Congress of Vienna
The objective of the Congress was to provide a long-term peace plan for Europe by settling critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The goal was not simply to restore old boundaries but to resize the main powers so they could balance each other off, the leaders were conservatives with little use for republicanism or revolution, both of which threatened to upset the status quo in Europe. France lost all its recent conquests, while Prussia and Russia made major territorial gains, Prussia added smaller German states in the west, Swedish Pomerania and 60% of the Kingdom of Saxony, Austria gained Venice and much of northern Italy. The new Kingdom of the Netherlands had been created just months before, the immediate background was Napoleonic Frances defeat and surrender in May 1814, which brought an end to twenty-five years of nearly continuous war. Negotiations continued despite the outbreak of fighting triggered by Napoleons dramatic return from exile, the Congresss Final Act was signed nine days before his final defeat at Waterloo on 18 June 1815.
However, others praise it for having created relatively long-term stable, the Congress of Vienna settlement, despite changes, formed the framework for European international politics until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. The Treaty of Chaumont in 1814 had reaffirmed decisions that had made already. The Treaty of Chaumont became the cornerstone of the European Alliance which formed the balance of power for decades, other partial settlements had already occurred at the Treaty of Paris between France and the Sixth Coalition, and the Treaty of Kiel which covered issues raised regarding Scandinavia. The Treaty of Paris had determined that a general congress should be held in Vienna, the opening was scheduled for July 1814. The Four Great Powers had previously formed the core of the Sixth Coalition, as the Congresss sessions were in Vienna, Emperor Francis was kept closely informed. Great Britain was represented first by its Foreign Secretary, Viscount Castlereagh, by the Duke of Wellington, in the last weeks it was headed by the Earl of Clancarty, after Wellington left to face Napoleon during the Hundred Days.
Tsar Alexander I controlled the Russian delegation which was led by the foreign minister. The tsar had two goals, to gain control of Poland and to promote the peaceful coexistence of European nations. He succeeded in forming the Holy Alliance, based on monarchism and anti-secularism, Prussia was represented by Prince Karl August von Hardenberg, the Chancellor, and the diplomat and scholar Wilhelm von Humboldt. King Frederick William III of Prussia was in Vienna, playing his role behind the scenes, the fifth power, was represented by its foreign minister, Talleyrand as well as the Minister Plenipotentiary the Duke of Dalberg. Talleyrand had already negotiated the Treaty of Paris for Louis XVIII of France, Sweden – Count Carl Löwenhielm Denmark – Count Niels Rosenkrantz, foreign minister. King Frederick VI was present in Vienna, the Netherlands – Earl of Clancarty, the British Ambassador at the Dutch court, and Baron Hans von Gagern Switzerland – Every canton had its own delegation. Charles Pictet de Rochemont from Geneva played a prominent role, mecklenburg-Schwerin – Leopold von Plessen Virtually every state in Europe had a delegation in Vienna – more than 200 states and princely houses were represented at the Congress
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France and the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes département. The urban area of Nice extends beyond the city limits. Nice is about 13 kilometres from the principality of Monaco, the city is nicknamed Nice la Belle, which means Nice the Beautiful, which is the title of the unofficial anthem of Nice, written by Menica Rondelly in 1912. The area of todays Nice contains Terra Amata, a site which displays evidence of a very early use of fire. Around 350 BC, Greeks of Marseille founded a permanent settlement and called it Nikaia, after Nike, through the ages, the town has changed hands many times. Its strategic location and port significantly contributed to its maritime strength, for centuries it was a dominion of Savoy, and was part of France between 1792 and 1815, when it was returned to Piedmont-Sardinia until its re-annexation by France in 1860. The citys main seaside promenade, the Promenade des Anglais owes its name to visitors to the resort, for decades now, the picturesque Nicean surroundings have attracted not only those in search of relaxation, but those seeking inspiration.
The clear air and soft light have particularly appealed to some of Western cultures most outstanding painters, such as Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Niki de Saint Phalle and Arman. Their work is commemorated in many of the museums, including Musée Marc Chagall, Musée Matisse. Nice has the second largest hotel capacity in the country and it is one of its most visited cities and it has the third busiest airport in France, after the two main Parisian ones. It is the capital city of the County of Nice. Nice was probably founded around 350 BC by the Greeks of Massalia, the ruins of Cemenelum are in Cimiez, now a district of Nice. In the 7th century, Nice joined the Genoese League formed by the towns of Liguria. In 729 the city repulsed the Saracens, but in 859 and again in 880 the Saracens pillaged and burned it, during the Middle Ages, Nice participated in the wars and history of Italy. As an ally of Pisa it was the enemy of Genoa, during the 13th and 14th centuries the city fell more than once into the hands of the Counts of Provence, but it regained its independence even though related to Genoa.
The medieval city walls surrounded the Old Town, the landward side was protected by the River Paillon, which was covered over and is now the tram route towards the Acropolis. The east side of the town was protected by fortifications on Castle Hill, another river flowed into the port on the east side of Castle Hill. Engravings suggest that the area was defended by walls
Italian irredentism
As a result, Piedmont-Sardinia was pressured to concede Nice and Savoy to France in exchange for France accepting and sending troops to help the unification of Italy. The claims were extended to the city of Fiume, the island of Malta, the County of Nice, to avoid confusion and in line with convention, this article uses modern English place names throughout. However, most places have names in Italian. See List of Italian place names in Dalmatia, similar nationalistic ideas were common in Europe in the late 19th century. The term irredentism was successfully coined from the Italian word in many countries in the world, Pasquale Paoli, the hero of Corsica, was called the precursor of Italian irredentism by Niccolò Tommaseo because he was the first to promote Italian language and socio-culture in his island. During the 19th century the Italian irredentism fully developed the characteristic of defending the Italian language from other peoples languages, the liberation of Italia irredenta was perhaps the strongest motive for Italys entry into World War I, and the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 satisfied many irredentist claims.
In the first case there were the Risorgimento claims on Trento, for example, while in the second there were the fascist claims on the Ionian Islands, the irredentists sought to annex all those areas to the newly unified Italy. The areas targeted were Corsica, Gorizia, the Ionian islands, Malta, County of Nice, small parts of Grisons and of Valais, Trentino and Fiume. The Italian nation-building process can be compared to similar movements in Germany, Serbia, however, in many parts of 19th-century Europe and nationalism were ideologies which were coming to the forefront of political culture. In Eastern Europe, where the Habsburg Empire had long asserted control over a variety of ethnic and cultural groups, the notion of a single united Italy was related to the aspirations of the majority populations. Irredentism grew in importance in Italy in the next years, benedetto Cairoli, Prime Minister of Italy, treated the agitation with tolerance. It was, mainly superficial, as most Italians did not wish a dangerous policy against Austria, one consequence of irredentist ideas outside of Italy was an assassination plot organized against the Emperor Francis Joseph in Trieste in 1882, which was detected and foiled.
Guglielmo Oberdan, a Triestine and thus Austrian citizen, was executed, when the irredentist movement became troublesome to Italy through the activity of Republicans and Socialists, it was subject to effective police control by Agostino Depretis. Irredentism faced a setback when the French occupation of Tunisia in 1881 started a crisis in French–Italian relations, the government entered into relations with Austria and Germany, which took shape with the formation of the Triple Alliance in 1882. According to the pact, Italy was to leave the Triple Alliance, Italy was to declare war on Germany and Austria-Hungary within a month. The declaration of war was published on 23 May 1915. In exchange, Italy was to obtain various territorial gains at the end of the war, the outcome of the First World War and the consequent settlement of the Treaty of Saint-Germain met some Italian claims, including many of the aims of the Italia irredenta party. Italy gained Trieste, Gorizia and the city of Zara, dAnnunzio briefly annexed to this Regency of Carnaro even the Dalmatian islands of Krk and Rab, where there was a numerous Italian community
Var (river)
The Var is a river located in the southeast of France. The name Var originates from the Ligurian word for waterway, the Var flows through the Alpes-Maritimes département for most of its length, with a short stretch in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence département. It is a case in France of a river not flowing in the département named after it. The Var rises near the Col de la Cayolle in the Maritime Alps and its main tributaries are the Cians, the Tinée, the Vésubie, the Coulomp, the Estéron, the Tuébi, the Chalvagne, the Barlatte, the Bourdous and the Roudoule
Migration Period
The Migration Period was a time of widespread migrations within or into Europe in the middle of the first millennium AD. It has been termed the Völkerwanderung and, from the Roman, many of the migrations were movements of Germanic and other peoples into the territory of the Roman Empire, with or without accompanying invasions or war. Although immigration was common throughout the time of the Roman Empire, had significant effects, they are outside the scope of the Migration Period. Germanic peoples moved out of southern Scandinavia and Germany to the adjacent lands between the Elbe and Oder after 1000 BC. The first wave moved westward and southward, moving into southern Germany up to the Roman provinces of Gaul and Cisalpine Gaul by 100 BC and it is this western group which was described by the Roman historian Tacitus and Julius Caesar. A wave of Germanic tribes migrated eastward and southward from Scandinavia between 600 and 300 BC to the opposite coast of the Baltic Sea, moving up the Vistula near the Carpathians, the Barbarian Invasions may be divided into two phases.
The first phase, occurring between AD300 and 500, is documented by Greek and Latin historians but difficult to verify archaeologically. It puts Germanic peoples in control of most areas of what was the Western Roman Empire, the Tervingi entered Roman territory in 376. Some time thereafter in Marcianopolis, the escort to Fritigern was killed while meeting with Lupicinus, fending off challenges from the Allemanni and Visigoths, the Frankish kingdom became the nucleus of what would become France and Germany. The initial Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain occurred during the fifth century, the Burgundians settled in North Western Italy and Eastern France in the fifth century. The second phase took place between 500 and 700 and saw Slavic tribes settling in central and eastern Europe, gradually making it predominantly Slavic, Turkic tribes such as the Avars became involved in this phase. In 567, the Avars and the Lombards destroyed much of the Gepid Kingdom, the Lombards, a Germanic people, settled in Italy with their Herulian, Gepid, Bulgarian and Saxon allies in the 6th century.
They were followed by the Bavarians and the Franks, who conquered and ruled most of Italy, during the Khazar–Arab Wars, the Khazars stopped the Arab expansion into Europe across the Caucasus. At the same time, the Moors invaded Europe via Gibraltar and these battles broadly demarcated the frontiers between Christendom and Islam for the next millennium. The following centuries saw the Muslims successful in conquering most of Sicily from the Christians by 902, the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin from around 895, and the Viking expansion from the late 8th century conventionally mark the last large movements of the period. Christianity gradually converted the non-Islamic newcomers and integrated them into the medieval Christian order, a number of contemporary historical references worldwide refer to an extended period of extreme weather during 535–536. Evidence of this period is found in dendrochronology and ice cores. The consequences of this period are debated
Regions of France
France is divided into 18 administrative regions, including 13 metropolitan regions and 5 overseas regions. The current legal concept of region was adopted in 1982, the term région was officially created by the Law of Decentralisation, which gave regions their legal status. The first direct elections for representatives took place on 16 March 1986. In 2016, the number of regions was reduced from 27 to 18 through amalgamation, in 2014, the French parliament passed a law reducing the number of metropolitan regions from 22 to 13 with effect from 1 January 2016. However, the region of Upper and Lower Normandy is simply called Normandy. Permanent names were to be proposed by the new regional councils by 1 July 2016, the legislation defining the new regions allowed the Centre region to officially change its name to Centre-Val de Loire with effect from January 2015. Two regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, opted to retain their interim names, between 1982 and 2015, there were 22 regions in Metropolitan France.
Before 2011, there were four regions, in 2011 Mayotte became the fifth. Regions lack separate legislative authority and therefore cannot write their own statutory law and they levy their own taxes and, in return, receive a decreasing part of their budget from the central government, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies. They have considerable budgets managed by a council made up of representatives voted into office in regional elections. A regions primary responsibility is to build and furnish high schools, in March 2004, the French central government unveiled a controversial plan to transfer regulation of certain categories of non-teaching school staff to the regional authorities. Critics of this plan contended that tax revenue was insufficient to pay for the costs. In addition, regions have considerable power over infrastructural spending, e. g. education, public transit and research. This has meant that the heads of regions such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes can be high-profile positions.
Number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1986, Overseas region is a recent designation, given to the overseas departments that have similar powers to those of the regions of metropolitan France. Radio France Internationale in English Overseas regions Ministère de lOutre-Mer some explanations about the past and current developments of DOMs and TOMs
Romanization (cultural)
Romanization may refer to linguistics see Romanization. Ancient Roman historiography and Italian historiography until the fascist period used to call these various processes the civilizing of barbarians, the acculturation proceeded from the top down, the upper classes adopting Roman culture first and the old ways lingering longest in outlying districts among peasants. Hostages played an important part in this process, as elite children, Ancient Roman historiography and traditional Italian historiography confidently identified the different processes involved with a civilization of barbarians. Modern historians take a more nuanced view, by making their peace with Rome, local elites could make their position more secure, new themes include the study of personal and group values and the construction of identity, the personal aspect of ethnogenesis. These transitions operated differently in different provinces, as Blagg and Millett point out even a Roman province may be too broad a canvas for generalizations.
One characteristic of cultural Romanization was the creation of hundreds of Roman coloniae in the territory of the Roman Republic. Until Trajan, colonies were created using retired veteran soldiers, mainly from the Italian peninsula, about 400 towns are known to have possessed the rank of colonia. During the empire, colonies were showcases of Roman culture and examples of the Roman way of life, the native population of the provinces could see how they were expected to live. Livius All this slowly culminated in many developments, The very existence is a source of contention among modern archaeologists. One of the first approaches, which can be regarded as the traditional approach today, was taken by Francis Haverfield. These coloniae would have spoken Latin and have been citizens of Rome following their army tenure – Haverfield thus assumes this would have a Romanising effect upon the native communities. This thought process, fueled though it was by early 20th century standards of Imperialism and cultural change, recent scholarship has devoted itself to providing alternate models of how native populations adopted Roman culture, while questioning the extent to which it was accepted or resisted.
Non-Interventionist Model – Native elites were encouraged to increase social standing through association with the powerful conqueror be it in dress, language and this provides them with associated power. The establishment of an administration system is quickly imposed to solidify the permanence of Roman rule. Discrepant Identity – No uniformity of identity which we can describe as traditional Romanization. Fundamental differences within a province are visible through economics, not all provincials were pro-Rome, nor did all elites seek to be like the Roman upper classes. Acculturation – Aspects of both Native and Roman cultures are joined together and this can be seen in the Roman acceptance, and adoption of, non-Classical religious practices. The inclusion of Isis, Epona and Dolychenus into the pantheon are evidence of this, creolization – Romanization occurs as a result of negotiation between different elements of non-egalitarian societies
Kingdom of Italy
The state was founded as a result of the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered its legal predecessor state. Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia in 1866, Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power. Italy entered into a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882, victory in the war gave Italy a permanent seat in the Council of the League of Nations. Fascist Italy is the era of National Fascist Party rule from 1922 to 1943 with Benito Mussolini as head of government, according to Payne, Fascist regime passed through several relatively distinct phases. The first phase was nominally a continuation of the parliamentary system, came the second phase, the construction of the Fascist dictatorship proper from 1925 to 1929. The third phase, with activism, was 1929–34. The war itself was the phase with its disasters and defeats. Italy was allied with Nazi Germany in World War II until 1943 and it switched sides to the Allies after ousting Mussolini and shutting down the Fascist party in areas controlled by the Allied invaders.
Shortly after the war, civil discontent led to the referendum of 1946 on whether Italy would remain a monarchy or become a republic. Italians decided to abandon the monarchy and form the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of Italy claimed all of the territory which is modern-day Italy. The development of the Kingdoms territory progressed under Italian re-unification until 1870, the state for a long period of time did not include Trieste or Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, which are in Italy today, and only annexed them in 1919. After the Second World War, the borders of present-day Italy were founded, the Kingdom of Italy was theoretically a constitutional monarchy. Executive power belonged to the monarch, as executed through appointed ministers, two chambers of parliament restricted the monarchs power—an appointive Senate and an elective Chamber of Deputies. The kingdoms constitution was the Statuto Albertino, the governing document of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In theory, ministers were responsible to the king.
However, in practice, it was impossible for an Italian government to stay in office without the support of Parliament, members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected by plurality voting system elections in uninominal districts. A candidate needed the support of 50% of those voting, and of 25% of all enrolled voters, if not all seats were filled on the first ballot, a runoff was held shortly afterwards for the remaining vacancies. After a brief multinominal experimentation in 1882, proportional representation into large, Socialists became the major party, but they were unable to form a government in a parliament split into three different factions, with Christian Populists and classical liberals
Alps
The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc, Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,810 m is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres, the altitude and size of the range affects the climate in Europe, in the mountains precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones. Wildlife such as live in the higher peaks to elevations of 3,400 m. Evidence of human habitation in the Alps goes back to the Palaeolithic era, a mummified man, determined to be 5,000 years old, was discovered on a glacier at the Austrian–Italian border in 1991. By the 6th century BC, the Celtic La Tène culture was well established, Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with a herd of elephants, and the Romans had settlements in the region.
In 1800 Napoleon crossed one of the passes with an army of 40,000. The 18th and 19th centuries saw an influx of naturalists, writers, in World War II, Adolf Hitler kept a base of operation in the Bavarian Alps throughout the war. The Alpine region has a cultural identity. The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted in the Swiss, French, at present, the region is home to 14 million people and has 120 million annual visitors. The English word Alps derives from the Latin Alpes, maurus Servius Honoratus, an ancient commentator of Virgil, says in his commentary that all high mountains are called Alpes by Celts. The term may be common to Italo-Celtic, because the Celtic languages have terms for high mountains derived from alp and this may be consistent with the theory that in Greek Alpes is a name of non-Indo-European origin. According to the Old English Dictionary, the Latin Alpes might possibly derive from a pre-Indo-European word *alb hill, Albania, a name not native to the region known as the country of Albania, has been used as a name for a number of mountainous areas across Europe.
In Roman times, Albania was a name for the eastern Caucasus, in modern languages the term alp, albe or alpe refers to a grazing pastures in the alpine regions below the glaciers, not the peaks. An alp refers to a mountain pasture where cows are taken to be grazed during the summer months and where hay barns can be found. The Alps are a crescent shaped geographic feature of central Europe that ranges in a 800 km arc from east to west and is 200 km in width, the mean height of the mountain peaks is 2.5 km. The range stretches from the Mediterranean Sea north above the Po basin, extending through France from Grenoble, the range continues onward toward Vienna and east to the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. To the south it dips into northern Italy and to the north extends to the border of Bavaria in Germany
Alpes-Maritimes
Alpes-Maritimes is a department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in the extreme southeast corner of France. The inhabitants of the department are called Maralpins, but are referred to as Azuréens. The Alpes-Maritimes department is surrounded by the departments of Var in the southwest, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in the north-west, and it surrounds the Principality of Monaco on the west and east. The highest point of the department is the Cime du Gélas on the Franco-Italian border which dominates the Vallée des Merveilles further east, in fact the summit of Monte Argentera is certainly higher at 3297 m above sea level but it is located in Italian territory. There is Mount Mounier which dominates the south of the vast Dôme de Barrot which is formed of a mass of more than 900 m thick red mudstones deeply indented by the gorges of Daluis and Cians. Except in winter, four passes allow passage to the north of the Mercantour/Argentera mountain range whose imposing 62 km long barrier covered in snow which is visible from the coast.
From the west the Route des Grandes Alpes enters the Cayolle Pass first on the way to the Alps, the route follows the Col de la Bonette - the highest pass in Europe at 2715 m - to connect to the valley of the Tinée the Ubaye. Further east, the Lombard pass above Isola 2000 allows access to the shrine of Saint-Anne de Vinadio in Italy, finally, at its eastern end, the Col de Tende links with Cuneo in Italy. The rivers in order are, It is the climate that made the Côte dAzur famous. The coastal area has a Mediterranean climate, towards the interior, especially in the north, a mountain climate. One of the attractions of the department is its level of sunshine,300 days per year, despite this the department is the most stormy of France with an average of 70 to 110 thunderstorm days per year. Alpes-Maritimes is divided into 2 arrondissements, the Grasse and the Nice,27 cantons and 163 communes, in 2002 there were 14 intercommunalities. At its greatest extent in AD297, the province reached north to Digne, a first French département of Alpes-Maritimes existed in the same area from 1793 to 1814.
Its boundaries differed from those of the department, however. In 1793 Alpes-Maritimes included Monaco and San Remo, but not Grasse which was part of the départment of Var. Sanremo, Sanremo, Dolceacqua, Taggia, Puget-Théniers, Puget-Théniers, Gilette, Roquesteron, Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée and Villars-sur-Var. Its population in 1812 was 131,266, and its area was 322,674 hectares, the department was reconstituted in 1860 when the county of Nice was annexed by France. It included the county of Nice as well as the independent towns of Menton and Roquebrune
France
