1.
Communes of France
–
The commune is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to civil townships incorporated municipalities in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany, the United Kingdom has no exact equivalent, as communes resemble districts in urban areas, but are closer to parishes in rural areas where districts are much larger. Communes are based on historical geographic communities or villages and have received significant powers of governance to manage the populations, the communes are the fourth-level administrative divisions of France. A French commune may be a city of 2.2 million inhabitants like Paris, communes typically are based on pre-existing villages and facilitate local governance. All communes have names, but not all named geographic areas or groups of people residing together are communes, a commune is a town, city, or municipality. Use of commune in English is a habit, and one that might be corrected. There is nothing in commune in French that is different from town in English. The French word commune appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, as of January 2015, there were 36,681 communes in France,36,552 of them in metropolitan France and 129 of them overseas. This is a higher total than that of any other European country. The whole territory of the French Republic is divided into communes and this is unlike some other countries, such as the United States, where unincorporated areas directly governed by a county or a higher authority can be found. There are only a few exceptions, COM of Saint-Martin and it was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe région. The commune structure was abolished when Saint-Martin became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007, COM of Wallis and Futuna, which still is divided according to the three traditional chiefdoms. It was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe region, the commune structure was abolished when Saint-Barthélemy became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007.88 square kilometres. The median area of metropolitan Frances communes at the 1999 census was even smaller, the median area is a better measure of the area of a typical French commune. This median area is smaller than that of most European countries. In Italy, the area of communes is 22 km2, in Belgium it is 40 km2, in Spain it is 35 km2, and in Germany. Switzerland and the Länder of Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia in Germany were the places in Europe where the communes had a smaller median area than in France. The communes of Frances overseas départements such as Réunion and French Guiana are large by French standards and they usually group into the same commune several villages or towns, often with sizeable distances among them
2.
Geographic coordinate system
–
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
3.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
4.
Regions of France
–
France is divided into 18 administrative regions, including 13 metropolitan regions and 5 overseas regions. The current legal concept of region was adopted in 1982, the term région was officially created by the Law of Decentralisation, which also gave regions their legal status. The first direct elections for representatives took place on 16 March 1986. In 2016, the number of regions was reduced from 27 to 18 through amalgamation, in 2014, the French parliament passed a law reducing the number of metropolitan regions from 22 to 13 with effect from 1 January 2016. However, the region of Upper and Lower Normandy is simply called Normandy. Permanent names were to be proposed by the new regional councils by 1 July 2016, the legislation defining the new regions also allowed the Centre region to officially change its name to Centre-Val de Loire with effect from January 2015. Two regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, opted to retain their interim names, between 1982 and 2015, there were 22 regions in Metropolitan France. Before 2011, there were four regions, in 2011 Mayotte became the fifth. Regions lack separate legislative authority and therefore cannot write their own statutory law and they levy their own taxes and, in return, receive a decreasing part of their budget from the central government, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies. They also have considerable budgets managed by a council made up of representatives voted into office in regional elections. A regions primary responsibility is to build and furnish high schools, in March 2004, the French central government unveiled a controversial plan to transfer regulation of certain categories of non-teaching school staff to the regional authorities. Critics of this plan contended that tax revenue was insufficient to pay for the costs. In addition, regions have considerable power over infrastructural spending, e. g. education, public transit, universities and research. This has meant that the heads of regions such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes can be high-profile positions. Number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1986, Overseas region is a recent designation, given to the overseas departments that have similar powers to those of the regions of metropolitan France. Radio France Internationale in English Overseas regions Ministère de lOutre-Mer some explanations about the past and current developments of DOMs and TOMs
5.
Grand Est
–
Grand Est, previously Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine, is a French administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions—Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne, and Lorraine—on 1 January 2016, as a result of reform which was passed by the French legislature in 2014. Frances Conseil dÉtat approved Grand Est as the new name of the region on 28 September 2016, the administrative capital and largest city is Strasbourg. The formula for the name of the region was established by the territorial reform law and applied to all. The provisional name of the region was retired on 30 September 2016, in Alsace and in Lorraine, the new region has frequently been called ALCA, for Alsace-Lorraine-Champagne-Ardennes, on the internet. In a poll conducted in November 2014 by France 3 in Champagne-Ardenne, Grand Est, Grand Est also topped a poll the following month conducted by LEst Republicain, receiving 42% of 3,324 votes. The term has commonly used and has topped the polls mentioned above. Grand Est Europe is a variant of Grand Est that alludes to the region being a gateway to Europe both through trade and since Strasbourg is home to several European institutions, however, the name has been mocked for how it could suggest that the region is in Eastern Europe. Austrasie, which refers to a region spanning parts of present-day northeast France, the Benelux. Quatre frontières, which refers to the border with four countries, has also been discussed. Grand Est covers 57,433 square kilometres of land and is the sixth-largest of the regions of France effective 1 January 2016, Grand Est borders four countries—Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, and Switzerland—along its northern and eastern sides. It is the only French region to more than two countries. To the west and south, it borders the French regions Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, Île-de-France, Grand Est contains ten departments, Ardennes, Aube, Bas-Rhin, Marne, Haute-Marne, Haut-Rhin, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle, Vosges. The main ranges in the include the Vosges to the east. The region is border on the east by the Rhine which forms most of the border with Germany, other major rivers which flow through the region include, the Meuse, Moselle, Marne, and Saône. Lakes in the include, lac de Gérardmer, lac de Longemer, lac de Retournemer, lac des Corbeaux, Lac de Bouzey, lac de Madine, étang du Stock. ACAL is the merger of three regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne, and Lorraine, the merger has been strongly opposed in Alsace. The region has an population of 5,554,645
6.
Departments of France
–
In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government below the national level, between the administrative regions and the commune. There are 96 departments in metropolitan France and 5 overseas departments, each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council. From 1800 to April 2015, they were called general councils, the departments were created in 1791 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity, the title department is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after geographical features rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1764 in the writings of dArgenson and they have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. Most French departments are assigned a number, the Official Geographical Code. Some overseas departments have a three-digit number, the number is used, for example, in the postal code, and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates. For example, inhabitants of Loiret might refer to their department as the 45 and this reform project has since been abandoned. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René dArgenson to serve as administrative areas purely for the Ponts et Chaussées infrastructure administration, before the French Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the close of the Ancien Régime, it was organised into provinces, during the period of the Revolution, these were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. Their boundaries served two purposes, Boundaries were chosen to break up Frances historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences, Boundaries were set so that every settlement in the country was within a days ride of the capital of the department. This was a security measure, intended to keep the national territory under close control. This measure was directly inspired by the Great Terror, during which the government had lost control of rural areas far from any centre of government. The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments, most were named after an areas principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine, the number of departments, initially 83, was increased to 130 by 1809 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire. Following Napoleons defeats in 1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size, in 1860, France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from the new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice, the 89 departments were given numbers based on their alphabetical order. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe, Moselle, Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871, following Frances defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
7.
Bas-Rhin
–
Bas-Rhin is a department in the Grand Est region of France. The name means Lower Rhine, however, geographically speaking it belongs to the Upper Rhine region and it is the more populous and densely populated of the two departments of the traditional Alsace region, with 1,112,815 inhabitants in 2014. The prefecture and the General Council are based in Strasbourg, the INSEE and Post Code is 67. The area is home to some of the foothills of the Vosges Mountains. To the north of Bas-Rhin lies the Palatinate forest in the German State of Rhineland-Palatinate, to the south lies the department of Haut-Rhin, the town of Colmar and southern Alsace, and to the west the department of Moselle. On its southwestern corner, Bas-Rhin also joins the department of Vosges, the Bas-Rhin has a continental-type climate, characterised by cold, dry winters and hot, stormy summers, due to the western protection provided by the Vosges. However, the Alsatian climate is less continental than that of Burgundy, the average annual temperature is 10.4 °C in the lowlands and 7 °C on high ground. The annual maximum temperature is high, the average rainfall is 700 mm per year. Established according to data from the Infoclimat station at Strasbourg-Entzheim, over the period from 1961 to 1990 and this is the last French department to have kept the term Bas meaning Lower in its name. The same phenomenon was observed for the inférieur departments such as Charente-Inférieure, Seine-Inférieure, Bas-Rhin is one of the original 83 departments created on 4 March 1790, during the French Revolution. Strasbourg, the lieu of Bas-Rhin is the official seat of the European Parliament as well as of the Council of Europe. The demography of Bas-Rhin is characterized by density and high population growth since the 1950s. In January 2014 Bas-Rhin officially had 1,112,815 inhabitants and was 18th by population at the national level, in fifteen years, from 1999 to 2014, its population grew by more than 86,000 people, or about 5,800 people per year. But this variation is differentiated among the 527 communes that make up the department, the population density of Bas-Rhin is 234 inhabitants per square kilometre in 2014 which is more than twice the average in France, which was 112 in 2009. The first census was conducted in 1801 and this count, renewed every five years from 1821, with 540,213 inhabitants in 1831, the department represented 1. 66% of the total French population, which was then 32,569,000 inhabitants. From 1831 to 1866, the department gained 48,757 people, demographic change between the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the First World War was higher than the national average. Over this period, the population increased by 100,532 inhabitants, the population increased by 9. 23% between the two world wars from 1921 to 1936 compared to a national growth of 6. 9%. Like other French departments, Bas-Rhin experienced a boom after the Second World War
8.
Arrondissement of Haguenau-Wissembourg
–
The arrondissement of Haguenau-Wissembourg is an arrondissement of France in the Bas-Rhin department in the Grand Est region. It was created at the 2015 arrondissements reform by the merger of the arrondissements of Haguenau. Several communes from the arrondissements of Strasbourg-Campagne and Saverne were added as well, the cantons of the arrondissement of Haguenau-Wissembourg are, Bischwiller Brumath Haguenau Reichshoffen Wissembourg The communes of the arrondissement of Haguenau-Wissembourg are
9.
Daylight saving time
–
Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
10.
Central European Summer Time
–
It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
11.
South Franconian German
–
South Franconian is a High Franconian dialect which is spoken in the northernmost part of Baden-Württemberg in Germany, around Karlsruhe, Mosbach and Heilbronn. Like closely related East Franconian it is a dialect, which unites elements of Central German. The language area is located in the transient zone between Rhine Franconian dialects in the north and Alemannic German in the south, South Franconian is one of the High German dialects with the lowest number of speakers. South Franconian is not considered a dialect by some observers. The scope of South Franconian is disputed
12.
Germany
–
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
13.
Strasbourg
–
Strasbourg is the capital and largest city of the Grand Est region of France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany in the region of Alsace. In 2014, the city proper had 276,170 inhabitants, Strasbourgs metropolitan area had a population of 773,347 in 2013, making it the ninth largest metro area in France and home to 13% of the Grand Est regions inhabitants. The transnational Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau had a population of 915,000 inhabitants in 2014, Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions, such as the Council of Europe and the Eurocorps, as well as the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman of the European Union. The city is also the seat of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine, Strasbourgs historic city centre, the Grande Île, was classified a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988, the first time such an honour was placed on an entire city centre. The largest Islamic place of worship in France, the Strasbourg Grand Mosque, was inaugurated by French Interior Minister Manuel Valls on 27 September 2012. Economically, Strasbourg is an important centre of manufacturing and engineering, as well as a hub of road, rail, the port of Strasbourg is the second largest on the Rhine after Duisburg, Germany. Before the 5th century, the city was known as Argantorati, a Celtic Gaulish name Latinized first as Argentorate, after the 5h century, the city became known by a completely different name Gallicized as Strasbourg. That name is of Germanic origin and means Town of roads, Strasbourg is situated on the eastern border of France with Germany. This border is formed by the River Rhine, which forms the eastern border of the modern city. The historic core of Strasbourg however lies on the Grande Île in the River Ill, which flows parallel to, and roughly 4 kilometres from. The natural courses of the two eventually join some distance downstream of Strasbourg, although several artificial waterways now connect them within the city. This section of the Rhine valley is an axis of north-south travel, with river traffic on the Rhine itself. The city is some 400 kilometres east of Paris, in spite of its position far inland, Strasbourgs climate is classified as Oceanic, with warm, relatively sunny summers and cold, overcast winters. Precipitation is elevated from mid-spring to the end of summer, but remains largely constant throughout the year, on average, snow falls 30 days per year. The highest temperature recorded was 38.5 °C in August 2003. The lowest temperature recorded was −23.4 °C in December 1938. Nonetheless, the disappearance of heavy industry on both banks of the Rhine, as well as effective measures of traffic regulation in and around the city have reduced air pollution
14.
Karlsruhe
–
Karlsruhe is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in southwest Germany, near the French-German border. It has a population of 307,755, the city is the seat of the two highest courts in Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court and the Federal Court of Justice. Its most remarkable building is Karlsruhe Palace, which was built in 1715, the city lies at an altitude between 100 m and 322 m. Its geographical coordinates are 49°00′N 8°24′E, the 49th parallel runs through the city centre and its course is marked by a stone and painted line in the Stadtgarten. Almost all of these survived until today. The city centre is the oldest part of town and lies south of the palace in the quadrant defined by nine of the radial streets, the central part of the palace runs east-west, with two wings, each at a 45° angle, directed southeast and southwest. The market square lies on the street running south from the palace to Ettlingen, the area north of the palace is a park and forest. The area west of the palace is now mostly residential, Karlsruhe experiences an oceanic climate and its winter climate is milder, compared to most other German cities. Summers are also hotter than elsewhere in the country and it is one of the sunniest cities in Germany, precipitation is almost evenly spread throughout the year. In 2008, the station in Karlsruhe, which had been operating since 1876, was closed, it was replaced by a weather station in Rheinstetten. A variation of this claims that he built the new palace in order to find peace from his wife. Charles William founded the city on June 17,1715, after a dispute with the citizens of his previous capital, the founding of the city is closely linked to the construction of the palace. Karlsruhe became the capital of Baden-Durlach and in 1771 of the united Baden until 1945, built in 1822, the Ständehaus was the first parliament building in a German State. In the aftermath of the revolution of 1848, a republican government was elected here. Karlsruhe was visited by Thomas Jefferson during his time as the American envoy to France, Jefferson passed to him maps of 12 European towns to consult, one of which was a sketch he had made of Karlsruhe during his visit. In 1860, the international professional convention of chemists, the Karlsruhe Congress, was held in the city. Much of the area, including the palace, was reduced to rubble by Allied bombing during World War II but was rebuilt after the war. Located in the American zone of the post-war Allied occupation, Karlsruhe was home to an American military base, in 1995, the bases closed, and their facilities were turned over to the city of Karlsruhe
15.
French language
–
French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
16.
German language
–
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
17.
Weissenburg Abbey, Alsace
–
Weissemburg Abbey, also Wissembourg Abbey, is a former Benedictine abbey in Wissembourg in Alsace, France. Weissenburg Abbey was founded around 660 AD by the Bishop of Speyer, thanks to donations from the nobility and local landowners the monastery quickly acquired possessions and estates in the Alsace, Electorate of the Palatinate and in the west-Rhine county of Ufgau. As a result, manorial farms and peasant farmsteads were set up, around 1100, it was important for the monastery, which had now become wealthy, to distance itself from the Bishop of Speyer and his influence. To this end a new tradition was established about the origins of the monastery, in the case of Weissenburg, the story now ran that the abbey had been founded in 623 by the Merovingian king, Dagobert I. Detailed historic research in recent decades has demonstrated that this was unlikely to have been the case, Weissenburg developed quickly into one of the wealthiest and culturally most significant abbeys in Germany. As early as 682 it was able to purchase shares in a saltworks in Vic-sur-Seille for the sum of 500 solidi. The Gospel Book written around 860 by a monk, Otfrid of Weissenburg, represented a milestone in the development of German language and literature. The abbey lost an important possession, however, when in 985 the Salian Duke Otto appropriated 68 of the parishes belonging to it in the so-called Salian Church Robbery. This was because, over time, their vassal viewed their fiefs as allods, thus the once extensive monastic estates increasingly evaporated. This index, called the Codex Edelini or Liber Possessionum, is held in the Speyer State Archives. The princely provost of Weissenberg had a vote in the Reichsfürstenrat of the Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. In the wake of the French Revolution the foundation was dissolved in 1789, part of the monastic library went in the 17th century to the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel, the abbey records largely perished in the confusion of the revolutionary period. In his abbey chronicle which first appeared in 1551, the theologian and historian, Kaspar Brusch, left a record of the abbots of Weissenburg, in addition Brusch suggests this himself. The provosts of the church were identical with the bishops of Speyer. The name Weißenburg may also have derived from the limestone of the region. Die Geschichte des Dorfes und seiner Bewohner, von den Anfängen bis ins frühe 20. Eingeleitet und aus dem Nachlass von Karl Glöckner hrsg. von Anton Doll, wilhelm Harster, Der Güterbesitz des Klosters Weißenburg. Ernst Friedrich Mooyer, Nekrologium des Klosters Weißenburg, mit Erläuterungen und Zugaben, in, Archiv des historischen Vereines von Unterfranken und Aschaffenburg 13, S. 1-67
18.
Rule of Saint Benedict
–
The Rule of Saint Benedict is a book of precepts written by Benedict of Nursia for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot. The spirit of Saint Benedicts Rule is summed up in the motto of the Benedictine Confederation, pax, compared to other precepts, the Rule provides a moderate path between individual zeal and formulaic institutionalism, because of this middle ground it has been widely popular. The Rule of Saint Benedict has been used by Benedictines for fifteen centuries and his Rule was written as a guide for individual, autonomous communities, and to this day all Benedictine Houses remain self-governing. Advantages seen in retaining this unique Benedictine emphasis on autonomy include cultivating models of tightly bonded communities, perceived disadvantages comprise geographical isolation from important activities in adjacent communities. Other perceived losses include inefficiency and lack of mobility in the service of others, Christian monasticism first appeared in the Eastern Roman Empire a few generations before Benedict of Nursia, in the Egyptian desert. Within a generation, both solitary and communal monasticism became very popular and spread outside of Egypt, first to Palestine, Saint Basil of Caesarea codified the precepts for these eastern monasteries in his Ascetic Rule, or Ascetica, which is still used today in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In time, setting an example with his zeal, he began to attract disciples, after considerable initial struggles with his first community at Subiaco, he eventually founded the monastery of Monte Cassino in 529, where he wrote his Rule near the end of his life. In chapter 73, Saint Benedict commends the Rule of Saint Basil and he was probably aware of the Rule written by Pachomius, and his Rule also shows influence by the Rule of St Augustine of Hippo and the writings of Saint John Cassian. Chapter 3 ordains the calling of the brothers to council upon all affairs of importance to the community, Chapter 4 lists 73 tools for good work, tools of the spiritual craft for the workshop that is the enclosure of the monastery and the stability in the community. These are essentially the duties of every Christian and are mainly Scriptural either in letter or in spirit, Chapter 5 prescribes prompt, ungrudging, and absolute obedience to the superior in all things lawful, unhesitating obedience being called the first degree, or step, of humility. Chapter 6 recommends moderation in the use of speech, but does not enjoin strict silence, chapters 8-19 regulate the Divine Office, the Godly work to which nothing is to be preferred, namely the eight canonical hours. Detailed arrangements are made for the number of Psalms, etc. to be recited in winter and summer, on Sundays, weekdays, Holy Days, Chapter 19 emphasizes the reverence owed to the omnipresent God. Chapter 20 directs that prayer be made with heartfelt compunction rather than many words and it should be prolonged only under the inspiration of divine grace, and in community always kept short and terminated at a sign from the superior. Chapter 21 regulates the appointment of a Dean over every ten monks, each monk is to have a separate bed and is to sleep in his habit, so as to be ready to rise without delay, a light shall burn in the dormitory throughout the night. Chapters 31 and 32 order the appointment of officials to charge of the goods of the monastery. Chapter 33 forbids the possession of anything without the leave of the abbot. Chapter 34 prescribes a just distribution of such things, Chapter 35 arranges for the service in the kitchen by all monks in turn. Chapters 36 and 37 address care of the sick, the old, and they are to have certain dispensations from the strict Rule, chiefly in the matter of food
19.
Abbey
–
An abbey is a complex of buildings used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. It provides a place for activities, work and housing of Christian monks. The concept of the abbey has developed over centuries from the early monastic ways of religious men and women where they would live isolated from the lay community about them. Religious life in an abbey may be monastic, an abbey may be the home of an enclosed religious order or may be open to visitors. The layout of the church and associated buildings of an abbey often follows a set plan determined by the religious order. Abbeys are often self-sufficient while using any abundance of produce or skill to provide care to the poor and needy, some abbeys offer accommodation to people who are seeking spiritual retreat. There are many famous abbeys across Europe, the earliest known Christian monasteries were groups of huts built near the residence of a famous ascetic or other holy person. Disciples wished to be close to their man or woman in order to study their doctrine or imitate their way of life. In the earliest times of Christian monasticism, ascetics would live in social isolation and they would subsist whilst donating any excess produce to the poor. However, increasing religious fervor about the ways and or persecution of them would drive them further away from their community. For instance, the cells and huts of anchorites have been found in the deserts of Egypt, in 312 AD, Anthony the Great retired to the Thebaid region of Egypt to escape the persecution of the Emperor Maximian. Anthony was the best known of the anchorites of his due to his degree of austerity, sanctity. The deeper he withdrew into the wilderness, the more numerous his disciples became and they refused to be separated from him and built their cells close to him. This became a first true monastic community, Anthony, according to Johann August Wilhelm Neander, inadvertently became the founder of a new mode of living in common, Coenobitism. At Tabennae on the Nile, in Upper Egypt, Saint Pachomius laid the foundations for the life by arranging everything in an organized manner. He built several monasteries, each with about 1,600 separate cells laid out in lines and these cells formed an encampment where the monks slept and performed some of their manual tasks. There were nearby large halls such as the church, refectory, kitchen, infirmary, an enclosure protecting all these buildings gave the settlement the appearance of a walled village. This layout, known as the laurae, became popular throughout Palestine, as well as the laurae, communities known as caenobia developed
20.
Dagobert I
–
Dagobert I was the king of Austrasia, king of all the Franks, and king of Neustria and Burgundy. He was the last king of the Merovingian dynasty to wield any real royal power, Dagobert was the first of the Frankish kings to be buried in the royal tombs at Saint Denis Basilica. Dagobert was the eldest son of Chlothar II and Haldetrude, Chlothar had reigned alone over all the Franks since 613. In 623, Chlothar was forced to make Dagobert king of Austrasia by the nobility of that region, the rule of a Frank from the Austrasian heartland tied Alsace more closely to the Austrasian court. Dagobert created a new duchy in southwest Austrasia to guard the region from Burgundian or Alemannic encroachments, the duchy comprised the Vosges, the Burgundian Gate, and the Transjura. Dagobert made his courtier Gundoin the first duke of this new polity that was to last until the end of the Merovingian dynasty, upon the death of his father in 629, Dagobert inherited the Neustrian and Burgundian kingdoms. His half-brother Charibert, son of Sichilde, claimed Neustria but Dagobert opposed him, brodulf, brother of Sichilde, petitioned Dagobert on behalf of his young nephew, but Dagobert assassinated him and gave the Aquitaine to his own younger sibling. Charibert and his son Chilperic were assassinated in 632, Dagobert had Burgundy and Aquitaine firmly under his rule, becoming the most powerful Merovingian king in many years and the most respected ruler in the West. In 631, Dagobert led three armies against Samo, the ruler of the Slavs, but his Austrasian forces were defeated at Wogastisburg, also in 632, the nobles of Austrasia revolted under the mayor of the palace, Pepin of Landen. As king, Dagobert made Paris his capital, during his reign, he built the Altes Schloss in Meersburg, which today is the oldest inhabited castle in that country. Devoutly religious, Dagobert was also responsible for the construction of the Saint Denis Basilica and he also appointed St. Arbogast bishop of Strasbourg. Dagobert died in the abbey of Saint-Denis and was the first Frankish king to be buried in the Saint Denis Basilica, the author of the Chronicle of Fredegar criticises the king for his loose morals in having three queens almost simultaneously, as well as several concubines. The chronicle names the queens, Nanthild and the otherwise obscure Wulfegundis and Berchildis, in 625/6 Dagobert married Gormatrude, a sister of his fathers wife Sichilde, but the marriage was childless. After divorcing Gormatrude in 629/30 he made Nanthild, a Saxon servant from his personal entourage and she gave birth to, Clovis II later king of Neustria and Burgundy. Shortly after his marriage to Nanthild, he took a girl called Ragnetrude to his bed and it has been speculated that Regintrud, abbess of Nonnberg Abbey, was also a child of Dagobert, although this theory does not fit Regintruds supposed date of birth between 660 and 665. She married into the Bavarian Agilolfing family
21.
St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Wissembourg
–
St. Peter and St. Pauls Church of Wissembourg is frequently, but incorrectly, referred to as the second largest Gothic church of Alsace after Strasbourg Cathedral. The former abbey church of Wissembourgs famous Benedictine abbey now serves as the main Roman Catholic parish church of the town. The church displays a Romanesque bell tower, the remain of the church built in the 11th century under the direction of abbot Samuel. The major part of the visible church is the work of builders under the command of abbot Edelin, in the late 13th century. The church contains a fresco representing Saint Christopher, with its height of 11 m, among the churchs remaining treasures features a pipe organ, built by Louis Dubois in 1766 in one of the largest baroque organ cases in Alsace. When this organ had become barely playable, another organ was installed in the transept in 1953. The Dubois organ was restored in its state between 2010 and 2012. Located in the transept of the abbey, the new organ, built buy Roethinger on the principles. It remained totally authentic and is therefore a valuable witness of the building at the middle of the twentieth century
22.
Strasbourg Cathedral
–
Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg, also known as Strasbourg Minster, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. Although considerable parts of it are still in Romanesque architecture, it is considered to be among the finest examples of high, or late. Erwin von Steinbach is credited for contributions from 1277 to his death in 1318. At 142 metres, it was the worlds tallest building from 1647 to 1874, today it is the sixth-tallest church in the world and the highest extant structure built entirely in the Middle Ages. Sandstone from the Vosges used in construction gives the cathedral its characteristic pink hue, archaeological excavations below and around the cathedral have been conducted in 1907, 1923–1924, 1947–1948, between 1966 and 1972 and again between 2012 and 2014. The site of the current cathedral was used for several successive religious buildings, in the eighth century, the first cathedral was replaced by a more important building that would be completed under the reign of Charlemagne. Bishop Remigius von Straßburg wished to be buried in the crypt and it was certainly in this building that the Oaths of Strasbourg were pronounced in 842. Excavations carried out recently reveal that this Carolingian cathedral had three naves and three apses, a poem described this cathedral decorated with gold and precious stones by the bishop Ratho. The basilica caught fire on multiple occasions, in 873,1002, in 1015, bishop Werner von Habsburg laid the first stone of a new cathedral on the ruins of the Carolingian basilica. He then constructed a cathedral in the Romanesque style of architecture and that cathedral burned to the ground in 1176 because at that time the naves were covered with a wooden framework. After that disaster, bishop Heinrich von Hasenburg decided to construct a new cathedral, to be more beautiful than that of Basel, construction of the new cathedral began on the foundations of the preceding structure, and did not end until centuries later. Werners cathedrals crypt, which had not burned, was kept, the construction began with the choir and the north transept in a Romanesque style, reminiscent of and actually inspired by the Imperial Cathedrals in its monumentality and height. But in 1225, a team coming from Chartres revolutionized the construction by suggesting a Gothic architecture style. The parts of the nave that had already begun in Romanesque style were torn down and in order to find money to finish the nave. The money was kept by the Œuvre Notre-Dame, which also hired architects, above all, the famous west front, decorated with thousands of figures, is a masterpiece of the Gothic era. The tower is one of the first to rely substantially on craftsmanship, while previous façades were certainly drawn prior to construction, Strasbourg has one of the earliest façades whose construction is inconceivable without prior drawing. Strasbourg and Cologne Cathedral together represent some of the earliest uses of architectural drawing, the north tower, completed in 1439, was the worlds tallest building from 1647 until 1874. The planned south tower was never built and as a result, with its asymmetrical form
23.
Otfrid of Weissenburg
–
Otfrid of Weissenburg was a monk at the abbey of Weissenburg and the author of a gospel harmony in rhyming couplets now called the Evangelienbuch. It is written in the South Rhine Franconian dialect of Old High German, the poem is thought to have been completed between 863 and 871. Otfrid is the first German poet whose name we know from his work and he studied under Hrabanus Maurus at Fulda and had moved to Weissenburg by 830. Apart from the Evangelienbuch, he is the author of a number of works in Latin, including biblical commentary, with 7104 couplets, the Evangelienbuch is the first substantial literary work and the first use of rhyme in German literature - surviving earlier German poetry is alliterative. There are three dedications, To Louis the German To Solomon I, Bishop of Constance At the end of the work, to his friends Hartmuat and Werinbert, monks at the Abbey of St. He also gives the following outline of the structure of the Evangelienbuch, I have, then, of them the first commemorates the birth of Christ, it ends with the baptism and the teaching of John. The second, His disciples already having been called together, tells how He revealed Himself to the world both by certain signs and by His most brilliant teaching, the third tells a little about the brilliance of the signs and the teaching to the Jews. The fourth tells then how, approaching His passion, He willingly suffered death for us, the fifth calls to memory His resurrection, His conversation afterwards with His disciples, His ascension and the Day of Judgment. The poem is preserved in four manuscripts, one of which is fragmentary, all the manuscripts are contemporary, and the Vienna manuscript carries corrections which are generally considered to have been made by Otfrid himself. The Heidelberg manuscript also includes the Georgslied, Otfrid von Weißenburgʼs Gospel Book - full text of Wolffs 1973 edition. Otfrid von Weißenburg, Evangelienbuch Band I, Edition nach dem Wiener Codex 2687, otfrids Evangelienbuch, 6th edn, ed. Ludwig Wolff, Tübingen, Niemeyer,1973. J. Knight Bostock, A Handbook on Old High German Literature, 2nd edn, revised by K. C. King and D. R. McLintock, W. Schröder Otfrid von Weißenburg in Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters
24.
Diatessaron
–
The Diatessaron, is the most prominent early Gospel harmony, and was created by Tatian, an early Christian Assyrian apologist and ascetic. Tatian sought to combine all the material he found in the four gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke. This latter passage is, however, generally considered to be an addition to the Gospel of John. Most scholars agree that Tatian did, from the beginning, include the ending of Mark. Tatian added no significant wording to the material he took from the separate gospels. Only 56 verses in the canonical Gospels do not have a counterpart in the Diatessaron, mostly the genealogies and the Pericope Adulterae. The final work is about 72% the length of the four gospels put together, in the early Church, the gospels at first circulated independently, with Matthew the most popular. The Diatessaron is notable evidence for the authority already enjoyed by the four gospels by the mid-2nd century, twenty years after Tatians harmony, Irenaeus expressly proclaimed the authoritative character of the four gospels. It is unclear whether Tatian intended the Diatessaron to supplement or replace the four separate gospels, at the same time, in the churches of the Latin west, the Diatessaron circulated as a supplement to the four gospels, especially in Latin translation. Tatian was an Assyrian who was a pupil of Justin Martyr in Rome, where, Justin says, the apomnemoneumata of the Apostles, the gospels, were read every Sunday. When Justin quotes the synoptic Gospels, he tends to do so in a harmonised form, if so, it is unclear how much Tatian may have borrowed from this previous author in determining his own narrative sequence of Gospel elements. It is equally unclear whether Tatian took the Syriac Gospel texts composited into his Diatessaron from a previous translation, the majority consensus is that the Peshitta Old Testament preceded the Diatessaron, and represents an independent translation from the Hebrew Bible. There is scholarly uncertainty about what language Tatian used for its original composition, modern scholarship tends to favour a Syriac origin, but even so, the exercise must have been repeated in Greek very shortly afterwards—probably by Tatian himself. The Diatessaron was used as the standard Gospel text in the liturgy of at least some sections of the Syrian Church for possibly up to two centuries and was quoted or alluded to by Syrian writers. Subsequently, the Chester Beatty library was able to track down and buy a further 42 leaves, how the Gospel text that was a standard in Syriac Christianity for possibly as long as two centuries should have utterly disappeared requires explaining. Thus the harmonisation was replaced in the 5th century by the four gospels individually, in the Peshitta version. Gradually, without extant copies to which to refer, the Diatessaron developed a reputation for having been heretical, No Christian tradition, other than some Syriac ones, has ever adopted a harmonized Gospel text for use in its liturgy. However, in traditions, it was not unusual for subsequent Christian generations to seek to provide paraphrased Gospel versions in language closer to the vernacular of their own day
25.
Charles IV of France
–
Charles IV, called the Fair in France and the Bald in Navarre, was the last direct Capetian King of France and King of Navarre from 1322 to his death. Charles was the son of Philip IV, like his father. Beginning in 1323 Charles was confronted with a peasant revolt in Flanders, as duke of Guyenne, King Edward II of England was a vassal of Charles, but he was reluctant to pay homage to another king. In retaliation, Charles conquered the Duchy of Guyenne in a known as the War of Saint-Sardos. In a peace agreement, Edward II accepted to swear allegiance to Charles, in exchange, Guyenne was returned to Edward but with a much-reduced territory. When Charles IV died without heir, the senior lineage of the House of Capet ended. He was succeeded by his cousin Philip of Valois, but the legitimacy was one factor of the Hundred Years War. By virtue of the birthright of his mother, Joan I of Navarre, Charles claimed the title Charles I, King of Navarre. From 1314 to his accession to the throne, he held the title of Count of La Marche and was crowned King of France in 1322 at the cathedral in Reims. Charles married his first wife, Blanche of Burgundy, the daughter of Otto IV, Count of Burgundy, in 1308, after Charles assumed the throne he refused to release Blanche, their marriage was annulled, and Blanche retreated to a nunnery. His second wife, Marie of Luxembourg, the daughter of Henry VII, Charles married again in 1325, this time to Jeanne dÉvreux, she was his first cousin, and the marriage required approval from Pope John XXII. Jeanne was crowned queen in 1326, in one of the better recorded French coronation ceremonies, the coronation was also the first appearance of the latterly famous medieval cook, Guillaume Tirel, then only a junior servant. During the first half of his reign Charles relied heavily on his uncle, Charles of Valois, for advice, Charles of Valois would have been aware that if Charles died without male heirs, he and his male heirs would have a good claim to the crown. Charles undertook rapid steps to assert his own control, executing the Count of LIsle-Jourdain, a troublesome southern noble, Charles, a relatively well educated king, also founded a famous library at Fontainebleau. During his six-year reign Charles administration became increasingly unpopular and he debased the coinage to his own benefit, sold offices, increased taxation, exacted burdensome duties, and confiscated estates from enemies or those he disliked. He was also involved in Jewish issues during the period. Charles father, Philip IV, had confiscated the estates of numerous Jews in 1306, and Charles took vigorous, finally, Charles at least acquiesced, or at worst actively ordered, in the expulsion of many Jews from France following the leper scare. Charles inherited a long-running period of tension between England and France, once Charles took up the throne, Edward attempted to avoid payment again
26.
Louis XIV of France
–
Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIVs France was a leader in the centralization of power. Louis began his rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister. By these means he became one of the most powerful French monarchs, under his rule, the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to Huguenots, was abolished. The revocation effectively forced Huguenots to emigrate or convert in a wave of dragonnades, which managed to virtually destroy the French Protestant minority. During Louis reign, France was the leading European power, and it fought three wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg. There were also two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, warfare defined Louis XIVs foreign policies, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military, Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné and bore the title of French heirs apparent. At the time of his birth, his parents had married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631, leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Sensing imminent death, Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order in the spring of 1643, in defiance of custom, which would have made Queen Anne the sole Regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his sons behalf. His lack of faith in Queen Annes political abilities was his primary rationale and he did, however, make the concession of appointing her head of the council. Louis relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for the time, contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis journal entries, such as, but attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood
27.
French Revolution
–
Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, the causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt, Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789, 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 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 closely shaped the course of the Revolution, internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, after the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterised by suspended elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution, almost all future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor. The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day, the French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies and it became the focal point for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism, nationalism, socialism, feminism, and secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of total war by organising the resources of France, historians have pointed to many events and factors within the Ancien Régime that led to the Revolution. Over the course of the 18th century, there emerged what the philosopher Jürgen Habermas called the idea of the sphere in France. A perfect example would be the Palace of Versailles which was meant to overwhelm the senses of the visitor and convince one of the greatness of the French state and Louis XIV. Starting in the early 18th century saw the appearance of the sphere which was critical in that both sides were active. In France, the emergence of the public sphere outside of the control of the saw the shift from Versailles to Paris as the cultural capital of France. In the 1750s, during the querelle des bouffons over the question of the quality of Italian vs, in 1782, Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote, The word court no longer inspires awe amongst us as in the time of Louis XIV
28.
Timber framing
–
Timber framing and post-and-beam construction are methods of building with heavy timbers rather than dimensional lumber such as 2x4s. Traditional timber framing is the method of creating structures using heavy squared-off and it is commonplace in wooden buildings from the 19th century and earlier. The method comes from making out of logs and tree trunks without modern high tech saws to cut lumber from the starting material stock. Since this building method has been used for thousands of years in parts of the world. These styles are categorized by the type of foundation, walls, how and where the beams intersect, the use of curved timbers. Three basic types of frames in English-speaking countries are the box frame, cruck frame. The distinction presented here is the load is carried by the exterior walls. Purlins are also in a timber frame. A cruck is a pair of crooked or curved timbers which form a bent or crossframe, more than 4,000 cruck frame buildings have been recorded in the UK. Several types of frames are used, more information follows in English style below. True cruck or full cruck, blades, straight or curved, base cruck, tops of the blades are truncated by the first transverse member such as by a tie beam. Raised cruck, blades land on masonry wall, and extend to the ridge, middle cruck, blades land on masonry wall, and are truncated by a collar. Upper cruck, blades land on a tie beam, very similar to knee rafters, jointed cruck, blades are made from pieces joined near eaves in a number of ways. See also, hammerbeam roof End cruck is not a style, aisled frames have one or more rows of interior posts. These interior posts typically carry more load than the posts in the exterior walls. This is the concept of the aisle in church buildings, sometimes called a hall church. However, a nave is often called an aisle, and three-aisled barns are common in the U. S. the Netherlands, aisled buildings are wider than the simpler box-framed or cruck-framed buildings, and typically have purlins supporting the rafters. In northern Germany, this construction is known as variations of a Ständerhaus, the frame is often left exposed on the exterior of the building
29.
Louis XV of France
–
Louis XV, known as Louis the Beloved, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five, Cardinal Fleury was his chief minister from 1726 until the Cardinals death in 1743, at which time the young king took sole control of the kingdom. During his reign, Louis returned the Austrian Netherlands, territory won at the Battle of Fontenoy of 1745, Louis also ceded New France in North America to Spain and Great Britain at the conclusion of the Seven Years War in 1763. He incorporated the territories of Lorraine and Corsica into the kingdom of France and he was succeeded by his grandson Louis XVI in 1774. French culture and influence were at their height in the first half of the eighteenth century, however, many scholars believe that Louis XVs decisions damaged the power of France, weakened the treasury, discredited the absolute monarchy, and made it more vulnerable to distrust and destruction. Evidence for this view is provided by the French Revolution, which broke out 15 years after his death, norman Davies characterized Louis XVs reign as one of debilitating stagnation, characterized by lost wars, endless clashes between the Court and Parliament, and religious feuds. A few scholars defend Louis, arguing that his negative reputation was based on propaganda meant to justify the French Revolution. Jerome Blum described him as a perpetual adolescent called to do a mans job, Louis XV was born in the Palace of Versailles on 15 February 1710 during the reign of Louis XIV. His grandfather, Louis Le Grand Dauphin, had three sons with his wife Marie Anne Victoire of Bavaria, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Philippe, Duke of Anjou, and Charles, Duke of Berry. Louis XV was the son of the Duke of Burgundy and his wife Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, the eldest daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy. At birth, Louis XV received a title for younger sons of the French royal family. In April 1711, Louis Le Grand Dauphin suddenly died, making Louis XVs father, the Duke of Burgundy, at that time, Burgundy had two living sons, Louis, Duke of Brittany and his youngest son, the future Louis XV. A year later, Marie Adélaïde, Duchess of Burgundy, contracted smallpox and her husband, said to be heartbroken by her death, died the same week, also having contracted smallpox. Within a week of his death, it was clear that the two children had also been infected. The elder son was treated by bloodletting in an unsuccessful effort to save him. Fearing that the Dauphin would die, the Court had both the Dauphin and the Duke of Anjou baptised, the Dauphin died the same day,8 March 1712. His younger brother, the Duke of Anjou, was treated by his governess, Madame de Ventadour. The two year old Dauphin survived the smallpox, on 1 September 1715, Louis XIV died of gangrene, having reigned for 72 years
30.
First Battle of Wissembourg (1793)
–
In the First Battle of Wissembourg an Allied army commanded by Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser attacked the French Army of the Rhine under Jean Pascal Carlenc. After an ineffectual resistance, the French army abandoned its fortified line behind the Lauter River and this engagement of the War of the First Coalition occurred on the eastern border of France about 60 kilometres north of Strasbourg. After the Siege of Mainz in which the Prussian army captured the city, the Army of the Rhine fell back into the Lines of Weissenburg, soon Wurmser with an army composed of troops from Habsburg Austria, French Royalists and allied German states began putting pressure on the Lines. Meanwhile, the French army organization was in disarray after two previous army commanders were arrested and sent to Paris prisons, since no one wanted to lead the army, the representatives on mission appointed Carlenc, recently a lieutenant colonel of cavalry. After a series of skirmishes, Wurmser launched a successful assault, after the French retreat, the inept Carlenc was arrested and replaced in army command by Jean-Charles Pichegru. At the urging of the government, Pichegru began launching a series of attacks designed to recover the lost territory and these resulted in the battles of Froeschwiller and Second Wissembourg. During the War of the First Coalition, General der Kavallerie Wurmsers Austro-Allied army threatened to invade Alsace, accordingly, the French Army of the Rhine manned the Lines of Weissenburg, a line of earthworks dating back to the War of the Spanish Succession. The lines began near Wissembourg and stretched about 20 kilometers in a direction to the Rhine River at Lauterbourg. This traces the modern-day France-Germany border, during this period, the Army of the Rhines command structure remained chaotic. In July 1793, Adam Philippe Custine was replaced in command, General of Division Charles de Landremont became commander on 18 August and served until 29 September when he was arrested for treason. Unlike his predecessor MG Alexandre, vicomte de Beauharnais who was guillotined in July 1794, Landremont survived the experience, MG Meunier took command for two days until his replacement by MG Jean Carlenc on 2 October. MG Charles Pichegru replaced Carlenc on 27 October, at the same time, MG Lazare Hoche assumed overall command of both the Army of the Moselle and Pichegrus Army of the Rhine. On 20 August, a made up of Austrians, Hessians. Feldmarschal-Leutnant Moritz Kavanaughs Allied force included five battalions, six light infantry companies,13 cavalry squadrons. French General of Brigade Louis-Théobald Ilher led three battalions, six squadrons, and 10 guns, the Allies had the better of the encounter, losing 147 casualties. The French lost 103 men and 5 cannons captured, plus a number of killed and wounded. While leading some dragoons, Ilher was killed by a Hessian Jäger, a flurry of actions followed as Wurmser drove in the French outposts and tapped at the main lines. Skirmishes occurred on 21 and 27 August, and on 7,11,12,14,19,20,23, on 12 and 20 September, two battalions of the Kaiser Infantry Regiment led by Oberst Gerhard Rosselmini clashed with the French at Bad Bergzabern and Bienwaldmuhle
31.
Lines of Weissenburg
–
The Lines of Weissenburg, or Lines of Wissembourg, were entrenched works — an earthen rampart dotted with small outworks — along the river Lauter. They were built in 1706 and lasted into the 19th century, the Lines were 12 miles in length and stretched from Wissembourg on the west to Lauterbourg on the east, where they were anchored on the Rhine River. The French built this chain of fortifications during the War of the Spanish Succession under the orders of the Duke of Villars in 1706, during the War of the Austrian Succession the loss of the Lines by the French played a pivotal role in the campaign of 1744. French King Louis XV, in command of an army of 90,000, captured Menen and Ypres and this move cut off an army under Louis, Prince de Conti from Alsace. The Lines were still militarily and strategically significant during the French Revolutionary Wars, the Lines were stormed on 13 October 1793 by an allied army under Austrian General Dagobert von Wurmser in the First Battle of Wissembourg. The allies were in their turn dispossessed by Lazare Hoche and Charles Pichegru in a second Battle of Wissembourg on 26 December, in 1815, after the Battle of Waterloo, the Austrian Army of the Upper Rhine advanced into France. On 25 June the Crown Prince of Württemberg, commander of the Austrian III Corps, the first column assembled at Bergzabern, and the second moved forward by Nieder Ottersbach. Count Wallmoden was directed to advance upon Lauterbourg, the Crown Prince advanced his Corps still further along the Hagenau road. His advanced guard pushed on to Inglesheim, and the body of the III Corps reached the Lines. The French under General Jean Rapp abandoned the Lines in the night and fell back upon the Forest of Hagenau, carlyle, Thomas, Chapter 1, Section, Prince Karl gets across the Rhine, Book XV Second Silesian War, Important Episode in the General European one. History of Friedrich II of Prussia V, Project Gutenberg Clash of Steel staff, Surburg, the Treaties of the War of the Spanish Succession, An Historical and Critical Dictionary, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. Other lines were constructed about the time the Lines of Stollhoffen, Lines of the Moder, following the river Hagenau. Lines of Lauter built by the Allies, and the year,1706
32.
Claude Louis Hector de Villars
–
Villars was born at Moulins in a noble but poor family — his father was the diplomat Pierre de Villars. He entered the French army through the corps of pages in 1671, the next promotion would take time in spite of a long record of service under Turenne, The Great Condé and Luxembourg, and of his aristocratic birth. The reason was that he had incurred the enmity of the powerful Louvois, he was finally made maréchal de camp in 1687. He returned to France in 1690 and was given a command in the cavalry of the army in Flanders and it was Villars part in the next war, beginning with Friedlingen and Hochstadt and ending with Denain, that has made him most famous. For his part in the battle of Friedlingen he received the marshalate, and for the pacification of the insurgent Cévennes he received the Saint-Esprit order, Friedlingen and Hochstadt were barren victories, and the campaigns of which they formed were characterized by lost opportunities. Villars glory thus begins with the year 1709 when France, apparently helpless, was roused to an effort of self-defence by the stringent demands of the Coalition. In that year he was called to command the main army opposing Prince Eugène of Savoy, during the famine of the winter he shared the soldiers miserable rations. Villars, named for Marshal Villars, was built in Moulins, the 18th century historical monument was used as a cavalry barracks. It was partially destroyed during World War II and was restored by François Voinchet and he took the field for the last time in the War of the Polish Succession, with the title marshal-general of the kings armies, that Turenne had held before him. But he was eighty years old at this point. Villarss memoirs show us a fanfaron plein dhonneur, as Voltaire calls him and he was indeed boastful, and also covetous of honours and wealth. But he was described as an honourable man of high courage, moral and physical. He was famous for his love for men as wrote the Duchess of Orleans in her letters. The memoirs, part of which was published in 1734 and afterwards several times republished in untrustworthy versions, were for the first time completely edited by the Marquis de Vogüé in 1884–92, Marshal Villars and the War of the Spanish Succession, University of Kentucky Press
33.
Lauterbourg
–
Lauterbourg is a commune and Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Situated on the German border and not far from the German city of Karlsruhe, the German town across the border is Neulauterburg. Lauterbourg lies near the Lauter and Rhine rivers, the commune contains several small lakes in the flat land directly on the west of the Rhine, with which they connect. The commune is the confluence of more than one ecotone, an ecotone between river and agrisystem and one between agrisystem and the forest, whose northern edge coincides with the German frontier. The commune is entirely set on the land fronting the River Rhine, but the foothills of the north Vosges Mountains. In anthropological and cultural terms, Lauterbourg is at the point with the two German territories of Baden-Württemberg and Rheinland-Pfalz. On the other hand, it is adjacent to a major river and land route which for centuries has been a focus of commercial and cultural currents. Lauterbourg is connected by a line with Strasbourg to the south Wörth am Rhein to the north. The town has had its own station since 1876. The lines have never been electrified, however, and in recent decades the trains have been diesel powered. Close by, to the west, is the end of the A35 Autoroute. Spring and Autumn are pleasant in Lauterborg, Summers are warm with the occasional afternoon thunderstorm, Lauterbourg is one of the coldest low lying places in France and can experience cold east winds most Winters. Lauterbourg is the site of a Roman era fortification named Tribuni, the area was settled by the Franks in the 6th century. Lauterbourg fell to Lotharingia in 843, and was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire in 962, adelheid, the wife of Otto I, founded a monastery in Seltz, a short distance to the south of Lauterbourg. Lauterbourg was given to the bishopric of Speyer by Henry IV, Lauterbourg developed into a town, and the seat of a bailiwick incorporating 20 villages, in the 13th century. In the Wars of Religion of the 17th century, the town was plundered by passing troops. In the early 18th century, Lauterbourg was developed into a French fortification of the Lauter-line, on 13 August 13,1793, a battle of the War of the First Coalition took place in the Bienwald. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, Lauterbourg passed to the German Empire, Lauterbourg was now developed industrially and attached to a railway line
34.
Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser
–
Dagobert Sigismund, Count von Wurmser was an Austrian field marshal during the French Revolutionary Wars. Although initially in the Army of France during the Seven Years War, Wurmser left France after Louis reached an agreement with Britain. He later took part in the short-lived War of the Bavarian Succession, in 1796, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor sent him to northern Italy, where the Habsburg military defended Austrias southern territories. His health failed him shortly after his appointment and he died in 1797, born in Strasbourg, in the French province of Alsace, he was the son of Frantz Jacob Wurmser von Vendenheim. In 1747, he was promoted to Captain of Cavalry and he married on 25 January 1761 in Vendenheim Sophia Henrietta Rosina Juliana von und Zu der Thann. She died aged 39 in Trautenau on 27 June 1772 as a consequence of childbirth, in 1750, when his father left Alsace and became a Habsburg subject, Wurmser too left French service and joined the House of Habsburg military. He brought with him the legions he commanded from France, as part of the imperial Austrian army, he participated in the last years of the continental war, sometimes called the Little War because it did not involve three of the five great powers of Europe. In these engagements against the Prussians, he showed exceptional command capabilities, on 30 January 1761, Emperor Francis I raised him to comital status of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. In Spring 1778, Wurmsers 30th Hussars were posted in northern Bohemia, to cover the border with Saxony, Friedrich von Nauendorf, the son of the previous Colonel-Proprietor of the Regiment, was a captain in a village outpost, with about 50 Hussars under his command. In early July, the Prussian General Johann Jakob von Wunsch, crossed into Bohemia near the town of Náchod. Nauendorf led his 50 Hussars to engage Wunschs considerably larger force, the next day, Nauendorf was promoted to major. In October, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor withdrew most of the Imperial army to the Bohemian border, under threat of intervention by Catherine II of Russia, Frederick II of Prussia did the same. A small force of hussars and dragoons remained in Bohemia to provide a winter cordon, appointed to be commander of the winter cordon, Wurmser ordered a small assault column under command of Colonel Wilhelm Klebeck to attack the village of Dittersbach. Klebeck led a column of Croats into the village, during the action,400 Prussians were killed, another 400 made prisoner, and eight colors were captured. Following his successes against the Prussians in 1778, Joseph awarded him the Knights Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa on 21 October 1778. Wurmser himself led the column in an assault on the so-called Swedish blockhouse at Oberschwedeldorf, it. Major General Ludwig, Baron of Terzi, who was covering with the two columns, threw back the enemy relief and took 300 Prussian prisoners. Meanwhile, Wurmser maintained his position at the villages of Rückerts
35.
Jean-Charles Pichegru
–
Jean-Charles Pichegru was a distinguished French general of the Revolutionary Wars. Under his command, French troops overran Belgium and the Netherlands before fighting on the Rhine front and his subsequent involvement in a royalist conspiracy to remove Napoleon from power led to his arrest and death. Despite his defection, his surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, Pichegru was born in a peasant family at Arbois, in the Jura department of France. The friars of Arbois were entrusted with his education, and sent him to the school of Brienne-le-Château. There, he taught mathematics, and among his pupils was the young Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1783, he entered the 1st regiment of artillery, where he rapidly rose to the rank of adjutant-second lieutenant, and briefly served in the American Revolutionary War. In 1793, Lazare Carnot and Louis de Saint-Just were sent to find roturier generals who could prove successful, Carnot discovered Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, and Saint-Just discovered Louis Lazare Hoche and Pichegru. At first, Pichegru was appointed general of division and commander of the Division of the Upper Rhine, appointed commander-in-chief of the Army of the Rhine, Pichegru attacked the Coalition army of Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser in the Battle of Haguenau in 1793. Over a period of weeks the Coalition Forces were driven back step by step in bitter fighting, the intervention of the Army of the Moselle under Hoche at the Battle of Froeschwiller in late December finally caused Wurmser to abandon Alsace. For the Second Battle of Wissembourg, Pichegru was placed under the command of Hoche, nevertheless, the French again won the battle, compelling Wurmser to retreat to the east bank of the Rhine and the Prussian army to withdraw toward Mainz. In December 1793, Hoche was arrested, probably owing to his colleagues denunciations and he was summoned to succeed Jourdan in the Army of the North in February 1794, subsequently fighting three major campaigns within the year. The forces of the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, Pichegru began his second campaign by crossing the Meuse on 18 October, and, after taking Nijmegen, drove the Austrians beyond the Rhine. The Anglo-Hanoverian army withdrew behind the Waal, then, while Pichegrus troops prepared to go into winter quarters, the Convention ordered the Army of the North to mount a winter campaign. On 27 December two brigades crossed the Meuse on the ice, and stormed the Bommelerwaard, on 10 January Pichegrus army crossed the ice of the Waal between Zaltbommel and Nijmegen, then, on 13 January, entered Utrecht, which surrendered on the 16th. The Anglo-Hanoverian army retreated behind the IJssel and then withdrew to Hanover, Pichegru, who had successfully penetrated the frozen Hollandic Water Line, arrived in Amsterdam on 20 January, after the Batavian Revolution had taken place. The French occupied the rest of the Dutch Republic in the next month, Pichegru then took command of the armies of the North, the Sambre-and-Meuse, and the Rhine, and, crossing the Rhine in force, took Mannheim in May 1795. The plans were suspected, and, when he offered his resignation to the Directory in October 1795 and he retired in disgrace, but secured his election to the Council of Five Hundred in May 1797 as a leader of the Royalists. Pichegru planned a coup known as the Coup of 18 Fructidor. He and seven others escaped and fled to Paramaribo, the gouverneur De Friderici allowed them to get on board a ship to the United States
36.
Pietro Mascagni
–
Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria Rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history, Mascagni said that at one point, Iris was performed in Italy more often than Cavalleria. Mascagni wrote fifteen operas, an operetta, several orchestral and vocal works, as well as songs and he enjoyed immense success during his lifetime, both as a composer and conductor of his own and other peoples music. Mascagni was born in Livorno, Tuscany, the son of Domenico. His father owned and operated a bakery, giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti was born the same year in the same city and became Mascagnis lifelong friend and collaborator. In 1876, at the age of 13, Mascagni began musical studies with Alfredo Soffredini, the older man had just completed his musical studies in Milan. Also a native of Livorno, Soffredini was a composer, teacher, the youth started composing rapidly, and between 1879 and 1880, he composed several works, Sinfonia in do minore, Prima sinfonia in fa maggiore, Elegia, Kyrie, Gloria and Ave Maria. The premiere of Mascagnis first cantata, In Filanda, took place at the Istituto Cherubini on 9 February 1881, performed at a musical contest in Milan, the cantata won the first prize. In the same year Mascagni met the musicians Arrigo Boito and Amilcare Ponchielli in Milan, in 1882, he composed his Cantata alla gioia from a text by Gustav Schiller, followed by La stella di Garibaldi for voice and piano, and La tua stella. On 6 May Mascagni left Livorno for Milan and he passed the admission examination of the Milan Conservatory on 12 October. In Milan, Mascagni met the noted composer Giacomo Puccini, on 9 January 1883, Mascagnis sister, Maria, died. The cantata In Filanda became Pinotta, and was proposed for the musical contest of the Conservatorio, in 1884, he composed Ballata for tenor and piano, Mama non mama, scherzo for soprano and piano, Messagio damore, and Alla luna. In 1885, Mascagni composed Il Re a Napoli in Cremona and he left Milan without completing his studies. That year, he began touring as a conductor in the companies of Vittorio Forlì, Alfonso and Ciro Scognamiglio, and, in Genova. Mascagni met the impresario Luigi Maresca in 1886 and started working with him and that December, Mascagni arrived in Cerignola with Marescas company. He was accompanied by Argenide Marcellina Carbognani, his future wife, helped by the mayor Giuseppe Cannone, Mascagni soon left the company of Maresca, not without problems. He was appointed as the master of music and singing of the new philharmonia of Cerignola, in February 1888, he began work on the Messa di Gloria. In July, Casa Sonzogno announced in the Teatro Illustrato its second competition for a one-act opera, the following year, Mascagni completed his composition of Cavalleria rusticana on 27 May and sent the manuscript to Milan
37.
Battle of Wissembourg (1870)
–
The Battle of Wissembourg or Battle of Weissenburg, the first of the Franco-Prussian War, was joined when three German army corps surprised the small French garrison at Wissembourg on August 4,1870. The defenders, greatly outnumbered, fought stubbornly, in June,1870 Napoleon III had moved the French army into Lorraine and occupied Saarbrücken. Napoleon wished to win a significant battle on German soil and ordered Marshal Patrice Mac-Mahon to bring up the French I and V Corps, Mac-Mahons objective was to reach Wissembourg where he already had one division stationed under General Abel Douay. Once there he would concentrate his forces for a strike into Germany, the German III Army under Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm and his able Chief of Staff, General von Blumenthal, was already moving towards Wissembourg. Neither side was aware of the others movements. At the outbreak of war, General Ducrot, commanding the 6th French Division at Strasbourg, the sub-prefect of Wissembourg protested this decision, not sharing Ducrots doubts on the wisdom of diluting the 6th division along the German frontier. The 1st Cavalry Brigade would patrol the frontier east of Wissembourg up to Schleithal, Ducrots familiarity with the terrain earned him the responsibility of overseeing the deployment of the various units in the area, including Douays 1st Division. Finally, Douay was to relieve the 96th infantry regiment in the village of Climbach, at this point Ducrot received gravely flawed intelligence. General Frossard, without instructions, hastily withdrew the elements of Army of the Rhine in Saarbrücken back to Spicheren, Marshal MacMahon, now closest to Wissembourg, spread his four divisions over 20 miles to react to any Prussian invasion. This organization of forces was due to a lack of supplies, what made a bad situation much worse was the conduct of General Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot, commander of the 1st Division. Two days later, he told MacMahon that he had not found and it looks to me as if the menace of the Bavarians is simply bluff. Even though Ducrot shrugged off the possibility of an attack by the Germans, MacMahon tried to warn the other divisions of his army, without success. During the day, elements of a Bavarian and two Prussian corps became engaged and were aided by Prussian artillery, which blasted holes in the defenses of the town. Douay held a strong position initially, thanks to the accurate long-range fire of the Chassepots. Douay was killed in the morning when a caisson of the divisional mitrailleuse battery exploded near him. The fighting within the town had become extremely intense, becoming a door to battle of survival. Despite a never-ending attack of Prussian infantry, the soldiers of the 2nd Division kept to their positions, the people of the town of Wissembourg finally surrendered to the Germans. The French troops who did not surrender retreated westward, leaving behind 1,000 dead and wounded and another 1,000 prisoners, the final attack by the Prussian troops also cost c. 1,000 casualties
Weißenburg (help·info)) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in northeastern France.
Reynolds, Francis J., ed. (1921). "Wissembourg". Collier's New Encyclopedia. New York: P.F. Collier & Son Company.
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
