1st Polish Light Cavalry Regiment of the Imperial Guard
The 1st Polish Light Cavalry Regiment of the Imperial Guard was a formation of Polish light cavalry that served Emperor Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars. There was an Old Guard Régiment de Chasseurs à Cheval from 1804; the Regiment, as part of Napoleon's Imperial Guard, fought in many battles, distinguishing itself at Wagram, Beresina and Somosierra. On at least three occasions, light-horsemen of the Regiment saved Napoleon's life; the Polish 1st Light Cavalry Regiment of the Imperial Guard, under the command of Wincenty Krasiński, was created by a decree of Napoleon's, signed on 9 April 1807 in Finckenstein: From our field quarters in Finkenstein on the 6th day of April 1807. We, Emperor of the French and King of Italy, have determined as follow: Art. 1st. Polish Light Cavalry Regiment of the Guard will be formed. Art. 2nd. Regiment will consist of each of two companies. Art. 3rd. Each company will consist of one captain, two lieutenants, two sub-lieutenants, one sergeant major, six sergeants, one corporal-quartermaster, ten corporals, ninety-six cavalrymen, three trumpeters, two blacksmiths.
Art. 4th. Regimental Staff will consist of one colonel, two French majors of the Guard, four squadron commanders, one quartermaster-treasurer, one French instructor-captain from the Guard, two French adjutant-majors from the Guard, four sub-adjutant-majors from among the Poles, who were on duty in Legions in France, one standard-bearer, four surgeons, two of them 1st class and two 2nd or 3rd, one sub-instructor in the rank of sergeant major, one staff trumpeter, two trumpeter-corporals, one tailor, one breecher, one shoemaker, one gunsmith, one saddlemaker, one armourer, two blacksmiths. Art. 5th. To be enlisted into the Chevauleger Corps one has to be a landowner or the son of a landowner, be more than 18 years old, less than 40, come with his own horse, uniform and other equipment according to the regulations. Horse has to be a maximum 4 feet and 9 inches, a minimum 4 feet and 6 inches tall. Art. 6th. Polish Chevaux-legers of the Guard will have to fulfill the same duties as Chasseurs of the Guard.
They will be able to obtain food and payments, which will be established by the Colonel General, commanding officer of all cavalry of the Guard. Art. 7th. Cost of the initial equipment, as will be established by the Administrative Board for those who have not enough money, 15 sous will be deducted daily until the termination of the pay. Art. 8th. Administrative Board book-keeping and Registre-Matricule will be organized in the same fashion as in other cavalry regiments of the Guard. Art. 9th. Men, who want to be enrolled in the Chevaulegers of the Guard, have to present themselves to Prince Poniatowski, director of the Department of War of the Duchy of Warsaw, explain before him their serviceableness, according to the Article 5th. Next they have to present themselves to a Major chosen to organize the regiment, who – after examination – will incorporate candidates to the regiment, note their age, country of origin, names of father and mother. Annotations will be presented for our acceptation. Art. 10th.
Our Ministry of War has obtained an order to fulfill this decree. Polish efforts to form a prestigious detachment of the Imperial Guard began in 1804. Napoleon agreed to this during the Polish Campaign of 1806, when he was escorted by a "Polish Honor Guard" comprising aristocratic youths from the Society of Friends of the Fatherland, leaders of which would in the future be officers of the Regiment. Aspiring Guardsmen distinguished themselves in the Battles of Gołymin, it is unclear whether Napoleon's reason in agreeing to the Regiment's formation was a desire to control the Polish aristocracy or his appreciation of the Polish contributions to his victories. The Regiment was an elite body of volunteers in respect of income and origin—peasants were not eligible to enlist; the cadre were drawn exclusively from aristocratic and wealthy noble families. Some veterans were upset to learn. In June 1807, the first company of the first squadron was ready to leave Warsaw's Mirów Barracks. Earlier, 125 light cavalry under Captain Tomasz Łubieński had presented themselves to the public and won their acclaim.
According to intentional Ordre de Bataille Wincenty Krasiński, was nominated as the commanding officer of the Regiment. COs of four squadrons were appointed: Tomasz Łubieński, Ferdynand Stokowski, Jan Kozietulski and Henryk Kamieński; each squadron was composed of two companies of 125 chevaulegers each. Each company consisted of 5 troops. Among troop commanders were: Antoni Potocki, Paweł Jerzmanowski, Łukasz Wybicki, Józef Szymanowski, Józef Jankowski, Seweryn Fredro. Positions of Lieutenant-Colonels and instructors were taken by Frenchmen: Charles Delaitre of the Mamelukes of the Guard, Pierre "Pap
Brussels
Brussels the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is located in the central portion of the country and is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region. Brussels is the most densely populated and the richest region in Belgium in terms of GDP per capita, it covers 161 km2, a small area compared to the two other regions, has a population of 1.2 million. The metropolitan area of Brussels counts over 2.1 million people, which makes it the largest in Belgium. It is part of a large conurbation extending towards Ghent, Antwerp and Walloon Brabant, home to over 5 million people. Brussels grew from a small rural settlement on the river Senne to become an important city-region in Europe. Since the end of the Second World War, it has been a major centre for international politics and the home of numerous international organisations, politicians and civil servants.
Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union, as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, including its administrative-legislative, executive-political, legislative branches and its name is sometimes used metonymically to describe the EU and its institutions. The secretariat of the Benelux and headquarters of NATO are located in Brussels; as the economic capital of Belgium and one of the top financial centres of Western Europe with Euronext Brussels, it is classified as an Alpha global city. Brussels is a hub for rail and air traffic, sometimes earning the moniker "Crossroads of Europe"; the Brussels Metro is the only rapid transit system in Belgium. In addition, both its airport and railway stations are the busiest in the country. Dutch-speaking, Brussels saw a language shift to French from the late 19th century; the Brussels-Capital Region is bilingual in French and Dutch though French is now the de facto main language with over 90% of the population speaking it. Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual.
English is spoken as a second language by nearly a third of the population and a large number of migrants and expatriates speak other languages. Brussels is known for its cuisine and gastronomy, as well as its historical and architectural landmarks. Main attractions include its historic Grand Place, Manneken Pis and cultural institutions such as La Monnaie and the Museums of Art and History; because of its long tradition of Belgian comics, Brussels is hailed as a capital of the comic strip. The most common theory of the origin of the name Brussels is that it derives from the Old Dutch Bruocsella, Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning "marsh" and "home" or "home in the marsh". Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai, made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695, when it was still a hamlet; the names of all the municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region are of Dutch origin, except for Evere, Celtic. In French, Bruxelles is pronounced and in Dutch, Brussel is pronounced. Inhabitants of Brussels are known in French in Dutch as Brusselaars.
In the Brabantian dialect of Brussels, they are called Brusseleirs. The written x noted the group. In the Belgian French pronunciation as well as in Dutch, the k disappeared and z became s, as reflected in the current Dutch spelling, whereas in the more conservative French form, the spelling remained; the pronunciation in French only dates from the 18th century, but this modification did not affect the traditional Brussels' usage. In France, the pronunciations and are heard, but are rather rare in Belgium. See also: History of Brussels The history of Brussels is linked to that of Western Europe. Traces of human settlement go back to the Stone Age, with vestiges and place-names related to the civilisation of megaliths and standing stones. During late antiquity, the region was home to Roman occupation, as attested by archaeological evidence discovered near the centre. Following the decline of the Western Roman Empire, it was incorporated into the Frankish Empire; the origin of the settlement, to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus' construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580.
The official founding of Brussels is situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel. Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven, gained the County of Brussels around 1000, by marrying Charles' daughter; because of its location on the shores of the Senne, on an important trade route between Bruges and Ghent, Cologne, Brussels became a commercial centre specialised in the textile trade. The town grew quite and extended towards the upper town, where there was a smaller risk of floods; as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. Around
National anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people. The majority of national anthems are hymns in style; the countries of Latin America, Central Asia, Europe tend towards more ornate and operatic pieces, while those in the Middle East, Oceania and the Caribbean use a more simplistic fanfare. Some countries that are devolved into multiple constituent states have their own official musical compositions for them. A national anthem is most in the national or most common language of the country, whether de facto or official, there are notable exceptions. Most states with more than one national language may offer several versions of their anthem, for instance: The "Swiss Psalm", the national anthem of Switzerland, has different lyrics for each of the country's four official languages; the national anthem of Canada, "O Canada", has official lyrics in both English and French which are not translations of each other, is sung with a mixture of stanzas, representing the country's bilingual nature.
The song itself was written in French. "The Soldier's Song", the national anthem of Ireland, was written and adopted in English, but an Irish translation, although never formally adopted, is nowadays always sung instead. The current South African national anthem is unique in that five of the country's eleven official languages are used in the same anthem, it was created by combining two different songs together and modifying the lyrics and adding new ones. One of the two official national anthems of New Zealand, "God Defend New Zealand", is now sung with the first verse in Māori and the second in English; the tune is the same but the words are not a direct translation of each other. "God Bless Fiji" has lyrics in Fijian which are not translations of each other. Although official, the Fijian version is sung, it is the English version, performed at international sporting events. Although Singapore has four official languages, with English being the current lingua franca, the national anthem, "Majulah Singapura" is in Malay and by law can only be sung with its original Malay lyrics, despite the fact that Malay is a minority language in Singapore.
This is because Part XIII of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore declares, “the national language shall be the Malay language and shall be in the Roman script ” There are several countries that do not have official lyrics to their national anthems. One of these is the national anthem of Spain. Although it had lyrics those lyrics were discontinued after governmental changes in the early 1980s after Francisco Franco's dictactorship. In 2007 a national competition to write words was held. Other national anthems with no words include "Inno Nazionale della Repubblica", the national anthem of San Marino, that of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that of Kosovo, entitled "Europe"; the national anthem of India, "Jana Gana Mana", the official lyrics are in the Devnagari. The lyrics were adopted from a Bengali poem written by Rabindranath Tagore. Despite the most common language in Wales being English, the Welsh regional anthem "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" is sung in the Welsh language; the national anthem of Finland, was first written in Swedish and only translated to Finnish.
It is nowadays sung in both languages as there is a Swedish speaking minority of about 6% in the country. National anthems rose to prominence in Europe during the 19th century, but some originated much earlier; the presumed oldest national anthem belongs to the Netherlands and is called the "Wilhelmus". It was written between 1568 and 1572 during the Dutch Revolt and its current melody variant was composed shortly before 1626, it was a popular orangist march during the 17th century but it did not become the official Dutch national anthem until 1932. The Japanese national anthem, "Kimigayo", has the oldest lyrics, which were taken from a Heian period poem, yet it was not set to music until 1880; the Philippine national anthem "Lupang Hinirang" was composed in 1898 as wordless incidental music for the ceremony declaring independence from the Spanish Empire. The Spanish poem "Filipinas" was written the following year to serve as the anthem's lyrics. "God Save the Queen", the national anthem of the United Kingdom and the royal anthem reserved for use in the presence of the Monarch in some Commonwealth realms, was first performed in 1619 under the title "God Save the King".
It is not the national anthem of the UK, though it became such through custom and usage. Spain's national anthem, the "Marcha Real", written in 1761, was among the first to be adopted as such, in 1770. Denmark adopted the older of its two national anthems, "Kong Christian stod ved højen mast", in 1780. Serbia became the first Eastern European nation to have a national anthem – "Rise up, Serbia!" – in 1804."Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu", the national anthem of Kenya, is one of the first national anthems to be specifical
Alexandre Dechet
Louis Alexandre Dechet was a French actor and is regarded the author of the lyrics of the Brabançonne, the Belgian national anthem. His pseudonym was Jenneval named after the drama Jenneval, ou le Barnevelt français of Louis Sébastien Mercier. Dechet worked in 1826 at the Paris Odéon. Via Lille he came to Brussels, where he played at La Monnaie. In 1828 he returned to Paris in order to work at the Comédie Française, but returned to Brussels after the July Revolution in 1830, he there served with the city guard, responsible for maintaining law and order. Dechet is said to have written the text of the Brabançonne during the first revolutionary gatherings at the café "L'Aigle d'Or" in the Brussels Greepstraat in August 1830, shortly after the performance of the opera La Muette de Portici, which triggered the Belgian revolution. During the Belgian Revolution Dechet became a volunteer in the revolutionary army and joined the corps of Frenchman Charles Niellon, he died during a combat against the Dutch near Lier.
On the Martelarenplein in Brussels a column honouring Dechet is to be found, created by Alfred Crick and inaugurated in 1897. Historical backrground of the Brabançonne by the Compagnie Royale des Francs Arquebusiers
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
Liberté, égalité, fraternité, French for "liberty, fraternity", is the national motto of France and the Republic of Haiti, is an example of a tripartite motto. Although it finds its origins in the French Revolution, it was only one motto among others and was not institutionalized until the Third Republic at the end of the 19th century. Debates concerning the compatibility and order of the three terms began at the same time as the Revolution, it is the motto of the Grand Orient de France and the Grande Loge de France. The first to express this motto was Maximilien Robespierre in his speech "On the organization of the National Guard" on 5 December 1790, article XVI, disseminated throughout France by the popular Societies. Discours sur l'organisation des gardes nationalesArticle XVI. On their uniforms engraved these words: FRENCH PEOPLE, & below: LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY; the same words are inscribed on flags. Credit for the motto has been given to Antoine-François Momoro, a Parisian printer and Hébertist organizer, though in different context of foreign invasion and Federalist revolts in 1793, it was modified to "Unity, indivisibility of the Republic.
In 1839, the philosopher Pierre Leroux claimed it had been an popular creation. The historian Mona Ozouf underlines that, although Liberté and Égalité were associated as a motto during the 18th century, Fraternité wasn't always included in it, other terms, such as Amitié, Charité or Union were added in its place; the emphasis on Fraternité during the French Revolution led Olympe de Gouges, a female journalist, to write the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen as a response. The tripartite motto was neither a creative collection, nor institutionalized by the French Revolution; as soon as 1789, other terms were used, such as "la Nation, la Loi, le Roi", or "Union, Vertu", a slogan used beforehand by masonic lodges, or "Force, Égalité, Justice", "Liberté, Sûreté, Propriété", etc. In other words, liberté, égalité, fraternité was only one slogan among many others. During the Jacobin revolutionary period itself, various mottos were used, such as liberté, unité, égalité; the only solid association was that of liberté and égalité, fraternité being ignored by the Cahiers de doléances as well as by the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
It was only alluded to in the 1791 Constitution, as well as in Robespierre's draft Declaration of 1793, placed under the invocation of égalité, liberté, sûreté and propriété, as the possibility of a universal extension of the Declaration of Rights: "Men of all countries are brothers, he who oppresses one nation declares himself the enemy of all." It did not figure in the August 1793 Declaration. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 defined liberty in Article 4 as follows: Liberty consists of being able to do anything that does not harm others: thus, the exercise of the natural rights of every man or woman has no bounds other than those that guarantee other members of society the enjoyment of these same rights. Equality, on the other hand, was defined by the 1789 Declaration in terms of judicial equality and merit-based entry to government: must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in its eyes, shall be eligible to all high offices, public positions and employments, according to their ability, without other distinction than that of their virtues and talents.
Liberté, égalité, fraternité finds its origins in a May 1791 proposition by the Club des Cordeliers, following a speech on the Army by the marquis de Guichardin. A British marine held prisoner on the French ship Le Marat in 1794 wrote home in letters published in 1796: The republican spirit is inculcated not in songs only, for in every part of the ship I find emblems purposely displayed to awaken it. All the orders relating to the discipline of the crew are hung up, prefaced by the words Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, ou la Mort, written in capital letters; the compatibility of liberté and égalité was not doubted in the first days of the Revolution, the problem of the antecedence of one term on the other not lifted. Thus, the Abbé Sieyès considered that only liberty ensured equality, unless the latter was to be the equality of all dominated by a despot; the abstract generality of law thus ensured the identification of liberty to equality, liberty being negatively defined as an independence from arbitrary rule, equality considered abstractly in its judicial form.
This identifi
Helmut Lotti
Helmut Lotti, is a Belgian tenor and singer-songwriter. Lotti performs in several languages. Once an Elvis impersonator, he has sung African and Latino and Jewish music hit records, he crossed over into classical music in the 1990s; the son of Luc and Rita, Helmut Barthold Johannes Alma Lotigiers was born in Ghent and began his singing career with a visual and singing style in an obvious imitation of Elvis Presley, was described as "De Nieuwe Elvis" or "The New Elvis". His first two albums were Alles Wat Ik Voel. After a few more albums, he changed direction in 1995 with the first of what became a long series of "Helmut Lotti Goes Classic" albums, which proved to increase his popularity. Since 2000 he has made successful recordings in traditional Latino and Russian-style music. Lotti sings in his native language Dutch, as well as Afrikaans, French, Hebrew, Latin, Spanish, Zulu, Xhosa and others, he has received over 90 platinum and 70 gold albums. Lotti does volunteer work as an ambassador for UNICEF.
Lotti took part in the 0110 concerts against racism, organised by Tom Barman. Helmut Lotti official site
French Revolution
The French Revolution was a period of far-reaching social and political upheaval in France and its colonies beginning in 1789. The Revolution overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, catalyzed violent periods of political turmoil, culminated in a dictatorship under Napoleon who brought many of its principles to areas he conquered in Western Europe and beyond. Inspired by liberal and radical ideas, the Revolution profoundly altered the course of modern history, triggering the global decline of absolute monarchies while replacing them with republics and liberal democracies. Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history; the causes of the French Revolution are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution, the French government was in debt, it attempted to restore its financial status through unpopular taxation schemes, which were regressive.
Leading up to the Revolution, years of bad harvests worsened by deregulation of the grain industry and environmental problems inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the aristocracy and the Catholic clergy of the established church. Some historians hold something similar to what Thomas Jefferson proclaimed: that France had "been awakened by our Revolution." Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates General in May 1789. During the first year of the Revolution, members of the Third Estate took control, the Bastille was attacked in July, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was passed in August, the Women's March on Versailles forced the royal court back to Paris in October. A central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime; the next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the monarchy intent on thwarting major reforms.
The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy. In a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. External threats shaped the course of the Revolution; the Revolutionary Wars beginning in 1792 featured French victories that facilitated the conquest of the Italian Peninsula, the Low Countries and most territories west of the Rhine – achievements that had eluded previous French governments for centuries. Internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins; the dictatorship imposed by the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror, from 1793 until 1794, established price controls on food and other items, abolished slavery in French colonies abroad, de-established the Catholic church and created a secular Republican calendar, religious leaders were expelled, the borders of the new republic were secured from its enemies. After the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795.
They suspended elections, repudiated debts, persecuted the Catholic clergy, made significant military conquests abroad. Dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. Napoleon, who became the hero of the Revolution through his popular military campaigns, established the Consulate and the First Empire, setting the stage for a wider array of global conflicts in the Napoleonic Wars; the modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution. All future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor, its central phrases and cultural symbols, such as La Marseillaise and Liberté, fraternité, égalité, ou la mort, became the clarion call for other major upheavals in modern history, including the Russian Revolution over a century later. The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day; the Revolution resulted in the suppression of the feudal system, emancipation of the individual, a greater division of landed property, abolition of the privileges of noble birth, nominal establishment of equality among men.
The French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not only national, for it intended to benefit all humanity. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of democracies, it became the focal point for the development of most modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism and secularism, among many others. The Revolution witnessed the birth of total war by organising the resources of France and the lives of its citizens towards the objective of military conquest; some of its central documents, such as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, continued to inspire movements for abolitionism and universal suffrage in the next century. Historians have pointed to many events and factors within the Ancien Régime that led to the Revolution. Rising social and economic inequality, new political ideas emerging from the Enlightenment, economic mismanagement, environmental factors leading to agricultural failure, unmanageable national debt, political mismanagement on the part of King Louis XVI have all been cited as laying the groundwork for the Revolution.
Over the course of the 18th century, there emerged what the philosopher Jürgen Habermas called the idea of the "public sphere" in France and elsewhere
Belgium
