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Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Germany, Cool Facts #34

33. Switzerland <=                                                                                                           => 35. Belgium 


1. Holy Roman Empire

In 962 Otto I was crowned as the Emperor by Pope John XII in Rome. He followed the example of Charlemagne's coronation as "Emperor of the Romans" in 800. Some historians see the coronation of Otto I as the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire and some see the coronation of Charlemagne.
In the year 800 the Frank king Charlemagne was crowned as the Emperor, a title not used in three centuries. He was the first Roman emperor in Western Europe since the collapse of the Western Roman Empire since 476. After Charlemagne's death the areas were fragmented which he had ruled. These areas eventually evolved into France and Germany. Both the French and German monarchies considered their kingdoms to be descendants of Charlemagne's empire.

Holy Roman Empire timeline

476 Western Roman Empire collapses
800 Charlemagne is crowned the Emperor by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day
817 Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious divides the lands to his three sons Lothair, Charles and Louis
840-843 Carolingian Civil War between Charlemagne's grandsons
843 Treaty of Verdun, ends the Civil War and the Kingdom is divided into three parts
888 Charles the Fat, was the last Carolingian Emperor to rule over the united empire
924 Berengar I of Italy last Holy Roman Emperor before Otto I
924-962
962 Otto I is crowned the Emperor
1530 Charles V in Bologna, becomes the last Emperor to be crowned by a pope
1806 The last Emperor Francis II abdicates the power and this ends the Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon reorganizes the empire into his satellite state, Confederation of the Rhine
1815 Confederation of the Rhine is replaced by the German Confederation



Dividing the Carolingian Empire in 1843

West Francia - Charles the Bald
Middle Francia - Lothair I
East Francia - Louis the German




2. German Unification

In 1871 Germany unified which was an expected event after the fall of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Many small German-speaking states were formed and led independently. It was evident that they would become unified some day once again. Austria was the most powerful German-speaking state at the time, but Prussia became more powerful as the time passed. First Prussia and Austria fought together against Denmark in 1864 when Prussia conquered Schleswig-Holstein. Later Prussia fought together with Italy against Austria. In 1871 Germany unified with the leading hand of Otto von Bismarck, Austria and Liechtenstein didn't join the German Empire. The humiliating fact for the French was that the crowning of the first emperor of the German Empire was made in the castle of Versailles during the Franco-German War.

Important dates in the German unification

1806 Holy German Empire falls
1806-1813 Confederation of Rhine, 13 German states
1834-1919 Zollverein, German Customs Union
1848 German Revolution
1815-1866 German Confederation, 39 German states
1866 Austro-Prussian War
1867-1871 North German Confederation, 22 German states
1870-1871 Franco-German War
1871 German Empire is created and the German states unified



3. German colonies

After the Berlin Conference in 1884, Germany among other European countries started colonizing Africa. All the colonies were occupied during the World War I and officially confiscated from Germany with the Treaty of Versailles in 1920. Germany's colonies were mainly in Africa and in the Pacific.

List of German colonies between 1884-1920

German East Africa
German South West Africa
German West Africa
German New Guinea
German Samoa
Jiazhou Bay concession
Chefoo



4. Three Reichs

Hitler claimed that he established the third reich, what were first and second reich then ? The first one was the Holy Roman Empire and the second the German Empire which was created when Germany unified and became a colonial power, before losing all the colonies in the World War I.

962-1806 First Reich, Holy Roman Empire
1871-1918 Second Reich - German Empire
1933-1945 Third Reich - Nazi Germany



5. Economy

Germany was the biggest exporter in the world until 2009 when China surpassed it. To be more specific Germany was the biggest exporter by the value of the goods and not in the amount of goods that were exported.

Top 5 exporters of the world, 2014

1. China - 2,25 trillion
2. USA - 1,61 trillion
3. Germany - 1,55 trillion
4. Japan - 0,71 trillion
5. South Korea - 0,63 trillion



This is Germany









Timeline

200 BC Germanic tribes move to Central Europe
400 Germanic tribe Franks establish a christian kingdom
843 Charlemagne's three grandsons divide the kingdom into three parts
965 Otto I establishes the Holy Roman Empire
1273 Austria's Rudolf Habsburg becomes the first recognized king after the time of interregnum when there was no king for the whole empire
1555 The Peace of Augsburg, the princes of the Holy Roman Empire states got the right to choose which division of Christianity was practiced in their domains
1618 Thirty Years War begins
1648 Peace of Westphalia, end the Thirty Years War and Spain recognizes the independence of the Dutch Republic
1700-1721 Great Northern War, at the end Sweden lost big parts of its lands
1806 Holy Roman Empire collapses during the Napoleon wars
1806-1813 Confederation of Rhine is established from the remaining 16 states after the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire
1815 Congress of Vienna, the German Confederation is established consisting of 39 German states
1862 Otto von Bismarck becomes the prime minister of Prussia
1866 Germany unites and the North-German Confederation is established
1870 Bavaria and other southern states join the Confederation except Austria
1871 Wilhelm I of Prussia becomes the emperor of the unified Germany
1919 Peace of Versailles, Germany loses all of its colonies and some of its own areas
1919-33 Weimar Republic ends in the creation of Nazi Germany
1933 Hitler becomes the Chancellor of Germany
1938 Austria and parts of Czechoslovakian areas are annexed to Germany
1939 Attack to Poland starts the World War II
1945 Germany loses the war
1949 Germany splits into two countries, West and East Germany
1961 The Berlin Wall is constructed
1973 The UN recognizes the separate Germanies
1989 The Berlin Wall is broken apart
1990 The German unification

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederation_of_the_Rhine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_German_Confederation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire
http://europeanhistory.about.com/cs/germany/a/Otherreichs.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederation_of_the_Rhine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Verdun - dividing the Carolingian empire into three parts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_dynasty - Charlemagne's family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_of_the_Holy_Roman_Emperor


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Verdun#/media/File:Europe_814.svg kuva !!

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Global Immigration Statistics

World Statistics

Highest number of immigrants

45,8 million, USA
11,0 million, Russia
9,8 million, Germany
9,1 million, Saudi Arabia
7,8 million, United Arab Emirates

Highest percentage of immigrants 

100%, Vatican City
83,7% United Arab Emirates
73,8% Qatar
64,2% Monaco
60,2% Kuwait

Lowest number of immigrants

148, Tuvalu
799, Vatican City
2,070 Nauru
2,600 Micronesia
2,613 Kiribati

Lowest percentage of immigrants

0,1% China
0,1% Indonesia
0,1% Vietnam
0,1% Madagascar
0,1% Cuba

Europe 

Highest percentage of immigrants

100% Vatican City
64,2% Monaco
56,9% Andorra
43,3% Luxembourg
33,1% Liechtenstein

28,9% Switzerland
18,2% Cyprus
17,6% Croatia
16,4% Estonia
15,9% Sweden

Lowest percentage of immigrants

0,6% Bosnia and Herzegovina
0,9% Poland
0,9% Romania
1,2% Bulgaria
3,1% Albania

4,0% Czech Republic
4,7% Hungary
4,9% Lithuania
5,4% Finland
5,6% Serbia

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_immigrant_population

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Global Sex Ratio Comparison



The sex ratio means the proportion of males and females in a population. I was interested to see which countries have more females than men and which had more men and females. In most of the cases the ratio is 1 so there's approximately 1 male for each female. It was interesting to see the countries where there were substantial differences.

More men than women, Top 10

219 men/100 women, United Arab Emirates
200 men/100 women, Qatar
154 men/100 women, Kuwait
124 men/100 women, Bahrain
122 men/100 women, Oman

118 men/100 women, Saudi Arabia
114 men/100 women, Palau
112 men/100 women, Greenland
110 men/100 women, Bhutan
110 men/100 women, Jordan

Interesting fact is that 7/10 countries in the top 10 are Arab countries. Two countries are totally in their own league, United Arab Emirates and Qatar. They are the only countries in the world where there are twice the amount of men than women.

More women than men, Top 10

84 men/100 women, Estonia
85 men/100 women, Ukraine
86 men/100 women, Russia
86 men/100 women, Latvia
86 men/100 women, Djibouti

87 men/100 women, Belarus
89 men/100 women, Armenia
89 men/100 women, Lithuania
90 men/100 women, Antigua and Barbuda
91 men/100 women, Georgia

Total population sex ratio

Again there's a pattern like in the previous statistic where Arab countries dominated the top 10 of most men in the population. There are 8/10 former Soviet Union states in the top 10, one African state and one Caribbean island state.

More men than women aged 65+, Top 3

182 men/100 women, United Arab Emirates
166 men/100 women, Kuwait
138 men/100 women, Qatar

More women than men aged 65+, Top 3

44 men/100 women, Russia
45 men/100 women, Palau
47 men/100 women, Belarus



The Differences in the younger age groups aren't that big as in the 65+ age group. At birth and under 15 year old's groups the ratio is quite even. Then in the 15-65 age group the differences grow quite much.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_sex_ratio

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Switzerland, Cool Facts #33

32. Austria <=                                                                                                               => 34. Germany 



1. Confoederatio Helvetica

58BC Julius Caesar established the province of Helvetia under the Roman power
1798 France occupies the country and establishes the Helvetic Republic
1815 Switzerland becomes independent permanently
1848 Switzerland becomes a federal state

After the formation of the federal state, the Latin name of Switzerland, Confoederatio Helvetica was introduced again and it started appearing in coins from 1879 and after 1948 it was used in the official seal. The name came from the Gallic tribe called Helvetii who lived on the Swiss plateau in ancient times. Then after Julius Caesar had named the province Helvetia the name was used again in later times for example when France occupied the country.

This is the historical explanation where the abbreviation CH comes from, which is used of Switzerland in several places.



2. Schwyz and the Old Swiss Confederacy

The name Switzerland comes from the canton Schwyz when three cantons Uri, Unterwalden and Schwyz established the Old Swiss Confederacy to ensure their immunity against the Habsburg dynasty and the Holy Roman Empire. Schwyz was the biggest canton then. The Confederacy lasted until 1798 when France occupied the country and Switzerland lost their flag and independence for the only time in its history. In 1815 Switzerland got its independence back permanently and the current borders of the country, when it received three new cantons, Neuchatel, Geneva and Valais.

Schwyz canton


3. Wilhelm Tell 

Wilhelm Tell is the national hero of Switzerland, but it's not sure if Wilhelm Tell was a real person or if the stories are just legends.

Legend of Wilhelm Tell: 

In the year 1307 Wilhelm Tell was visiting the city of Altdorf in the canton of Uri with his son. The Austrian Habsburg's were trying to dominate Uri and they had appointed Gessler as their reeve to the city. Gessler raised a pole in the central square of the village and hung his hat on top of it. Gessler demanded everyone to bow before the hat. Tell publicly reduced to bow before the hat.

Tell was given the chance to escape his and his son's execution if he shot an apple lying on the top of his son's head. Tell succeeded but then Gessler asked why he had another arrow. Tell told that if he had hit his son he would have shot Gessler after that with the second arrow.

Angered by the arrogant answer Gessler decided to put Tell in a dungeon for the rest of his life. They were heading towards Gessler's castle at Küssnacht with a boat when suddenly a storm broke loose and they let the strong Tell to row in the difficult conditions. Tell steered the boat near some rocks where he leaped out of the boat and escaped. He ran cross-country to Küssnacht and when Gessler arrived he shot him death with the second arrow.

It's told that Tell's blow of liberty sparked a rebellion which was the impetus to the creation of the Swiss Confederation. Tell was fighting then against Austria in 1315 in the Battle of Morgarten. According to the legends told by Tschudi, Tell died in 1354 when he was trying to save a child from drowning.




4. Neutrality 

Switzerland is known to be neutral everywhere in the world. Its neutrality was recognized internationally in the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The last time when Switzerland has been in a foreign war was in 1515 against France. Until that year Switzerland had expanded its territory constantly.


Switzerland 200 years of neutrality

5. Random facts

1863 The Red Cross was founded in Switzerland
1990 Women get the right to vote in the whole country when Appenzell Innerhoden get the right to vote
2002 Switzerland joins the UN
Switzerland and Vatican City are the only countries with square-shaped flags
After the military service people store their riffles and ammunition at their homes
2/3 German-speaking 
1/5 French-speaking
1/10 Italian-speaking
1/100 Romansh-speaking 

Swiss guards at Vatican City


This is Switzerland



















Timeline

58 BC Julius Caesar established the province of Helvetia under the rule of Rome
400 Germanic tribes move to the area
600 Christianity spreads to the area
800 The Franks start ruling the area
1291 Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden establish a confederation to ensure their immunity against the Habsburg's Holy Roman Empire
1339 The Laupe fight against the Habsburg
1500s Wars considering the faith
1515 Switzerland expands until it loses to France
1648 Peace of Westfalen, the leader of the Holy Roman Empire recognizes the independence of Switzerland
1798 The only time when Switzerland lost their independence and flag, France occupied the country and established the Republic of Helvetia
1803 French troops go away and the flag is restored
1815 Switzerland gets permanently its independence and three new cantons, Neuchatel, Geneva and Valais, Switzerland got its current borders then
1847 Faith wars again
1848 Bern becomes the capital
1959 Switzerland founds Efta
1971 Women voting rights

Sources: 
Maailman liput maat ja historia - Kimmo Kiljunen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Swiss_Confederacy

Monday, May 18, 2015

10 Facts About Women's Rights Globally

1. First countries where women got the right to vote

1893 New Zealand
1902 Australia
1906 Finland (then part of Russia)
1913 Norway
1915 Denmark and Iceland



2. First woman prime minister

1960 Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Sri Lanka



3. First woman president

1974 Isabel Perón, Argentina



4. First Lesbian leader

2009 Iceland, Johanna Sigurdardottir

First world-leader who is known to be lesbian and who had a same sex marriage while in office.



5. Last European country to give women the right to vote

1984 Liechtenstein



6. Last European area where women get the right to vote

1990  Appenzell-Innerhoden, Switzerland.

Quite surprising that the last area where women got the right to vote was in Switzerland. The canton of Appenzell-Innerhoden was forced to give women the right to vote when some women in Appenzell had filed a suit in the Switzerland Federal Supreme Court against the canton and won the case. In other cantons women had had the right to vote already since the 50-70s.



7. First country to have more female ministers than male 

1999 Sweden, 11 women and 9 men



8. Places where women don't have right to vote even now (2015)

Saudi-Arabia
Vatican City



9. Current reigning queens 

Denmark, Queen Margethe II
United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II



10. Current women world leaders (president, prime minister or chancellor) 

The information is from January, 2015.

22 Women leaders 

11 Presidents: Liberia, Argentina, Lithuania, Brazil, Kosovo, South Korea, Central African Republic, Chile, Malta, Switzerland

10 Prime ministers: Bangladesh, Trinidad and Tobago, Denmark, Jamaica, Slovenia, Cyprus (North), Senegal, Norway, Latvia, Poland

1 Chancellor: Germany

Famous female leaders: 







From first to last the women in the pictures are: Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, Angela Merkel, Corazon Aquino, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Sources:
http://www.guide2womenleaders.com
https://top5ofanything.com/list/9328e019/First-Countries-to-Give-Women-the-Right-to-Vote
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/10/27/7-ridiculous-restrictions-on-womens-rights-around-the-world/
http://www.jjmccullough.com/charts_rest_female-leaders.php - female leaders
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_women's_suffrage - timeline of women's suffrage

Austria, Cool Facts #32

31. Liechtenstein <=                                                                                                   => 33. Switzerland


1. House of Habsburg 650 years in power 

The House of Habsburg ruled in Austria from 1278 until 1918, the end of World War II. The Habsburg's power collapsed after the world war and Austria-Hungary fell apart, Austria kept only its German-speaking areas. Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia became independent. For centuries it was one of the most mighty Empires of Europe and Vienna was the capital city for the ruling Habsburg family for 650 years.

Ferdinand Zvonimir Habsburg (born in -97)


2. Separation from the Germans

The German Confederation was established after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The aim was to unify the German-speaking areas. It replaced the Holy Roman Empire which collapsed in 1806 to a defeat for France in the Napoleon wars. The Confederation consisted of 39 separate German-speaking states and there was a struggle between the two most powerful ones, Austria and Prussia. First Austria and Prussia fought together against Denmark in 1864 to secure their independence but just two years later in 1866 there was the Austro-Prussian War which resulted in the collapse of the German Confederation. Austria lost the war and had to leave the Confederation, Germany became the North German Confederation 1867-1871 and then the German Empire 1871-1918. Austria instead became Austria-Hungary in 1871.

1806 Holy Roman Empire collapses
1815 German Confederation established
1848 Revolution
1864 War against Denmark
1866 Austro-Prussian War
1867-1871 North German Confederation
1871-1918 German Empire
1867-1918 Austria-Hungary




3. Austria-Hungary 

Austria-Hungary was one of the world's great powers at its time between 1867-1918. It consisted of the monarchies of Austria and Hungary and the autonomous region of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown. After two wars the Habsburg family was on the verge to collapse, they had a massive amount of debt and huge financial problems, so as a result they reconciled with Hungary to save their dynasty.

Here are some impressive facts about the Empire: 

2nd largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire, at 621,538 square meters of area
3rd most populous European country after Russia and the German Empire
4th largest machine building industry of the world, after the USA, Germany and UK

Countries at the area of the former Austria-Hungary

Austria
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Croatia
Czech Republic
Hungary
Italy
Montenegro
Poland
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Ukraine
Austria-Hungary area

4. Legend behind the Flag

After Denmark's Dannebrog Austria has the oldest flag still in use. According to the legend the Duke Leopold V of Austria invented the flag during the battle Siege of Acre in 1189-1191. After fighting his white surcoat was completely stained with blood and when he removed his belt, the cloth underneath it was untouched and revealed a combination of red-white-red which impressed him so much that he adopted the colors and scheme as his banner. This incident was documented in 1260 but it's not clear how much of it is true.



5. Famous Austrians of the History 

Wolfgand Amadeus Mozart - Legendary composer
Michael Haydn - Composer, younger brother of Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn - Composer
Franz Schubert - Composer
Johann Strauss, Sr - Composer
Johann Strauss, Jr - Composer

Ludwig Boltzmann - Physicist and philosopher
Christian Doppler - Doppler effect inventor, mathematician and physicist
Erwin Schrödinger - Nobel Prize winning physicist
Gregor Mendel - Father of genetics, German-speaking Moravian scientist
Hans Asperger - Pediatrician, Asperger Syndrome was named after him
Sigmund Freud - Neurologist, father of the psychoanalysis

Ludwig Wittgenstein - British-Austria philosopher
Arnold Schwarzennegger - Legendary body builder, actor, businessman and politician
Hermann Maier - Legendary Alpine Ski Racer
Niki Lauda - 3 World Championships in Formula 1
Josef Madersperger - Invented the sewing machine in 1818
Ferdinand Porsche - Founder of Porsche, designed the Volkswagen also


This is Austria: 
























Timeline

400 BC Noricum Kingdom of the Celts 
9 BC Roman provinces of Raetia, Noricum and Pannonia at the area of current Austria 
400 Rome collapses, Germanic tribes conquer the area
500 Bavarian and Slavic tribes settle at the area 
791 King of Franks, Charlemagne, establishes Ostmark which is ruled by the Bavarian dukes
976 Badenberg dynasty comes to power
1156 The area separates from the Bavarian rule 
1246 The Badenberg dynasty falls, The king of Bohemia, Ottokar II, becomes the ruler 
1278 Ottokar II dies in a battle, the Habsburg come into power and rule until 1918 in Austria
1477 Maximilian I marries Maria from House of Burgundy, so the power of Habsburg reaches Burgundy and the Netherlands, as their son Philip married Joanna of Spain, Spain with its colonies becomes part of the Habsburg dynasty
1526 Bohemia, Moravia and parts of Hungary are attached to the Habsburg Empire
1556 The Habsburg lands are divided into the Spanish and Austrian branches when Charles V abdicates the crown
1600 The 30 Year War
1683 The Turkish are beaten and their areas are attached from Hungary to Austria
1815 The German Confederation which is led by Austria
1866 Prussia forces Austria to resign from the German Confederation when the North German Confederation is established
1867 The Austro-Hungarian Empire is established consisting of two monarchies
1908 Bosnia-Herzegovina is given to Austria, a fatal decision because in 1914 a Serbian nationalist assassinated the king of Austria, Franz Ferdinand in Bosnia
1914 After the assassination Austria declares war to Serbia 
1278-1918 Habsburg rule 
1938 Hitler occupies the country
1945-55 Occupying forces at the country, Austria is forbidden to join Germany or to let the Habsburgs rise back to power

Sources: 
Maailman liput maat ja historia - Kimmo Kiljunen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria-Hungary - History of Austria-Hungary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1848_in_the_German_states
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Austria
http://www.eupedia.com/austria/trivia.shtml