1.
Windhoek
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Windhoek is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around 1,700 metres above sea level, the population of Windhoek in 2011 was 325,858, growing continually due to an influx from all over Namibia. The town developed at the site of a permanent spring known to the pastoral communities. It developed rapidly after Jonker Afrikaner, Captain of the Orlam, settled here in 1840, in the decades following, multiple wars and armed hostilities resulted in the neglect and destruction of the new settlement. Windhoek was founded a second time in 1890 by Imperial German Army Major Curt von François, Windhoek is the social, economic, political, and cultural centre of the country. Nearly every Namibian national enterprise, governmental body, educational and cultural institution is headquartered here, the city of Windhoek is traditionally known by two names, ǀAiǁGams, and Otjomuise. Both traditional indigenous names refer to the hot springs near todays city centre, theories vary on how the place got its modern name of Windhoek. Most believe it is derived from the Afrikaans word wind-hoek, another theory suggests that Captain Jonker Afrikaner named Windhoek after the Winterhoek Mountains at Tulbagh in South Africa, where his ancestors had lived. The first known mention of the name Windhoek was in a letter from Jonker Afrikaner to Joseph Tindall, in 1840 Jonker Afrikaner established an Orlam settlement at Windhoek. He and his followers stayed near one of the hot springs. He built a church that held 500 people, it was also used as a school. Two Rhenish missionaries, Carl Hugo Hahn and Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt, two years later they were driven out by two Methodist Wesleyans, Richard Haddy and Joseph Tindall. Gardens were laid out and for a while Windhoek prospered, wars between the Nama and Herero peoples eventually destroyed the settlement. After a long absence, Hahn visited Windhoek again in 1873 and was dismayed to see that nothing remained of the towns former prosperity, in June 1885, a Swiss botanist found only jackals and starving guinea fowl amongst neglected fruit trees. In 1878, Britain annexed Walvis Bay and incorporated it into the Cape of Good Hope colony in 1884, a request by merchants from Lüderitzbucht resulted in the declaration of a German protectorate over what was called German South West Africa in 1884. The borders of the German colony were determined in 1890 and Germany sent a protective corps, von François stationed his garrison at Windhoek, which was strategically situated as a buffer between the Nama and Herero peoples. The twelve strong springs provided water for the cultivation of produce, colonial Windhoek was founded on 18 October 1890, when von François fixed the foundation stone of the fort, which is now known as the Alte Feste. After 1907, development accelerated as indigenous people migrated from the countryside to the town to seek work
2.
Treaty of Versailles
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The Treaty of Versailles was the most important of the peace treaties that brought World War I to an end. The Treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers and it was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of World War I signed separate treaties, although the armistice, signed on 11 November 1918, ended the actual fighting, it took six months of Allied negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. The treaty was registered by the Secretariat of the League of Nations on 21 October 1919 and this article, Article 231, later became known as the War Guilt clause. The treaty forced Germany to disarm, make substantial territorial concessions, in 1921 the total cost of these reparations was assessed at 132 billion marks. On the other hand, prominent figures on the Allied side such as French Marshal Ferdinand Foch criticized the treaty for treating Germany too leniently, although it is often referred to as the Versailles Conference, only the actual signing of the treaty took place at the historic palace. Most of the negotiations were in Paris, with the Big Four meetings taking place generally at the Quai dOrsay, the First World War was fought across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Countries beyond the war zones were also affected by the disruption of trade, finance. In 1917, two revolutions occurred within the Russian Empire, which led to the collapse of the Imperial Government, the American war aim was to detach the war from nationalistic disputes and ambitions after the Bolshevik disclosure of secret treaties between the Allies. The existence of these treaties tended to discredit Allied claims that Germany was the power with aggressive ambitions. On 8 January 1918, United States President Woodrow Wilson issued a statement that became known as the Fourteen Points and this speech outlined a policy of free trade, open agreements, democracy and self-determination. After the Central Powers launched Operation Faustschlag on the Eastern Front and this treaty ended the war between Russia and the Central powers and annexed 1,300,000 square miles of territory and 62 million people. During the autumn of 1918, the Central Powers began to collapse, desertion rates within the German army began to increase, and civilian strikes drastically reduced war production. On the Western Front, the Allied forces launched the Hundred Days Offensive, sailors of the Imperial German Navy at Kiel mutinied, which prompted uprisings in Germany, which became known as the German Revolution. The German government tried to obtain a settlement based on the Fourteen Points. Following negotiations, the Allied powers and Germany signed an armistice, the terms of the armistice called for an immediate evacuation of German troops from occupied Belgium, France, and Luxembourg within fifteen days. In addition, it established that Allied forces would occupy the Rhineland, in late 1918, Allied troops entered Germany and began the occupation. Both the German Empire and Great Britain were dependent on imports of food and raw materials, primarily from the Americas, the Blockade of Germany was a naval operation conducted by the Allied Powers to stop the supply of raw materials and foodstuffs reaching the Central Powers
3.
German South West Africa
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German South West Africa was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915. With an area of 835,100 km², it was one, the colony had a population of around 2,600 Germans. In 1915, during the First World War, German South West Africa was invaded by the Western Allies in the form of South African and British forces. After the war its administration was taken over by the Union of South Africa and it became independent as Namibia in 1990. However, for centuries, European settlement would remain limited. In February 1805 the London Missionary Society established a mission in Blydeverwacht. In 1840 the London Missionary Society transferred all of its activities to the German Rhenish Missionary Society, some of the first representatives of this organisation were Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt and Carl Hugo Hahn. They began founding churches throughout the territory, the Rhenish missionaries had a significant impact initially on culture and dress, and then later on politics. During the same time that the Rhenish missionaries were active, merchants, on 16 November 1882 a German merchant from Bremen, Adolf Lüderitz, requested protection for a station that he planned to build in South West Africa, from Chancellor Bismarck. Once this was granted, his employee Heinrich Vogelsang purchased land from a native chief, on 24 April 1884, he placed the area under the protection of Imperial Germany to deter British encroachment. In early 1884, the gunboat SMS Nautilus visited to review the situation, a favourable report from the government, and acquiescence from the British, resulted in a visit from the SMS Leipzig and SMS Elisabeth. The German flag was raised in South West Africa on 7 August 1884. The German claims on land were confirmed during the Conference of Berlin. In October, the newly appointed Commissioner for West Africa, Gustav Nachtigal, in April 1885, the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft für Südwest-Afrika was founded with the support of German bankers, industrialists and politicians. DKGSWA was granted rights to exploit mineral deposits. The new Society soon bought the assets of Lüderitzs failing enterprises, later, in 1908, diamonds were discovered. Thus along with gold, copper, platinum, and other minerals, earlier, the colonial aim was to dispossess the indigenous peoples of their land, for use of German settlers, as well as be a source of raw materials and a market of German industrial products. Lüderitz drowned in 1886 while on an expedition to the Orange River, the company bought all of Lüderitz land and mining rights, following Bismarcks policy that private rather than public money should be used to develop the colonies
4.
History of Namibia
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The history of Namibia has passed through several distinct stages from being colonised in the late nineteenth century to Namibias independence on 21 March 1990. From 1884, Namibia was a German colony, German South West Africa, after the First World War, the League of Nations mandated South Africa to administer the territory. South Africa objected arguing that a majority of the people were content with South African rule. There is a diversity of peoples in Namibia. The most famous, San are generally assumed to have been the earliest inhabitants of the region comprising todays Namibia, Botswana, the San were hunters and gatherers with a nomadic lifestyle. The most important part of their diet consisted of fruits, nuts and roots, over time, many different ethnic groups of immigrants settled in Namibia. The Ovambo, and the smaller and closely related group Kavango, lived in northern Namibia, southern Angola and, in the case of the Kavango, being settled people they had an economy based on farming, cattle and fishing, but they also produced metal goods. Both groups belonged to the Bantu nation, until about 2,000 years ago the original hunters and gatherers of the San people were the only inhabitants in Namibia. At this time the Nama, the Khoikhoi and the Hottentots settled around the Orange River in the south on the border between Namibia and South Africa where they kept herds of sheep and goats. Both the San and the Nama were Khoisan peoples, and spoke languages from the Khoisan language group, in the 9th century the Damara entered Namibia. The Damara do not relate to the other Khoisan peoples although they share a similar language and it is believed that they separated themselves early on from their Bantu brothers of Southern and Central Africa and moved to Southwest Africa. It is unclear where they came from, but they settled in the grasslands in central Namibia, during the 17th century the Herero, a pastoral, nomadic people keeping cattle, moved into Namibia. They came from the east African lakes and entered Namibia from the northwest, First they resided in Kaokoland, but in the middle of the 19th century some tribes moved farther south and into Damaraland. A number of tribes remained in Kaokoland, these were the Himba people, during German occupation of this region about one third of the population was wiped out in a genocide that continues to provoke widespread indignation. An apology was sought for this travesty in more recent times, in the 19th century white farmers, mostly Boers, moved farther north, pushing the indigenous Khoisan peoples, who put up a fierce resistance, across the Orange River. Known as Oorlams, these Khoisan adopted Boer customs and spoke a similar to Afrikaans. Armed with guns, the Oorlams caused instability as more and more came to settle in Namaqualand, under the leadership of Jonker Afrikaner, the Oorlams used their superior weapons to take control of the best grazing land. In the 1830s Jonker Afrikaner concluded an agreement with the Nama chief Oaseb whereby the Oorlams would protect the grasslands of Namibia from the Herero who were then pushing south
5.
Khoisan
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Khoisan is a unifying name for two groups of peoples of Southern Africa, who share physical and putative linguistic characteristics distinct from the Bantu majority of the region. Culturally, the Khoisan are divided into the foraging San, or Bushmen, the distinct origin of the Khoi is debated. Over time, some Khoi abandoned pastoralism and adopted the hunter-gatherer economy of the San, probably due to a drying climate, similarly, the Bantu Damara people who migrated south later abandoned agriculture and adopted the Khoi economy. Large Khoisan populations remain in several areas in the region. These Late Stone Age people in parts of southern Africa were the ancestors of the Khoisan people who inhabited the Kalahari Desert, furthermore, Khoisan have been the largest population throughout most of modern-human demographic history. The Khoisan “was the largest population on Earth at some point”, the evidence of the Khoisans original presence in South Africa is the distribution of their languages today. In contrast, the languages of Bantu-origin peoples in the such as the Zulu. This indicates a more recent common ancestry for the first Bantu group that spread. Among their descendants, the Xhosa and Zulu adopted unique Khoisan click consonants, during the colonial era, the Khoisan survived in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. Today many of the San live in parts of the Kalahari Desert where they are able to preserve much of their culture. In the 1990s, genomic studies of worlds peoples found that the Y chromosome of San men share certain patterns of polymorphisms that are distinct from those of all other populations. Because the Y chromosome is conserved between generations, this type of DNA test is used to determine when different subgroups separated from one another. Various Y-chromosome studies since confirmed that the Khoisan carry some of the most divergent Y-chromosome haplogroups and these haplogroups are specific sub-groups of haplogroups A and B, the two earliest branches on the human Y-chromosome tree. The most divergent mitochondrial haplogroup, L0d, have identified at its highest frequencies in the southern African Khoe. The distinctiveness of the Khoisan in both matrilineal and patrilineal groupings is an indicator that they represent a population historically distinct from other Africans. In modern South Africa and Namibia, a share of the Cape Coloureds, Xhosa and Tswana is of partial Khoisan descent. Khoisan people were many who were dispossessed by colonial and other authorities in the 19th. Following the end of apartheid, the South African government allowed Khoisan families up until 1998 to pursue land claims which existed prior to 1913, herero and Namaqua genocide Khoisan religion Barnard, Alan Mutual Aid and the Foraging Mode of Thought, Re-reading Kropotkin on the Khoisan
6.
Herero and Namaqua genocide
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The Herero and Nama genocide was a campaign of racial extermination and collective punishment that the German Empire undertook in German South West Africa against the Herero and Nama people. It is considered one of the first genocides of the 20th century and it took place between 1904 and 1907 during the Herero Wars. In January 1904, the Herero people, led by Samuel Maharero and Nama Captain Hendrik Witbooi, in August, German General Lothar von Trotha defeated the Herero in the Battle of Waterberg and drove them into the desert of Omaheke, where most of them died of dehydration. In October, the Nama people also rebelled against the Germans, between 24,000 and 100,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama died. The first phase of the genocide was characterized by death from starvation and dehydration due to the prevention of the retreating Herero from leaving the Namib Desert by German forces. Once defeated, thousands of Herero and Nama were imprisoned in camps, where the majority died of disease, abuse. In 2004, the German government recognized and apologized for the events, in July 2015, the German government and the speaker of the Bundestag officially called the events a genocide and part of a race war. However it has refused to consider reparations, the Herero were originally a group of cattle herders living in the central-eastern region of German South West Africa, presently modern Namibia. The area occupied by the Herero was known as Damaraland, the Nama were pastorals and traders living to the South of the Herero. In 1883, during the scramble for Africa, Franz Adolf Eduard Lüderitz purchased a stretch of coast near the Angra Pequena bay from the reigning chief, the terms of the purchase were fraudulent, but the German government nonetheless established a protectorate over it. At that time, it was the only overseas German territory deemed suitable for white settlement, Chief of the neighbouring Herero, Kamaharero rose to power by uniting all the Herero. This treaty was renounced in 1888 due to lack of German support against Witbooi, the Herero leaders repeatedly complained about violation of this treaty, as Herero women and girls were raped by Germans, a crime that the German authorities were reluctant to punish. In 1890 Kamahareros son, Samuel, signed a deal of land over to the Germans in return for helping him to ascend to the Ovaherero throne. German involvement in tribal fighting ended in peace in 1894. In that year, Theodor Leutwein became governor of the territory, over the next decade, the land and the cattle that were essential to Herero and Nama lifestyles passed into the hands of German settlers arriving in South West Africa. In 1903, some of the Nama tribes rose in revolt under the leadership of Hendrik Witbooi, a number of factors led the Herero to join them in January 1904. One of the issues was land rights. Completion of this line would have made the German colonies much more accessible, bridgman writes about racial tensions underlying these developments, the average German colonist viewed native Africans as a lowly source of cheap labour, and others welcomed their extermination
7.
South West Africa campaign
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The outbreak of hostilities in Europe in August 1914 had been anticipated and government officials of South Africa were aware of the significance of their common border with the German colony. South African troops were mobilised along the border between the two countries under the command of General Henry Lukin and Lt Col Manie Maritz early in September 1914, shortly afterwards another force occupied the port of Lüderitz. There was considerable sympathy among the Boer population of South Africa for the German cause, only twelve years had passed since the end of the Second Boer War, in which Germany had offered the two Boer republics moral support against the British Empire. The government declared martial law on 14 October 1914 and forces loyal to the government under the command of Generals Louis Botha, Maritz was defeated on 24 October and took refuge with the Germans, the rebellion was suppressed by early February 1915. The leading Boer rebels received terms of imprisonment of six and seven years and heavy fines, to disrupt South African plans to invade South West Africa, the Germans launched a pre-emptive invasion of their own. The Battle of Kakamas, between South African and German forces, took place over the fords at Kakamas, on 4 February 1915 and it was a skirmish for control of two river fords over the Orange River between contingents of the German invasion force and South African armed forces. The South Africans succeeded in preventing the Germans gaining control of the fords, by February 1915, with the home front secure, the South Africans were ready to begin the complete occupation of the German territory. Botha in his capacity as a senior and experienced military commander took command of the invasion. He split his command in two with Smuts commanding the forces while he took direct command of the northern forces. By March he was ready to invade, the Germans then offered terms under which they would surrender but they were rejected by Botha and the war continued. On 12 May Botha declared martial law and having cut the colony in half, divided his forces into four contingents under Coen Brits, Lukin, Manie Botha and Myburgh. Brits went north to Otjiwarongo, Outjo and Etosha Pan which cut off German forces in the interior from the regions of Kunene. The other three columns fanned out into the north-east, Lukin went along the railway line running from Swakopmund to Tsumeb. The other two columns advanced on Lukins right flank, Myburgh to Otavi junction and Manie Botha to Tsumeb, the men who commanded these columns, having gained their military experience fighting in Boer commandos, moved very rapidly. The German forces in the north-west made a stand at Otavi on 1 July but were beaten, while events were unfolding in the north, Smuts landed with another South African force at the South West Africa colonys naval base at Luderitzbucht. Having secured the town Smuts advanced inland, capturing Keetmanshoop on 20 May, here he met up with two other columns that had advanced over the border from South Africa, one from the coastal town of Port Nolloth and the other from Kimberley. Smuts advanced north along the line to Berseba and after two days fighting captured Gibeon on 26 May. The Germans in the south were forced to retreat northwards towards their capital, within two weeks the German forces in the south, faced with certain destruction, surrendered
8.
South African Border War
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It was fought between the South African Defence Force and the Peoples Liberation Army of Namibia, an armed wing of the South West African Peoples Organisation. The South African Border War resulted in some of the largest battles on the African continent since World War II and was intertwined with the Angolan Civil War. Fighting broke out between PLAN and the South African authorities in August 1966, between 1975 and 1988 the SADF staged massive conventional raids into Angola and Zambia to eliminate PLANs forward operating bases. It also deployed specialist counter-insurgency units such as Koevoet and 32 Battalion trained to carry out external reconnaissance, South African tactics became increasingly aggressive as the conflict progressed. The SADFs incursions produced Angolan casualties and occasionally resulted in collateral damage to economic installations regarded as vital to the Angolan economy. Beginning in 1984, regular Angolan units under Soviet command were confident enough to confront the SADF and their positions were also bolstered by thousands of Cuban troops. PLAN launched its final campaign in late March 1989. South West Africa received formal independence as the Republic of Namibia a year later, despite being largely fought in neighbouring states, the South African Border War had a phenomenal cultural and political impact on South African society. It remains an integral theme in contemporary South African literature at large and Afrikaans-language works in particular, various names have been applied to the undeclared conflict waged by South Africa in Angola and Namibia from the mid 1960s to the late 1980s. Border War entered public discourse in South Africa during the late 1970s, due to the covert nature of most South African Defence Force operations inside Angola, the term was favoured as a means of omitting any reference to clashes on foreign soil. Where tactical aspects of various engagements were discussed, military historians simply identified the conflict as the bush war, the South West African Peoples Organisation has described the South African Border War as the Namibian War of National Liberation and the Namibian Liberation Struggle. In the Namibian context it is commonly referred to as the Namibian War of Independence. However, these terms have been criticised for ignoring the wider implications of the war and the fact that PLAN was based in. Namibia was governed as German South West Africa, a colony of the German Empire, until World War I, when it was invaded and occupied by Allied forces under General Louis Botha. Following the Armistice of 11 November 1918, a system was imposed by the League of Nations to govern African and Asian territories held by Germany. Nevertheless, the bestowal of a mandate by the League of Nations did not confer full sovereignty, in principle mandating countries were only supposed to hold these former colonies in trust for their inhabitants, until they were sufficiently prepared for their own self-determination. Under these terms, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand were granted the German Pacific islands, and it soon became apparent the South African government had interpreted the mandate as a veiled annexation. According to Smuts, this annexation in all but in name
9.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
10.
British Empire
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The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
11.
German Empire
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The German Empire was the historical German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918, when Germany became a federal republic. The German Empire consisted of 26 constituent territories, with most being ruled by royal families and this included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. Although Prussia became one of kingdoms in the new realm, it contained most of its population and territory. Its influence also helped define modern German culture, after 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron, chemicals, and railways. In 1871, it had a population of 41 million people, and by 1913, a heavily rural collection of states in 1815, now united Germany became predominantly urban. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological, Germany became a great power, boasting a rapidly growing rail network, the worlds strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. In less than a decade, its navy became second only to Britains Royal Navy, after the removal of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck by Wilhelm II, the Empire embarked on a bellicose new course that ultimately led to World War I. When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, the German Empire had two allies, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, however, left the once the First World War started in August 1914. In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in autumn 1914 failed, the Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food. Germany was repeatedly forced to send troops to bolster Austria and Turkey on other fronts, however, Germany had great success on the Eastern Front, it occupied large Eastern territories following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 was designed to strangle the British, it failed, but the declaration—along with the Zimmermann Telegram—did bring the United States into the war. Meanwhile, German civilians and soldiers had become war-weary and radicalised by the Russian Revolution and this failed, and by October the armies were in retreat, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, Bulgaria had surrendered and the German people had lost faith in their political system. The Empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution as the Emperor and all the ruling monarchs abdicated, and a republic took over. The German Confederation had been created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848, called Pan-Germanism, to Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarcks pragmatic Realpolitik. He envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany, the war resulted in the Confederation being partially replaced by a North German Confederation in 1867, comprising the 22 states north of the Main. The new constitution and the title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871, during the Siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William accepted to be proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The second German Constitution was adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April, the political system remained the same. The empire had a parliament called the Reichstag, which was elected by universal male suffrage, however, the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas
12.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
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