German History and Unification

My knowledge of German History and unification was, until last night, non existent. What, for example, was the Weimar Republic? And why is Nazi Germany referred to as the ‘third Reich’?

So, another evening wasted on Wikipedia, obtaining useless information that, who knows, might come in handy some day.

800 AD: Charlemagne (King of the Franks) crowned Holy Roman Emperor (HRE) by Pope Leo III on December 25. Leo III needed protection from his enemies who were jealous of his ascendancy to the papacy and tried to gouge his eyes out. Aix-la-Chapelle becomes centre of empire.

962: In-fighting among Charlemagne’s descendants leads to the end of the Carolingian Empire. But in 962, Otto, The Great is crowned HRE by Pope John XII, beginning the Ottonian dynasty.

1077: Investiture Controversy undermines relations between the Pope and the HRE. Pope Gregory VII questions legitimacy of emperor’s right to appoint members of the church. Henry IV (king of Germany) is excommunicated.

In repentance, Henry IV takes the Walk to Canossa to beg forgiveness, travelling from Speyer (in Germany) all the way to Canossa in Italy.

1452: Rise of the Hapsburgs. Frederick III crowned HRE by Pope Nicholas V. Through strategic marriages, the Hapsburgs would come to rule much of Europe, creating two branches of the dynasty in Spain and Austria.

1700: Charles II of Spain leaves no heir to the Hapsburg throne, resulting in the War of Spanish Succession 1700-1714.

1740: Charles VI of Austria dies, leaving no male heir to the Hapsburg throne, resulting in the War of Austrian succession 1740-1748 (King George’s War). His daughter, Maria Theresa marries into the house of Lorraine.

1806: HREmpire is dissolved by Napoleon and Francis II (of the House of Hapsburg-Lorraine), the last HRE, is forced to abdicate.

1814: Dissolution of HRE results in a loose confederation of German states with Prussia being the strongest militarily and politically.

1870: When the French reattempt to invade Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War, German states unify with Prussia to defeat the French. Led by Otto Van Bismark, the German states are unified as one, with Wilhelm of Prussia becoming Kaiser of the newly formed German Empire.

1918: Unified Germany is defeated in WW1 and reduced to a weak military state called the Weimar Republic.

1933: Rise of the third Reich. The German term ‘Reich’ may loosely be translated as ‘empire’ or ‘state’. Considering the Holy Roman Empire and Unified Germany (1870-1914) as Germany’s two great Reichs (Empires), Hitler designates his Nazi administration as the Third Reich.

Brief History of Saudi Arabia

First Saudi State

1744 – 1818
Portion of the middle east (what is now Saudi Arabia) annexed from the Ottoman Empire by the Prince Muhammad Ibn Saud, inspired by the teachings of Sheik Mohammed Abdul Wahhab.

Wahhabism was an attempt to (c.f. Christian Puritanism) revive fundamental beliefs of Islam and to terminate polytheistic practices which were allowed to carry on alongside orthodox Islam under the rule of the Ottomans.

The Holy cities of Mecca and Medina were captured in 1803

Ottomans under Mohammed Ali Pasha regained control in the Ottomon-Egyptian invasion in 1818, bringing the first Saudi state to an end.

Second Saudi State 1824 – 1891
Riyadh is reconquered in 1824 and remains in the Saud dynasty until 1891 when it is conquered by the Al-Rashid family.

1903, the Saud dynasty is restored and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is recognised in 1931.

John L. Sullivan and Manifest Destiny

19th century belief in the natural right of Americans to expand across the continent from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific Ocean.

Term coined by a New York journalist, John L. Sullivan, in an 1839 article published in The Democratic Review in which he advocated the annexation of Texas.

He argued that it was America’s ‘manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the development of the great experiment of liberty’.

Term now often associated with period in American history between 1803 and 1860 during which American expanded across the continent, annexing lands from Mexico, British Oregon, Canada and of the Louisiana Purchase.

Interestingly, during the American Revolution, founding fathers invited Canada to the first continental congress, urging Canadians to form a 14th colony in addition to:

Massachusetts, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware.

Idea of Manifest Destiny is evident in policies of earlier presidents. The Louisiana Purchase and The Monroe Doctrine, (declaration that any attempt by European nation to create a colony in the Americas would be seen as an act of war by the United States) have shades of similar ideas while subsequent presidents, most notably James Polk, actively sought to expand US territory.

Dennis Gabor

I noticed the Google Doodle since 5th June. Stunned to find out he was a lecturer at Imperial and won his Nobel Prize, whilst a lecturer there.

Had never heard of him, so fact sheet created:

1900 – 1979

Jewish (Hungarian) Inventor of holography. Born in Budapest.

Fled Nazi Germany in 1933 and arrived in Britain.

Authored three key texts:

Inventing the Future (1963)
Innovations (1970)
The mature society (1972)

1933: Lived in Rugby whilst working for British Thomas Houston (an electrical engineering company).

1948: Became professor of physics at Imperial College London

1971: Nobel Prize for Physics for invention of Holography.

The Louisiana Purchase 1803

Purchase of over 2 million square kilometres of land from France (Napoleon) in 1803 by the Jefferson administration.

US paid $15 million for the land as well as to settle outstanding debts to France, incurred during the war of independence. Payment was carried out via the Barings Bank in London.

Land encompassed territory between the Mississippi river and the Rocky mountains, covering what are now the states of: Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Oklahoma, Colorado and Louisiana.

Jefferson’s reasons to purchase
Port of New Orleans was crucial to American trade. Commerce between the South and the North could take place via the Mississippi river or Gulf of Mexico and the eastern sea board. Jefferson was keen to wrest control of this territory from French and Spanish jurisdiction and sent James Monroe and Robert Livingstone to Paris.

Napoleon’s reasons to sell
France seemed likely to lose the war in Saint Domingue. The slave uprising, led by Toussaint L’overture, was in its final stages with France set to lose it’s major source of resources in the Caribbean. Without raw materials from the slave colony, a French colony in Louisiana was no longer worth keeping.

Napoleon also planned to invade Britain and needed the money to fund what would be the first Napoleonic War.

Quotes
“We have lived long but this is the noblest work of our lives…”
Robert Stevenson

“This accession of territory affirms forever the power of the United States, and I have given England a maritime rival who sooner or later will humble her pride”

Napoleon

Thomas Jefferson

April 13 1743 (a year after Newton died) – July 4 1826 [83] (a year before Beethoven died)

1760: Studied Philosophy and mathematics from College of William and Mary in Virginia. Philosophically influenced by John Locke, Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton.

1768: Built his neo-classical estate and plantation called Monticello.

1774: Spurred into revolutionary zeal by the coercive acts imposed by the British Parliament. Jefferson published A Summary View of the rights of British America which brought him to national attention and won him a place as a delegate on the continental congress in 1776.

1776: Principal author of the DOI. Founded idea of America as the ‘empire of liberty’ whose responsibility it was to spread freedom around the world. Jefferson’s criticism of slavery in the first draft was removed by delegates from South Carolina and Georgia.

1779: Governor of Virginia during war of independence.

1783: after war of independence, America is ruled by various congresses until Washington is elected president in 1789. Jefferson during this time (1785-89) becomes ambassador to France and lives in Paris.

1790: Secretary of State to George Washington. Disagreed fundamentally with Alexander Hamilton over fiscal policy, taxation and the extent to which government should interfere in the lives of its citizens. Forms Democratic-Republican party with James Madison.

1796: Lost election to John Adams, who raised taxes and passed the Alien & Seditions Act during the Quasi war (1798-1800) with France. Jefferson described the A&SA as a violation of 1st amendment.

1800: Becomes president. Wages Barbary War 1801-05 against state-funded North African pirates. Founded Military academy at West Point 1802. Believed in forced removal of native Americans from territories.

Vice president first term: Aaron Burr, second term: George Clinton

1803: Louisiana Purchase from France for $15 million. Lewis and Clark Expeditions 1804-6 to chart the newly acquired territory.

1825: Founded University of Virginia with campus centred around a library modelled on the Roman Pantheon.

Had a lisp. Hated giving speeches. Donated 6000 books to create Library of Congress.

An abolitionist who owned slaves. Believed to have fathered children with Sally Hemings, one of his slaves.

Second from the left on Mount Rushmore (constructed 1927-41).

Thomas Edison

On Tuesday I got talking to a fellow librarian about our previous qualifications prior to librarianship. On hearing that I was a qualified engineer, he shifted the conversation to a documentary he’d seen about Thomas Edison and wanted my opinions.

I realised that as an Engineer, though not a practicing one, this was stuff that I really ought to have known. How stupid do I look, flouting my elec eng degree and not knowing a thing about Thomas Edison? I’ve been on Wikipedia all night, compiling this fact sheet:

Thomas Alva Edison (dubbed ‘Wizard of Menlo Park’ by an eager reporter)
B. 1847 (2 years before Chopin died) – D. 1931 (a year after my grandmother was born)

Born in Ohio and grew up in Michigan

Founder of General Electric

His sons, William and Theodore also became inventors at Yale and MIT respectively

Inventions
Tin Foil Phonograph: 1877
Electric-Light Bulb: did not invent but perfected the electric light-bulb by enclosing a carbon filament in a vacuum (although Joseph Swan in Britain had patented the same idea in 1978).
Made first public display in 1879 (interestingly the Mahn theathre in the Czech republic was the first public building to be permanently lit by electricity in 1882).

Electric distribution: Generated at Steam Power Plant on pearl street, Manhattan in 1882. Same year, Edison switched on london’s power plant at Holborn Viaduct.

Engaged in ‘current wars’ with Nichola Tesla and George Westinghouse. Edison believed in power transmission via Direct Current, citing the dangers of Alternating Current as reasons against its use.

To prove its danger, Edison employee (Harold Brown) was asked to invent the electric chair which Edison actively supervised (though he was opposed to the death penalty). Also used AC in the killing of Topsy the elephant at Coney Island (when Coney burned down, it was said to be ‘Topsy’s revenge’).

A genius, if ever there was one, he was a kind of 19th century Da Vinci. However, some accounts indicate he wasn’t a very nice man:

Nicola Tesla was his assistant, charged with improving the DC generation plants for a wage of £50,000. When Tesla successfully did so, Edison reneged on his promise, saying ‘when you become an American, you will appreciate an American Joke’.

Effectively bootlegged George Mellier’s A Trip to the Moon and distributed it in America, effectively bankrupting Mellier.

Quotes
‘Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.’
‘we will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.’

Rossini

I caught Antonio Pappano’s Opera Italia on the BBC iplayer and enjoyed an introduction to the work of Gioachino Rossini. I’ve dabbled with opera in the past. Borrowed Glydenbourne DVDs from the library, hoping I could find some way into the music. But outside Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, I fell asleep on trying to watch every other composer. Beethoven’s Fidelio was a bit long-winded and Turandot, I thought, was rather noisy.

Pappano’s documentary played sections of The Barber of Seville that seemed reminiscent of WAM’s Figaro (In fact, the character Figaro is the same recurring character, based on two novels by Beaumarche).

So I looked up Gioachino Rossini on Wikipedia and found the following:

Born 1792 (a year after WAM) died – 1868 (100 years before MLK died), in Pesaro, Italy.
Known as ‘the little German’ based on his love of Mozart and Haydn (neither of whom was German as it happens).

Rossini, according to Pappano, was a child prodigy very much in the same vein as WAM.

Rossini is famous for The Barber of Seville and William Tell. (overture may be remembered as theme song to the lone ranger TV show)

Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rossini