1.
Keizer Leopold I
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Leopold I was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and King of Serbia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain, elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1658, Leopold would rule as such until his death in 1705. Leopolds reign is known for the conflicts with the Ottoman Empire in the east, and the rivalry with Louis XIV, after more than a decade of warfare, Leopold emerged victorious from the Great Turkish War thanks to military talents of Prince Eugene of Savoy. By the Treaty of Karlowitz, Leopold recovered almost all of the Kingdom of Hungary which had fallen under the Turkish yoke in the years after the 1526 Battle of Mohács. Leopold fought three wars against France including the Dutch War, the Nine Years War, and the War of the Spanish Succession, in this last, Leopold sought to give his younger son the entire Spanish inheritance, disregarding the late Spanish kings will. To this end, he started a war which soon engulfed much of Europe, when peace returned at the end of it all, Austria could not be said to have emerged as triumphant as it did from the war against the Turks. Born on 9 June 1640 in Vienna, Leopold received an education by excellent teachers. From an early age Leopold showed an inclination toward learning and he became fluent in several languages, Latin, Italian, German, French, and Spanish. In addition to German, Italian would be the most favored language at his court, Leopold was schooled in the classics, history, literature, natural science and astronomy, and was particularly interested in music, having inherited his fathers musical talents. Originally intended for the Church, Leopold had received an ecclesiastical education. But fate put in motion a different plan for him when smallpox took his elder brother Ferdinand on 9 July 1654, nonetheless, Leopolds church education had clearly marked him. Leopold remained influenced by the Jesuits and his education throughout his life, and was uncommonly knowledgeable for a monarch about theology, metaphysics, jurisprudence and he also retained his interest in astrology and alchemy which he had developed under Jesuit tutors. A deeply religious and devoted person, Leopold personified the pietas Austriaca, Leopold was said to have typically Habsburg physical attributes. Short, thin, and of sickly constitution, Leopold was cold and reserved in public, however, he is also said to have been open with close associates. Coxe described Leopold in the manner, His gait was stately, slow and deliberate, his air pensive, his address awkward, his manner uncouth, his disposition cold. He grew to manhood without the military ambition that characterized most of his fellow monarchs, from the beginning, his reign was defensive and profoundly conservative. Hungary elected Leopold as its king in 1655, with Bohemia and Croatia following suit in 1656 and 1657 respectively. To conciliate France, which had influence in German affairs thanks to the League of the Rhine
2.
Silezië
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Silesia is a region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is about 40,000 km2, and its population about 8,000,000, Silesia is located along the Oder River. It consists of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia, the region is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesias largest city and historical capital is Wrocław, the biggest metropolitan area is the Upper Silesian metropolitan area, the centre of which is Katowice. Parts of the Czech city of Ostrava fall within the borders of Silesia, Silesias borders and national affiliation have changed over time, both when it was a hereditary possession of noble houses and after the rise of modern nation-states. The first known states to hold there were probably those of Greater Moravia at the end of the 9th century. In the 10th century, Silesia was incorporated into the early Polish state, in the 14th century, it became a constituent part of the Bohemian Crown Lands under the Holy Roman Empire, which passed to the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in 1526. Most of Silesia was conquered by Prussia in 1742, later becoming part of the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the varied history with changing aristocratic possessions resulted in an abundance of castles in Silesia, especially in the Jelenia Góra valley. The remaining former Austrian parts of Silesia were partitioned to Czechoslovakia, in 1945, after World War II, the bulk of Silesia was transferred to Polish jurisdiction by the Potsdam Agreement of the victorious Allied Powers and became part of Poland. The small Lusatian strip west of the Oder-Neisse line, which had belonged to Silesia since 1815 and its centres are Görlitz and Bautzen. Most inhabitants of Silesia today speak the languages of their respective countries. The population of Upper Silesia is native, while Lower Silesia was settled by a German-speaking population before 1945, an ongoing debate exists whether Silesian speech should be considered a dialect of Polish or a separate language. Also, a Lower Silesian German dialect is used, although today it is almost extinct and it is used by expellees within Germany, as well as Germans who were left behind. The names all relate to the name of a river and mountain in mid-southern Silesia, the mountain served as a cultic place. Ślęża is listed as one of the numerous Pre-Indo-European topographic names in the region, according to some Polish Slavists, the name Ślęża or Ślęż is directly related to the Old Slavic words ślęg or śląg, which means dampness, moisture, or humidity. They disagree with the hypothesis of an origin for the name Śląsk from the name of the Silings tribe, in the fourth century BC, Celts entered Silesia, settling around Mount Ślęża near modern Wrocław, Oława, and Strzelin. Germanic Lugii tribes were first recorded within Silesia in the 1st century, Slavic peoples arrived in the region around the 7th century, and by the early ninth century, their settlements had stabilized. Local Slavs started to erect boundary structures like the Silesian Przesieka, the eastern border of Silesian settlement was situated to the west of the Bytom, and east from Racibórz and Cieszyn
3.
Eerste Silezische Oorlog
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Silesia was strategically important to Prussia because it significantly blunted the capacity of Prussias two chief foes—Austria and Russia—to meddle in Prussian affairs. Prussian victory foreshadowed a wider struggle for control over the German-speaking peoples that would culminate in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the First Silesian War inaugurated, and is generally seen in the context of, the wider ranging War of the Austrian Succession. While Charles launched a claim to the throne and the Habsburg territories, King Frederick II aimed at the annexation of Silesia. Furious Frederick III in turn insisted on the centuries-old Brandenburg claims to the Silesian Piast heritage. Forty-five years on, an alliance formed in support of Prussia’s newly asserted claims on Silesia. King Frederick II was supported by the electorates of Bavaria, Saxony and Cologne, as well as by the kingdoms of France, Spain, Sweden and Naples along with various smaller European powers. The shared objective within the alliance was the destruction or at least the diminution of the Habsburg Monarchy, Britain and Austria were bound by the Anglo-Austrian Alliance which had existed since 1731. On 8 November 1740, King Frederick II ordered the mobilization of the Prussian Army, according to his plan of attack, two corps would defeat a small Austrian infantry regiment and occupy the whole Silesian lands. On December 11 he issued an ultimatum to Austria demanding the surrender of Silesia, in turn, he promised to acknowledge the Pragmatic Sanction and to give his vote as Brandenburg prince-elector in the Imperial election to Maria Theresas husband Duke Francis of Lorraine. Instead of awaiting the Austrian response, he marched against Silesia with an army of about 27,000 men five days later, hailed by the Protestant population. After a two-month campaign, Prussian forces had occupied all of Silesia, with only small Austrian garrisons entrenched in the fortresses of Głogów, Brzeg, and Nysa. Having abandoned winter quarters in 1741, the Prussian forces started their spring campaign, the Silesian capital Wrocław was occupied by August 10, a first armistice was concluded on October 9. The Prussian victory in the Battle of Chotusitz on May 17,1742, only the southern portion of Upper Silesia remained under Habsburg control, later called Austrian Silesia. The Second Silesian War took place from 1744 to 1745, the Austrians had lost Silesia to Prussia in the Battle of Mollwitz. This was the time when the Austrians, under the command of Field Marshal Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun, the Prussians were again led by King Frederick the Great. The Battle of Hohenfriedberg on June 4,1745, was fought through a series of separate actions, after the Prussian victory, Frederick did not pursue the opposing armies. In the Battle of Soor on September 29,1745, Fredericks Prussians faced an Austrian army led by Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine with 39,000 men, Frederick tried to obtain Graner-Koppe from Prince Charles where the Prussians met with cannon fire. The Prussians won after a closely fought battle consisting of a series of attacks, whilst Frederick was sure the war was over, Empress Maria Theresa had not given up her claims to Silesia
4.
Frankfurt (Oder)
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Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice, which was part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s, it reached a peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants. The number dropped below 70,000 in 2002 and was just above 60,000 in 2010, the official name Frankfurt and the older Frankfurt an der Oder are used to distinguish it from the larger city of Frankfurt am Main. The town of Frankfurt received its charter in 1253 at the Brandendamm, the early settlers lived on the western banks of the Oder, later the town was extended to the eastern bank. In the late Middle Ages, the town dominated the trade between Breslau and Stettin. In 1430, Frankfurt joined the Hanseatic League, but was a member for only a short time, in April 1631, during the Thirty Years War, Frankfurt was the site of the Battle of Frankfurt an der Oder between the Swedish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. After a two-day siege, Swedish forces, supported by Scottish auxiliaries, the result was a Swedish victory. The city was occupied by the Russian Imperial Army during the Seven Years War, in August 1759. With the dissolution of the Margraviate of Brandenburg during the Napoleonic Wars, in the 19th century, Frankfurt played an important role in trade. There was no fighting for the town in 1945 during World War II even though the town was declared a fortress in an attempt to block the Red Armys route to Berlin, the nearly empty town was burned down. The postwar German-Polish border ran along the Oder, separating the Dammvorstadt on the eastern bank - which became the Polish town of Słubice - from the rest of Frankfurt, while part of communist East Germany, Frankfurt was administered within Bezirk Frankfurt. It became part of the state of Brandenburg with German reunification in 1990. Today, Frankfurt and Słubice have friendly relations and run several common projects, Poland joined the European Union on 1 May 2004, and implemented the Schengen Agreement on December 21,2007 leading to the removal of permanent border controls. In the post-communist era, Frankfurt has suffered high unemployment. Its population has fallen significantly from around 87,000 at the time of German reunification in 1990, FC Viktoria Frankfurt is the towns local football team. In March 2008, the Jewish community of Frankfurt celebrated its first Torah dedication since the Holocaust, the procession of the new Torah scroll began from the spot where the towns Frankfurter Synagogue stood prior to World War II,500 meters from Germanys current border with Poland. Celebrants marched with the scroll into the towns Chabad-Lubavitch centre, where they danced with the Torah, the Margraviate of Brandenburgs first university was Frankfurts Alma Mater Viadrina, founded in 1506 by Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg. An early chancellor, Bishop Georg von Blumenthal, was an opponent of the Protestant Reformation
5.
Ferdinand Cohn
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Ferdinand Julius Cohn was a German biologist. He is one of the founders of bacteriology and microbiology. Ferdinand J. Cohn was born in the Jewish quarter of Breslau in the Prussian Province of Silesia and his father, Issak Cohn, was a successful merchant and manufacturer. At the age of 10 Ferdinand suffered hearing impairment, starting at age 16 he studied botany under Heinrich Goppert at the University of Breslau. Due to Cohns Jewish background he was prevented from taking the degree examinations at Breslau. He then moved to the University of Berlin, at age 19 in 1847 he received a degree in botany at Berlin. He remained studying botany for another couple of years in Berlin, in 1849 he returned to the University of Breslau and he remained at that university for the rest of his career as a teacher and researcher. On his initial return to Breslau in his twenties, his father had bought for him a large. This microscope, which the University of Breslau and most universities did not have, was Ferdinand Cohns main research tool in the 1850s, in the 1850s he studied the growth and division of plant cells. In 1855 he produced papers on the sexuality of Sphaeroplea annulina, in the 1860s he studied plant physiology in several different aspects. From 1870 onward he mostly studied bacteria and he established the use of sterile culture mediums and rediscovered the botanical garden of Lorenz Scholz von Rosenau in Breslau. He published over 150 research reports during his lifetime, the University of Breslau became an innovative center for plant physiology and microbiology while he was there. Cohn was the first to classify algae as plants, and to define what distinguishes them from green plants and his classification of bacteria into four groups based on shape is still in use today. In 1885 he received the Leeuwenhoek Medal, Jewish Encyclopedia entry for Ferdinand Julius Cohn Ferdinand Cohn in the Encyclopedia of World Biography, published by Gale Group
6.
Rode Leger (Sovjet-Unie)
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The Workers and Peasants Red Army was the army and the air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and after 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The army was established immediately after the 1917 October Revolution, the Bolsheviks raised an army to oppose the military confederations of their adversaries during the Russian Civil War. The Red Army is credited as being the land force in the Allied victory in the European theatre of World War II. During operations on the Eastern Front, it fought 75%–80% of the German land forces deployed in the war, inflicting the vast majority of all German losses and ultimately capturing the German capital. In September 1917, Vladimir Lenin wrote, There is only one way to prevent the restoration of the police, at the time, the Imperial Russian Army had started to collapse. The Tsarist general Nikolay Dukhonin estimated that there had been 2 million deserters,1.8 million dead,5 million wounded and 2 million prisoners and he estimated the remaining troops as numbering 10 million. Therefore, the Council of Peoples Commissars decided to form the Red Army on 28 January 1918 and they envisioned a body formed from the class-conscious and best elements of the working classes. All citizens of the Russian republic aged 18 or older were eligible, in the event of an entire unit wanting to join the Red Army, a collective guarantee and the affirmative vote of all its members would be necessary. Because the Red Army was composed mainly of peasants, the families of those who served were guaranteed rations, some peasants who remained at home yearned to join the Army, men, along with some women, flooded the recruitment centres. If they were turned away they would collect scrap metal and prepare care-packages, in some cases the money they earned would go towards tanks for the Army. Nikolai Krylenko was the supreme commander-in-chief, with Aleksandr Myasnikyan as deputy, Nikolai Podvoisky became the commissar for war, Pavel Dybenko, commissar for the fleet. Proshyan, Samoisky, Steinberg were also specified as peoples commissars as well as Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich from the Bureau of Commissars, at a joint meeting of Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, held on 22 February 1918, Krylenko remarked, We have no army. The Red Guard units are brushed aside like flies and we have no power to stay the enemy, only an immediate signing of the peace treaty will save us from destruction. This provoked the insurrection of General Alexey Maximovich Kaledins Volunteer Army in the River Don region, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk aggravated Russian internal politics. The situation encouraged direct Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, a series of engagements resulted, involving, amongst others, the Czechoslovak Legion, the Polish 5th Rifle Division, and the pro-Bolshevik Red Latvian Riflemen. The Whites defeated the Red Army on each front, Leon Trotsky reformed and counterattacked, the Red Army repelled Admiral Kolchaks army in June, and the armies of General Denikin and General Yudenich in October. By mid-November the White armies were all almost completely exhausted, in January 1920, Budennys First Cavalry Army entered Rostov-on-Don. 1919 to 1923 At the wars start, the Red Army consisted of 299 infantry regiments, Civil war intensified after Lenin dissolved the Russian Constituent Assembly and the Soviet government signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, removing Russia from the Great War
7.
Lviv
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Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine and the seventh largest city in the country overall, is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine. Named in honor of the Leo, the eldest son of Rus King Daniel of Galicia. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia from 1272 to 1349, from 1434, it was the regional capital of the Ruthenian Voivodeship in the Kingdom of Poland and was known as Lwów. In 1772, after the First partition of Poland, the city became the capital of the Habsburg Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and was renamed to Lemberg, in 1918 in a short time was the capital of the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic. Between the wars, the city was again as Lwów and was the centre of the Lwów Voivodeship in the Second Polish Republic. After World War II, it part of the Soviet Union. Administratively, Lviv serves as the center of Lviv Oblast and has the status of city of oblast significance. Lviv was the centre of the region of Galicia. The historical heart of the city, with its old buildings and cobblestone streets, survived Soviet, the city has many industries and institutions of higher education such as Lviv University and Lviv Polytechnic. Lviv is also the home of many cultural institutions, including a philharmonic orchestra. The historic city centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, Lviv celebrated its 750th anniversary with a son et lumière in the center of the city in September 2006. Lviv is located on the edge of the Roztochia Upland, approximately 70 kilometers from the Polish border and 160 kilometers from the eastern Carpathian Mountains, the average altitude of Lviv is 296 meters above sea level. Its highest point is the Vysokyi Zamok,409 meters above sea level and this castle has a commanding view of the historic city centre with its distinctive green-domed churches and intricate architecture. The old walled city was at the foothills of the High Castle on the banks of the River Poltva, in the 13th century, the river was used to transport goods. Lvivs climate is continental with cold winters and mild summers. The average temperatures are −3.1 °C in January and 18.3 °C in July, the average annual rainfall is 745 mm with the maximum being in summer. Lviv approximately receives 1,804 hours of sunshine annually, archaeologists have demonstrated that the Lviv area was settled by the 5th century. The area between the Castle Hill and the river Poltva was continuously settled since the 9th century, in 1977 it was discovered that the Orthodox church of St. Nicholas had been built on a previously functioning cemetery
8.
Vilnius
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Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania and its largest city, with a population of 542,664 as of 2015. Vilnius is located in the southeast part of Lithuania and is the second largest city in the Baltic states, Vilnius is the seat of the main government institutions of Lithuania as well as of the Vilnius District Municipality. Vilnius is classified as a Gamma global city according to GaWC studies and its Jewish influence until the 20th century has led to it being described as the Jerusalem of Lithuania and Napoleon named it the Jerusalem of the North as he was passing through in 1812. In 2009, Vilnius was the European Capital of Culture, together with the Austrian city of Linz, the name of the city originates from the Vilnia River. The city has also known by many derivate spellings in various languages throughout its history. The most notable names for the city include, Polish, Wilno, Belarusian, Вiльня, German, Wilna, Latvian, Viļņa, Russian, Вильнюс, Yiddish, ווילנע , Czech. A Russian name from the time of the Russian Empire was Вильна/Вильно, the name Vilna is still used in Finnish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Hebrew. Wilna is still used in German, along with Vilnius, the neighborhoods of Vilnius also have names in other languages, which represent the languages spoken by various ethnic groups in the area. Historian Romas Batūra identifies the city with Voruta, one of the castles of Mindaugas, during the reign of Vytenis a city started to emerge from a trading settlement and the first Franciscan Catholic church was built. These letters contain the first unambiguous reference to Vilnius as the capital, According to legend, Gediminas dreamt of an iron wolf howling on a hilltop and consulted a pagan priest for its interpretation. He was told, What is destined for the ruler and the State of Lithuania, is thus, the Iron Wolf represents a castle and a city which will be established by you on this site. This city will be the capital of the Lithuanian lands and the dwelling of their rulers, the location offered practical advantages, it lay within the Lithuanian heartland at the confluence of two navigable rivers, surrounded by forests and wetlands that were difficult to penetrate. The duchy had been subject to intrusions by the Teutonic Knights, Vilnius was the flourishing capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the residence of the Grand Duke. Gediminas expanded the Grand Duchy through warfare along with strategic alliances and marriages, at its height it covered the territory of modern-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Transnistria, and portions of modern-day Poland and Russia. His grandchildren Vytautas the Great and Jogaila, however, fought civil wars, during the Lithuanian Civil War of 1389–1392, Vytautas besieged and razed the city in an attempt to wrest control from Jogaila. The two later settled their differences, after a series of treaties culminating in the 1569 Union of Lublin, the rulers of this federation held either or both of two titles, Grand Duke of Lithuania or King of Poland. In 1387, Jogaila acting as a Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Władysław II Jagiełło, the city underwent a period of expansion. The Vilnius city walls were built for protection between 1503 and 1522, comprising nine city gates and three towers, and Sigismund August moved his court there in 1544
9.
Oder
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The Oder is a river in Central Europe. It rises in the Czech Republic and flows through western Poland, the river ultimately flows into the Szczecin Lagoon north of Szczecin and then into three branches that empty into the Gulf of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea. Ptolemy knew the modern Oder as the Συήβος – a name derived from the Suebi. While he also refers to an outlet in the area as the Οὐιαδούα Ouiadoua, the name Suebos may be preserved in the modern name of the Świna river – an outlet from the Szczecin Lagoon to the Baltic. In the Old Church Slavonic language, the name of the river is Vjodr, the Oder is 854 kilometres long,112 km in the Czech Republic,742 km in Poland and is the second longest river in Poland. It drains a basin of 118,861 square kilometres,106,056 km2 of which are in Poland,7,217 km2 in the Czech Republic, channels connect it to the Havel, Spree, Vistula system and Kłodnica. It flows through Silesian, Opole, Lower Silesian, Lubusz, and West Pomeranian voivodeships of Poland, the main branch empties into the Szczecin Lagoon near Police, Poland. The Szczecin Lagoon is bordered on the north by the islands of Usedom, between these two islands, there is only a narrow channel going to the Bay of Pomerania, which forms a part of the Baltic Sea. The largest city on the Oder is Wrocław, in Lower Silesia, the Oder is navigable over a large part of its total length, as far upstream as the town of Koźle, where the river connects to the Gliwice Canal. The upstream part of the river is canalized and permits larger barges to navigate between the sites around the Wrocław area. Further downstream the river is flowing, passing the towns of Eisenhüttenstadt. Downstream of Frankfurt the river Warta forms a connection with Poznań. At Hohensaaten the Oder–Havel Canal connects with the Berlin waterways again, near its mouth the Oder reaches the city of Szczecin, a major maritime port. The river finally reaches the Baltic Sea through the Szczecin Lagoon, the river in Germania Magna was known to the Romans as the Viadrus or Viadua in Classical Latin, as it was a branch of the Amber Road from the Baltic Sea to the Roman Empire. In German language it was and is called the Oder, written in older records as Odera or Oddera in Medieval Latin documents and it was mentioned in the Dagome iudex, which described territory of the Duchy of Poland under Mieszko I of Poland ca. 990, as a part of western frontier. Before Slavs settled along its banks, Oder was an important trade route, a document of the Bishopric of Prague mentions Zlasane, Trebovyane, Poborane, and Dedositze in Silesia. In the 13th century, the first dams were built to protect agricultural lands, the Finow Canal, built for the first time in 1605, connects Oder and Havel
