9ETcu-oh2wC6aJGdfvPxdXq-Qc6v1HedROFP78P09JbsZVeNaK7-x68XWacSD1EuIwExohmvfHRHRiYAbhGWrdIizqagKzsnJA/s1600-h/me262.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG_rGrSRrCmScCBrvQpcSolhzsO89gDcxs4-au9ETcu-oh2wC6aJGdfvPxdXq-Qc6v1HedROFP78P09JbsZVeNaK7-x68XWacSD1EuIwExohmvfHRHRiYAbhGWrdIizqagKzsnJA/s200/me262.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5176563916557119250" border="0" /></a>es, technically due to the lack of alloy able to resist the overheating due to high velocities, but also to Hitler's conviction in a quick victory and the unnecessarity of the new model, in May 1943 the prototype was ready. During the test flights, it reached nearly 900 kmph, what made <a href="http://members.aol.com/geobat66/galland/galland.htm">Adolf Galland</a>, chief of the Fighter Aviation, exclaim: "It looks like pushed by the angels!". However, Hitler's obsession for turning it into a bomber delayed its production in one year, and suppressing the great advantages it provided, speed and fire power against bombers. In the end, less than 300 units ever engaged in combat. Despite some punctual successes, such as the legendary actuation of the <a href="http://home.att.net/%7Ejv44/realjv44_1.htm">JV44</a> squadron, involving <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Steinhoff">J. Steinhoff</a> and Galland himself, which shot down more than one thousand planes, the jet fighter had no repercusion due to the general lack of fuel and expert pilots -it became a deadly trap for novices-. Besides, the confrontations of <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/goering.html">Göring</a> with Galland caused it not to be built at the necessary scale. After the war, the Allies took possession of the remaining intact models, from which directly they developed the American <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-86_Sabre">F-86 Sabre</a> and the Soviet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiG-15">MiG-1</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiG-15">5</a>.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.ubootwaffe.net/">U-boot</a>, German submarines, were the most operative naval weapon they had during the whole war. Specially, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Type_VII_submarine">U-boot VII</a> model was the most advanced model of the time, armed with five torpedo launchers while reaching 18 knots at surface. The tactics proposed by the Kriegsmarine commander <a href="http://www.karl-doenitz.com/">Dönitz</a>, the "wolf pack", was based in night group attacks to English convoys, which led to huge losses to the Royal Navy. Anyway, it took too long to the admiral to convince Hitler of the convenience of submarine war considerably decreased its scale. From 1943, the Allies learnt to face the U-boot by means of radar detection and torpedo launcher planes.<br /><br />However, the major German innovation in submarine warfare was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_XXI_U-boat">U-boot XXI</a>. This new-generation submarine, directly related to the design of the first American nuclear ones, combined novel technologies that could have made it into one of the greatest challenges for the Allied navy and decisively influence the war outcome. It included a new hydraulic reloading system, which granted a fire power six times larger than the VII type U-boot. On the other side, its sonar system allowed non-periscope-aided shooting, thus increasing its stealth. But mainly, the combination of its stylish hull design with the wide electric battery capacity, granted a higher speed when inmersed than on surface -17 knots vs 15- and a larger inmersion time, what made it specially difficult to hunt. From 1943 to 1945, 118 units were built. However, only two of them <span style="text-decoration: underline;">-</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unterseeboot_2511">U2511</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unterseeboot_3008">U3008</a>- took part in combat missions before the end of the war, due to the large period needed to crew training in such a novel technology.<br /><br />The first ballistic missile, the <a href="http://www.v2rocket.com/">Vergeltungswaffe 2</a> ("Weapon of Revenge"), or V-2, was developed by a group of engineers led by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun">Wernher von Braun</a> in 1942, after a decade working on alcohol and liquid oxygen propulsion. But, even if it had all the suppor<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj86oMG-qQtHueASwXDlAQFJqBOfLFkKPbfZVze1kNcSPYPa6ZwlopVppH6DeQQ-C7R6nDCw8xXo8f8-k-mDMnGqbWWq35j9HQPvd0CJ6D179BXBDkrt1PBP1BfRnNJsdJezJTR_w/s1600-h/V2PeenemuendeLaunch.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 112px; height: 142px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj86oMG-qQtHueASwXDlAQFJqBOfLFkKPbfZVze1kNcSPYPa6ZwlopVppH6DeQQ-C7R6nDCw8xXo8f8-k-mDMnGqbWWq35j9HQPvd0CJ6D179BXBDkrt1PBP1BfRnNJsdJezJTR_w/s200/V2PeenemuendeLaunch.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5176563693218819842" border="0" /></a>t from Hitler, its mass production did not begin until the end of 1943. The rocket had its huge speed as an advantage, which made it virtually impossible to locate and destroy by the Allies. However, its short autonomy (little more than 300 km) and no precision, made it only useful for the indiscriminate bombings Hitler carried out in the English south coast. Until the beginning of 1945, almost 1500 rockets fell into British territory. Once the war was finished, both the USSR and the USA rushed to take the rocket specialists back to their countries. Among them, the team of Von Braun himself created the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V">Saturn V</a> rocket for the NASA, which -supposedly- took the man to the Moon in 1969.<br /><br />V-1 should also be mentioned, developed in parallel to the V-2, and considered the first guided missile. Same as V-2, traditional defense measures used by the Allies -interceptor fighters, anti-aircraft guns, balloons, ...- proved uneffective for these new threats. The only adequate defenses were the destruction of launching bases and counterinformation activities (in which souble agent actions of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Cross_System">XX</a> system, and specially the Spanish spy <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Pujol_%28alias_Garbo%29">Juan Pujol, "Garbo"</a>, were of vital importance-.<br /><br /><a href="http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/22270">It is also suspected</a> that the Germans carried out nuclear tests in Thuringia in March 1945, two months earlier than the Americans. However, the classification of the documents that supposedly prove it has made it impossible to find out the degree of development they had.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Other inventions</span><br /><br />In 1935, the engineer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Pfleumer">Fritz Pfleumer</a> developed the K1, first magnetophonic recorder. This provided, the first concerts and political speeches in History were the German ones. Its military use was extensive, as a recording medium of both friend and intercepted transmissions. The Allies knew that the Nazis h<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMl_fkwd0rrKg4eftcrcBjbrvIZPl2uN1nl7D48Oy23fDE9Yzz6jl7nnlO53R4vjoLRIH2mGMVplFBnMi1XlthSboWP2i2LOvQz1PxF9aKWG5JvPqHWrXIaa3D8pfoozAsjij72w/s1600-h/magnetophon.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 164px; height: 141px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMl_fkwd0rrKg4eftcrcBjbrvIZPl2uN1nl7D48Oy23fDE9Yzz6jl7nnlO53R4vjoLRIH2mGMVplFBnMi1XlthSboWP2i2LOvQz1PxF9aKWG5JvPqHWrXIaa3D8pfoozAsjij72w/s200/magnetophon.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5176563414045945586" border="0" /></a>ad such a device, but did not find it out until they invaded Germany in 1944. There, the American engineer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Mullin">Jack Mullin</a> analyzed the device, a great invention for its time, which was commercialized by the firm <a href="http://mixonline.com/TECnology-Hall-of-Fame/ampex-200a-recorder-090106/">Ampex</a> and revolutionized the American media industry of the '40s and the '50s.<br /><br />The first machine working with binary arithmetics, the <a href="http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpage/Z3-Computer-1939.htm">Z3</a>, including programming capacity, was developed in 1941 by the German engineer <a href="http://ei.cs.vt.edu/%7Ehistory/Zuse.html">Konrad Zuse</a>, and became in essence the first digital computer. Although it was destroyed in a bombing in 1944, it meant a step forward to the development, in 1948, of the famous American computer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC">ENIAC</a>, that added decimal arithmetics.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.es/search?q=german+infra+red&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:es-ES:official&client=firefox-a">Infra-red</a> devices were included in German interceptors that proved very usefil in night missions, while the Americans were starting to wonder if such a technology was possible.<br /><br />In medicine, we will not point out the infamous pseudo-scientific experiments Dr Mengele carried out with concentration camp prisoners. From a more constructive side, German scientists of the time achieved the first direct relation of tobacco with lung cancer -and smoking was even banned in the Luftwaffe for several years-. They also were the inventors of methadone and modern pesticides.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-79250144330475663162008-02-25T10:33:00.001-08:002008-02-25T11:36:20.972-08:004th Crusade: Christians vs ChristiansThe <a href="http://www.medievalcrusades.com/">Crusades</a>, or the fact of giving a religious meaning to the fights that, all along the Middle Ages, happened between Christian and Muslim princes, led somehow to the internationalization of warfare. The first action related to the idea of Crusade was in the Spain of the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconquista">Reconquista</a>". <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_VI_of_Castile">Alfonso VI of Castille</a>, after his crushing defeat in <a href="http://es.geocities.com/endovelico2001/med/almora.html">Zalaca</a> against the Almoravids, asks for help from foreign knights to defend Toledo and the Tajo basin against the continuous Muslim attacks.<br /><br />The Crusades' origins come from an spontaneous feeling from pilgrims to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Land">Holy Places</a>. They went there more and more often in armed groups, although the tolerant Arabs did not oppose any obstacle to them. This feeling was used by the pope Urban II, who preached for the <a href="http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/cru2.htm">first Crusade</a> in 1095, with the aim to deviate the warlike actions of feudal lords. Besides, this way he would show a force exhibition to his weakened enemy, the Eastern Orthodox Church, as mercenaries went sent as aid for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire">Byzantine Empire</a>. It had an extraordinary success, thousands of crusaders from all over Europe gathered in Constantinople and conquered Jerusalem, and military orders were found that maintained it for almost a hundred years.<br /><br />However, during the following Crusades, kings played a progressively decreasing role, sometimes even opposing the pontifical rule. Italian businessmen financed the unsuccessful expeditions led by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_of_Clairvaux">Saint Bernard of Clairvaux</a>, and later <a href="http://www.themiddleages.net/people/richard_lionheart.html">Richard Lionheart</a> together with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor">Frederick Barbarossa</a>.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB5dQyVCheRTirOj9eiOEuJ2Fwsus-qshe9F2rNNgJDyiHR3wgaZcfcDGByNxE6Afe4OxxeDh4f9ODQByNUft83VMVzJ78-I8ZpeM8RG9GCM7blGWUeRhFq4W7iryt0y7S6x4ZVA/s1600-h/200px-Innozenz3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 140px; height: 161px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB5dQyVCheRTirOj9eiOEuJ2Fwsus-qshe9F2rNNgJDyiHR3wgaZcfcDGByNxE6Afe4OxxeDh4f9ODQByNUft83VMVzJ78-I8ZpeM8RG9GCM7blGWUeRhFq4W7iryt0y7S6x4ZVA/s200/200px-Innozenz3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171003858905752994" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The 4th Crusade's financial problems</span><br /><br />The Pope<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_III"> Innocent III</a> tried to change this situation with the preaching of a <a href="http://crusades.boisestate.edu/4th/">4th Crusade</a>. While carefully avoiding the kings to assume its rule, he planeed a very organised attack into Egypt, the heart of Saladdin's empire. He hired the Venetians for the transport, logistics and reinforcement of troops, and designed the Italian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boniface_of_Montferrat">Boniface of Montferrat</a>, descendant of crusaders, as the army leader. In 1202, more than 30,000 crusaders, mostly French, promised to be ready to set sail to Cairo, something that however never happened.<br /><br />Only a third of the promised soldiers appeared in Venice, and with her little more than half of the silver marks needed to pay. As the Venetians were demanding the payment for their accomplished building of the vessels, a mutual agreement had to be reached. Fainally, the doge <a href="http://www.boglewood.com/timeline/dandolo.html">Enrico Dandolo</a>, a skillful diplomat and specially a very practical man, managed to attract the Crusade towards his own interests.<br /><br />Despite the Pope's express ban to the crusaders to "cause atrocious acts against other Christian neighbors", the Venetians demanded as a payment to capture the city <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZDlC5SntMOHCEcLwISyQQTf1aDB-C-S2Xm-q9EqPqSsB69y1Mi9skDSsCjg3LClk095aU1PVuM586ATzGQgEtunRtTCp015NP7BcWlwkbVX7vK_FkDU68OXojeOc9ZwULyZ9yGw/s1600-h/350px-Boniface-of-Montferrat.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZDlC5SntMOHCEcLwISyQQTf1aDB-C-S2Xm-q9EqPqSsB69y1Mi9skDSsCjg3LClk095aU1PVuM586ATzGQgEtunRtTCp015NP7BcWlwkbVX7vK_FkDU68OXojeOc9ZwULyZ9yGw/s200/350px-Boniface-of-Montferrat.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171003747236603282" border="0" /></a>of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Zara">Zara</a>, rebel to Venice and protected by the king <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emeric_of_Hungary">Emeric of Hungary and Croatia</a>, who had previously supported the Crusade. Some of the crusaders, disappointed, returned home, while most of them faced a menace of excommunication after taking the city.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the theoretical leader Boniface, aiming to take initiative back and save the Crusade, met <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexios_IV_Angelos">Alexius Angelicus</a>, brother-in-law of his cousin, and son of the Byzantine emperor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_II_Angelos">Isaac</a>, ovethrown some years before by his uncle -also <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexios_III_Angelos">Alexius</a>- who now held the crown of Constantinople. Alexius promised financing and reinforcements for the expedition if they helped him to have the throne back. Most of the crusaders accepted, and specially did the Venetians, as the usurper had expelled their merchants when he came to power.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The nonsense</span><br /><br />The city fell when the emperor quickly fleed, and Alexius IV was crowned in Constantinople. However, he soon found huge problems to find the gold and silver promised to his partners, despite melting large amounts of valuable objects in the city. This attack to the possessions of the population, together with the growing hate towards foreigners who occupied their city, caused many fights between Greeks and crusades in the streets and in the court.<br /><br />In January 1204, a courtesan leader of the anti-Latin movement eventually strangled the emperor -the favorite manner to overthrown in Byzantium- and proclaimed himself emperor as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexios_V">Alexius V</a>. The first thing he did was terminate the contract with the crusaders and expel them from the city. These as<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Xxfcim83YwmP_Zs7ywG5U_Rpmlh7tQyi5JsNlQEcsLtcztpcxfelQxf-sCcJhVRBouYoz8V7kZGBf2ZWsHkmjHhJd3Ak0GzEKPnC2jhade0oSBGp85xXxmkmgIlcwgxaQWrEQA/s1600-h/800px-ConquestOfConstantinopleByTheCrusadersIn1204.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Xxfcim83YwmP_Zs7ywG5U_Rpmlh7tQyi5JsNlQEcsLtcztpcxfelQxf-sCcJhVRBouYoz8V7kZGBf2ZWsHkmjHhJd3Ak0GzEKPnC2jhade0oSBGp85xXxmkmgIlcwgxaQWrEQA/s200/800px-ConquestOfConstantinopleByTheCrusadersIn1204.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171003622682551682" border="0" /></a>saulted it, but were driven back due to the fierce resistance of the Greek population.<br /><br />The Christians' demoralization nearly made them retreat. However, the clergy that accompanied them used an effective speech, ignoring the continuous orders from the Pope Innocent to cancel that attack against Christians: this action was not God's punishment for their sins, but a test to their spirits. It was the Greeks, murderers and treacherous for killing their patron, and literally "worse than Jews", who deserved to die. The result of this was effectively the conquest of the city some days later, but followed from a <a href="http://aggreen.net/church_history/1204_sack.html">sack</a> that is considered as the History's most violent and humiliating one.<br /><br />During three days, and despite the Venetians trying to keep calm, French knights went on killing the population, destroying art pieces, burned books, murdered priests and raped nuns. The Byzantine historian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicetas_Choniates">Niketas Choniates</a> tells in his chronicle of the sack of Constantinople that the crusaders spent several days getting drunk in the throne room in the imperial palace, while a prostitute occupied the throne. The Pope Innocent, in his 1205 letters, writes about the shame he feels because of the crusaders' actions, and the ultimate schism between the Roman and Orthodox Churches takes place: "How could the Greek Church get back (...) to an ecclesiastic union and devotion to the Apostolic See, when it has been seen in the Latins only an example of perdition and darkness, and now, with reason, detests them more than dogs?"<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">After the end</span><br /><br />The creation of the <a href="http://history-world.org/latin_empire_of_the_east.htm">Eastern Latin Empire</a>, divided in a series of states belonging to Venetian and French lords, was saluted as a decisive element to the success of future Crusades. Actually, treasons, banishments and murders followed one another during the half century the empire lasted, and the Latin emperor showed always unable to obtain the support of the Greek population, and resist the attacks from Turks and Bulgarians. It is, in fact, from a Greek territory, Nicaea, that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_VIII_Palaiologos">Michael Paleologos</a> eventually assures the reconquest of Constantinople in 1261 and restores the Byzantine Empire. However, the always great Eastern city never recovered, and the Empire became a degeneration of its ancient meaning until it fell in Turkish hands.<br /><br />From the 13th Century, the idea of Crusade decays, as something old-fashioned. It is often used as an excuse to make war against heretics or enemies of Rome, so that its moral power finally runs out in Europe except in Cyprus, seat of the knights of Jerusalem, and Rhodes, base of the Hospitaller, who will still dream obsessed with the idea for two centuries.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-5656682194536026152008-02-11T11:03:00.000-08:002008-02-11T12:23:37.483-08:00The hell of Kursk<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLilIJOBgbR-zDu_i__xiAeBj4ET7M4IdJALLXPJX9gmFmeoa4UEAxoWF184tjcu24piOdZ_CXeG61m5jUb9yabPWxdsTmClMxt4rib3JPqOT-Wx2cCsc1-e9-RPb4Ch6vBevN8Q/s1600-h/kursk.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 183px; height: 138px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLilIJOBgbR-zDu_i__xiAeBj4ET7M4IdJALLXPJX9gmFmeoa4UEAxoWF184tjcu24piOdZ_CXeG61m5jUb9yabPWxdsTmClMxt4rib3JPqOT-Wx2cCsc1-e9-RPb4Ch6vBevN8Q/s200/kursk.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165819561541281954" border="0" /></a>The <a href="http://www.2worldwar2.com/kursk.htm">battle of Kursk</a> was not only the greatest armored confrontation in History, but also the turning point at World War II. From this point, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germany">Hitler's Germany</a> ceased to hold the initiative in the East and passed to defend, which would not change during the rest of the war.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Barbarossa</span><br /><br />The invasion of Russia -<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa">operation Barbarossa</a>, started on 22th June 1941 and planned to be a rapid conquest, before winter arrived- had gone well for the Germans in the first months of campaign. Despite the too late beginning of the campaign -Russian winter would arrive anyway- and underestimating the defensive power of the Soviet Union, the German army was far more ready and had better logistic support. The surprise factor, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitzkrieg">air support</a> and Soviet lack of organization allowed an advance of 50 daily kilometers. In August, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wehrmacht">Wehrmacht</a> was almost 100 km from Leningrad, Kiev and Smolensk. But an unexpected planning changement altered the course of the invasion.<br /><br />Hitler had always believed himself a militar genius, and some strategic achievements during the war -largely, taking big risks- convinced him to personally take the command of the Eastern front troops. The initial plans of the campaign were, besides conquering <a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-109580234.html">Leningrad</a>, to send the Southern Army<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp3OPabdYNImi017leIguN9fuxCU7AVEveDtPtQ1IpX62mzZjb2lHi43nxYV6szXpxnMN8Sw-lMegARMu87j083rfRJityTRgYCso9s7vPx2Uadt38lnv09GyXKKDtEaHMbKoPgQ/s1600-h/1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 163px; height: 168px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp3OPabdYNImi017leIguN9fuxCU7AVEveDtPtQ1IpX62mzZjb2lHi43nxYV6szXpxnMN8Sw-lMegARMu87j083rfRJityTRgYCso9s7vPx2Uadt38lnv09GyXKKDtEaHMbKoPgQ/s200/1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165819355382851730" border="0" /></a> sector to take control of the rich Caucasus oil wells, and the Central one to Smolensk and directly towards Moscow, which should be occupied before the winter. However, Hitler took a dicsoncerting decision, against the opinion of the whole <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberkommando_des_Heeres">High Command</a>: he made stop the advance to the capital to reinforce the Southern Army, fighting harshly in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kiev_%281941%29">Kiev</a>.<br /><br />Hitler had in mind that the Ukrainian city had to be taken, but due to the rugged resistance from the population, the siege finally lasted until October, slowering the whole progress towards the Caucasus oil fields. The result was that, upon the winter arrival, the important access to the oil had not been achieved. At the same time, the bulk of the Central sector, the 4th Wehrmacht Army, was at the gates of Moscow, but weakened because of this unexpected reinforcement, had wasted too long time in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Smolensk_%281941%29">Smolensk</a>, and also lacking of supplies, could advance no more.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">From attackers to attacked</span><br /><br />After the Soviet re-organization, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Moscow">expulsion of the nazis from Moscow</a>, and relative stabilization of the front during the winter, in 1942 the Germans finally tried to occupy the Caucasus. However, new conflicts between Hitler and the High Command made <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJV1fMsIksRJyz2eUipdhTp06RBdSmG4F6ogsugMhsd7sUNn3EA3GciAhOlKdkZYh9EuYOeuN7GK37BfoscuY3xuKqajNYybNh5k2SfcJ8A8sHmibTf7OJP2Xozz9wp45Y-LqvYg/s1600-h/384px-Battle_of_Kursk_(map).jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJV1fMsIksRJyz2eUipdhTp06RBdSmG4F6ogsugMhsd7sUNn3EA3GciAhOlKdkZYh9EuYOeuN7GK37BfoscuY3xuKqajNYybNh5k2SfcJ8A8sHmibTf7OJP2Xozz9wp45Y-LqvYg/s320/384px-Battle_of_Kursk_(map).jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165819041850239106" border="0" /></a>the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Blue">Operation Blue</a> to become a clumsy advance that eventually trapped the Germans in the <a href="http://zhukov.mitsi.com/Stalingrad.htm">battle of Stalingrad</a>, where they lost their major elite force, the 6th Army.<br /><br />Field marshal <a href="http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=7901">Von Manstein</a> managed though to counteract the counteroffensive from Stalingrad, and even advancing on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkov_offensive_operation">Kharkov</a> during March 1943. He then proposed the High Command to tend a trap that, attracting the Red Army to the rests of the German 6th Army, would make an evolving movement that would envelop the Russians at the Donets Basin. Hitler, reluctant to envolving attacks, did not approve the plan and centered in Kursk, an area entering in the straight Russian front.<br /><br />The objective was too obvious: the Russians predicted the attack, and the delay to July gave them further advantage -Hitler wanted the new Panther tanks to arrive to the front-. Generals <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Rokossovsky">Rokossovsky</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Vatutin">Vatutin</a> had set up tens of deffensive belts, and had progressive retreat plans while the Germans would be advancing. The Russians knew the offensive would come from the huge amount of tanks there accumulated. When they started <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kursk">Operation Citadel</a> on 5th July, more than one million antitank mines decimated the armored columns. Russian artillery and air force, after two years of campaign, were comparable in number and readiness to the German ones, and destroyed the German artillery support.<br /><br />Although Panzers were still a formidable weapon supported by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffe">Luftwaffe</a>, they lacked the proper infantry support, and Russian soldiers were able to easily destroy them with an<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT7t7UM6JhdmQbRWHxSY8p-KTcwlvg5jsCHBLS-Vj8c7EtAJmpjA8wo2QSl0I6YIRCcZyHkrcZTO0dqZhBNsDKjQVAty1s_rY7nI9Y9MC7xVoDTp040KYfq8frYpts1FVMo4EhcA/s1600-h/TIGER9.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT7t7UM6JhdmQbRWHxSY8p-KTcwlvg5jsCHBLS-Vj8c7EtAJmpjA8wo2QSl0I6YIRCcZyHkrcZTO0dqZhBNsDKjQVAty1s_rY7nI9Y9MC7xVoDTp040KYfq8frYpts1FVMo4EhcA/s200/TIGER9.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165818728317626482" border="0" /></a>titank guns or simple molotov cocktails. Besides, the new models -<a href="http://www.achtungpanzer.com/tiger.htm">Tiger</a> and <a href="http://www.achtungpanzer.com/pz4.htm">Panther</a>- were very scarce and did not whos the expected results. More than half were out of operation the first day because of problems with their cooling system.<br /><br />On 12th July, the Germans believed to be near the end of the Russian defensive belts. However, when entering <a href="http://rkkaww2.armchairgeneral.com/battles/Kursk/prokhorovka.htm">Prokhorovka</a>, the SS-Panzerkorps found itself in front of a whole armored division of Soviet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-34">T-34</a>. The greatest armored combat in History (400 German tanks against 900 Soviet ones) ended up as a technical draw, but was a huge moral defeat for the Nazis, who thought to be close to victory. On 17th July, when the Wehrmacht soldiers saw all the Panzers being retired and moved to the new <a href="http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/72-16/72-16.htm">Sicily front</a>, they realised that they would pass to a defensive role. Soviet counterattacks started immediately. The attackers became attacked.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-52369499417042715202008-01-19T02:18:00.000-08:002008-01-22T13:17:58.159-08:00History of WritingIt is commonly said that the history of a civilization begins with the arrival of writing, as it is then allowed to have historical memories, communicate among population and ease the complex processes of administration and trade. Precursors of writing appeared in Prehistorical era as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_painting">paintings</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroglyph">petroglyphs</a> on wood and rock. Although they were used for religious rituals, some Neolithic petroglyphs were a communication tool, such as in Scandinavia, where they were used to delimit territories between tribes. Some supposedly cartographic and astronomic maps have benn found too.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Drawings</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">, ideas and phonemes</span><br /><br />A few millennia before Christ, the new needs of urban societies lead to the creation of writing systems more or less standardized. These systems appear independently in various places around the planet, but it is interesting to point out that all of them follow the logical evolution of human brain: starting with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictogram">pictograms</a>, or symbolic illustrations of objects as they are. These signs progressively move away from concretism and unicity typical of petroglyhps and derive in pure representations of concepts and ideas, called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideogram">ideograms</a>. Obviously, as they represent universal ideas, similar symbols are found in many non related ancient scripts -idea of man is the same everywhere, and symbols representing man do not differ much-.<br /><br />Among the first logographic -i.e. composed by pictograms and ideograms- the most relevant ones are those developed in Middle East around fourth<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQOYmvsB1tbq3_VVAI9hRbMZqnyiVgVFNpx-rJYb1EuOBcXZxe05eB-G918T-k0aEYuXRhxFEWNOQjonV-hp-6V5sa2C011E0fBj9BeobWp4YNxjBNj_9TJdDEIZPcojrUFdG4uw/s1600-h/images.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQOYmvsB1tbq3_VVAI9hRbMZqnyiVgVFNpx-rJYb1EuOBcXZxe05eB-G918T-k0aEYuXRhxFEWNOQjonV-hp-6V5sa2C011E0fBj9BeobWp4YNxjBNj_9TJdDEIZPcojrUFdG4uw/s200/images.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158413139169692978" border="0" /></a> millennium before Christ. In <a href="http://www.wsu.edu/%7Edee/MESO/MESO.HTM">Mesopotamia</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt">Egypt</a>, engraved clay tokens had always been used for accounting commercial products. This derived in Mesopotamia, around 3400 BC, to clay tablets on which numerals, and then pictograms, were engraved with triangular wedges. This is called as <a href="http://www.ancientscripts.com/cuneiform.html">cuneiform</a> script, where signs were drawings performed by complex combinations of notches. From 2900 BC, pictograms became increasingly simple and abstract, and eventually some lost their meaning and represented syllables of <a href="http://www.crystalinks.com/sumerlanguage.html">Sumerian language</a>-what is called phonetic instead of logographic-. However, some writing systems as Hurrian and Hittite evolved from cuneiform in its purely logographic phase, that is why they have been very difficult, or impossible, to decipher by archaeologists. Progressively, from 6th century BC, cuneiform scripts were replaced by aramaic ones.<br /><br />Egyptian writing system, dated from a similar time, was related with cuneiform, although commonly written on stone or plaster, and later on papyrus, with a more advanced and stylized technique. In Egype logogram systems are known sinc<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkeA_ljYzZlLQobBJcYh3YhXsIM_um4j-3Ghgsea8F8DKKzia7ntEZgPT2sp0b0eXqag6ab0YQyofYvwv1ETWpKL4auc8mZsVGyHwOzQvmMveJLKuYbmUK94XT6BPBc0axQujD0w/s1600-h/Hieroglyph1_800.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 117px; height: 154px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkeA_ljYzZlLQobBJcYh3YhXsIM_um4j-3Ghgsea8F8DKKzia7ntEZgPT2sp0b0eXqag6ab0YQyofYvwv1ETWpKL4auc8mZsVGyHwOzQvmMveJLKuYbmUK94XT6BPBc0axQujD0w/s200/Hieroglyph1_800.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158412988845837602" border="0" /></a>e 3200 BS, from which appeared, one thousand years later, the famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs">hieroglyphs</a>. These were systems composed by logograms, determinatives -that precised the contextual meaning- and phonemes, which were, effectively, the first alphabet in History, considering that alphabets use a sign for every sound or phoneme. Its use evolved to <a href="http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/Writing_Systems/Meroitic.html">Meroitic</a>, and expanded replacing logograms around Mesopotamia, where appeared during the last millennium before Christ, alphabets on cuneiform script, such as <a href="http://www.ancientscripts.com/ugaritic.html">Ugaritic</a> and <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/opcuneiform.htm">Persian</a>.<br /><br />These writing systems were difficult to master, and during some centuries, only the elitist class of scribes had the knowledge to do it. All the literature in that period came out from different scribe schools, where people from high social classes entered at the service of temples or military authorities. In Mesopotamia, when cuneiform adapted to new dominant languages during Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian times, and in Egypt with the adoption of Demotic, writing was simplified and extended its use among most of the population, despite the efforts of scribes to keep their position by using cult and ancient scripts, Sumerian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyph, getting further from popular writing.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Phoenician transcendence</span><br /><br />Around the 11th century BC, an alphabetic form of hieroglyph, the <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/egyptian_hieratic.htm">hieratic</a>, evolved. In Africa horn it became the Ge'ez or <a href="http://home.unilang.org/bb/index.php?t=4&n=17">Ethiopic</a> alphabet, and northwards it was adopted by Semitic language speakers to become the <a href="http://phoenicia.org/alphabet.html">Phoenician</a> alphabet, of abjad type -i.e. without specific phonemes for vowels-.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtt_0n72wzAJ_wBENAoxSPzVapd348M9-Uz5crhyVZm8meRdXktpp1eKZ15yZ-aTF_yT28TmJSH_1HY9lLC0HHBKovofvyC89JaNrPEdCA5srN6H7r12mxfIzuEr6HgyCKC7GQig/s1600-h/Pantallazo-1.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtt_0n72wzAJ_wBENAoxSPzVapd348M9-Uz5crhyVZm8meRdXktpp1eKZ15yZ-aTF_yT28TmJSH_1HY9lLC0HHBKovofvyC89JaNrPEdCA5srN6H7r12mxfIzuEr6HgyCKC7GQig/s400/Pantallazo-1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158412439090023698" border="0" /></a><br />Later, together with Phoenician colonization, it turned into the main writing system in the Mediterranean, from which most current alphabets arose. In its Western variant, the <a href="http://www.greek-language.com/alphabet/">Greeks</a> adopted this alphabet and introduced vowels, from which <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/etruscan.htm">Etruscan</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_alphabet">Latin</a> alphabets were directly developed. The latter only changed in format during the Middle Age -in the Carolingian Empire lower-case letters appeared-, and thanks to the spreading of Christianism and translation of the Bible, expanded around Occident. It had to compete in Eastern Europe, though, with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_alphabet">Cyrillic</a>, an evolution of <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/glagolitic.htm">Glagolitic</a>, a variant of Greek established in the 9th Century by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Cyril">Saint Cyril</a>. Cyrillic, invented in the 10th Century by <a href="http://www.mymacedonia.net/language/clement.htm">Saint Clement of Ohrid</a>, in Byzantium, was used in liturgies and the Bible all around the Orthodox Church territory -recently, in the 18th Century, Romania adopted back the Latin alphabet-.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpkVeIvtUGSZEZiZoXe6zB7AhjHy60lLjc_yiOFyL-uaP0DdwEAx3E8g4q4bVuNHIwVY3oLys5ZDvqKlOJQuK-FnzM3-VXefV7H5lSQJwKMHbw19juu8ukREJrx-t5l_CVyPVhvw/s1600-h/Pantallazo-2.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpkVeIvtUGSZEZiZoXe6zB7AhjHy60lLjc_yiOFyL-uaP0DdwEAx3E8g4q4bVuNHIwVY3oLys5ZDvqKlOJQuK-FnzM3-VXefV7H5lSQJwKMHbw19juu8ukREJrx-t5l_CVyPVhvw/s400/Pantallazo-2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158412112672509186" border="0" /></a><br />In Egypt, <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/coptic.htm">Coptic</a> appeared in the 1st Century BC as a transformation of ancient demotic on Greek alphabet and used by Christians in the country. Among Celtic and Germanic population, <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/ogham.htm">Ogham</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_alphabet">Ru</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_alphabet">nic</a> alphabets were spread and used before Christianization, sculpted on stone or wood, with ritual or magical aim. Other Greek derived alphabets appeared as practical solutions, to allow Bible translations adaptable to the phonetics of the language. In the 4th Century, the bishop <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulfilas">Ulfilas</a> created in Nicopolis the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_alphabet">Gothic</a> alphabet, that replaced Runic scripts and was used in Northern Europe for centuries. <a href="http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Armenian_Alphabet">Armenian</a> alphabet was invented in the beginning of the 5th century by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Mesrob">Saint Mesrob</a> with the same objective, similarly to the mysterious <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/georgian2.htm">Georgian</a> alphabet, supposedly related with Aramaic, too.<br /><br />Eastern variant of Phoenician, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_alphabet">Aramaic</a>, remained an abjad. From it, <a href="http://www.jewfaq.org/alephbet.htm">Hebrew</a> directly arose in the 10th Century BC, and some centuries later, from a popular variation in lower-case letters, <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/arabic.htm">Arabic</a> and <a href="http://www.ancientscripts.com/brahmi.html">Brahmi</a>. Because of the expansion of Islam during the Middle Ages, Arabic became the official writing in the great muslim empires, from Al-Andalus to Persia. It progressively replaced other Aramaic alphabets, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkhon_script">Orkhon</a> and <a href="http://www.ancientscripts.com/sogdian.html">Sogdian</a> in ancient Turkish territories, and <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tifinagh.htm">Tifinagh</a>, of Berber origin, currently used very seldom by Touaregs.<br /><br />Aramaic writing arrived to India through Persian traders, and extended around the peninsula during the 3rd Century in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka_the_Great">Asoka</a> reign, who already used a form of <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/devanagari.htm">Devanagari</a> alphabet to write his edicts. Later, this family of alphabets sufferd many changes, in order to adapt the phonetics of Semitic languages to the different ones from India to Southeast of Asia -Devanagari, East Nagari, Oriya, Gujarati, Ranjana...-. Because of Buddhism, ancient Brahmi alphabet was used in practicing territories. Northwards, it derived towards <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/mongolian.htm">Mongol</a>, <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tibetan.htm">Tibetan</a> and <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/phagspa.htm">Phags-Pa</a> alphabets. The latter, created at the time of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kublai_Khan">Kublai Khan</a> to adapt better to Chinese and Mongolian phonetics, eventually became a model for the king <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejong_the_Great_of_Joseon">Sejong</a> of Korea, in the 15th Century, to create a new alphabet that combined Brahmi syllabic blocks with ideograms and phonemes to replace the Chinese, not adecuate to Korean phonetics. After centuries of harsh resistance from Aristocratic classes and Confucian adepts, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul">Hangul</a> alphabet became official with the arrival of Korean nationalism later in the 19th Century.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTFEEWwJgpcDCUmOJ546Y8bt0XqZnl6D1nyMtb8ZnUruDmeFcG7f_gToa0YDWNrL3k_Uet7HW2paDZ4Vq4_5WHCqaVw5nHp1MYFZsaIY3ClSFBP5NVPcm5rPXyMe0MqiIkACe2BA/s1600-h/Pantallazo-3.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTFEEWwJgpcDCUmOJ546Y8bt0XqZnl6D1nyMtb8ZnUruDmeFcG7f_gToa0YDWNrL3k_Uet7HW2paDZ4Vq4_5WHCqaVw5nHp1MYFZsaIY3ClSFBP5NVPcm5rPXyMe0MqiIkACe2BA/s400/Pantallazo-3.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158411734715387122" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Writings of the East</span><br /><br />With a completely independent origin, <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/chinese.htm">Chinese calligraphy</a> appeared. It is certainly known that around 1500 BS, during the Shang dynasty, a writing system already existed, although recent findings in central China discovered signs similar to modern Chinese in sculptures dated from the ninth millennium before Christ, which can become the World most ancient scripts. Chinese<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjz6kp2iCvF5o5J1wxynLwvb0L5STuPI_9xo8WIqr1ktaJDSm_1UGivB4jGJQGhtanPDRgEVFbQuR_eNUmR_0sAfMb544Q_mmYqnmKo_hm80zUI0rNb7UfMnkP-1l0iA1rNJgELw/s1600-h/aikido-kanji-v8-large.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjz6kp2iCvF5o5J1wxynLwvb0L5STuPI_9xo8WIqr1ktaJDSm_1UGivB4jGJQGhtanPDRgEVFbQuR_eNUmR_0sAfMb544Q_mmYqnmKo_hm80zUI0rNb7UfMnkP-1l0iA1rNJgELw/s200/aikido-kanji-v8-large.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158411416887807202" border="0" /></a> language, originally, was formed by monosyllabic words, so that every character could only define a concept -ideograms-. Currently, it is the only writing not based on a phonetical alphabet, although many of its characters show pronunciation indications. At the diversity of existing Chinese languages, during the Qin dynasty the same script was formalized for all of them, still in use nowadays.<br /><br />In the 4th Century, Chinese arrived to Japan, but Chinese calligraphy was not used to write Japanese, used by illiterate, until the invention of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27y%C5%8Dgana">man'yogana</a>. This syllabic block based script, originally used to write poetry, gave phonetic value, instead of semantic, to Chinese characters, making it apt to the language. From man'yogana, current <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/japanese_hiragana.htm">hiragana</a> and <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/japanese_katakana.htm">katakana</a> come. Ideograms or <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/japanese_kanji.htm">kanji</a> are copies from Chinese, used in the beginning to define new concepts coming from China. In the Meiji era, efforts were driven to simplify the language and introduce Latin characters in imported words.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Forgotten signs</span><br /><br />Of course, the success of these writing systems lead to the disappearance of other ones, appeared in parallel thousands of years ago, but replaced by these because of being less adecuate to language or sociopolitical reasons. Some examples are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_script">Harappan</a> script in the Indus valley, not deciphered yet, or the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_B">Minoic-Mycenic</a> linear system, disappeared upon the arrival of Greek alphabet.<br /><br />The huge diffusion of Latin writing all around the World, after the colonization and use in Europe of better supports for it, especially paper and printing, lead to its adoption by most languages. This happened in places where there was no writing method, and also in others where some primitive sign systems existed, generally ideographic. They all were eventually displaced and disappeared. In precolonial America the most developed was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_script">Maya</a> system, sculpted on stone or painted on ceramics, of laborious ideograms, lost after the fall of the culture. It is also believed that <a href="http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/%7Eelf/abacus/inca-khipu.html">Incas</a> had one, made from knotted streams, as these formed a symbol system with repetitions, not deciphered yet though. In Africa there also were indigenous writing systems, such as <a href="http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/Writing_Systems/Nsibidi.html">Nsibidi</a> system used by the secret society of Efiks, who governed Nigeria.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com98tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-56415675401134633452007-12-30T12:12:00.000-08:002008-01-15T03:53:47.287-08:00Women of AfricaIn Sub-saharan Africa, women have always had an important role. Despite being, in general, a traditionally patriarchal society, an institutionalised part of power, that limited the king, was hold by a woman of his kin (mother, sister, aunt or cousin). The queen consort often had decision power at the same level as the king in most of the affairs, as happened in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_Empire">Mali empire</a>. Moreover, it was not rare that a woman became queen, even when there were male successors to the throne. It was characteristic that women participate in wars. In the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashanti">Ashanti</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahomey">Dahomey</a> there was a corps of women that accompanied the king to military expeditions.<br /><br /><a href="http://blackhistorypages.net/pages/nzinga.php">Anna Nzinga</a> (1582-1663), queen of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matamba">Matamba</a>-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ndongo">Ndongo</a>, dominated the <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMn3GtXbwLHBgi8RWBrwli4N0r5AmGjN4rcTq9BBqFhMLSE1cJsglnlZPofutPzPeARwsRittFDK-tD0tdPSwQbcI41QVPbHsC2wZkjsJe0r3kFcPZ_VZSqd_GQl3BXqKriFVB5w/s1600-h/nzinga.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMn3GtXbwLHBgi8RWBrwli4N0r5AmGjN4rcTq9BBqFhMLSE1cJsglnlZPofutPzPeARwsRittFDK-tD0tdPSwQbcI41QVPbHsC2wZkjsJe0r3kFcPZ_VZSqd_GQl3BXqKriFVB5w/s200/nzinga.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149935870159801394" border="0" /></a>history of current Angola during thirty years until her death at 82 years old, and opposed a fierce resistance to the Portuguese, who eventually respected the borders of her kingdom. The Portuguese had found in Angola an unusually fertile territory, occupied by a population highly productive and trading in agricultural products, furs and diamonds. After fighting for a century they conquered the coastal part of the country, establishing an important exporting centre of diamonds and slaves in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luanda">Luanda</a>. Being sister of the king Mani Ngola, Nzinga was sent to negotiate with the viceroy Joao Correia Da Souza, and proved so skillful that passed from a defeat situation to the achievement that Portuguese removed their troops from Matamba. In 1624 she succeeded her brother as a queen, and faced Portuguese offensives without losing any territory, she reorganized the army, formed alliances with neighboring countries (and also with Netherlands) and constituted an efficient secret police.<br /><br /><a href="http://womenshistory.about.com/od/medrenqueens/p/amina.htm">Amina</a>, queen of Zazzua (1533-1610) is known as a great warrior queen from Nigeria. Amina's mother, Bakwa of Turunka, was already queen of Za<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrAo6PgJS-lXZInA598pJU5u9qVIhjmhCrZ6Hgx9bBehF-TQbslpMXH4BCHvkbfvoCjuyI5j4NqcB6RhPsY2TyOGgGdwHoX6oMySleYQRyCz96Vuei_3q3ip55K4gYOWA4izykqA/s1600-h/Queen_Amina_S.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 139px; height: 167px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrAo6PgJS-lXZInA598pJU5u9qVIhjmhCrZ6Hgx9bBehF-TQbslpMXH4BCHvkbfvoCjuyI5j4NqcB6RhPsY2TyOGgGdwHoX6oMySleYQRyCz96Vuei_3q3ip55K4gYOWA4izykqA/s200/Queen_Amina_S.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149935737015815202" border="0" /></a>zzua, a <a href="http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/aflang/Hausa/">Hausa</a> state-city, title already hold by her grandfather. Amina was educated in government and warfare skills, and fought in battles together with her brother Karama, who became king at his mother's death. When he died in 1576, Amina succeeded him when she was 43 years old. She used her strategic skills to expand the territory of Zazzua to the mouth of the Niger, and towards <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano">Kano</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsina">Katsina</a> northwards. These conquests lead to a stage of wealth to the kingdom, with the opening of new trade routes and the arrival of new tributes. Mud walls were risen in all the cities, still known nowadays as "Amina's walls". The queen refused to marry and had no children.<br /><br />In the kingdom of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waalo">Waalo</a>, in Senegal, next to the French colony of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Louis,_Senegal">Saint-Louis</a>, the queen <a href="http://grioo.com/opinion5550.html">Ndete Yalla</a> managed to maintain her territory in peace during ten years and imposed a tax to French settlers when they used transport in<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkjqo-UCQ2IPndvtdQRrOrUfBJZum_k0Gz3zoVi1gTgGHVdK8phLbbs8YAllZq9EjNyTF6XWz6WSIzNdnwArPeGKPD1l6LTZ3QDXe8xTknoLDSmr-ES09c5YWhaBmz-7-s34TnAQ/s1600-h/5237.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkjqo-UCQ2IPndvtdQRrOrUfBJZum_k0Gz3zoVi1gTgGHVdK8phLbbs8YAllZq9EjNyTF6XWz6WSIzNdnwArPeGKPD1l6LTZ3QDXe8xTknoLDSmr-ES09c5YWhaBmz-7-s34TnAQ/s200/5237.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149935582396992530" border="0" /></a> the Senegal river, and when it ceased to be respected, immediately ordered in 1855 the expulsion of all strangers, which meant war. In the current Ivory Coast, a woman, <a href="http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-46079/Awura-Pokou">Pokou</a>, took the leadership of her tribe, known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baoul%C3%A9">Baoulé</a>, to save them from extermination, when the Ashanti confederation of Ghana, founded by her great-uncle, broke up, in a tragic exile that later became a legend.<br /><br />Some queens were not exempt from cruelty. In Madagascar, the queen <a href="http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/03/10/060043.php">Ranavalona</a> took the power when her husband, the king Radama, died (murdered by her orders, as it is believed). She ordered Christian missionaries in the island to be executed, decreed the expulsion of all strangers in 1857, and formed a kingdom of terror in which thousands of executions were carried out per year. It is also told that, in the territory of the Dschaks, in the inner Congo, once arised a queen who, after overthrowing her mother and killing her son, formed a female kingdom in which men were enslaved, sacrificed or assassinated. Pregnant women had to flee from the land until they gave birth, only if they brought back a little girl. The subsistence of her kingdom, lacking agricultural activity, was possible for several years with the sacking of neighboring people and villages, with who they did not cease to fight.<br /><br />There were prophet women, too, such as <a href="http://www.whoosh.org/issue85/klossner6.html">Kahina</a>, a berber priestess from Mauritania, who became the leader of her country's army and caused the first major defeat to Arabs in 690. <a href="http://www.dacb.org/stories/congo/kimpa_vita.html">Kimpa Vita</a> in Congo, in the 17th Century created a religion that mixed Catholic and African concepts, which attracted the support of a great part of Congolese aristocracy to expel strangers from the country. She was accused of sorcery when she was 24 years old and burn alive together with her child.<br /><br />Apart from politics, African women have had and still have an important role in economy. African women have always been excellent in domestic resources organization, because of the traditional complete lack of interest from husbands. This has allowed women to eventually create trade networks in order to focus these organizational skills and communication talents. Nowadays, 80% of autonomous business in sub-saharan Africa are carried by women, and there exist important women trade networks such as those in Accra (Ghana) and Nairobi (Kenya). Historically, it should be noted about the life of <a href="http://www.grioo.com/info6339.html">Tinubu</a>, in the 19th Century, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoruba_people">Yoruba</a> woman who started selling corn mush and later, with the support of a group of wholesale traders, created a business of slave traffic, that she abandoned when abolition spread and started trading palm oil. She eventually became the main mediator of Euro-African trade of the area, and thanks to her growing influence, became the main advisor of the king of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagos">Lagos</a>. After being banished from the kingdom by the British, she acquired wealth with the arms trade and became a heroine of her home city <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abeokuta">Abeokuta</a> in the resistance against the Europeans and the neighboring kings of Dahomey.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-44236477871589078472007-12-18T07:43:00.000-08:002007-12-18T07:47:31.410-08:00History of a kiss<span style="" lang="EN-GB">One of the greatest kisses in History is the one that took place between communist leaders <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Honecker">Erich Honecker</a>, from <st1:country-region st="on">East Germany</st1:country-region>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Brezhnev">Leonid Brezhnev</a>, from <st1:place st="on">Soviet Union</st1:place>, during the 30th Anniversary of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany">German Democratic Republic</a> in June 1979. Despite the controversy and ridicule arisen in the West, this was actually a common sign of socialist solidarity, very used since <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev">Khrushchev</a> era. It seems, moreover, that both leaders were very keen on kissing*. However, this kiss has a greater story.</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The good kiss</span><br /><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p>Honecker had become the leader of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Unity_Party_of_Germany">German Socialist Party</a> in 1971, after the fall of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Ulbricht">Walter Ulbricht</a> in disgrace, thanks to Brezhnev support, and in 1976 had become president of the Counsel of State of the GDR, also aided by the latter.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p>In the new 70's spirit of the "<a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0857421.html">détente</a>", the Soviet Union achieved, in exchange of a relaxation of weapon tensions, that the <st1:country-region st="on">United states</st1:country-region> recognised its influence area in <st1:place st="on">Eastern Europe</st1:place>. In this political atmosphere appeared the "Brezhnev Doctrine", that imp</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHAxDNNgmsalAZcXPU8OEqGcndC-4LQGcYCWm4l3QPj0J-JqNmJ5XgUg5wyeXtAJ3epaRSfnh8RDRrbToR2urirhidKB5O652xhCuprBtnz_xm5_SQG8vYNI0UwyzN6SvIl2NinQ/s1600-h/cop-breznef-honecker1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHAxDNNgmsalAZcXPU8OEqGcndC-4LQGcYCWm4l3QPj0J-JqNmJ5XgUg5wyeXtAJ3epaRSfnh8RDRrbToR2urirhidKB5O652xhCuprBtnz_xm5_SQG8vYNI0UwyzN6SvIl2NinQ/s200/cop-breznef-honecker1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145339881490926498" border="0" /></a><span style="" lang="EN-GB">osed the right for Soviet military intervention in European socialist states. This happened, for instance, in the invasion of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring"><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Prague</st1:place></st1:city></a> by the Warsaw Pact in 1968, with the passivity of Western allies.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p>Honecker carried out a series of economic reforms in t</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">he GDR that lead the country to a so-called "consumption socialism", that resulted in an improvement of the population's standards of living. Apart from that, relationship with its Soviet colleague were a true love story. GDR and the <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">USSR</st1:country-region></st1:place> needed each other, the first became the greatest ideological defender of Communism in a time when this system was more than questioned. In turn, the Soviet Union guaranteed the Red Army intervention in case of a popular revolt similar to that in Prague, which was pretty probable considering the number of opponents to Honecker's regime. Finally, the GDR was interested in furthering all possibilities of German reunification, so the "détente" politics was very useful to follow.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p>Nowadays, a painted version of the "<a href="http://www.xs4all.nl/%7Ecepweb/europe-various/dmitri-vrubel-bruderkuss-berlin-wall.html">Fraternal Kiss</a>" can be seen on the eastern side of Berlin Wall's ruins, performed by Dmitri Vrubel after the collapse. If one looks to it attenti</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">vely, one can realise that this kiss is typical of a Greek tragedy, a suffocating kiss, in which lovers get too compromised on each other, despite of knowing that there is no future in that poisoned relationship. Actually, the painting is named "The Kiss of Death", and one can read under it "God, help me to survive this deadly love".</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The bad kiss</span><br /><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p>Exactly, when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev">Mikhail Gorbachev</a> came to power, the romance was over. His only ambition was to save his country from economic ruin, after the disastrous conditions in which</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmqXmbXtCOwR7-DqKvAtwxd3EA3wGZBUc8yEuZii0MB-6aSIjDLNzX8BEepvuBTjXkn9kj5vHJtz5AHJs3n9ScldzSBvD1EcWjI5syg-FaCx0kW49JfDOZ9Ipvhb0iHflBWBxzkw/s1600-h/honi-gorbi-kuss.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmqXmbXtCOwR7-DqKvAtwxd3EA3wGZBUc8yEuZii0MB-6aSIjDLNzX8BEepvuBTjXkn9kj5vHJtz5AHJs3n9ScldzSBvD1EcWjI5syg-FaCx0kW49JfDOZ9Ipvhb0iHflBWBxzkw/s200/honi-gorbi-kuss.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145340036109749170" border="0" /></a><span style="" lang="EN-GB"> Brezhnev had left it. After presenting a series of reforms concerning restructuration (perestrokia) and openness (glasnost) he would carry out, Gorbachev announced the end of Brezhnev Doctrine: the <st1:place st="on">Soviet Union</st1:place> had not the will to impose the political regime to any East European country anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p>During Gorbachev's official visit to Eastern Germany, in October 1989, Honecker had the intention to ask the <st1:place st="on">Soviet Union</st1:place> for a fundamental aid to keep order in the country, However, upon his arrival, the relationship had cooled down: the protocol kiss Gorbachev gave him was very different to that of ten years ago. This one actually meant "my friend, you are alone". Less than one year later, GDR had ceased to exist.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p>* A contemporaneous joke showed Brezhnev staring at the departing plane of a foreign leader, exclaiming: "As a politician, rubbish... but what a good kisser!".<o:p></o:p></span></p>Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com297tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-56507792714766117662007-12-02T12:32:00.000-08:002007-12-02T12:48:50.292-08:00The red explorerA <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saga_of_Eric_the_Red">medieval Saga</a> tells the story of Erik, called "the Red", one of the greatest <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse">Viking</a> explorers. The appelative "the Red" most likely refers to his hair color, and perhaps also his fiery temper. He was born in around 950 in the Jaeren district of Rogaland, Norway, but his family settled in western <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland">Iceland</a> after his father, Thorvald Asvaldsson, was banished for murdering a man. Wandering would become a habit during his life. So, they occupied land in Hornstrandir, and dwelt at Drangar, where he became a Norse Chieftain.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Continuous banishment</span><br /><br />After his father's death, he got married and moved south to Haukalar. There, when his servants were clearing land for farming, they accidentally started a landslide on his neighbour Valthjof's farm. A kinsman of his, called Eyjolf Saur, killed the servants for this misfortune, and in revenge, Erik killed Eyjolf. This caused him to be thrown out from the region and installed in Sudrey.<br /><br />Around the year 982, tragedy accompanied him again in a quarrel with his neighbour Thorgest, because of some beams he had borrowed from Erik and was never given back. When Thorgest refused to return them, Erik stole the beams back. A great fight arose, where two sons of Thorgest died. Eventually, at the next Thorsnes Thing event, where judgments were carried out annually, the Icelanders decided to convict Erik of these murders and banished him from Iceland.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwqlcI3jdtX24Trt4r5rH8NasHDRywMbuitWjhl5xmrjauT3_1c4IR8b8ABSLblBEcL2PPPJPZpP2R6V2V2GcK0Lq2RovAZ5HIoBq22uq9lpCOM_l6ZYY1zyLVjkYGdANmGBlh6A/s1600-r/250px-Eric_the_Red.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr1-3z8Nw8vSPiriPKjmheOQPAsHpCPRuGJ55sxTWKKocZE52iEM14GfEyavfj1EYU6uRYY9cyhlqemqUWWQJ-geRkN5YNmsE2ZC-ZGRY-4OPPkV3T6V7D2Tfgwo7T1M6BSOQm4A/s200/250px-Eric_the_Red.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139479600551747746" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Erik the Red, considering that he was never welcomed in any land, decided to find one by himself. He had heard of a discovery of new lands in the West, around 50 years before, by the explorer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnbj%C3%B6rn_Ulfsson">Gunnbjorn</a>, son of Ulf the Crow. He then prepared a ship and left from Snaefellsnes, promising to return if he found the land. His friends Thorbjorn, Eyjolf and Styr, and other crew, joined him in his banishment.<br /><br />After three weeks, he eventually reached North American lands and rounded the southern tip of a great island, and sailed up the western coast. He found it unpeopled and, for the most part, ice-free and consequently with conditions that promised growth and future prosperity. According to the Saga, he spent his three years of exile exploring this land and naming its places.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The New World</span><br /><br />When Erik returned to Iceland, he brought with him stories of the new land he called "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland">Greenland</a>". Although the high medieval climate was milder than it is today, Erik purposely gave the land a more appealing name than "Iceland" in order to lure potential settlers. He explained, "people would be attracted to go there if it had a favorable name". Ultimately he did this, though, to gain favor among people, as he knew full well that the success of any settlement in Greenland would need the support of as many people as possible.<br /><br />His salesmanship proved successful, as around 600 people, especially among those living on poor land in Iceland, joined him to Greenland in the Spring of the year 985, in what was one of the greatest Arctic expeditions of all time. 25 ships left Iceland in that dangerous voyage, of which 14 arrived to Greenland. They established two colonies on the southwest coast: Vestribyggd (West, close to present-day Godthab), and Eystribyggd (East, in modern-day Julianhab). In the latter Erik built the estate <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brattahl%C3%AD%C3%B0">Brattahlid</a>, from where he ruled his colonies as Paramount Chieftain, a respectable title that practically gave him independence in his lands from Iceland. Although these facts are told as a legend, carbon tests performed on ar<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTBoNJ6FJ0F7jmNM5j4KMOE2kj0LZsEvbjWZKL-plygrudoBXq9qDOZ3rNP26R2GHnyMC1uGyNcbbiutU0TBUvmkqQbSlfno_mw0WG9-E-TvrEBw55rvpgEq86-de2pAhICH_AvA/s1600-r/map.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidKfUR9W5DMMPPbPPlWQCmR-ebFVoo-aaq6vhEEqpwMCq5fnBmQAIc0lsGFz7-can-AkUbnSXIDuHXCu5iixVAXFpKaQ9xvGcaGh_h4ey5sZ7an7GysfuWqe4jSmZYRoysZj0UQg/s200/map.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139480223322005698" border="0" /></a>cheologic remains of what is thought to be Brattahlid give this date as accurate. There the first Greenlandinc Thing (parliament) was founded based on the Icelandic one. Laws were not centralized but decided by the people, and not written down, but memorized by an elected Lawspeaker. The first Christian church in the New World, Thjodhildakirkja, was also built in there by Erik's son Leif Eriksson.<br /><br />In the next years more settlers arrived from Scandinavia and gradually occupied all the southwest coast of Greenland, which was actually the only area suitable for agriculture. There were around 400 farms in the territory, which reached 5000 people in its best time. During the summers, armies of men were sent to hunt above the Arctic Circle for food and other valuable commodities such as seals, ivory from tusks, and beached whales. In these expeditions they probably encountered the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit">Inuit</a> (Eskimo) people, who had not yet moved into eastern Greenland.<br /><br />Commerce flourished with Iceland and Norway. Greenlanders exported ivory, ropes, sheep and furs. Iron and timber, not present in the island and necessary for building, were brought from Europe to chieftains, who distributed it among the surrounding farmers. Although the colonies' dependence on these goods was high, trade was very active since Greenland ivory was very appreciated in Europe, as the trade of elephant ivory had been blocked by conflicts with the Islamic world.<br /><br />In 1002, a group of immigrants brought an epidemic that ravaged the colony, causing Erik's death. However, the colonies survived and rebounded again under the protection of the king of Norway. In 1126, Norvegian control grew by founding a diocese dependent on the archdiocese of Trondheim. In 1261 the population finally accepted the overlordship of the Norvegian King and started paying tributes, although it continued to have its own law.<br /><br />Decline started in 1348, with the arrival of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death">Black Death</a> and the Inuit attack to the Western Settlement. Since 1380, the trade with Europe gradually declined, stressed by the prohibition of all private commerce by the new Danish government of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmar_Union">Kalmar Union</a> in 1397 and the loss of interest in the colonies. The population had to be excused several times from paying taxes, and archeologic findings show an increasingly empoverished diet for men and animals. In 1418, English pirates sacked the Eastern Settlement and by the end of the 15th Century, the Norse population of Greenland had disappeared. The most probable ultimate reason for the abandonment of the colonies was that climate became colder in what is called the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age">Little Ace Age</a>". Moreover, the Norse never learned the Inuit techniques to adapt to cold winters, kayak navigation or ring seal hunting.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The sons of Erik</span><br /><br />Erik's son, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Ericson">Leif Eriksson</a>, also made History by becoming the first Viking to explore the lands of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland">Vinland</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markland">Markland</a> (present-day Newfoundland, in Canada) around the year 1000. Settlement there resulted a disaster, since the colony Leifbundir only lasted ten years. The reason was the continuous conflicts with what they called "skraelings" (literally, "ugly men"), who, in the first contact, killed Leif's brother Thorvald. Fights were usually won by Vikings, but they soon realised that establishment was impossible without a military support, and travelled back to Greenland. They returned periodically to gather timber for building, as the journey was far shorter than going to Iceland. The last known journey to Vinland dates from 1347.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-12426278891451890572007-11-11T12:15:00.000-08:002007-11-11T12:27:48.864-08:00Millet or silver cookies<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbp11t33lE6xpgkAysVGwUe-uqEbR-oKqxmgfMsHimD1A0pOL8j20wkn6mqU35BGHjY_7t1zIwN0uyQSdPJUsQJW9y_ugqD96gnX1AROkh5Lmv3f1Q7T0HT3CbtUgy3n5t17xmqQ/s1600-h/hampate_ba_amadou.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 127px; height: 181px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbp11t33lE6xpgkAysVGwUe-uqEbR-oKqxmgfMsHimD1A0pOL8j20wkn6mqU35BGHjY_7t1zIwN0uyQSdPJUsQJW9y_ugqD96gnX1AROkh5Lmv3f1Q7T0HT3CbtUgy3n5t17xmqQ/s200/hampate_ba_amadou.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131682116851772274" border="0" /></a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadou_Hamp%C3%A2t%C3%A9_B%C3%A2">Amadou Hampâte Bâ</a> tells in his book <span style="font-style: italic;">Mémoires</span> that, in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_West_Africa">French West Africa</a>, the governor of Dakkar imposed a tax to the indigenous people in his territories, something ironically called "the price of the soul", because of being the tax to be paid for the right to life. It was through the circle commanders that taxes were collected.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Silver cookies?"</span><br /><br />One day in the year 1916, the governor had decided that, since then, the tax could not be paid in nature anymore, but in cash. The commander in the circle of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dori,_Burkina_Faso">Dori</a> gathered the chiefs of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuareg">tuareg</a> tribes to let them know the new rule.<br /><br />When the chief of Logomaten tribes was present, he told the interpreter: "Tell the chief that, by the governor's order, from now on the tax will not be collected in nature, but in currency."<br /><br />The interpreter turned to the chief and expressed in the Fula language of Dori: "The commander has said that the great governor has said that from now on the tax must be paid in <span style="font-style: italic;">bouddi</span>". It must be said that, in Fula, the word <span style="font-style: italic;">bouddi</span> is used to designate coins of five francs, but also boiled millet cookies.<br /><br />The tuareg chief, very happy, smiled and said: "Interpreter! Thank the commander, and tell him that I own a great amount of millet, and also servants that can prepare as many <span style="font-style: italic;">bouddi</span> as he wants, enough to feed the population of Dori during months!".<br /><br />The interpreter realised about the mistake: "He does not mean <span style="font-style: italic;">bouddi</span> of millet flour, but <span style="font-style: italic;">bouddi</span> in money." The chief, confused, asked to be shown a sample of the cookie he was demanded. The commander gave a five francs coin to the interpreter, who held it to the chief. He turned it, stared at it, weighed it, bite it... afterwards gave it back to the interpreter: "This silver cookie, where was it cooked?". After listening to the interpreter, the commander exploded: "In France! Where does he want it to come?".<br /><br />"In France?", said the interpreter, surprised. "Interpreter, tell the comman<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ePmrDI9jH9G6jGBzG665hSwGubpP8wouxW-4FntfYw7hFnRA1q1I7cv8cv3v0UUqVCHsokv49D8EJDYlyF2WTqYMeY2Xk1QNMcoOikq_eQfAFxOh4gqOOLiiS67mUFAsoIhLbw/s1600-h/TuaregTribu.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 147px; height: 161px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ePmrDI9jH9G6jGBzG665hSwGubpP8wouxW-4FntfYw7hFnRA1q1I7cv8cv3v0UUqVCHsokv49D8EJDYlyF2WTqYMeY2Xk1QNMcoOikq_eQfAFxOh4gqOOLiiS67mUFAsoIhLbw/s200/TuaregTribu.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131681854858767202" border="0" /></a>der to be reasonable. He is asking me to give him money cookies that have been cooked in France, being French himself. I am a tuareg from Dori, who can only make millet cookies. It should be me who asked him for money cookies from his home, and not the contrary! If the commander wants the tax to be paid in camels, oxes, lambs, goats, millet, rice, butter or slaves, then I can do it. But if he is demanding me to give him the cookies he is showing me, which are cooked in France, then he wants fight. I accept! But I warn him: the tuareg I am finds fight as one's element!".<br /><br />Immediately after, he showed the right arm to the commander: "Interpreter! Tell the commander to look at my arm. It is not less white neither worse that his. Look at my nose: it is not less straight than his. I am as white as him. If we were alone, man to man, the commander would not dictate me his will, as he is not stronger neither braver than me. If he wanted, I would invite him for a personal duel at the dunes, and I would be sure to beat him. But no... the only advantage the commander has on me, which allows him to torment me with his "I want this" and "I do not want that", is because his country is stronger than mine."<br /><br />Whitout saying farewell, the tuareg chief went out and jumped on his dromedary. There was never a duel between the commander and the chief, but a war between France and the tuaregs, specially the tribes of Logomaten and Oudalan. It was the great revolt of 1916.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-26758659174384058392007-11-01T04:18:00.000-07:002007-11-01T04:25:08.436-07:00A retirement that resulted expensive<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fuenterrebollo.com/Heraldica-Piedra/historia/felipe4-pq.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 141px; height: 178px;" src="http://www.fuenterrebollo.com/Heraldica-Piedra/historia/felipe4-pq.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The reign of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_IV_of_Spain">Philip IV of Spain</a>, "the Planet King", witnessed one of the biggest urbanistic disasters in Modern History. It was the <a href="http://www.boadilla.com/pages/buen_retiro.htm">Palace of Buen Retiro</a> ("Good Retirement"), that his minister the <a href="http://www.wga.hu/tours/spain/olivares.html">Count-Duke of Olivares</a> planned in 1629 so that the decadent Court was entertained and therefore put aside of government responsibilities.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">El Buen Retiro</span><br /><br />The place started up being a terrain property of the Count-Duke close to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jer%C3%B3nimos_Monastery">Monastery of Jerónimos</a> in Madrid, later acquiring nearby lands from the marquises of Poyar and Tavera, besides donations of the city itself, becoming a terrain of 145 hectares.<br /><br />The project was encharged to the architects <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Crescenzi">Giovanni Battista Crescenzi</a> and <a href="http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/c/carbonell_alonso.htm">Alonso Carbonell</a>, who designed large gardens with woodlands and entertainment areas, ponds, theatres, one colosseum, one lion's den and<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://oldwww.upol.cz/res/ssup/hispanismo4/hisp4-binkova3.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://oldwww.upol.cz/res/ssup/hispanismo4/hisp4-binkova3.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a> an exihbition of exotic birds. Since 1633 the greatest king partyies were celebrated in here, if they were dances, bullfightings, naumachias, and performance of the best playwrights of the Golden Century (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Calder%C3%B3n_de_la_Barca">Calderón de la Barca</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lope_de_vega">Lope de Vega</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirso_de_Molina">Tirso de Mo</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirso_de_Molina">lina</a> acted there). During his reign, it was never open to the population.<br /><br />But outside the reality was very different. The people of Madrid, overwhelmed with oppressive taxes to pay the endless <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Revolt">Flanders wars</a> and with an inflation caused by the gold from America, was in a precary situation. And the works carried out in El Retiro only caused a greater poverty, riots and critics.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Worsening the problem</span><br /><br />The king's obsession for collecting artworks took him to buy large collections of pictures (more tan 800 in ten years) from painters in Madrid, Rome and Naples. In 1633, he asked for a palace-museum with luxury interiors able to store all these acquisitions. So it was imperative to plan a new great building, to which the king continously added endless annexes, and make it in a cheap and quick manner in order to silence critics. The palace was built in only seven years, leading the country to near economic collapse, and using low-quality materials (stone only in basements, the walls were made of bricks and forge was wooden).<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_de_Quevedo">Quevedo</a> is attributed the verses "it is not a good occasion / that when so many disasters happen / you<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://people.lett.unitn.it/hispania/image/Teatro_img/Buen%20Retiro.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 237px; height: 103px;" src="http://people.lett.unitn.it/hispania/image/Teatro_img/Buen%20Retiro.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> make water fountains spring / you are making retirements (Retiros) / and not loneliness". Matías de Novoa blamed Olivares for "making a ridiculous, non-profitable building and useless in all manners, of thin walls and weak basements, unfavoured by Nature and Heaven, sterile and sandy, wanting to force it to fecundity and decoration from plants helped by money, not from him or his possessions, but from the belongings of the city". The capital was full of rumours and jokes about the palace, that was called "the hen run", due to its exterior ugliness and the big bird store it housed.<br /><br />From 1735 to 1764, when the new <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Palace_of_Madrid">Royal Palace</a> was built, the royal family had to live in the Palace of El Retiro, that hated it because of the walls' slimness and the low quality of the building. This was finally the cause of its end, a progressive degradation that, when the French installed there during the Independence War, provoked the complete ruin of the palace.<br /><br />The palace was a good reflection of Philip IVth reign, a greatness built on mud feet. Its sad end came with its pulling down by order of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_II_of_Spain">Isabella II</a>, and the requalification and sale of its lands, that had already become the centre of Madrid, in what became one of the great fishy urbanistic deals in Spain History. Today the majority of the gardens (completely reformed) remains, and also a salon for parties (Casón del Buen Retiro).Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-40515210714037292962007-10-21T23:45:00.000-07:002008-01-15T03:54:10.753-08:00Forced labours<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib0a7vUSruxi3BfMQS_X_0xCWDTqTNN8EfUrMfE_qsiFCi0Q9b-teJUKAxHTHghvcGzZj6wV7-WwmXSvdL0IsFDqVEXKDNDon_YzhzI2dY39Tw4rGznMJF-xzj6-juy-O21bwLvw/s1600-h/18.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 178px; height: 117px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib0a7vUSruxi3BfMQS_X_0xCWDTqTNN8EfUrMfE_qsiFCi0Q9b-teJUKAxHTHghvcGzZj6wV7-WwmXSvdL0IsFDqVEXKDNDon_YzhzI2dY39Tw4rGznMJF-xzj6-juy-O21bwLvw/s200/18.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124049521751637474" border="0" /></a><span style="" lang="EN-GB">All along History no government has ever ceased trying prisoners to generate wealth through forced labour. In fact, prisons have their origin in the accommodations for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery">slaves</a>, a compulsory labour force that</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB"> existed since ancient times in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:country-region>, <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Assyria</st1:city></st1:place>, <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Greece</st1:country-region></st1:country-region></st1:city></st1:place>, Roma and Islamic caliphates. Slaves came from criminals, war prisoners and abandoned children, besides the slaves' children themselves.<o:p></o:p></span> <u1:p></u1:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><u1:p></u1:p>In the Middle Age, the <a href="http://history.boisestate.edu/WESTCIV/charles/">Carolingian Empire</a> was supported by a 20% of slave populatio</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">n, but because of the Church's ban, this practice was abandoned between Christians. This relationship evolved from the 10th Century towards <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom">serfdom</a>, in which the peasant was bounded to the land and the master. This system endured all around the World, with variations, from <a href="http://www.historyonthenet.com/Medieval_Life/feudalism.htm">feudal lords</a> in Europe to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogun">shogunates</a> in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Japan</st1:place></st1:country-region></st1:place></st1:country-region>. In <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">England</st1:country-region></st1:country-region> it disappeared during the 17th Century and in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">France</st1:country-region></st1:country-region> in 1789, but in <st1:place st="on"><st1:place st="on">Eastern Europe</st1:place></st1:place> it remained until the mid-19th Century.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <u1:p></u1:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><u1:p></u1:p>A modern se</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">rfdom form is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indenture">indenture</a>, under which workers sign temporary contracts according to which they are only paid by accommodation and feeding. This labour practice was dominant in early colonial societies during the 17th and 18th Centuries, and is still common in developing countries, such as <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Bangladesh</st1:place></st1:country-region></st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <u1:p></u1:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><u1:p></u1:p>In 1452, the Pope <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11058a.htm">Nicholas V</a> issued the Bull "<a href="http://www.romancatholicism.org/popes-slavery.htm">Dum Diversas</a>", which allowed Christian kings to reduce Saracens, pagans and unbelievers to hereditary slavery. This fact started the </span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">massive traffic of black slaves, that remained until the abolition during the 19th Century. Thanks to the collaboration of most powerful African empires (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songhai_Empire"><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Shongay</st1:city></st1:place></a>, <a href="http://litestraboen.blogspot.com/2007/10/amazing-benin.html"><st1:country-region st="on">Benin</st1:country-region></a>), Europeans substituted Arabs as main African slave exporters. These slaves were mainly settled in American colonies, to work in large plantations. Even after the slavery abolition, southern states of the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region></st1:place></st1:country-region> adopted the "<a href="http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/blackcodes/a/blackcodes1865.htm">Black Codes</a>" that imposed forced labour and right to body punishment for blacks, remaining until 1866. Nowadays, slavery still exists in form of people traffic (specially women and children) kidnapped to practise sexual or labour slavery. There are currently more than 27 million slaves in the World.</span></p> <u1:p></u1:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><u1:p></u1:p>Prisons and colonies</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <u1:p></u1:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><u1:p></u1:p>It is only with the appearance of the modern concept of punishment gradation that prisons are institutionalised. Before that, imprisonment was for political opponents, as common criminals were executed or sent to galleys (French king <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_of_France">Louis XIV</a> reduced death sentences so that he could build a well provisioned navy). With the capitalist and industrial economic development, and the consequent emigration to the cities, the authorities tried to convert the new masses of poor and unemployed in a profitable force, and buildings with penitentiary</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB"> functions were made.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <u1:p></u1:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><u1:p></u1:p>During the 18th Century, new humanist and utopic socialist ideas defined delinquent as a victim of the social order, and defended prisons as a means to correction with necessary long sentences, which lead to a massification of prisons. This way prisons were provided with complex vigilance systems, as these were supposed beneficial for the development of regret, same way</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB"> that control over work</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUsV_F9LdwC67Zn-txnneTfSYi5xype1nLWn2gYQvO9cyzdxcY_GWSTvrd3tXUylCICmt0zzZqCe7Xsc_boyyqpDfCv7psXp9muVUXFpbWhWIddeO1ZkwzeO70TBtRamh2u3ZyoQ/s1600-h/jailgang_web.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 166px; height: 117px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUsV_F9LdwC67Zn-txnneTfSYi5xype1nLWn2gYQvO9cyzdxcY_GWSTvrd3tXUylCICmt0zzZqCe7Xsc_boyyqpDfCv7psXp9muVUXFpbWhWIddeO1ZkwzeO70TBtRamh2u3ZyoQ/s200/jailgang_web.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124049375722749394" border="0" /></a><span style="" lang="EN-GB">ers was an </span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">improvement in their work performance.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><u1:p></u1:p>Because of the cos</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">tly storage of so many prisoners, Britain was first to apply forced labour during the 19th C</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">entury (in mines or building of infrastructures), but not until 1853 was labour differentiated between different types of criminals depending on their crime seriousness. Colonial powers also encouraged criminals to join the army instead of being imprisoned (as <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region></st1:place></st1:country-region> did during the Second World War). Or, in </span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">peace times, banishment to inhabited colonies was a frequent solution that, while colonizing new territories, moved undesirable people away from the metropolis.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <u1:p></u1:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><a href="http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/convicts/"><u1:p></u1:p><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Australia</st1:place></st1:country-region></span></a><span style="" lang="EN-GB"> received 800 British prisoners as first habitants, in a date remembered to</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">day as National Day. Along the next decades, thousands of convicts moved to populate penitentiary and forced labour centres in the colonies. <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region></st1:place></st1:country-region> created labour colonies in its South American possessions at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_French_Guiana">French Guyana</a>, infamous because of the brutal treatment to prisoners until their closure in the mid-20th Century.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <u1:p></u1:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><u1:p></u1:p>Many colonies were initially conceived with production centres, during the 19th and 20th Centuries they were common in authoritarian governments that cruelly exploited the prisoners, as in Nazi Germany, <st1:city st="on"><st1:city st="on">Soviet Union</st1:city></st1:city>, <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Romania</st1:country-region></st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">North Vietnam</st1:place></st1:country-region></st1:place></st1:country-region>. Also victorious powers of the Second World War used Germans as compulsory labour force for reconstructions.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <u1:p></u1:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><u1:p></u1:p>The first Nazi concentration camps were built in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region></st1:place></st1:country-region> to accommodate politica</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">l opponents of the regime. Since 1942, camps were created close to factories in order to provide labour force.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben"> IG Farben</a> established a synthetic rubber factory in <a href="http://www.blogger.com/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monowice">Auschwitz III</a> (Monowitz), and o</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo3ME0qAZrKR_Svg9z6M_d73Oa8H1pi5sfdeETOLXXkIR7x0Et1N7bkyUErgX0dP-F20HVJKqIj75q6SrL7e5fUbbHxmMZqf7TfENCuWin02ipbrOQhWLRpCVq3iTCRWRof-GrHQ/s1600-h/Belbaltlag--1932.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 155px; height: 118px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo3ME0qAZrKR_Svg9z6M_d73Oa8H1pi5sfdeETOLXXkIR7x0Et1N7bkyUErgX0dP-F20HVJKqIj75q6SrL7e5fUbbHxmMZqf7TfENCuWin02ipbrOQhWLRpCVq3iTCRWRof-GrHQ/s200/Belbaltlag--1932.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124049221103926722" border="0" /></a><span style="" lang="EN-GB">ther camps were situated near plane and rocket factories, and coal mines. Prisoners were frequen</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">tly sent in mass to the gas chambers when it was necessary to renew labour force.</span></p> <u1:p></u1:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><st1:place st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><u1:p></u1:p>Soviet Union</span></st1:place></st1:place><span style="" lang="EN-GB"> created a huge network of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulag">Gulags</a> (at least 476) to serve as a destination for the victims of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin">Stalin</a> purges. They were mainly ethnic minorities and, after the Second World War, Germans and even liberated soldiers of the Red Army. The most infamous of these camps were built in Siberia north of the Arctic Circle, in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolyma">Kolyma</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norilsk"><st1:city st="on">Norilsk</st1:city></a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorkuta"><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Vorkuta</st1:place></st1:city></a>. In total, about 18 million people were in this type of camps, of which more than half died. Gulags were one of the pillars of Soviet industrial development, as they were assigned tasks of natural reso</span><span style="" lang="EN-GB">urce exploitation and infrastructure building in remote areas of the country.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <u1:p></u1:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><u1:p></u1:p>A lucrative business</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="" lang="EN-GB">The United States have started to privatise imprisonment services (<a href="http://www.wcc-corrections.com/">Wackenhut Co</a></span><span style="" lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.wcc-corrections.com/">rrections</a>, <a href="http://www.correctionalservices.com/">Correctional Services Corporation</a> and <a href="http://www.correctionscorp.com/">Corrections Corporation of <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region></a>), adducing that the costs of private administration are much lower than public one. This kind of prison-companies offers convicts working for much lower incomes than common citizens, as the light cost of maintenance is included. As a consequence, prisons can make very advantageous contracts with big corporations, for tasks of product assembling.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-89783779683856901602007-10-11T07:58:00.000-07:002007-10-22T00:05:00.186-07:00Amazing Benin<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgEgWIMDbFwljUylGdDoWKHmPhPHKNVqKqnUiWtc9EOaapXZazS7Hm3dQoa-nSH8YLEbI64qqz4brIYwJvlTDD1GSrVW9dyoFPp9tlEXxUpdB8th3x9DS6oFCZ614aMgZvyzkwNA/s1600-h/Benin.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120094990743387410" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgEgWIMDbFwljUylGdDoWKHmPhPHKNVqKqnUiWtc9EOaapXZazS7Hm3dQoa-nSH8YLEbI64qqz4brIYwJvlTDD1GSrVW9dyoFPp9tlEXxUpdB8th3x9DS6oFCZ614aMgZvyzkwNA/s200/Benin.jpg" border="0" height="117" width="205" /></a>In 1602 the Dutch merchant <a href="http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_de_Marees">Pieter de Marees</a> described the city of <a href="http://www.edo-nation.net/stewart1.htm">Edo</a> (now <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benin_City">Benin City</a>), capital of the <a href="http://www.greatbenin.org/igodo.html">Benin Empire</a>, this way: "The walled city of Benin is composed by a system of huge straight streets. These streets, although not paved, are very wide and well maintained [...]. Fine and big wooden houses are based along the streets, provided with covered porchs [...]. The king's court is very big, with galleries as large as the largest in Amsterdam, constantly watched, and supported by wooden pillars encased with copper on which engravings with past battles were depicted. I went so deep inside this building that, wherever I looked around, I could see gate after gate that finished in other places" [de Marees, 1602].<br /><br />In his work "Description of Guinea", where he compiled information about uses and habitudes of indigenous people of the Benin Coast, de Marees mainly described the people as "bellicose, promiscuous, savage and thiefs". However, he managed to capture many aspects of the advanced Bini culture.<br /><br /><div><div><p><strong>Amazing Benin</strong><br /><br />In effect, Europeans there found an Empire with a complex administrative system. The king, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oba_of_Benin">Oba</a>, exercised a great religious power (in fact the country never converted to Christianism) and also political, although the latter was supervised by two councils, an hereditary one (the Uzama) and an elected one, composed by territory chiefs, and lot of influence over the Oba's decisions. Most of the kings in the nearby territories also had a non hereditary title elected by the people.<br /><br />The Benin Empire culture was, contrary to the one of European colonizers, very social. As long as in Europe the land was seen as a property and an investment, in Africa it was a common property, in which each individual possessed the right to work parts of it, but never over the land itself, as it belonged to the clan or the community. The same way, the name of new born children was decided as common agreement of the people.</p><br /><p><strong>A tricky Golden Age</strong><br /><br />The arrival of the Portuguese meant a deep social change. The Bini did not have the habitude of making trade exchanges aiming luxury, but the behaviour of land possession eagerness, characteristic of Europeans, was finally imitated by the indigenous. "As time passed by, they earned so much knowledge about their products that they almost surpassed us" [de Marees, 1602]. In effect, after a time of trade agreements, Africans understood that Europeans did not have the gold from Benin neither the copper from Sahara, so they had the power of rising prices as there were more and more clients and it was an increasingly valuable business, to the extent that "they became so proud and anxious as greedy rich men. After realising it was good merchandise, they tried by all means to falsify gold itself, transforming 100 grams in <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJSUgGFZ-pkMnZPWF8ctPCI5Pc-UIJ5MSWLw72vCcEtakSXlHlp1nrFn1a-zEDngn-G3flBXh1i5BLwH3_U16I5YEI5LEEGj6j51rH222uuqGxRj8IiO7pRhwT_BMYSr_oRDqGOA/s1600-h/h2_1991.17.3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120094677210774786" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJSUgGFZ-pkMnZPWF8ctPCI5Pc-UIJ5MSWLw72vCcEtakSXlHlp1nrFn1a-zEDngn-G3flBXh1i5BLwH3_U16I5YEI5LEEGj6j51rH222uuqGxRj8IiO7pRhwT_BMYSr_oRDqGOA/s200/h2_1991.17.3.jpg" border="0" height="161" width="155" /></a>150 and this way cheating foreigners".<br /><br />Benin people had a deep alcohol culture, as they constantly used it in celebrations of births, offerings, worship to the land and lots of social rites. They distilled it from honey, plants and millet, and produced a kind of low graduation rum, so that when they tried the strong liquor Europeans brought, alcoholism became a common illnes. De Marees said that "they were naturally great drinkers" and, because of the lack of habit to this drink, became easily aggressive. This circumstance was very used by Europeans, together with traffic of firearms, in order to promote tribal wars that became a source to start slave trade.<br /><br />This way, the Benin Empire complemented gold trade with ivory, pepper, furs, and specially slaves obtained in wars. Along the 16th and 17th centuries, it became the richest and most powerful Empire in West Africa, and a trade class appeared with a desire for luxury comparable to the Western one. British explorers realised the Oba was able to rise an army of twenty thousand men in one single day, and up to one hundred thousand men if necessary.<br />The end of the Empire came with the abolishment of slavery, of which its wealth had become totally dependent, and Benin entered a period of decadence that meant a lowering of richness, territorial losses and migration. This way, in 1897, the British occupied and pillaged the city of Edo. The kingdom became the protectorate of Nigeria, and the magnificent Bini artworks are now kept in a room in the British Museum.</p></div></div>Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-19313432202380742832007-08-23T02:51:00.000-07:002008-01-15T03:54:33.146-08:00HolidaysJust arrived from holidays, it seems to me appropriate to tell why we have leisure days, who decided when they would happen, and since when we do tourism at the seaside or the mountain.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Origins of holidays</span><br /><br />Originally, resting days were given by religious festivities or natural cycles. While the pop<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://koran.topcities.com/Pictures/Pilgrimage02.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://koran.topcities.com/Pictures/Pilgrimage02.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>ulation was mostly rural, the main resting period (that coincided generally with the celebration of festivals) was after the harvest time, in a period varying from August to December.<br />The first journeys due to celebrations were pilgrimages to religious centres (<a href="http://www.delphioracle.org/">Oracle in Delphi</a>, <a href="http://www.sacredsites.com/middle_east/saudi_arabia/mecca.html">Mecca</a>, <a href="http://www.mahabodhi.com/">Temple of Mahabodhi</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James">Way of St James</a>, etc), or cultural events, such as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games">Olympic Games</a>, and were made very few times a life. It was already common in these journeys to bring "souvenirs" back home. In the end of the Middle Age the first establishments known as "hotels" appear, created to accommodate important people who traveled with their entourage. Rich classes, moreover, used to have a villa or palace as alternative residence, often near the sea, where climate was mild. Some places were starting to stand out such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baiae">Baiae</a> (Italy) during the Roman Republic.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Modern Age: English-like tourism</span><br /><br />It is during the 16th Century that the interest of travelling and exploring new places. In England it becomes fashionable among the aristocracy to send the young men for a "Grand Tour" (from there came the word "tourist") during several years in order to complete their stu<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cec.chebucto.org/ClosPark/Images/WinnBech/Beach.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://cec.chebucto.org/ClosPark/Images/WinnBech/Beach.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>dies and have new experiences. At this time also baths are reborn (now as bath centres far from cities) and beaches, where first the English Royal Family moved (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weymouth">Weymouth</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton">Brighton</a>, etc.) and then spread among rich people, just for imitating. The renewed interest in topics such as Botanics, Archeology or Paleontology gave way to interest of hiking during the months in Spring and Summer.<br />The 19th Century witnesses the revolution in transports and the apparing of railway lines and transoceanic boats that make long journeys easy and cheap for the new burgeoisie, less elitist than ancient aristocracy, and also with time and money to spend. Health tourism is generalised, and beaches are joined by mountain: it is the time of <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.rtlc.org/taconics.jpe"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.rtlc.org/taconics.jpe" alt="" border="0" /></a>mountaineering and sanatoria. The first entrepreneur iniciatives. mostly English, related to tourism appear: the first travel company "<a href="http://www.coxandkings.co.uk/">Cox & Kings</a>" (1758), the first transoceanic company "<a href="http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Ball_Line_%28trans-Atlantic_packet%29">Black Ball Line</a>" (1818), the first organised trip by <a href="http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cook">Thomas Cook</a> (1841), the first travelers' cheques by "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Express">American Express</a>" (1891) and the first comfort hotels by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9sar_Ritz">Cesar Ritz</a> (1898).<br />It was also the English who, looking for a new leisure season, started Winter tourism in the Swiss villages of <a href="http://www.zermatt.ch/index.e.html">Zermatt</a> and <a href="http://www.stmoritz.ch/home-002-00-en.htm">St Moritz</a> in 1864, where the first ski resorts. This fact coincides (not by chance) with the invention of modern skiing by <a href="http://www.gadgetsandgifts.ca/products/other/otherarticles/sportsfitness/skihistory.htm">Sad</a><a href="http://www.gadgetsandgifts.ca/products/other/otherarticles/sportsfitness/skihistory.htm">re Norhein</a> (1825) and his technique of "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telemark_skiing">telemark</a>".<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Modern Tourism</span><br /><br />Since the 1950s the "boom" of tourism in Western World takes place, thanks to political stability, elevation of standards of living, generalisation of cheap automobiles and ur<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.guiadeviaje.net/portugal/imagenes/espinho-playa.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.guiadeviaje.net/portugal/imagenes/espinho-playa.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>banisation of society (that generates a new culture of leisure based in fleeing from stress of daily life). It is also then when tourism becomes massified: first the vehicle trip to the seaside, and then, when the reaction airplane appears, tourism packs to exotic destinations. During the 1960s all the aspects of tourism are legislated (insurances, rights of passengers, paid holidays).<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/87/Urban_backpacking.JPG/230px-Urban_backpacking.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 135px; height: 164px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/87/Urban_backpacking.JPG/230px-Urban_backpacking.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Modern tourism dates from the 1980s, when it becomes diversified in many different types (cultural, rural, health, risk tourism), characterised by the liberalisation and internationalisation of the big tourism companies and the free exchange of people inside the European Union. Also recently appears the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backpacking_%28travel%29">backpacker</a>, a kind of independent tourist with few resources, and also low-cost flight companies. These are lately generating a new conception of tourism based on do-it-yurself and freedom, in a World where individuals have already enough education and power to do so.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-79391832787644492772007-06-21T17:10:00.000-07:002007-06-21T17:22:35.558-07:00Two GermaniesA brief timeline of the process that meant the division of Germany after the Second World War.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">12 - 16 September 1944:</span> During the Quebec Conference, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgenthau_plan">Morgenthau Plan</a> for the occupation of Germany is approved. This plan aimed to dismantle the whole German heavy industry and transform the country into two independent "agricultural States", in order to avoid future rearmaments. The Plan was finally rejected, but was a guide for the later process.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8th May 1945: </span>Inconditional surrender of Germany, carried out by marshal <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_D%C3%B6nitz">Doenitz</a>. 15 days later, the German General Staff is arrested.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">5th June 1945: </span>Establishment of the <a href="http://www.bl.uk/collections/social/goac2.html">Allied Control Council</a>, based in Berlin, for the government of the occupied Germany, with shared powers among USA, Soviet Union, United Kingdom and France.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">End of May 1945:</span> Brno Death March. 24000 Germans from the Sudetes are forced to walk towards the Austrian border, expelled from Checoslovaquia. Nearly 1000 die of violent treatment and disease.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">17th July - 2nd August 1945:</span> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdam_conference">Potsdam Conference</a>. Division of Germany and Berlin in 4 territories<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/22/Potsdam_conference_1945.JPG/250px-Potsdam_conference_1945.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/22/Potsdam_conference_1945.JPG/250px-Potsdam_conference_1945.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a> administered by USA, Soviet Union, United Kingdom and France. The Soviet Union unilaterally modifies the German border with Poland to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oder-Neisse">Oder-Neisse line</a>. Forced expulsion of the German and mixed population from all the Eastern Europe countries is agreed. This will mean more than 14 million migrations during the next 4 years. According to the Morgenthau Plan, the reduction of the German heavy industry is agreed, as well as a control to its Foreign Trade. However, no agrement is reached about occupation, as the Soviet Union claims a single demilitarized state under its rule.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">January 1946: </span>Beginning of the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denazification">denazification</a>" process.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">5th March 1946:</span> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bene%C5%A1_decrees">Benes Treaties</a> are ratified, which state that all property belonging to German residents in the Sudetes and expelled from Checoslovaquia are expropiated by the State as war payments. Germany starts becoming a country without practically any resource to fee an excessive and poor population.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">29th March 1946: </span>First Desindustrialization Plan for Germany begins, which aims to reduce heavy industry to 50% of the pre-war levels. Steel and automobile production is stricted, and the one for drinks, domestic goods, timber and Coke is promoted.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">March 1947: </span>The "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_doctrine">Truman Doctrine</a>" is made public, that defends contention towards emerging Communism. The Cold War begins.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Winter 1946-1947: </span>A specially harsh winter, the situation of German population becomes unsustainable due to lack of food and fuel. Infant mortality in the country is double than that of Western Europe.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">12th July 1947: </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan">Marshall Plan</a> is proposed. The Soviet Union rejects it and forces all the States in Eastern Europe to do so, as a first relevant distancing between Allied powers.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">July 1947: </span>American occupation in Germny is more and more impopular. USA decides to cancel the current occupation directive, and substitutes it by another that aims the re-industrialization of Germany. The president Truman wants to recover an economically strong ally in Europe, over which to develop the damaged continental economy, and avoid that the low standard of living in the country leads to a Communist coup. France prefers keeping the hard directive. The Soviet Union is frontally opposed to the change, and goes on with desindustrialization (in its case, movement of German industry to Russia) in its zone.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">January 1948:</span> USA extends the Marshall Plan to Germany, and promotes the currency reform by introducing the German Mark in its occupation zone in June.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">March 1948: </span>The Soviet Union retires from the Allied Control Council, as a response to the economical measures taken by Western powers in their zones. A Communist system starts to be installed in its occupation zone and Eastern Berlin.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">24th June 1948:</span> The Soviet Union imposes the terrestrial <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/peopleevents/pandeAMEX49.html">Blockade</a> to the three Western zones of Berlin through its occupation zone, alleging that the guarantee of this communication had never been signed. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_D._Clay">General Clay</a> proposes the advance of an armored column towards Berlin, with orders to open fire if attacked. The Truman government rejects the proposal as "too close to a war". It is agreed instead to supply the city with three air corridors (one managed by each Western ally) using civil and military aircraft.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4th April 1949:</span> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nato">NATO</a> is created as a pressure means to the Soviet Union.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11th May 1949: </span>The Soviet Union ceases the Berlin Blockade, due to its ineffectiveness and international pressure. 65 Germans, Americans and British have died during the supply operations, specially difficult due to obstructions imposed by Soviets.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">23rd may 1949:</span> The government of the Federal Republic of Germany is established in the territories occupied by USA, France and United Kingdom, with capital in Bonn. Western Berlin remains under the status of American military occupation, although its residents are granted German citizenship.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7th October 1949: </span>The USSR creates the Democratic Republic of Germany, with capital in Berlin. The country, not internationally recognised, remains under Sovietic occupation.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1952: </span>Due to the flow of Eastern Germans towards the West, the USSR closes the borders and establishes controls.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">May 1955: </span>Eastern Germany's status is switched from occupied territory to Soviet Union allied.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">14th May 1955:</span> The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_pact">Warsaw Pact</a> is created. Eastern Germany jo<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Berlinermauer.jpg/251px-Berlinermauer.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Berlinermauer.jpg/251px-Berlinermauer.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>ins it in 1960.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">13th August 1961: </span>Thousands of Eastern Germans still trespass daily the border through Berlin. The government of East Germany, under the approval of the Soviet Union, starts boulding the <a href="http://www.die-berliner-mauer.de/en/index.html">Berlin Wall</a> in order to close this hole, alleging the needs to raise an "anti-fascist protection barrier".<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">July 1962: </span>The "Death Strip" is created, a fully watched space close to the Wall by its Eastern part. House suburbs are pulled down in order to leave an open space that eases shooting from watch towers. Until its destruction in 1989, it is calculated that around 200 people died tryin to jump the Wall.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">21st October 1969: </span>Willy Brandt becomes chancellor of Federal Germany. Under his rule, the Ostpolitik is promoted as a process of rapprochement and diplomatic normalization between the two Germanies. At a long term, this will mean the international recognition of the existence of two independent sovereign States, and the inmobility of their borders (after the Moscow Treaty in 1970).Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-90100409736851801692007-06-07T12:58:00.000-07:002007-06-07T13:01:52.558-07:00Europe of the Regions<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/European_flag.svg/800px-European_flag.svg.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 196px; height: 131px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/European_flag.svg/800px-European_flag.svg.png" alt="" border="0" /></a>The 1986 <a href="http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/treaties/selected/livre509.html">Single European Act</a> was the first major revision of the <a href="http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/treaties/dat/C_2002325EN.003301.html">Treaty of Rome</a> that created the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Community">European Economic Community</a> in 1957. The Act meant a commitment of joint progress, and a new manner of coordinating economic activities, after the failure of semi-plannified economy and the collapse of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system">Bretton Woods</a> system (dependent on the dollar) that happened during the 70's.<br />The result of the Act was the creation of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Monetary_System">European Monetary System</a> (called "of the European snake in the tunnel", as European currencies were floating in group against the rest). This was the first step to the arrival of the euro economy.<br />Another wanted step was the administrative reform of the recently named <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union">European Union</a>, which was becoming more and more complex when taking joint decisiones (the system of national vetoes made agreements very long or impossible).<br />However, no political topics were treated (the absence of a common Defense and Foreign Affairs) nor many economical (such as the aberrant agricultural budget applied since the entrance of Spain and Portugal). But the countries agreed on one thing: reaching a free market of goods and work.<br />So, the decision-taking system was almost only economic. In order to ease it, the national agreement system was switched into another one in which regions had direct access to the European Council in Brussels and could act independently from their corresponding national entity. The Europe of the Regions started existing.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A new imbalance</span><br /><br />The result was a modification of budget decisiones taken by the <a href="http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l60015.htm">European Regional Development Fund</a> (ERDF), which identified backward European regions and distributed investments in order to estimulate their economies. Now regions avoided their Governments, not generally very willing to cooperate in regional investments. Some of them, generally the richest (such as Catalonia and Baden-Württemberg), established their own offices in Brussels to constitute true lobbies.<br />Consequence? The richness desequilibrium was not reduced (rather the contrary), but it was redistributed by regiones instead of countries. Now, a group of first order regions existed (Lombardy, Catalonia, Flemish Region, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Rhône-Alpes...), and another group of poor ones (Andalusia, Scotland, Wallonia, Algarve...). A new, costly bureaucracy, that did not doubt when manipulating subsidy data, intensified the problem.<br />In conclusion, Europe, without solving its old defects of clientelism and corruption, just diluted them into a new structure where abuses still often happened. Economic rforms based in the 50's and 60's way of thinking (already shown inefficient) unlegitimated a bit more a Union that, nowadays, is clunking and needs real measures.<br />Definitely, it was successful in one thing: the appearance of a new way of regional sub-nationalism. It is not a coincidence that in the most subsidied European regions, this regionalism passed from a traditional reactionary folklorism to a conscience, sometimes independentist, in which a disdain towards governmental identity, but also an Europeist supra-national thinking has invaded their inhabitants.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-8345242816900959552007-04-22T11:00:00.000-07:002007-04-22T11:05:46.608-07:00Why did Descartes die?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.daviddarling.info/images/Descartes.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 105px; height: 104px;" src="http://www.daviddarling.info/images/Descartes.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes">René Descartes</a>, the man considered as precursor of <a href="http://physics.ucr.edu/%7Ewudka/Physics7/Notes_www/node5.html">Scientific Method</a> and author of revolutionary books such as his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_on_Method">Discourse on Method</a>, died in obscure circunstances that were not cleared out until recently.<br /><br />In 1646, the impulsive <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_of_Sweden">Queen Kristina</a> of Sweden, ethusiast of Arts and Philosophy (although not with deep thoughts, as Descartes himself admitted), started to write letters with the philosopher, who was at that time retired in Nederlands. Impressed by his teachings, she invited him to the Swedish Court as a guest to give her lessons on Mathematics and Philosophy. This was part of her plan to be surrounded by great European thinkers and transform Stockholm into a cultural centre.<br /><br />After some forceful "invitations", for which the queen sent one of her admirals, and later even a warship, in 1649 Descartes reluctantly accepted her proposal. In Stockholm he was received with high honours, incorporated to the Swedish aristocracy, and granted conquered lands in Germany.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Death at the Court</span><br /><br />He did not enjoy life in the court, however. Apart from some<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.narod-sobe.cz/clovek/kultura/umeni/vytvarne_umeni/Autori_FR/Dumesnil/Rene_Descartes_a_Kristina_m.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 143px; height: 176px;" src="http://www.narod-sobe.cz/clovek/kultura/umeni/vytvarne_umeni/Autori_FR/Dumesnil/Rene_Descartes_a_Kristina_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> punctual jobs (such as some lines in French for a ballet, or plans for the Swedish Academy) he only had to teach the queen during the mornings. The problem is that Kristina got up extremely early, and scheduled their lessons at 5 in the morning in the middle of Swedish winter. This was very hard for Descartes, who was used to stay in bed reading and thinking until noon. He usually said, "men's thoughts freeze here in winter, same as water". Five months after his arrival, the 11th February 1650, he died.<br /><br />The official version of the time was that he died of pneumonia. After treating the French ambassador in Stockholm, who had contracted this contagious illness, Descartes got also ill and died one week later. Considering he was not used to nordic cold, this seems plausible. He was buried in a cemetery for unbaptised kids (because he was a catholic in a protestant country), and some years later his remains were moved back to France. Closed case.<br /><br />However, the French ambassador, <a href="http://secure.britannica.com/eb/topic-105916/Hector-Pierre-Chanut">Hector P. Chanut</a>, graved this quote in his headstone: "he expiated his rivals' attacks with the innocency of his life". So, he could have been murdered. There was enough reasons actually, as he was a catholic with more influence than most nobles. He could have been considered dangerous and cause of the Queen's catholicist trends (who, four years later, abdicated, converted, and moved to Rome).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Proof of the lie</span><br /><br />In 1980, by complete chance, the prove was found. The German scientific Eike Pies, reviewing letters from his ancestor <a href="http://www.illustratedgarden.org/mobot/rarebooks/author.asp?creator=Piso,%20Willem&creatorID=111">Willem Piso</a> at Leyden University (Nederlands), saw a letter sent to him by Johann van Wullen, personal doctor of Queen Kristina and witness of Descartes' agony. In that letter, the details on the symptoms are described day by day: weakening, vomits, diarrhoea, dizziness, skin's pigmentation, cutaneous damages, entheritis... symptoms commonly found in an Arsenic intoxication.<br /><br />So, Descartes was almost certainly poisoned. How was the truth hidden? In the letter, Wullen points out that the Queen asked to read it before being sent, and ordered that it never fell in strange hands. Kristina probably wanted to save the prestige of Swedish monarchy, already target of rumours and palace intrigues because of the Queen's excentricities. This way, the murder was never investigated. And History books still tell the "official" version of the facts.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-24024449109252506562007-04-09T03:05:00.000-07:002008-01-15T03:54:57.450-08:00History of chopsticks<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://z.about.com/d/chineseculture/1/0/r/b/4/kuaizi.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 91px; height: 50px;" src="http://z.about.com/d/chineseculture/1/0/r/b/4/kuaizi.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>Following a good <a href="https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=35461191&postID=1933738333566397514">comment</a> from <a href="http://k-dreaming.blogspot.com/">K-dreaming </a>about the <a href="http://litestraboen.blogspot.com/2007/02/history-of-fork.html">History of the fork</a>, I have searched about <a href="http://www.asianartmall.com/chopstickshistory.htm">History of chopsticks</a>.<br /><br />It is commonly admitted that chopsticks appeared in China around 5000 years ago. Before that date, food was taken from big pots in the fire pricked in long sticks directly cut from trees. Later on, with the increasing population, fuel resources became scarce. This slowly lead to a new way of cooking that required less wood, for which food was cut in small pieces so that it took less time to cook. Then food could be eaten directly from the pot, eliminating the need of knives, and tree branches gradually became chopsticks.<br /><br />Although the most ancient existing pair of chopsticks dates from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Dynasty">Tang dynasty</a> (7th-10th centuries), it is written in the <a href="http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Classics/liji.html">Liji</a> (Book of Rites) that<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://z.about.com/d/chineseculture/1/0/q/b/4/chopsticks1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 128px; height: 132px;" src="http://z.about.com/d/chineseculture/1/0/q/b/4/chopsticks1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> chopsticks were used already during the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shang_Dynasty">Shang dynasty</a> (16th-12th centuries BC). <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_Qian">Sima Qian</a> stated in his History book, that the last king of the dynasty <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>used ivory chopsticks. According to experts, bamboo and wooden chopsticks should date at least from 1000 years earlier. In the following centuries, bronze, golden and silver chopsticks became fashionable. Specially the latter were popular among aristocracy, as it was thought that silver became black when it was in contact with poison. This belief is exaggerated (actually silver does not react to arsenic neither to cyanide), but there is something true: rotten eggs, onions and garlic expell <a href="http://www.agius.com/hew/resource/h2s.htm">hydrogen sulphyde</a>, which does change the colour of silver.<br /><br />Probably, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius">Confucius</a>' teachings contributed to promote the use of chopsticks at the table. He said, literally: "the honorable and correct man is well aware of the differences between slaughterhouse and table. And does not allow the use of knives at his table." Because of Confucius' popularity, who was by <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.calacademy.org/RESEARCH/anthropology/utensil/images/chpstck2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 140px; height: 199px;" src="http://www.calacademy.org/RESEARCH/anthropology/utensil/images/chpstck2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>the way a vegetarian, this sentence eliminated the Western habit to use knives at the table.<br /><br />Around the 6th century, the use of chopsticks spread to other countries such as Korea, Vietnam and Japan. Although in Japan it was first used only for religious ceremonies, it soon acquired culinary popularity, and the Japanese even created a new kind of chopsticks typical of their country: with a more sharpened point than Chinese ones, and attached at the base. From the 10th century this attachment disappeared and the became the Japanese chopsticks we know nowadays. They were also spread in Thailand, but in the 19th century the king <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chulalongkorn">Rama V</a> introduced Western table utensils, limiting the use of chopsticks only to noodles.<br /><br />Tools similar to chopsticks were found in the archeological findings in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megiddo_%28place%29">Meggido</a> (Israel), belonging to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythian">Scythian</a> invaders of Canaan, and contemporary of Moses and Josuah. This discovery reveals the extension of trade between Middle East and Far East in ancient times. Chopsticks were also common tools used by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghur_people">Uyghurs</a> in the steppes of Mongolia during the 6th-8th centuries.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-7731442910752211082007-03-24T16:08:00.000-07:002007-03-24T16:16:44.237-07:00Blue bloodIt is interesting to see how nobility titles in Western Europe have changed their meaning along History. Some of them dating back as long as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_empire">Roman Empire</a>, during the Middle Ages acquired their meaning related to land ownership. Currently, titles are merely honorific.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Duke</span></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Erlauchtkrone.jpg/160px-Erlauchtkrone.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 107px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Erlauchtkrone.jpg/160px-Erlauchtkrone.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The title of duke is traditionally the one of highest rank. he word comes from Latin "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dux">du</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dux">x</a>", meaning "military commander", and was employed by both Romans and Germans to refer their warrior leaders. In the Roman army, a dux was a general in charge of two or more legions, who normally managed the government of a province (both civil and military). In the Roman Empire, the powers of the dux were limited to strictly military, depending on the governor (normally a "comes") to make use of them. In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire">Byzantium</a>, "dux" became viceroys at the head of every administrative and military service.<br /><br />During the Middle Ages, dukes became the closest nobility title to the king, and their function was essentially military, with a territorial aspect though, as they ruled in a set of countships. Of course, there exist variations in the meaning of dukes in every kingdom. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merovingian">Frankish</a> dukes were the nobles of highest rank, from where province governors came out, although they also appear leading military expeditions away from their duchies. Later, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne">Charlemagne</a> restructured administratively the kingdom, multiplying the number of counts and reducing that of dukes, limiting it to the nobles closest to him. In Spain and Italy, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visigoths#Kingdom_of_Toledo">Visigoth</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombards">Lombard</a> dukes, respectively, were the greatest land owners and, together with bishops, they elected the king among them. Although the were nominally loyal to the king, the concept of monarchy was new for them and dukes acted independently from royal authority, specially in central and south Italy, where the duke of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukes_of_Spoleto">Spoleto</a> and the duke of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukes_of_Benevento">Benevento</a> were sovereigns de facto. Also in Germany, duchies were independent kingdoms inside the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Roman_Empire">Holy Empire</a>, and in Italy, "doges" were the heads of state in some of the Republics in the peninsula (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Genoa">Genoa</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_venice">Venice</a>). In modern times, variants from this title ("Conde-duque" in Spain, Archduke in Austria) to refer the head of state.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Count</span></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Horona_hr.png/250px-Horona_hr.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 131px; height: 66px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Horona_hr.png/250px-Horona_hr.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Etimologically from the Latin "comes", which means companion or delegate of the emperor during the Roman Empire. Its origin is in the people surrounding <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus">Augustus</a> ("amici Augusti"), normally selected from senators, who when travelling became "comites Augusti", being their role just that of personal advisors. They disappeared with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Severus">Alexander Severus</a> and created again under <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I">Constantine</a>, when they designated the most loyal to the emperor, being a hierarchy over regular officials. They had a political and administrative role, with military functions specially when defending borders.<br /><br />During the Germanic kings, counts were designated by a dux or the king. The title of count was indistintively given to every official around him, one of which, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_palatine">count palatine</a> ("comes palatii"), was in charge of rendering justice inside the palace. Some arms companions of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merovingian">Frankish merovingian</a> princes received the title for city administration. At these times they start to have fiscal, military and judiciary functions. Military power only never depended on a moving army, but settled on a territory (countship). In the countship, he rivalised mainly with the bishop (in his corresponding diocese) for the use of power. Under <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne">Charlemagne</a>, counts were given a specific mission (military or administrative) with temporal character, and never hereditary. It is only after the 9th century that counts start to form a land owner class, usurpating royal rights over their countship land. The title was also often given by the monarch as gratitude for a special service, without necessary being accompanied of a feudal territory. In England, there exists the equivalent "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl">Earl</a>", term originated in Scandinavia.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Marquess</span></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Markiz.jpg/200px-Markiz.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 131px; height: 58px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Markiz.jpg/200px-Markiz.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The original title comes from German "markgraf" (literally "count of the mark"). During the High Middle Ages, and specially in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_empire">Carolingian Empire</a>, it was a count who administered a border territory (mark). In order to allow him a quick reaction to potential attacks, special military powers were given to him to raise up the army without the express permission of the king. This authority has later conferred it a higher rank than the count, but lower than the duke, as the latter has a military and judiciary power over several countships. After the collapse of the Carolingian Empire, the marquis title fell into disuse, except certain counts who proclaimed themselves marquis to acquire greater importance (that is the case of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counts_of_Barcelona">count of Barcelona</a>, who justified this action for being situated in the border with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Muslim_presence_in_the_Iberian_peninsula">hispanic Muslim kingdoms</a>). In modern times it resurected as an honorific title.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Baron</span></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/BaronF.jpg/200px-BaronF.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 115px; height: 28px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/BaronF.jpg/200px-BaronF.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Etimologically coming from a mixture between the Frankish word "baro" ("warrior") and the Angle "beorn" ("noble"). Since the Middle Ages, it refered those who had obtained privileges directly from the king because of a military service, situated just over the title of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight">knight</a>. Acording to the country, the meaning was different: In France, for being baron, it was required to possess at least two castles. In Spain barons were the rich and magnates who participated in political sessions. In the Holy Empire, every family in the low nobility were granted the title of baron (distinguished with the prefix "von"). The English king <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_England">Henry II</a> made a distintion between greater and lesser barons. Since the 16th century, baronship looses its relation with land ownership, becoming a nominal title.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-60127738721689636062007-03-12T10:08:00.000-07:002007-03-12T10:36:44.024-07:00Shadow plays<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_play">Shadow play</a> is perhaps the most ancient scenic art in History. It is based in the projection of articulated puppets in front of an illuminated background, causing sensation of movement. During thousands of years, it has entertained and taught both humble and aristocratic classes, specially in Asia, where it was originated.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">China: Poems and romances</span><br /><br />According to the legend, <a href="http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01780/perfoming-arts/shadow-theater/index.htm">Chinese shadow play</a> dates back to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Dynasty">Han dynasty</a> (3rd BC-3rd AD centuries), when an emperor lost his favorite concubine. A taoist monk used a shadow to evoke a feminine shape, which the Empero<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.warriortours.com/images/photo/034000/shadow.play.50033788wm.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 186px;" src="http://www.warriortours.com/images/photo/034000/shadow.play.50033788wm.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>r believed was his reborn lover. What is certain, is that in the time of the <a href="http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/classical_imperial_china/tang.html">Ta</a><a href="http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/classical_imperial_china/tang.html">ng dinasty</a> (7th-10th centuries), it was a popular entertainment very spread in the provinces of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanxi">Shanxi</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaanxi">Shaanxi</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebei">Hebei</a>, which later passed to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing">Beijing</a>. During the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_dynasty">Ming period</a> (XIV-XVII centuries) it was not exclusive of the lower classes anymore, and passed to the aristocracy and imperial family.<br /><br />In China, puppets were small and made of paper or leather. A puppeter handled them with three sticks (one for the head, one for each arm), and made the voice of every character, while a small orchestra accompanied dramatic scenes (specially many "gongs"). There were four defined types of characters: men (sheng), women (dan), painted faces (jing) and clowns (chou), each of them with a specific symbolism and function.<br /><br />Although this genre gave way to many <a href="http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Arts/drawings/Silhouettes/PapercutsSilhouettes.htm">regional styles</a>, thematic was essentially the same: Buddhist teachings in the beginning, romances and epic lyrics later (the one referring to Liu Bang and Xian Yu was very popular, see <a href="http://litestraboen.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html">previous post</a>).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">India: Mediator between men and gods</span><br /><br />It is not known with certainty whether the <a href="http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/afs/pdf/a1067.pdf">shadow theatre</a> appeared in India, Thailand and Indonesia originating from China or had an independent evolution. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.virtualmuseum.info/collections/themes/indian_shadow_puppets/images/wa507562_d02_250m.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 124px; height: 178px;" src="http://www.virtualmuseum.info/collections/themes/indian_shadow_puppets/images/wa507562_d02_250m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>There are major differences, such as the puppet size (it was normally human in India, its size showing the character social rank though), and its lower articulating ability. Used matierals were coloured and translucent, leading to a much colour and surreal aspect.<br /><br />This oniric effect has perhaps influenced its final significance. In the Indian region, shadow theatre was the main medium to express the supernatural, very used for the spreading of mythical Hinduist literature, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramayana">Ramayana</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabh%C4%81rata">Mahabharata</a>. Performances even became rites with the powers of bringing rain and healing the sick and possessed.<br /><br />In India, the puppeteer job was something hereditary, and almost sacred. Entire wandering families were in charge of building puppets and performing, being considered as some kind of priests. Nowadays, Indian shadow play is in decadence, except for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayang">Wayang Kulit</a> in <a href="http://discover-indo.tierranet.com/wayang.html">Java</a>, which enjoys an official protected status.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Turkey: Political satire</span><br /><br />Maybe brought to Persia and Middle East by Gengis Khan's conquests, <a href="http://www.karagoz.net/english/shadowplay.htm">Turkish shadow theatre</a> has Chinese influences. However, due to its colourful aspect, it is widely accepted that it comes from Ancient Egypt and Java, with influences from Greek phylosophy.<br /><br />Featured characters evolve to the point of having a very defined symbo<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.law-tr.com/resimler/karagoz.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 140px; height: 158px;" src="http://www.law-tr.com/resimler/karagoz.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>lism, and the same appear in every performance. Most important are <a href="http://www.armory.com/%7Essahin/articles/article8.html">Karagoz an</a><a href="http://www.armory.com/%7Essahin/articles/article8.html">d Hacivat</a> (the first, showing his common sense, the latter his education), the courtesan Sitt al Husyn (who represents Love), and the doctor Mustapha (who symbolises power and corruption). The meaning was essentially satirical and didactical.<br /><br />First described by Ibn Danyal in Cairo, during the 16th Century is spread in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire">Ottoman Empire</a>. There it acquired great popularity, specially in Turkish cafes during the month of Ramadan and in Muslim feasts. However, it seldom had a religious significance, but instead it reflected social problems of the time, always from a humorous perspective. It was, say, the daily newspaper at that time.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-76348830776471765262007-02-25T13:32:00.000-08:002007-02-25T13:38:01.432-08:00Human sacrifices to Huitzilopochtli<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.search.com/thumb/1/16/Mendoza_HumanSacrifice.jpg/200px-Mendoza_HumanSacrifice.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 160px; height: 169px;" src="http://img.search.com/thumb/1/16/Mendoza_HumanSacrifice.jpg/200px-Mendoza_HumanSacrifice.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />In summer 1521, the small army of the conquistador <a href="http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hern%C3%A1n_Cort%C3%A9s">Hernán Cortés</a> had been expelled from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenochtitlan">Tenochtitlan</a> by the Aztecs, 62 of his soldiers taken prisoners during the fight. From outside the lake of the mexica capital, Cortés saw, powerless, the Aztec priests dispose these prisoners on the pyramid-temple altars, opened their chests and offered their beating hearts to the god <a href="http://www.firstpeople.us/glossary/native-american-gods-south-america-aztec.html">Huitzilopochtli</a>.<br /><br />The chronicle of the swordsman <a href="http://www.wsu.edu/%7Ecampbelld/amlit/castillo.htm">Bernal Díaz</a> tells these facts. Ritual sacrifice was perceived by Cortés as a threat and intimidation from the Aztecs. It probably arised a feeling of rejection and revenge in him, that influenced the later extermination of Aztec culture. However, the ritual sacrifice had a very different meaning.<br /><br />In Aztec culture, human sacrifices were common during celebrations or natural disasters. Spilling human blood was a means to be humilliated in order to express gratitude and pay the debt towards the gods, for the sacrifice they did themselves in the creation of the world. Auto-sacrifice was the most widespread way, being common the fact of perforating sometimes several parts of the body with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsidian">obsidian</a> (especially ear, tongue and penis).<br /><br />When the sacrifice involved offering the life of another person, this was rarely a slave (as the sacrifice became less valuable). It was usually a free person voluntarily offered or a war prisoner. The latter type of sacrifice, in which a <a href="http://www.west.net/%7Erperry/Central%20Mexico/ixm.html">jaguar warrior </a>offered his prisoner to Huitzilopotchli, god of Sun and War, was the most widespread among Aztecs. The rite usually consisted in a ritual dance performed by both victim and warrior, and later the priest took the heart out from the victim's chest on the sacrifice altar. Right afterwards, the victim's body was offered to the warrior's family. They then ate his flesh and carried his skin for several days. What explanation has such an extravagant rite?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A complex meaning</span><br /><br />In Meso-American cultures, the concept of the individual is relative. The nature of the "me" does not exist as itself, but as other individuals see it. This way, a jaguar sees other jaguars the same way a human sees other humans. The sacrifice rite is, in this context, a <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.wynja.com/arch/graphics/coystone.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 160px; height: 160px;" src="http://www.wynja.com/arch/graphics/coystone.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>ceremony of assimilation, of an attempt to become the other. By eating his flesh, and carrying his skin, the warrior and his family personify their enemy, who defines who are themselves. In this manner, the sacrifier becomes, momentaneously, a singular individual, not relative but absolute.<br /><br />For the better quality of the rite, the victim must be as similar as possible as the sacrifier, that is, from a near origin. That is why, the sacrified that came from the nearby city of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlaxcala_%28Nahua_state%29">Tlaxcala</a> were more ppreciated than those come from further. Spanish were, thus, a second-class type of victim.<br /><br />An interesting aspect in the ritual sacrifice, is that the sacrifier assumes also the role of the victim (result of the assimilation of the other). When the family ate the victim's flesh, they were in mourning, and it was frequent to cry during the ceremony, same as if it were their relative who was dead.<br /><br />So, although difficult to understand by the Western invaders, the true reason of the sacrifice was much more complex than they thought.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com94tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-19337383335663975142007-02-11T02:31:00.000-08:002008-01-15T03:55:19.387-08:00History of the forkThe <a href="http://robyyan.googlepages.com/fork">fork</a>, unlike knife and spoon, has not always been part of table settings. In fact, its history is relatively very recent. Although it appeared in Greece as early as the 4th century, it did not start to be generally used until the Modern Ages. Before the fork was introduced, people would largely eat food with their hands, calling for a common spoon when required. For aristocrats, though, table manners appointed that only three fingers should be used to touch the food, leaving the little and ring fingers unused.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">First attempts in Italy</span><br /><br />From the 7th through the 13th Centuries, forks were fairly common among the wealthy in the Middle East and Byzantium. In the year 1005, the byzantine aristocrat Maria Argyropoulina married the future <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doges_of_Venice">Doge of Venice</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domenico_Selvo">Domenico Selvo</a>. During their wedding celebrations she dared to refuse to eat with her hands. Instead, she had one of her eunuchs cut her food into little pieces she was able to eat with a golden fork she carried with her, fact that was considered decadent by everybody. The princess died shortly after of some disease, and this was perceived as divine punishment. The cardinal bishop of Ostia, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter_Damiani">St Peter Damian</a>, spoke "of the Venetian Doge's wife, whose body, after her excessive delicacy, entirely rotted away." He preached extensively against this extravagant instrument, calling it both diabolic (probably due to its Devil's trident-like form) and useless, as spaghetti and macaroni were so hard t<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.hospitalityguild.com/Images/fork1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 116px; height: 225px;" src="http://www.hospitalityguild.com/Images/fork1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>o eat with it. It must be noted that forks at that time were flat and two-pointed, thus much more difficult to handle.<br /><br />Hence, fork disappeared for 300 years from Italian table, until the 16th century, when it was rediscovered thanks to a renewed social interest in cleanliness. In 1533, another royal marriage, that of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_de_Medici">Catherine de Medicis</a> with the king <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_France">Henry II</a> of France, spread the use of the fork. The Italian princess made it fashionable in the French court. She introduced the usage of each guest arriving at a dinner with their own fork and spoon enclosed in a box called a "cadena".<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Use in Europe</span><br /><br />England saw its first fork when a traveller called <a href="http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1030">Thomas Coryate</a> described its using as good manners, after one of his journeys to Italy in 1608. In the beginning, he was ridiculised and mocked, and fork seen as an affectation. "Furcifer" he was called, which means "pitchfork handler" in Latin. The clergy perceived its use as an ungodlt act, by saying that "God in his wisdom has provided man with natural forks - his fingers. Therefore it is an insult to Him to substitute artificial metallic forks for them." However, in 1633, Charles I of England declared that "it is decent to use a fork", a statement that heralded the beginning of civilised table manners. After some years, every member of the British royal family and the court possessed a fork. Its use was slowly spread among the wealthy in England, as imitating Italian habits was seen as sign of culture and refinement.<br /><br />However, the way to use the fork remained a mystery revealed to only a few, well into the 18th century. Joseph Brasbridge, an English re<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.hospitalityguild.com/Images/fork2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 118px; height: 212px;" src="http://www.hospitalityguild.com/Images/fork2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>tail silversmith, wrote of his confusion in a customer's home, "I know how to sell these articles, but not how to use them." The king <a href="http://www.louis-xiv.de/index.php?t=start&a=start">Louis XIV</a> of France continued to eat with fingers or a knife for many years. Once he discovered its usefulness, though, he became the first host in Europe to provide complete sets of dinnerware for his guests, suppressing the necessity of the "cadena". He also ordered shape changes in dinner knives, such as rounding its point, as their pricking task was not needed anymore. In the 19th century, mass production and the invention of the electroplating process made metallic forks affordable to a rising middle class who wished to emulate the nobility.<br /><br />The fork shape has been subject to several changes. By the end of the 1600's, manufacturers were adding a third tine to denote the old custom of eating with just the first three fingers. In Italy, <a href="http://www.ciberchef.com/historia.php3?ID=37">Gennaro Spadaccini</a> was the first to add a fourth tine and round its sharp points, under the order of king Ferdinand to adapt it for the eating of spaghetti. Finally, in the beginning of the 18th century, the curved fork was developed in Germany, coming out in the tool we know today. The additional tines made diners less likely to drop food, and the curved tines served as a scoop so people did not have to constantly switch to a spoon while eating.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35461191.post-25596069016577075362007-02-03T13:31:00.001-08:002007-02-03T13:37:26.459-08:00Gustaf's military revolutionThe first example of combined arms can be seen in the Swedish army during the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years%27_War">30 years war</a>. The unprecedented interaction between infantry, musketeers, cavalry and artillery that king <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavus_Adolphus_of_Sweden">Gustaf Adolf</a> of Sweden introduced, supposed the beginning of the modern warfare.<br /><br />Until the 17th century, tactis were still much alike in the late middle ages. Blocks of infantry and cavalry acted separately, while artillery remained an inmobile, heavy unit for support or siege. The cavalry itself had lost the role of stormtroop it had before, as it relyed on heavily armored horsemen that performed shy movements of pistol attack and retreat, called "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracole">caraco</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracole">le</a>". The infantry formation was the "<a href="http://www.geocities.com/ao1617/TercioUK.html">tercio</a>", a bulk group of <a href="http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/%7Ecrossby/ECW/tactics/pike.html">pikemen</a> surrounded by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arquebus">arquebusiers</a>, where the long spears of the first provided protection to the latter. As early firearms were short-ranged and slow to charge, this conservative structure showed a good performance to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Empire">Spanish Empire</a> at the time, in spite of confering warfare a complete lack of offensive. With the introduction of the field artillery, it became a very vulnerable target.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Gustaf revolution</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Gustav_II_of_Sweden.jpg/220px-Gustav_II_of_Sweden.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 126px; height: 172px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Gustav_II_of_Sweden.jpg/220px-Gustav_II_of_Sweden.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Gustaf had developed a new army, where mobility became the strongest feature. As a first measure, the arms and armors of the soldiers were significantly reduced, even to just light harnesses in the case of cavalry. Pikes were reduced to 3 metres (instead of 6), and muskets were made lighter, so that "<a href="http://www.pilgrimhall.org/ArmsMusketeer%20.htm">fork</a>" was not needed anymore.<br /><br />The tercios of the Spanish tactical school were abolished. Gustaf's infantry instead used linear formations, much more mobile by the quick ordering from line to column. Musketeers could all fire at the same target and quickly alternate different lines of fire. Their tactics also changed: they usually shooted in salvos, instead of individually, provoking a psychological effect on the enemy. Right after the shot, a charge of pikemen (with their new maneuvrable pikes) crushed the weakened enemy. This combination gave back the infantry the offensive role it had lost.<br /><br />The Swedish cavalry also favored the shocking effect of the charge. The caracolle was ineffective since the lethality of the pistol was low. Gustaf's horsemen instea<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.sub.su.se/national/bguado10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 174px; height: 238px;" src="http://www.sub.su.se/national/bguado10.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>d advanced on the trot firing their pistols and then charged at full speed with drawn swords, especially vulenrable targest such as enemy cavalry in caracolle retreat or field artillery. The cavalry was also supported by units of musketeers granting it more deffensive capability.<br /><br />The greatest improvement was that of the artillery, though. Gustaf and his artillery chief, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennart_Torstenson">Lennart Torstensson</a>, decided to create a type of light artillery, of pieces of "only" 150 kg (while 1500 kg of the traditional cannons). This new artillery could perfectly follow infantry and even cavalry displacements, thus acting as a short-range, effective support at all time. These units of light artillery, moreover, were not assigned in an exclusive regiment. Instead, each infantry or cavalry regiment was provided with several pieces of artillery to the order of the same commander. This apparently simple issue proved to be essential, as this case of splitting had never been the case before.<br /><br />The result? The <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09100a.htm">German Catholic League</a> was massacred at the <a href="http://www.pipeline.com/%7Ecwa/Breitenfeld_Phase.htm">battle of Breitenfeld</a>, and the time of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Empire">Swedish Empire</a> started. The old military tactics were suddenly abandoned and remplaced by Gustaf's ones. Napoleon itself considered Gustaf as one of his military inspirators.Antonio Correashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00361878197411478068noreply@blogger.com2