1.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
2.
Danish language
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There are also minor Danish-speaking communities in Norway, Sweden, Spain, the United States, Canada, Brazil and Argentina. Due to immigration and language shift in urban areas, around 15–20% of the population of Greenland speak Danish as their home language. Along with the other North Germanic languages, Danish is a descendant of Old Norse, until the 16th century, Danish was a continuum of dialects spoken from Schleswig to Scania with no standard variety or spelling conventions. With the Protestant Reformation and the introduction of printing, a language was developed which was based on the educated Copenhagen dialect. It spread through use in the system and administration though German. Today, traditional Danish dialects have all but disappeared, though there are variants of the standard language. The main differences in language are between generations, with youth language being particularly innovative, Danish has a very large vowel inventory comprising 27 phonemically distinctive vowels, and its prosody is characterized by the distinctive phenomenon stød, a kind of laryngeal phonation type. The grammar is moderately inflective with strong and weak conjugations and inflections, nouns and demonstrative pronouns distinguish common and neutral gender. As in English, Danish only has remnants of a case system, particularly in the pronouns. Its syntax is V2, with the verb always occupying the second slot in the sentence. Danish is a Germanic language of the North Germanic branch, other names for this group are the Nordic or Scandinavian languages. Along with Swedish, Danish descends from the Eastern dialects of the Old Norse language, Scandinavian languages are often considered a dialect continuum, where there are no sharp dividing lines between the different vernacular languages. Like Norwegian and Swedish, Danish was significantly influenced by Low German in the Middle Ages, Danish itself can be divided into three main dialect areas, West Danish, Insular Danish, and East Danish. Danish is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Swedish, both Swedes and Danes also understand Norwegian better than they understand each others languages. By the 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse, had some changes. This language was called the Danish tongue, or Norse language. Norse was written in the alphabet, first with the elder futhark. From the 7th century the common Norse language began to undergo changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, most of the changes separating East Norse from West Norse started as innovations in Denmark, that spread through Scania into Sweden and by maritime contact to southern Norway
3.
Castle
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A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. Usage of the term has varied over time and has applied to structures as diverse as hill forts. Over the approximately 900 years that castles were built, they took on a great many forms with different features, although some, such as curtain walls. A European innovation, castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian Empire resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. Although their military origins are often emphasised in castle studies, the structures served as centres of administration. Many castles were built from earth and timber, but had their defences replaced later by stone. Early castles often exploited natural defences, lacking features such as towers and arrowslits, in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a scientific approach to castle defence emerged. This led to the proliferation of towers, with an emphasis on flanking fire, many new castles were polygonal or relied on concentric defence – several stages of defence within each other that could all function at the same time to maximise the castles firepower. These changes in defence have been attributed to a mixture of castle technology from the Crusades, such as concentric fortification, not all the elements of castle architecture were military in nature, so that devices such as moats evolved from their original purpose of defence into symbols of power. Some grand castles had long winding approaches intended to impress and dominate their landscape, while castles continued to be built well into the 16th century, new techniques to deal with improved cannon fire made them uncomfortable and undesirable places to live. As a result, true castles went into decline and were replaced by artillery forts with no role in civil administration, and country houses that were indefensible. From the 18th century onwards, there was a renewed interest in castles with the construction of castles, part of a romantic revival of Gothic architecture. The word castle is derived from the Latin word castellum, which is a diminutive of the word castrum, meaning fortified place. The Old English castel, Old French castel or chastel, French château, Spanish castillo, Italian castello, the word castle was introduced into English shortly before the Norman Conquest to denote this type of building, which was then new to England. In its simplest terms, the definition of a castle accepted amongst academics is a fortified residence. Feudalism was the link between a lord and his vassal where, in return for service and the expectation of loyalty. Castles served a range of purposes, the most important of which were military, administrative, as well as defensive structures, castles were also offensive tools which could be used as a base of operations in enemy territory
4.
Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein
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Schleswig is a town in the northeastern part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the Kreis Schleswig-Flensburg and it has a population of about 27,000, the main industries being leather and food processing. It takes its name from the Schlei, an inlet of the Baltic sea at the end of which it sits, Schleswig or Slesvig therefore means bay of the Schlei. The urban area ranges from 0 to 20 m above sea level, the nearest major cities are Flensburg, Husum and Kiel. Autobahn 7 runs immediately west of the city, highways 76 and 77 end in Schleswig and B201 runs to the north of the town. Schleswig station is a stop for InterCity and Intercity-Express trains and is on the Hamburg–Neumünster–Flensburg, the climate is humid and maritime. The annual mean temperature is 8 °C and precipitation averages 925 mm, the Viking settlement of Hedeby, located south of the modern town, was first mentioned in 804. It was a settlement in the Baltic region, dominating the area for more than 200 years. In 1050, following several destructions, the population was moved to the shore of the Schlei. In 1066 Hedeby was finally destroyed, and Schleswig remained as a part of the Danish kingdom, in 1544, Gottorf Castle became the residence of the local rulers. The dukes of Gottorf were vassals of the Danish kings and ruled much of present-day Schleswig-Holstein. In 1721, when the Great Northern War ended, the dukes of Gottorf lost their power, after the Second Schleswig War, Schleswig was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia
5.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
6.
Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
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Other parts of the duchies were ruled by the kings of Denmark. The territories of Gottorp are located in present-day Denmark and Germany, the main seat of the dukes was Gottorf Castle in the city of Schleswig in the duchy of Schleswig. It is also the name of the house, which ascended to several thrones. For this reason genealogists and historians use the name of Holstein-Gottorp for related dynasties of other countries. The Gottorp branch held Landeshoheit over the duchy of Holstein in the Holy Roman Empire, the name Holstein-Gottorp is for the sake of convenience used instead of the technically more correct Duke of Schleswig and Holstein in/at Gottorp. The kings of Denmark were granted Holstein as a fief by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III from 1474. In 1544 the so-called one-third duchy was ceded to Adolf, third son of King Frederick I of Denmark, thus the surviving House of Holstein-Gottorp is a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg. The Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp shared the rule of Schleswig and Holstein with the Kings of Denmark. As such, they were allies of the Swedes, enemies of the Danes. By the Treaty of Roskilde and the Treaty of Copenhagen, Denmark released Gottorp from its feudal bonds, in fact, these Schleswigers had been relatively independent already for more than a century. Although the duchy of Holstein remained officially a fief of the Empire, in the Great Northern War the duchy sided with Sweden and was defeated after Danish troops occupied the northern portions of Holstein-Gottorp. Charles Frederick himself was married to Grand Duchess Anna, Peters daughter, Peters successors abandoned his policy of backing the claims of the dukes of Holstein-Gottorp. But from this marriage was born Charles Peter Ulrich, who succeeded to Holstein-Gottorp in 1739, Charles Peter Ulrich, who acceded to the Russian throne as Peter III in 1762, was determined to conquer Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark–Norway. When he became emperor in 1762, he signed a generous peace with Prussia. This move angered Russian opinion, since it was considered a betrayal of Russias sacrifices in the war, at the same time, the Danish army had hastily moved across the border into Mecklenburg, to avoid an invasion of Holstein, and prepared for battle. One of her first actions was to call off the war against Denmark, Peter IIIs son, Paul, the new Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, was a minor under the regency of his mother, the empress. The duchy was given to Pauls grandfathers cousin, the aged Prince-Bishop of Lübeck and this put an end to the Gottorp question, which had generated so many conflicts between the Nordic powers. The House of Holstein-Gottorp acceded to several European thrones, the dynastic policy of the dukes of Holstein-Gottorp resulted in its cadet branch, the Swedish line, ruling Sweden from 1751 until 1818 and Norway from 1814 to 1818
7.
House of Oldenburg
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The House of Oldenburg is a European royal house of North German origin. It is one of Europes most influential royal houses with branches that rule or have ruled in Denmark, Iceland, Greece, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Schleswig, Holstein, and Oldenburg. It rose to prominence when Count Christian I of Oldenburg was elected King of Denmark in 1448, of Norway in 1450, the house has occupied the Danish throne ever since. Marriages of medieval counts of Oldenburg had paved the way for their heirs to become kings of various Scandinavian kingdoms, through marriage with a descendant of King Valdemar I of Sweden and of King Eric IV of Denmark, a claim to Sweden and Denmark was staked, since 1350. At that time, its competitors were the successors of Margaret I of Denmark. In the 15th century, the Oldenburg heir of that claim married Hedwig of Schauenburg, since descendants better situated in genealogical charts died out, their son Christian became the king of all three kingdoms of the whole Kalmar Union. The House of Mecklenburg was its chief competitor regarding the Northern thrones, different Oldenburgine branches have reigned in several countries. EU, retrieved August 2012
8.
Schlei
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The Schlei is a narrow inlet of the Baltic Sea in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It stretches for approximately 20 miles from the Baltic near Kappeln, along the Schlei are many small bays and swamps. It separates the Angeln peninsula to the north from the Schwansen peninsula to the south, the important Viking settlement of Hedeby was located at the head of the firth, but was later abandoned in favor of the city of Schleswig. A museum has built on the site, telling the story of the abandoned town
9.
Baltic Sea
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The Baltic Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, enclosed by Scandinavia, Finland, the Baltic countries, and the North European Plain. It includes the Gulf of Bothnia, the Bay of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga, the sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 10°E to 30°E longitude. The Baltic Sea is connected by waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea Canal. Traffic history Historically, the Kingdom of Denmark collected Sound Dues from ships at the border between the ocean and the land-locked Baltic Sea and they were collected in the Øresund at Kronborg castle near Helsingør, in the Great Belt at Nyborg. In the Little Belt, the site of intake was moved to Fredericia, the narrowest part of Little Belt is the Middelfart Sund near Middelfart. Oceanography Geographers widely agree that the physical border of the Baltic is a line drawn through the southern Danish islands, Drogden-Sill. The Drogden Sill is situated north of Køge Bugt and connects Dragør in the south of Copenhagen to Malmö, it is used by the Øresund Bridge, including the Drogden Tunnel. By this definition, the Danish Straits are part of the entrance, but the Bay of Mecklenburg, another usual border is the line between Falsterbo, Sweden and Stevns Klint, Denmark, as this is the southern border of Øresund. Its also the border between the shallow southern Øresund and notably deeper water, hydrography and biology Drogden Sill sets a limit to Øresund and Darss Sill, and a limit to the Belt Sea. The shallow sills are obstacles to the flow of salt water from the Kattegat into the basins around Bornholm. The Kattegat and the southwestern Baltic Sea are well oxygenated and have a rich biology, the remainder of the Sea is brackish, poor in oxygen and in species. While Tacitus called it Mare Suebicum after the Germanic people called the Suebi, the origin of the latter name is speculative. Adam of Bremen himself compared the sea with a belt, stating that it is so named because it stretches through the land as a belt and he might also have been influenced by the name of a legendary island mentioned in the Natural History of Pliny the Elder. Pliny mentions an island named Baltia with reference to accounts of Pytheas and it is possible that Pliny refers to an island named Basilia in On the Ocean by Pytheas. Baltia also might be derived from belt and mean near belt of sea, meanwhile, others have suggested that the name of the island originates from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhel meaning white, fair. This root and its meaning were retained in both Lithuanian and Latvian. On this basis, a related hypothesis holds that the name originated from this Indo-European root via a Baltic language such as Lithuanian, yet another explanation is that the name originally meant enclosed sea, bay as opposed to open sea. Some Swedish historians believe the name derives from the god Balder of Nordic mythology, in the Middle Ages the sea was known by variety of names
10.
Duchy of Schleswig
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The region is also called Sleswick in English. Roman sources place the homeland of the Jute tribe north of the river Eider and that of the Angles to its south, who in turn abutted the neighbouring Saxons. During the early Viking Age, Haithabu - Scandinavias biggest trading centre - was located in this region and its construction, and in particular its great expansion around 737, has been interpreted as an indication of the emergence of a unified Danish state. In May 1931 scientists of the National Museum of Denmark announced the finding of eighteen Viking graves with the remains of eighteen men in them, the discovery came during excavations in Schleswig. The skeletons indicated that the men were bigger proportioned than twentieth-century Danish men, each of the graves was laid out from east to west. Researchers surmised that the bodies were entombed in wooden coffins originally, towards the end of the Early Middle Ages, Schleswig formed part of the historical Lands of Denmark as Denmark unified out of a number of petty chiefdoms in the 8th to 10th centuries. The southern boundary of Denmark in the region of the Eider River, the Treaty of Heiligen was signed in 811 between the Danish King Hemming and Charlemagne, by which the border was established at the Eider. During the 10th century there were wars between East Francia and Denmark. In 1027, Conrad II and Canute the Great again settled their mutual border at the Eider. In 1115, king Niels created his nephew Canute Lavard - a son of his predecessor Eric I - Earl of Schleswig, in the 1230s, Southern Jutland was allotted as an appanage to Abel Valdemarsen, Canutes great-grandson, a younger son of Valdemar II of Denmark. Feuds and marital alliances brought the Abel dynasty into a connection with the German Duchy of Holstein by the 15th century. The latter was a subordinate to the Holy Roman Empire. The title Duke of Schleswig was inherited in 1460 by the kings of Norway who were also regularly elected kings of Denmark simultaneously. This was an anomaly – a king holding a ducal title, the title and anomaly survived presumably because it was already co-regally held by the kings sons. Between 1544 and 1713/20 the ducal reign had become a condominium, with the royal House of Oldenburg, a third branch in the condominium, the short-lived House of Haderslev, was already extinct in 1580 by the time of John the Elder. On the west coast the Danish diocese of Ribe stopped about 5 km north of the present border and this line corresponds remarkably well with the present border. In the 17th century a series of wars between Denmark and Sweden—which Denmark lost—devastated the region economically, however the nobility responded with a new agricultural system that restored prosperity. In the period 1600 to 1800 the region experienced the growth of manorialism of the common in the rye-growing regions of eastern Germany
11.
Holstein
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Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany. Holstein once existed as the County of Holstein, the later Duchy of Holstein, the history of Holstein is closely intertwined with the history of the Danish Duchy of Schleswig. The capital of Holstein is Kiel, Holsteins name comes from the Holcetae, a Saxon tribe mentioned by Adam of Bremen as living on the north bank of the Elbe, to the west of Hamburg. The name means dwellers in the wood, after the Migration Period of the Early Middle Ages, Holstein was adjacent to The Obotrites on the coast of the Baltic Sea and the land of the Danes in Jutland. With the conquest of Old Saxony by Charlemagne circa 800, he granted land north of the Eider River to the Danes by the Treaty of Heiligen signed in 811. The ownership of Holstein was given to The Obotrites, namely the Wagrians, after 814, the Saxons were restored to Western Holstein. The new county of Holstein was established in 1111, it was first a fief of the Duchy of Saxony, then of the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, with the establishment of the new territorial unit, expansion to the East began and the Wagrians were finally defeated in 1138. The County of Holstein was ruled by the House of Schaumburg, Holstein was occupied by Denmark after the Battle of Stellau, but was reconquered by the Count of Schauenburg and his allies in the Battle of Bornhöved. He thus became as Gerhard II duke of Schleswig, until 1390 the Rendsburg branch united by inheritance all branches except of that of Holstein-Pinneberg. Through the Treaty of Ribe Christian was elected Count of Holstein-Rendsburg, in 1474 Lauenburgs liege lord Emperor Frederick III elevated Christian I as Count of Holstein-Rendsburg to Duke of Holstein, thus becoming an immediate imperial vassal. The Duchy of Holstein retained that status until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806, in 1490, the Duchy of Holstein was divided into Holstein-Segeberg and Holstein-Gottorp. Holstein-Segeberg remained with the Danish king and was known as Royal Holstein. Holstein-Gottorp, also known as Ducal Holstein, was given to a branch of the House of Oldenburg. Between 1533 and 1544 King Christian III of Denmark ruled the entire Duchies of Holstein and of Schleswig also in the name of his still minor half-brothers John the Elder. The elder three brothers determined their youngest brother Frederick for a career as Lutheran administrator of a state within the Holy Roman Empire. The secular rule in the fiscally divided duchies thus became a condominium of the parties, as dukes of Holstein and Schleswig the rulers of both houses bore the formal title of Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Ditmarsh and Stormarn. Between 1648 and 1773 the royal share used to be called Holstein-Glückstadt after its capital Glückstadt, parts of the former County of Holstein-Pinneberg were transformed 1649/50 into the Imperial County of Rantzau, which fell back to the Danish Crown in 1726
12.
Rendsburg
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Rendsburg is a town on the River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the central part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the Kreis of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, as of 2006, it had a population of 28,476. Rendsburg was first mentioned in 1199, an old form of its name in Danish was Reynoldsburgh. It became a part of Holstein in the 13th century, but was transferred to Schleswig in 1460, many times the town passed from Danish to German control and vice versa. In the German-Danish War in 1864 Rendsburg was finally seized by Kingdom of Prussia and Austria, after 1866 the town was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia. Since that time it has remained part of Germany, although the Eider is navigable for small craft from its mouth on the North Sea to Rendsburg, the towns importance rose in 1895, when the Kiel Canal was finished. The much larger ships that could navigate the Kiel Canal meant that, although situated inland, Rendsburg became a seaport and a dockyard. It is the longest railway bridge in Europe, on the northern side, suspended from the railway bridge, a transporter bridge - one of only twenty ever built - traverses the canal. The German Armys Air Defence School and the Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz are both located in Rendsburg
13.
Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein
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The Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein were titles of the Frankish Empire. The dynastic family came from the County of Schauenburg near Rinteln on the Weser in Germany, together with its ancestral possessions in Bückeburg and Stadthagen, the House of Schauenburg ruled the County of Schauenburg and the County of Holstein. The comital titles of Holstein were subject to the lord, the Dukes of undivided Saxony till 1296. The County of Schaumburg originated as a county, which was founded at the beginning of the 12th century. It was named after Schauenburg Castle, near Rinteln on the Weser, Adolf I probably became the first Lord of Schauenburg in 1106. In 1110, Adolf I, Lord of Schauenburg was appointed by Lothair, Duke of Saxony to hold Holstein and Stormarn, including Hamburg, as fiefs. In a battle with Denmark, however, Adolf became prisoner of the king Valdemar II, in 1227 Adolf IIIs son, Adolf IV, recovered the lost lands from Denmark. Holstein and Schauenburg Holstein Schauenburg After 1261 the previously jointly ruling brothers Gerhard I, Gerhard I received the Counties of Holstein-Itzehoe and Schaumburg, whereas John received the County of Holstein-Kiel. After the death of John I, his sons Adolphus V, in 1273 they partitioned Holstein-Kiel and John II continued ruling over Kiel, Adolphus V the Pomeranian then received Segeberg. After the death of Adolphus V, Holstein-Segeberg was reincorporated into Holstein-Kiel, the eldest brother John was Canon at the Hamburg Cathedral. After the death of Gerhard II his sons Gerhard IV and his younger half-brother John III the Mild inherited and ruled in Holstein-Plön together, in 1316 the brothers militarily seized the possessions of John II the One-Eyed in Holstein-Kiel, whose sons had been killed. John III the Mild, before a second-born co-ruling count in Plön, then received Kiel from the deposed John II the One-Eyed, Gerhard IV continued ruling Holstein-Plön as sole count. After the death of John IIIs nephew Gerhard V, Count of Holstein-Plön in 1350, who had succeeded Gerhard IV, members of the Rendsburg family branch were often also simply titled as Counts of Holstein after 1390. For the Pinneberg family branch, usually residing in the County of Schaumburg, after Alberts death in 1403 Segeberg reverted to Rendsberg. After King Christian I of Denmark, House of Oldenburg had been chosen as heir to the County of Holstein-Rendsburg Christian ascended to the throne in 1460. In 1474 Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, elevated Christian I from Count of Holstein-Rendsburg to Duke of Holstein, for his succession in the Duchy of Holstein see List of rulers of Schleswig-Holstein#House of Oldenburg. The Schauenburg line in the Counties of Holstein-Pinneberg and Schaumburg persisted until its extinction in the line in 1640. This line is known as Holstein-Schauenburg
14.
Christian I of Denmark
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Christian I was a Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union. He was King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, from 1460 to 1481, he was also Duke of Schleswig and Count of Holstein. He was the first Danish monarch of the House of Oldenburg and he was a son of Count Dietrich of Oldenburg, a descendant of King Eric IV of Denmark, and Hedwig of Holstein, a descendant of King Eric V of Denmark and Abel of Denmark. His subsequent accessions to the thrones of Norway and Sweden, restored the unity of the Kalmar Union for a short period. In 1460, following the death of his uncle, Duke Adolphus of Schleswig, Count of Holstein, Christian also became Duke of Schleswig. In the 1470s, he undertook several costly travels, in 1474 to Pope Sixtus IV, Christian I was born in February 1426 in Oldenburg in Northern Germany as the eldest son of Count Dietrich of Oldenburg by his second wife, Helvig of Holstein. Christian had two brothers, Maurice and Gerhard, and one sister Adelheid. Through his father, he belonged to the House of Oldenburg, based on the two strongholds of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, the family had gradually expanded its rule over the neighbouring Frisian tribes of the area. Christians father was called the Fortunate as he had reunited and expanded the familys territory, christians mother, Helvig, was a daughter of Gerhard VI, Count of Holstein, and a sister of Adolphus, Duke of Schleswig. Through his father, Christian was a descendant of King Eric IV of Denmark through his daughter Sophia. Christian thus descended from the three surviving sons of Valdemar II and his second wife Berengaria of Portugal, at Dietrich death in 1440, Christian and his brothers jointly succeeded their father as Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst. In January 1448, King Christopher of Denmark, Sweden and Norway died suddenly and his death resulted in the break-up of the union of the three kingdoms, as Denmark and Sweden went their separate ways. The vacant Danish throne was first offered by the Council of the Realm to Duke Adolphus of Schleswig, but being relatively old and childless, the duke declined and recommended his nephew, count Christian of Oldenburg. The council also demanded that Christian should marry the widow of his predecessor King Christopher III, on 1 September 1448, after signing his ascension promissory, count Christian was elected to the Danish throne as king Christian I at the assembly in Viborg. His coronation was held on 28 October 1449, in the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen, meanwhile, Sweden had on 20 June 1448 elected Charles Knutsson as king. Norway was now faced with the choice between a union with Denmark or Sweden, or electing a separate king, the latter option was quickly discarded, and a power-struggle ensued between the supporters of Christian of Denmark and Charles of Sweden. The Norwegian Council of the Realm was divided, in February 1449, a part of the Council declared in favour of Charles as king, but on 15 June the same year, a different group of councillors paid homage to Christian. On 20 November, Charles was crowned king of Norway in Trondheim, however, the Swedish nobility now took steps to avoid war with Denmark
15.
Denmark
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The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
16.
Frederick I of Denmark
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Frederick I was the King of Denmark and Norway. His name is also spelled Friedrich in German, Frederik in Danish and Norwegian and he was the penultimate Roman Catholic monarch to reign over Denmark, when subsequent monarchs embraced Lutheranism after the Protestant Reformation. As King of Norway, Frederick is most remarkable in never having visited the country and was never being crowned King of Norway, therefore he was styled King of Denmark, the Vends and the Goths, elected King of Norway. Frederick was the son of the first Oldenburg King Christian I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Soon after the death of his father, the underage Frederick was elected co-Duke of Schleswig and Holstein in 1482, in 1490 at Fredericks majority, both duchies were divided between the brothers. In 1500 he had convinced his brother King John to conquer Dithmarschen, a great army was called from not only the duchies, but with additions from all of the Kalmar Union for which his brother briefly was king. In addition, numerous German mercenaries took part, the expedition failed miserably, however, in the Battle of Hemmingstedt, where one third of all knights of Schleswig and Holstein lost their lives. In 1523 Christian II, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, was forced by disloyal nobles to abdicate and it is not certain that Frederick ever learned to speak Danish. After becoming king, he continued spending most of his time at Gottorp, in 1524 and 1525 Frederick had to suppress revolts among the peasants in Jutland and Scania who demanded the restoration of Christian II. The high point of the came in 1525 when Søren Norby. He raised 8000 men who besieged Kärnan, a castle in Helsingborg, Fredericks general, Johann Rantzau, moved his army to Scania and defeated the peasants soundly in April and May 1525. Frederick played a role in the spread of Lutheran teaching throughout Denmark. In his coronation charter, he was made the protector of Roman Catholicism in Denmark. In that role, he asserted his right to select bishops for the Roman Catholic dioceses in the country, Christian II had been intolerant of Protestant teaching, but Frederick took a more opportunist approach. For example, he ordered that Lutherans and Roman Catholics share the same churches, in 1526, when Lutheran Reformer Hans Tausen was threatened with arrest and trial for heresy, Frederick appointed him his personal chaplain to give him immunity. Starting in 1527, Frederick authorized the closure of Franciscan houses and monasteries in 28 Danish cities, during his reign, Frederick was skillful enough to prevent all-out warfare between Protestants and Roman Catholics. In 1532 he succeeded in capturing Christian II who had tried to make a political come-back in Norway, Frederick died on 10 April 1533 in Gottorp, at the age of 61, and was buried in Schleswig Cathedral. Upon Fredericks death, tensions between Roman Catholics and Protestants rose to a pitch which would result in the Counts Feud
17.
Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
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Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp was the first Duke of Holstein-Gottorp from the line of Holstein-Gottorp of the House of Oldenburg. He was the son of King Frederick I of Denmark. Frederick had his son educated by Landgrave Philip I of Hesse and he spent four years in the Philips castle in Kassel. In 1544 Adolf, his brother Johann, and their half-brother King Christian III of Denmark, divided the duchies of Schleswig, the areas were divided according to approximately equal tax proceeds. Adolf, as the youngest, was entitled the first choice, since he selected the part with the castle Gottorp, the line of the house Oldenburg created by him was called Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp. They determined their youngest brother Frederick was to have a career as Lutheran administrator, in 1551 Frederick became administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim. In 1544, following negotiations between the three brothers and the nobility of the duchies, the brothers decided to partition the duchies of Holstein. The revenues of the duchies were divided into three equal shares by assigning the revenues of particular areas and landed estates to each of the elder brothers, other general revenues, such as taxes from towns and customs duties, were levied together and then shared among the brothers. The secular rule in the fiscally divided duchies was shared between the brothers, as dukes of Holstein and Schleswig the three brothers bore the formal title of Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Ditmarsh and Stormarn. Adolf founded a branch of the royal Danish House of Oldenburg called the House of Holstein-Gottorp. John the Elder, the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Haderslev, produced no issue, after his death in 1580, Adolf and his nephew Frederick II of Denmark halved Johns share among themselves. Adolf travelled, entrusting Johan Rantzau to manage his country, Adolf participated in the Diet of Augsburg where he witnessed Emperor Charles V at the high point of his power. In 1553 Adolf returned to his homeland, in 1556 Adolf succeeded his younger brother Frederick as Bishop of Schleswig. On 17 December 1564 he married Christine, daughter of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, sophia, married on 17 February 1588 to John VII of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Christina, married on 27 August 1592 to King Charles IX of Sweden, elisabeth John Adolph, prince-bishop of Bremen, Lübeck, later duke of Holstein and duke of Schleswig. Anna, married 28 January 1598 to Count Enno III of Ostfriesland, John Frederick, prince-bishop of Bremen, Lübeck and Verden. Duke Adolf is a character in Stefan Heyms book 1981 Ahasver, Heyms depiction of the Duke is highly satyrical and unflattering. e. Imposing the newly minted Lutheran orthodoxy and persecuting heretics such as the Mennonites, rolf Kuschert, Die frühe Neuzeit, in, Nordfriisk Instituut Geschichte Nordfrieslands, Heide Boyens & Co 1995
18.
Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
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Frederick III of Holstein-Gottorp was a Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. He was the son of Duke Johann Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp. His mother was a daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark and he had ambitious plans concerning the development of sea trade. With this purpose he established Friedrichstadt in 1621, in sympathy with city of Glückstadt established in 1617 by Christian IV of Denmark, furthermore, he attempted to find a commercial way to Russia and Persia that would not pass around Africa. On 14 August 1634 the delegation arrived at Moscow, in 1636, he sent his delegation to Persia, and in 1639 Safi of Persia sent a return delegation with presents for the Duke. The difficult task of leading the country through the Thirty Years War confronted Frederick and he tried a policy of neutrality, which meant in practice the refusal of the union with Denmark and inclinations toward Sweden. In 1654 he hosted the recently abdicated Christina, Queen of Sweden and she wrote to her successor to recommend two of his daughters as potential brides. Thus, he married his daughter Hedvig Eleonora to King Charles X of Sweden, since the Swedish attempt at being the Great Power ultimately failed, Fredericks pro-Swedish policy led to the weakening of the house of Holstein-Gottorp. Frederick as the patron of art and culture was more successful, thus he founded on 3 September 1642 together with Prince Louis I of Anhalt-Köthen the Fruitbearing Society. Furthermore, he contributed to the creation of the Globe of Gottorf, the painter Jürgen Ovens worked more than 30 years for him and his successor Christian Albrecht of Holstein-Gottorp. He was married in Dresden on 21 February 1630 to Princess Marie Elisabeth of Saxony, daughter of Elector John George I of Saxony and they had the following children, Sofie Auguste, married on 16 September 1649 to John VI, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst. Mother of John Louis I, Prince of Anhalt-Dornburg, grandmother of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, Magdalene Sibylle, married on 28 November 1654 to Gustav Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. Mother of Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, Queen of Denmark, Marie Elisabeth, married on 24 November 1650 to Louis VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. Hedwig Eleonore, married on 24 October 1654 to King Charles X of Sweden, August Friedrich, Prince-Regent of Eutin and Prince-Bishop of Lübeck, married on 21 June 1676 to Christine of Saxe-Weissenfels. Auguste Marie, married on 15 May 1670 to Frederick VII, Margrave of Baden-Durlach. The Voyages and Travells of the Ambassadors Sent by Frederick Duke of Holstein, to the Great Duke of Muscovy, and the King of Persia, Begun in the Year M. DC. XXXIII, Queen Hedwig Eleonora of Sweden, Dowager, Builder, and Collector. Queenship in Europe 1660-1815, The Role of the Consort
19.
Nicodemus Tessin the Younger
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Count Nicodemus Tessin the Younger was a Swedish Baroque architect, city planner, and administrator. Tessin was born on May 23,1654, as the child of Nicodemus Tessin the Elder, son of the mayor of Stralsund. These architects, together with the study of classical monuments. In 1687-88 he traveled to Rome and back to Sweden through Austria, during the trip he made extensive notes in a diary describing works of architecture he saw during the journey. As parts of this group, Tessin the Elder was raised to lesser nobility in 1674. Their correspondence has also proven invaluable for later historical research, upon his return he immediately begun his work on the royal palace, and in 1695 his large-scale northern Baroque façade was completed, apparently inspired by Berninis project at the Louvre. Ambitions to further renew the palace first came to a halt as the king died, Tessin was appointed to produce plans for a new palace the day after the fire and he quickly produced a proposal which pleased both the young King Charles XII and his regency. Even though Tessin spent much of his life producing detailed plans for the palace. In 1690, Tessin married his mistress Hedvig Eleonora Stenbock, maid of honour of Queen Hedvig Elenora, however, at this time Tessin still belonged to the lesser nobility and his marriage to a woman from the high nobility was regarded as inappropriate. The marriage therefore had to take place secretly in Pomerania and, to repair the situation, besides his own palace, the gardens of the Drottningholm Palace and Steninge Palace, both located not far from Stockholm, are often pointed out as his greatest achievements. During his later life, he played an important role as an administrator, Tessin the Younger was the father of Carl Gustaf Tessin, one of the most influential Swedish politicians of his time. Carl Erik Tessin Hedvig Tessin von Schwerin Ulrika Maria Tessin Sparre, she was the mother of Fredrik Sparre, Stockholm Palace Tessin Palace, Steninge Palace Completion of the Drottningholm Palace Gottorp, Schleswig, Holy Trinity Church, Karlskrona King Charles Church, Kungsör von Haslingen, Birgitta. Commodare hus kan ges, men aldrig utan yttre dekorationens kostnad
20.
Frederick IV of Denmark
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Frederick IV was the king of Denmark and Norway from 1699 until his death. Frederick was the son of King Christian V of Denmark-Norway and his consort Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel, as crown prince, Frederick broadened his education by travelling in Europe, led by his chamberlain Ditlev Wibe. The one-story building, probably designed by Ernst Brandenburger, was completed in 1703, Frederick was allowed to choose his future wife from a number of Protestant royal daughters in northern Germany. In 1695, he visited the court of Gustav-Adolph in Güstrow, but his visit there was cut short by a message telling of his brother Christians serious illness. Frederick later returned to Güstrow, where he was forced to choose the eldest of the unmarried princesses, on 5 December 1695 at Copenhagen Castle, he married Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, herself a great-great-granddaughter of Frederick II of Denmark. The couple were crowned King and Queen of Denmark-Norway on 25 August 1699 in the Frederiksborg Chapel, Fredericks most important domestic reform was the abolition in 1702 of the so-called vornedskab, a kind of serfdom which had fallen on the peasants of Zealand in the Late Middle Ages. His efforts were largely in vain because of the introduction of adscription in 1733, after the war, trade and culture flowered. The first Danish theatre, Lille Grönnegade, was created and the great dramatist Ludvig Holberg began his career, also, a colonisation of Greenland was started by the missionary Hans Egede. Politically this period was marked by the connection to the Reventlows, the Holsteiner relatives of his last queen. During Fredericks rule Copenhagen was struck by two disasters, the plague of 1711, and the fire of October 1728, which destroyed most of the medieval capital. And Fredensborg Palace, both considered monuments to the conclusion of the Great Northern War and he maintained weekly audiences where anyone could attend and deliver letters with complaints or projects. While the nine weeks stay lasted, the king was a frequent guest on operas and comedies, during the visit to the state armory, he received the republics upscale gift, two large ore guns and an ore mortar. A regatta on the Grand Canal was held in his honour and is imortalized in a painting by Luca Carlevarijs. The winter that season was particularly cold, so cold that the lagoon of Venice froze over, and it was joked that the king of Denmark had brought the cold weather with him. On his return he led negotiations with the Elector Augustus of Saxony. For much of Frederick IVs reign Denmark was engaged in the Great Northern War against Sweden, in spite of the conclusion of the Peace of Travendal in 1700, there was soon a Swedish invasion and threats from Europes western naval powers. In 1709 Denmark again entered the war encouraged by the Swedish defeat at Poltava, Frederick IV commanded the Danish troops at the battle of Gadebusch in 1712. Although Denmark emerged on the side, she failed to reconquer lost possessions in southern Sweden
21.
Kingdom of Prussia
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It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia. Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more known as Frederick the Great. After the might of Prussia was revealed it was considered as a power among the German states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went on to win many battles and it was because of its power that Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states under its rule. Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most powerful states, Prussia and Austria. The North German Confederation which lasted from 1867–1871, created a union between the Prussian-aligned states while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained independent. The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, the German Empire lasted from 1871–1918 with the successful unification of all the German states under Prussian hegemony. This was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, in 1871, Germany unified into a single country, minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power. Prussia is considered the predecessor of the unified German Reich. The Kingdom left a significant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to the March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, after the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns of the German states including Prussia, suffered many economic setbacks. Many of the Prussian towns could not even afford to attend political meetings outside of Prussia, the towns were poverty stricken, with even the largest town, Danzig, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade. Poverty in these towns was partly caused by Prussias neighbors, who had established and developed such a monopoly on trading that these new towns simply could not compete and these issues led to feuds, wars, trade competition and invasions. However, the fall of these gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west. It was clear in 1440 how different Brandenburg was from the other German territories, not only did it face partition from within but also the threat of its neighbors. It prevented the issue of partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea which instilled the principle of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories, the second issue was solved through expansion
22.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and 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, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even 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 simultaneously and 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 forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
23.
Displaced persons camp
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A displaced persons camp or DP camp is a temporary facility for displaced persons. Such camps are now known as refugee camps. Combat operations, ethnic cleansing, and the fear of genocide uprooted millions of people from their homes over the course of World War II, between 11 million and 20 million people were displaced. The majority were inmates of Nazi concentration camps, Labor camps, as the war ended, these people found themselves facing an uncertain future. Allied military and civilian authorities faced considerable challenges resettling them, in addition, displaced persons came from every country that had been invaded and/or occupied by German forces. Additionally, many could not return home for fear of persecution or retribution for perceived collaboration with Axis powers. The original plan for those displaced as a result of World War II was to them to their countries of origin as quickly as possible. Depending on sectors occupied in Austria and Germany, American, French, British, or Soviet forces tended to the needs of the refugees. In the months and sometimes following the end of the war. Nearly all of them were malnourished, a number were ill. Shelter was often improvised, and there were instances of military personnel sharing from their own supplies of food, medicine, clothing. In a matter of weeks, there was a more or less formalized infrastructure for taking in, registering, treating, classifying, sorting, and transporting displaced persons. Initially, military missions of the various Allied nations attached to the British, French, for example, during 1945 and 1946 there were several dozen Polish liaison officers attached to individual occupation army units. Those who were classified and were willing to be repatriated were rapidly sent back to their country of origin. By the end of 1945, over six million refugees were repatriated by the military forces, the American sector ceased receiving new arrivals on April 21,1947. An unknown number of displaced persons rejected by authorities were left to find their own means of survival, Displaced persons began to appear in substantial numbers in the spring of 1945. Allied forces took them into their care by improvising shelter wherever it could be found, accommodation primarily included former military barracks, but also included summer camps for children, airports, hotels, castles, hospitals, private homes, and even partly destroyed structures. Although there were efforts to sort and consolidate populations, there were hundreds of DP facilities in Germany, Austria, Italy
24.
Globe of Gottorf
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The Globe of Gottorf is a 17th-century large globe of the earth in the Kunstkamera museum in St. Petersburg in Russia. It measures 3.1 meters in diameter, the globe details a map of the earth’s surface on the outside and a map of star constellations with astrological and mythological symbols on the inside. Turned by water power, it demonstrates the “movement” of the heavens to those seated inside in candlelight and it was a predecessor of the modern planetarium. Modern German spells the name of Gottor with an F, not a P The original globe was built between 1654 to 1664 in Gottorf on request of Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. Construction was carried out under the supervision of Adam Olearius and completed by Andreas Bösch and it was put in a palace garden to amuse and amaze visitors. The globe was given to Peter the Great during the Great Northern War, initially, it was placed in a special pavilion on the Tsaristin meadow. It is known that the Tsar frequently examined the Gottorf globe in the morning, in 1717, the globe was moved to the tower of the Kunstkamera building. It was severely damaged in a fire in 1747, and its surface was destroyed, elizabeth of Russia had the globe rebuilt, but strictly speaking it was no more than a replica since not much was left after the fire. It was built and painted using the original wooden ribs. The Germans seized the globe at the Dutch Admiralty during the Second World War, the original globe now resides in the Kunstkamera, a museum in St. Petersburg. German charitable foundations agreed to build a near-replica of the globe in the 1990s, but this time in steel, with motors and lights
25.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
26.
Integrated Authority File
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The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used mainly for documentation in libraries and increasingly also by archives, the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library networks in German-speaking Europe and other partners. The GND falls under the Creative Commons Zero license, the GND specification provides a hierarchy of high-level entities and sub-classes, useful in library classification, and an approach to unambiguous identification of single elements. It also comprises an ontology intended for knowledge representation in the semantic web, available in the RDF format
27.
Virtual International Authority File
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The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records
