View allAll Photos Tagged resentment...
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”
He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
This is, as far as I know, the only place consecrated to the cult of Ariald of Carimate, a very Milanese saint that few churchmen like to remember.
Stemming from a family of valvassores, the lower aristocracy of the 11th century, lords of Carimate on the hills of Brianza, Arialdus was probably a cadet son, became a deacon and travelled far and wide studying and preaching, and earning a reputation for wisdom and justice.
In 1045 he was among four candidates sent by the people of Milan to emperor Henry the Black, to be chosen as archbishop. Henry chose none of them and instead imposed a man of his retinue, the corrupt Guido da Velate, as metropolitan.
Guido's rule spurred a reaction among the people, especially the lower classes, demanding honesty and transparency in the clergy and above all advocating the end of practices such as "simony" (the sale of ecclesiastic offices) and "nicolaism" (the promiscuity of priests with concubines and wives). Ariald found himself as one of the leaders of the movement, whose members were branded by the high clergy as "patarin", rag-sellers.
The "patarin" grew in power and influence, soon forming a religious community of their own, where clerics and laymen mixed freely ad lived together, united by faith and respect for a saintly life. They rejoiced in poverty, continence and true faith opposed to empty ceremonies. They denounced the crimes of the powerful clergy and never failed to expose the archbishop's corruption. When ordered to desist, they appealed to the higher authority of the Pope, spurring anti-Roman resentment among the Milanese.
When finally the patarin and the high clergy came to violence in 1066, the Pope asked achbishop Guido to report to Rome the situation, and Arialdo to leave Milan in order to calm the spirits of his followers. Arialdo was captured in a forest by assassins sent by Guido, brought to the fortess of Angera on the lake and tortured for days. They cut away from him eyes, ears, nose, tongue, hands and feet, and threw his body in the lake. Guido apologised and was absolved by the Pope.
Nobody among the patarin knew anything of Arialdo's fate until the following year, when shortly before easter a fishermen found his body, whole, perfectly preserved and diffusing a pleasant perfume, floating on the waters. The body was brought in haste to Milan and exposed in St. Ambrose.
The ensuing riot for Arialdo's assassination ended Guido's rule: he fled the city and was later deposed and abandoned by the Emperor. That same year the Pope proclaimed Arialdo a saint, and the patarin movement became mainstream, effectively becoming one of the pillars on which the Gregorian Reform of the Church was built.
Museum of London
On the evening or night of Tuesday 28 November 1290 Eleanor of Castile, the beloved wife of Edward I and mother of his 14 children, died aged 49, at Harby in Nottinghamshire. The places where her body rested during the journey south to its tomb in Westminster Abbey were marked by stone crosses.
The twelve crosses were at Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Hardingstone, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St. Albans, Waltham (Cross), Westcheap (Cheapside), Charing (Charing Cross). Of these only three of the original crosses survive, those at Geddington, Hardingstone and Waltham Cross.
Queen Eleanor was three times buried. The tomb, containing her viscera, is in Lincoln Cathedral. Her heart was buried at Blackfriars Monastery in London and her body in Westminster Abbey.
Edward was determined to mark the death of his remarkable Queen in significant and elaborate fashion. There has been nothing like the cortège of Eleanor, before or since, on this island. Her embalmed body was dressed in loose robes, crowned, and placed on an open bier. The procession, with the Queen’s chaplain at its head and Edward following the bier, left Lincoln on 4 December. The journey back to Westminster took just under two weeks, with much of the route following the ancient roads of Ermine Street and Watling Street, and most of the overnight stops on or close to Eleanor’s landholdings. She was buried in Westminster Abbey on 17 December 1290.
Eleanor's bier reached the City of London on 14 December 1290. The cortège entered the city through the northern gate of Bishopsgate. Here they turned left, skirting the city wall until they arrived at Holy Trinity Priory in the east of the city where it rested for the night of 14th December.
On Friday 15 December the funeral party journeyed slowly westwards along the city’s busiest street, Cheapside. Passing the little priory of Sack Friars that Eleanor had refounded in the late 1260s, they reached the large Franciscan friary of Grey Friars. After a mass there, the procession entered the precinct of St Paul’s Cathedral where it rested for the night of 15th December.
A site for the cross was selected in Westcheap (now Cheapside). Her heart was buried in the Blackfriars priory on 19 December. The Cheapside cross was built from 1291 onwards by Michael of Canterbury at a total recorded cost of £226 13s. 4d.
Under a licence granted by Henry VI in 1441, the cross was extensively restored or rebuilt in 1484–86. It was subsequently re-gilded several times in the 16th century on the occasion of coronations and royal visits to the City. John Stow included a detailed account of the cross and its history in his "Survay of London" of 1598, updating it in 1603.
Although a number of images of the cross and its eventual destruction are known, these all postdate its various refurbishments, and so provide no certain guide to its original appearance. However, the chronicler Walter of Guisborough refers to this and Charing Cross as being fashioned of "marble"; and it is likely that it was similar to the Hardingstone and Waltham Crosses, but even more ornate and boasting some Purbeck marble facings.
The cross came to be regarded as something of a public hazard, both as a traffic obstruction and because of concerns about fragments of stone falling off; while in the post-Reformation period some of its Catholic imagery aroused resentment, and elements were defaced in 1581, 1599 and 1600–01. Matters came to a head during the years leading up to the Civil War. To puritanical reformers, it was identified with Dagon, the ancient god of the Philistines, and was seen as the embodiment of royal and Catholic tradition. At least one riot was fought in its shadow, as opponents of the cross descended upon it to pull it down, and supporters rallied to stop them. After Charles I had fled London to raise an army, the destruction of the cross was almost the first order of business for the Parliamentary Committee for the Demolition of Monuments of Superstition and Idolatry, led by Sir Robert Harley, and it was demolished on 2 May 1643. The downfall of the Cheapside Cross is an important episode of iconoclasm in English history.
Two Purbeck marble fragments of the original cross, displaying shields bearing the royal arms of England and of Castile and León, were recovered in 1838 during reconstruction of the sewer in Cheapside. They are now held by the Museum of London.
A paving stone with a carved inscription, outside the western door of St Mary-le-Bow church tower, in Cheapside, was installed in 2015 to record the former existence of an Eleanor Cross nearby.
The Liberation Monument ("Russian monument")
(Further pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)
Officially, one can find various names: (Russian) Liberation Monument, Russian War Memorial and Monument of the Red Army. The Viennese call the towering monument at the southern end of the Black Mountain course (Schwarzenbergplatz) usually disparaging "Russian monument (Russendenkmal)".
The monument commemorating the 18,000 in the liberation of Vienna fallen soldiers of the Red Army was designed by Major Intazarin, the sculptures were created by Lieutenant Jakoviev. The overall direction of the yet in April 1945 ordered and as first monument building after the war completed structure had major Ing. Mikhail Scheinfeld. In the construction were temporarily 400 workers involved, 18 tons of bronze and 300 cubic meters of marble were used. The monument was on 19 August 1945 with the assistance of Karl Renner, Leopold Figl and Theodor Körner unveiled on then so designated Stalin Square.
On a in total 20 m high, marble-clad base, the lower part in the form of a five-pointed red star, decorated with flags and guard badges, stands the 12 m tall figure of a Red Army soldier. The soldier is wearing a gold helmet and the famous Russian submachine gun with rotary magazine. With his left hand he has the flag with the right hand he holds a round shield with the Soviet coat of arms. In the background arises a broad, eight meter high balustrade, at its end respectively one group of two fighting men is situated, a prime example of the style of socialist realism, which gradually has become an art-historical rarity.
One of the inscriptions in Russian only in the early 80s have been translated into German and is:
"Eternal glory to the heroes of the Red Army, killed in action against the German-fascist invaders for the freedom and independence of the peoples of Europe (Mikhalkov)".
Until 1956, there were also graves of Soviet soldiers in the area, and a Soviet tank stood before the monument.
The monument is in the custody of the City of Vienna. As is generally known, Austria is according to the detailed provisions of Article 19 of the State Treaty of 15 May 1955 committed war graves and war memorials of the Allied Powers on Austrian soil "to respect, to protect and to preserve".
Between 1945 and 1956 stood in front of the fountain on the former "Stalin Square" a Russian tank, which is now in the Museum of Military History.
=> Marschik/Spital, Vienna The Russians monument, architecture, history, conflicts, Vienna, 2005
=> Hannes Leidinger/Verena Moritz, Russian Vienna, Böhlau, Vienna, 2004, 182 f
Sometimes leads the memory to the bad experiences which have been made by Austrian people with the occupation forces - particularly the Soviet - in the ten years of Allied occupation to open resentment against monuments such as the "Russian monument". Nevertheless - the greater the distance from the war and post-war period is, the more one had to give account about the fact how much innocent blood just the peoples of the former Soviet Union have sacrificed in the fight against Hitler's rule, and how little the Austrian people to its own liberation has contributed. Such thoughts have got to come to one's mind when one takes some time to decipher the Cyrillic letters of gold on a "Russian monument" - whether on that at Vienna Schwarzenberg Square or somewhere out in the vast realms of Lower Austria, where up to the Waldviertel (part of Lower Austria) little Soviet military cemeteries exist.
A survey by the Gallup Institute, published in the "standard" on 11th February 1992 shows that 71% of Viennes people do know the monument. A clear majority (59 %) is for the preservation of the monument. Only 9% of the 1,000 respondents agreed with the opinion that the monument should be eliminated as a remnant of Stalinism. So, have the Austrians made peace with the contemporary history?
Hochstrahlbrunnen
Before the liberation monument arises the to the occasion of the completion of the First Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline on 24th October 1873 in the presence of the emperor put into operation Hochstrahlbrunnen (high jet fountain), which should have been standing according to the original plans in front of the Votive Church, then opposite the New Town Hall. The builder of the aqueduct and the fountain, Anton Gabrielli, was a friend of astronomy. Accordingly, symbolizes the respective number of the jets of water the days of the year, the months, the days of the month, the days of the week and the hours of the day.
Alan Westin who defined privacy as “the claim of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others” explained that “just as a social balance favoring disclosure and surveillance over privacy is a functional necessity for totalitarian systems, so a balance that ensures strong citadels of individual and group privacy and limits both disclosure and surveillance is a prerequisite for liberal democratic societies. The democratic society relies on publicity as a control over government, and on privacy as a shield for group and individual life.”
It was, therefore, surprising to have the former Attorney General assert that privacy is not a Fundamental Right. Privacy is a guarantee of due process providing an assurance that the government operates within the law and guarantees a fair procedure.
In fact whether the Constitution was read as a textualist would (Justice Scalia defined textulaism as an interpretation “guided by the text and not by intentions or ideals external to it, and by the original meaning of the text, not by its evolving meaning over time”) or whether it was construed as a Living Constitution that favours a broad not a conservative or mechanical approach “not condemning civilized society to remain under the regimen of its barbarous ancestors” the conclusion is inescapable that privacy is in fact guaranteed by the Constitution.
Privacy can be best understood by identifying an “intruder”. N A Moreham,Senior Lecturer in Law, Victoria University of Wellington in a scholarly article on privacy quoted Stanley Ben who described an intruder as one who “fails to show a proper respect for persons; he is treating people as objects or specimens — like “dirt” — and not as subjects with sensibilities, ends, and aspirations of their own, morally responsible for their own decisions, and capable, as mere specimens are not, of reciprocal relations with the observer. These resentments suggest a possible ground for a prima facie claim not to be watched, at any rate in the same manner as one watches a thing or an animal. For this is to “take liberties”, to act impudently, to show less than a proper regard for human dignity.”
Denial of privacy thus robs one of dignity. But the right to live with dignity has been held to be a core constitutional value by our Supreme Court and guaranteed by Article 21. And as privacy is an assurance of dignity the guarantee of privacy cannot but be implicit in the Constitution.
Even otherwise as Edward Bloustein says: “The man who is compelled to live every minute of his life among others and whose every need, thought, desire, fancy or gratification is subject to public scrutiny, has been deprived of his individuality …. Such an individual merges with the mass. His opinions, being public, tend never to be different; his aspirations, being known, tend always to be conventionally accepted ones” Visibility itself provides a powerful method of enforcing norms and as Westin tellingly puts it “naked to ridicule and shame they will be put in control of those who know their secrets.” As Moreham said freedom of expression – again guaranteed by the Constitution – would lose much of its value if people do not have the chance to learn to think for themselves and have anything unique, creative and controversial to express. Similarly freedom of action and belief – also guaranteed by the Constitution – will be lost where one is kept under the spotlight and on the stage in perpetuity robbing life of its spontaneity sparkle and exuberance, pillaging imagination of its resourcefulness, curbing individual genius and even idiosyncrasies, and enforcing conformity.
The right to privacy though unspecified is yet clearly reflected in the language of the Constitution and the existing state of law also clearly showed that the society believed that such a right existed. Merely being alive and alert to this fact even without being activist was sufficient to acknowledge the same.
The utter incongruity of the exercise of constituting a Bench of Nine Judges to decide if Privacy was a Fundamental Right at the instance of the Government which denied the proposition is apparent in the wholehearted endorsement of the decision as a vindication of its stance. What then was the need to rely upon the judgments on M.P.Sharma and Kharak Singh to insist that larger benches of the Supreme Court had held privacy not to be Fundamental Right, insisting that the framers of the Constitution had expressly excluded the right from the list of Fundamental Rights and asserting that the right was merely a common law right – an argument of the Attorney General which sat rather uncomfortably with that of the Additional Solicitor General that the right was recognized in different statutes? It could have been conceded that Sharma and Kharak Singh did not lay down the law correctly, that on a contemporaneous not historical exposition of law the want of explicit inclusion of privacy as a Fundamental Right could not be considered decisive and that a common law right was elevated to the status of a Fundamental Right and clearly emerged from the guarantee of Article 21 and other facets of freedom guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution.
Split verdicts often create doubts about verdicts and are open to criticism of policy and expediency trumping law. The Supreme Court spoke in one voice in recognizing the right to privacy. The unanimous decision of the Supreme Court is a momentous moment in India’s legal history decisively showing that existence of the right to privacy as an undisputed reality and vindicating India’s position as a confident, mature and vibrant liberal democratic state.
Rocinha slum - favela - , Río de Janeiro, Brazil. An agency arranges tours of the favelas and spends part of the gains is on charity in the favelas, mostly on building schools. This means that you're actually welcome - even though some of the young men, reasonably enough, showed signs of resentment.
Rocinha slum - favela - , Río de Janeiro, Brazil. An agency arranges tours of the favelas and spends part of the gains is on charity in the favelas, mostly on building schools. This means that you're actually welcome - even though some of the young men, reasonably enough, showed signs of resentment.
Rocinha slum - favela - , Río de Janeiro, Brazil. An agency arranges tours of the favelas and spends part of the gains is on charity in the favelas, mostly on building schools. This means that you're actually welcome - even though some of the young men, reasonably enough, showed signs of resentment.
This is a padrino birthday celebrated with fireworks in theRocinha slum - favela - , Río de Janeiro, Brazil. The padrinos make sure to keep order in the favelasand punish crime in the community severely. Brazilian police are not welcome there to say the least of it so they are relieved that someone takes the law in his own hand keeping order.
I felt that women were feline creatures and men were more like dogs. While dogs are faithful and friendly, cats are cool, detached, and unreliable. I felt much warmer with dogs around me--cats are hard to understand as women are. Men feel more sure of themselves with a male friend than a woman. You always need to keep women at arm's length. We don't want anyone taking over our souls, and women have a habit of doing that. So there is a love-resentment thing with women. I guess women will feel that I'm being chauvinistic to speak this way, but I do feel that I've had better relationships with male friends than women. With women, once the romance is over, somehow they never remain my friends.
Poor Wilma has the misfortune of being the same size as Rosco, the chihuahua for whom i knit this sweater. Maybe she and Bailey can get started on the revolution.
Everywhere one goes these days it seems that some group of unhappy or discontented persons is stirring up anger and resentment against people of other beliefs than themselves. It is unfortunate that in a world that has evolved and progressed over thousands of years technologically, that these same differences and the presence of fear and ignorance continue to give rise to lingering feelings of prejudice and hatred all over the world....and the battles still continue to be fought in the name of God, or against God, or to prove there are no gods...or to just try and subvert any form of spiritual devotion to any deity or enlightened ideology...the forces of evil and darkness roll on, devouring our humanity and squashing any chance we have to progress, to ascend to a better way of living and higher plane of thought. Is this, then, the end of faith in the world? Are the faiths and religious institutions to simply abandon their pure systems of belief and water down their spiritual precepts and principles....in order to to temporarily placate an increasing number of those who cry out for the stripping away of individual spiritual beliefs starting with the disallowance of public prayer, and banning the display or wearing of symbols of faith or religion? Where does it stop? Who makes this decision? Are we to return to the times of darkness upon the earth when those who worshipped had to do it secretly for fear of offending or even the loss of their lives? Will the ill-considered harsh words and agressive actions of a few misguided zealots be the downfall of all of us who believe in a loving God, and practice benevolence and charity to others of all beliefs and backgrounds? Will political and civic leaders serve their own interest, passing legislation and enacting statutes and new laws that restrict the practices of faithful followers of all beliefs...or single out one at a time while clinging to their "power position" in society? We shall see in the next few years, and it would be wise to consider the long-term effects of such decisions being made in order to prepare for what may become a great trial for those of us who stand up for our faiths.
-----on black --------->>
-
The Neckargasse was repeatedly connected with the history of the Jews. In 1832 the later successful writer Berthold Auerbach lived as a student in No. 22.
On Jewish holidays he walked to Wankheim, because in town there was no kosher food available. His friendly relationship with Ludwig Uhland, Hermann Kurz and some students of the Protestant Collegiate was free of any anti-semitic resentments.
Because of his membership in the forbidden fraternity "Germania", he was ejected and put into custody at the fortress. Thus his intended profession as a rabbi became impossible; as of 1828 in Württemberg it was compulsory to attend a study of the protestant theology in addition to an education at a school for talmudism.
In the same building the coffeehouse "Pomona" led the way in the social exclusion of the Jews. As of 1936 Jews were not admitted, and the coffeehouse openly promoted its anti-semitic attitude.
Even before the "Machtergreifung" ("takeover") bullying and brawling took place in front of the fabric shop of the Jewish family Lion at Neckargasse No. 4. Gustav Lion, "one of the most modern businessman in town", fought back bravely, but after a threat on his life, he and his family took refuge in Alsace in spring 1934.
-
Die Neckargasse ist mehrfach mit der Geschichte der Juden verknüpft. So wohnte der spätere Erfolgsschriftsteller Berthold Auerbach 1832 als Student in der Nr. 22. An den jüdischen Festtagen wanderte er nach Wankheim, weil es in der Stadt keine koschere Kost gab. Sein freundschaftlicher Verkehr mit Ludwig Uhland, Hermann Kurz und einigen Stiftlern war frei von antisemitischen Ressentiments.
Wegen seiner Mitgliedschaft in der verbotenen Burschenschaft "Germania" 1833 relegiert und in Festungshaft genommen, war der vorgesehene Rabbinerberuf unmöglich geworden, für den seit 1828 in Württemberg neben der Ausbildung auf einer Talmudhochschule ein Studium der evangelischen Theologie vorgeschrieben war.
Im gleichen Haus übernahm später das Kaffeehaus "Pomona" bei der gesellschaftlichen Ausgrenzung der Juden eine Vorreiterrolle. Seit 1936 verbot es Juden den Zutritt und warb offen mit seiner antisemitischen Haltung.
Schon vor der "Machtergreifung" kam es zu Pöbeleien und Schlägereien vor dem Textilgeschäft der jüdischen Familie Lion in der Neckargasse 4. Gustav Lion, "einer der modernsten Geschäftsleute am Platze", wehrte sich unerschrocken, doch nach einer Morddrohung floh er im Frühjahr 1934 mit seiner Familie ins Elsass.
"Mein Vater wurde auf der Straße tätlich angegriffen, nachdem er die Boykottplakate von seinem Geschäftsfenster abriss. Ich glaube, dass das wohl der Anstoß zum Weggehen war, da kein Mensch sich wagte, ihm zu helfen."
Naomi Hamm, geb. Lion, 1981.
On August 6, 1945, US Forces dropped the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and another on Nagasaki on August 9 the same year, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in an instant.
Sometime later, Tatsuo Yamamoto went to Hiroshima in search of his uncle, and found a flame of the atomic bomb burning in the ruins of his uncle’s house. He brought it back to Hoshino-mura, his hometown in Fukuoka prefecture. He kept it burning in his house as a memento of his uncle and an expression of his resentment. But years went by, the meaning of the flame turned into a symbol of his desire for abolition of nuclear weapons and for peace. Hosino-mura village built a torch and transferred the flame to it on August 6, 1968. IT has been keeping the flame for peace, with the support of the villagers.
In 1988, a flame was taken from the torch and was merged with another flame lit by the friction of broken roofing tiles of Nagasaki. Along with 30 million signatures collected in the support of the “Appeal from Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” it was carried to the third Special Session of the UN General Assembly for Disarmament taking place in New York City.
In April the same year, members of the “Shitamachi People Association” put forward the idea of lighting the flame at the precinct of Ueno Toshogu Shrine in Tokyo. Rev. Shozen Saga, the chief priest, warmly welcomed the proposal, and promised to set up a monument and work together to keep the flame burning.
In April 1989, an “Association for the Flame of Hiroshima & Nagasaki Lit at the Ueno Toshogu” was founded with the people of wide ranging people. Tens of thousands of people took part in the fund-raising for over one year and the construction of the monument was completed on July 21, 1990.
In commemoration of the 45th year of the A-bomb tragedies, a flame of Hiroshima was taken from Hoshino-mura and lit at the monument on August 6, and a flame of Nagasaki, generated by the friction of Nagasaki roofing tiles, was added to the monument.
We, hereby pledge to keep burning the A-bomb flame, convinced that this monument should contribute to strengthening the worldwide people’s movement to abolish nuclear weapons and achieve peace, which is the most urgent task for the people across the borders.
August 1990
Association for the Flame of Hiroshima & Nagasaki Lit at the Ueno Toshogu
“There must never be another Hiroshima anywhere on Earth. There must never be another Nagasaki anywhere on Earth.”
From the “Appeal from Hiroshima and Nagasaki” issued in February 1985
The overman...Who has organized the chaos of his passions, given style to his character, and become creative. Aware of life's terrors, he affirms life without resentment.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Enjoying this awesomely beautiful, early-autumn sunset display this evening in the city. I wasn't expecting a sunset like this tonight. It was truly a nice treat! I like this quote by John Lubbock: "Sunsets are so beautiful that they almost seem as if we were looking through the gates of Heaven"... Pic taken from around San Jose, CA. (Saturday around sunset, September 26, 2020; 7:09 p.m.)
*Did you know? Sunsets are instants of intimate & private contemplation. It's a time when we look at each other without mirrors. A sunset tells us what we are & where we should head to. It's a spiritual guide powered by Mother Nature & one that we should never neglect. Dusk teaches us to be a better person & to choose happiness over wealth, careers, resentment, & lies. Sunsets are also intimately connected with love, life, God, friendship, family, the beach & the ocean. A sunset is one of the most photographed natural events. Lastly, the golden hour can be simultaneously shared with the ones we love & care about…
have a lot to say here and I am not sure how to say it and to whom I am speaking.
I do not wish to sound too full of anger and resentment nor do I wish to gush with appreciation and thankfulness. My past is what it was and it is now past.
Forgivness is my only defence against those haunting ghosts .If I were to let them, they would consume me and I would be a sour person indeed.
My early years got off to a rough start. I was born a "blue baby". That is , the stepum that divides the chambers of the heart did not finish closing before I was borne and this resulted in a condition that allows the aeriatiated blood from the lungs to mix with the used blood from the body. Weakness, illness, and many bouts with pneumonia marked my early life.
These pictures were taken at the Queen Alexandria Solarium in about 1954 when it was located in Mill Bay BC. It was a residential hospital for sick children. These were the days when the "residential" model was the norm. The Queen Alexandrea Foundation Still operates in Victoria BC but it operates under the more modern "out patient" model. The patients stay at home and go to the hospital facility for treatments.
A residential hospital meant that the patient lived there. I was there for a year and a half. I was supposed to be there longer but I was angry and acted out by whipping another boy in the face with my belt buckle.
The hospital staff and volunterrs meant well but I missed my family. My mom and dad were only allowed to visit on Saturday and I could not see them together. Each could visit me for only 30 mins. The idea was that I was confined to bed to rest up for a new surgical procedure, the open heart operation.
What a conflict I feel. I had the operation (number 50 open heart patient in the world) and it was a sucess (there was a second one 2 years later). This I am thankful for but I have trouble with the sickness, the weakness and the scars.There is pride and gratefulness for my survival on one side and shame and anger for my pain and weakness on the other.
There was fear of death at such an early age. There was death all around me. The boy in the Iron Lung beside me died one night and the hospital that was annexed to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minn. was filthy. One blond 5 year old boy wandered the halls and ate off the used food trays. He would sit on the air conditioner at the end of the hall. He died too.
Someone reading this will get mad at me and shout "Let it go- Get on with it. -Focus on thankfulness" and of course they are correct.
Everyone is scarred, both inside and outside and the courage we need to go on is inside if we choose to look for it.
May 1484, Joseon Dynasty in Northeast Asia. A young lady strolls through a garden at Gyeongbokung Palace. She in her red dress flow outward from the stand of peonies. Golden rays of the late afternoon fill the land, illuminated by the Seven Immortals. Thoughts of dragons living in the Sorak Mountains to the east, far beyond the distant gates, fill the her mind. She is lost somewhere between Seoul and the myths of Buddhist times past. Buddhist!? What would father think? A thoroughly modern lady should be keeping her mind on things Confucian.
Music to view the picture and to dream of culture not so long ago. Music is Vietnamese-lounge fusion, but hey, this is my dream I am sharing with you. Enjoy the mix of history, culture, music and fantasy. My Phuong Nguyen & Thierry David - "Huong Vietnam"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSThpeNPBkg
"The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?" Buddha
"The voice of God falls on human hearts like seeds scattered across a field. Some people hear that message, but the devil opposes the liberation that would come to them by believing. So he swoops in and steals the message from their hard hearts like birds stealing the seeds from the footpath. Others receive the message enthusiastically, but their vitality is short-lived because the message cannot be deeply rooted in their shallow hearts. In the heat of temptation, their faith withers, like the seeds that sprouted in gravelly soil. A third group hears the message, but as time passes, the daily anxieties, the pursuit of wealth, and life’s addicting delights outpace the growth of the message in their hearts. Even if the message blossoms and fruit begins to form, the fruit never fully matures because the thorns choke out the plants’ vitality. But some people hear the message and let it take root deeply in receptive hearts made fertile by honesty and goodness. With patient dependability, they bear good fruit." Jesus
Texture by Pareeerica. www.flickr.com/photos/pareeerica/sets/72157603745560932/ A De Colores thank you.
#11/21
“My Grandfather had Beloved Florence’s father put out of fellowship and excommunicated for their beliefs. They didn’t think that women should have to wear hats on Sundays or take prayer in church. Florence’s family thought they were daft and moved to a different church after that. There was resentment for a long time though and much concern when we in the next generation ignored it.”
September 18, 2018: Johns Hopkins SAIS Foreign Policy Institute Fellow, Francis Fukuyama, joined the school to share insights from his new book "Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment."
Namibia.
Swakopmund.
Mondesa township.
Video of the township with locals singing and dancing
The township tour offers a chance to experience the cultures of Mondesa, a large township in the heart of Swakopmund.
Mondesa is a township in Swakopmund started in 1960 by the then South African government. Approximately two-thirds of Swakopmund’s population apparently resides in Mondesa. Mondesa includes an informal settlement housing some 6,000 people at it’s eastern periphery.
read more about the housing scheme in the township
Members of distinct Namibian ethnic groups inhabit the townships, and under apartheid’s “divide and rule” policy, they were kept separate enough from one other that each tribe has retained its own language, beliefs, cuisine and dress. As well as enforcing curfews to keep the residents apart, the government treated each tribe differently to foster resentment between them. To unite could have led to them overthrowing the minority white powers. So the Ovambo people, numbering just over half the population, were given tiny houses and communal toilets. The Herero enjoyed three bedroom bungalows with inside bathrooms. And the Damara were placed in two bedroom housed with shared toilets. They were pitted against each other.
lanomadita.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/apartness-and-forgive...
Namibia.
Swakopmund.
Mondesa township.
Video of the township with locals singing and dancing
The township tour offers a chance to experience the cultures of Mondesa, a large township in the heart of Swakopmund.
Mondesa is a township in Swakopmund started in 1960 by the then South African government. Approximately two-thirds of Swakopmund’s population apparently resides in Mondesa. Mondesa includes an informal settlement housing some 6,000 people at it’s eastern periphery.
read more about the housing scheme in the township
Members of distinct Namibian ethnic groups inhabit the townships, and under apartheid’s “divide and rule” policy, they were kept separate enough from one other that each tribe has retained its own language, beliefs, cuisine and dress. As well as enforcing curfews to keep the residents apart, the government treated each tribe differently to foster resentment between them. To unite could have led to them overthrowing the minority white powers. So the Ovambo people, numbering just over half the population, were given tiny houses and communal toilets. The Herero enjoyed three bedroom bungalows with inside bathrooms. And the Damara were placed in two bedroom housed with shared toilets. They were pitted against each other.
lanomadita.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/apartness-and-forgive...
Rocinha slum - favela - , Río de Janeiro, Brazil. An agency arranges tours of the favelas and spends part of the gains is on charity in the favelas, mostly on building schools. This means that you're actually welcome - even though some of the young men, reasonably enough, showed signs of resentment.
These are photos from a school.
Hey guys,
I really do apologize for my long absence. It was due to an increase in schoolwork, other activities, and a lack of bricks to work with. Yes, you heard that right. Recently, I got into the theme of modern war, but none of my bricks can fit it. I don't have enough money to buy the bricks for Legohaulic's Humvee, nor for Victor's Desert Strike Force troops. I've tried to build other things, but always end up where I started- with an urge to build Tyler's Humvee with Victor's troops. My passion for this theme has led me to reject all others, which has ended up in dire consequences. To make things short, my resentment on not being able to build this theme has led me to two ideas- Leave Flickr and Lego, or try somehow to get the stuff.
As of now, I am in a time of need, and your advice is very much appreciated. What do you guys think I should do?
The Liberation Monument ("Russian monument")
(Further pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)
Officially, one can find various names: (Russian) Liberation Monument, Russian War Memorial and Monument of the Red Army. The Viennese call the towering monument at the southern end of the Black Mountain course (Schwarzenbergplatz) usually disparaging "Russian monument (Russendenkmal)".
The monument commemorating the 18,000 in the liberation of Vienna fallen soldiers of the Red Army was designed by Major Intazarin, the sculptures were created by Lieutenant Jakoviev. The overall direction of the yet in April 1945 ordered and as first monument building after the war completed structure had major Ing. Mikhail Scheinfeld. In the construction were temporarily 400 workers involved, 18 tons of bronze and 300 cubic meters of marble were used. The monument was on 19 August 1945 with the assistance of Karl Renner, Leopold Figl and Theodor Körner unveiled on then so designated Stalin Square.
On a in total 20 m high, marble-clad base, the lower part in the form of a five-pointed red star, decorated with flags and guard badges, stands the 12 m tall figure of a Red Army soldier. The soldier is wearing a gold helmet and the famous Russian submachine gun with rotary magazine. With his left hand he has the flag with the right hand he holds a round shield with the Soviet coat of arms. In the background arises a broad, eight meter high balustrade, at its end respectively one group of two fighting men is situated, a prime example of the style of socialist realism, which gradually has become an art-historical rarity.
One of the inscriptions in Russian only in the early 80s have been translated into German and is:
"Eternal glory to the heroes of the Red Army, killed in action against the German-fascist invaders for the freedom and independence of the peoples of Europe (Mikhalkov)".
Until 1956, there were also graves of Soviet soldiers in the area, and a Soviet tank stood before the monument.
The monument is in the custody of the City of Vienna. As is generally known, Austria is according to the detailed provisions of Article 19 of the State Treaty of 15 May 1955 committed war graves and war memorials of the Allied Powers on Austrian soil "to respect, to protect and to preserve".
Between 1945 and 1956 stood in front of the fountain on the former "Stalin Square" a Russian tank, which is now in the Museum of Military History.
=> Marschik/Spital, Vienna The Russians monument, architecture, history, conflicts, Vienna, 2005
=> Hannes Leidinger/Verena Moritz, Russian Vienna, Böhlau, Vienna, 2004, 182 f
Sometimes leads the memory to the bad experiences which have been made by Austrian people with the occupation forces - particularly the Soviet - in the ten years of Allied occupation to open resentment against monuments such as the "Russian monument". Nevertheless - the greater the distance from the war and post-war period is, the more one had to give account about the fact how much innocent blood just the peoples of the former Soviet Union have sacrificed in the fight against Hitler's rule, and how little the Austrian people to its own liberation has contributed. Such thoughts have got to come to one's mind when one takes some time to decipher the Cyrillic letters of gold on a "Russian monument" - whether on that at Vienna Schwarzenberg Square or somewhere out in the vast realms of Lower Austria, where up to the Waldviertel (part of Lower Austria) little Soviet military cemeteries exist.
A survey by the Gallup Institute, published in the "standard" on 11th February 1992 shows that 71% of Viennes people do know the monument. A clear majority (59 %) is for the preservation of the monument. Only 9% of the 1,000 respondents agreed with the opinion that the monument should be eliminated as a remnant of Stalinism. So, have the Austrians made peace with the contemporary history?
Hochstrahlbrunnen
Before the liberation monument arises the to the occasion of the completion of the First Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline on 24th October 1873 in the presence of the emperor put into operation Hochstrahlbrunnen (high jet fountain), which should have been standing according to the original plans in front of the Votive Church, then opposite the New Town Hall. The builder of the aqueduct and the fountain, Anton Gabrielli, was a friend of astronomy. Accordingly, symbolizes the respective number of the jets of water the days of the year, the months, the days of the month, the days of the week and the hours of the day.
Yonge Street & Bloor Street, Toronto
I feel my lip curling up!! Hehe - Mike
*****
"'White Wedding' is a song by Billy Idol that appeared on his album Billy Idol (1982). Although 'the Big 80's:Episode I' of VH1's Pop-up Video trivia show claims Idol wrote the song to voice his displeasure with his sister's fiance (who impregnated her before marrying her), this has turned out not to the case. On an episode of VH1 Storytellers, Idol claims that there was never any family resentment towards his sister, and that the song simply heightened fantasy and nothing more.
It is often considered his most successful song, although other Idol songs charted higher. It reached #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 on its original release, and reached #6 in the UK upon its release there in 1985." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Wedding_(song)
Bonhams
Les Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris
The Grand Palais Éphémère
Place Joffre
Parijs - Paris
Frankrijk - France
February 2023
Estimated : 1.800.000 - 2.600.000
Withdrawn
The most famous performance car based on the Volkswagen Beetle is, of course, the Porsche 356, but before then there was another from an unlikely source: the Luftwaffe. Specifically, the Luftwaffe's 'courier car' was based on the very first Volkswagen: the KdF Wagen Typ 60, which was in production from 1937 to 1944. The Luftwaffe's requirement was for a fast small car that would serve as a courier vehicle, while at the same time being light, reliable, cheap to build and simple to maintain. The car took its name from its German designer, Kurt C Volkhart, while the low-drag body was designed by Baron R König von Fachsenfeld, who would later produce many streamlined designs for mainstream German manufacturers.
Kurt Volkhart, born in 1890, constructed the first rocket car for Opel in 1928 based on an idea by Max Valier. He also drove it until Fritz von Opel recognised the publicity value of driving the car himself. Volkhart left Opel in resentment; he competed in car races, built his own rocket car, and briefly worked on the construction of a rocket-powered aircraft.
Volkhart had long ago recognised that performance could be improved by careful aerodynamic design, and towards the end of the 1930s planned a small, inexpensive sports car: the two-seater V1. The rear-mounted 1,172cc engine was the same as that found in the Ford Eifel and produced only 32bhp, which in the donor car was good enough for a top speed no better than 100km/h (62mph). But thanks to its extraordinarily low claimed drag coefficient of only 0.165, the slippery Volkhart was capable of speeds of up to 138km/h (85.7mph). Modern aerodynamicists later recalculated the V1's likely drag coefficient as 0.30, but when the V2 was tested in Volkswagen's wind tunnel in 2013 it was found to be 0.216, as good as the very best of modern designs.
Development continued but was stopped later in the war, and the project would not resurface until 1947, following an injection of funds from Sagitta. Based on a Volkswagen chassis that Volkhart had purchased during the war (which was confiscated by the British Army before being retrieved by its owner), the new V2 offered accommodation for 4/5 passengers but never came close to series production, not the least because Volkswagen refused to provide chassis. Construction of the aluminium body was entrusted to Helmut Fuchs in Niederwenningern, Ruhr, with additional work by Hans Daum's body shop. One of the V2's many interesting features was a novel 'anti-skid' mechanism mounted at the rear behind the engine as an early form of 'stability control'.
Only one example of the V2 Sagitta was built in 1947; it was purchased by Hugo Tigges, who had sourced the raw materials necessary for its construction. Tigges used the V2 as his 'daily driver' for six years before consigning it in 1953 to his garden where it served as a chicken coop!
In 1955, the V2 was so neglected that Helmut Daum, son of the aforementioned Hans Daum, was allowed to relocate the chickens and recover the car from the garden. Over the succeeding decades, it was rebuilt and repainted several times and then laid up before coming to Austria in 2011, finding a new home with an Austrian Porsche collector. "I always wanted a one-off," said the new owner in 2015. "I immediately drove to classic car events, including Villa d'Este." There, in 2012, the Volkhart V2 was declared a personal favourite by the television team's presenter, who interviewed only the owner to the chagrin of the many Ferrari owners!
When he later refused to sell the V2 to a friend, the latter offered to restore it for him. The aluminium body has been restored and the non-original British Racing Green livery replaced by silver metallic (the original finish), with the result that its sculptural lines are revealed to their full effect. We are advised that the Beetle engine's 24 horses are in good shape and sound even stronger in the lightweight V2.
After happily slaving away to take care of her now-famous childhood friend and long-time love interest, she finds out he only brought her to Tokyo to do housework and thinks she's plain and boring. Swearing to get revenge, she, too, enters the entertainment industry. Her ghosts, made up of her resentment and spite, make frequent and comical appearances throughout the series.
An old Indian told his grandson, “My son, there’s a battle between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, & ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, & truth.” The boy thought about it & asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?” The old Cherokee quietly replied, “The one you feed”
"I grew up in Eugene, Oregon for about four years. My mother and father had separated and my mom decided to move my sister, Tacita, and I to Portland, Oregon.
"My father had cheated on my mother with one of his coworkers, he used to be a drug addict as well as an alcoholic.
"My mom was a decent person, she decided that her children and herself needed to be put into a religion.
For the next seven years I was in a Pentecostal Religion.
Being in that sort of religion is not based on spirituality, but appearance.
It is a cult disguised as a religion and they use God to make people donate all of their hard earned money.
"I do have some built up resentment against that Church and what those people have done and said to my family.
"For years we tried to belong with those people and we were just used. I even went to school there, they had a private school and it was not cheap to attend.
"I honestly felt so bad that my mom paid so much money just for us to go to the school. It was a mistake for all of us.
There was good in bad that happened in those seven years, but they have affected the way I believe in spirituality.
"After leaving the church I was able to go to a regular middle school. I went through high school and started to become a trouble maker. I even got suspended once, but as I grew closer to being a senior in high school, I got my life together and stopped partying.
I obtained scholarships so I could go to the college I wanted. I went to PCC for about two years and now I am an art student at PNCA.
"There is more to tell about my life, but it is mainly how my father, his ex-wife, and her four kids all treated me horribly as a child.
"Since I was young, my dad married the woman he cheated on my mom with. She had four kids and of the four kids I only liked one of them. His name is Jack and he is my younger brother by three years.
My dad adopted him and I have loved him as my own flesh and blood.
My sister, half sister, Tacita is someone that I would never lose in my life, I have known her since I was born. She is seven years older than me, but she just had a baby and I can't believe how good of a mom she is. She makes me so proud, I love being an aunt!
"I am an art student at PNCA, but I am studying to be a communications design major. I haven't figured out all the small details, but I know that I am studying abroad to Basal, Switzerland.
"Everything I have done, going to college, paying for my own things, and just being an independent person has come from a lot of hard work.
"If I could tell everyone just a single thing I think I would tell them to never give up on oneself.
A person is so strong and their minds are capable of doing amazing things. I believe we limit ourselves of truly accomplishing the impossible.
"Also be nice to others, being nice isn't always easy, but I know that having hate be apart of your daily strife is just going to rot away at your stamina for compassion towards others.
"I am struggling right now with school and work, it isn't that much, but in a way it can be overbearing.
I have a heavy load and barely have time to sleep. It's a shame that I don't get to delve in the luxuries that others so often take for granted, and for that I envy them. "
www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/discuss/72157633469671...
You may view my other images of Petunias, from our garden "here"
Petunia is genus of 20 species of flowering plants of South American origin. The popular flower of the same name derived its epithet from the French, which took the word petun, meaning "tobacco," from a Tupi–Guarani language. An annual, most of the varieties seen in gardens are hybrids (P. × atkinsiana, also known as P. × hybrida). The Mayan and Incas believed that petunias have the power to chase away (with their odor) the underworld monsters and spirits. Their flower-beds were bunched together for magical drinks. According to the folklore, Petunias will thrive where there is positive energy and will not grow in places where there is negativity. When given as a gift, Petunias typically have two meanings. They could represent being comfortable with someone, or "your company suits me". Conversely, they could also represent anger and resentment. Petunia is a genus in the family Solanaceae, subfamily Petunioideae. Well known members of Solanaceae in other subfamilies include tobacco (Nicotianoideae), and the cape gooseberry, tomato, potato, deadly nightshades and chili pepper (Solanoideae). Some botanists place the plants of the genus Calibrachoa in the genus Petunia, but this is not accepted by others. Petchoa is a hybrid genus derived from crossing Calibrachoa and Petunia. Petunias are generally insect pollinated, with the exception of P. exserta, which is a rare, red-flowered, hummingbird-pollinated species. Most petunias are diploid with 14 chromosomes and are interfertile with other petunia species. The tubular flowers are favoured by some Lepidoptera species, including the Hummingbird hawk moth. The flowers are eaten by the larvae of the corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea and the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni. Petunias can tolerate relatively harsh conditions and hot climates. They need at least five hours of sunlight every day. They grow well in low humidity, moist soil. Young plants can be grown from seeds. Watering once a week should be sufficient in most regions. Hanging baskets and other containers need more frequent watering. Maximum growth occurs in late spring. Applying fertilizer monthly or weekly, depending on the variety, will help the plant grow quickly. Petunias can be cultivated in hanging baskets. In horticulture many terms are used to denote different types of cultivated petunias. These include Grandiflora, Multiflora, Wave (Spreading), Supertunia, Cascadia, and Surfinia.
From Wikipedia, the free encycloped
seen from the Leaning Tower of Pisa
gesehen vom Schiefen Turm
Pisa (/ˈpiːzə/ PEE-zə, Italian: [ˈpiːza] or [ˈpiːsa]) is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the city contains more than twenty other historic churches, several medieval palaces, and bridges across the Arno. Much of the city's architecture was financed from its history as one of the Italian maritime republics.
The city is also home to the University of Pisa, which has a history going back to the 12th century, the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, founded by Napoleon in 1810, and its offshoot, the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies.
History
Ancient times
The most believed hypothesis is that the origin of the name Pisa comes from Etruscan and means 'mouth', as Pisa is at the mouth of the Arno river.
Although throughout history there have been several uncertainties about the origin of the city of Pisa, excavations made in the 1980s and 1990s found numerous archaeological remains, including the fifth century BC tomb of an Etruscan prince, proving the Etruscan origin of the city, and its role as a maritime city, showing that it also maintained trade relations with other Mediterranean civilizations.
Ancient Roman authors referred to Pisa as an old city. Virgil, in his Aeneid, states that Pisa was already a great center by the times described; and gives the epithet of Alphēae to the city because it was said to have been founded by colonists from Pisa in Elis, near which the Alpheius river flowed. The Virgilian commentator Servius wrote that the Teuti founded the town 13 centuries before the start of the common era.
The maritime role of Pisa should have been already prominent if the ancient authorities ascribed to it the invention of the naval ram. Pisa took advantage of being the only port along the western coast between Genoa (then a small village) and Ostia. Pisa served as a base for Roman naval expeditions against Ligurians and Gauls. In 180 BC, it became a Roman colony under Roman law, as Portus Pisanus. In 89 BC, Portus Pisanus became a municipium. Emperor Augustus fortified the colony into an important port and changed the name to Colonia Iulia obsequens.
Pisa supposedly was founded on the shore, but due to the alluvial sediments from the Arno and the Serchio, whose mouth lies about 11 km (7 mi) north of the Arno's, the shore moved west. Strabo states that the city was 4.0 km (2.5 mi) away from the coast. Currently, it is located 9.7 km (6 mi) from the coast. However, it was a maritime city, with ships sailing up the Arno. In the 90s AD, a baths complex was built in the city.
Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages
During the last years of the Western Roman Empire, Pisa did not decline as much as the other cities of Italy, probably due to the complexity of its river system and its consequent ease of defence. In the seventh century, Pisa helped Pope Gregory I by supplying numerous ships in his military expedition against the Byzantines of Ravenna: Pisa was the sole Byzantine centre of Tuscia to fall peacefully in Lombard hands, through assimilation with the neighbouring region where their trading interests were prevalent. Pisa began in this way its rise to the role of main port of the Upper Tyrrhenian Sea and became the main trading centre between Tuscany and Corsica, Sardinia, and the southern coasts of France and Spain.
After Charlemagne had defeated the Lombards under the command of Desiderius in 774, Pisa went through a crisis, but soon recovered. Politically, it became part of the duchy of Lucca. In 860, Pisa was captured by vikings led by Björn Ironside. In 930, Pisa became the county centre (status it maintained until the arrival of Otto I) within the mark of Tuscia. Lucca was the capital but Pisa was the most important city, as in the middle of tenth century Liutprand of Cremona, bishop of Cremona, called Pisa Tusciae provinciae caput ("capital of the province of Tuscia"), and a century later, the marquis of Tuscia was commonly referred to as "marquis of Pisa". In 1003, Pisa was the protagonist of the first communal war in Italy, against Lucca. From the naval point of view, since the ninth century, the emergence of the Saracen pirates urged the city to expand its fleet; in the following years, this fleet gave the town an opportunity for more expansion. In 828, Pisan ships assaulted the coast of North Africa. In 871, they took part in the defence of Salerno from the Saracens. In 970, they gave also strong support to Otto I's expedition, defeating a Byzantine fleet in front of Calabrese coasts.
11th century
The power of Pisa as a maritime nation began to grow and reached its apex in the 11th century, when it acquired traditional fame as one of the four main historical maritime republics of Italy (Repubbliche Marinare).
At that time, the city was a very important commercial centre and controlled a significant Mediterranean merchant fleet and navy. It expanded its powers in 1005 through the sack of Reggio Calabria in the south of Italy. Pisa was in continuous conflict with some 'Saracens' - a medieval term to refer to Arab Muslims - who had their bases in Corsica, for control of the Mediterranean. In 1017, Sardinian Giudicati were militarily supported by Pisa, in alliance with Genoa, to defeat the Saracen King Mugahid, who had settled a logistic base in the north of Sardinia the year before. This victory gave Pisa supremacy in the Tyrrhenian Sea. When the Pisans subsequently ousted the Genoese from Sardinia, a new conflict and rivalry was born between these major marine republics. Between 1030 and 1035, Pisa went on to defeat several rival towns in Sicily and conquer Carthage in North Africa. In 1051–1052, the admiral Jacopo Ciurini conquered Corsica, provoking more resentment from the Genoese. In 1063, Admiral Giovanni Orlandi, coming to the aid of the Norman Roger I, took Palermo from the Saracen pirates. The gold treasure taken from the Saracens in Palermo allowed the Pisans to start the building of their cathedral and the other monuments which constitute the famous Piazza del Duomo.
In 1060, Pisa had to engage in their first battle with Genoa. The Pisan victory helped to consolidate its position in the Mediterranean. Pope Gregory VII recognised in 1077 the new "Laws and customs of the sea" instituted by the Pisans, and emperor Henry IV granted them the right to name their own consuls, advised by a council of elders. This was simply a confirmation of the present situation, because in those years, the marquis had already been excluded from power. In 1092, Pope Urban II awarded Pisa the supremacy over Corsica and Sardinia, and at the same time raising the town to the rank of archbishopric.
Pisa sacked the Tunisian city of Mahdia in 1088. Four years later, Pisan and Genoese ships helped Alfonso VI of Castilla to push El Cid out of Valencia. A Pisan fleet of 120 ships also took part in the First Crusade, and the Pisans were instrumental in the taking of Jerusalem in 1099. On their way to the Holy Land, the ships did not miss the occasion to sack some Byzantine islands; the Pisan crusaders were led by their archbishop Daibert, the future patriarch of Jerusalem. Pisa and the other Repubbliche Marinare took advantage of the crusade to establish trading posts and colonies in the Eastern coastal cities of the Levant. In particular, the Pisans founded colonies in Antiochia, Acre, Jaffa, Tripoli, Tyre, Latakia, and Accone. They also had other possessions in Jerusalem and Caesarea, plus smaller colonies (with lesser autonomy) in Cairo, Alexandria, and of course Constantinople, where the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus granted them special mooring and trading rights. In all these cities, the Pisans were granted privileges and immunity from taxation, but had to contribute to the defence in case of attack. In the 12th century, the Pisan quarter in the eastern part of Constantinople had grown to 1,000 people. For some years of that century, Pisa was the most prominent commercial and military ally of the Byzantine Empire, overcoming Venice itself.
12th century
In 1113, Pisa and Pope Paschal II set up, together with the count of Barcelona and other contingents from Provence and Italy (Genoese excluded), a war to free the Balearic Islands from the Moors; the queen and the king of Majorca were brought in chains to Tuscany. Though the Almoravides soon reconquered the island, the booty taken helped the Pisans in their magnificent programme of buildings, especially the cathedral, and Pisa gained a role of pre-eminence in the Western Mediterranean.
In the following years, the powerful Pisan fleet, led by archbishop Pietro Moriconi, drove away the Saracens after ferocious battles. Though short-lived, this Pisan success in Spain increased the rivalry with Genoa. Pisa's trade with Languedoc, Provence (Noli, Savona, Fréjus, and Montpellier) were an obstacle to Genoese interests in cities such as Hyères, Fos, Antibes, and Marseille.
The war began in 1119 when the Genoese attacked several galleys on their way home to the motherland, and lasted until 1133. The two cities fought each other on land and at sea, but hostilities were limited to raids and pirate-like assaults.
In June 1135, Bernard of Clairvaux took a leading part in the Council of Pisa, asserting the claims of Pope Innocent II against those of Pope Anacletus II, who had been elected pope in 1130 with Norman support, but was not recognised outside Rome. Innocent II resolved the conflict with Genoa, establishing Pisan and Genoese spheres of influence. Pisa could then, unhindered by Genoa, participate in the conflict of Innocent II against king Roger II of Sicily. Amalfi, one of the maritime republics (though already declining under Norman rule), was conquered on August 6, 1136; the Pisans destroyed the ships in the port, assaulted the castles in the surrounding areas, and drove back an army sent by Roger from Aversa. This victory brought Pisa to the peak of its power and to a standing equal to Venice. Two years later, its soldiers sacked Salerno.
In the following years, Pisa was one of the staunchest supporters of the Ghibelline party. This was much appreciated by Frederick I. He issued in 1162 and 1165 two important documents, with these grants: Apart from the jurisdiction over the Pisan countryside, the Pisans were granted freedom of trade in the whole empire, the coast from Civitavecchia to Portovenere, a half of Palermo, Messina, Salerno and Naples, the whole of Gaeta, Mazara, and Trapani, and a street with houses for its merchants in every city of the Kingdom of Sicily. Some of these grants were later confirmed by Henry VI, Otto IV, and Frederick II. They marked the apex of Pisa's power, but also spurred the resentment of other cities such as Lucca, Massa, Volterra, and Florence, thwarting their aim to expand towards the sea. The clash with Lucca also concerned the possession of the castle of Montignoso and mainly the control of the Via Francigena, the main trade route between Rome and France. Last, but not least, such a sudden and large increase of power by Pisa could only lead to another war with Genoa.
Genoa had acquired a dominant position in the markets of southern France. The war began in 1165 on the Rhône, when an attack on a convoy, directed to some Pisan trade centres on the river, by the Genoese and their ally, the count of Toulouse, failed. Pisa, though, was allied to Provence. The war continued until 1175 without significant victories. Another point of attrition was Sicily, where both the cities had privileges granted by Henry VI. In 1192, Pisa managed to conquer Messina. This episode was followed by a series of battles culminating in the Genoese conquest of Syracuse in 1204. Later, the trading posts in Sicily were lost when the new Pope Innocent III, though removing the excommunication cast over Pisa by his predecessor Celestine III, allied himself with the Guelph League of Tuscany, led by Florence. Soon, he stipulated a pact with Genoa, too, further weakening the Pisan presence in southern Italy.
To counter the Genoese predominance in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Pisa strengthened its relationship with its traditional Spanish and French bases (Marseille, Narbonne, Barcelona, etc.) and tried to defy the Venetian rule of the Adriatic Sea. In 1180, the two cities agreed to a nonaggression treaty in the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic, but the death of Emperor Manuel Comnenus in Constantinople changed the situation. Soon, attacks on Venetian convoys were made. Pisa signed trade and political pacts with Ancona, Pula, Zara, Split, and Brindisi; in 1195, a Pisan fleet reached Pola to defend its independence from Venice, but the Serenissima soon reconquered the rebel sea town.
One year later, the two cities signed a peace treaty, which resulted in favourable conditions for Pisa, but in 1199, the Pisans violated it by blockading the port of Brindisi in Apulia. In the following naval battle, they were defeated by the Venetians. The war that followed ended in 1206 with a treaty in which Pisa gave up all its hopes to expand in the Adriatic, though it maintained the trading posts it had established in the area. From that point on, the two cities were united against the rising power of Genoa and sometimes collaborated to increase the trading benefits in Constantinople.
13th century
In 1209 in Lerici, two councils for a final resolution of the rivalry with Genoa were held. A 20-year peace treaty was signed, but when in 1220, the emperor Frederick II confirmed his supremacy over the Tyrrhenian coast from Civitavecchia to Portovenere, the Genoese and Tuscan resentment against Pisa grew again. In the following years, Pisa clashed with Lucca in Garfagnana and was defeated by the Florentines at Castel del Bosco. The strong Ghibelline position of Pisa brought this town diametrically against the Pope, who was in a dispute with the Holy Roman Empire, and indeed the pope tried to deprive Pisa of its dominions in northern Sardinia.
In 1238, Pope Gregory IX formed an alliance between Genoa and Venice against the empire, and consequently against Pisa, too. One year later, he excommunicated Frederick II and called for an anti-Empire council to be held in Rome in 1241. On May 3, 1241, a combined fleet of Pisan and Sicilian ships, led by the emperor's son Enzo, attacked a Genoese convoy carrying prelates from northern Italy and France, next to the isle of Giglio (Battle of Giglio), in front of Tuscany; the Genoese lost 25 ships, while about a thousand sailors, two cardinals, and one bishop were taken prisoner. After this major victory, the council in Rome failed, but Pisa was excommunicated. This extreme measure was only removed in 1257. Anyway, the Tuscan city tried to take advantage of the favourable situation to conquer the Corsican city of Aleria and even lay siege to Genoa itself in 1243.
The Ligurian republic of Genoa, however, recovered fast from this blow and won back Lerici, conquered by the Pisans some years earlier, in 1256.
The great expansion in the Mediterranean and the prominence of the merchant class urged a modification in the city's institutes. The system with consuls was abandoned, and in 1230, the new city rulers named a capitano del popolo ("people's chieftain") as civil and military leader. Despite these reforms, the conquered lands and the city itself were harassed by the rivalry between the two families of Della Gherardesca and Visconti. In 1237 the archbishop and the Emperor Frederick II intervened to reconcile the two rivals, but the strains continued. In 1254, the people rebelled and imposed 12 Anziani del Popolo ("People's Elders") as their political representatives in the commune. They also supplemented the legislative councils, formed of noblemen, with new People's Councils, composed by the main guilds and by the chiefs of the People's Companies. These had the power to ratify the laws of the Major General Council and the Senate.
Decline
The decline is said to have begun on August 6, 1284, when the numerically superior fleet of Pisa, under the command of Albertino Morosini, was defeated by the brilliant tactics of the Genoese fleet, under the command of Benedetto Zaccaria and Oberto Doria, in the dramatic naval Battle of Meloria. This defeat ended the maritime power of Pisa and the town never fully recovered; in 1290, the Genoese destroyed forever the Porto Pisano (Pisa's port), and covered the land with salt. The region around Pisa did not permit the city to recover from the loss of thousands of sailors from the Meloria, while Liguria guaranteed enough sailors to Genoa. Goods, however, continued to be traded, albeit in reduced quantity, but the end came when the Arno started to change course, preventing the galleys from reaching the city's port up the river. The nearby area also likely became infested with malaria. The true end came in 1324, when Sardinia was entirely lost to the Aragonese.
Always Ghibelline, Pisa tried to build up its power in the course of the 14th century, and even managed to defeat Florence in the Battle of Montecatini (1315), under the command of Uguccione della Faggiuola. Eventually, however, after a long siege, Pisa was occupied by Florentines in 1405.[9] Florentines corrupted the capitano del popolo ("people's chieftain"), Giovanni Gambacorta, who at night opened the city gate of San Marco. Pisa was never conquered by an army. In 1409, Pisa was the seat of a council trying to set the question of the Great Schism. In the 15th century, access to the sea became more difficult, as the port was silting up and was cut off from the sea. When in 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded the Italian states to claim the Kingdom of Naples,[9] Pisa reclaimed its independence as the Second Pisan Republic.
The new freedom did not last long; 15 years of battles and sieges by the Florentine troops led by Antonio da Filicaja, Averardo Salviati and Niccolò Capponi were made, but they failed to conquer the city. Vitellozzo Vitelli with his brother Paolo were the only ones who actually managed to break the strong defences of Pisa and make a breach in the Stampace bastion in the southern west part of the walls, but he did not enter the city. For that, they were suspected of treachery and Paolo was put to death. However, the resources of Pisa were getting low, and at the end, the city was sold to the Visconti family from Milan and eventually to Florence again. Livorno took over the role of the main port of Tuscany. Pisa acquired a mainly cultural role spurred by the presence of the University of Pisa, created in 1343, and later reinforced by the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (1810) and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (1987).
Pisa was the birthplace of the important early physicist Galileo Galilei. It is still the seat of an archbishopric. Besides its educational institutions, it has become a light industrial centre and a railway hub. It suffered repeated destruction during World War II.
Since the early 1950s, the US Army has maintained Camp Darby just outside Pisa, which is used by many US military personnel as a base for vacations in the area.
(Wikipedia)
Pisa ist eine Stadt in Italien, gelegen in der Toskana am Arno nahe dessen Mündung in das Ligurische Meer. Im Mittelalter und in der frühen Neuzeit war Pisa als Republik Pisa ein Stadtstaat und eine der Seerepubliken und ist heute mit 89.002 Einwohnern (Stand 31. Dezember 2022) Hauptstadt der Provinz Pisa.
Wahrzeichen ist der als Schiefer Turm von Pisa bekannte Campanile des Doms auf der Piazza dei Miracoli im Norden des Stadtzentrums. Mittelpunkt der historischen Viertel San Martino, Santa Maria, San Francesco und Sant’Antonio ist die zentrale Arno-Brücke, die Ponte di Mezzo.
Neben der Universität Pisa haben unter anderem die Scuola Normale Superiore und die Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Elitehochschulen des italienischen Staates, ihren Sitz in Pisa. Mit etwa 40.000 Personen bildet die Gruppe der Studenten fast die Hälfte der Einwohnerschaft und prägt nicht unwesentlich die Atmosphäre der Stadt. Des Weiteren spielt der Tourismus eine erhebliche Rolle.
Geschichte
Im Mittelalter war Pisa eine der vier Seefahrerrepubliken Italiens (neben Genua, Amalfi und Venedig). Zudem stand die Stadt in Konkurrenz mit den toskanischen Nachbarrepubliken Lucca, Florenz und Siena. Schließlich verlor die Republik Pisa 1406 ihre Unabhängigkeit an Florenz. In dieser Zeit hat sich das Pisanische, eine besondere Stadtsprache, entwickelt, die bis heute gesprochen wird und die auch über eine noch lebendige Schreibtradition (Scripta) verfügt.
Bekannt wurde Pisa auch durch das Konzil von Pisa im Jahre 1409, das durch die Wahl Alexander V. und dessen Nachfolger Johannes XXIII. versuchte, das Abendländische Schisma zu beenden, es jedoch nur verschlimmerte, so dass es plötzlich drei Päpste, einen in Rom, einen in Avignon und eben einen in Pisa, zugleich gab.
Berühmte Söhne der Stadt waren Galileo Galilei, nach dem der Flughafen von Pisa benannt ist, und Leonardo Fibonacci (Leonardo von Pisa), einer der bedeutendsten Mathematiker des Mittelalters.
Sehenswürdigkeiten
Gebäudeensemble auf der Piazza del Duomo
Der Schiefe Turm von Pisa (ital. Torre pendente)
Dom Santa Maria Assunta
Baptisterium (Taufhaus)
Camposanto Monumentale (deutsch: monumentaler Friedhof)
Palazzo della Sapienza, Hauptsitz der juristischen Fakultät der Universität Pisa
Die Kirche Santa Maria della Spina
Die Kirche San Paolo a Ripa d’Arno
Die Kirche Santo Sepolcro (Nachbau der Grabeskirche)
Piazza dei Cavalieri
Botanischer Garten (1543 gegründet)
(Wikipedia)
Antike
Die Altstadt Pisas liegt an der Stelle des antiken Pisae (altgriechisch Πίσαι Pisai) am rechten Ufer des Arno. Dieses wird in der Geschichte erstmals als der Ort erwähnt, an dem eine römische Armee aus Sardinien 225 v. Chr. landete; zu der Zeit hatte die Stadt einen Hafen an der Mündung des südlichen Arms des Arno, nördlich von Livorno. Durch ihre Lage an der Küstenstraße (Via Aemilia) war sie als Grenzfestung gegen Ligurien wichtig. Pisa gehörte, vielleicht bis zur Zeit Sullas, nicht zu Etrurien, sondern zu Ligurien, wobei die eigentliche Grenze zwischen Pisa und Vada Volaterrana (heute Vada) lag. Es wurde 180 v. Chr. zur römischen Kolonie und war aufgrund der Fruchtbarkeit seines Territoriums, seiner Steinbrüche und des Waldbestands für den Schiffbau wichtig.
Augustus gab ihm den Namen Colonia Iulia Pisana; seine Enkel Gaius und Lucius waren Patrone der Kolonie, und nach ihrem Tod wurden ihnen zur Ehre Denkmäler errichtet, wie in zwei überlieferten Inschriften berichtet ist. In der Stadt selbst sind griechische Vasen gefunden worden, was auf die Existenz von etruskischen Gräbern hindeutet. Aber es gibt keine Überreste, außer aus der römischen Zeit einige Ruinen von Bädern und einem Tempel, während die Piazza dei Cavalieri dem Umriss eines antiken Theaters entspricht.
Langobarden und Franken
Wenig ist über die Geschichte Pisas während der Völkerwanderung bekannt. Es steht fest, dass es eine der ersten Städte war, die ihre Unabhängigkeit wiedererlangten. Unter der byzantinischen Herrschaft profitierte Pisa wie viele andere der seefahrenden Städte Italiens von der Schwäche der Regierung in Konstantinopel. Und selbst während der ersten Jahre der langobardischen Regierung war das Bedürfnis der neuen Herren nach einem Schutz der italienischen Küste vor den Angriffen der Byzantiner günstig für die Entwicklung der Pisaner Flotte.
Wenig Details über den wirklichen Zustand der Stadt sind bekannt; aber Pisa ist gelegentlich erwähnt, fast als wäre es eine unabhängige Stadt gewesen, in Augenblicken, als Italien von den größten Schicksalsschlägen heimgesucht wurde. Nach Amaris Worten war es bereits unabhängig auf See, während es auf Land noch versklavt war. Sein Wohlstand verfiel besonders nach der Errichtung der langobardischen Herrschaft und unter den Franken. Unter den Markgrafen der Toskana, die es im Namen des Kaisers regierten, begann es wieder zu erblühen.
Hochmittelalter
Für das Jahr 1003 gibt es Berichte eines Kriegs zwischen Pisa und Lucca, der nach Muratori der erste zwischen italienischen Städten im Mittelalter war. Aber die militärische Entwicklung und wirkliche Bedeutung Pisas im 11. Jahrhundert muss man dem kontinuierlichen und verzweifelten Kampf gegen die sarazenischen Invasionen aus Sizilien zuschreiben. Obwohl die zahlreichen Legenden und Fabeln der alten Chronisten die wahre Geschichte dieses Kampfes verschleiern, bestätigen sie doch die Wichtigkeit Pisas in jenen Tagen. Ab dem elften Jahrhundert war Pisa eine Seerepublik.
1004 erstürmten die Sarazenen die Tore und plünderten ein Quartier der Stadt; 1011 erneuerten sie den Angriff. Aber die Pisaner schlugen sie zurück und gingen in Kalabrien, Sizilien und selbst in Afrika in die Offensive. Noch denkwürdiger war die Expedition, die danach von den vereinigten Kräften Pisas und Genuas gegen Mogahid unternommen wurde, der in den italienischen Chroniken besser als Mugeto bekannt ist. Der muslimische Führer hatte sich selbst zum Herrn über Sardinien gemacht und wurde von dort 1015 durch die alliierten Flotten vertrieben. Wiederum fiel er auf der Insel ein, wurde wieder angegriffen und von den gleichen Gegnern geschlagen. Er hinterließ einen Bruder und einen Sohn, oder wie einige Quellen behaupten, eine Frau und einen Sohn als Gefangene.
Sardinien wurde weiterhin von einheimischen Richtern regiert, die wie kleine Souveräne agierten, aber unter der Oberherrschaft Pisas standen. Dies war der Hauptgrund für den Neid der Genuesen und für ihre Kriege gegen Pisa, die sie weiter führten, bis seine Macht gebrochen war. Inzwischen erblühte Pisa mehr und mehr und setzte seine feindlichen Handlungen gegen die Sarazenen fort. 1062 kehrten seine Schiffe mit Beute beladen aus Palermo zurück. So ist es nicht überraschend, dass Pisa schon sein eigenes Gesetzbuch hatte (Consuetudini di mare), das 1075 von Gregor VII. genehmigt und 1081 durch ein Patent von König Heinrich IV. bestätigt wurde, ein Dokument, das zum ersten Mal die Existenz eines Magistrats analog zu den Konsuln der Republik erwähnt, wenn es auch letztere laut einigen Autoren schon 1080 in Pisa gab. Dieser Punkt ist allerdings zweifelhaft, und andere Autoren datieren die erste authentische Erwähnung der Konsuln auf das Jahr 1095. Die ältesten der überlieferten Pisaner Statuten ist das Breve dei consile di mare von 1162.
Die Pisaner nahmen am ersten Kreuzzug, der 1099 mit der Eroberung Jerusalems endete, teil und leiteten daraus viele Handelsvorteile ab. Denn innerhalb kurzer Zeit besaßen sie Banken, Konsuln, Lager und Privilegien aller Art in jedem östlichen Hafen. Während also die Kommune Pisa noch unter der Herrschaft der Markgrafen der Toskana stand, wurden alle Verhandlungen mit der Stadt geführt, als wäre sie ein unabhängiger Staat, der offiziell vom Erzbischof und den Konsuln vertreten wurde.
Die Aristokraten waren die vorherrschende Partei und besetzten die höchsten Ämter der Republik, die im 12. Jahrhundert durch ihre Kriege mit den Lucchesi, Genuesen und Moslems, sowohl zu Wasser als auch an Land, zu großer Macht kam. 1110 schloss Pisa nach sechs Jahren kontinuierlichem Krieg Frieden. In den Jahren 1113 bis 1115 gelang ihm ein noch größeres Unternehmen: Im Balearenkrieg griff eine angeblich 300 Schiffe umfassende Pisaner Flotte, befehligt vom Erzbischof Pietro Moriconi, im Zusammenwirken mit zahlreichen weiteren Schiffen, die von Katalanen und verschiedenen Territorialherrschern Okzitaniens gestellt wurden, die Balearen an. Dort sollen bis zu 20.000 Christen von den Moslems gefangen gehalten worden sein. Die vereinte Streitmacht eroberte schließlich die Hauptstadt Mallorcas, kehrte mit Beute und mit einer Vielzahl christlicher und muslimischer Gefangener heim. Erstere wurden freigelassen oder freigekauft, und unter letzteren war der letzte Nachkomme der herrschenden Dynastie. Der Haupteunuch, der Mallorca regiert hatte, starb bei der Belagerung.
Konflikt mit Genua
Unmittelbar darauf brach der 14-jährige Krieg (1118–1132) mit Genua aus. Die zwei Republiken stritten um die Seeherrschaft und beide beanspruchten die oberste Macht über die Inseln Korsika und Sardinien (siehe auch Geschichte Korsikas). Ein päpstliches Edikt, das die Vormachtstellung über Korsika der Pisaner Kirche verlieh, stellte sich als genügender Kriegsgrund heraus. Dann übertrug Innozenz II. die Vormachtstellung über Teile Korsikas an die Genueser Kirche und entschädigte Pisa mit Land auf Sardinien und anderswo. Dementsprechend zogen die Pisaner, um den Papst und Kaiser Lothar III. zufriedenzustellen, in neapolitanisches Territorium, um die Normannen zu bekämpfen. Sie halfen bei der Verteidigung der Stadt Neapel und attackierten und plünderten zweimal (1135 und 1137) Amalfi, mit der Wirkung, dass die Stadt nie wieder ihren alten Wohlstand erlangte.
Der Krieg mit Genua ging nie richtig zu Ende. Selbst nach der Wiedereroberung Jerusalems durch die Moslems (1187) kamen sich Pisaner und Genuesen wieder im Osten ins Gehege. Sie demonstrierten ihre Feindschaft im Sizilianischen Krieg im Namen des Kaisers Heinrich VI. Von diesem Moment an war klar, dass es keinen dauerhaften Frieden zwischen den rivalisierenden Mächten geben würde, bis eine vernichtet war. Die Größe und der Wohlstand der Pisaner in dieser Phase der Geschichte zeigt sich im Bau vieler vornehmer Häuser, die die Stadt schmücken. Die Fundamente für die Kathedrale wurden 1063 gelegt, und ihre Weihung fand 1174 statt. Das Baptisterium wurde 1152 begonnen, und der Campanile (der berühmte Schiefe Turm) folgte 1173. Alle drei Bauwerke waren hauptsächlich das Werk Pisaner Künstler, die der italienischen Architektur neues Leben einhauchten, so wie sie später die Kunst der Bildhauerei erneuerten.
Konflikt mit Florenz
Von einigen Schreibern – insbesondere Tronci – wird behauptet, dass Pisa im 12. Jahrhundert eine demokratischere Form der Regierung annahm. Tatsächlich aber wurde das höchste Amt immer noch von den Adligen bekleidet, die sowohl in Pisa als auch in Sardinien fast souveräne Macht ausübten. Sie bildeten die wahre Stärke der Republik und sorgten dafür, dass sie dem Kaiser und der ghibellinischen Partei treu blieb. Das guelfische und das populäre Element, das die Macht und Prosperität von Florenz ausmachte, war Pisa gegenüber feindlich eingestellt und führte zu seinem Fall.
Die Unabhängigkeit von Florenz war wesentlich späteren Ursprungs und datiert in die Zeit des Todes der Markgräfin Matilda (1115), aber die Stadt stieg rasch auf und wurde unvermeidlich eine Rivalin Pisas. Aufgrund der politischen und kommerziellen Interessen, die Florenz an den römischen Hof banden, herrschte dort das guelfische Element vor, während das Wachstum seiner Handelsaktivitäten den Staat dazu zwang, auf Gewässer überzugreifen, die unter Pisaner Herrschaft standen. Und obwohl Pisa bis dahin in der Lage gewesen war, sich Genua und Lucca zu widersetzen, war der Kampf nicht mehr so einfach, weil seine Feinde militärisch und politisch von den Florentinern unterstützt wurden, die geschickt darin waren, mächtige Verbündete zu gewinnen.
Die Chronisten schrieben den ersten Krieg mit Florenz, der 1222 ausbrach, einem höchst lächerlichen Motiv zu. Die Gesandten der rivalisierenden Staaten in Rom sollen sich über einen Schoßhund gestritten haben. Das zeigt nur, dass es schon so viele allgemeine und andauernde Kriegsgründe gab, dass kein besonderer Anlass mehr notwendig war, um ihn zu provozieren. 1228 trafen die Pisaner bei Barga in der Garfagna auf die vereinigten Kräfte von Florenz und Lucca und besiegten sie. Zur gleichen Zeit sandten sie 52 Galeeren, um Friedrich II. bei seiner Expedition in den Osten beizustehen. Kurz darauf wurden die Kriegshandlungen mit den Genuesen wegen Sardinien wiederaufgenommen. Die Richter, die die Insel regierten, waren ständig miteinander im Streit, und weil einige von ihnen Pisa, andere Genua um Hilfe baten, wurde das italienische Meer einmal mehr von Blut gefärbt.
Der Krieg brach bis 1259 immer wieder aus und endete in einem entscheidenden Sieg der Pisaner und der Konsolidierung ihrer Vorherrschaft in Sardinien. Aber inzwischen war Florenz ein Bündnis mit Genua, Lucca und den guelfischen Städten der Toskana gegen seine ghibellinische Rivalin eingegangen. Der Papst hatte Friedrich II. und alle seine Anhänger exkommuniziert. Als krönende Katastrophe für die italienischen Ghibellinen stellte sich der Tod Friedrichs II. 1250 heraus. Dennoch waren die Pisaner unverzagt. Mit Verbannten aus Siena, Pistoia und Florenz an ihrer Seite stellten sie sich selbstsicher dem Feind entgegen, wurden aber 1254 geschlagen.
Bald nach diesem Zeitpunkt wurde die alte aristokratische Regierung Pisas durch eine volksnähere Form ersetzt. Statt der Konsuln gab es nun zwölf Ältere (anziani); neben dem Podestà gab es einen Capitano des Volks, und daneben gab es einen allgemeinen Rat und einen 40-köpfigen Senat. Mit der Schlappe der toskanischen Guelfen in der Schlacht von Montaperto (1260) drehte sich das Blatt wieder zugunsten Pisas. Aber die Schlacht von Benevent (1266), in der Manfred fiel, und die Niederlage von Tagliacozzo (1268), die den Untergang des Hauses Hohenstaufen in Italien und den Aufstieg der Anjou besiegelte, waren fatal für Pisa. Die Republik hatte immer auf der Seite des Kaiserreichs gestanden und Konradin favorisiert.
Der Papst erließ ein Edikt gegen die Pisaner und versuchte, ihnen Sardinien zu entziehen, während ihre Händler von den Angevins aus Sizilien verdrängt wurden. Diese Ereignisse wirkten sich auf den inneren Zustand der Stadt aus. Aufgrund des steigenden Einflusses der Guelfen und des Bürgertums, an dem die ehrgeizigeren Adligen zur Förderung ihrer persönlichen Ziele festhielten, verlor die ghibellinische Partei rasch an Boden. Der erste Mann, der in diesem Augenblick die Initiative ergriff, war Ugolino della Gherardesca aus dem einflussreichen Haus dieses Namens. Er war praktisch das Oberhaupt der Republik geworden, und um seine Unabhängigkeit und seine eigene Herrschaft zu bewahren, neigte er trotz der ghibellinischen Traditionen seines Geschlechts zu den Guelfen und zum Bürgertum. Er wurde von seinem Verwandten Giovanni Visconti unterstützt, der Richter von Gallura war.
Aber fast alle anderen bedeutenden Familien hassten ihn und erklärten ihn zum Verräter seiner Partei, seines Landes und seiner Familie. Also wurden er und Visconti 1274 verbannt. Beide schlossen sich den Florentinern an, nahmen am Krieg gegen ihre Heimatstadt teil und verwüsteten das umgebende Gebiet. 1276 wurden die Pisaner gezwungen, bitteren Bedingungen zuzustimmen: den Florentiner Handel von allen Hafengebühren freizustellen, bestimmte Festungen an Lucca zu übergeben, und die Rückkehr des Grafen Ugolino zu erlauben, dessen Häuser sie niedergebrannt und dessen Land sie konfisziert hatten. So wurde der Graf wieder ein mächtiger Führer in Pisa. Visconti dagegen war tot.
Schlacht von Meloria und ihre Konsequenzen
Dies war der Moment, den Genua für einen entscheidenden Krieg mit der ewigen Rivalin wählte. Einige Jahre lang belauerten sich die beiden Flotten und verwickelten sich lediglich in kleine Scharmützel, als wollten sie ihre Stärke messen und sich für einen endgültigen Schlag vorbereiten. Am 6. August 1284 fand dann die entscheidende Schlacht von Meloria statt. Dabei standen 72 Pisaner 88 Genueser Galeeren gegenüber. Die Hälfte der Pisaner Schiffe wurde geentert oder zerstört. Die Chronisten sprechen von 5000 Toten und 9.000 bis 11.000 Gefangenen; obwohl diese Zahlen mit entsprechender Vorsicht zu betrachten sind, war die Anzahl der Gefangenen doch so groß, dass man sagte: Um Pisaner zu sehen, musst du nun nach Genua gehen.
Diese Niederlage brach die Macht Pisas zwar nicht völlig, es hatte in der Folgezeit aber immer größere Probleme damit, sein verbliebenes Herrschaftsgebiet zu behaupten. Eine weitere Folge des verlorenen Krieges war auch, dass sich die toskanischen Guelfen wieder zusammen taten, um Pisa anzugreifen. Graf Ugolino hatte an der Schlacht von Meloria teilgenommen und wurde des Verrats bezichtigt. Auf der Höhe der Katastrophe für sein Land versuchte er sich selbst an der Macht zu halten, indem er durch die Abgabe bestimmter Festungen an Lucca zu einer Einigung mit Florenz kam, und indem er es unterließ, die Verhandlungen mit Genua über die Freigabe der Gefangenen abzuschließen, aus Angst, dass diese ihm mehr oder weniger feindlich gesinnt waren. Dies schürte einen Sturm der Empörung gegen ihn. Der Erzbischof Ruggieri, der sich an die Spitze des Adels gestellt hatte, wurde von den Lanfranchi, Sismondi und Gualandi sowie von einem Teil des Bürgertums zum Podestà gewählt. Die Stadt versank im Bürgerkrieg zwischen Anhängern des Erzbischofs und Anhängern des Grafen. Nach einem Tag Kampf (1. Juli 1288) wurden der Graf, seine beiden Söhne und seine beiden Enkel im Palazzo del popolo festgesetzt und in einen Turm geworfen, der den Gualandi gehörte und als Turm der Sieben Straßen bezeichnet wurde. Hier sollten sie alle an Hunger sterben. Ihr tragisches Ende wurde später in der Göttlichen Komödie verewigt. Die Sympathien Dante Alighieris, eines Florentiner Patrioten und Feind Roms, waren natürlich auf der Seite des Opfers des aristokratischen Prälaten, der sich einer Versöhnung mit Florenz widersetzte.
Die wirtschaftlich zunehmend erstarkenden Florentiner waren nun mit Lucca und Genua verbündet. Einige ihrer Schiffe konnten sich Zugang zum Pisaner Hafen verschaffen, blockierten ihn mit versenkten Booten und besetzten seine Festungstürme. Ihre eigene innere Uneinigkeit setzte dem Feldzug 1293 ein Ende, aber erst, nachdem sie einen vorteilhaften Frieden geschlossen hatten. Sie und alle Mitglieder des guelfischen Bündnisses waren von allen Abgaben in Pisa und seinem Hafen befreit. Zusätzlich zu diesen Privilegien hielten die Genueser Korsika und einen Teil Sardiniens; auf der ganzen Insel Elba waren sie von jeglicher Steuer ausgenommen. Für ihre Pisaner Gefangenen erhielten sie ein Lösegeld von 160.000 Lire. Es waren allerdings nicht mehr viele, denn ein Großteil war an den erlittenen Entbehrungen zugrunde gegangen.
Unter wechselnden Herren
1312 erfreute die Ankunft des Kaisers Heinrich VII. die Herzen der Pisaner, aber sein plötzlicher Tod 1313 enttäuschte wiederum ihre Hoffnungen. Er wurde in Pisa bestattet, und Uguccione della Faggiola blieb als kaiserlicher Leutnant, wurde zum Podestà und Capitano des Volks gewählt und wurde auf diese Weise praktisch Herr der Stadt. Als ghibellinischer Führer von Ansehen und Tapferkeit war er in der Lage, das militärische Prestige Pisas wiederherzustellen. Unter seinem Kommando eroberte es Lucca und besiegte am 29. August 1315 die Florentiner in der Schlacht bei Montecatini. Seine Herrschaft war aber so tyrannisch, dass er 1316 durch den öffentlichen Zorn vertrieben wurde.
Aber Pisas Freiheit war für immer verloren. Ihm folgten andere Herren oder Tyrannen, von denen der berühmteste Castruccio Castracani war, ein politischer und militärischer Abenteurer der gleichen Prägung wie Uguccione. Mit Hilfe Ludwigs von Bayern wurde Castruccio Herr über Lucca und Pisa und war über die Florentiner siegreich; aber sein vorzeitiger Tod 1328 machte die Stadt wieder zum Opfer gegensätzlicher Parteien. Neue Herren kamen in dieser Phase an die Macht, aber der militärische Heldenmut der Pisaner war noch nicht erloschen. Auf See waren sie fast ohnmächtig, nun dass Korsika und Sardinien für sie verloren waren; aber an Land waren sie noch ernst zu nehmen.
1341 belagerten sie Lucca, um den Einzug der Florentiner zu verhindern, denen die Stadt vom mächtigen Mastino della Scala für 250.000 Florin verkauft worden war. Von ihren Verbündeten Mailand, Mantua, Padua unterstützt zogen sie gegen ihre Rivalen in die Schlacht, fügten ihnen bei Altopascio (2. Oktober) eine Schlappe zu und schlossen sie wieder aus ihrem Hafen aus. Daraufhin erhielten die Florentiner den Hafen Talamone von Siena und gründeten ihre eigene Flotte. Damit waren sie in der Lage, die Insel Giglio zu erobern. Sie griffen den Pisaner Hafen an, trugen seine Ketten davon und brachten sie im Triumphzug nach Florenz, wo sie vor dem Baptisterium aufgehängt wurden. Dort blieben sie bis 1848 und wurden dann als Beweis für die Brüderschaft aller italienischen Städte an Pisa zurückgegeben, wo sie auf dem Campo Santo ausgestellt wurden.
Der Krieg wurde nun von den freien Zünften mit wechselndem Glück fortgeführt, aber immer mehr oder weniger zum Schaden für Pisa. 1369 wurde ihnen Lucca von Kaiser Karl IV. entzogen. Danach beschloss Gian Galeazzo Visconti, der Conte di Virtù, seine ehrgeizigen Pläne für ganz Italien vorwärtszutreiben, indem er den Gambacorti Pisa entriss. Denn zu dieser Zeit war in dem Konflikt der Raspanti-Fraktion – angeführt von den Gherardesca – mit den Bergolini – angeführt von den Gambacorti – die letztere Familie zum Herrn der Stadt geworden. Auf Viscontis Veranlassung wurde Piero Gambacorti, der momentane Herrscher, verräterisch von Jacopo d’Appiano ermordet. Dieser folgte ihm als Tyrann von Pisa und vermachte den Staat seinem Sohn Gherado. Letzterer, ein Mann mit wenig Können und Mut, verkaufte Pisa an den Conte di Virtù und erhielt im Tausch 200.000 Florin, Piombino und die Inseln Elba, Pianosa und Monte Cristo.
So nahm 1399 Visconti Pisa in Besitz und hinterließ es seinem Sohn Gabriele Maria Visconti, der später verbannt wurde. Aber selbst während dieses Jahrhunderts der Katastrophen hegten die Pisaner nicht nur weiter ihre Handelsaktivitäten, sondern auch die schönen Künste. 1278 hatten sie den Bau ihres schönen Campo Santo Niccolò und Giovanni Pisano anvertraut, die den architektonischen Teil gegen Ende des Jahrhunderts vollendeten. Im folgenden Jahr waren die ersten italienischen Künstler mit seiner Dekoration beschäftigt, und die berühmten Fresken, die Andrea Orcagna zugeschrieben werden, wurden gemalt. Andere wurden danach von Benozzo Gozzoli und Männern geringerer Bedeutung geliefert, und die Ausschmückungsarbeit wurde erst 1464 abgebrochen.
Eroberung durch Florenz
Inzwischen griffen die Florentiner 1406 ein weiteres Mal Pisa an und belagerten es gleichzeitig von See und von Land. Aufgrund der Hungersnot unter den Verteidigern und unterstützt durch den Verrat Giovanni Gambacortis zogen sie am 9. Oktober im Triumph in die Stadt ein und versuchten jede Rebellion im Keim zu ersticken und die Bürger mit höchst grausamen Maßnahmen aus der Stadt zu vertreiben. Infolgedessen gab es lange Zeit einen kontinuierlichen Emigrantenstrom aus Pisa.
Die Medici verfolgten eine humanere Vorgehensweise. 1472 versuchte Lorenzo il Magnifico das alte Ansehen der Pisaner Universität wiederherzustellen. Zu diesem Zweck versah er sie mit berühmten Gelehrten und zwang die Florentiner, abgesehen von einigen Lehrstühlen für Wissenschaft und Philosophie, ihr Studium in Pisa zu absolvieren. Aber nichts konnte wirklich den unauslöschlichen Hass des besiegten Volks lindern. Als Karl VIII. sich 1494 auf seine Reise nach Italien begab und auf dem Weg in die Toskana nach Sarzana kam, wurde er von den Pisanern mit großen Freudenskundgebungen willkommengeheißen. Und obwohl der Monarch angeblich ein Freund von Florenz war, zögerten sie selbst in seiner Anwesenheit nicht, die Florentiner Flagge, den Marzocco, in den Arno zu werfen und sich für den Krieg zu rüsten.
Zwischen 1499 und 1505 widerstanden sie drei Belagerungen und schlugen drei angreifende Armeen zurück. Aber ihre Gegner kehrten immer wieder zum Angriff zurück, und, was noch schlimmer wog, verwüsteten jedes Jahr ihr Territorium und vernichteten ihre Ernte. Piero Soderini, der ständige Gonfaloniere von Florenz, und Machiavelli, Sekretär der Dieci, trieben den Krieg voran. 1509 lagerte Florenz mit seinen Truppen auf drei Seiten der bedrängten Stadt, die schließlich aufgrund der Hungersnot am 8. Juni 1509 kapitulieren musste. Von da an blieben die Florentiner die Herren über Pisa.
Aber nun zeigten die Eroberer, hauptsächlich dank der Bemühungen Soderinis und Machiavellis, großen Edelmut. Sie brachten große Mengen an Proviant mit sich, der kostenlos an alle verteilt wurde. Sie versuchten der leidenden niederen Bevölkerung in jeder Weise beizustehen und gaben den wohlhabenderen Klassen andere Unterstützung. Trotzdem setzte sich die Emigration noch in größerem Maßstab als 1506 fort, und die eigentliche Geschichte Pisas könnte man als beendet betrachten.
Pisa als Teil der Toskana
In Neapel, Palermo, ganz Italien, der Schweiz und dem Süden Frankreichs kann man noch die Namen der Pisaner Familien finden, die ihre geliebte Heimat zu der Zeit verließen. Die Florentiner bauten umgehend eine neue Zitadelle, was für die Pisaner von großer Bitterkeit war. Die Medici aber blieben der Stadt gut gesinnt. Leo X. war ein aktiver Patron der Universität, aber sie verfiel wieder nach seinem Tod. Der Großherzog Cosimo I., ein echter Staatsmann, förderte nicht nur wieder die Universität, sondern richtete auch das uffizio dei fossi ein, ein Entwässerungsamt für die Urbarmachung des Marschlandes, und gründete den Stephansorden. Dieser Orden spielte eine vornehme Rolle beim Schutz des toskanischen Handels, indem er Piraten bekämpfte und das Ansehen der großherzöglichen Marine begründete.
Unter den folgenden Medici verfiel Pisas Wohlstand zunehmend. Ferdinand I. initiierte dort ein paar öffentliche Werke und ließ vor allem die Kathedrale restaurieren, die 1595 teilweise durch ein Feuer zerstört worden war. Diese düsteren Zeiten werden jedoch durch einen Namen aufgehellt: den von Galileo Galilei.
Die Geschichte Pisas als Teil des Großherzogtums Toskana und später Italiens wird in den Artikeln Toskana und Geschichte Italiens berichtet.
(Wikipedia)
Rocinha slum - favela - , Río de Janeiro, Brazil. An agency arranges tours of the favelas and spends part of the gains is on charity in the favelas, mostly on building schools. This means that you're actually welcome - even though some of the young men, reasonably enough, showed signs of resentment.
greatest night ever. i mean that. all these people were over at my house to make cupcakes for the CHIPKO ENVIRONMENTAL CLUB (i'm co-president) homecoming fair booth. we were all friends & democrats so the meeting was one part baking, one part election party. at eight we all gathered around the screen, screamed in delight, and ran down the street with our signs (not to piss off the republican neighbors but to release our overwhelming joy). we made some obama logo cupcakes, too. :]
just fyi, i'm a passionate obama/biden ("obbi!") supporter because i agree with the vast majority of their policies, and genuinely think they are the best candidates for the job. i'm probably better informed than most adults who can actually vote, so don't rag on me saying i'm young and ignorant and superficial.
however, i harbor no resentment towards republicans, and i don't want your views to be ignored because of democratic majorities in the executive office, the house, and the senate. i happen to have great respect for mccain. i'm especially glad that he'll no longer have campaign advisors prseeuring him into editing some of his policies. (like immigration.)
anywho, i'm thrilled. and apparently, pakistani newspapers reported that taliban are considering negotiating with Obama? change already.
-andrew actually took this with my camera, i hope he doesn't mind. he also told me about the taliban news.
13/365
Happy birthday, Pookie!!
It was the best of times and the blurst of times today, as we found ourselves making some tough decisions about Fabi and Zizou and then discovering how extremely difficult it was going to be to see them through (without going into too much detail, our day was spent with each cat locked in a separate bedroom while we waited for both to either eat sedative-laced tuna or trigger a hav-a-hart trap; you know your pet is not a keeper when you have to use wild-animal traps to crate them). Parts of the day were tear-inducingly stressful, parts were spent feeling like we were just marking time, and parts were spent wallowing in abject frustration, anger, guilt, resentment, and misery. And then Boomer and Schnookie both had to find somewhere else to sleep, as their bedrooms were being held hostage by the hunger-striking Peeing Bandits.
But! Parts of the day were wonderful. We went to our new favorite bakery, Nino's, for their enormous, scrumptious danishes and to get a chocolate truffle cake! And there was extensive present opening! And the presents were awesome, including the coolest new silverware sets and a gourmet snack-of-the-month club! And there was stitching! And there was laughing at the ridiculous fact that we had armadillo traps set up in our bedrooms for catching our pets in because our pets are too wild to crate like normal cats! See, you can't enjoy the high highs without the low lows, right?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson
One way to lose friends is to say something which is not fashionable about somebody like Boris Johnson: it is so much easier not to think for oneself and to regurgitate what the tabloids say. I noticed it the other day at a drinks party in south London (yes I do have friends south of the river!):
it struck me as plain lazy if not outright silly to repeat like a parrot headlines splashed on the news stand billboards... and caused me not to think much of the person whom I considered until then moderately intelligent before he gave 'his' opinion...
Why not see for myself, judge for myself, rather than recycle cliches?
Boris Johnson's kind of books , although inexpensively sold in paperback (some even in WH Smith at Victoria station - a bad omen) I would not normally read - it is not my thing! However, out of curiosity I decided to order several at my local Waterstone's bookshop (whose native salesmen do not even know how to spell such authors as Glendinning or Ondaatje...):when I put in the order I was looked at with a mixture of incredulity, amusement, suspicion and superiority by the young temp - thankfully I was not going to face him for much longer - these people do not stick for long in such places)...
Back to the story of my Saturday "drinks spotty" (sic) what my friend reproached Boris, among others, was that he appeared to be dressed casually at the Beijing Olympics ceremony, compared with the Chinese official who gave him the flag... I asked myself, where have I seen a British politician doing the same before? was it perhaps at the Cenotaph , the died-in-the wool "old Labour" Michael Foot?
Oh, but you see, Foot had plenty of excuses which would not apply to Boris in a society redolent with the resentment of class war typical of the best Stalinist practices, a society stuck in the mould of political correctness and global lukewarming.
Back to Johnson's books I finished his biography which i found amusing and informative giving a more rounded view of Boris and making him more humane than he otherwise appears, spontaneous, refreshing, cultivated, intelligent, predictable in his unpredictability....
"Cultivated" you say? but this is a cardinal sin which is looked at with greatest suspicion! Come on, who wants to be cultivated?
The other books I decided to read at intervals, a short story at a time and more of it later, For now all I can say from an incomplete trawl is that i would strongly recommend that you make up your own mind (unless it is too arduous or painful) and read for yourself.
The Liberation Monument ("Russian monument")
(Further pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)
Officially, one can find various names: (Russian) Liberation Monument, Russian War Memorial and Monument of the Red Army. The Viennese call the towering monument at the southern end of the Black Mountain course (Schwarzenbergplatz) usually disparaging "Russian monument (Russendenkmal)".
The monument commemorating the 18,000 in the liberation of Vienna fallen soldiers of the Red Army was designed by Major Intazarin, the sculptures were created by Lieutenant Jakoviev. The overall direction of the yet in April 1945 ordered and as first monument building after the war completed structure had major Ing. Mikhail Scheinfeld. In the construction were temporarily 400 workers involved, 18 tons of bronze and 300 cubic meters of marble were used. The monument was on 19 August 1945 with the assistance of Karl Renner, Leopold Figl and Theodor Körner unveiled on then so designated Stalin Square.
On a in total 20 m high, marble-clad base, the lower part in the form of a five-pointed red star, decorated with flags and guard badges, stands the 12 m tall figure of a Red Army soldier. The soldier is wearing a gold helmet and the famous Russian submachine gun with rotary magazine. With his left hand he has the flag with the right hand he holds a round shield with the Soviet coat of arms. In the background arises a broad, eight meter high balustrade, at its end respectively one group of two fighting men is situated, a prime example of the style of socialist realism, which gradually has become an art-historical rarity.
One of the inscriptions in Russian only in the early 80s have been translated into German and is:
"Eternal glory to the heroes of the Red Army, killed in action against the German-fascist invaders for the freedom and independence of the peoples of Europe (Mikhalkov)".
Until 1956, there were also graves of Soviet soldiers in the area, and a Soviet tank stood before the monument.
The monument is in the custody of the City of Vienna. As is generally known, Austria is according to the detailed provisions of Article 19 of the State Treaty of 15 May 1955 committed war graves and war memorials of the Allied Powers on Austrian soil "to respect, to protect and to preserve".
Between 1945 and 1956 stood in front of the fountain on the former "Stalin Square" a Russian tank, which is now in the Museum of Military History.
=> Marschik/Spital, Vienna The Russians monument, architecture, history, conflicts, Vienna, 2005
=> Hannes Leidinger/Verena Moritz, Russian Vienna, Böhlau, Vienna, 2004, 182 f
Sometimes leads the memory to the bad experiences which have been made by Austrian people with the occupation forces - particularly the Soviet - in the ten years of Allied occupation to open resentment against monuments such as the "Russian monument". Nevertheless - the greater the distance from the war and post-war period is, the more one had to give account about the fact how much innocent blood just the peoples of the former Soviet Union have sacrificed in the fight against Hitler's rule, and how little the Austrian people to its own liberation has contributed. Such thoughts have got to come to one's mind when one takes some time to decipher the Cyrillic letters of gold on a "Russian monument" - whether on that at Vienna Schwarzenberg Square or somewhere out in the vast realms of Lower Austria, where up to the Waldviertel (part of Lower Austria) little Soviet military cemeteries exist.
A survey by the Gallup Institute, published in the "standard" on 11th February 1992 shows that 71% of Viennes people do know the monument. A clear majority (59 %) is for the preservation of the monument. Only 9% of the 1,000 respondents agreed with the opinion that the monument should be eliminated as a remnant of Stalinism. So, have the Austrians made peace with the contemporary history?
Hochstrahlbrunnen
Before the liberation monument arises the to the occasion of the completion of the First Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline on 24th October 1873 in the presence of the emperor put into operation Hochstrahlbrunnen (high jet fountain), which should have been standing according to the original plans in front of the Votive Church, then opposite the New Town Hall. The builder of the aqueduct and the fountain, Anton Gabrielli, was a friend of astronomy. Accordingly, symbolizes the respective number of the jets of water the days of the year, the months, the days of the month, the days of the week and the hours of the day.
Greetings. Currently I am focused on assisting my responsible, caring, concerned American neighbors with SHARING credible evidence of America's MUCH IGNORED, oppressive, unjust African American Child Care HEALTH CRISIS that I, as well as a growing number of my caring, concerned, responsible American neighbors believe is impeding our American neighbors of African descent from experiencing the equality and respect all peaceful, reasonably responsible Americans are entitled to enjoy.
Please join US!
Are you familiar with America's current HEALTH CRISIS, aka America's #T_H_U_G_L_I_F_E Culture of African American Child Abuse & Emotional Neglect/Maltreatment the late American story-TRUTH-teller Tupac Shakur, as well as many of his urban story-truth-teller peers, including a number of Mr. Barack “My Brother’s Keeper” Obama and Mrs. Michelle "Girl Power" Obama White House guests and friends, vividly describe in their American artistry or public interviews?
*"The Hate U Give Little Infants Fvvks Everyone"* ~Tupac Shakur
Are you aware of the #A_F_R_E_C_A_N remedy for the potentially life-scarring #T_H_U_G_L_I_F_E CHILD CARE HEALTH CRISIS experienced, *through no fault of their own*, by significant numbers of American newborns, infants, toddlers, children and teens?
Are you aware before he discovered how to properly promote his #T_H_U_G_L_I_F_E Child Abuse *AWARENESS* concept, Tupac was brutally murdered by *OTHER* suicidal/homicidal thinking emotionally or mentally ill victims of America's Culture of African American Child Abuse, Neglect and Emotional Maltreatment!
medium.com/@AveryJarhman/tupac-addresses-african-american...
medium.com/@AveryJarhman/lets-talk-kendrick-lamar-gangs-g...
medium.com/@AveryJarhman/how-african-american-no-snitchin...
Please click the following link to visit Avery Jarhman’s Signature Page - 'Recognizing America’s 1960s-2017 African American CHILD CARE HEALTH CRISIS: Resources & Evidence' - where I share SHARE credible evidence describing or portraying America’s MUCH IGNORED, oppressive, unjust African American Child Care HEALTH CRISIS I believe is impeding my American neighbors of African descent from experiencing the equality and respect all peaceful, reasonably responsible Americans are entitled to enjoy.
medium.com/@AveryJarhman/americas-1960s-2017-african-amer...
Peace.
___
Tagged: #EthanAli, #KingstonFrazier, #JamylaBolden, #TyshawnLee, #RamiyaReed, #AvaCastillo, #JulieDombo, #LaylahPetersen, #LavontayWhite, #NovaMarieGallman, #AyannaAllen, #AutumnPasquale, #RamiyaReed, #TrinityGay, #ChildhoodTrauma, #Poverty, #ChildAbuse, #ChildhoodMaltreatment, #ChildNeglect, #ChildhoodDepression, #TeenDepression, #TeenViolence, #GunViolence, #GangViolence, #CommunityViolence, #CommunityFear, #PTSD, #PoliceAnxiety, #TeacherEducatorFrustration, #CognitiveDissonance, #KendrickLamar, #TupacShakur, #EmotionalIllness, #MentalHealth, #MentalIllness, #FatherlessAmericanChildren, #ShamirHunter, #DemeaningGovernmentHandouts, #Resentment, #MATERNALRESPONSIBILITY, #DonaldTrump, #HRC, #BarackObama, #MichelleObama, #ObamaAdministration, #ObamaWhiteHouse, #WillfulIgnorance, #AmericanSociety, #Racism, #T_H_U_G_L_I_F_E, REMEDY>>>, #A_F_R_E_C_A_N,
"America’s Firm Resolve to End Childhood Abuse and Neglect”
The Liberation Monument ("Russian monument")
(Further pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)
Officially, one can find various names: (Russian) Liberation Monument, Russian War Memorial and Monument of the Red Army. The Viennese call the towering monument at the southern end of the Black Mountain course (Schwarzenbergplatz) usually disparaging "Russian monument (Russendenkmal)".
The monument commemorating the 18,000 in the liberation of Vienna fallen soldiers of the Red Army was designed by Major Intazarin, the sculptures were created by Lieutenant Jakoviev. The overall direction of the yet in April 1945 ordered and as first monument building after the war completed structure had major Ing. Mikhail Scheinfeld. In the construction were temporarily 400 workers involved, 18 tons of bronze and 300 cubic meters of marble were used. The monument was on 19 August 1945 with the assistance of Karl Renner, Leopold Figl and Theodor Körner unveiled on then so designated Stalin Square.
On a in total 20 m high, marble-clad base, the lower part in the form of a five-pointed red star, decorated with flags and guard badges, stands the 12 m tall figure of a Red Army soldier. The soldier is wearing a gold helmet and the famous Russian submachine gun with rotary magazine. With his left hand he has the flag with the right hand he holds a round shield with the Soviet coat of arms. In the background arises a broad, eight meter high balustrade, at its end respectively one group of two fighting men is situated, a prime example of the style of socialist realism, which gradually has become an art-historical rarity.
One of the inscriptions in Russian only in the early 80s have been translated into German and is:
"Eternal glory to the heroes of the Red Army, killed in action against the German-fascist invaders for the freedom and independence of the peoples of Europe (Mikhalkov)".
Until 1956, there were also graves of Soviet soldiers in the area, and a Soviet tank stood before the monument.
The monument is in the custody of the City of Vienna. As is generally known, Austria is according to the detailed provisions of Article 19 of the State Treaty of 15 May 1955 committed war graves and war memorials of the Allied Powers on Austrian soil "to respect, to protect and to preserve".
Between 1945 and 1956 stood in front of the fountain on the former "Stalin Square" a Russian tank, which is now in the Museum of Military History.
=> Marschik/Spital, Vienna The Russians monument, architecture, history, conflicts, Vienna, 2005
=> Hannes Leidinger/Verena Moritz, Russian Vienna, Böhlau, Vienna, 2004, 182 f
Sometimes leads the memory to the bad experiences which have been made by Austrian people with the occupation forces - particularly the Soviet - in the ten years of Allied occupation to open resentment against monuments such as the "Russian monument". Nevertheless - the greater the distance from the war and post-war period is, the more one had to give account about the fact how much innocent blood just the peoples of the former Soviet Union have sacrificed in the fight against Hitler's rule, and how little the Austrian people to its own liberation has contributed. Such thoughts have got to come to one's mind when one takes some time to decipher the Cyrillic letters of gold on a "Russian monument" - whether on that at Vienna Schwarzenberg Square or somewhere out in the vast realms of Lower Austria, where up to the Waldviertel (part of Lower Austria) little Soviet military cemeteries exist.
A survey by the Gallup Institute, published in the "standard" on 11th February 1992 shows that 71% of Viennes people do know the monument. A clear majority (59 %) is for the preservation of the monument. Only 9% of the 1,000 respondents agreed with the opinion that the monument should be eliminated as a remnant of Stalinism. So, have the Austrians made peace with the contemporary history?
Hochstrahlbrunnen
Before the liberation monument arises the to the occasion of the completion of the First Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline on 24th October 1873 in the presence of the emperor put into operation Hochstrahlbrunnen (high jet fountain), which should have been standing according to the original plans in front of the Votive Church, then opposite the New Town Hall. The builder of the aqueduct and the fountain, Anton Gabrielli, was a friend of astronomy. Accordingly, symbolizes the respective number of the jets of water the days of the year, the months, the days of the month, the days of the week and the hours of the day.
Julian McMackin Woodall, 21, a Marine corporal from Tallahassee, Florida, who was killed in Iraq in May, loved to make peace cranes cranes as a child. His interest inspired an exhibit of more than 4,000 peace cranes that hundreds of Tallahassee people made to advocate for peace while commemorating the U.S. and coalition military members killed in the war.
The exhibit debuted Dec. 7, 2007 at the Art Park at Railroad Square in Tallahassee and was sponsored by "It's Time to Come Home," a Tallahassee organization that advocates for a swift end to the war. Woodall's mother, Meredeth McMackin, an artist, has been active in the organization from virtually its inception, months before her son was killed.
After his death, she wrote the following letter, which was published July 1, 2007, in the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper.
"One month ago today, I read a statement at the memorial service for my son - Marine Cpl. Julian McMackin Woodall, who died May 22 in Al Anbar Province, Iraq - titled "A Call for Peace."
I felt strongly the need to reach out to my son's friends in attendance, many of whom are active military, as well as my many friends there who are peace activists. My purpose was to try to bring everyone together, with a unified goal of peace.
This war is so complex and there are many conflicting theories of how it should be led and how it should be resolved, and that is where people turn against each other, politicians as well as citizens. But I think it is important to set aside these differences for a few minutes and focus on our
common goal. No one wants our sons and daughters to keep being sacrificed.
We all want peace.
A month ago, I said we all need to work together to find our own part we can play to make this happen.
My son Julian found his path, a different one from mine. But he was so dedicated in his desire to make a difference, and he stood proudly as a man of honor, courage and compassion. I am so proud of him.
I now fully realize the commitment and the sacrifice my son gave for this country. I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of compassion and expressions of gratitude I have received from friends as well as strangers,
citizens of this country and from around the world. It has struck me how many people have felt the pain of his loss. And now, when I hear each day of the lives lost in Iraq, I know the pain and trauma each of those families
and communities will be going through. It seems like an ever-expanding web of pain and grief. I wonder how much longer this must go on.
Our brave sons and daughters are being put into a conflict that this country cannot solve. As hard as they try, our continued presence is felt by some in Iraq as an occupation, and it acts as an irritant. No one knows for sure what will happen when we finally bring our troops home, but it's time.
I hope that, when we leave, the intensity of hatred and resentment toward Americans will lessen, especially if we can find other ways to help Iraq heal and strengthen. I do know that the longer the fighting continues, the more that pain and suffering will grow.
I am not angry at the people who planted the bomb on the road that killed my son. In his last e-mail, he explained how the locals were being recruited. Insurgents were offering them enough money to live on for a month if they would dig a hole beside the road, more money if they would place a bomb in it, and ten times as much if they'd detonate it when the Americans rolled by. And my son wrote, "So you can see how these people here with no jobs and starving kids get suckered into helping the insurgency, and can you really blame them? Then their kids have to see them getting arrested because we catch them and they wonder why."
It is time for us all to stand up for peace. Let's not fight among ourselves, but come together as family and friends who want our beautiful loved ones to come home."
You can find other information about the protest in my photostream. If you would like more information about It's Time to Come Home" or if you'd like to adapt its activities to use in your area, please contact me by sending me a message through Flickr.
Wat Waramatayaphanthasadaram or popularly known as Wat Khun Chan, is an old temple in the Talat Phlu area. with outstanding art, architecture, and sculpture buddha statue Or many models in a large temple It also has bright colors. The highlight of Wat Khun Chan is Worshiping Rahu
The architecture of Wat Khun Chan It is a combination of Thai and Burmese arts. And there are many sacred things to worship, including Luang Pho To, Luang Pho Yok Khao Beautiful Goddess of Mercy reclining Buddha image Buddha Chinnarat And the highlight that people are popular with is Rahu with a prayer ceremony for Rahu. Every year to dispel or exorcise bad luck.
Wat Khun Chan was built around 1827-1837 during the reign of King Rama III, about 177 years old, by Phraya Maha Amatayathibodi (Form Amatayakul) Phra Suriyapakdee. Chief of Police, the Right Military Concubine in the reign of King Rama III, which at that time was named "Wat Khun Chan" because the builder of this temple was victorious from Vientiane. Until the reign of King Rama V, Thao Pantasaranurak (Wan), the youngest daughter of Phraya Amat (Pom), restored the temple. And asked for a new name from the reign of King Rama V, called "Wat Waramatyaphanthasararam" in the year 1883
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies 1,568.7 square kilometres (605.7 sq mi) in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population of 10.539 million as of 2020, 15.3 percent of the country's population. Over 14 million people (22.2 percent) lived within the surrounding Bangkok Metropolitan Region at the 2010 census, making Bangkok an extreme primate city, dwarfing Thailand's other urban centres in both size and importance to the national economy.
Bangkok traces its roots to a small trading post during the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 15th century, which eventually grew and became the site of two capital cities, Thonburi in 1768 and Rattanakosin in 1782. Bangkok was at the heart of the modernization of Siam, later renamed Thailand, during the late-19th century, as the country faced pressures from the West. The city was at the centre of Thailand's political struggles throughout the 20th century, as the country abolished absolute monarchy, adopted constitutional rule, and underwent numerous coups and several uprisings. The city, incorporated as a special administrative area under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration in 1972, grew rapidly during the 1960s through the 1980s and now exerts a significant impact on Thailand's politics, economy, education, media and modern society.
The Asian investment boom in the 1980s and 1990s led many multinational corporations to locate their regional headquarters in Bangkok. The city is now a regional force in finance and business. It is an international hub for transport and health care, and has emerged as a centre for the arts, fashion, and entertainment. The city is known for its street life and cultural landmarks, as well as its red-light districts. The Grand Palace and Buddhist temples including Wat Arun and Wat Pho stand in contrast with other tourist attractions such as the nightlife scenes of Khaosan Road and Patpong. Bangkok is among the world's top tourist destinations, and has been named the world's most visited city consistently in several international rankings.
Bangkok's rapid growth coupled with little urban planning has resulted in a haphazard cityscape and inadequate infrastructure. Despite an extensive expressway network, an inadequate road network and substantial private car usage have led to chronic and crippling traffic congestion, which caused severe air pollution in the 1990s. The city has since turned to public transport in an attempt to solve the problem, operating eight urban rail lines and building other public transit, but congestion still remains a prevalent issue. The city faces long-term environmental threats such as sea level rise due to climate change.
The history of Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, dates at least to the early 15th century, when it was under the rule of Ayutthaya. Due to its strategic location near the mouth of the Chao Phraya River, the town gradually increased in importance, and after the fall of Ayutthaya King Taksin established his new capital of Thonburi there, on the river's west bank. King Phutthayotfa Chulalok, who succeeded Taksin, moved the capital to the eastern bank in 1782, to which the city dates its foundation under its current Thai name, "Krung Thep Maha Nakhon". Bangkok has since undergone tremendous changes, growing rapidly, especially in the second half of the 20th century, to become the primate city of Thailand. It was the centre of Siam's modernization in the late 19th century, subjected to Allied bombing during the Second World War, and has long been the modern nation's central political stage, with numerous uprisings and coups d'état having taken place on its streets throughout the years.
It is not known exactly when the area which is now Bangkok was first settled. It probably originated as a small farming and trading community, situated in a meander of the Chao Phraya River within the mandala of Ayutthaya's influence. The town had become an important customs outpost by as early as the 15th century; the title of its customs official is given as Nai Phra Khanon Thonburi (Thai: นายพระขนอนทณบุรี) in a document from the reign of Ayutthayan king Chao Sam Phraya (1424–1448). The name also appears in the 1805 revised code of laws known as the Law of Three Seals.
At the time, the Chao Phraya flowed through what are now the Bangkok Noi and Bangkok Yai canals, forming a large loop in which lay the town. In the reign of King Chairacha (either in 1538 or 1542), a waterway was excavated, bypassing the loop and shortening the route for ships sailing up to Ayutthaya. The flow of the river has since changed to follow the new waterway, dividing the town and making the western part an island. This geographical feature may have given the town the name Bang Ko (บางเกาะ), meaning 'island village', which later became Bangkok (บางกอก, pronounced in Thai as [bāːŋ kɔ̀ːk]). Another theory regarding the origin of the name speculates that it is shortened from Bang Makok (บางมะกอก), makok being the name of Spondias pinnata, a plant bearing olive-like fruit. This is supported by the fact that Wat Arun, a historic temple in the area, used to be named Wat Makok. Specific mention of the town was first made in the royal chronicles from the reign of King Maha Chakkraphat (1548–1568), giving its name as Thonburi Si Mahasamut (ธนบุรีศรีมหาสมุทร). Bangkok was probably a colloquial name, albeit one widely adopted by foreign visitors.
The importance of Bangkok/Thonburi increased with the amount of Ayutthaya's maritime trade. Dutch records noted that ships passing through Bangkok were required to declare their goods and number of passengers, as well as pay customs duties. Ships' cannons would be confiscated and held there before they were allowed to proceed upriver to Ayutthaya. An early English language account is that of Adam Denton, who arrived aboard the Globe, an East India Company merchantman bearing a letter from King James I, which arrived in "the Road of Syam" (Pak Nam) on 15 August 1612, where the port officer of Bangkok attended to the ship. Denton's account mentions that he and his companions journeyed "up the river some twenty miles to a town called Bancope, where we were well received, and further 100 miles to the city...."
Ayutthaya's maritime trade was at its height during the reign of King Narai (1656–1688). Recognition of the city's strategic location guarding the water passage to Ayutthaya lead to expansion of the military presence there. A fort of Western design was constructed on the east side of the river around 1685–1687 under the supervision of French engineer de la Mare, probably replacing an earlier structure, while plans to rebuild the fort on the west bank were also made. De la Mare had arrived with the French embassy of Chevalier de Chaumont, and remained in Siam along with Chevalier de Forbin, who had been appointed governor of Bangkok. The Bangkok garrison under Forbin consisted of Siamese, Portuguese, and French reportedly totalling about one thousand men.
French control over the city was further consolidated when the French General Desfarges, who had arrived with the second French embassy in 1687, secured the king's permission to board troops there. This, however, lead to resentment among Siamese nobles, led by Phetracha, ultimately resulting in the Siamese revolution of 1688, in which King Narai was overthrown and 40,000 Siamese troops besieged Bangkok's eastern fort for four months before an agreement was reached and the French were allowed to withdraw. The revolution resulted in Siam's ties with the West being virtually severed, steering its trade towards China and Japan. The eastern fort was subsequently demolished on Phetracha's orders.
Ayutthaya was razed by the Burmese in 1767. In the following months, multiple factions competed for control of the kingdom's lands. Of these, Phraya Tak, governor of Tak and a general fighting in Ayutthaya's defence prior to its fall, emerged as the strongest. After succeeding in reclaiming the cities of Ayutthaya and Bangkok, Phraya Tak declared himself king (popularly known as King Taksin) in 1768 and established Thonburi as his capital. Reasons given for this change include the totality of Ayutthaya's destruction and Thonburi's strategic location. Being a fortified town with a sizeable population meant that not much would need to be reconstructed. The existence of an old Chinese trading settlement on the eastern bank allowed Taksin to use his Chinese connections to import rice and revive trade.
King Taksin had the city area extended northwards to border the Bangkok Noi Canal. A moat was dug to protect the city's western border, on which new city walls and fortifications were built. Moats and walls were also constructed on the eastern bank, encircling the city together with the canals on the western side. The king's palace (Thonburi Palace) was built within the old city walls, including the temples of Wat Chaeng (Wat Arun) and Wat Thai Talat (Wat Molilokkayaram) within the palace grounds. Outlying orchards were re-landscaped for rice farming.
Much of Taksin's reign was spent in military campaigns to consolidate the Thonburi Kingdom's hold over Siamese lands. His kingdom, however, would last only until 1782 when a coup was mounted against him, and the general Chao Phraya Chakri established himself as king, later to be known as Phutthayotfa Chulalok or Rama I.
Rama I re-established the capital on the more strategic east bank of the river, relocating the Chinese already settled there to the area between Wat Sam Pluem and Wat Sampheng (which developed into Bangkok's Chinatown). Fortifications were rebuilt, and another series of moats was created, encircling the city in an area known as Rattanakosin Island.
The erection of the city pillar on 21 April 1782 is regarded as the formal date of the city's establishment. (The year would later mark the start of the Rattanakosin Era after calendar reforms by King Rama V in 1888.) Rama I named the new city Krung Rattanakosin In Ayothaya (กรุงรัตนโกสินทร์อินท์อโยธยา). This was later modified by King Nangklao to be: Krungthepmahanakhon Bowonrattanakosin Mahintha-ayutthaya. While settlements on both banks were commonly called Bangkok, both the Burney Treaty of 1826 and the Roberts Treaty of 1833 refer to the capital as the City of Sia-Yut'hia. King Mongkut (Rama IV) would later give the city its full ceremonial name:
Rama I modelled his city after the former capital of Ayutthaya, with the Grand Palace, Front Palace and royal temples by the river, next to the royal field (now Sanam Luang). Continuing outwards were the royal court of justice, royal stables and military prison. Government offices were located within the Grand Palace, while residences of nobles were concentrated south of the palace walls. Settlements spread outwards from the city centre.
The new capital is referred to in Thai sources as Rattanakosin, a name shared by the Siamese kingdom of this historical period. The name Krung Thep and Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, both shortened forms of the full ceremonial name, began to be used near the end of the 19th century. Foreigners, however, continued to refer to the city by the name Bangkok, which has seen continued use until this day.
Most of Rama I's reign was also marked by continued military campaigns, though the Burmese threat gradually declined afterwards. His successors consistently saw to the renovation of old temples, palaces, and monuments in the city. New canals were also built, gradually expanding the fledgling city as areas available for agriculture increased and new transport networks were created.
At the time of the city's foundation, most of the population lived by the river or the canals, often in floating houses on the water. Waterways served as the main method of transportation, and farming communities depended on them for irrigation. Outside the city walls, settlements sprawled along both river banks. Forced settlers, mostly captives of war, also formed several ethnic communities outside the city walls.
Large numbers of Chinese immigrants continued to settle in Bangkok, especially during the early 19th century. Such was their prominence that Europeans visiting in the 1820s estimated that they formed over half of the city population. The Chinese excelled in trade, and led the development of a market economy. The Chinese settlement at Sampheng had become a bustling market by 1835.
By the mid-19th century, the West had become an increasingly powerful presence. Missionaries, envoys and merchants began re-visiting Bangkok and Siam, bringing with them both modern innovations and the threat of colonialism. King Mongkut (Rama IV, reigned 1851–1868) was open to Western ideas and knowledge, but was also forced to acknowledge their powers, with the signing of the Bowring Treaty in 1855. During his reign, industrialization began taking place in Bangkok, which saw the introduction of the steam engine, modern shipbuilding and the printing press. Influenced by the Western community, Charoen Krung Road, the city's first paved street, was constructed in 1862–1864. This was followed by Bamrung Mueang, Fueang Nakhon, Trong (now Rama IV) and Si Lom Roads. Land transport would later surpass the canals in importance, shifting people's homes from floating dwellings toward permanent buildings. The limits of the city proper were also expanded during his reign, extending to the Phadung Krung Kasem Canal, dug in 1851.
King Mongkut's son Chulalongkorn (r. 1868–1910) was set upon modernizing the country. He engaged in wide-ranging reforms, abolishing slavery, corvée (unfree labour) and the feudal system, and creating a centralized bureaucracy and a professional army. The Western concept of nationhood was adopted, and national borders demarcated against British and French territories. Disputes with the French resulted in the Paknam Incident in 1893, when the French sent gunboats up the Chao Phraya to blockade Bangkok, resulting in Siam's concession of territory to France.
With Chulalongkorn's reforms, governance of the capital and the surrounding areas, established as Monthon Krung Thep Phra Mahanakhon (มณฑลกรุงเทพพระมหานคร), came under the Ministry of Urban Affairs (Nakhonban). During his reign many more canals and roads were built, expanding the urban reaches of the capital. Infrastructure was developed, with the introduction of railway and telegraph services between Bangkok and Samut Prakan and then expanding countrywide. Electricity was introduced, first to palaces and government offices, then to serve electric trams in the capital and later the general public. The King's fascination with the West was reflected in the royal adoption of Western dress and fashions, but most noticeably in architecture. He commissioned the construction of the neoclassical Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall at the new Dusit Palace, which was linked to the historic city centre by the grand Ratchadamnoen Avenue, inspired by the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Examples of Western influence in architecture became visible throughout the city.
By 1900, rural market zones in Bangkok began developing into residential districts. Rama VI (1910–1925) continued his predecessor's program of the development of public works by establishing Chulalongkorn University in 1916, and commissioned a system of locks to control waterway levels surrounding the developing city, he also provided the city's first and largest recreational area, Lumphini Park. The Memorial Bridge was constructed in 1932 to connect Thonburi to Bangkok, which was believed to promote economic growth and modernization in a period when infrastructure was developing considerably. Bangkok became the centre stage for power struggles between the military and political elite as the country abolished absolute monarchy in 1932. It was subject to Japanese occupation and Allied bombing during World War II. With the war over in 1945, British and Indian troops landed in September, and during their brief occupation of the city disarmed the Japanese troops. A significant event following the return of the young king, Ananda Mahidol, to Thailand, intended to defuse post-war tensions lingering between Bangkok's ethnic Chinese and Thai people, was his visit to Bangkok's Chinatown Sam Peng Lane (ซอยสำเพ็ง), on 3 June 1946.
As a result of pro-Western bloc treaties Bangkok rapidly grew in the post-war period as a result of United States developmental aid and government-sponsored investment. Infrastructure, including the Don Mueang International Airport and highways, was built and expanded. Bangkok's role as an American military R&R destination launched its tourism industry as well as sex trade. Disproportionate urban development led to increasing income inequalities and unprecedented migration from rural areas into Bangkok; its population surged from 1.8 to 3 million in the 1960s. Following the United States' withdrawal from Vietnam, Japanese businesses took over as leaders in investment, and the expansion of export-oriented manufacturing led to growth of the financial market in Bangkok. Rapid growth of the city continued through the 1980s and early 1990s, until it was stalled by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. By then, many public and social issues had emerged, among them the strain on infrastructure reflected in the city's notorious traffic jams. Bangkok's role as the nation's political stage continues to be seen in strings of popular protests, from the student uprisings in 1973 and 1976, anti-military demonstrations in 1992, and successive anti-government protests by the "Yellow Shirt" and "Red Shirt" movements from 2008 on.
Administratively, eastern Bangkok and Thonburi had been established as separate provinces in 1915. (The province east of the river was named Phra Nakhon (พระนคร.) A series of decrees in 1971–1972 resulted in the merger of these provinces and its local administrations, forming the current city of Bangkok which is officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) was created in 1975 to govern the city, and its governor has been elected since 1985.
EXPLORE: Highest position: 378 on Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Herring gulls. Bulloch Harbour, Dublin.
"When the routine bites hard
And ambitions are low
And the resentment rides high
But emotions won't grow
And we're changing our ways,
Taking different roads
Then love, love will tear us apart again."
Ian Curtis, Joy Division
Rocinha slum - favela - , Río de Janeiro, Brazil. An agency arranges tours of the favelas and spends part of the gains is on charity in the favelas, mostly on building schools. This means that you're actually welcome - even though some of the young men, reasonably enough, showed signs of resentment.
At some of the schools you could buy homemade 'souvenirs'
Boadicea, An Ode
When the British warrior queen,
Bleeding from the Roman rods,
Sought with and indignant mien,
Counsel of her country’s gods,
Sage beneath a spreading oak
Sat the Druid, hoary chief,
Ev’ry burning word he spoke,
Full of rage and full of grief.
Princess! if our aged eyes
Weep upon thy matchless wrongs,
’Tis because resentment ties
All the terrors of our tongues.
Rome shall perish - write that word
In the blood that she has spilt;
Perish hopeless and abhorr’d,
Deep in ruin as in guilt.
Rome for empire far renown’d,
Tramples on a thousand states,
Soon her pride shall kiss the ground -
Hark! the Gaul is at her gates.
Other Romans shall arise,
Heedless of a soldier’s name,
Sounds, not arms, shall win the prize,
Harmony the path to fame.
Then the progeny that springs
Form the forests of our land,
Arm’d with thunder, clad with wings,
Shall a wider world command.
Regions Caesar never knew,
Thy posterity shall sway,
Where his eagles never flew,
None invincible as they.
Such the bard’s prophetic words,
Pregnant with celestial fire,
Bending as he swept the chords
Of his sweet but awful lyre.
She with all a monarch’s pride,
Felt them in her bosom glow,
Rush’d to battle, fought and died,
Dying, hurl’d them at the foe.
Ruffians, pittiless as proud,
Heav’n awards the vengeance due,
Empire is on us bestow’d
Shame and ruin wait for you.
by William Cowper
Two churches, St Andrew’s and St George’s, were planned as principal elements in what was then one of the largest urban building schemes ever conceived - the New Town of Edinburgh. James Craig’s plan of 1767 for the First New Town laid out a grid pattern of streets reflecting classical order and rationalism. It was the age of the Scottish Enlightenment, and Edinburgh was becoming internationally renowned as the centre of new philosophy and thought.
The Town Council held a competition for a design for the eastern church, St Andrew’s, which was won by Captain Andrew Frazer and Robert Kay. The church was founded in 1781 and opened in 1784.
The Disruption
In 1843 one of the most significant events in Scotland of the 19th century took place in St Andrew’s Church - the Disruption. Fuelled by increasing concern and resentment about the Civil Courts’ infringements on the liberties of the Church of Scotland, around one third of the ministers present at the annual General Assembly walked out, cheered by onlookers outside, and constituted the Free Church of Scotland.
The union of two congregations
In 1964 the congregation of St George’s Church in Charlotte Square, at the western end of the New Town, was united with St Andrew’s, forming St Andrew’s and St George’s. The parish today constitutes the whole of James Craig’s First New Town and a small part of the early 19th century Second New Town of Edinburgh.
New ministry in the New Town of Edinburgh
St Andrew’s and St George’s history has been characterised by service to people, especially the poor. The doors of the “decent handsome church” specified in 1781, remain open daily. We welcome not only those living in the New Town, but the whole wider community of the city centre. We are also open to people in many parts of the world, with whom God’s love and fellowship are shared in both practical and spiritual ways.
2010: The Union of St Andrew's and St George's with St George's West
On 1 January 2010 the congregation of St Andrew's and St George's in George Street united with the congregation of St George's West in Shandwick Place to form St Andrew's and St George's West.
There are truly no words that can possibly describe how much my dolls mean to me. No matter what I write or what I say, it can never come close to comparing to how I feel about them. The stories I tell, recanting my childhood memories or my adulthood experiences, can't quite put the whole picture into perspective. And no matter how many times I play certain memories over in my head, it never feels the same or as powerful as it did when it was actually happening. Many people have a hard time grasping the concept of being an adult who collects dolls, but I think it's even more difficult for those individuals to really understand the impact dolls have had on my life. That's why I love to be so open and honest about my collection, the memories behind each doll, and how they've influenced me...I want more than anything for people to see (even my fellow doll lovers) how the smallest things like dolls, can bring so much joy and inspiration to your life if you choose to see it. These past six years, since getting back into dolls in 2011, have been a journey, but it is thanks to my dolls that I have found clarity in my life. They have shown me how to see the best in every situation, how to love/accept myself, and how to let go of those negative feelings of resentment and anger. But most of all, my dolls have taught me one vital lesson--that I have the power to make my life what I want it to be.
During the years that dolls were absent from my life, I struggled the most emotionally. I was wearing a mask, hiding from myself. I felt an emptiness in my soul that drained every bit of what was once good and whole from me. I searched in vain for anything that could fill the void that was ever present within me. By the time I was sixteen, I had concluded that in order for me to discover myself, and to find true happiness, I needed to find someone else. I thought that I was a puzzle, and that if I found my "missing piece" that I'd somehow magically be whole and all my problems would vanish. As times grew darker and my Dad got diagnosed with cancer, the more these fantasies developed. I dreamed of being whisked away from my own life, leaving all my troubles behind. When I started to delve back into dolls in 2011, I felt my true self slowly returning. But I still lived with the false impression that someone, somehow, someway would wave a magic wand and my life would suddenly be the way I envisioned it being in my daydreams. When Dad passed away in May of 2012, it was the first time in my whole life that I didn't have him to rely on. Dad was always the person I turned to for a hug when I needed to be comforted, and whenever I needed to be bailed out from whatever situation, he was always there to take care of things. I found myself in the scariest place I had ever been, and more than ever, I was desperate for someone else to save the day.
It didn't take me all that long to realize that waiting for help was useless. I felt the weight of unfilled promises, false friendships, and empty apologies burdening me. While I wasn't ever entirely alone, and while I did get help along the way (thanks to close family friends and my amazing aunt and uncle), I came to the conclusion that this was my life to fix. But I didn't know I had it in myself to find the courage to do so. I spent my entire 21 years of existence at that point with my head in the sand, while other people bailed me out. My dolls were the ones that revealed my inner strength, that I was unaware even existed. Throwing myself fully into my doll hobby was my way of coping with the loss of Dad. I delved even more into fixing dolls, buying dolls, and spending time with them after he was gone. But with this intensified interest, I found myself hitting roadblocks. Without Dad to operate the power tools, how would I continue to make doll stands? This was the first obstacle I had to learn to overcome--my fear of saws. Something about electricity and sharp objects has always instilled terror in me. But I was determined to keep making the handmade stands that Dad and I had worked on developing. So after a brief tutorial from my uncle, I learned how to operate the tools that once petrified me. From there, I took it upon myself to improve our original design. I came up with a waist piece that was fully functional and convenient, and I even began to seal the stands to make them look more polished. When I was a child, and even as a nineteen year old rediscovering dolls, whenever a doll broke or needed repair, Dad was my on call nurse. Of course, after losing Dad, there were many dolls that broke unexpectedly. I was forced to research ways to fix them, and when I couldn't find information, I was compelled to come up with my own ways. When my one of my favorite dolls of all time, SuperStar Barbie's (aka Shayla) leg fell off unexpectedly, it wasn't an option to get her a body donor, and I couldn't leave her broken. When Sun Lovin' Malibu Ken's arm popped off in storage, I didn't imagine throwing him out or keeping him with only one arm. And when my childhood American Girl dolls all had limbs that were as limp and loose as noodles, I couldn't just leave them the way they were. So I had to find solutions, and I had to do so myself, and through a lot of trial and error, I found ways to rectify the problems.
There were so many small, insignificant seeming obstacles too that I was faced with. Driving caused me intense anxiety since I first started learning to drive when I was sixteen. Had it not been for Dad encouraging me and prodding me along, I would have never gotten my license. I found myself in an uncomfortable position after Dad died--I was the only person between me and Colleen who could drive. That meant wherever we went, it was my responsibility to get us there and back. The thought terrified me, and at first, I couldn't' imagine going anywhere outside my comfort zone. My dolls once again were the reason I overcame this. I wanted to go to different flea markets and on doll treasure hunt expeditions. But that meant I had to go against every fiber of my being and drive there. Sure, there were many occasions where I got lost and had total meltdowns, or there were the times that I panicked when I was forced to park in unfamiliar parking lots. But somehow I pushed through, and wherever Colleen and I desired to go, I managed to get us there eventually. In just a few years time, I went from being the person that was practically shaking in the American Girl Store our first time there, to being comfortable enough to walk around for an hour, holding my beloved Josefina. I learned to retrace all of our old toy haunts with Dad, including the various malls and toy stores that were well out of the way. I got over my phobia of being alone at the flea market without him, and in time, Colleen got to be rather good at bartering (although she doesn't have the same natural knack for it Dad did). I was determined to keep up our weekly flea market tradition, and to this day, Colleen and I go most Sundays during the season, unless of course the weather is bad or my Jeep is being naughty.
I think more than anything though, my dolls pushed me to create my own paradise, literally and metaphorically speaking. When Dad was alive, our house looked like an episode of the show "Hoarders." The basement was torn apart and strewn with trash, broken furniture, and random debris. Our house was getting old and it's appearance was very dilapidated and sad, which accurately reflected how we had all been feeling for the majority of the ten years since losing Mom. Our yard was overgrown with enormously tall weeds and poison ivy, and there were piles of trash that crept out of the house and found their way outside. My doll stuff was simply not safe in our basement--just getting to a case of doll clothes proved to be the most cumbersome task. It was almost like having to complete an obstacle course each time Colleen or I ventured into the basement, as we quite literally had to climb over hurdles. The computer room/art room was also crammed full with the bed Dad had been using and his big screen TV he abandoned when we got another one. My doll shelves were starting to reach maximum capacity, as was my storage space in our overcrowded, filthy basement. At some point, after being exhausted by the false promises of help with the overwhelming condition of the house, I took it upon myself to do something about it. So for a week straight, I spent twelve to fourteen hour days in the basement cleaning up. I moved furniture, bagged up trash, sorted through unwanted detritus, and tried my best to organize the general chaos. The basement was literally so squalid, that I quite literally had to SWEEP the carpets before I could vacuum them. Colleen and I also wanted to reclaim my computer room/office, which Dad had just made over for me the year before he got sick. But unfortunately, I had never really gotten the chance to enjoy it, as Dad was diagnosed with cancer only a few months later, and the room became transformed into his makeshift bedroom. We somehow managed to drag the massive and incredibly heavy hospital bead out of the room, as well as the television (which was equally as bulky, but luckily it had wheels). I wanted to have a better, safer, and cleaner place for my dolls as silly as it sounds. I desired to have a yard that wasn't a jungle, so we could go outside and take pictures of the dolls, or simply relax. I spent a month straight, toiling every day for six hours outside working in the yard. I found myself chopping down thorns, dragging large pieces of lumber, bagging trash, and pulling up weeds left and right (it's a far cry from perfect now, but it is worlds better). I was tired of living in what felt like a filthy prison, and I wanted to have a place where I felt comfortable and inspired. Most of all, I craved that feeling that had died with Mom--that this place was home. I missed those long afternoons Colleen and I spent sprawled out over every inch of the basement with our dolls. I desired more than anything to be able to go anywhere in the house, and know that I didn't have to fear the mess. I wanted to be able to organize my dolls, their clothes, accessories, furniture, and whatever else I had for them until my heart was content. I wished for the day when I could go into the basement and easily extract whatever random outfit or doll I wanted in a minute, without having to hike over garbage. As things began to get cleaner, and as all the unwanted trash and debris left the house, I felt a weight being lifted. Colleen and I even made our own plans to expand my doll display space. Despite the fact that I had never assembled a shelf by myself, I not only put two together, I also painted them white. Of course, it didn't go as smoothly as planned--there was a lot of cussing and aggravation while doing so, and I painted the shelves incorrectly, so it needed to be done a second time. None of this was easy, and every step of the way proved to come with some unforeseen obstacle, but no matter what life threw our way, Colleen and I were determined to find a way around it.
Today, after many years of slowly working toward our dreams and goals, I'm happy to say that we have what we always imagined, even if it's not one hundred percent flawless. My art room/computer room is fully functional again, and I've spent hours upon hours creating jewelry, stands, props, backdrops, and an assortment of other artsy things for my dolls there. I even have more dolls displayed in there than I anticipated--and nothing makes me happier when editing videos or photos than looking to my right and seeing all my doll friends smiling down at me. The basement has become a doll paradise. While it still isn't perfect, and there is the rogue inconvenience that has yet to go, the basement is the most functional it has ever been. I have dedicated two entire rooms to just my dolls and their stuff. Everything is organized to my standards, and I've even been able to take it a bit further than I initially planned. These days, Colleen and I can not only find whatever we want at the drop of a hat, but we can also take our dolls out of the containers and place them on the clean carpet, knowing they'll be safe. I feel comfortable enough to let some of my dolls live down there on display in Dad's old room too--my Big Babyz, Hello Kitty dolls, horses, and Gooliope seem to find it rather snug. It's also wonderful because we have plenty of growing room to buy whatever treasures we happen upon. I feel so inspired now every time I gaze at my doll organization or my doll displays--what was once a stressful environment has now become a place that makes me feel motivated. I look forward to coming home and seeing all my dolls (and sometimes stalking them through the windows because they look so cute on display). For the first time since I was ten years old, my house really feels like a home, and it is all thanks to my dolls.
Throughout these past few years, all the home improvement/doll projects, and all the unexpected hurdles, I've learned a valuable lesson. I came to see that I had control over my life and my own happiness. If there was something that caused me stress, anxiety, sadness, or some other negative emotion, I had the power to deal with it. If you had told me five years ago, right after we lost Dad, how the house would look and how happy I would be, I wouldn't have believed you. Back then, I was so deluded into the idea that I had to wait for something or someone great to change my life for the better. But time and more importantly my dolls taught me that if I want it, I have to go out and make it happen. My doll paradise didn't happen overnight, and it didn't come easily. Just like my collection of 2,800 plus dolls didn't magically appear, the problems in my life didn't vanish automatically. Every day brings a new start, and sometimes a new inconvenience or issue that I have to deal with. But my dolls have shown me that whatever comes my way, I am strong enough to handle whatever it is. If I could make our run down, revolting house, that seemed hopeless, become a tranquil, cozy space, if I could overcome all my fears towards driving, using power tools, and going through life without any parents, I could do anything. Some of the things I overcame may seem really small and insignificant, but they were the baby steps I needed to take to deal with the larger, more daunting issues. Every step of the way, my dolls motivated me to keep going, no matter how hopeless it may have seemed in the moment. Whether it was how I was going to move things out of the basement to make room, or teaching myself to use the sewing machine, and refusing to quit even after two hours of toiling and failing, my dolls always inspired me to keep going and to find the solution. While you are never truly alone, and while there is always someone out there who loves and cares about you, and who may extend a helpful hand, at the end of the day, you are the one responsible for your own life. And there is truly nothing more satisfying than knowing that YOU created your own happiness, rather than having someone else give it to you. That was something I failed to see until only a few years ago. Before, the idea of taking on my own problems head on was deathly frightening, but now I find it empowering to know that I can make my life my own beautiful garden. I can fill every nook and cranny, every second, and every memory with as much love, beauty, and happiness as I want. And if I want more for myself or for my dolls, I can make it happen, no matter how impossible it may seem. This is perhaps the greatest lesson my dolls have taught me over the years--it is easy to be the damsel in distress, but it takes the greatest courage to save yourself, and to be your own hero.
One of four poses of Ty Cobb, a Hall of Famer (Others: Bat Off Shoulder, Green Portrait, Red Portrait). All four Ty Cobb cards have been included in Joe Orlando's book "The Top 200 Sportscards in the Hobby."
"A Chinese sage wrote that exaggeration is to paint a snake and add legs. With me, they attached fangs, claws, file-sharpened spikes, and fire snorting out each nostril." - Ty Cobb, "My Life in Baseball: The True Record."
Tyrus Raymond "Ty," "The Georgia Peach" Cobb (1886-1961), Outfielder, played for the Detroit Tigers in the American League (1905-26) and the Philadelphia Athletics in the American League (1927-28). He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1936.
Jim Gentile ranks Ty Cobb as the 4th greatest baseball player of all-time in his book "Baseball's Best 1,000." Gentile discussing Cobb: "Seventy-five years after he retired from baseball, Ty Cobb still owns the best career batting average of al time: .366. And he still holds the distinction of being the nastiest SOB of all time. There are no stats for that; Cobb has retired the trait.
"Be that as it may, the man could hit: a total of 12 batting championships, including five in a row from 1911 to 1915. He had back-to-back .400 seasons in 1911 and 1912, with another .400 season in 1922, and more than 4,100 career hits, a record that stood for 50 years.
"Cobb wasn't a slugger in the present sense of the word, but he still had a career slugging percentage of .512, and led the league in that category eight times.
"And he could run: 892 stolen bases, leading the league six times. He was the all-time leader until Lou Brock passed him in 1978.
"Was he mean? Yeah, he was mean. He used to sharpen his spikes in the dugout as opposing teams took batting practice, and he wasn't afraid to jab a slow-footed infielder when sliding into second or third base. He had more than his share of fights, and in 1912, went into the stands after a heckling fan.
"He's known to have cheated. According to pitcher Dutch Leonard, he paid off Cleveland's Tris Speaker and Joe Wood to throw a game to the Tigers so Detroit could finish third. He may have tried to fix other games, but it was impossible to determine.
"Cobb, were he alive today, would probably say that he played to win, at any cost. He did. And it paid off. In 1936, he was the top vote-getter for the first class of the Baseball Hall of Fame, topping Babe Ruth, Cy Young, and Honus Wagner."
In "The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract," James ranks Cobb as the second best center fielder of all-time behind Willie Mays. He also takes a different perspective on Cobb's reputation as an SOB and a racist. "Ty Cobb's racism and his anger, I believe, were fueled not by smugness or even resentment, but by an unusually intense fear of his own limitations. No one is more macho than a man who feels inadequate; no one walks straighter than a man who is half durnk. When Ty Cobb felt threatened he lashed out at the world. He felt threatened a lot - but as long as he wasn't challeneged, he was a very nice man."
Cobb's lifetime stats: .366 batting average, 117 home runs, 1,937 runs batted in, 4,189 hits, 892 stolen bases.
Orlando on the T206 Cobbs: "A legendary quartert of a legendary player... The demand for the portrait version (Green and Red) has always been exceptional due to the fact that many collectors prefer to collect the portraits because of their outstanding visual appeal, however, in terms of demand, the two Cobb with bat variations have traditionally enjoyed more attention than the Red Cobb due to their multi-colored presentation. All four Cobb cards featured in this subset are, without question, near the top of this list in terms of pure importance with the Green Portrait leading the way... With the exception of the few major rarities in the T206 set, these Cobb cards are the four keys to the set. As a collector, you just can't ignore his astounding numbers and, as time goes on, those numbers will continue to enhance the desirability of his cards. Pete Rose may have the career hit record, but Cobb had the dominance. As the key cards in perhaps the most popular set in the hobby, the demand for these cards should always be strong."
The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale published by Sansen-Vanneste of Poperinghe.
'Oorlog' is the Dutch word for War.
Poperinghe
Poperinghe (also spelled Poperinge) is a town in the Belgian province of West Flanders. It has a history going back to medieval times.
Poperinghe is situated about 8 miles to the west of Leper/Ypres. As well as lace production, the region is famous for growing hops, and supplies 80% of Belgian production.
The town is home to the National Hops Museum, and is nicknamed 'Hops City'. A hop festival and parade is held every three years in September. One of the local brews is known as Hommel (which means hops in the local dialect).
There are over 800 different types of beer in Belgium. Another of the famous local beers is Sixtus, which is brewed in the St.-Sixtus Abbey near Proven, about 2.5 miles (4 km) north-west of Poperinge.
Poperinghe in the Great War
During the Great War, the town was one of only two in Belgium that was not under German occupation.
Throughout the Great War Poperinghe, or 'Pops' as British soldiers called it, was used by the British Army as a gateway to the battlefields of the northern Ypres Salient.
Poperinghe was an important rail centre just behind the front line, and was used for the distribution of supplies, for billeting troops, for casualty clearing stations and for troops at rest from duty in the forward trench areas. Vast numbers of troops passed through this small town at some time or other.
The main square of Poperinghe formed the hub of five main roads leading into the town, and was therefore constantly bustling with military traffic, military personnel and those civilians who had stayed on in the town.
Artillery and Aerial Bomb Attacks
Because of its importance to the military behind the front Allied lines, the town was frequently targeted by long range German artillery. During the Third Battle of Ypres (31st. July - 10th. November 1917) Poperinge and the surrounding area was repeatedly bombed by German aircraft. Some bombs landed on the Casualty Clearing Stations nearby.
Toc H
The town formed an important link for soldiers and their families, especially through the rest house known as Talbot House (or 'Toc H'). It was established by the Reverend 'Tubby' Clayton in December 1915 as an 'Everyman's Club' for soldiers and officers of the British Army. It is now a museum.
'Toc H' is a shortened form of Talbot House, with 'Toc' signifying the letter T in the signals spelling alphabet used by the British Army in the Great War.
Death Cells
A grim reminder of that time remains within the town hall, where two death cells are preserved, and outside in the courtyard, where there is a public execution post that was used by firing squads.
Military Cemeteries
Another reminder of the Great War is the location of a number of military cemeteries on the outskirts of the town which contain the graves of Canadian, British, Australian, French, German, and American servicemen, as well as men of the Chinese Labour Corps.
One of these cemeteries is Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery for soldiers who had been wounded near Ypres and later died in the large Allied casualty clearing stations located in the area.
Shot at Dawn
Sergeant John T. Wall of Bockleton, near Tenbury, Worcestershire had enlisted in the Worcestershire Regiment as a drummer boy aged 16 in 1912, and served bravely in many actions on the Western Front from the beginning of the Great War.
At 5.25 am on the 6th September 1917, Sergeant Wall was executed by firing squad at Poperinghe for desertion. He was 22 years of age.
He is buried in Poperinghe New Military Cemetery. His parents William and Harriet Wall placed the following inscription on his gravestone:
'For ever with the Lord'.
He was one of hundreds of British soldiers of the Great War who were shot by their own men for supposed cowardice or desertion.
Sergeant Wall was executed at dawn for refusing to take his men to a near-certain death. He had spent the night before in one of the death cells referred to above.
The ground he was supposed to cover was a pestilent porridge of poison gas-soaked, bomb-cratered mud that had been turned into a glutinous, knee-deep swamp by a previous heavy thunderstorm. The area was intensively raked by enemy shells and machine gun fire.
He was charged with desertion and executed, although refusing to lead his men in a suicidal attack was in reality good soldiering common sense. Common sense was however, sadly often in short supply in the upper hierarchy of the British Army during the Great War.
A Typical Execution
The condemned private spends his last night in a small room, alone with his thoughts before his execution at dawn. He might be writing painful letters to family and friends. He is also likely to be encouraged to drink heavily in order to be insensible during execution. The private is guarded by two military policemen (MPs or redcaps) and ministered by a chaplain.
The condemned man’s commanding officer (CO) orders a company of men to witness the execution, wanting to set an example to other would-be deserters. Meanwhile a firing squad assembles, sick with nerves, in the dawn light. Some of the men know the condemned and have mixed feelings about his fate, some even carrying deep resentment at having to execute him. Their rifles have been pre-loaded—one with a blank—to take some of the individual responsibility away from shooting their fighting pal.
The condemned man is led, blind drunk, to a post by two redcaps, his hands tied behind his back. The lieutenant waits at the side of the shooting party, with a medical officer (MO). The lieutenant (Lt.) gives the order to shoot the prisoner. Some deliberately shoot wide. Two of the men vomit on the spot. The MO checks the prisoner over and concludes that the private is mortally wounded, but not dead. The young lieutenant, with shaky hands, administers the coup de grâce: a bullet to the head.
A military ambulance stands by to take the corpse off to be buried. That same evening the battalion colonel writes a letter to the private’s parents informing them that their son has been shot at the front. He leaves the message deliberately ambiguous, sparing the man’s family any difficult feelings about his execution.
Posthumous Pardons
The 'Shot at Dawn' Memorial in Alrewas, Staffordshire, originally contained the names of 306 men who were executed for 'cowardice' or 'desertion'.
With many now recognised as having been suffering from mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder, these men were posthumously pardoned by Royal Assent in November 2006.
The Staffordshire memorial was created to honour their sacrifices, along with all those who died in combat fighting for the British Empire during the Great War.
200,000 serving soldiers were officially court-martialled by the British High Command during the Great War.
Of these, 20,000 were found guilty of offences that carried the death penalty. 3,000 officially received it, although most of these sentences were subsequently commuted.
In the end, of the 3,000, 346 executions were carried out by firing squad.
Now, of the 40 names left off the Shot at Dawn Memorial, three have been added, thanks to the persistence of memorial creator Andy DeComyn.
They are New Zealander Jack Braithwaite, Gunner William Lewis from Scotland, and Jesse Robert Short, from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.
Jack Braithwaite
Braithwaite's 'mutiny', according to the Birmingham Mail, consisted of nothing more than a misdemeanour.
The bohemian former journalist, who'd confessed at his trial to not being a natural soldier, had tried to calm down a belligerent prisoner at Blargies prison in Rouen by taking the man to his tent to feed him.
The soldier, Private Little, had been a ringleader in a small uprising against the prison guards. But Little was an Australian, and couldn't be executed because Australia's government wouldn't allow Great Britain to execute its soldiers.
Unfortunately Braithwaite was a New Zealander, and could be executed. His attempt to defuse the potential riot (sparked by appalling conditions at the prison) involved him leading Little away from the custody of a staff sergeant, which officially amounted to mutiny.
Jack was subsequently shot by firing squad on the 28th. August 1916.
Gunner William Lewis
Jack's execution occurred within five minutes of Gunner William Lewis, who'd also been involved in the uprising at the prison.
Corporal Jesse Short
Meanwhile, Corporal Jesse Short was condemned to death for uttering:
"Put a rope around that bugger's neck,
tie a stone to it and throw him into the
river".
He was said to be inciting guards barring his exit from the infamous 'Bull Ring' training camp to rebel against their officer.
This was the September 1917 Étaples Mutiny, an uprising by around 80 servicemen rebelling against what are now acknowledged to have been harsh and unreasonable conditions at the camp.
The uprising was depicted in the 1978 book (and 1986 BBC series) 'The Monocled Mutineer', the lead character in which is said to have been based at least partially on Corporal Short.
Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, confirmed Short's death sentence (as he had Lewis's a year earlier).
Short, Lewis, and Braithwaite received their pardons and have been honoured along with comrades who fell in battle.
The remaining 37 men who were shot, according to Richard Pursehouse of the Staffordshire military history research group the Chase Project, were not executed for mutiny, but murder.
As this also would have resulted in a death sentence even under civil law codes of the time, it was decided that their names should not be added to the memorial.
The particular Chesterfield street is often filled by buses . Its a normal sight there .
But Chesterfield is a Derbyshire town who's new controling councillors group have
recently made it very plain that they resent the Government' free bus passes
scheme for the over sixty years olds .
[ L.S. - 24th , August , 2009 - says, " Perhaps you'll soon advise all your town's bus pass holding Old Codgers all about your seething resentments , opinions and political intentions face to face personally and properly then - dear councillors ! " ]