The Ice Flow

By Red Sox Steve

During the Neolithic Age in northern Scandinavia, tribal people organized into distinct, yet small economies meant to sustain an agriculturally based lifestyle for the first time in human history. Tribes in what we now call Denmark and Sweden were isolated from many of the technological and cultural changes sweeping across Asia until about 2000 BCE (Before Common Era). As technology and trade spread through this region, it was adopted over a matter of centuries - there is evidence that soon after 1300 BCE, iron quickly supplanted bronze as the metal of choice in farming tools and long distance commerce, mostly because it was the most abundant mineral in the area.

As Germanic tribes moved south from northern lands beyond the borders of present-day Germany, they settled in the various mountain and river regions we find in Germany today. The Alemanni and Suevi settled on the upper Rhine, the Franks came to occupy the lower and middle Rhine, the Saxons settled the land between the Weser and Elbe Rivers and the Harz Mountains, while the Thuringians made their homes just south of the Saxons. Between 600 and 300 BCE, the Goths roamed up the Vistula river to the Carpathian Mountains, toward the Black Sea; the Vandals settled in Silesia, and the Markommani in Bohemia.

Around the beginning of the Common Era, Rome, infused with the desire to grow its kingdom and defeat local tribes in the process, moved northward into Gaul and continued progress eastward towards the Rhine River. By some accounts, it was south of present-day Vienna that the Roman army first came into contact with a Germanic tribe in 113 BCE. What is most interesting about the people of this region is that the nomenclature the Romans used to describe them is still with us today. The word "barbarian" was used by the Romans as a political label to describe all those living beyond the borders of the Roman empire and has its origins in the Greek word "barbaros" which means "foreigner". "Germanic" was the word used to describe these tribal people only to indicate that they were purely Celtic, unlike other tribes in the region - "Germani" has a meaning similar to "genuine" in this context; Romans considered these people the "germ", or originators, of the Celtic ethnicity.

By 12 CE, Rome, under Drusus (son of Augustus, the Roman emperor at the time) conquered Germania between the Rhine and Elbe Rivers, pushing the Roman empire farther to the north and east in the process. Later conflict between the Germanic prince Arminius and the Roman army led by Varus forced the Romans to accept a Rhine-Danube eastern border, instead of one delineated by the Elbe river. On the western side of the Rhine, the Romans thus established both Upper (Superior) and Lower (Inferior) Germany as Roman empire border provinces.

The Goths who moved into Germania came in from the Baltic Sea. The western branch of this tribe was known as the Visigoths who moved into Germania, while the eastern branch was known as the Ostrogoths who established an empire from southern Russia to Scandinavia. While the Visigoths started off as allies of Rome and defended the Roman empire's eastern frontier, the relationship did not end this way. Citing mistreatment by the Romans, the Visigoths rebelled, defeating the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople (modern-day Edirne in eastern Turkey) in 378. After their defeat at Adrianople the Romans allowed the barbarians to settle within their Western Empire. Another tribe associated with the Goths, the Vandals, moved across the Rhine in 406, and later gained control of northwest Africa. The Burgundians, an eastern Germanic tribe, ended up settling in Gaul; the Angles and Saxons settled in England; and the west Germanic Franks were able to move into northern and central Gaul. The Visigoths sacked Rome in 410, eventually migrating into southern Gaul and Spain while the Ostrogoths briefly established a kingdom in Rome under Theodoric the Great until being defeated by the invading Roman army in 535. Despite its successes during this period, the dominance of Germanic tribes in continental Europe was slowly being replaced by feudalism in the form of the French monarchy.

In 496 at the Battle of Tolbiac (central/western Germany), the Frankish king Clovis I defeated the Germanic Alemanni, and various French kings deposed the leaders of the Germanic tribes, the Thuringians and Bavarians, starting the irreversible unification of remaining Germanic tribes. Charles Martel, the first king under the Frankish Carolingian dynasty, defeated the Frisians, a Germanic tribe occupying the modern-day Netherlands, while Charlemagne conquered the Saxons. In about 800, Charlemagne became the ruler of medieval Germany, and was coronated as "Emperor ever august of the Romans" by Pope Leo III. Under the Treaty of Verdun of 843 however, Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pious, divided the empire among his sons, giving the western part to Charles the Bald, the eastern part to Louis the German, and to Lothair a strip between them bordered by the North Sea and Italy.

The result of early 10th century conflict between regional counts in Germany was that Conrad I ("Conrad the Younger") became Duke of Franconia. He was the nephew of the last Carolingian king of eastern Franconia, Louis the Child (son of Louis the German) who died in 911. Conrad I was subsequently elected King of Franconia by high nobility and ruled until his death in 918, thus becoming the first non-Carolingian monarch (Conrad was part of the Conradine dynasty) to rule Germany. After his death, the duke of Saxony, Henry the Fowler (known for training hawks), was elected king Henry I (ruling from 919–936), ruler of the kingdom of the Germans, starting the Saxonian (a/k/a Ottonian) dynasty. Otto I (ruling from 936–973) followed Henry I, and concentrated his rule with the church's assistance, against threats made by the nobility to his monarchy. The German monarchy and the Roman Empire were officially unified in 962 with Otto's coronation as Emperor.

Subsequent German kings were thus able to control the papacy for approximately 90 more years, supporting the strengthening and reform of the church. The control of the church by the monarchy was, however, lost by Henry IV (b. 1056–d. 1106), as Pope Nicholas II 1059 established the College of Cardinals, which replaced the emperor in selecting the pope. Henry was also in conflict with Pope Gregory VII (1073–1085) due to the papal decree that removed the power of lay officials to appoint bishops and other church officers. This separation between church and state was opposed by Henry IV, resulting in his excommunication and ultimate surrender of much of the monarch's authority over the church during the later part of the 11th century. Henry IV's successor, Henry V, was subsequently only able to select German higher clergy, but not Italian clergy, thus granting a significant degree of freedom to both churches.

The next powerful emperor to take the throne in Germany was Frederick I (Barbarossa, the "Red Beard") who had been duke of Swabia (southern Germany). Frederick I's rule (1152 - 1190) was the combination of two German dynasties - his father was Duke Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, and his mother was Judith, daughter of Henry IX, from the enemy House of Welf. By some historical accounts, it was during his rule that the term 'Holy Roman Empire' became regularly used. Frederick I used Roman law to create a feudal kingdom out of Germany as opposed to the centralized monarchy that had existed previously. This ultimately led to a decline in centrally administered power, and fragmented the empire's territories.

Frederick II (monarch from 1212–1250) sacrificed some of his power in Germany in favor of control over parts of Italy. He shifted his power over the German Church to the papacy, granting free elections of bishops and abbots, and gave permanent concessions regarding legal jurisdiction and taxes to the nobility. Frederick II is regarded as one of the most enlightened rulers in German history, most especially due to his patronage of science and the arts, along with his ability to speak a handful of languages. His willingness to comply with the demands of German princes served to constrain the power of the monarchy, producing a system where German territories were independent enough to establish their own systems of justice.

Seven years after Frederick's death in 1257, territorial princes created their own electoral college of the emperor, which was formally codified by an empirical decree known as the Golden Bull of 1356. The Golden Bull of 1356 designated seven princes with the power to elect the emperor through an electoral college, and also endorsed a diffusion of the king's power into the territories ruled by princes themselves. This decree was put in place by Charles IV, undermining efforts to centralize power by the then rulers of Germany, the Habsburg Dynasty. The emperor was faced with a dissolution of control for the duration of Habsburg rule, at times placing empirical desires against the interests of the electors, princes, and towns. The Reich, the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, continued serving as the lone force that had the ability to protect weaker states from foreign threats for the duration of the empire's rule.

The Habsburg dynasty came into power in Germany with Rudolf I being elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1273. In subsequent years, he was able to gain parts of the Czech Republic and Austria, however lost territory in Switzerland. Moving forward to the 15th century, Albert II of Habsburg (1437–39) inherited the Hungarian and Czech crowns, as well as the title of Holy Roman Emperor. It was however a later member of the Habsburg dynasty that created a power structure that lasted until World War I. By a 1477 marriage between Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy, Burgundy and the Netherlands became Habsburg provinces; Philip, son of Maximilian (known as Philip the Handsome) married Juana de Loca the eldest daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon (Spain) and Isabella of Castile (Spain) and these lands were passed to their son Charles. In 1526 Hungary, Bohemia-Moravia, and Silesia also came under the influence of the Habsburgs. In 1556, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V separated the empire into a western (passed into Bourbon hands during the War of Spanish Succession) and an eastern part (remained under the House of Habsburg until the end of WWI).

In Roman Catholicism, it is the practice of the church to remit existing punishment resulting from the performance of a sin by granting an indulgence to the sinner. By granting indulgences, the Catholic Church is giving a spiritual reward to an individual it considers worthy of such a benefit. Indulgences are commonly granted by the church after the sinner performs acts such as prayer, Scripture reading or saying of the Rosary. In order to validate the indulgence, the sinner most likely will receive the Eucharist (representing the body of Jesus Christ) or renounce his or her sin.

The Roman Catholic Church introduced the practice of granting indulgences during the Crusades for Crusaders who did not complete their penances; this practice became more widely used by Catholic laypeople, fearing the suffering that occurred in Purgatory. During the 14th century, Pope Clement VI proclaimed the presence of a "treasury of merit," a collection of good works a pope could dispense at his discretion. The church told the laity that indulgences would not only remit their punishment, but also the punishment of any of their dead relatives still in Purgatory. The church, based on the principle that it was able to grant indulgences to sinners, began to use them as a major source of revenue by dispensing them for cash under the auspices of almsgiving by the laity.

By the early 16th century, Pope Julius II was granting indulgences to raise funds for the construction of Saint Peter's church in Rome. Near Wittenberg, in Saxony, the church was offering indulgences, partly in order to pay the debt of the territory's archbishop, the Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz, who was to receive one-half of the revenues. A professor of Scripture at the university in Wittenberg, Martin Luther, became aware of the church's practice, and, based on his study of the biblical St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans had an entirely different conclusion about the relationship between Bible, Church, and faith in God. Roman Catholic teaching, was, and remains even today, centered on the idea that the clergy, working under the authority of the pope, is the ultimate interpreter of faith and Biblical teachings, and any faith one had in God needed to be augmented by religious observance and good works. Martin Luther's conclusion in approximately 1512 was that faith without the practice of good works was consistent with the idea that, since no human could reach the standard of God, no believer could ever feel secure about their salvation, while God offers his grace, regardless of whether someone deserves it.

In October 1517, Luther, upon hearing of the sale of indulgences in Wittenberg, drafted a letter to Archbishop Albrecht, and attached to the letter his Ninety-five Theses against indulgences and his Treatise on Indulgences, setting in motion a reform movement against the almighty Catholic Church. Because of the availability of printing at the time, Luther's ideas spread across Germany relatively quickly. Luther subsequently continued his efforts to criticize the Church, while the Church, due to political relationships with German nobility, was unable to organize itself quickly enough to respond to Luther's allegations. In 1529, at the Diet of Speyer, an assembly of both Catholic and Lutheran nobility, those who considered themselves Lutherans came into opposition about the need to reform the Church. They unified around all aspects of the Diet they felt contrasted with the Word of God, and appealed to the emperor and other leaders; this protest against the emperor and the influence of the Catholic nobility and the pre-Lutheran Church had found a new name: Protestantism.

By the early 17th century, Protestantism was widely spread throughout Germany and other parts of Europe. By that time, it had even spawned a break-away movement called Calvinism, giving rise to Reformed Protestantism. Religious claims to feudal authority were causing tension among the various states within Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. Ferdinand of Styria of the Habsburgs came to the throne of Bohemia in 1617. Because Ferdinand was Catholic and Calvinists were the majority in Bohemia, there was quickly a struggle for control of the region. By 1619, Ferdinand had ascended to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire (as Emperor Ferdinand II), and was rejected by the Bohemian Calvinists. Ferdinand received support from the papacy and the Spanish and Polish kings (both Catholic), and allied with Maximilian I, duke of Bavaria and leader of the German Catholic League. At the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, Catholic forces defeated the Bohemians, and Ferdinand reclaimed authority over Bohemia.

In 1629, after Ferdinand defeated the Danish King Christian IV who was fighting on behalf of German protestants, he issued what is known as the Edict of Restitution. This edict outlawed Calvinism, restored these territories to the Catholic Church, and restricted the right of appeal to the imperial diet by Protestant princes. Because the German Protestant princes were alienated by this edict, and they were concerned about the Empire's alliance with Spain, it was Lutheran King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden who invaded Germany with the support of the King of France, Louis XIII. One of Ferdinand's key allies betrayed Germany, and Adolphus' army was successful, forcing Germany to enter into the Treaty of Prague in 1635, essentially revoking the Edict of Restitution.

Because Louis XIII was afraid that France could be attacked by the Habsburg Empire from the south (Spain), the north (Netherlands), and the east (Germany), he declared war on Spain just before the Treaty of Prague was signed. Spain, in return, invaded France and Sweden, while German armies (made up of unified Catholics and Protestants against a common enemy), invaded France. As the war raged on, France was unable to repel its enemies. By 1643, however, both Ferdinand and Louis XIII were deceased, and Ferdinand III and Louis XIV sought a peaceful resolution to this conflict. By 1648, a peace agreement called the Peace of Westphalia was finally reached, which crafted Germany into a loose alliance of states under a single diet (assembly of the nobles and clergy) and a single military. This agreement also legalized Calvinism, giving it equal status to Catholicism and Lutheranism. The conflict that had lasted from 1618-1648 is known as the Thirty Years War. It is the first time in European history that national history and national defense asserted itself over religious-based conflict, and a new constitutional framework was put in place which ensured that Germany would remain decentralized for another two centuries.

During the Thirty Years War, another nation emerged as a leading military and imperial power, which would later come into conflict with the Habsburgs of Austria, the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia became an officially recognized kingdom in northern Germany in 1701. In 1740, Prussia, in alliance with France, challenged the law that Maria Theresa of Austria could succeed to the throne of Austria, thus challenging the power of the Habsburgs. In the conflict, Austria was supported by Great Britain and the Dutch, along with the Kingdoms of Sardinia and Saxony. After an 8 year conflict called the War of Austrian Succession concluded with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (signed at Aachen, in modern-day Germany), Prussia prevailed against the seemingly more powerful Austrian alliance.

During the War of Austrian Succession, Austria lost a key part of its territory to Prussia, a region in modern-day Poland called Silesia. In a conflict known as both the Third Silesian War and the Seven Years War (1756-1763), Austria under Maria Theresa sought to recover Silesia from Frederick II of Prussia. Because of the struggle for colonial power in the Americas and in India, the British and French fought in those areas as well. By 1763, the Treaty of Hubertusburg ended the European conflict, while the Treaty of Paris ended the American conflict (known as the French and Indian War), and Prussia was able to retain Silesia.

After Prussia annexed part of Poland, just before the end of the 18th century, it was Napoleon after the turn of the century that posed a threat to both it and Austria. Although Prussia was briefly reduced to its size at founding after its defeat by Napoleon, its army was victorious over Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, bringing an end to Napoleonic rule over much of Europe. Because Prussia had been able to restore its lost territories and gain parts of western Germany in the process, it was able to lead in the process of unifying Germany. Under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck in the second half of the 19th century, Prussia was able to assert its dominance over Austria and France and gain control of German territory. After Napoleon III's defeat ended the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, the German Empire was officially recognized by France, and Prussian monarch King William I became its king.

Kaiser Wilhelm II, or King William II, son of Frederick William II (son of William I), rose to the throne in 1888, and, because of indelicate diplomatic relations with Russia, Britain and France, and an internal power struggle with Bismarck forcing him from office, led Germany directly into conflict. By the time Austro-Hungarian Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in June 1914, William aggressively sought the punishment of Serbia by Austria-Hungary, eventually embroiling all of Europe into the conflict known as World War I. Ironically, in 1918, Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate power, the Free State of Prussia was formed, and the German Empire was held solely responsible for the war in the same location where it was originally recognized as a nation years earlier, the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

The national assembly that convened at Weimar in 1919 created a liberal democracy that was doomed just after it began. The social and political climate in Germany, as a result of a severe military defeat, and an imposed and restrictive peace, rapidly deteriorated from one of moderation and democracy to one subject to attack by extremists from either side. Taking inspiration from the Russian Revolution of 1917, German workers and soldiers, while not quite electing communists, began electing councils which would sieze military and civil power in a number of cities. Communists and anarchists took over Munich in 1918, leading to military conflict there. Because Germany had to pay war reparations and had lost much of its international economic relationships, it severely devalued the Deutschemark by printing more money, leading to an economic crisis.

As the Weimar constitutional government remained in power, it was supported by the SPD (German Social Democrats), the German Democratic Party (DDP), and the Catholic Center Party. Gustav Stresemann of the German People's Party, served as foreign minister in all of Weimar's cabinets until his death in 1929. He, much to the consternation of the Nazi and communist parties in Germany, sought to fulfill the obligations of the Versailles Treaty, and by 1926 Germany was admitted to the League of Nations.

By 1929, the world was in the midst of a full blown economic depression, and, like the electorate has a propensity to do in such crises, it became very dissatisfied with its government. A center-right coalition was assembled under Heinrich Brüning, who unfortunately was unable to slow the worsening impact of the depression. During the 1930 elections, it became clear that extremists were gaining ground. The Nazis, who before the depression had 12 seats in the Reichstag (German Parliament), saw this figure rise to 107. In 1932 Adolf Hitler ran for president but was defeated by the man who would eventually appoint him chancellor, Paul von Hindenburg.

By January 1933, after subsequent elections, Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor, as the Nazi party won 37% and 33% of the Reichstag in the 1932 and 1933 elections respectively. Just after the Reichstag building fire in February 1933, Hitler pushed for the Reichstag to grant him full dictatorial powers. Two key provisions to the constitution drafted at Weimar 14 years earlier were that the office of the president could dissolve the Reichstag and had, under article 48, the ability to issue emergency decrees. As a result of Hitler assuming dictatorial control of the government, democracy quickly broke down. Hitler was able to ban political parties, control the press, and incarcerate political opponents in concentration camps. In August 1934, President Hindenburg died, allowing Hitler to combine the presidency and chancellorship to became Führer ('leader' or 'guide'). This demarcated the end of the German republic, and would later propel the most powerful nations in the world into military conflict.

"Democracy and majority rule are stupid. The masses are ignorant sheep that need leading by a brilliant statesman. This divinely appointed leader is Adolf Hitler, who will rule the world with a few chosen elite. The Third Reich, or new German Empire, will last a thousand years. It will be a Nazi totalitarian state with total control of government and the lives of all citizens."

—Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

As the 1930s wore on, Hitler and the Nazis slowly started to undermine and infiltrate a variety of German governmental and non-governmental institutions - they installed Nazi governors to oversee every state in Germany, Hitler's government forbade strikes by labor unions in favor of the creation of the German Labor Front under Nazi rule, and Hitler installed Joseph Goebbels to infiltrate education, art, theater, newspapers, and literature in order to use them to spread Nazi ideals.

Hitler, because of his desire for total control of the entire state of Germany and all its people, sought out any dissidents through a system of surveillance and terror. This system was mostly implemented through the German police, called the Gestapo and the SS (Schutzstaffel). Members of the SS eventually became Hitler's bodyguards and they considered themselves part of a new ruling elite, swearing total obedience to him while persecuting opponents of the regime. Any who were arrested were interrogated and sent to a concentration camp for a few months or years, serving as a warning to other discontented individuals. In February 1933 the first of the concentration camps was set up to house political opponents of Nazi Germany (Communists, Socialists, Jews, priests and ministers, defeatists, speculators, and intellectuals) ultimately reaching some 300 camps.

In April 1933, the systematic persecution of Jews by Nazi Germany was underway. By taking over the bureaucracy, the Nazis were able to dismiss Jewish judges and civil servants, legally, the Reich was using what was known as the "Aryan paragraph" (bylaws of organizations intended to exclude Jews) against doctors, dentists, chemists, lawyers, solicitors, artists, and journalists. Jews were barred from tax and social benefits, military service, clubs and associations, sitting on park benches, and using public baths.

By way of the Nuremberg Laws and the Nationality Acts of September 1935 Jews were legally defined as anyone with a single Jewish grandparent. They were deprived of citizenship and designated as "members but not citizens of the state," meaning they were unable to participate in civil service, the legal profession, the Labor Front, and all official organizations. Mixed marriages between Jews and non-Jewish Germans or sexual relations between them were prohibited by law.

In fall 1938, after the murder of a German embassy secretary in Paris by a young Jew, the Nazis systematically attacked and burned about 1,000 Jewish synagogues in what came to be known as the "Night of Broken Glass" (Reichskristallnacht). Jews were barred from attending theaters, concerts, movies, or other public performances and were forced to sell their property and businesses at ridiculously low prices. In order to more easily identify them, they had to assume biblical names such as Israel and Sarah on their identity papers and were forced to wear large yellow stars. The Aryan-only desires of Nazi Germany now seemed to assume a sense of dark and heavy permanence over Germany.

Hitler's other mandate was the recovery of the power of the German Empire over Europe and, in this light, it was necessary to repudiate the draconian limitations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. By reintroducing military conscription and reconstructing the German air force in the 1930s, Hitler accomplished just that. Hitler was able to place troops in the Rhineland and support the dictator General Franco in the Spanish civil war in 1936. By October 1936, Hitler and Mussolini formed the Rome-Berlin Axis, eventually leading to the wartime affiliation of the two nations. By 1938, German troops marched into Austria, and the country was annexed to Germany. The situation in Europe was starting to grow more and more tense.

By September, Great Britain and France allowed Hitler to occupy the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia with no objection. Because Hitler sought additional territory, he continued to take more Czech territory in the name of protection of a persecuted German minority by a brutal Czech majority. As a reaction to Hitler's act of aggression, Great Britain and France jointly agreed to guarantee protection for Poland. On September 1, 1939, Hitler blitzed Poland and Great Britain and France had no choice but to declare war on Germany.

After a conflict that would transform the history of the 20th century in the creation of new political alignments along with new foes, and the use of nuclear technology in warfare for the first and only time, the Germans were defeated by the Allies and the Red Army in 1945. In February, the Red Army advanced on Hungary and in April on Berlin, while US troops took Leipzig and Munich also in April, causing the Germans to officially surrender on May 7 at Rheims, France. The next day, German commanders surrendered to the Red Army in Berlin.

At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, the leaders Winston Churchill of Great Britain, Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union agreed that Germany would be divided into four zones of occupation following its military defeat. The three countries and the French would each control a zone, while Berlin, although it lay in the Soviet zone, would be divided into four sectors as well. Germany, because it was now at the interface between West and East, was now the primary battleground in an ideological, rather than military conflict known as the "Cold War". Because the British, French and United States were capitalist nations, those three regions came together to form th Federal Republic of Germany, a parliamentary democracy; the Soviet zone, due to its communist orientation, became the German Democratic Republic, with a communist-dominated government.

By 1948, it became clear that the Soviets sought reparations from eastern Germany, as it began to remove everything from foodstuffs to factories from the area. The western Allied powers, in addition to Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg wanted the western German zone to be eligible for Marshall Plan funds from the United States. This desire brought the three separate western zones into economic and political alignment, while also introducing a common currency called the deutschmark by May 1948. Germany, which had been the scourge of the world since the turn of the 20th century, was now partitioned and allied with all of its former enemies.

Soon after the creation of the western-oriented Federal Republic of Germany, the nation experienced what is referred to as the German Economic Miracle; foreign trade tripled between 1954 and 1964, while unemployment dropped to less than 1 percent by 1961. In 1957 Germany joined France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Italy in the European Economic Community (EEC). The EEC created a common market, allowing for the free movement of goods and people, and facilitated stronger economic growth in a collective sense, while eliminating taxes and tariffs in commerce between its members.

East Germany's economy and political system resembled the Soviet Union's system of centralized economic planning, reduced private ownership of property, and the collective ownership or redistribution of farmlands. The Soviets, in imposing their own system upon East Germany, created a great deal of tension with their new nation. This situation was only made more difficult because of the Soviets deconstruction of the eastern zone immediately after the war; their military's brutal treatment of German civilians; and the economic hardships created by the transition to state-centralized economic planning. By 1952 more than 700,000 East Germans had fled to the West.

By 1961, 3 million East Germans had fled into Western Germany since the late 1940s. Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet Prime Minister, sought to stop the flow of individuals to the west, under the auspices of protecting East Germans from the infiltration of Western spies and imperialists as well as the influences of Western media. To this end, starting on August 13, 1961, the Soviets began the construction of a wall dividing the city of Berlin and stretching 100 miles, and restricting access and passage via military checkpoints. The wall separated subway and train stations, families, religious congregations, and friends, dividing them for 28 years and 4 months, until it was brought down on November 9, 1989.

In January 1989, Erich Honecker, East German head of state and general secretary of the communist Party stated that the Berlin Wall would continue standing for 50 or 100 years. In contrast, a Solidarity movement was taking place in Poland which would free it from communist rule while Hungary opened its Austrian borders, allowing East Germans to escape to the West. On October 7, 1989 a festival was held marking the 40th anniversary of the East German republic, however this celebration was accompanied by demonstrations insisting on wider freedoms for the east German people. In addition, east Germans, because of radio and television, were able to monitor events taking place in West Germany, and the seemingly insuperable barrier between the nations grew weaker and weaker as a result. By November 7, after admonishment to change by then Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, the East German government resigned and by November 9 the East German leadership suddenly opened the borders to West Germany, allowing East Germans into the west for the first time in their lives.

Although the subsequent years and months were the rocky beginnings of the reunification of Germany, there were signs from both the east Germans and the Soviets that there would be minimal interference with the process on their part. Gorbachev granted Germany the right to unify, while East Germany had free elections for the first time in March 1990, with the head of state pushing the unification forward according to the terms of the West German constitution. By June, Checkpoint Charlie, the border crossing, was destroyed. In July 1990, each agreed to use the West German mark as their currency, and it was agreed by leaders from both sides that on October 3, 1990, both nations would join to form Germany.

In the first post-unification election, in December 1990, Helmut Kohl's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won the most seats in four of the five former eastern states, while the Social Democratic Party (SPD) had been victorious in the remaining state, Brandenburg. The CDU continued to control the government until 1998 brought the SPD, under Gerhard Schröder, into power. However, its inability to gain a clear majority allowed for entry by the Red-Green coalition, an alliance between the SPD and the Green Party. The CDU regained control over the government in the elections of May 2005, resulting in the election of Germany's first female chancellor, Angela Merkel, who is also the first chancellor of reunified Germany to have come from the former eastern lands.

Germany today is unrecognizable to a man or woman who sat on the eastern side of the Berlin Wall before reunification. Because, after World War II, there was significant economic growth and a stable political environment in the west, as alliances were strengthened with the world's most powerful nation, this was able to serve as a way to absorb east Germany into an already thriving nation. It became clear that removing the wall that separated them was not only a literal act, but a figurative act as well, reuniting two nations who are strengthened as much by a unity of economy and politics as by a unity of ideology intended on doing what is best for all German people. Germany, in 2009, is the largest economy in the EU, and therefore is one of the world's most prosperous nations, clearly stronger, safer and more stable with both halves united under one flag and one government.

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By Red Sox Steve

In approximately 600 BCE ("Before Common Era"), Greeks from the maritime city of Phocaea (pronounced "foh-see-uh") on the Aegean sea in present day Turkey established a seaport farther to the western edge of their empire, as a result of their battles with the Carthaginians in this territory. This seaport town was located east of the Rhône River's mouth; at the time, the name of the city was Massilia, but today it is known as Marseille.

The Greeks continued moving into what we know as mainland France, primarily to acquire raw materials like silver and iron through trading with Celtic tribes in the region. Archaeologists have discovered finished bronze items (a luxury good produced by the Greeks and used to trade with the Celts) 100 miles from Paris. For hundreds of years after its founding and establishment as part of the Greek trading network, Massalia's main enemy was Carthage. Massalia found an ally against the Carthaginians in Rome during the Second Punic War (218–201 BCE). Subsequent to this, in 125 BCE, Rome was able to occupy Massalia, because it faced threats from local tribes.

Rome extended its influence further into the Gallic region and created a bureaucratic center at Lugdunum (present-day Lyon). During the initial period of Roman occupation, the Romans created two main regions of Gaul, Gallia Cisalpina and Gallia Transalpina, and in 49 BCE, Roman citizenship was extended to the Gauls. By the fifth century, the Roman empire and many of its satellite states including Gaul were suffering from widespread decline. Although Germanic tribes were settling in Gaul and allying with the Romans, invaders quickly followed, dividing the region into a number of kingdoms. There was, however, one Germanic tribe who conquered much of the Gallic region, causing the Gauls to eventually adopt their conquerors name for themselves: the Franks.

In the latter part of the 5th century, the Frankish tribes started to divide between those who fought the Romans and those who fought Germanic invaders such as the Visigoths and Vandals. An emergent Frankish military commander named Childeric I ultimately came to power in service of Rome, fighting against the Visigoths in 463 and 469. Because, however, Childeric's commander, a Roman general named Aegidius, severed ties with Roman authorities in 461, it was the military under Aegidius' command that was to maintain authority in Gaul.

By 482, Childeric's son Clovis had succeeded his father and in the aftermath of further battle against Celtic and Germanic tribes, was able to control most of northern Gaul. In 507 Clovis established his court at Paris. His kingdom eventually included most of Gaul from the North Sea to the Pyrenees and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Main River and was known as the Merovingian dynasty.

Because Clovis had 4 sons, he divided the territory between them, giving way to shifting boundaries and warfare among the kingdoms. By 687, the king of Austrasia (the eastern kingdom), Pepin III, defeated Neustria and Burgundy, the western and southern kingdoms respectively. Pepin III was therefore able to unite the Frankish kingdom for the first time in over 70 years, under a new ruling era which came to be known as the Carolingian dynasty.

During the reign of Charlemagne (768-814), son of Pépin III, the Frankish kingdom was extended into Spain to repel the Moors and Italy to control rule of the Lombards. From 772 until 804 Charlemagne fought the Saxons of Saxony, who were deemed pagans by the church. Charlemagne also defeated the Avars, who controlled much of central Europe at the time. To protect his new empire, Charlemagne posted the Frankish army at its borders. The empire remained united under Charlemagne's son, Louis, but on his death it was divided among his three sons under the Treaty of Verdun in 843 into regions that now make up Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Italy.

In 978, Lothair (941–986), the Carolingian king, invaded territory lost to the Germans decades earlier, despite the fact that Lothair was a vassal of the German King and Holy Roman Emperor, Otto II. Otto thought of this as a rebellious act, and subsequently invaded France. Only two years after Lothair's initial invasion, in 980, he retracted his claim to the lost land, Lotharingia. The peace was temporary as Otto II died 3 years later. His son, Otto III, only three years old at the time, assumed the throne. Because Otto III's right to the throne was disputed, a civil war was triggered, and Lothair again invaded Lotharingia, only to die less than a year after the invasion in 985. Louis V assumed power in France, but the invasion of Lotharingia had failed; Louis V died only two years later in 987 in a hunting accident, ending the Carolingian dynasty.

Hugh Capet, cousin of Otto II, had previously aligned against Lothair and was able to ascend to the throne of France in 987, marking the start of the Capetian dynasty. The power of the Capetian dynasty, in its early stages, was diffused into the hands of what are known as the three "orders": the nobles, the bourgeosie, and the clergy, a system that would hold until the French Revolution of 1789. In addition, because of royal intermarriage, the French throne was threatened by a claim on it by the English monarchy. Because of the power the church held at this time, French pope Urban II began to preach in favor of a religiously oriented conflict that could force Islam back to the east: the Crusades.

Under King Philip II Augustus (1180–1223), royal authority and French territory expanded, especially by leading a crusade against Catharism (a Christian sect at odds with the Catholic church) in the south. This battle was continued by his son, Louis VIII, expanding the power of the monarchy to the Mediterranean. The next descendant to the French throne was Louis IX (also known as Saint Louis), who expanded royal power and ultimately participated in the Crusades. Under successive later kings, governmental power increased and the monarch came to be not merely a ruler, but a living representation of the law. By the early 14th century, Philip IV had undertaken another expansion of French territory, and sought increased revenues to maintain his power. As a result of this, he began a persecution against both French Jews and a powerful French military order known as the Templars. As the monarchy came to face more and more challenges to its authority, each of Philip's sons took turns holding the crown: Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV. When each passed away, there was no legal heir to take over the throne; the Capetian dynasty ended in 1328 when the monarchy was passed to Philip VI of Valois.

During the 14th century in Europe, as merchants and soldiers travelled between western Europe and Asia, through the Crimean mountains, they came in contact with a skin-borne bacterium called "Yersinia pestis", also known as the bubonic plague. During the middle part of this century, it is estimated that about 50% of the population of Europe was wiped out as a result of contact with this virus. In addition, in France, agricultural production slowed down, producing numerous famines, leading to a deep economic crisis. It is at this time that England and France came into conflict over succession rights to the French throne, a conflict known as "The Hundred Years' War".

The Hundred Years War lasted from 1337-1453, with periods of intermittent peace between battle. By about 1415, the English were able to subdue the French significantly, forcing them into signing the Treaty of Troyes (ca 1415), which was a formal recognition of King Henry V of England as heir to the French throne. Just prior to this, however, a French peasant girl was born in the French village of Domrémy, who would later impact the outcome of the war: Joan of Arc (Joan d'Arc). French King Charles VII sent her to the battle at Orléans as part of a relief mission. St. Joan (she was canonized in 1920) gained much adulation due to the fact that she was able to end the siege in nine days. Later victories led to Charles VII's coronation at Reims, settling the dispute over monarchical succession. The Treaty of Étaples, signed in 1492 under the rule of Charles VIII, settled any remaining differences between France and England.

Before the 15th century was to come to an end, Charles VIII, at the request of Pope Innocent VIII and Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, sent 25,000 men into Italy, reaching Naples in February 1495. In the process, the French army laid claim to Florence (ruled by the Medici family at the time) before Charles VIII was ultimately crowned King of Naples. The following monarch, Louis XII, was able to take the throne of Milan as a result of its occupation by Italian mercenaries in service to France. The destabilization of the Italian monarchy and the conflicts in Italy led to a diffusion of artistic, philosophical and academic individuals out of Italy and into France.

We've got to, however, pass most of the French Renaissance period, bringing ourselves forward to 1651, the year that Louis XIV, son of Louis XIII, took power in France. When Louis XIV began his rule, he expanded his bureaucracy by opening up opportunities in government to the middle classes, thus ensuring that those who served him would remain under the influence of his power. He also continued a construction project begun by his father on a royal lodge in Versailles, outside of Paris. When Louis XIV took power, he continued the work based on architectural plan, and in 1682, officially moved the seat of his power from Paris to Versailles, a magnificent palace now visited by over 2 million tourists every year.

Foreign policy was much more complex, and certainly much more bellicose. Louis XIV declared war on Spain, as a result of his claim to land in the Spanish Netherlands. He also caused the French Huguenots (French believers in a form of Protestantism) to flee France after revoking a treaty which had previously granted them religious freedoms in 1685. William of Orange, who replaced King James II in England, brought it into an alliance called the "League of Augsburg" with the Dutch Netherlands, the Holy Roman Empire, and other European powers. With England now positioned to put a stop to Louis XIV's European ambitions, the War of the Grand Alliance began in 1688, ending in 1697. Louis XIV also sought to have his grandson, Philip, replace the deceased Charles II in Spain, however this was opposed by the other European powers, culminating in the "War of the Spanish Succession" in 1701. The war continued until 1713, with France winning and Philip taking the throne of Spain. In September 1715, Louis XIV died.

Louis XV, because he was only 5 when his great grandfather died, was unable to take power until 1723. Between monarchs, Philippe, duke of Orléans, ruled as regent, overseeing a period of significant destabilization of France. Previously suppressed groups such as the French "parlement" (law courts) reasserted themselves, challenging the monarch's absolute authority. By the time Louis XV came to power (Cardinal Fleury administered the government from 1726 until 1743 on behalf of his king), he had to deal with vocal opposition and found the kingdom's fiscal affairs in disarray. Furthermore, because of diplomatic struggles, France found itself on the losing end of two wars (War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War) resulting in a loss of much of its colonial holdings. Financially, things continued to grow worse. Against this backdrop, Louis XV chose to harden his belief in absolutism, fully demarcating the role of the monarchy as one that would refuse to adapt to changing times.

By 1774, the year Louis XVI, grandson of Louis XV came to power, France and the monarchy were on divergent paths. The new king immediately faced a deteriorating economic situation, therefore, his appointment as comptroller general of finance was critical. For this position, he chose a man named Anne-Robert Turgot. Turgot, the son of a merchant, had originally been on course to join the clergy. However, as a result of his work at the Sorbonne, pursued his interest in finance and economics. He is best known for publishing a book entitled "Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth" in 1766. Under Louis XVI's rule, Turgot sought to implement three main reforms: 1) establishing free trade in grain within the kingdom (1774), 2) establishing the freedom to work in various industries by abolishing the guilds (1776), and 3) abolishing the royal corvée (1776), the obligation of peasants to work for free on the repair and construction of roads. Each of the three met with fierce opposition from interested parties. His edict on the free trade of grain brought the ire of speculators, and was soon revoked. His edicts on abolition of guilds and replacement of the obligation for peasants to provide free labor by a tax on all property, was opposed by all the privileged groups, courtiers, factory owners, and financiers. The Parlement appealed to Louis XVI, who subsequently asked Turgot for his resignation (1776). Turgot wrote prophetically to the king a few days before he gave up office: "Never forget, Sire, that it was weakness that put the head of Charles I (King of England, Scotland and Ireland executed in 1649) on the block."

Turgot was replaced by a Swiss banker, Jacques Necker. Not only was Necker was forced to deal with all the problems Turgot had identified, he had one additional financial obligation of the French government to consider: the war between the British and the separatists taking place across the Atlantic. Although Necker sought similar goals to Turgot, he was also roundly criticized; Necker sought to gain public confidence by publishing a complete accounting of royal and governmental finances. Unfortunately, this caused a scandal because it revealed the expenses of the court, which had remained a secret up to that point. The naive yet capricious wife of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, had Necker recalled in 1781. It quickly became apparent that a reformist approach was not desired by the monarchy.

Although subsequent finance ministers proposed similar strategies to reform, it was the authority of the monarchy to impose taxes without the consent of parlement that came into question. Etienne-Charles de Loménie de Brienne (finance minister at the time) arrested or exiled the principal instigators, the Parlement resisted these actions and proclaimed (by a May 3, 1788 decree) the right of the Estates General (nobles, clergy, bourgeoisie on behalf of commoners) to grant financial subsidies freely. The king responded by rescinding the right of appeal from the Parlement. Opposition quickly organized nationwide and uprisings broke out. In Dauphiné in July 1788, deputies of all three orders encouraged every province to stop paying taxes until the Estates General could convene.

What happened next formed the foundation of representative government for two centuries, and dissolved the concentrated power that existed in a single man in every nation that has adopted a truly representative democracy since then. The Estates General was to be convened on May 1, 1789. Public opinion expected from the meeting a change in government. The "nationaux" or "patriotes," leading the movement sought to have the Estates General become a national assembly. Historically, a united First and Second Estate could outvote the Third Estate (commoners), despite the fact that the Third Estate represented 97% of France's population. Thus, although the Third Estate gave its assent to a convening of the Estates General, it saw this as an opportunity to gain more power as well. Despite the opposition of Parlement in defense of privilege over freedom, Necker (since reinstated by Louis XVI) persuaded his king to accept a doubling of the size of the Third Estate.

By June, the Third Estate, realizing it was in a disadvantageous position, proposed a meeting of all delegates (including the First and Second Estates) to establish a constitution. Louis XVI, upon hearing about the meeting, declared the assembly's decisions null and void and ordered the Estates to meet in three distinct chambers. The First and Second Estates followed the king's instruction while the Third Estate resisted and stayed in the meeting. The Third Estate challenged the monarchy to use force to break up the meeting, however Louis XVI decided against doing so, and gave in. Days later, he redacted his orders and instructed all the delegates to join the Third Estate. On July 9, the assembly took the name of the Constituent Assembly, and absolute rule in France was abolished.

Starting on July 14th with a citizens' invasion of the Bastille, a state run prison, up through October, tension among the populace was very high. Because of the pressure applied by outraged French citizens, the king agreed to a new flag (with red, white and blue stripes), and assembly deputies (via the newly named National Assembly) voted equal rights for all, free employment for all, equal justice, abolition of the privileges of the guilds, the provinces, the towns, and of individuals, and the abolition of feudal dues and services, such as the corvée and other remnants of feudalism. The deputies also voted in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen as well as a number of other constitutional articles.

On the night of June 20, 1791, dressing as a valet, Louis XVI was determined to flee France, meeting a French army at the border, and intending on using military force to intimidate the revolutionaries. The king was identified during his trip and arrested, thus completely destroying the people's confidence in their monarch. Moderate deputies brought Louis XVI back to power as a constitutional monarch months later, whereby he swore to accept and uphold the constitution. The Constituent Assembly stepped down and was replaced by the Legislative Assembly as of September 30, 1791.

As a result of the constitution of 1791, discussed above, administrative power became decentralized, tax laws became more egalitarian, the organization of the Catholic Church was modified, and political rights were now accorded to non-Catholics, Protestant and Jewish. Within the family, the right under which only the eldest son inherited from his parents was abolished and public instruction available to all citizens would be established.

The revolutionary period did not go unnoticed in Europe - monarchs all over understood this revolution to be a threat to their power as well. In April 1792, the Legislative Assembly voted for war against the king of Hungary and Bohemia, Francis II. By July, France had learned it was to be invaded by the Prussian army, which, by manifesto in August, declared itself in favor of Louis XVI and against the Legislative Assembly.

Later that month, after a bloody civil uprising, Louis XVI was suspended and imprisoned by vote of the assembly. The power structure was then changed to a larger body (Convention), subordinate to the power confided to an Executive Council. Although there was tension between the right-leaning Girondons and left-leaning Montagnards within the Convention, the body voted to sentence Louis XVI to death, and he was executed in January 1793.

From 1793 through 1794 there was serious tension and distrust among opposing members of the Convention. As much as France was suffering from within, it also had to deal problems from without. Royalists in the towns and cities surrounding France gave aid to invading coalition armies, surrendering the port and fleet at Toulon to the English. Among the Convention's differing ideologies, a powerful government was formed and given dictatorial abilities which empowered various committees to investigate and adjudicate citizens and hold nearly absolute civil and military power. Mass beheadings and drownings were carried out against anyone in violation of the Law of Suspects (enemies of liberty).

By 1795, after numerous intra-Conventional struggles had metastasized and those that fomented them were arrested and executed, the moderates began to return to power. However, there was still a royalist element that, in October 1795, sought to attack the Convention. This uprising was defeated by a 26 year old Corsican general, Napoleon Bonaparte.

When the Directory (as it was called) government had taken power in 1795, France was again embroiled in foreign conflict, however had still been unable to fully resolve the economic conflict. The separation of wealth, and mishandling of finances of this government produced forceful opposition. In the elections of 1797 the royalists came to power in direct opposition against the Director government; because there was no constitutional provision for how power should be administered in this relationship, the Directors, with the assistance of a Bonaparte lieutenant, used a coup d'etat to get back into power.

Within the Directory government a group wanted to revise the constitution, but to achieve this, a coup d'état was again needed to place a popular leader in power. This would be General Napoléon Bonaparte, who recently returned from Egypt as a conquering hero. The coup was successful when, with military assistance, Directory deputies were chased from a meeting place at Saint-Cloud in November 1799. Napoleon appointed himself "First Consul For Life", and the new constitution mentioned nothing of "liberty, equality, and fraternity".

By the early 1800s, under the rule of Bonaparte, French territory on the European continent was expanded by Napoleonic defeats in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria. The French raised money by selling its major land holding in America for 3 cents an acre. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States in 1803. Napoleon became emperor of the French Empire as proclaimed on May 28, 1804. On May 26, 1805, in Milan Cathedral, he was crowned king of Italy.

Napoleon was unable to extend the French Empire beyond the English Channel, however he was able to move into Vienna and then defeat the Austrian and Russian armies in the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. Napoleon's grand plan, in allying with the Russians and conquering the Portuguese and the Spanish, was to surround the British, effectively isolating it from contact with supplies and resources, and hoping it would destroy itself from within. The British however, backed the Spanish and the Portuguese, and, in the meantime, there was no commitment made to Napoleon by the Russians. In order to threaten Alexander I of Russia, Napoleon moved part of his army into Poland in 1812. Napoleon was intent on defeating Alexander's army and moved towards Russia with 650,000 men. As the Russians retreated, the French were drawn into Russia, and by mid-September Napoleon entered Moscow; because they were harrassed by Russian soldiers and Cossacks during their withdrawal, by the time the French army left Russia, there were about 10,000 men remaining.

The world was literally closing in on Napoleon. His army was seriously demoralized by the losses suffered in Russia, Austria soundly defeated France at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, and when Napoleon returned to France, he returned to a nation in economic, social and political turmoil. Because he was also facing pressure from the Spanish army who declared their war to be solely against Napoleon himself, he was forced to accept the Treaty of Fountainbleau and withdraw to the island of Elba with 400 men, recusing all his authority. Louis XVIII, brother of Louis XVI then became King of France.

Just a few years later, Napoleon returned to France, and Louis XVIII, eager to avoid a civil war, allowed Napoleon to return to his former seat of power. From there, he formed an army that defeated the Prussians in the Netherlands and also drove back the British. Napoleon and his soldiers continued to pester the British, leading them to a small Belgian town about 12 miles to the southeast of Brussels, called Waterloo. On Sunday June 18 1815 the French Empire was defeated by a coalition force made up primarily of Prussian and British soldiers, finally ending the First French Empire. This battle ended Napoleon's rule as emperor and his return from exile. He was exiled to the South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he stayed until he died in 1821.

In 1830, a civil uprising established the constitutional July Monarchy, which lasted until 1848. The new regime, under King Louis-Philippe was truly parliamentary, with the commercial bourgeoisie replacing the nobility as the determinate class. The economic crisis of 1846–47 led to a political one, ushering in the Revolution of 1848 that provoked the fall of Louis-Philippe and the creation of a Second Republic by the provisional government. At this time, France also expanded into Algeria, sub-Saharan Africa, the Far East and the Pacific. The Second Republic ended in 1852 when Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte proclaimed the Second Empire. Louis-Napoléon was removed from power just after his defeat in the Franco-Prussian war (1871) bringing forth a new regime, known as the Third Republic.

During the first few years of the Third Republic, there were two candidates vying for the throne, Henri, comte de Chambord, head of the elder branch of the royal family, and Louis-Philippe, comte de Paris, head of the family's younger branch. Although a compromise was reached allowing Henri to take the throne with Louis-Philippe as his heir, Henri refused to acknowledge the red, white and blue flag of the French Revolution. In 1875 parliamentary acts finally laid the way for the Third Republic. The rule by monarchy versus rule by republic debate continued, however by 1877 it became clear the people desired a republic.

In 1905 the Third Republic introduced laws meant to separate church and state, prohibiting religious control of education. Economic development led to railroads and increased ease of travel, while improvements in education increased literacy. The Third Republic's most significant contribution to the well-being of France and the rest of the world was in its efforts to defeat an invading German army during WWI.

When Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia on June 28, 1914, the Austrians had all the incentive they needed to declare war on Bosnia a month later. Within weeks, the Germans supported the Austrians (each making up the "Central Powers") while the Russians, Belgians, British and French supported Bosnia (each making up the "Allies"). The German strategy was to avoid a war on two fronts, as it faces Russia to the east and France to the west. Their desire was to hold Russia back while simultaneously encircling Paris. In actuality, the western front of the war was 40 miles from Paris, stretching from the English Channel to the Swiss border. In the years that followed, losses sustained by both sides were considerable as territories and positions were gained and lost. By 1918, British and French resources were combined under French General Ferdinand Foch. Foch's strategy in battles in July and August, combined with US reinforcements, forced the Germans into a disadvantageous position of having to defend its own land against invasion. German General Erich Ludendorff managed to prevent the Allies from gaining much territory in Germany. On November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed by both sides, ending the war.

In the interwar period, conflicts abroad as well as a devastated and traumatized post-war environment caused a great deal of political turbulence. At first, in 1919, there was a nationalist zeal imbued in France as a result of the war, leading to conservative success in the 1919 elections. However, by the mid 1920s, aggressive foreign policy was pursued to such an extent seeking reparations from the Germans that a center-left party was put into power, the "Cartel des gauches". Although the October 1929 stock market crash perpetuated a worldwide depression, France still had a prosperous year in 1930. By 1932 the electorate gave the Left its greatest success since before the war as a result of the crisis. Internationally, in July 1932, Germany's inability to pay reparations and its right to rearm were both formally acknowledged.

In 1936, France had a socialist prime minister for the first time in Léon Blum. He ruled until he resigned in 1938, however he was able to pass legislation reducing the workweek to 40 hours, introducing paid vacations, and including women in the cabinet. In the years leading up to WWII, the French relied on the British for foreign policy support, especially with respect to the appeasment of Franco in Spain in 1936, and with respect to Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938. By late 1939, Britain and France had declared war on Germany.

Within a year, Germany was advancing on Belgium and Paris. On June 16, 1940, Premier Paul Reynaud was forced to resign handing power over France to Marshal Philippe Pétain. The next day, Pétain announced his intention to seek an armistice dividing France into four zones with the two most important being the Free Zone, with Vichy as its capital and the Occupied Zone, encompassing Paris and northern lands. While Pétain was installing headquarters at Vichy, it was WWI prisoner of war and former aide to Petain, General Charles de Gaulle that appealed to the French people from London to continue the struggle. Because the National Assembly gave full power to Petain, this ended the Third Republic and transferred political power to a severely autocratic regime, the État français with its slogan "Travail (labor), Famille (family), Patrie (country)".

As the war progressed, numerous French Jews were deported by the Germans, 650,000 French workers were sent to Germany to serve the German war effort and civil war nearly broke out between the French Resistance and the Milice, the Nazi-led Vichy police, even after the Normandy invasion (June 6, 1944). By August 1944, Paris had successfully risen against the occupying German army, while American troops moved up the Rhone valley. The Vichy power structure gave way to De Gaulle's French Committee of National Liberation, which was recognized by Allied powers as the provisional government of France.

After the liberation of Paris, De Gaulle was able to govern France with few restrictions for over a year. In a subsequent referendum, voters rejected a return to the Third Republic, while competing ideologies pressed to increase the power of different bodies of government. The Communist party favored a single-body legislature with nearly unilateral power, while the Mouvement républicain populaire (MRP) sought to increase the power of the executive branch. De Gaulle resigned from politics in 1946 because the Socialist party supported the Communists, and they proceeded to draft a constitution outlining what would become the Fourth Republic. This new constitution guaranteed gender equality, a right to work, and the right to education, health care, and social benefits.

As a result of the shifting relationship between France and Communist Russia, the left-wing of the French Parliament faced diminishing power while a party representing the center, known as the Third Force, gained the majority. It was this political party that was in power as France ushered in a new era of democratic reconstruction of the nation's economy, involving state intervention and assistance. The Third Force was unable to maintain its power, giving way to a right-of-center group made up of radicals and Republicans, and supported by the RPF. Although the RPF was originally a Gaullist movement, De Gaulle stepped down from politics in protest of their support of the right-of-center government.

As the 1950s progressed, France faced threats to its colonial holdings (with France, all comprising the "French Union"). There was tension in Tunisia, Morocco, Laos, and Vietnam where uprisings and military conflicts diminished France's influence as a colonial power. It was conflict in Algeria in the mid-1950s that nearly brought the French government to its knees. As a result of rebellious activities and terrorism, 400,000 French troops were sent to Algeria by French premier Guy Mollet in 1956, however this did not halt the rebellion. By 1958, as France was about to appoint a new premier, there were uprisings in Algiers in response to his foreign policy. In reality, the protests can also be attributed to right-wing groups representing the "colons" (French settlers in Algeria) because they were afraid they would get no support from Paris in attempting to maintain the stability of Algeria, under French rule. Because of the intractable conflict, neither the Algerians, the conspirators, or the French government were able to reach an agreement. It was soon concluded by politicians that de Gaulle was the only person who could save the republic in its current form. On June 1, 1958 the National Assembly approved him as premier, granting nearly limitless powers for six months; powers which De Gaulle used to create the Fifth Republic.

The Fifth Republic placed more authority in the executive than either the Third or Fourth Republics. The premier was named by the president, although he could be overthrown by a formal vote of censure in the National Assembly. The president had the ability to dissolve the assembly, call for new elections, and assume emergency powers in times of crisis, making the Élysée (official residence of the President of the French Republic, where his office is located) the center of power.

By the middle of the 1960s, Algeria had been granted full independence by the French government, France continued to maintain an antagonistic posture against Britain, and partly due to the nation's involvement in the European Economic Community, continued to prosper. De Gaulle, who was coming to the end of his presidential term, wanted a stronger position within NATO. Although he supported the alliance, he insisted on keeping part of the French Mediterranean Fleet out of NATO hands, and wanted NATO headquarters off of French soil. At this time, France started to develop a more extensive nuclear arsenal, exploding a test bomb for the first time in 1960, in the Sahara; De Gaulle continued with nuclear tests, and was unwilling to sign the international atomic Test Ban Treaty of 1963.

Ignoring much of the salient ideological differences between it and the communists, France sought closer relations with the USSR and Eastern Europe. France also sought to strengthen ties between it and West Germany, recognized China, and protested against US involvement in Vietnam.

In the latter half of the 1960s, there was constant turnover at the head of the government, premier Georges Pompidou (who had presided over France earlier this decade) gave way to De Gaulle, and in 1968, there were massive student and worker uprisings. Although De Gaulle initially sought reform to meet the demands of the protesters, he subsequently gained military support and retracted his promised reforms. This was met with widespread support by the right-wing and conservative groups. In April 1969, de Gaulle proposed a plan to restructure the government and decentralize the general administration; he was asking for a vote of confidence in the plan and in himself, stating that he would resign if a majority did not approve of his proposals. As a result, when less than 50% of voters approved of his plan, he resigned on April 27.

By the mid 1970s, after the election of Pompidou as president, France had begun negotiations in support of Britain's entrance into the ECM (European Common Market), and the National Assembly elections in 1973 brought to power a union of Socialists, Communists, and a faction of the Radical Party of the Left. The government's strength in the assembly was reduced, to the benefit of the Union of the Left.

The presidential election of May 10, 1981 brought Francois Mitterrand, previously a coalition leader in the National Assembly, into power. At the time, inflation and unemployment were skyrocketing. Mitterand sought to nationalize industries and the banking system, decentralize the government, and increase public expenditure. Mitterrand, with a Socialist majority in the National Assembly, raised the minimum wage and increased benefits, further economic nationalization, and abolish capital sentencing. With right-wing control of the assembly, he was forced to appoint Jacques Chirac as prime minister in the first example of "cohabitation." Mitterrand also sought to push the French integration into Europe. The Maastricht Treaty (February 1992) on the European Union increased the EU parliament's powers and sought common international and military policies as well as a common currency. It was approved in France by referendum in September of that year.

Jacques Chirac became French president in 1995. He had been a lifelong member of the conservative Gaullists since he first became part of Georges Pompidou's government in the 1960s. Although he sought domestic reforms which decreased his popularity, Chirac's involvement in international affairs has contributed to France's international appeal. He has worked to integrate France more closely into the EU, and to strengthen ties between France and Germany. Chirac also sought increased participation by France in NATO, and has created a pathway for Russia to join the alliance as a "special member". Certainly, his re-election in 2002 dovetailed with the wave of conservatism that swept across Europe, however Chirac refused to support military intervention by the US in the Middle East in 2003. Subsequent to this, Chirac has strengthened French ties with WWII adversaries, Algeria, and even the United States. In the waning years of his administration, his popularity was severely diminished as evidenced by France's refusal to ratify the EU constitution, and protests against a proposed employment law (which was subsequently struck) in 2006.

In May 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy of the conserative UMP party defeated the socialist candidate Segolene Royal in the French presidential election. More recently, Sarkozy's influence both at home and abroad has been tempered by the severity of the global economic downturn. He has taken a protectionist stance towards foreign investment in the auto parts industry in France, and fomented international tensions by aligning himself with his conservative German counterpart, Angela Merkel, against Britain and France at the recent G-20 meeting in London. Sarkozy is also seeking to improve the unemployment situation through support for business and industry, however the trade unions seek more direct support for incomes and employment by their government. Sarkozy was successful in returning France to full NATO membership, hopefully strengthening its influence over any proposed European defense initiative, and is building stronger ties between certain Middle Eastern and North African nations.

After looking over the copious amount of data I have provided here, it is easy to conclude that I have an enhanced understanding of France and the French people. My belief, however, is that after reviewing all that I have put forth here, I am only beginning to scratch the surface of my understanding of France's ever shifting role in the 21st century world we all wish to create.

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By Matthew Storey

Us, and them.

And after all we're only ordinary men.

Pink Floyd

Barack Obama, has been traveling all around the Globe, speaking to people from such disparate realities as Prague...Mexico City...Baghdad...Indianapolis...and he has told them, repeatedly, America is not the only country - we are just ONE country and this is a good thing for America, as well as all other countries.

He spoke in Europe of the end of the Second World War and how FDR and Churchill sat together in a room and divided up the world, then moved on to Stalin to negotiate terms. Obama expressed gratitude for such a reality being an impossibility in the Modern World.

And the critics POUNCED! Conservative columnist, Charles Krauthammer, a Pulitzer Prize Winner, screeched;

After all, it was Obama, not some envious anti-American leader, who noted with satisfaction that a new financial order is being created today by 20 countries, rather than by "just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy.