Christian X of Denmark
Christian X was King of Denmark from 1912 to 1947, the only King of Iceland between 1918 and 1944. He was a member of the House of Glücksburg and the first member of his family since king Frederick VII to have been born into the Danish royal family. Among his siblings was King Haakon VII of Norway, his character as a ruler has been described as authoritarian and he stressed the importance of royal dignity and power. His reluctance to embrace democracy resulted in the Easter Crisis of 1920, in which he dismissed the democratically elected cabinet with which he disagreed, instated one of his own choosing; this was nominally his right in accordance with the constitution, but facing the risk of the monarchy being overthrown he was forced to accept democratic control of the state and the role as a nominal constitutional monarch. During the German Occupation of Denmark, Christian become a popular symbol of resistance to German occupation because of the symbolic value of the fact that he rode every day through the streets of Copenhagen unaccompanied by guards.
He became the subject of a persistent urban legend according to which, during Nazi occupation, he donned the Star of David in solidarity with the Danish Jews. Danish Jews were not forced to wear the Star of David. However, the legend stems from a 1942 British report that claimed he threatened to don the star if this was forced upon Danish Jews, was popularized when it was included in Leon Uris's best-selling novel, Exodus; this is supported by the king's personal diary, where the following entry can be found: When you look at the inhumane treatment of Jews, not only in Germany but occupied countries as well, you start worrying that such a demand might be put on us, but we must refuse such this due to their protection under the Danish constitution. I stated. If such a demand is made, we would best meet it by all wearing the Star of David. In addition, he helped finance the transport of Danish Jews to unoccupied Sweden, where they would be safe from Nazi persecution. With a reign spanning two world wars, his role as a rallying symbol for Danish national sentiment during the German Occupation, he became one of the most popular Danish monarchs of modern times.
Christian was born on 26 September 1870 at Charlottenlund Palace in Gentofte Municipality north of Copenhagen, during the reign of his paternal grandfather, King Christian IX. He was born as the oldest son and child of Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark and his wife Louise of Sweden, only surviving child of King Charles XV of Sweden, he was baptised in the Chapel of Christiansborg Palace on 31 October 1870 by the Bishop of Zealand, Hans Lassen Martensen. After passing the studenter-eksamen in 1889 as the first Danish monarch, he started a military education as was customary for princes at that time, subsequently served with the 5th Dragoon Regiment and studied at the Officers Academy in Randers from 1891 to 1892. Christian married Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in Cannes on 26 April 1898, she became his queen consort. They had two sons: Prince Frederick King Frederick IX of Denmark Prince Knud Knud, Hereditary Prince of DenmarkThe couple were given Christian VIII's Palace at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen as their residence and Sorgenfri Palace north of Copenhagen as a summer residence.
Furthermore, the couple received Marselisborg Palace in Aarhus as a wedding present from the people of Denmark in 1898. In 1914, the King built the villa Klitgården in Skagen. On 29 January 1906, King Christian IX died, Christian's father ascended the throne as King Frederick VIII. Christian himself became crown prince. On 14 May 1912, King Frederick VIII died after collapsing from shortness of breath while taking a walk in a park in Hamburg, Germany, he had been returning from a recuperation stay in Nice and was staying anonymously in the city before continuing to Copenhagen. Christian was in Copenhagen when he heard about his father's demise and acceded to the throne as Christian X. In April 1920, Christian instigated the Easter Crisis the most decisive event in the evolution of the Danish monarchy in the Twentieth Century; the immediate cause was a conflict between the King and the cabinet over the reunification with Denmark of Schleswig, a former Danish fiefdom, lost to Prussia during the Second War of Schleswig.
Danish claims to the region persisted to the end of World War I, at which time the defeat of the Germans made it possible to resolve the dispute. According to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the disposition of Schleswig was to be determined by two plebiscites: one in Northern Schleswig, the other in Central Schleswig. No plebiscite was planned for Southern Schleswig, as it was dominated by an ethnic German majority and, in accordance with prevailing sentiment of the times, remained part of the post-war German state. In Northern Schleswig, seventy-five percent voted for reunification with Denmark and twenty-five percent for remaining with Germany. In this vote, the entire region was considered to be an indivisible unit, the entire region was awarded to Denmark. In Central Schleswig, the situation was reversed with eighty percent voting for Germany and twenty per
Photography
Photography is the art and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed in many fields of science and business, as well as its more direct uses for art and video production, recreational purposes and mass communication. A lens is used to focus the light reflected or emitted from objects into a real image on the light-sensitive surface inside a camera during a timed exposure. With an electronic image sensor, this produces an electrical charge at each pixel, electronically processed and stored in a digital image file for subsequent display or processing; the result with photographic emulsion is an invisible latent image, chemically "developed" into a visible image, either negative or positive depending on the purpose of the photographic material and the method of processing. A negative image on film is traditionally used to photographically create a positive image on a paper base, known as a print, either by using an enlarger or by contact printing.
The word "photography" was created from the Greek roots φωτός, genitive of φῶς, "light" and γραφή "representation by means of lines" or "drawing", together meaning "drawing with light". Several people may have coined the same new term from these roots independently. Hercules Florence, a French painter and inventor living in Campinas, used the French form of the word, photographie, in private notes which a Brazilian historian believes were written in 1834; this claim is reported but has never been independently confirmed as beyond reasonable doubt. The German newspaper Vossische Zeitung of 25 February 1839 contained an article entitled Photographie, discussing several priority claims – Henry Fox Talbot's – regarding Daguerre's claim of invention; the article is the earliest known occurrence of the word in public print. It was signed "J. M.", believed to have been Berlin astronomer Johann von Maedler. The inventors Nicéphore Niépce, Henry Fox Talbot and Louis Daguerre seem not to have known or used the word "photography", but referred to their processes as "Heliography", "Photogenic Drawing"/"Talbotype"/"Calotype" and "Daguerreotype".
Photography is the result of combining several technical discoveries, relating to seeing an image and capturing the image. The discovery of the camera obscura that provides an image of a scene dates back to ancient China. Greek mathematicians Aristotle and Euclid independently described a pinhole camera in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. In the 6th century CE, Byzantine mathematician Anthemius of Tralles used a type of camera obscura in his experiments; the Arab physicist Ibn al-Haytham invented a camera obscura and pinhole camera. Leonardo da Vinci mentions natural camera obscura that are formed by dark caves on the edge of a sunlit valley. A hole in the cave wall will act as a pinhole camera and project a laterally reversed, upside down image on a piece of paper. Renaissance painters used the camera obscura which, in fact, gives the optical rendering in color that dominates Western Art, it is a box with a hole in it which allows light to go through and create an image onto the piece of paper.
The birth of photography was concerned with inventing means to capture and keep the image produced by the camera obscura. Albertus Magnus discovered silver nitrate, Georg Fabricius discovered silver chloride, the techniques described in Ibn al-Haytham's Book of Optics are capable of producing primitive photographs using medieval materials. Daniele Barbaro described a diaphragm in 1566. Wilhelm Homberg described how light darkened some chemicals in 1694; the fiction book Giphantie, published in 1760, by French author Tiphaigne de la Roche, described what can be interpreted as photography. Around the year 1800, British inventor Thomas Wedgwood made the first known attempt to capture the image in a camera obscura by means of a light-sensitive substance, he used paper or white leather treated with silver nitrate. Although he succeeded in capturing the shadows of objects placed on the surface in direct sunlight, made shadow copies of paintings on glass, it was reported in 1802 that "the images formed by means of a camera obscura have been found too faint to produce, in any moderate time, an effect upon the nitrate of silver."
The shadow images darkened all over. The first permanent photoetching was an image produced in 1822 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce, but it was destroyed in a attempt to make prints from it. Niépce was successful again in 1825. In 1826 or 1827, he made the View from the Window at Le Gras, the earliest surviving photograph from nature; because Niépce's camera photographs required an long exposure, he sought to improve his bitumen process or replace it with one, more practical. In partnership with Louis Daguerre, he worked out post-exposure processing methods that produced visually superior results and replaced the bitumen with a more light-sensitive resin, but hours of exposure in the camera were still required. With an eye to eventual commercial exploitation, the partners opted for total secrecy. Niépce died in 1833 and Daguerre redirected the experiments toward the light-sensitive silver halides, which Niépce had abandoned many years earlier because of his inability to make the images he captured with them light-fast and permanent.
Da
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and most populous city of Denmark. As of July 2018, the city has a population of 777,218, it forms the core of the wider urban area of the Copenhagen metropolitan area. Copenhagen is situated on the eastern coast of the island of Zealand; the Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by road. A Viking fishing village established in the 10th century in the vicinity of what is now Gammel Strand, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century. Beginning in the 17th century it consolidated its position as a regional centre of power with its institutions and armed forces. After suffering from the effects of plague and fire in the 18th century, the city underwent a period of redevelopment; this included construction of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden and founding of such cultural institutions as the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. After further disasters in the early 19th century when Horatio Nelson attacked the Dano-Norwegian fleet and bombarded the city, rebuilding during the Danish Golden Age brought a Neoclassical look to Copenhagen's architecture.
Following the Second World War, the Finger Plan fostered the development of housing and businesses along the five urban railway routes stretching out from the city centre. Since the turn of the 21st century, Copenhagen has seen strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investment in its institutions and infrastructure; the city is the cultural and governmental centre of Denmark. Copenhagen's economy has seen rapid developments in the service sector through initiatives in information technology and clean technology. Since the completion of the Øresund Bridge, Copenhagen has become integrated with the Swedish province of Scania and its largest city, Malmö, forming the Øresund Region. With a number of bridges connecting the various districts, the cityscape is characterised by parks and waterfronts. Copenhagen's landmarks such as Tivoli Gardens, The Little Mermaid statue, the Amalienborg and Christiansborg palaces, Rosenborg Castle Gardens, Frederik's Church, many museums and nightclubs are significant tourist attractions.
The largest lake of Denmark, Arresø, lies around 27 miles northwest of the City Hall Square. Copenhagen is home to the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen Business School and the IT University of Copenhagen; the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, is the oldest university in Denmark. Copenhagen is home to the FC Brøndby football clubs; the annual Copenhagen Marathon was established in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world; the Copenhagen Metro launched in 2002 serves central Copenhagen while the Copenhagen S-train, the Lokaltog and the Coast Line network serves and connects central Copenhagen to outlying boroughs. To relieve traffic congestion, the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link road and rail construction is planned, because the narrow 9-9.5 mile isthmus between Roskilde Fjord and Køge Bugt forms a traffic bottleneck. The Copenhagen-Ringsted Line will relieve traffic congestion in the corridor between Roskilde and Copenhagen.
Serving two million passengers a month, Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, is the busiest airport in the Nordic countries. Copenhagen's name reflects its origin as a place of commerce; the original designation in Old Norse, from which Danish descends, was Kaupmannahǫfn, meaning "merchants' harbour". By the time Old Danish was spoken, the capital was called Køpmannæhafn, with the current name deriving from centuries of subsequent regular sound change. An exact English equivalent would be "chapman's haven". However, the English term for the city was adapted from Kopenhagen. Although the earliest historical records of Copenhagen are from the end of the 12th century, recent archaeological finds in connection with work on the city's metropolitan rail system revealed the remains of a large merchant's mansion near today's Kongens Nytorv from c. 1020. Excavations in Pilestræde have led to the discovery of a well from the late 12th century; the remains of an ancient church, with graves dating to the 11th century, have been unearthed near where Strøget meets Rådhuspladsen.
These finds indicate. Substantial discoveries of flint tools in the area provide evidence of human settlements dating to the Stone Age. Many historians believe the town dates to the late Viking Age, was founded by Sweyn I Forkbeard; the natural harbour and good herring stocks seem to have attracted fishermen and merchants to the area on a seasonal basis from the 11th century and more permanently in the 13th century. The first habitations were centred on Gammel Strand in the 11thcentury or earlier; the earliest written mention of the town was in the 12th century when Saxo Grammaticus in Gesta Danorum referred to it as Portus
World War II
World War II known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries; the major participants threw their entire economic and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China, it included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, the only use of nuclear weapons in war. Japan, which aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific, was at war with China by 1937, though neither side had declared war on the other. World War II is said to have begun on 1 September 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom.
From late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Finland and the Baltic states. Following the onset of campaigns in North Africa and East Africa, the fall of France in mid 1940, the war continued between the European Axis powers and the British Empire. War in the Balkans, the aerial Battle of Britain, the Blitz, the long Battle of the Atlantic followed. On 22 June 1941, the European Axis powers launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, opening the largest land theatre of war in history; this Eastern Front trapped most crucially the German Wehrmacht, into a war of attrition. In December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States as well as European colonies in the Pacific. Following an immediate U. S. declaration of war against Japan, supported by one from Great Britain, the European Axis powers declared war on the U.
S. in solidarity with their Japanese ally. Rapid Japanese conquests over much of the Western Pacific ensued, perceived by many in Asia as liberation from Western dominance and resulting in the support of several armies from defeated territories; the Axis advance in the Pacific halted in 1942. Key setbacks in 1943, which included a series of German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy, Allied victories in the Pacific, cost the Axis its initiative and forced it into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and turned toward Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in Central China, South China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and captured key Western Pacific islands; the war in Europe concluded with an invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops, the suicide of Adolf Hitler and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945.
Following the Potsdam Declaration by the Allies on 26 July 1945 and the refusal of Japan to surrender under its terms, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August respectively. With an invasion of the Japanese archipelago imminent, the possibility of additional atomic bombings, the Soviet entry into the war against Japan and its invasion of Manchuria, Japan announced its intention to surrender on 15 August 1945, cementing total victory in Asia for the Allies. Tribunals were set up by fiat by the Allies and war crimes trials were conducted in the wake of the war both against the Germans and the Japanese. World War II changed the political social structure of the globe; the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The Soviet Union and United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the nearly half-century long Cold War. In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia.
Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic expansion. Political integration in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities and create a common identity; the start of the war in Europe is held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred and the two wars merged in 1941; this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935; the British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the fo
Frederick IX of Denmark
Frederick IX was King of Denmark from 1947 to 1972. Born into the House of Glücksburg, Frederick was the elder son of King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, he became crown prince when his father succeeded as king in 1912. As a young man, he was educated at the Royal Danish Naval Academy. In 1935, he was married to Princess Ingrid of Sweden and they had three daughters, Margrethe and Anne-Marie. During Nazi Germany's occupation of Denmark, Frederick acted as regent on behalf of his father from 1942 until 1943. Frederick became king on his father's death in early 1947. During Frederick IX's reign, Danish society shook off the restrictions of an agrarian society, developed a welfare state and, as a consequence of the booming economy of the 1960s, women entered the labour market. Denmark modernized, bringing new demands on the monarchy and Frederick's role as a constitutional monarch. Frederick IX died in 1972, was succeeded by his eldest daughter, Margrethe II. Prince Frederick was born on 11 March 1899 at Sorgenfri Palace in Kongens Lyngby on Zealand during the reign of his great-grandfather King Christian IX.
His father was Prince Christian of Denmark, the eldest son of Crown Prince Frederick and Princess Louise of Sweden. His mother was Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, a daughter of Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia, he was baptised at Sorgenfri Palace on 9 April 1899. The young prince had 21 godparents, among them his great-grandfather Christian IX of Denmark, Nicholas II of Russia, George I of Greece, Oscar II of Sweden and Norway, his grandfather Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, the Prince of Wales and his uncle Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Frederick's only sibling, was born one year after Frederick; the family lived in apartments in Christian VIII's Palace at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen, in Sorgenfri Palace near the capital and in a summer residence, Marselisborg Palace in Aarhus in Jutland, which Frederick's parents had received as a wedding present from the people of Denmark in 1898.
In 1914, the King built the villa Klitgården in Skagen in Northern Jutland. Christian IX died on 29 January 1906, Frederick's grandfather Crown Prince Frederick succeeded him as King Frederick VIII. Frederick's father became crown prince, Frederick moved up to second in line to the throne. Just six years on 14 May 1912, King Frederick VIII died, Frederick's father ascended the throne as King Christian X. Frederick himself became crown prince. On 1 December 1918, as the Danish–Icelandic Act of Union recognized Iceland as a sovereign state in personal union with Denmark through a common monarch, Frederick became crown prince of Iceland. However, as a national referendum established the Republic of Iceland on 17 June 1944, he never succeeded as king of Iceland. Frederick was educated at the University of Copenhagen. Before he became king, he had acquired the rank of rear admiral and he had had several senior commands on active service, he acquired several tattoos during his naval service. In addition, with his great love of music, the king was conductor.
In the 1910s Alexandrine considered the two youngest daughters, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, of her cousin Tsar Nicholas II as possible wives for Frederick until the subsequent execution of the Romanov family in 1918. In 1922, Frederick was engaged to his second cousin, they never wed. Instead, on 15 March 1935, a few days after his 36th birthday, he was engaged to Princess Ingrid of Sweden, a daughter of Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught, they were related in several ways. In descent from Oscar I of Sweden and Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden, they were double third cousins. In descent from Paul I of Russia, Frederick was a fourth cousin of Ingrid's mother, they married in Stockholm Cathedral on 24 May 1935. Their wedding was one of the greatest media events of the day in Sweden in 1935, among the wedding guests were the King and Queen of Denmark, the King and Queen of Belgium and the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Norway.
Upon their return to Denmark, the couple were given Frederick VIII's Palace at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen as their primary residence and Gråsten Palace in Northern Schleswig as a summer residence. Their daughters are: Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, born 16 April 1940, married to Henri de Laborde de Monpezat and has two sons Princess Benedikte of Denmark, born 29 April 1944, married to Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and has three children Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, born 30 August 1946, married to King Constantine II of Greece and has five children From 1942 until 1943, Frederick acted as regent on behalf of his father, temporarily incapacitated after a fall from his horse in October 1942. On 20 April 1947, Christian X died, Frederick succeeded to the throne, he was proclaimed king from the balcony of Christiansborg Palace by Prime Minister Knud Kristensen. Frederick IX's reign saw great change. During these years, Danish society shook off the restrictions of an agricultural society, developed a welfare state, and, as a consequence of the booming economy of the 1960s, women entered the labour market.
In other words, Denmark became a modern count
Marselisborg Palace
Marselisborg Palace, is a royal residence of the Danish Royal Family in Aarhus. It has been the summer residence of Queen Margrethe II since 1967. There is a Palace Park in connection to the Palace itself and outside the grounds, stretching to the coast of the Bay of Aarhus is another large park Mindeparken, popular with the citizens of Aarhus for recreational activities in the warmer months of the year. Just south of Marselisborg Palace is Aarhus Forestry Botanical Garden and a Deer Park, as part of the extensive Marselisborg Forests. Just west and north of the Palace is the Atletion Stadium. Designed by architect Hack Kampmann, Marselisborg Palace was built in 1899-1902 on the land of the old Marselisborg Manor and was presented as a gift from the people of Denmark to the Royal family, on the occasion of the wedding of prince Christian and Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; the couple became king Christian X and queen Alexandrine and initiated the tradition of using the Palace as a summer residence.
The palace is the property of the Kingdom of Denmark, will remain in possession of all future monarchs of Denmark. The present Queen, Margrethe II, was given the palace by her father, King Frederick IX in 1967. Margrethe and her consort Henrik used the palace as their summer residence. To this day the residence is used during the summer, as well as during the Easter and Christmas holidays; the name Marselisborg refers to the old barony manor Marselisborg. Marselisborg means "Marselis Castle" in Danish and it was located where Marselisborg Gymnasium have residence now; the manor dates back to the 1500s and was named Havreballegård, but in the 1600s the German-Dutch merchant Gabriel Marselis, replaced the name with the more grandiose "Marselis Castle". The Municipality of Aarhus took ownership of the Marselisborg estate in 1896, including the manor house; the manor house does not exist anymore. The only relation to Marselisborg Palace is the name Marselisborg and the fact that the Palace was erected on land part of the Marselis estate.
The palace is "a gift of the people", in the sense that the project was funded by individual financial contributions and built on land given by the Municipality of Aarhus. Several jutlandic cities and Danish companies became involved in the project, when the palace was equipped and furnished on and in return their respective coat of arms are now presented throughout the palace building. Among the contributors are the cities of Vejle, Randers, Aalborg and Nykøbing Mors, to name just a few; the fundraising was initiated in the autumn of 1897 by prefect Dreyer, baron J. Rosenkrantz of Sophiendal and landowner Chr. Neergaard of Aakjær; the palace is situated in a 32-acre park known as Slotshaven. The park was designed by architect L. Christian Diedrichsen in traditional English landscape style, featuring large sweeping lawns dotted with small ponds, clusters of trees and shrub-covered slopes. There is a herb garden and the landscape is dotted with art sculptures; the park and gardens are both open to the public while the Queen and royal family are not in residence, whereas the palace itself is never open to the public.
When the royal family is in residence, a changing of the guard ceremony takes place at noon. The main gates are the only exit to the palace and the park. Marselisborg - The Prince-residential in Jutland Aarhus City Museum The Queens Aarhus Aarhus City Museum Marselisborg Palace Official homepage of The Danish Monarchy Media related to Marselisborg Slot at Wikimedia Commons Various pictures from the palace grounds and park Arslonga.dk homepage
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire known as Imperial Russia or Russia, was an empire that existed across Eurasia and North America from 1721, following the end of the Great Northern War, until the Republic was proclaimed by the Provisional Government that took power after the February Revolution of 1917. The third largest empire in world history, at its greatest extent stretching over three continents, Europe and North America, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires; the rise of the Russian Empire coincided with the decline of neighboring rival powers: the Golden Horde, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire. It played a major role in 1812–1814 in defeating Napoleon's ambitions to control Europe and expanded to the west and south; the House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, its matrilineal branch of patrilineal German descent the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov ruled from 1762. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian Empire extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, from the Baltic Sea on the west to the Pacific Ocean, into Alaska and Northern California in America on the east.
With 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics and religion. There were numerous dissident elements. Economically, the empire had a predominantly agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs, Russian peasants; the economy industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways and factories. The land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that emerged, he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, laid the foundations of the Russian state. Emperor Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an huge empire into a major European power, he moved the capital from Moscow to the new model city of St. Petersburg, led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political mores with a modern, Europe-oriented, rationalist system.
Empress Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. Emperor Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861, his policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. That connection by 1914 led to Russia's entry into the First World War on the side of France, the United Kingdom, Serbia, against the German and Ottoman empires; the Russian Empire functioned as an absolute monarchy on principles of Orthodoxy and Nationality until the Revolution of 1905 and became a de jure constitutional monarchy. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917 as a result of massive failures in its participation in the First World War. Though the Empire was only proclaimed by Tsar Peter I following the Treaty of Nystad, some historians would argue that it was born either when Ivan III of Russia conquered Veliky Novgorod in 1478, or when Ivan the Terrible conquered the Khanate of Kazan in 1552. According to another point of view, the term Tsardom, used after the coronation of Ivan IV in 1547, was a contemporary Russian word for empire.
Much of Russia's expansion occurred in the 17th century, culminating in the first Russian colonization of the Pacific in the mid-17th century, the Russo-Polish War that incorporated left-bank Ukraine, the Russian conquest of Siberia. Poland was divided in the 1790 -- 1815 era, with much of the population going to Russia. Most of the 19th-century growth came from adding territory in Asia, south of Siberia. Peter I the Great played a major role in introducing Russia to the European state system. While the vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns; the class of kholops, close in status to slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation. Russian agricultural kholops were formally converted into serfs earlier in 1679. Peter's first military efforts were directed against the Ottoman Turks.
His attention turned to the North. Peter still lacked a secure northern seaport, except at Archangel on the White Sea, where the harbor was frozen for nine months a year. Access to the Baltic was blocked by Sweden. Peter's ambitions for a "window to the sea" led him to make a secret alliance in 1699 with Saxony, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Denmark against Sweden, resulting in the Great Northern War; the war ended in 1721. Peter acquired four provinces situated east of the Gulf of Finland; the coveted access to the sea was now secured. There he built Russia's new capital, Saint Petersburg, to replace Moscow, which had long been Russia's cultural center. In 1722, he tur
German Imperial and Royal Family: Dame of the Imperial and Royal Order of Louise, 1st Class
House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin: Knight Grand Cross of the Schwerin Royal House Order of the Wendish Crown, Special Class[4][5][6]
Denmark: Knight with Collar of the Order of the Elephant[7][8][9]
Iceland: Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon
Russian Imperial Family: Dame Grand Cordon of the Imperial Order of Saint Catherine
Spanish Royal Family: 1,170th Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa
Sweden: Member of the Royal Order of the Seraphim[11]
