In a while Pascal Sadune, the leader of the tsunami survey team joined me and my discussion with him digressed into many of the German historical events. As he did political science for his Masters degree, he had shown more interest in historical issues. His confession on the conflicts since the medieval times and major world wars showed how Germany had undergone many a destruction since historical times.
The reformation and Thirty Years War in German states from 1618 to 1648 totally ravaged the German Nation. The conflicts between Catholics and Protestants by their efforts in various states within the Holy Roman Empire to increase their power and the emperor's attempt to achieve religious and political unity of the empire caused the total devastation of the German Nation. The war resulted in a loss of something like a third of its population and large areas of the German Nation being laid waste.
Another major factor that threw the German Nation into a mess was the rivalry between Prussia and Austria for the leadership over other German states which began since 1640. After the Peace of Hubertsburg in 1763, Prussia too became equally powerful and exerted a powerful influence on German affairs.
Thereafter the Congress of Vienna, a conference between ambassadors from the major powers in Europe affected many of the German affairs.
The foundation of the Congress of Vienna was to reshape Europe's political map after the defeat of Napoleonic France in the previous spring. The Congress continued its discussions despite the ex-Emperor Napoleon I's return from exile and resumption of power in France in March 1815. The Congress's Final Act was signed nine days before his final defeat by Prussia's Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher with the help of the United Kingdom's Duke of Wellington at Waterloo on June 18, 1815.
The Congress finally reshaped entire Europe after the Napoleonic wars, with the exception of the terms of peace with France, which had already been decided a few months ago by the Treaty of Paris.
Most of the work at the Congress was performed by Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria and France, the major powers of Europe at that time. The "Congress of Vienna" never actually occurred, as the Congress never met in plenary session, with most of the discussions occurring in informal sessions among the Great Powers. Most of the delegations, however, had nothing much to do at the Congress, and the host, Emperor Francis of Austria, held lavish entertainment to keep them occupied. This led to the Prince de Ligne's famous comment that "le Congres ne marche pas; il danse." (The Congress does not work; it dances.)
The Congress of Vienna was an integral part in what became known as the Conservative Order in which peace and stability were traded for liberties and civil rights. Though the Congress was frequently criticized for ignoring national and liberal impulses, and for imposing a stifling reaction on the continent, it had prevented another European general war for nearly a hundred years 1815 to1914.
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Roman Expansion in Ancient France & Germania
Julius Caesar invoked the threat of Germanic attacks as one justification for his annexation of Gaul ( modern France ) to Rome.
As Rome expanded to the Rhine and Danube rivers, it incorporated many Celtic societies into the Empire.
The Germanic tribal homelands to the north and east emerged collectively in the records as Germania. The peoples of the Germania were sometimes at war with Rome, but also engaged in complex and long-term Alps relations, military alliances, and cultural exchanges with Rome as well.
The initial purpose of the Roman campaigns was to protect Trans-Alpine Gaul by controlling the area between the Rhine and the Elbe.
In 58 B.C. Julius Caesar, governor of the Roman province of Southern Gaul, conquered the remainder of Gaul, which had been free until then: Thus, for the first time, the powerful Roman Empire moved into immediate vicinity to Germania, and further expansion and colonization on part of the Germanic tribes were blocked.
Caesar defeated Germanic warlord Ariovist, who had tried to conquer Gaul himself, and pushed back the Germanic Tencterians, who had crossed the Rhine from Upper Hesse. He had a 400-meter bridge built over the Rhine in 10 days, marched to the Germanic right bank of the Rhine, showed off the power of his army, won over the Germanic Ubians as allies and forced some other tribes into peace agreements.
In 38 B.C. Augustus' general Agrippa resettled the Germanic Ubians, allied with Rome, in a new town at the left bank of the Rhine in order to protect Roman Gaul from raids by uncontrolled Germania. This was the founding of Colonia Agrippinensis, today's City of Cologne.
The wealthy country of Gaul seemed firmly and safely in the hands of the Romans. Even before the Roman conquest, the Gauls had already lived in towns, and they started to get used to living under Roman rule. But in 16 B.C. Gaul was raided by the Germanic Sugambrians, Usipians, and Tencterians. They severely defeated Roman governor Lollius and freely looted the wealthy country and then returned to their homeland with heavy booty.
Emperor Augustus had led many wars, but this was the heaviest defeat his forces had suffered so far. Though Gaul was only looted, these attacks made Rome afraid that one day it could lose Gaul, a country that by then was yielding more taxes and crop than the fabulously wealthy Egypt.
In order to avoid this danger in the long run, Germania had to be conquered - though the country itself neither offered cities, nor treasures, nor a food surplus.
Augustus moved to the Rhine border and prepared the big offensive in person. First, all the territory between the Alps and the Danube was to be conquered, and then Germania was to be attacked simultaneously from the Rhine, the Danube, and from the North Sea coast with a fleet.
As a starting point, the Romans established 50 legion camps along the Rhine and connected them by army routes (these camps turned into modern cities Xanten, Bonn and Mainz).
Along the left bank of the Rhine, a considerable Roman fleet was being built. Emperor Augustus appointed his adoptive son Drusus governor of Gaul and made him commander-in-chief of the Rhine troops - probably 5 to 6 legions, or about 50,000 men, expected to conquer Germania.
While the Romans were preparing the war against Germania from their province of Gaul, the Gauls were embittered over the Roman tax collection: Apparently several Gaullic tribes were ready to risk an uprising against the Roman rule. But Drusus fell with his horse, broke his thigh, and died of wound-fever after one month, being only 29 years old.
He had been successful, and popular with Romans, and favoured by the Emperor: It is likely he would have become Augustus' successor - instead of his uncanny brother Tiberius.
After the death of the victorious general Drusus, 33 years-old Tiberius assumed continuation of the war. In the spring of 8 B.C., he once again crossed the Rhine with a large army.
The Germanic tribes were too weakened from the continuous warfare of the last years to put up any resistance: For four years, they had been attacked every year by superior Roman armies, their settlements had been regularly burnt down, and their fields devastated. In the countless bloody battles and skirmishes during these four years, probably all tribes had lost a significant proportion of their men.
Already in the previous year, the allied tribes had been unable to prevent Drusus' army from marching through their territories. This year promised to be equally unsuccessful. It seemed better to capitulate now - and not to wait until one would be totally defeated and defenseless. Probably out of these considerations, all Germanic tribes sent envoys to the Romans, asking for peace.
In an unpopular manner that was typical to Emperor Augustus, he simply arrested all the men, and had them brought to several Roman cities as hostages and they evaded this imprisonment by resorting to suicide. Now the Romans succeeded peace treaties with most of the Germanic tribes. They accepted Roman rule, and started to pay tribute and provide troops for the Romans.
As Rome expanded to the Rhine and Danube rivers, it incorporated many Celtic societies into the Empire.
The Germanic tribal homelands to the north and east emerged collectively in the records as Germania. The peoples of the Germania were sometimes at war with Rome, but also engaged in complex and long-term Alps relations, military alliances, and cultural exchanges with Rome as well.
The initial purpose of the Roman campaigns was to protect Trans-Alpine Gaul by controlling the area between the Rhine and the Elbe.
In 58 B.C. Julius Caesar, governor of the Roman province of Southern Gaul, conquered the remainder of Gaul, which had been free until then: Thus, for the first time, the powerful Roman Empire moved into immediate vicinity to Germania, and further expansion and colonization on part of the Germanic tribes were blocked.
Caesar defeated Germanic warlord Ariovist, who had tried to conquer Gaul himself, and pushed back the Germanic Tencterians, who had crossed the Rhine from Upper Hesse. He had a 400-meter bridge built over the Rhine in 10 days, marched to the Germanic right bank of the Rhine, showed off the power of his army, won over the Germanic Ubians as allies and forced some other tribes into peace agreements.
In 38 B.C. Augustus' general Agrippa resettled the Germanic Ubians, allied with Rome, in a new town at the left bank of the Rhine in order to protect Roman Gaul from raids by uncontrolled Germania. This was the founding of Colonia Agrippinensis, today's City of Cologne.
The wealthy country of Gaul seemed firmly and safely in the hands of the Romans. Even before the Roman conquest, the Gauls had already lived in towns, and they started to get used to living under Roman rule. But in 16 B.C. Gaul was raided by the Germanic Sugambrians, Usipians, and Tencterians. They severely defeated Roman governor Lollius and freely looted the wealthy country and then returned to their homeland with heavy booty.
Emperor Augustus had led many wars, but this was the heaviest defeat his forces had suffered so far. Though Gaul was only looted, these attacks made Rome afraid that one day it could lose Gaul, a country that by then was yielding more taxes and crop than the fabulously wealthy Egypt.
In order to avoid this danger in the long run, Germania had to be conquered - though the country itself neither offered cities, nor treasures, nor a food surplus.
Augustus moved to the Rhine border and prepared the big offensive in person. First, all the territory between the Alps and the Danube was to be conquered, and then Germania was to be attacked simultaneously from the Rhine, the Danube, and from the North Sea coast with a fleet.
As a starting point, the Romans established 50 legion camps along the Rhine and connected them by army routes (these camps turned into modern cities Xanten, Bonn and Mainz).
Along the left bank of the Rhine, a considerable Roman fleet was being built. Emperor Augustus appointed his adoptive son Drusus governor of Gaul and made him commander-in-chief of the Rhine troops - probably 5 to 6 legions, or about 50,000 men, expected to conquer Germania.
While the Romans were preparing the war against Germania from their province of Gaul, the Gauls were embittered over the Roman tax collection: Apparently several Gaullic tribes were ready to risk an uprising against the Roman rule. But Drusus fell with his horse, broke his thigh, and died of wound-fever after one month, being only 29 years old.
He had been successful, and popular with Romans, and favoured by the Emperor: It is likely he would have become Augustus' successor - instead of his uncanny brother Tiberius.
After the death of the victorious general Drusus, 33 years-old Tiberius assumed continuation of the war. In the spring of 8 B.C., he once again crossed the Rhine with a large army.
The Germanic tribes were too weakened from the continuous warfare of the last years to put up any resistance: For four years, they had been attacked every year by superior Roman armies, their settlements had been regularly burnt down, and their fields devastated. In the countless bloody battles and skirmishes during these four years, probably all tribes had lost a significant proportion of their men.
Already in the previous year, the allied tribes had been unable to prevent Drusus' army from marching through their territories. This year promised to be equally unsuccessful. It seemed better to capitulate now - and not to wait until one would be totally defeated and defenseless. Probably out of these considerations, all Germanic tribes sent envoys to the Romans, asking for peace.
In an unpopular manner that was typical to Emperor Augustus, he simply arrested all the men, and had them brought to several Roman cities as hostages and they evaded this imprisonment by resorting to suicide. Now the Romans succeeded peace treaties with most of the Germanic tribes. They accepted Roman rule, and started to pay tribute and provide troops for the Romans.
Ethnic Germans' Sufferings After World War I in the United States and Europe
German-Americans were the most visible non-Anglophone group in the US during the 18th and 19th centuries. But the hostility against these groups took place during the nineteenth century, but were largely non-systematic. The Germans' stance of anti-slavery position in the Southern United States brought about violent clashes in slave states such as Texas during the American Civil War.
The pacifist Mennonite and Amish communities attracted considerable hatred, particularly during the American Revolution and the US Civil War, when many Mennonites and possibly Amish were imprisoned or forcibly conscripted. There was a popular view that Germans did not consider themselves part of America.
Upon the outbreak of World War I, anti-German sentiment quickly reached fever pitch. Many Germans supported their (former) homeland's side in the war, in which America long remained officially neutral. The situation came to a crisis with America's entry into the war in 1917. By the time the troops returned from Europe, the German community had ceased to be a major force in American culture, or was no more perceived as German.
When in France during World War I, members of the Yale University had learned about the German song Die Wacht am Rhein and were apparently shocked to discover the fact that Yale's traditional song "Bright College Years" had been written to the "splendid tune" of Carl Wilhelm. Suddenly hating this melody, Yale Alumni sang "Bright College Years" to the tune of the Marseillaise instead, and after the war the German melody was banned for some time until it was reinstated in 1920.
In Canada, thousands of German born Canadians were interned in detention camps during World War I and World War II and subjected to forced labour. Many Ukrainians and other Eastern Europeans were also detained during the First World War as were Japanese and Italian-Canadians during the Second World War.
In Britain, Germans were demonized in the press well before the First World War, when the Kaiserliche Marine started to challenge the Royal Navy, but particularly around 1912 and during the First World War. Anti-German sentiment was so intense that the British Royal Family (which was, in fact, of German origin) was advised by the government to change its name, resulting in the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha becoming the House of Windsor. The German Shepherd dog was renamed as Alsatian. The waters that had been known as the 'German Ocean' were also renamed; the North Sea (as in German Nordsee) despite being east of the British Isles.
The pacifist Mennonite and Amish communities attracted considerable hatred, particularly during the American Revolution and the US Civil War, when many Mennonites and possibly Amish were imprisoned or forcibly conscripted. There was a popular view that Germans did not consider themselves part of America.
Upon the outbreak of World War I, anti-German sentiment quickly reached fever pitch. Many Germans supported their (former) homeland's side in the war, in which America long remained officially neutral. The situation came to a crisis with America's entry into the war in 1917. By the time the troops returned from Europe, the German community had ceased to be a major force in American culture, or was no more perceived as German.
When in France during World War I, members of the Yale University had learned about the German song Die Wacht am Rhein and were apparently shocked to discover the fact that Yale's traditional song "Bright College Years" had been written to the "splendid tune" of Carl Wilhelm. Suddenly hating this melody, Yale Alumni sang "Bright College Years" to the tune of the Marseillaise instead, and after the war the German melody was banned for some time until it was reinstated in 1920.
In Canada, thousands of German born Canadians were interned in detention camps during World War I and World War II and subjected to forced labour. Many Ukrainians and other Eastern Europeans were also detained during the First World War as were Japanese and Italian-Canadians during the Second World War.
In Britain, Germans were demonized in the press well before the First World War, when the Kaiserliche Marine started to challenge the Royal Navy, but particularly around 1912 and during the First World War. Anti-German sentiment was so intense that the British Royal Family (which was, in fact, of German origin) was advised by the government to change its name, resulting in the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha becoming the House of Windsor. The German Shepherd dog was renamed as Alsatian. The waters that had been known as the 'German Ocean' were also renamed; the North Sea (as in German Nordsee) despite being east of the British Isles.
A Discussion with Bavarian, Swabian, Franconian and Saxonian students
Wolfgang Schabert was from Stuttgart and proud of his Swabian sub-culture which is dominantly in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg and the western part of Bavaria. He told the Swabians still preserve their unique culture and speak the melodious Swabian dialect among them frequently.
Jasmine, Marco, Susanne and other students were discussing range of issues relating to current Germany and Asian history. Jasmine is a Frankfurter, a highly observant student and not given to much talk.
Susanne, a Franconian came out with an interesting point on the Alsace-Lorraine area, which is currently a French territory. She said Alsace-Lorraine changed hands between Germany and France. She told most of the people there of German origin spoke these days French and their way of life was also French because of their cultural assimilation.
Katrin, a Saxonian came out with various facts about the Saxonians and their own distinct culture. Christiane Glettler, a Bavarian spoke of Bavarian history.
Bavaria has a long historical background with the Bavarii tribes who were large and powerful and emerged late in Teutonic tribal times, in what is now the Czech Republic (Bohemia). They replaced, or perhaps are simply another phase of the previous inhabitants - the Rugians. They swiftly expanded their influence southward, and occupied the area which still bears their name: Bavaria.
There is some argument as to the origins of the Bavarii. Until recently, modern day Bavarians were thought to be descendants of the Bavarii, who themselves were direct descendants of the (most probably) Celtic Boii, who settled in what is now Bavaria perhaps as much as two centuries before the birth of Christ. The Boii may in turn have also lent their name to Bohemia, an area that has at times been part of Bavaria proper.
Over the last half of the 20th century, historical and archaeological research has increasingly supported the theory that the remnants of the Celtic Boii were absorbed into the Roman Empire and later intermingled with other Germanic peoples who chose to stay (or were stationed by the Romans) in the area.
By the 6th century AD, the evidence was found for the foundation of a Bavarian Stem-duchy whose leading men were related to the ruling Frankish (and possibly Alemannic/Swabian) houses. However, there is no longer real evidence that the rulers in Bavaria belonged to a people called the Bavarii. It is in fact likely that, after the name of the region became known by the name of the early inhabitants, later inhabitants became known by the accepted geographical name.
Jasmine, Marco, Susanne and other students were discussing range of issues relating to current Germany and Asian history. Jasmine is a Frankfurter, a highly observant student and not given to much talk.
Susanne, a Franconian came out with an interesting point on the Alsace-Lorraine area, which is currently a French territory. She said Alsace-Lorraine changed hands between Germany and France. She told most of the people there of German origin spoke these days French and their way of life was also French because of their cultural assimilation.
Katrin, a Saxonian came out with various facts about the Saxonians and their own distinct culture. Christiane Glettler, a Bavarian spoke of Bavarian history.
Bavaria has a long historical background with the Bavarii tribes who were large and powerful and emerged late in Teutonic tribal times, in what is now the Czech Republic (Bohemia). They replaced, or perhaps are simply another phase of the previous inhabitants - the Rugians. They swiftly expanded their influence southward, and occupied the area which still bears their name: Bavaria.
There is some argument as to the origins of the Bavarii. Until recently, modern day Bavarians were thought to be descendants of the Bavarii, who themselves were direct descendants of the (most probably) Celtic Boii, who settled in what is now Bavaria perhaps as much as two centuries before the birth of Christ. The Boii may in turn have also lent their name to Bohemia, an area that has at times been part of Bavaria proper.
Over the last half of the 20th century, historical and archaeological research has increasingly supported the theory that the remnants of the Celtic Boii were absorbed into the Roman Empire and later intermingled with other Germanic peoples who chose to stay (or were stationed by the Romans) in the area.
By the 6th century AD, the evidence was found for the foundation of a Bavarian Stem-duchy whose leading men were related to the ruling Frankish (and possibly Alemannic/Swabian) houses. However, there is no longer real evidence that the rulers in Bavaria belonged to a people called the Bavarii. It is in fact likely that, after the name of the region became known by the name of the early inhabitants, later inhabitants became known by the accepted geographical name.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
German Memory - US President Gen Dwight D Eisenhower & The "Other Losses" of German Prisoners
According to Canadian Author James Bacque, Eisenhower personally, secretly, and with sinister intent changed the status of surrendered German soldiers from prisoners of war to Disarmed Enemy Forces.
But the historians argued that the change in designation was a policy matter. The decision was made not by Eisenhower but by his superiors, specifically by the European Advisory Commission. Nor was any attempt made to keep it secret. All those involved acted with the authority of the British, Russian and American Governments, and they were perfectly straightforward about the reason for the change in status. The Allies could not afford to feed the millions of German prisoners at the same level at which they were able to feed German civilians, the civilians of the liberated countries of Western Europe and the displaced persons. But the United States and other Allied nations had signed the Geneva Convention, which had the force of a treaty. They did not wish to violate it, so they used the new designation of "Disarmed Enemy Forces."
The greatest number of "other losses" revealed in the August 1945 Report of the Military Governor. (These monthly reports are in the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kan., in the National Archives in Washington and elsewhere; they are a basic source on every aspect of the occupation, including food shortages and prisoners). Historians accused Bacque that he did not cite them and there was no evidence that he examined them even.
The August report lists the numbers of disarmed enemy forces discharged by American forces and those transferred to the British and French for forced labor.
The report states: "An additional group of 663,576 are listed as 'other losses,' consisting largely of members of the Volksturm [Peoples' Militia], released without formal discharge."
The People's Militia consisted of older men (up to 80 years of age, mainly World War I veterans) and boys of 16 or sometimes less. American guards and camp authorities told the old men to go home and take care of their grandchildren, the boys to go home and return to school along with the transfers to other zones. Historians criticized James Bacque that he ignored all these facts for his 'missing million'.
They further criticized Bacque was wrong on every major charge and nearly all his minor ones. Eisenhower was not a Hitler, he did not run death camps, German prisoners did not die by the hundreds of thousands, there was a severe food shortage in 1945, there was nothing sinister or secret about the "disarmed enemy forces" designation.
Nevertheless, Historians agreed with Bacque on one point, that some US Army soldiers and their officers were capable of acting in almost as brutal a manner as the Nazis.
But number of historians has commented in their reviews in Britain, France, Germany and Canada, "they cannot believe what Mr. Bacque says about Eisenhower is true, but they cannot also disprove it."
Eisenhower, the German descendant American who showed his statesmanship and greater humanity by ending the Korean War and avoiding military intervention in Vietnam finally left a controversial legacy in his ancestral Germany; once said, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children... This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron."
But the historians argued that the change in designation was a policy matter. The decision was made not by Eisenhower but by his superiors, specifically by the European Advisory Commission. Nor was any attempt made to keep it secret. All those involved acted with the authority of the British, Russian and American Governments, and they were perfectly straightforward about the reason for the change in status. The Allies could not afford to feed the millions of German prisoners at the same level at which they were able to feed German civilians, the civilians of the liberated countries of Western Europe and the displaced persons. But the United States and other Allied nations had signed the Geneva Convention, which had the force of a treaty. They did not wish to violate it, so they used the new designation of "Disarmed Enemy Forces."
The greatest number of "other losses" revealed in the August 1945 Report of the Military Governor. (These monthly reports are in the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kan., in the National Archives in Washington and elsewhere; they are a basic source on every aspect of the occupation, including food shortages and prisoners). Historians accused Bacque that he did not cite them and there was no evidence that he examined them even.
The August report lists the numbers of disarmed enemy forces discharged by American forces and those transferred to the British and French for forced labor.
The report states: "An additional group of 663,576 are listed as 'other losses,' consisting largely of members of the Volksturm [Peoples' Militia], released without formal discharge."
The People's Militia consisted of older men (up to 80 years of age, mainly World War I veterans) and boys of 16 or sometimes less. American guards and camp authorities told the old men to go home and take care of their grandchildren, the boys to go home and return to school along with the transfers to other zones. Historians criticized James Bacque that he ignored all these facts for his 'missing million'.
They further criticized Bacque was wrong on every major charge and nearly all his minor ones. Eisenhower was not a Hitler, he did not run death camps, German prisoners did not die by the hundreds of thousands, there was a severe food shortage in 1945, there was nothing sinister or secret about the "disarmed enemy forces" designation.
Nevertheless, Historians agreed with Bacque on one point, that some US Army soldiers and their officers were capable of acting in almost as brutal a manner as the Nazis.
But number of historians has commented in their reviews in Britain, France, Germany and Canada, "they cannot believe what Mr. Bacque says about Eisenhower is true, but they cannot also disprove it."
Eisenhower, the German descendant American who showed his statesmanship and greater humanity by ending the Korean War and avoiding military intervention in Vietnam finally left a controversial legacy in his ancestral Germany; once said, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children... This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron."
German Memories - Kaiser William II & The First World War
William gave the German nation an extra strength on the international level only by constructing a powerful navy which he had inherited from his mother, a love of the British Royal Navy, the world's largest at that time. He made a reality of what he once confided to his uncle Edward VII that his dream was to have a "fleet of my own some day" like the British. William's personal "likes and dislikes" caused by his fleet's poor show in front of his grandmother Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations led him to take steps towards the construction of a powerful navy against his cousins in Britain.
William well utilised the talents of the dynamic naval officer Alfred von Tirpitz. He appointed him as the head of the Reich Naval Office in 1897 and the new admiral had come out with his Tirpitz Plan, the "Risk theory" where he advocated how Germany could force Britain to accede to German demands in the international arena through the threat posed by a powerful battle-fleet concentrated in the North Sea. But building this powerful fleet of more expensive Dreadnought type of battleships cost a lot to Germany imposing financial strains in the coming years.
William got into the trap of the First World War when his close friend the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was murdered on June 28, 1914. William offered Austria-Hungary to crush the secret organization that had plotted and slayed the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. He encouraged Austria to use force against the suspected Serbian movement which was responsible for his murder. But he was further trapped by his exploitative elites in Berlin by sending him away to his annual cruise of the North Sea on July 6, 1914, as they wanted to manipulate things in his absence for war to increase German dominance in Europe. They feared William might undermine their war effort - something of which William, for all his bluster, was extremely apprehensive.
William made erratic attempts to stay on top of the crisis via telegram, and when the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum was delivered to Serbia, he hurried back to Berlin. He reached Berlin and started his last minute attempt to avert the war.
But beyond his knowledge and control in Austria the warring-attempts were in full swing. Unknown to the Emperor, Austro-Hungarian ministers and generals had already convinced the 84-year-old Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria to sign a declaration of war against Serbia.
When William learnt that the First World War was unavoidable by a document stating that Russia would not cancel its mobilization on the event of Austro-Hungarian mobilization against Serbia, he wrote a lengthy commentary containing the startling observations: "For I no longer have any doubt that England, Russia and France have agreed among themselves........knowing that our treaty obligations compel us to support Austria.......to use the Austro-Serb conflict as a pretext for waging a war of annihilation against us.......Our dilemma over keeping faith with the old and honorable Emperor has been exploited to create a situation which gives England the excuse she has been seeking to annihilate us with a spurious appearance of justice on the pretext that she is helping France and maintaining the well-known Balance of Power in Europe for her own benefit against us."
William well utilised the talents of the dynamic naval officer Alfred von Tirpitz. He appointed him as the head of the Reich Naval Office in 1897 and the new admiral had come out with his Tirpitz Plan, the "Risk theory" where he advocated how Germany could force Britain to accede to German demands in the international arena through the threat posed by a powerful battle-fleet concentrated in the North Sea. But building this powerful fleet of more expensive Dreadnought type of battleships cost a lot to Germany imposing financial strains in the coming years.
William got into the trap of the First World War when his close friend the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was murdered on June 28, 1914. William offered Austria-Hungary to crush the secret organization that had plotted and slayed the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. He encouraged Austria to use force against the suspected Serbian movement which was responsible for his murder. But he was further trapped by his exploitative elites in Berlin by sending him away to his annual cruise of the North Sea on July 6, 1914, as they wanted to manipulate things in his absence for war to increase German dominance in Europe. They feared William might undermine their war effort - something of which William, for all his bluster, was extremely apprehensive.
William made erratic attempts to stay on top of the crisis via telegram, and when the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum was delivered to Serbia, he hurried back to Berlin. He reached Berlin and started his last minute attempt to avert the war.
But beyond his knowledge and control in Austria the warring-attempts were in full swing. Unknown to the Emperor, Austro-Hungarian ministers and generals had already convinced the 84-year-old Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria to sign a declaration of war against Serbia.
When William learnt that the First World War was unavoidable by a document stating that Russia would not cancel its mobilization on the event of Austro-Hungarian mobilization against Serbia, he wrote a lengthy commentary containing the startling observations: "For I no longer have any doubt that England, Russia and France have agreed among themselves........knowing that our treaty obligations compel us to support Austria.......to use the Austro-Serb conflict as a pretext for waging a war of annihilation against us.......Our dilemma over keeping faith with the old and honorable Emperor has been exploited to create a situation which gives England the excuse she has been seeking to annihilate us with a spurious appearance of justice on the pretext that she is helping France and maintaining the well-known Balance of Power in Europe for her own benefit against us."
German Memories - Kaiser William II & the End of the First World War
Though William was not a clever statesman like his erstwhile chancellor Bismarck, he tried his best diplomacy to avoid the war with Great Britain as it would attack if Germany would start its warring frontier in France through Belgium.
Though he was not actively sought to unleash the First World War, he had a dream of building a powerful German Empire. But he wanted to achieve it without bloodshed. His inability to scheme things like Bismarck made him to end up with unrealistic plans and chaotic statements.
But his better judgment at one point indicated a world war was imminent and tried his last resort of personal diplomacy to preserve the peace by his "Willy and Nicky" correspondence and influencing after the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum that Austro-Hungarian troops should go no further than Belgrade, thus limiting the conflict.
But by then it was far too late, for the eager military officials of Germany and the German Foreign Office were successful in persuading him to sign the mobilisation order and initiate the Schlieffen Plan. William was trapped by his military elite and made the First World War to be called his own initiation by the British and unfairly named it a "the Kaiser's War" of which he was personally not responsible by unleashing the conflict.
Nevertheless, his own love for culture and trappings of militarism pushed him to endorse the German military establishment and industry most notably the Krupp corporation into a prominent and influential position in the affairs of the German militia. The Krupp corporation which supported and enabled his dynasty to rule ultimately pushed his empire into an armaments race to compete with European powers.
At one point William reminded his Generals before the war expressing his pessimism as "You will regret this, gentlemen". But he encouraged Austria to pursue a hard line with Serbia and the subsequent German actions during the war gained him the title of "Supreme War Lord".
As the war progressed, his influence receded and inevitably his lack of ability in military matters led to an ever-increasing reliance upon his generals, so much so that after 1916 the Empire had effectively become a military dictatorship under the control of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff.
Increasingly cut off from reality and the political decision-making process, William vacillated between defeatism and dreams of victory, depending upon the fortunes of "his" armies.
Though he was used by the military Generals as a useful figurehead and made him to award medals and courageous speeches, at one point he realised the necessity of a capitulation and influenced the military and political hierarchy. He really felt the German Nation should not bleed to death for a dying cause.
But over time things started to move in a different way and his abdication was necessitated by the popular perceptions that had been created by the Entente propaganda against him. He realised the situation and crossed the border by train the following day and went into exile in the Netherlands, which had remained neutral throughout the war.
Upon the conclusion of the Treaty of Versailles in early 1919, Article 227 expressly provided for the prosecution of William "for a supreme offense against international morality and the sanctity of treaties", but Queen Wilhelmina refused to extradite him, despite appeals from the Allies.
Ironically, prior to the outbreak of the First World War, while the young Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands visited Prussia, William II boasted to the child-Queen that "my guards are seven feet tall and yours are only shoulder high to them." Wilhelmina smiled politely and replied: "Quite true, Your Majesty, your guards are seven feet tall. But when we open our dikes, the water is ten feet deep!". William II had to swallow his pride under her custody during the rest of his political exile.
Ironically in William's absence the German Government finally accepted, as a basis of peace negotiations, the program laid down by the President of the United States in order to avoid further bloodshed and brought about the immediate conclusion of an armistice on land, on water, and in the air.
Pathetically some years ago only William hosted US President Theodore Roosevelt in a review of the German army on parade and Roosevelt exclaimed, "My God, if I had an army like this, I could rule the world!"
Though he was not actively sought to unleash the First World War, he had a dream of building a powerful German Empire. But he wanted to achieve it without bloodshed. His inability to scheme things like Bismarck made him to end up with unrealistic plans and chaotic statements.
But his better judgment at one point indicated a world war was imminent and tried his last resort of personal diplomacy to preserve the peace by his "Willy and Nicky" correspondence and influencing after the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum that Austro-Hungarian troops should go no further than Belgrade, thus limiting the conflict.
But by then it was far too late, for the eager military officials of Germany and the German Foreign Office were successful in persuading him to sign the mobilisation order and initiate the Schlieffen Plan. William was trapped by his military elite and made the First World War to be called his own initiation by the British and unfairly named it a "the Kaiser's War" of which he was personally not responsible by unleashing the conflict.
Nevertheless, his own love for culture and trappings of militarism pushed him to endorse the German military establishment and industry most notably the Krupp corporation into a prominent and influential position in the affairs of the German militia. The Krupp corporation which supported and enabled his dynasty to rule ultimately pushed his empire into an armaments race to compete with European powers.
At one point William reminded his Generals before the war expressing his pessimism as "You will regret this, gentlemen". But he encouraged Austria to pursue a hard line with Serbia and the subsequent German actions during the war gained him the title of "Supreme War Lord".
As the war progressed, his influence receded and inevitably his lack of ability in military matters led to an ever-increasing reliance upon his generals, so much so that after 1916 the Empire had effectively become a military dictatorship under the control of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff.
Increasingly cut off from reality and the political decision-making process, William vacillated between defeatism and dreams of victory, depending upon the fortunes of "his" armies.
Though he was used by the military Generals as a useful figurehead and made him to award medals and courageous speeches, at one point he realised the necessity of a capitulation and influenced the military and political hierarchy. He really felt the German Nation should not bleed to death for a dying cause.
But over time things started to move in a different way and his abdication was necessitated by the popular perceptions that had been created by the Entente propaganda against him. He realised the situation and crossed the border by train the following day and went into exile in the Netherlands, which had remained neutral throughout the war.
Upon the conclusion of the Treaty of Versailles in early 1919, Article 227 expressly provided for the prosecution of William "for a supreme offense against international morality and the sanctity of treaties", but Queen Wilhelmina refused to extradite him, despite appeals from the Allies.
Ironically, prior to the outbreak of the First World War, while the young Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands visited Prussia, William II boasted to the child-Queen that "my guards are seven feet tall and yours are only shoulder high to them." Wilhelmina smiled politely and replied: "Quite true, Your Majesty, your guards are seven feet tall. But when we open our dikes, the water is ten feet deep!". William II had to swallow his pride under her custody during the rest of his political exile.
Ironically in William's absence the German Government finally accepted, as a basis of peace negotiations, the program laid down by the President of the United States in order to avoid further bloodshed and brought about the immediate conclusion of an armistice on land, on water, and in the air.
Pathetically some years ago only William hosted US President Theodore Roosevelt in a review of the German army on parade and Roosevelt exclaimed, "My God, if I had an army like this, I could rule the world!"
German Memories - Kaiser William II & His Personal Diplomacy
He believed in personal diplomacy the same way as he had in mind with his British cousins, with his cousin-in-law Tsar Nicholas II of Russia also to build up a greater relationship between the two nations in the event of war. His unrealistic understanding of European power politics made him to sign an agreement with Tsar Nicholas at a private meeting at Bjorko in 1905. But on his return to Germany his Chancellor Bulow obstructed the personal treaty of alliance between the two cousins. In the same way Tsar Nicholas was confronted by his policy makers and elite in St. Petersburg on his return, which reduced the treaty to the status of a dead letter.
European power politics once again undermined his effort to avoid the war with Russia. His telegram to Nicholas II failed to yield the result on the eve of the First World War because of the existing German commitments to Austria-Hungary. William in 1889 gave his assurance to Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph in a chivalrous fidelity that "the day of Austro-Hungarian mobilization, for whatever cause, will be the day of German mobilization too" and made the German-Russian Alliance impossible as the Austrian mobilization for war would most likely be against Russia.
He blundered in German foreign relations either by his own mistake or by the combination of his foreign policy elites. On one occasion he visited Morocco and created the Moroccan Crisis of 1906. His visit to Tangier in Morocco on the encouragement of his foreign policy elite was seen as German interests in Morocco. He further aggravated German relations with France by his remarks on Moroccan independence as France was expanding its colonial interests in Morocco. The chaos finally led to the Algeciras Conference, which severely isolated Germany in the whole of Europe.
William further aggravated the relationship with many of the countries in Europe and outside by his controversial comments in the British newspaper "The Daily Telegraph" in 1908 where he started to comment in the beginning with the intention of building up the Anglo-German cooperation, but in the course of the interview he went to say something else out of his emotional outbursts, saying the French, Russians, and Japanese were united together against Germany and the Germans cared nothing for the British. He attacked the French and Russians that they had attempted to instigate Germany to intervene in the Second Boer War. He said the German naval buildup was targeted against the Japanese, not Britain. He finally ended up attacking severely the English people saying: "You English are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
After that interview, even in Germany the reflection was severe and even there were protests to remove him. William kept thereafter a very low profile for some time, but took revenge on his chancellor Bulow by forcing him to resign for his public disclosure that he did not edit his interview, which appeared in The Daily Telegraph. The Daily Telegraph crisis had reduced his influence in domestic and foreign policies and he lost his self-confidence and personality altogether.
European power politics once again undermined his effort to avoid the war with Russia. His telegram to Nicholas II failed to yield the result on the eve of the First World War because of the existing German commitments to Austria-Hungary. William in 1889 gave his assurance to Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph in a chivalrous fidelity that "the day of Austro-Hungarian mobilization, for whatever cause, will be the day of German mobilization too" and made the German-Russian Alliance impossible as the Austrian mobilization for war would most likely be against Russia.
He blundered in German foreign relations either by his own mistake or by the combination of his foreign policy elites. On one occasion he visited Morocco and created the Moroccan Crisis of 1906. His visit to Tangier in Morocco on the encouragement of his foreign policy elite was seen as German interests in Morocco. He further aggravated German relations with France by his remarks on Moroccan independence as France was expanding its colonial interests in Morocco. The chaos finally led to the Algeciras Conference, which severely isolated Germany in the whole of Europe.
William further aggravated the relationship with many of the countries in Europe and outside by his controversial comments in the British newspaper "The Daily Telegraph" in 1908 where he started to comment in the beginning with the intention of building up the Anglo-German cooperation, but in the course of the interview he went to say something else out of his emotional outbursts, saying the French, Russians, and Japanese were united together against Germany and the Germans cared nothing for the British. He attacked the French and Russians that they had attempted to instigate Germany to intervene in the Second Boer War. He said the German naval buildup was targeted against the Japanese, not Britain. He finally ended up attacking severely the English people saying: "You English are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
After that interview, even in Germany the reflection was severe and even there were protests to remove him. William kept thereafter a very low profile for some time, but took revenge on his chancellor Bulow by forcing him to resign for his public disclosure that he did not edit his interview, which appeared in The Daily Telegraph. The Daily Telegraph crisis had reduced his influence in domestic and foreign policies and he lost his self-confidence and personality altogether.
German Memory in Asia - Dresden Bombing
Mirko joined me at the restaurant. He was from Dresden, an eastern city of Germany.
He said his city was the most ravaged in the Second World War. He repeated over and over again that Dresden was heavily devastated by the Second World War. I felt sorry for him, as he seemed traumatized by the memories of the ravages of his native city.
But the Dresden bombing has made a lasting impact on Germans around the world. The devastation of the bombing has influenced their art, culture and literature as well. Science fiction novelists Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle placed the General who ordered the bombing of Dresden in Hell in their novel Inferno.
The Dresden bombing was one of the world's worst tragedies of the twentieth century.
The bombing of Dresden by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) remains one of the more controversial events of World War II.
Historian Frederick Taylor says: "The destruction of Dresden has an epically tragic quality to it. It was a wonderfully beautiful city and a symbol of baroque humanism and all that was best in Germany. It also contained all of the worst from Germany during the Nazi period. In that sense it is an absolutely exemplary tragedy for the horrors of 20th Century warfare..."
In the summer of 1944, plans for a large and intense offensive targeting the Dresden and other selected cities had been discussed under the code name Operation Thunderclap, but then shelved.
But early in 1945, the Allies' political-military leadership started to consider how they might aid the Soviets with the use of the strategic bomber force. The plan was to bomb Dresden, Berlin and several other eastern cities in conjunction with the Soviet advance.
Sir Charles Portal, the Chief of the Air Staff, noted on January 26, 1945, that "a severe blitz will not only cause confusion in the evacuation from the East, but will also hamper the movement of troops from the West".
Sir Norman Bottomley, the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff requested Arthur "Bomber" Harris, Commander-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command and an ardent supporter of area bombing, to undertake attacks on Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, and Chemnitz as soon as moon and weather conditions allowed. The Allies had in mind to exploit the confused conditions in these cities during the successful Russian advance.
Western Allies (US, France and Britain) had already decided to target Dresden when they met at the Yalta Conference with Russia on February 4.
RAF Air Staff documents state that it was their intention to use the RAF bomber command to "destroy communications" to hinder the eastward deployment of German troops, and to hamper evacuation, not to kill the evacuees. The priority list drafted by Bottomley for Portal, so that he could discuss targets with the Soviets at Yalta, included only two eastern cities with a high enough priority to fit into the RAF targeting list as both had transportation and industrial areas. These were Berlin and Dresden. Both were bombed after Yalta.
RAF briefing notes mentioned a desire to show, "the Russians, when they arrive, what Bomber Command can do." It was not clear whether the Allies wanted to really help the Soviets or they wanted to show their abilities in advance to the Soviets on the event of a possible Cold War.
He said his city was the most ravaged in the Second World War. He repeated over and over again that Dresden was heavily devastated by the Second World War. I felt sorry for him, as he seemed traumatized by the memories of the ravages of his native city.
But the Dresden bombing has made a lasting impact on Germans around the world. The devastation of the bombing has influenced their art, culture and literature as well. Science fiction novelists Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle placed the General who ordered the bombing of Dresden in Hell in their novel Inferno.
The Dresden bombing was one of the world's worst tragedies of the twentieth century.
The bombing of Dresden by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) remains one of the more controversial events of World War II.
Historian Frederick Taylor says: "The destruction of Dresden has an epically tragic quality to it. It was a wonderfully beautiful city and a symbol of baroque humanism and all that was best in Germany. It also contained all of the worst from Germany during the Nazi period. In that sense it is an absolutely exemplary tragedy for the horrors of 20th Century warfare..."
In the summer of 1944, plans for a large and intense offensive targeting the Dresden and other selected cities had been discussed under the code name Operation Thunderclap, but then shelved.
But early in 1945, the Allies' political-military leadership started to consider how they might aid the Soviets with the use of the strategic bomber force. The plan was to bomb Dresden, Berlin and several other eastern cities in conjunction with the Soviet advance.
Sir Charles Portal, the Chief of the Air Staff, noted on January 26, 1945, that "a severe blitz will not only cause confusion in the evacuation from the East, but will also hamper the movement of troops from the West".
Sir Norman Bottomley, the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff requested Arthur "Bomber" Harris, Commander-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command and an ardent supporter of area bombing, to undertake attacks on Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, and Chemnitz as soon as moon and weather conditions allowed. The Allies had in mind to exploit the confused conditions in these cities during the successful Russian advance.
Western Allies (US, France and Britain) had already decided to target Dresden when they met at the Yalta Conference with Russia on February 4.
RAF Air Staff documents state that it was their intention to use the RAF bomber command to "destroy communications" to hinder the eastward deployment of German troops, and to hamper evacuation, not to kill the evacuees. The priority list drafted by Bottomley for Portal, so that he could discuss targets with the Soviets at Yalta, included only two eastern cities with a high enough priority to fit into the RAF targeting list as both had transportation and industrial areas. These were Berlin and Dresden. Both were bombed after Yalta.
RAF briefing notes mentioned a desire to show, "the Russians, when they arrive, what Bomber Command can do." It was not clear whether the Allies wanted to really help the Soviets or they wanted to show their abilities in advance to the Soviets on the event of a possible Cold War.
German Memories - Kaiser William II & His "Love-Hate" Relationship With Great Britain
The German Empire without Bismarck had started to experience a general lack of coherence and consistency in the foreign policy issues towards other powers. William's "love-hate" relationship with Great Britain and in particular with his British cousins further made chaos in the consistency of foreign policy while the elite had their own agenda and further messed foreign affairs.
William never had in mind an open armed conflict with Britain or never even imagined it, but his general anti-British sentiments, which arose within him from his youth by his own prejudices, reflected among the elite of the German government and created further confusion.
William's prejudices towards Britain made him to believe when war came about in 1914, his late uncle Edward VII trapped him into a diplomatic mess by the British attempts to encircle Germany under the Entente Cordiale with France in 1904 and with Russia in 1907. He was unrealistic about the constitutional set-up in Britain and believed that his late uncle had a say on British foreign policy.
This mental paranoia made him to give importance to personal diplomacy with his British cousins to shape British - German relations where they had no power at all. Through Queen Victoria, William was a first cousin to many of the crowned heads in Europe most notably George V of the United Kingdom and Nicholas II of Russia through his consort, the Empress Alexandra.
Kaiser William II, the first grandchild of Queen Victoria had lasting affection from the British Public as he was at his maternal grandmother's deathbed, holding her in his arms as she passed away. But his immature political and diplomatic blunders spoiled that in the coming years.
William gave importance to his personal appearance and emotions than to his statesmanship. He had a vast collection of uniforms and costumes and used to wear different ones for each occasion, often four or more a day and was treated as a joke, saying that when eating plum pudding the emperor would dress as a British Admiral, the honorary rank he had been awarded by his grandmother in 1889.
William never had in mind an open armed conflict with Britain or never even imagined it, but his general anti-British sentiments, which arose within him from his youth by his own prejudices, reflected among the elite of the German government and created further confusion.
William's prejudices towards Britain made him to believe when war came about in 1914, his late uncle Edward VII trapped him into a diplomatic mess by the British attempts to encircle Germany under the Entente Cordiale with France in 1904 and with Russia in 1907. He was unrealistic about the constitutional set-up in Britain and believed that his late uncle had a say on British foreign policy.
This mental paranoia made him to give importance to personal diplomacy with his British cousins to shape British - German relations where they had no power at all. Through Queen Victoria, William was a first cousin to many of the crowned heads in Europe most notably George V of the United Kingdom and Nicholas II of Russia through his consort, the Empress Alexandra.
Kaiser William II, the first grandchild of Queen Victoria had lasting affection from the British Public as he was at his maternal grandmother's deathbed, holding her in his arms as she passed away. But his immature political and diplomatic blunders spoiled that in the coming years.
William gave importance to his personal appearance and emotions than to his statesmanship. He had a vast collection of uniforms and costumes and used to wear different ones for each occasion, often four or more a day and was treated as a joke, saying that when eating plum pudding the emperor would dress as a British Admiral, the honorary rank he had been awarded by his grandmother in 1889.
German Memories in Asia - Kaiser William II and His Diplomatic Chaos
While I was continuing my talk with Marita on various issues, I asked her how she felt about the massacre of Jews by Adolf Hitler. She paused for a while and burst out at one point by saying that the act of one person for his political gain had damaged their entire image.
I placated her saying the act of one person does not necessarily tarnish all Germans. I said not only in Germany but even in other countries because of the act of some of the reckless leaders, their nation and people have become villains for other communities and nationalities.
But for Marita's frustration, it was not only Adolf Hitler but also the last German Emperor and the King of Prussia Kaiser William II too contributed a lot.
He ruled both the German Empire and Prussia since 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918 and was viewed as the main personality in German history to determine the First World War. Though later on there was a confusion of his real influence on German policy, which led to the war. But his recklessness undoubtedly contributed a lot for the subsequent downfall of Imperial Germany. His premature attempt to rule the German Empire and Prussia at the age of 29 cost a lot to both nations.
The new Emperor opposed Bismarck's careful foreign policy, preferring vigorous and rapid expansion to protect Germany's "place in the sun." Although in his youth he had been a great admirer of Otto von Bismarck, William's characteristic impatience soon brought him into conflict with the "Iron Chancellor", the dominant figure in the foundation of his empire.
Furthermore, the young emperor had come to the throne with the determination that he was going to rule as well as reign, unlike his grandfather, who had largely been content to leave day-to-day administration to the brilliant Bismarck. Early conflicts between William II and his chancellor soon poisoned the relationship between the two men. When Bismarck, gained a favorable absolute majority toward his policies over the anti-socialist laws their relationship worsened. Finally Emperor William II forced the Iron Chancellor to resign when the amalgamated Conservative Party and the National Liberal Party was favorable to make the anti-socialist laws permanent in the Reichstag.
Emperor William II thereafter promoted chancellors who were senior civil servants and not seasoned politician-statesmen like Bismarck to preclude the emergence of another Iron Chancellor. But what something Bismarck created as a "Myth" by his careful diplomacy and statesmanship, William II's new chancellors failed to create.
After the dismissal of the Iron Chancellor, William II effectively destroyed any chance Germany had of stable and effective government. William's own way of governance put the German ship of state going out of control and eventually led to a series of crises.
William's impatient nature further aggravated German foreign policy and led to much chaos. His reactions were characterised by sentiment and impulse and not by any rational means. While the Bismarck articulated things on his own in the international sphere, William depended on the German foreign policy elite to undertake decisions.
Sometimes he made a mess in the international sphere by his chaotic statements and messages, especially the famous Kruger telegram of 1896 where William went to congratulate President Kruger of the Transvaal on the suppression of the Jameson Raid, and aggravated British public opinion and Germany felt its full impact many years later on.
His impolitic public utterance on 27 July 1900 exhorting German troops to quell the Boxer Rebellion to emulate the ancient Huns caused the origin of the usage of the word Hun in the English-speaking world to tarnish the image of the German soldier.
His emotional weakness also made him vulnerable to manipulation by interests within the German foreign policy elite and he became too vulnerable to the interests of those elites. He blundered by not renewing the secret Reinsurance Treaty with the Russian empire, which Bismarck had concluded in 1887 in association with his new chancellor Caprivi and made the worst offense in the sphere of international foreign policy issues. The agreement guaranteed Russian neutrality in the event of an attack by France.
I placated her saying the act of one person does not necessarily tarnish all Germans. I said not only in Germany but even in other countries because of the act of some of the reckless leaders, their nation and people have become villains for other communities and nationalities.
But for Marita's frustration, it was not only Adolf Hitler but also the last German Emperor and the King of Prussia Kaiser William II too contributed a lot.
He ruled both the German Empire and Prussia since 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918 and was viewed as the main personality in German history to determine the First World War. Though later on there was a confusion of his real influence on German policy, which led to the war. But his recklessness undoubtedly contributed a lot for the subsequent downfall of Imperial Germany. His premature attempt to rule the German Empire and Prussia at the age of 29 cost a lot to both nations.
The new Emperor opposed Bismarck's careful foreign policy, preferring vigorous and rapid expansion to protect Germany's "place in the sun." Although in his youth he had been a great admirer of Otto von Bismarck, William's characteristic impatience soon brought him into conflict with the "Iron Chancellor", the dominant figure in the foundation of his empire.
Furthermore, the young emperor had come to the throne with the determination that he was going to rule as well as reign, unlike his grandfather, who had largely been content to leave day-to-day administration to the brilliant Bismarck. Early conflicts between William II and his chancellor soon poisoned the relationship between the two men. When Bismarck, gained a favorable absolute majority toward his policies over the anti-socialist laws their relationship worsened. Finally Emperor William II forced the Iron Chancellor to resign when the amalgamated Conservative Party and the National Liberal Party was favorable to make the anti-socialist laws permanent in the Reichstag.
Emperor William II thereafter promoted chancellors who were senior civil servants and not seasoned politician-statesmen like Bismarck to preclude the emergence of another Iron Chancellor. But what something Bismarck created as a "Myth" by his careful diplomacy and statesmanship, William II's new chancellors failed to create.
After the dismissal of the Iron Chancellor, William II effectively destroyed any chance Germany had of stable and effective government. William's own way of governance put the German ship of state going out of control and eventually led to a series of crises.
William's impatient nature further aggravated German foreign policy and led to much chaos. His reactions were characterised by sentiment and impulse and not by any rational means. While the Bismarck articulated things on his own in the international sphere, William depended on the German foreign policy elite to undertake decisions.
Sometimes he made a mess in the international sphere by his chaotic statements and messages, especially the famous Kruger telegram of 1896 where William went to congratulate President Kruger of the Transvaal on the suppression of the Jameson Raid, and aggravated British public opinion and Germany felt its full impact many years later on.
His impolitic public utterance on 27 July 1900 exhorting German troops to quell the Boxer Rebellion to emulate the ancient Huns caused the origin of the usage of the word Hun in the English-speaking world to tarnish the image of the German soldier.
His emotional weakness also made him vulnerable to manipulation by interests within the German foreign policy elite and he became too vulnerable to the interests of those elites. He blundered by not renewing the secret Reinsurance Treaty with the Russian empire, which Bismarck had concluded in 1887 in association with his new chancellor Caprivi and made the worst offense in the sphere of international foreign policy issues. The agreement guaranteed Russian neutrality in the event of an attack by France.
German Memories - Franco-Prussian War and Otto Von Bismarck's Diplomacy
Prussia's victory over Austria increased tensions with France. The French Emperor, Napoleon III, feared that a powerful Prussia would upset the balance of power in Europe. Bismarck, at the same time, sought war with France; he believed that if the German states perceived France as the aggressor, they would unite behind the King of Prussia.
A suitable premise for war arose in 1870, when the German Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was offered the Spanish throne, which had been vacant since a revolution in 1868. The French not only blocked the candidacy, but also demanded assurances that no member of the House of Hohenzollern become King of Spain.
Bismarck then published the Ems Dispatch, a carefully edited version of a conversation between King Wilhelm and the French ambassador to Prussia. The publication was intended to provoke France into declaring war on Prussia. The Ems Dispatch had the desired effect. France mobilized and declared war, but was seen as the aggressor; as a result, German states, swept up by nationalism and patriotic zeal, rallied to Prussia's side and provided troops.
The Franco-Prussian War in 1870 was a great success for Prussia. The German army, commanded by Moltke, won victory after victory. The French were defeated in every battle. The remainder of the war featured very careful German operations and massive confusion on the part of the French.
At the end, France was forced to pay a large indemnity and surrender Alsace and part of Lorraine. Though Bismarck opposed the annexation, arguing it would be the "Achilles' Heel" of the new empire, Moltke and his generals insisted that it was needed to keep France in a defensive position. He broke France's supremacy over continental Europe after the Franco-Prussian war.
He carefully built the external security of the new German Nation upon his skillful diplomacy, which isolated France internationally and created a vast and complex system of alliances for mutual military support with most of Europe's nations.
In the role of an 'honest broker', Bismarck was also successful in maintaining peace and stability in Europe by settling French political conflicts through negotiations. Essentially a cautious politician, Bismarck never pursued an imperialistic course in Europe. In Africa however, Bismarck followed for some time a policy of imperial conquest, in a manner similar to the other European powers.
His most important tool in politics was his talent in the successful planning of complex international developments.
Bismarck decided to act immediately to secure the unification of Germany after his victory over France. He opened negotiations with representatives of southern German states, offering special concessions if they would agree to unification. The negotiations were successful; King Wilhelm was crowned "German Emperor" on 18 January 1871 in the Hall of Mirrors in the Chateau de Versailles for the further humiliation of France.
A suitable premise for war arose in 1870, when the German Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was offered the Spanish throne, which had been vacant since a revolution in 1868. The French not only blocked the candidacy, but also demanded assurances that no member of the House of Hohenzollern become King of Spain.
Bismarck then published the Ems Dispatch, a carefully edited version of a conversation between King Wilhelm and the French ambassador to Prussia. The publication was intended to provoke France into declaring war on Prussia. The Ems Dispatch had the desired effect. France mobilized and declared war, but was seen as the aggressor; as a result, German states, swept up by nationalism and patriotic zeal, rallied to Prussia's side and provided troops.
The Franco-Prussian War in 1870 was a great success for Prussia. The German army, commanded by Moltke, won victory after victory. The French were defeated in every battle. The remainder of the war featured very careful German operations and massive confusion on the part of the French.
At the end, France was forced to pay a large indemnity and surrender Alsace and part of Lorraine. Though Bismarck opposed the annexation, arguing it would be the "Achilles' Heel" of the new empire, Moltke and his generals insisted that it was needed to keep France in a defensive position. He broke France's supremacy over continental Europe after the Franco-Prussian war.
He carefully built the external security of the new German Nation upon his skillful diplomacy, which isolated France internationally and created a vast and complex system of alliances for mutual military support with most of Europe's nations.
In the role of an 'honest broker', Bismarck was also successful in maintaining peace and stability in Europe by settling French political conflicts through negotiations. Essentially a cautious politician, Bismarck never pursued an imperialistic course in Europe. In Africa however, Bismarck followed for some time a policy of imperial conquest, in a manner similar to the other European powers.
His most important tool in politics was his talent in the successful planning of complex international developments.
Bismarck decided to act immediately to secure the unification of Germany after his victory over France. He opened negotiations with representatives of southern German states, offering special concessions if they would agree to unification. The negotiations were successful; King Wilhelm was crowned "German Emperor" on 18 January 1871 in the Hall of Mirrors in the Chateau de Versailles for the further humiliation of France.
Friday, December 21, 2007
German Memories - Ancient Germans Migration
I remembered an incident in my CARE days, when I visited an NGO near Nallur, the once flourishing city of the Nagas in the coastal Jaffna lagoon. I asked an elderly person who had an inkling of history as to what happened to the Nagas and the Yakkas. He told me they were all in our blood.
The assimilation transmitted genetically beneficial traits among the people all over the world and an interesting study recently revealed in the ice age old Europe, how the Germanic element of the genes helped for the survival of the dying Finns.
As ice melted about 10,000 years ago, stone-age men, perhaps early Finns, occupied the rich new lands between Norway and the Urals. Other wanderers in the North, many of whom were Germanic, followed them into those areas. According to Matti Klinge of the University of Helsinki, the dominant "genetic element" in Finland today is Germanic.
Germanic people had followed the Finns northward since the dawn of history and were accepted there amongst them. When the waves of disease swept over Europe, it is possible that the Germanic genetic traits which was the ones carrying specific immune factors, such as blood type A, survived because the immune factors were already there and did not have to be produced by a human immune response.
Even during the second and fifth centuries as the western Roman Empire lost military strength and political cohesion, numerous Germanic tribes migrating en masse in far and diverse directions. Taking them to England and as far south through present day Continental Europe to the Mediterranean and northern Africa passed on the beneficial Germanic genetic elements to other tribes.
The Germanic tribes intruded into other tribal territories, and the ensuing wars for land escalated and then the wandering tribes began staking out permanent homes as a means of protection. Much of this resulted in fixed settlements from which many, under a powerful leader.
A defeat meant either scattering or merging with the dominant tribe. In Denmark the Jutes merged with the Danes; in Sweden the Geats merged with the Swedes; in England, the Angles merged with the Saxons to form the Anglo-Saxons.
Outside of Scandinavia, present-day countries speaking a Germanic language have mixed ethnic roots not restricted to the earliest Germanic peoples. Germanic peoples were often quick to assimilate foreign cultures.
There were Romanized Norsemen in Normandy, and the societal elite in medieval Russia among whom many were the descendants of Slavified Norsemen, though it was contested by some Slavic scholars in the former Soviet Union calling it the "Normanist theory".
In England assimilation happened by the migrating Angles, Saxons and Jutes who merged with the indigenous Celtic speaking Britons, resulting in an English identity for the inhabitants of that land.
In the latter part of mid-11th century, French-speaking Norsemen arrived and similarly altered what was known as Anglo-Saxon England and set the English language on the path from Old English to Middle English.
As in England, Scotland's indigenous Brythonic Celtic culture succumbed to Germanic influence due to Teutonic invasion; while the Scottish Highlands and Galloway retained a Gaelic heritage due to the recent invasions from Ireland which supplanted the British culture there, the Scottish Lowlands became English speaking.
France saw a great deal of Germanic settlement, and even its namesake the Franks were a Germanic people. Entire regions of France (such as Alsace, Burgundy and Normandy) were settled heavily by Germanic peoples, contributing to their unique regional cultures and dialects. But most of the languages spoken in France today are Romance languages, while the people have a heavy Gallic substratum that predates Latin and Germanic settlement.
Portugal and Spain also had a great measure of Germanic settlement, due to the Visigoths and the Suevi (Quadi and Marcomanni), who settled permanently. The Vandals were also present, before moving on to North Africa, where they were absorbed into the local population. Many Spanish words of Germanic origin entered into the Spanish language at this time and many more entered through other avenues (often French) in the ensuing centuries.
Italy, especially the area north of the city of Rome, has also had a history of heavy Germanic settlement. Germanic tribes such as the Visigoths, Vandals, and Ostrogoths had successfully invaded and sparsely settled in Italy in the 5th century AD. Most notably, in the 6th century AD, the Germanic tribe known as the Lombards entered and settled primarily in the area known today as Lombardy. The Normans, a partially Germanic people, also conquered and ruled Sicily and parts of southern Italy for a time.
Germany itself assimilated Slavic and Baltic peoples to the east in medieval and modern times; after World War II their descendants spread to other parts of Germany.
Going further back, most of the current territory of Germany was occupied by Celtic and Nordwestblock tribes who were eventually linguistically assimilated into the Germanic peoples.
The assimilation transmitted genetically beneficial traits among the people all over the world and an interesting study recently revealed in the ice age old Europe, how the Germanic element of the genes helped for the survival of the dying Finns.
As ice melted about 10,000 years ago, stone-age men, perhaps early Finns, occupied the rich new lands between Norway and the Urals. Other wanderers in the North, many of whom were Germanic, followed them into those areas. According to Matti Klinge of the University of Helsinki, the dominant "genetic element" in Finland today is Germanic.
Germanic people had followed the Finns northward since the dawn of history and were accepted there amongst them. When the waves of disease swept over Europe, it is possible that the Germanic genetic traits which was the ones carrying specific immune factors, such as blood type A, survived because the immune factors were already there and did not have to be produced by a human immune response.
Even during the second and fifth centuries as the western Roman Empire lost military strength and political cohesion, numerous Germanic tribes migrating en masse in far and diverse directions. Taking them to England and as far south through present day Continental Europe to the Mediterranean and northern Africa passed on the beneficial Germanic genetic elements to other tribes.
The Germanic tribes intruded into other tribal territories, and the ensuing wars for land escalated and then the wandering tribes began staking out permanent homes as a means of protection. Much of this resulted in fixed settlements from which many, under a powerful leader.
A defeat meant either scattering or merging with the dominant tribe. In Denmark the Jutes merged with the Danes; in Sweden the Geats merged with the Swedes; in England, the Angles merged with the Saxons to form the Anglo-Saxons.
Outside of Scandinavia, present-day countries speaking a Germanic language have mixed ethnic roots not restricted to the earliest Germanic peoples. Germanic peoples were often quick to assimilate foreign cultures.
There were Romanized Norsemen in Normandy, and the societal elite in medieval Russia among whom many were the descendants of Slavified Norsemen, though it was contested by some Slavic scholars in the former Soviet Union calling it the "Normanist theory".
In England assimilation happened by the migrating Angles, Saxons and Jutes who merged with the indigenous Celtic speaking Britons, resulting in an English identity for the inhabitants of that land.
In the latter part of mid-11th century, French-speaking Norsemen arrived and similarly altered what was known as Anglo-Saxon England and set the English language on the path from Old English to Middle English.
As in England, Scotland's indigenous Brythonic Celtic culture succumbed to Germanic influence due to Teutonic invasion; while the Scottish Highlands and Galloway retained a Gaelic heritage due to the recent invasions from Ireland which supplanted the British culture there, the Scottish Lowlands became English speaking.
France saw a great deal of Germanic settlement, and even its namesake the Franks were a Germanic people. Entire regions of France (such as Alsace, Burgundy and Normandy) were settled heavily by Germanic peoples, contributing to their unique regional cultures and dialects. But most of the languages spoken in France today are Romance languages, while the people have a heavy Gallic substratum that predates Latin and Germanic settlement.
Portugal and Spain also had a great measure of Germanic settlement, due to the Visigoths and the Suevi (Quadi and Marcomanni), who settled permanently. The Vandals were also present, before moving on to North Africa, where they were absorbed into the local population. Many Spanish words of Germanic origin entered into the Spanish language at this time and many more entered through other avenues (often French) in the ensuing centuries.
Italy, especially the area north of the city of Rome, has also had a history of heavy Germanic settlement. Germanic tribes such as the Visigoths, Vandals, and Ostrogoths had successfully invaded and sparsely settled in Italy in the 5th century AD. Most notably, in the 6th century AD, the Germanic tribe known as the Lombards entered and settled primarily in the area known today as Lombardy. The Normans, a partially Germanic people, also conquered and ruled Sicily and parts of southern Italy for a time.
Germany itself assimilated Slavic and Baltic peoples to the east in medieval and modern times; after World War II their descendants spread to other parts of Germany.
Going further back, most of the current territory of Germany was occupied by Celtic and Nordwestblock tribes who were eventually linguistically assimilated into the Germanic peoples.
German Memories - Attack on Roman Forces by Germanic Teutons & Cimbri
During the late 2nd century BC, the Teutons were marching south along with their neighbors, the Cimbri and the Ambrones, and attacking Roman Italy.
The Cimbri were ferocious warriors who did not fear death. The host was followed by women and children on carts. Aged women dressed in white sacrificed the prisoners of war and sprinkled their blood, the nature of which allowed them to see what was to come.
Evidence that the Cimbri may have practised ritualistic sacrifice is found in the nearly 1500 year-old Haraldskaer Woman discovered in Jutland in the year 1835. Noosemarks and skin piercing were evident and she had been thrown into a bog rather than buried or cremated.
After several battles with the Boii and other Celtic tribes, the Cimbri and other tribes appeared 113 BC in Noricum ( the today's Austria), where they invaded the lands of one of Rome's allies, the Taurisci. On the request, the Roman consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, sent to defend the Taurisci, they retreated only to find themselves deceived and attacked at Noreia, an ancient city in the eastern Alps as the capital of the kingdom of Noricum.
In a bloody battle, they defeated the Romans. Only a storm, which separated the combatants, saved them from complete annihilation.
Thereafter the road to Italy was open, but they turned west towards Gaul (modern day France). They came into frequent conflict with the Romans, who usually came out the losers. In 109 BC, they defeated a Roman army under the consul Marcus Junius Silanus, who was the commander of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis. The same year, they defeated another Roman army under the consul Gaius Cassius Longinus, who was killed at Burdigala (modern day Bordeaux). In 107 BC, the Romans once again lost against the Tigurines, who were allies of the Cimbri.
It was not until 105 BC that they planned an attack on the Roman Empire itself. At the Rhone River, the Cimbri clashed with the Roman armies. The Roman commanders, the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio and the consul Gnaeus Mallius Maximus, hindered Roman coordination and so the Cimbri succeeded in first defeating the legate Marcus Aurelius Scaurus and later caused a devastating defeat on Caepio and Maximus at the Battle of Arausio.
The Roman force was completely overwhelmed and the legate was captured and brought before Boiorix. Scaurus was not humbled by his capture and advised Boiorix to turn back before his people were destroyed by the Roman forces. The king of the Cimbri was indignant at this impudence and had Scaurus executed by being burned alive in a wicker cage.
The Roman force had witnessed the complete destruction of their colleagues. In other circumstances the army might have fled, but the poor positioning of the camp backs to the river caused their total annihilation. The Romans lost as many as 112,000 men including the lost auxiliary cavalry and the non-combatants.
The Cimbri were ferocious warriors who did not fear death. The host was followed by women and children on carts. Aged women dressed in white sacrificed the prisoners of war and sprinkled their blood, the nature of which allowed them to see what was to come.
Evidence that the Cimbri may have practised ritualistic sacrifice is found in the nearly 1500 year-old Haraldskaer Woman discovered in Jutland in the year 1835. Noosemarks and skin piercing were evident and she had been thrown into a bog rather than buried or cremated.
After several battles with the Boii and other Celtic tribes, the Cimbri and other tribes appeared 113 BC in Noricum ( the today's Austria), where they invaded the lands of one of Rome's allies, the Taurisci. On the request, the Roman consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, sent to defend the Taurisci, they retreated only to find themselves deceived and attacked at Noreia, an ancient city in the eastern Alps as the capital of the kingdom of Noricum.
In a bloody battle, they defeated the Romans. Only a storm, which separated the combatants, saved them from complete annihilation.
Thereafter the road to Italy was open, but they turned west towards Gaul (modern day France). They came into frequent conflict with the Romans, who usually came out the losers. In 109 BC, they defeated a Roman army under the consul Marcus Junius Silanus, who was the commander of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis. The same year, they defeated another Roman army under the consul Gaius Cassius Longinus, who was killed at Burdigala (modern day Bordeaux). In 107 BC, the Romans once again lost against the Tigurines, who were allies of the Cimbri.
It was not until 105 BC that they planned an attack on the Roman Empire itself. At the Rhone River, the Cimbri clashed with the Roman armies. The Roman commanders, the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio and the consul Gnaeus Mallius Maximus, hindered Roman coordination and so the Cimbri succeeded in first defeating the legate Marcus Aurelius Scaurus and later caused a devastating defeat on Caepio and Maximus at the Battle of Arausio.
The Roman force was completely overwhelmed and the legate was captured and brought before Boiorix. Scaurus was not humbled by his capture and advised Boiorix to turn back before his people were destroyed by the Roman forces. The king of the Cimbri was indignant at this impudence and had Scaurus executed by being burned alive in a wicker cage.
The Roman force had witnessed the complete destruction of their colleagues. In other circumstances the army might have fled, but the poor positioning of the camp backs to the river caused their total annihilation. The Romans lost as many as 112,000 men including the lost auxiliary cavalry and the non-combatants.
German Memories - Germanic Migration From Scandinavia to Southern Europe
While I was narrating the migration of Nagas and other tribes towards the Island, our discussion went back to before the Christian era of Europe where some of the Germanic tribes from Scandinavia were migrating towards the Northern Part of today's Germany.
The southward movement of Germanic tribes were probably influenced by a deteriorating climate in Scandinavia around 600 BC - 300 BC. The warm and dry climate of southern Scandinavia which was a couple of degrees warmer than today, deteriorated considerably, which not only dramatically changed the flora, but forced people to change their way of living and to leave their settlements.
At around this time, this culture discovered how to extract bog iron from the ore in peat bogs. Their technology for gaining iron ore from local sources may have helped them expand into new territories.
After they learnt new technological advancements, the Germanic tribes Teutons and the Cimbri were moving towards the southern parts of Europe. The Teutons were mentioned as a Germanic tribe in early historical writings by Greek and Roman authors, Strabo and Velleius.
The concept of 'Germanic' as a distinct ethnic identity was hinted at by the early Greek geographer Strabo as an adventourous group who dwelt in northern Europe. It was quoted by early chroniclers that "The Germani at noon serve roast meat with milk, and drink their wine undiluted". The Germanic tribes were each politically independent, under a hereditary king. The kings appear to have claimed descendancy from mythical founders of the tribes.
According to Ptolemy's map, the Teutons lived on Jutland, whereas Pomponius Mela placed them in Scandinavia. More than some hundred years before the birth of Christ many of the Teutones, as well as the Cimbri, migrated south and west to the Danube valley, where they encountered the expanding Roman Empire.
In the densely forested north of Europe, there lived more people than could be nourished by the primitive agriculture techniques. The fertile farmlands and pasture grounds of the south and the west were attractive to the Germanic tribes as battling for these areas was far easier than clearing their own forests with iron axes.
The Germanic tribes had been spreading out deeper and deeper into the west and south. At the same time they displaced the Celts up to the Rhine and the Danube, which now would be the borders to Celtic Gaul (today's France) and to Celtic Rhetia (today's South Germany and Switzerland).
The southward movement of Germanic tribes were probably influenced by a deteriorating climate in Scandinavia around 600 BC - 300 BC. The warm and dry climate of southern Scandinavia which was a couple of degrees warmer than today, deteriorated considerably, which not only dramatically changed the flora, but forced people to change their way of living and to leave their settlements.
At around this time, this culture discovered how to extract bog iron from the ore in peat bogs. Their technology for gaining iron ore from local sources may have helped them expand into new territories.
After they learnt new technological advancements, the Germanic tribes Teutons and the Cimbri were moving towards the southern parts of Europe. The Teutons were mentioned as a Germanic tribe in early historical writings by Greek and Roman authors, Strabo and Velleius.
The concept of 'Germanic' as a distinct ethnic identity was hinted at by the early Greek geographer Strabo as an adventourous group who dwelt in northern Europe. It was quoted by early chroniclers that "The Germani at noon serve roast meat with milk, and drink their wine undiluted". The Germanic tribes were each politically independent, under a hereditary king. The kings appear to have claimed descendancy from mythical founders of the tribes.
According to Ptolemy's map, the Teutons lived on Jutland, whereas Pomponius Mela placed them in Scandinavia. More than some hundred years before the birth of Christ many of the Teutones, as well as the Cimbri, migrated south and west to the Danube valley, where they encountered the expanding Roman Empire.
In the densely forested north of Europe, there lived more people than could be nourished by the primitive agriculture techniques. The fertile farmlands and pasture grounds of the south and the west were attractive to the Germanic tribes as battling for these areas was far easier than clearing their own forests with iron axes.
The Germanic tribes had been spreading out deeper and deeper into the west and south. At the same time they displaced the Celts up to the Rhine and the Danube, which now would be the borders to Celtic Gaul (today's France) and to Celtic Rhetia (today's South Germany and Switzerland).
German Memory in Asia - A Discussion on American and World Affairs
Lionie, a German Praktikum (Internship) student entered the discussion speaking on various interesting issues.
She was sharing her ideas to organise an awareness program on landmine issues between the AGSEP and the PDIP. John Stephen III, a Foreign Affairs Officer at the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement of the Bureau of Political and Military Affairs of the US State Department was so helpful and has taken a personal interest to help us, to make the awareness program a success by sending various materials from the US State Department.
Leonie is from Düsseldorf, a city located in the Western part of Germany close to The Netherlands. She told she had come across various Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka and asked various issues on the region. Though it was her first visit to Asia, she is well-informed on various Asian crises.
She said she is a vegetarian because she couldn't bear the way they are rearing poultry in congested cages, giving no chance for those birds to feel free during those few weeks in the world before they were killed. She was a lover of animals and in Germany many homes have pets such as dogs, cats, guinea pigs and even birds. I found her to be a sincere animal lover when she said, "Even I won't eat eggs if those are from hens which are denied a comfortable living".
She had switched on to a new subject and said, "Number of universities in Sweden especially the University of Uppsala, is offering master degrees without any charges" and came out with the fact that, "The British and the American University Programs are very expensive".
She left Germany to study in The Netherlands and France because of the benefit the International exposure. Sometimes certain universities have more international exposure in their curricula than others. Recently a friend of mine told me that the American education is more American-based than International.
When my friend told me this, what struck me was the statement by Dr. Mahathir Mohammed, the one-time Malaysian Prime Minister: "Most Americans, I think, know very little about East Asia or Southeast Asia. American business people who have been here, they are very knowledgeable about this area, but the average America? No. We are horrified to find most Americans do not know the capitals of foreign countries or even the capitals of American states. I mean, our education system emphasizes knowledge of the outside world. The America education system apparently stresses knowledge of the United States. An American [baseball] tournament, for example, is called a world series, but is confined only to America. It's not a world series at all".
But some time back when I spoke to a friend of mine who was a manager at a firm in the State Minnesota of the USA and then as the head of IBM in Sri Lanka, he said, "There are people in the US, who haven't visited even New York, Los Angeles or other major American cities in their life. So how can we expect they should look or travel into other parts of the world?" The American way of life is more individualistic and achievement-oriented and its life-style is not based on living in common harmony. He pointed out that there was no need to look to other countries if it wouldn't help to earn their daily bread.
Lionie is a student of the popular Maastricht University in The Netherlands and had spent a year at Bordeaux University in France. Her specialization in European studies at Maastricht and Political studies at Bordeaux was well reflected, in her advice to me on various issues. When spoke of the Lebanon crisis, she said that it would become more political and supported my earlier viewpoint on landmine issues.
She said, "I can't understand why people are spending so much of money at the famous Italian Bocconi University for MBA to learn something in a year so much".
She asked me whether I think, we could learn something unique within a year in proportion to the money spent which is more than 30,000 Euros.
She was sharing her ideas to organise an awareness program on landmine issues between the AGSEP and the PDIP. John Stephen III, a Foreign Affairs Officer at the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement of the Bureau of Political and Military Affairs of the US State Department was so helpful and has taken a personal interest to help us, to make the awareness program a success by sending various materials from the US State Department.
Leonie is from Düsseldorf, a city located in the Western part of Germany close to The Netherlands. She told she had come across various Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka and asked various issues on the region. Though it was her first visit to Asia, she is well-informed on various Asian crises.
She said she is a vegetarian because she couldn't bear the way they are rearing poultry in congested cages, giving no chance for those birds to feel free during those few weeks in the world before they were killed. She was a lover of animals and in Germany many homes have pets such as dogs, cats, guinea pigs and even birds. I found her to be a sincere animal lover when she said, "Even I won't eat eggs if those are from hens which are denied a comfortable living".
She had switched on to a new subject and said, "Number of universities in Sweden especially the University of Uppsala, is offering master degrees without any charges" and came out with the fact that, "The British and the American University Programs are very expensive".
She left Germany to study in The Netherlands and France because of the benefit the International exposure. Sometimes certain universities have more international exposure in their curricula than others. Recently a friend of mine told me that the American education is more American-based than International.
When my friend told me this, what struck me was the statement by Dr. Mahathir Mohammed, the one-time Malaysian Prime Minister: "Most Americans, I think, know very little about East Asia or Southeast Asia. American business people who have been here, they are very knowledgeable about this area, but the average America? No. We are horrified to find most Americans do not know the capitals of foreign countries or even the capitals of American states. I mean, our education system emphasizes knowledge of the outside world. The America education system apparently stresses knowledge of the United States. An American [baseball] tournament, for example, is called a world series, but is confined only to America. It's not a world series at all".
But some time back when I spoke to a friend of mine who was a manager at a firm in the State Minnesota of the USA and then as the head of IBM in Sri Lanka, he said, "There are people in the US, who haven't visited even New York, Los Angeles or other major American cities in their life. So how can we expect they should look or travel into other parts of the world?" The American way of life is more individualistic and achievement-oriented and its life-style is not based on living in common harmony. He pointed out that there was no need to look to other countries if it wouldn't help to earn their daily bread.
Lionie is a student of the popular Maastricht University in The Netherlands and had spent a year at Bordeaux University in France. Her specialization in European studies at Maastricht and Political studies at Bordeaux was well reflected, in her advice to me on various issues. When spoke of the Lebanon crisis, she said that it would become more political and supported my earlier viewpoint on landmine issues.
She said, "I can't understand why people are spending so much of money at the famous Italian Bocconi University for MBA to learn something in a year so much".
She asked me whether I think, we could learn something unique within a year in proportion to the money spent which is more than 30,000 Euros.
German Memories in Asia - A Mission in Asia
In a week's time I came back to Aquarius Hotel to assist the team which wanted to survey the tsunami-hit areas.
I was waiting in the lobby, expecting Pascal Sadune, the leader of the survey team and others. In a few minutes' time, Pascal came to meet me. He was wearing a sarong, a usual casual and traditional dress of Sri Lanka and South Indian to some extent. There were two others, Mike and a female German Praktikum (Internship) student . I shook hands and went with them to the restaurant.
The wind was blowing a little heavily from the Indian Ocean.
Pascal holds a Master of Arts in Political Science and had worked for some time in the German Ministry of Defense. Pascal is a simple guy. He said his maternal grandfather was from France and in the Second World War while serving in Germany, had fallen in love with his to-be grandmother. There were many inter-marriages in Germany and Europe in the Second World War and before.
Pascal is now attached to the International Institute of Ratings and Consultancy. The tsunami disaster had activated the Institute to survey the needs of the people in the tsunami-hit areas. The tsunami survey was coordinated with the leading University in Germany with its three professors. While we were on an interesting topic, a new female student whom I had not met before came to us. She said she is Stefani and part of the surveying team. I greeted and conveyed my good wishes.
Pascal held forth about the rest of Europe and Germany. He confessed this was his first visit to Sri Lanka and before he came some of his professors who had already visited Sri Lanka had told him that Sri Lanka looks more like some of the Latin American countries.
On the subject of Sri Lanka's infrastructure he praised it and said he visited Morocco sometime back and it is only in city only you feel at ease, but when you go interior you feel you have lost contact with rest of the country. I told him the ethnic crisis severely hampered Sri Lanka's progress and now it's far behind compared to its once neighbouring countries of Southeast Asia.
Once, Singapore's then Prime Minister Li Kuan Yew was impressed by Sri Lanka's economic progress and wanted to model Singapore along the lines of Sri Lanka. But now if Sri Lanka wanted to progress like Singapore it was a Herculean task and would take a very long time. Singapore has gone far in rescheduling their resources and given maximum effect to their strengths and reduced their weaknesses and created the opportunities or tapped it in the right way.
Even neighboruing Malaysia which was struggling with tin and rubber, identified the new world trends and collaborated with various combines in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world and established manufacturing Industries that started to export high-value hi-tech goods. Later it joined the information super high-way club, by introducing the multi-media super corridor. Though the dot.com burst troubled its new IT ventures, it is still coming up with its own unique strategies to play a major role in Industry.
Pascal was listening carefully to my points on the Southeast Asian super-hubs developments in the economic sphere and asked me about the currencies which are pegged and the Asia financial crisis. Now, our discussion were on how we were going to undertake the survey in the Island and assessing the difficulties we would face when in the LTTE-controlled territories as they are very strict on surveys, without their permission.
We decided to identify some local NGOs from the war-torn areas and coordinate with them our survey. The hours-long venture had come finally to an end. I left the Aquarius with a new understanding of many European and worldly issues. We selected a few people from a church in the eastern province of the Island to participate in our survey of the tsunami disaster.
We all came to the Aquarius for a meeting. In a while, Pascal also joined us. We then joined the other surveying team at a meeting. Stefani, Romy and Mike also were also there with Dietmar Doering who presided and lots of controversial issues came in for discussion. The recent breakaway within the LTTE also came up for discussion and caused a lot of confusion among the German participants.
Though internal rivalries are not common to the world within liberation and other organizations, it always appears hard and complicated a topic to discuss and is a matter of debate as to how it could have been averted.
I was waiting in the lobby, expecting Pascal Sadune, the leader of the survey team and others. In a few minutes' time, Pascal came to meet me. He was wearing a sarong, a usual casual and traditional dress of Sri Lanka and South Indian to some extent. There were two others, Mike and a female German Praktikum (Internship) student . I shook hands and went with them to the restaurant.
The wind was blowing a little heavily from the Indian Ocean.
Pascal holds a Master of Arts in Political Science and had worked for some time in the German Ministry of Defense. Pascal is a simple guy. He said his maternal grandfather was from France and in the Second World War while serving in Germany, had fallen in love with his to-be grandmother. There were many inter-marriages in Germany and Europe in the Second World War and before.
Pascal is now attached to the International Institute of Ratings and Consultancy. The tsunami disaster had activated the Institute to survey the needs of the people in the tsunami-hit areas. The tsunami survey was coordinated with the leading University in Germany with its three professors. While we were on an interesting topic, a new female student whom I had not met before came to us. She said she is Stefani and part of the surveying team. I greeted and conveyed my good wishes.
Pascal held forth about the rest of Europe and Germany. He confessed this was his first visit to Sri Lanka and before he came some of his professors who had already visited Sri Lanka had told him that Sri Lanka looks more like some of the Latin American countries.
On the subject of Sri Lanka's infrastructure he praised it and said he visited Morocco sometime back and it is only in city only you feel at ease, but when you go interior you feel you have lost contact with rest of the country. I told him the ethnic crisis severely hampered Sri Lanka's progress and now it's far behind compared to its once neighbouring countries of Southeast Asia.
Once, Singapore's then Prime Minister Li Kuan Yew was impressed by Sri Lanka's economic progress and wanted to model Singapore along the lines of Sri Lanka. But now if Sri Lanka wanted to progress like Singapore it was a Herculean task and would take a very long time. Singapore has gone far in rescheduling their resources and given maximum effect to their strengths and reduced their weaknesses and created the opportunities or tapped it in the right way.
Even neighboruing Malaysia which was struggling with tin and rubber, identified the new world trends and collaborated with various combines in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world and established manufacturing Industries that started to export high-value hi-tech goods. Later it joined the information super high-way club, by introducing the multi-media super corridor. Though the dot.com burst troubled its new IT ventures, it is still coming up with its own unique strategies to play a major role in Industry.
Pascal was listening carefully to my points on the Southeast Asian super-hubs developments in the economic sphere and asked me about the currencies which are pegged and the Asia financial crisis. Now, our discussion were on how we were going to undertake the survey in the Island and assessing the difficulties we would face when in the LTTE-controlled territories as they are very strict on surveys, without their permission.
We decided to identify some local NGOs from the war-torn areas and coordinate with them our survey. The hours-long venture had come finally to an end. I left the Aquarius with a new understanding of many European and worldly issues. We selected a few people from a church in the eastern province of the Island to participate in our survey of the tsunami disaster.
We all came to the Aquarius for a meeting. In a while, Pascal also joined us. We then joined the other surveying team at a meeting. Stefani, Romy and Mike also were also there with Dietmar Doering who presided and lots of controversial issues came in for discussion. The recent breakaway within the LTTE also came up for discussion and caused a lot of confusion among the German participants.
Though internal rivalries are not common to the world within liberation and other organizations, it always appears hard and complicated a topic to discuss and is a matter of debate as to how it could have been averted.
Friday, December 14, 2007
German Memoirs - German Strike on Romans and Invasion into the Roman Empire
Whatever the persecution Germans faced historically what Dietmar Doering was telling me came into mind as to how the Germanic tribes under the command of Arminius (Hermann) by one stroke against the Roman Forces in Germania and the subsequent Germanic tribes invasion into the Roman Empire changed the trend of the world.
As one historian said: "If the Romans could not have been defeated and the Germanic tribes had accepted the Roman culture and language like the Gauls (today's France) did, the largest percentage of today's Europe would likely consist of Latin languages. Germanic-based German would be as extinct as the Celtic language of Gaul. The Germans of today would probably speak a language similar to French.
If Britain had not been conquered by the Germanic Anglians and Saxons, today's world language English would never have come into existence. Instead they would still speak a variety of Latin, or again Celtic. Maybe North America would have been conquered and settled by the British nevertheless, but then still today's U.S. citizens would speak modern Latin or maybe even Celtic. The same would have occurred to many peoples in Africa and India, who were subdued by the English and assumed their language.
If the Romans had succeeded to integrate the Germanic people, maybe the continuing Roman rule would have merged the European peoples into a permanent nation of Roman citizens. Possibly, Europe then might even have remained politically united in a single state.
Maybe even the history of North and South America would have run a different course. A large European empire, with domestic trade from the Atlantic to the Euphrates river in the Middle East, would likely have had less interest in colonizing remote areas than the two national states that were rivaling with their neighbors, Spain and England.
However, perhaps it was especially the fragmentation of Europe into many rivaling states that spurred European peoples to their greatest achievements, by fanning, striving and competing with each other. These often led to bloody wars, but more often to fast technological progress, business-friendly politics and wealth, military might, explorations and conquests, and glorious achievements of culture and art - whereby the leading nations of each period were not held back by the slower ones or by a torpid central government."
By destroying the ailing Roman Empire, the Germanic tribes ultimately made possible for the peoples of the western world a much brighter development and greatness, which contributed, spirally to the development of the entire world.
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German university students donate a boat and engine to an affected fisherman.
Germans university students with Dietmar Doering (centre) at Marawila beach.
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