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Post by General William T. Sherman on Feb 27, 2016 1:32:37 GMT
I personally enjoy learning about Nationalist movements in the 19th and 20th centuries, and even some now like in Myanmar or Catalonia. So I've decided to do a thing of leaders of nationalist movements in their respective nations. And when I say nationalist movements, I don't mean fascist or communist leaders like Adolf Hitler or Pol Pot who took to slaughtering minorities in the name of their country (that being said, some communist leaders such as Mao Zedong could be considers Nationalist figures). If anyone wants to do a presentation on their own nationalist figure, feel free to do it in here. But enough with the explanation, let's do the first nationalist figure: Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia! (you thought I'd do Bismarck, yeah right)  Emperor Menelik II is probably not even known by many to the West, but he is a very important Ethiopian. Menelik II was born in the 1840's and by the 1880's he became Negusa Negast (Emperor) of Ethiopia. Prior to his coronation as Negusa Negast, he was head of an Ethiopian State named Shewa. For those who don't know what was happening in Ethiopia prior to Menelik's coronation, here are the basics. Ethiopia was split into multiple states and was very decentralized. The Emperor was, similar to Shogunate Japan, a figurehead and had no real power. During this decentralized period, multiple different states fought for power of the region, such as the Kingdoms of Tigray, Gonder, Kaffa and Shewa, Menelik's kingdom. After decades of infighting among the Ethiopian states, Menelik founded the Ethiopian Empire following his coronation in the 1880's, becoming the Emperor to centralize Ethiopia. Something that Menelik did whilst fighting the other Ethiopian kingdoms was sign a treaty with the Italians in the 1880's which stated that the Italians had control of Eritrea. The treaty had two different meanings, however. In Italian, the treaty stated that Ethiopia was now under the control of the Kingdom of Italy, while in Aharmic, it stated that only Eritrea was under Italian control. In 1886, the Italians invaded Ethiopia, under the basis that they were enforcing the terms of the Treaty. The Ethiopians under Menelik's command successfully best back the Italians on multiple occasions, most importantly the Battle of Adwa. The Italians then signed a humiliating treaty stating that Ethiopia would remain its own independent nation. Menelik was able to save his country from European imperialism, the only country to do so. Not only that, he built an empire of his own, expanding Ethiopian territory into the Ogaden Desert. Menelik also began a period of rapid industrialization and modernization, adopting modern weapons and better infrastructure. Another one of his major achievements was the foundation of the new Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa in Ankober. Addis Ababa would become the heart of Ethiopia and where the emperors would excersize their reign. Thats it for Menelik II, next time will be either Emperor Meiji (Japan), Giuseppe Garibaldi (Italy) or Michael Collins (Ireland). You guys can also do a nationalist leader if you so want to as well. |
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Post by General William T. Sherman on Feb 27, 2016 17:28:04 GMT
Next off is Giuseppe Garibaldi of Italy! www.bing.com/images/search?q=giuseppe+Garibaldi&view=detailv2&&id=479652BAEC0B7D2898B765178369D9C02B51013A&selectedIndex=2&ccid=jymnTknv&simid=608047201117342697&thid=OIP.M8f29a74e49efd483f2a4b9e5fdc564efo0Giuseppe Garibaldi is often overlooked by big brother Bismarck to the North, but he is almost just as important as he is. In order to understand Garibaldi and his efforts, its important to mention the situation in Italy prior to his unification efforts. Italy was divided up after the Napoleonic Wars. The South was controlled by an ultra-conservative Bourbon controlled Two Sicilies, in the center was the Theocratic, French backed Papal States, and in the North, Austria directly controlled the areas of Venetia and Lombardia and had the puppet states of Modena, Lucca, Tuscany, and Parma. The only really independent nation in the region was the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, sandwiched between Austria and France. Garibaldi was born in 1907 and was a revolutionary figure even prior to his redshirt campaign to take over Sicily and Naples. In the Uruguayan Civil War, Giuseppe Garibaldi led the Italian Legion which aided the Colorados defend Montevideo in the Great Siege of Montevideo which lasted 8 years. In 1848, Garibaldi led the Sardinian military to fight against the Austrians in the first Italian War of Independence. This was coordinated with a rebellion in the Papal States which led to the foundation of the Roman Republic in the former Papal States and an uprising in Sicily against the bourbon controlled Two Sicilies government. These rebellions all fought for liberty and liberalism like the other 1848 revolutions in the German States and France. France, Austria and the Two-Sicilies quickly aimed to squash the liberals, with all three powers defeating their respective enemies by 1849. These failed 1848 revolts in Italy led Garibaldi to believe that liberalism was not the way to unify italy, and only through war could italy be unified. Garibaldi was not alone with trying to unify Italy. He also had the aid of the great diplomat Henry Cavour, who secured France's assistance in war with Austria in exchange for Sardinia-Piedmont ceding Savoy and Nice to France. Also was King Victor Emanuelle, who was a major figurehead of the Italian unification. In 1859, after several border incidents on the Austro-Piedmontian border, Austria declared war on Sardinia-Piedmont. Due to Cavour securing France's aid in case of war with Austria, the French successfully aided the Sardinians and they were able to defeat the Austrians. Lombardia was then ceded to Sardinia. During the Second War of Italian Independence, the puppet states of Modena, Tuscany and Parma all had their leaders overthrown by the populous. After the war, Parma, Modena, Tuscany and the Papal Legations united as a Sardinian puppet state known as the United Provinces of Central Italy. After a plebiscite held in March of 1860, the United Provinces voted to unite with Sardinia. Southern Italy was still not secured, however, which is where Garibaldi made his permanent mark on World History forever. Garibaldi rallied together a force of 1,000 volunteers to take Sicily from the Bourbons. He had received aid from the British, who provided ships. Garibaldi's force of 1,000 men would be known as the Redshirts. Garibaldi and his Redshirts landed in Sicily and took control of the island in only a few months. Then they moved onto Naples, and took over all of the Two Sicilies except for the city of Gaeta, where King Francis III of Two Sicilies held out. Garibaldi then wanted to push on Rome in the Papal States, but Victor Emanuelle of Sardinia convinced him not to, as the French were still protecting the Papal States. The eastern counties of the Papal States did unite with Sardinia after a plebiscite, however. After a few months, King Francis surrendered and all of Southern Italy was secured. The Kingdom of Italy was then proclaimed, with its capital at Florence. When the Austro-Prussian War occurred, the Italians took advantage of the situation to invade Austria and after the war, Venetia became theirs. The end of the Italian Unification finally came when French troops withdrew from Rome and the Italians moved into take over Rome (French troops withdrew after the Prussians invaded in 1870). Garibaldi is remembered as much as Bismarck is in Germany, with multiple statues having been erected in Italy of the man. |
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Post by General William T. Sherman on Mar 1, 2016 22:39:20 GMT
Next off is a Nationalist leader from the isle of which my people came from: Michael Collins of Ireland!
First, some Irish History prior to Collins' Era. Ireland had been under English and later British control for centuries, but was only formally annexed into Great Britain in 1801. Many resented british role on the isle, and believed that they had to secede from Britain. An event occurred during the 1840's which would forever shape Irish history as well: The Irish Potato Famine. Potatoes were a central crop in Irish agriculture, and many Irishmen relied on the crop for food day by day. So when the famine hit, and Potato crops withered, most Irish starved as a result. The famine was devastating to the population of Ireland, with about 1/3 of Irishmen dying, 1/3 leaving for distant waters in areas like America or Australia, and only 1/3 living after the famine. The mass immigration of Irish people to across the globe has been dubbed the Irish Diaspora. The famine could've been better, however, if the Brits supplied aid to the Irish. The Brits did the exact opposite, however. The British believed in Thomas Malthus's theory that disasters like the famine which severely depleted population were a necessary evil in order to counter rapid population growth. As a result, the British denied the Irish any food aid, even turning away American traders trading food products such as tomatoes to Ireland. This, coupled with British racism towards the Irish, was why the British denied aid to the Irish. This fostered even more hatred against the British in Ireland.
By the time Michael Collins was born, Irish nationalism was at its greatest. Dublin became a bustling city where Irish authors were prominent, of whom many spoke of independence for the isle. The rise of irish nationalism was also coupled with other nationalist sentiments in areas like Germany and America.
By 1916, Michael Collins was an outspoken critic of the British occupation of Ireland and, when Irish nationalists rose up in Dublin for Irish independence, Collins joined in the uprising. While it was squashed, the executions of the rebels made the rebels martyrs. While Collins did escape execution, he did become the head of the IRA, Irish Republican Army. After WWI, the Irish party, Sinn Fein, won the irish parliamentary seats, and proclaimed Ireland as independent. The Irish War of Independence began.
The Irish government made the IRA its official military and Michael Collins the head of the military. The Irish went on to wage a guerrilla war against the british for 3 years, from 1919 to 1922. The British sent out groups of WWI vets, known as Black and Tans, into Ireland. The Black and Tans were brutal, even massacring a crowd at a football match. The Irish guerrilla tactics proved successful, however, and the British eventually gave the Irish their independence.
Michael Collins became a long-lasting symbol of Irish nationalism dude to his leading of the Irish military in the War for independence and his career as a politician.
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Post by Archduke Charles on Mar 10, 2016 18:22:27 GMT
I personally enjoy learning about Nationalist movements in the 19th and 20th centuries, and even some now like in Myanmar or Catalonia. So I've decided to do a thing of leaders of nationalist movements in their respective nations. And when I say nationalist movements, I don't mean fascist or communist leaders like Adolf Hitler or Pol Pot who took to slaughtering minorities in the name of their country (that being said, some communist leaders such as Mao Zedong could be considers Nationalist figures). If anyone wants to do a presentation on their own nationalist figure, feel free to do it in here. But enough with the explanation, let's do the first nationalist figure: Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia! (you thought I'd do Bismarck, yeah right) Emperor Menelik II is probably not even known by many to the West, but he is a very important Ethiopian. Menelik II was born in the 1840's and by the 1880's he became Negusa Negast (Emperor) of Ethiopia. Prior to his coronation as Negusa Negast, he was head of an Ethiopian State named Shewa. For those who don't know what was happening in Ethiopia prior to Menelik's coronation, here are the basics. Ethiopia was split into multiple states and was very decentralized. The Emperor was, similar to Shogunate Japan, a figurehead and had no real power. During this decentralized period, multiple different states fought for power of the region, such as the Kingdoms of Tigray, Gonder, Kaffa and Shewa, Menelik's kingdom. After decades of infighting among the Ethiopian states, Menelik founded the Ethiopian Empire following his coronation in the 1880's, becoming the Emperor to centralize Ethiopia. Something that Menelik did whilst fighting the other Ethiopian kingdoms was sign a treaty with the Italians in the 1880's which stated that the Italians had control of Eritrea. The treaty had two different meanings, however. In Italian, the treaty stated that Ethiopia was now under the control of the Kingdom of Italy, while in Aharmic, it stated that only Eritrea was under Italian control. In 1886, the Italians invaded Ethiopia, under the basis that they were enforcing the terms of the Treaty. The Ethiopians under Menelik's command successfully best back the Italians on multiple occasions, most importantly the Battle of Adwa. The Italians then signed a humiliating treaty stating that Ethiopia would remain its own independent nation. Menelik was able to save his country from European imperialism, the only country to do so. Not only that, he built an empire of his own, expanding Ethiopian territory into the Ogaden Desert. Menelik also began a period of rapid industrialization and modernization, adopting modern weapons and better infrastructure. Another one of his major achievements was the foundation of the new Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa in Ankober. Addis Ababa would become the heart of Ethiopia and where the emperors would excersize their reign. Thats it for Menelik II, next time will be either Emperor Meiji (Japan), Giuseppe Garibaldi (Italy) or Michael Collins (Ireland). You guys can also do a nationalist leader if you so want to as well. Intresting fact Negus means means "King" or "Emperor", very good thread by the way, and on point! |
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Post by General William T. Sherman on Mar 18, 2016 23:18:32 GMT
Footnote: Added in about Garibaldi's ventures into Uruguay in the above post about him. Just read about it on the plane, kind of interesting. Id look it up if i were you, unless i do lectures on South American History as well (Please say whether you'd like there to be a South American History lecture after Spanish-Portuguese colonization)
Today is King Albert I of Belgium!
Albert I was born in 1875 in Brussels. He ascended to the Belgian throne following the death of the brutal King Leopold II.
First, some background on what Belgium was like prior to Albert. King Leopold II had bought the vast expanse of the Congo Free State, and proceeded to rape, pillage and destroy the land. He killed countless amount of people through malnutrition and forced labor. Prior to his personal rule of the Congo, there were 20 million native Congolese: by the time the Belgian government took over the Congo from him, that number had halved. His atrocites were publicized by countless accounts, from an African-American publishing to the American congress about the problem to Joseph Conrad's writing the book The Heart of Darkness, which was about the issues in Leopold's Congo Free State, Leopold's atrocities became widely known of by the people of Europe and America, and some were even calling for Leopold to be hanged by international ruling (Kind of extreme for the time). The Belgian government then decided to take the Congo away from Leopold and run it as a regular European colony. The Belgian government was humiliated by the whole situation, and the whole world looked upon Belgium as the harsh, brutal center of Europe, which sank to new lows.
Albert was given the throne following this. Being the monarch of Belgium may have been the worst monarchal position in the world at the time. Initially, Albert made no claim to greatness, and tried to simply not screw up like his predecessor did. He focused on welfare and the affairs of the country.
All of this changed in 1914. The Germans invaded Belgium in order to sweep past the French defenses on the border. The Belgians had no chance to succeed and secure their country's sovereignty on their own, and no foreign aid was going to come and aid them in time. The Belgians knew they were going to lose. Albert I inspired hope, however, and encouraged men to volunteer and for the army to fight against the Germans for as long as possible. The Belgians held off the Germans using their new forts, which, despite being destroyed by later German artillery, held out for long enough. The French caught onto the fact that the Germans were trying to maneuver through Belgium and moved their forces North to intercept.
The British also joined in due to a treaty with Belgium guaranteeing its independence. They sent some troops to cities such as Antwerp, but there was no hope to save all of Belgium. Almost all of Belgium had fallen to the Germans by Christmas of 1914.
Despite the loss of almost all of mainland Belgium to the Germans, there was still a small corner to the southwest of the country which had held its ground against the Germans. This tiny piece of Flemish land gave further hope to the Belgians, and encouraged them to fight on. Albert I fought with his men, and aided his own Belgian forces against the Germans when they attacked this piece of land. This small area of Belgium never surrendered. Despite Franco-British command calling for Albert I to send his forces to other areas of the front to be used more effectively throughout the course of the war, he never budged, and chose to fight and die on his own country's land for the whole war.
When the Allies decided to launch a major summer offensive in 1918, the Belgians became the spearhead of the invasion, going in first, followed by the British, French and American forces. The Belgians gained back some land, and regained almost all of Flanders due to the campaign, as with the majority of Wallonia. Germany surrendered soon after the onslaught of the Allies on November 11.
So Albert I fought with his troops and was brave and whatever, but why is he important? He regained Belgian prestige and made the world recognize Belgium as a key player on the world stage, not as some backwater nation which would kill 10 million congolese and commit atrocities. Of course, that legacy will live on, but he made the world recognize that that was the old order, not the modern Belgium. He showed the modern Belgium would fight for its homeland and not surrender.
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