jueves, 3 de abril de 2014

Paraguay's Independence

Paraguay's Independence


The video explained how Paraguay became independent. As they had a really weird spanish accent, I didn't get many thing. Basically, what I understood was that people from Paraguay wanted to became independent, because they didn't want Jose Bonaparte to be their kin, emperor or whatever they called him. They fought a battle with Spanish people in the woods, this waws the first battle, but I think Spanishs surrender when a spanish soldier killed a child. A child who was playing the drumb during the battle. After that the criolles wanted to fight against their governator. They started a civil war, which they didn't like to calle it as a civil war, because they didn't consider themselves as Spaninards. At the end they came with a big canyon to the cuty hall so the governator could surrender and he did. Obiously, who wouldn't surrender if someone is pointing you with a canyon! I mean even I, would surrender. The paraguayans wanted the independence of the whole colonies so they were happy to help. 


FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR


FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR

The franco-prussian war took place in 1870 to 1871. 

This war was between France and Prussia. The main figueres of it were, Naponeon III (France) and Otto Von Bismarck (Prussia). 

Bismark before going to war, he had a goal that he wanted to achieve no matter what. He wanted to unify prussia, Austria and all Germany into one nation. What he did was very smart. He planned a war with France in order to achieve his goal. 

The franco-prussian war was planned two years before it took place. Bismarck was a well preapered, smart and calcuating man. After plannig the war, he sent a telegram where he talked about war with France, and he made sure that the frencu people recieve it. Actually this message was supposy to be a secret, but it was not (all was planned).


Before the war, Prussia fought with Austria. Prussia won, so they became one and then they fought with France and Rusia. 



When France recieved the message, days after it declared war to Prussia. Napoleon III, was pressed by the french citizens to declcare war, so he did. French people is very patriotic! A key point in this war were the weapons. This was one of the main reasaons of why Prussia won. Thir superior use of weapons and logistics. Even though, Prussia wasn't always ahead on weapons. France had very good advances on this devices. During this war the French created the "mitrailleuse", however this weapon was so secret that even the french soldiers didn't know how to use it, so this led into a big disadvantage. France and Prussia were in kind of a game of who have better weapons, so when Prussia created a better one, then France made an a lot better one, and so on. At the Prussia was the one who won the war. 

Also in both sides, there where many "casualities". 


A curious fact was that when France lost the battle, they decided that tehy wre not using new weapons again, that tehy were returning to bayonets. They did, but this just led into a bloddy massacre. 

After winning the war Prussia sent prussians to run Paris. Prince Willian was pronounced Kheizer of the new German empire. Bismarck had achieved his goals with blood and iron. The radicals french republicans continued to fight. They raised up against the National Assembly. They created the Paris Commune, which wasn't well organized and led to a time of starvation and masacre. It failed at the end. People was so desesperate that they even ate rats and at the end they finally surendered. 

I think this was pure pride, as they felt defeated they wanted to prove that they weren't to surrender so easy. As I already say, french people is very patriotic. 


Well, this is basically what I understood about the video. HEHEHE, I had some troubles with the military historian accent, it was pretty diffulct :D

domingo, 30 de marzo de 2014

Diomede islands

An enclave is a part of a country totally surrounded by another nation's territory.
An exclave is a separated territory of a country that is surrounded by another nation's territory.

The Dromede islands may not be a perfect example of an exclave or enclave, but as I considered them very unique and interesting, I decided to talk about them. 


This island are located in the middle of the Bering strait (between Alaska and Siberia). They are also known as Gvozdev islands by the Russians. One of the islands is Russian and the other one is North American (U.S.). The little Diomede is US property. It has a population of 150. The big Dimede is inhabited and is russin property. 


What is interesting for this islands is that they're separated by the international date line. This means that while in little Diomede the dawn is just to brak, in big Diomede is a new different day (if in little Diomede is Monday, in big Diomede is Tuesday). Another curiosity is that you can walk from one islandto another while the water is iced during winter. 



domingo, 16 de marzo de 2014

TALLEYRAND AND METTERNICH

Talleyrand and Metternich
     Europe was passing a time of change during the XVIII and XIX century. The main events during this two centuries were the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era, which brought numerous conflicts between the European countries. The French revolution took place in France in 1789. It was led by Napoleon Bonaparte, who ruled from 1799 to 1815. During this period of change France and Austria had two very important diplomats who were the leaders in the foreign affairs of each country; Klemens Von Metternich (Austria) and Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand (France).
     Metternich and Teyllrand have many things in common and many differences too. The main difference they had is that they were born in different countries, one was French and the other one was Austrian. Another difference between them is that Metternich was a conservative and Talleyrand a liberalist. Metternich’s main interest for Austria was to keep the old regime, this means to continue with an absolute monarchy; while Talleyrand changed his mind from conservative to liberalist. (Biografias y Vidas, 2004-14).
     Even if they have many differences they also have some similarities. For example, Metternich and Talleyrand were born in wealthy and noble families. According to Wikipedia, both were diplomats and politicians. Metternich was the minister of foreign affairs for 27 years, while Talleyrand was changing his position in the French government. He was also the minister of foreign affairs in France, but he also was a priest before turning to the government politics. He had many positions, according to Wikipedia, he was member of the Constitution Committee of the National Assembly, Ambassador of France in London, Member of the National Institute, etc.
     Now making emphasis in their careers, both were excellent diplomats. They had many social skills. Both could sympathize with the diplomats of the other countries and turn things into their favor. Personally from the two I consider Talleyrand a more skilled man, because he could make “miracles”. Even though his abilities were mainly cheating and manipulating, he got everything he wanted. He even betrayed the church and many of his allies, and he controlled somehow the famous French emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. A very good example of the greatness of his abilities is that even if he wasn’t invited to the Congress of Vienna, he got in. in the other side Metternich, according to Marjie Bloy, senior Research Fellow, National University of Singapore, was consider one of the principal negotiators; along with Hardenberg/von Humbolt (Prussia), Nesselrode/Rasoumoffski (Russia), Castlereagh/ Wellington (Great Britain), and Talleyrand/Dalberg (France). In this congress, Talleyrand and Metternich had great participations. Talleyrand achieved the political and territorial balance of Europe for the next 50 years. In contrast, Metternich recovered the Austrias’ lost territories during the French Revolution including Venetia, but Belgium. (Wikipedia, 2014)
     All in all, this two personalities can seem very different; however, there are some little similarities that can be observed during their careers. Both were great diplomats and politicians, because they searched for their countrys’ interests. As ministers of foreign affairs, the both used tricks, threats and bribes to get whatever they wanted. In addition, Metternich and Talleyrand received numerous royalties and awards, because of their great skills and efficiency. 

Referencias

Bloy, M. (2002). The Congress of Vienna, 1 November 1814 — 8 June 1815. Obtenido de The Victorian Web : http://www.victorianweb.org/history/forpol/vienna.html
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. (2004-14). Obtenido de Biografías y Vidas: http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/t/talleyrand.htm
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. (enero de 2014). Obtenido de Wikipedia: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Maurice_de_Talleyrand#Rivalidad_con_Fouch.C3.A9
Klemens von Metternich. (2014). Obtenido de Wikipedia: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klemens_von_Metternich
Príncipe Klemens de Metternich. (2004-14). Obtenido de Biografías y Vidas: http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/m/metternich.htm
Siglo XVIII. (marzo de 2014). Obtenido de Wikipedia: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siglo_XVIII#Acontecimientos_relevantes


lunes, 24 de febrero de 2014

THE HOUSE OF HANOVER


House of Hanover family tree

The succesion crisis is very related with the video, because it is about a king who was the 52 in the line for the trone. Great Britain lost his king who was catholic, but thanks to the problems that Britain had with him. The people who were in charge of accomplish the line to trone, decided that the next king must be protestant. There were 51 memebers who weren'r protestant. They found this guy who was a king in Hanover, a little German town; that could be king. They came up and told him he is the new king of Great Britain and that he didn't have to stop being king of Hanover (he was king of two countries). In other words he was a foreign moarch. 

Family relations in the house of Hanover, weren't good. George I supported the Whigs (wanted to restrict royal power) and distrusted the Tories (traditional monarchy supporters). The whigs had many benefits, so with his desitions Great Britain recovered political stability. After some time, the whigs began to fight between them, and they start to see the Hanovers as pigs. George I and George II began to have tension in their relation, when George I went to a six months trip to Hanover. The custom said that the son should be left as a regent, but George the I left another person in charge. Even if the king's son had limited power he was still the head of the government. He and his wife exploted all the benefits of that. George I was jelous of his son popularity, so when he returned he began a public war relationship with him. 


domingo, 16 de febrero de 2014

Rococo peinture

Rococo peinture
Jean Baptiste Greuze 



He was a french Rococo painter. He used to paint realistic paintings with full of morality. He was veru criticized beacause of that, but Denis Diderot (a famous critic) supported his work. After he began to paint historic themes, but he satrted to have too many bad critics. He also painted portraits, but the womens' portraits had erotic aspects. Most of the women who painted had a boob out. This is very interesting, because it is like a distinctive. Tthe bad critics were beacause of the erotic side of his portraits).



Here is a pinting where he pinted a guitarist trying to tune his instument. However, he seems to be playing the instrument ad if you see carefully you can see in his face that hi is becoming upset (probably, because it is to difficult to tune the instrumnt while his hand is still in the coat). 





sábado, 1 de febrero de 2014

History Song


Song's name: Alexander the Great
Writer: Iron Maiden- Steve Harris
Year: 1986

Here is a fragment of an interview made to Steve Harris the writer of the song Alexander the Great, where he talks about it:

"[...] My most ambitious composition is certainly 'Alexander The Great', a story based on true facts. When we started working on the LP, I was immersed in the story of Alexander The Great, a man who had a fantastic and incredible life. I fell in love with him and, quite naturally, I wrote the song and the lyrics, all this within two weeks. I must say that I'm very proud of this track".

This means that Steve wa sinspirer because of the greatness of Alexander's life, so he just wrote the song.

Steve's real name is: Stephen Percy Harris. He was born in England, on march 12 of 1956. He has 57 years. He is the main bassist and compositor of the mheavy metal band, Iron Maiden. He is also a producer. He satrted his musical career in 1971 until now.

Personally I like Iron Maden's music. It is allitle bit hardcore for me, but I like it anyways. I recently discover that I like trash metal. I don't like death metal. becuse it is too hardcore.
From all the song that I hav Heard from Iron Maiden, this one is my favorite.

sábado, 25 de enero de 2014

Witchcraft

Witchcraft

Witchcraft is considered the practice of black magic. This means that people sell their souls to the devil in order to adquire powers or sexual pleasure. A witch has to prick her finger and draw a cross with her blood over a sheet of paper.

Many years ago people believed in witchcraft. They were scared by the demon. This fear was introduced by the puritanism. Which is a very conservative religion. This religion belived in witchcraft and they punished it with death. They hanged a lot of women and a few men. The main reason of witchcraft was to rid off of difficult people. This religion was originated in Salem village. A little farming town where people argued over land and money.

There was a time when people started to have fits. The first case was two little girls who started to have violent fits for no reason. They were the daughters of the puritanism church minister. After many days of fits the poeple started to believe that this attacks where caused by invisible witches. However, this case wan't the only one. Fter it there came many more.

I think that the main cause of this fits were the traumas that the church was responsible for. This church was so conservative and strict that children lived with so much preasure that they couldn't handle it. There is one child that witnessed the murder of her family and she grew up with a lot of traumas so she was one of the many girls who said that they could see the witches spirits.

This video stressed me a lot. I agree that this is a great and interesting topic, but I just can't believe the atrosities that people did because of witches. It is pretty hard for me to see all this injustices. Now we don't bbelieve in witches and I am thankfull that I didn't live in that epoch. Nevertheless I often wondered to go back and tell them that all the things they said about does women were "bullshit" (sorry for the word is just that it really annoys me). When I was watching the video I imaginated that I was one of those accused women, I was wondering what would I tell them if I where accused; well I concluded that if they asked me to say names I would say them: what happens if I say the name of you daugther or your or maybe your name (pointing to another person) It could be anyone, but you wouldn't know who. Probably they would kill me, but I will be satisfied.

In the video a scientist mentioned that the sallem people suffered from some pshycohological diseases it was something about mass pshycogenic disorder. They had a mass hypochondria.

The judges of the courts weren't objective, because they believed in what the people said.

The nowdays witchcraft is primarly for money. Priest in Africa gain money from makin exorcisms to little children. They say that they can identify a witch by just looking into the child's eyes. Priests make tough cleanings, they can be a little violent. I am disappointed with this people that cheat on people and on children just for money. It is pretty sad.

I personally don't believe in witchcraft, but I have doubted if it exist or not.

jueves, 23 de enero de 2014

Funny history joke

Here is a link for a video that has a history joke, it's pretty good. It is a TED conference about steryotypes, you can see from the start (she doesn't really talk about stereotypes), but the joke starts in the minute 10:28

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0q9hn8hebw