Vlaamse aanwezigheid in Schotland

[b]Vlaamse aanwezigheid in Schotland
[/b]
http://vosnet.org/index.php/vlaamse-invloed-in-schotland-is-eeuwenoud/
https://www.ikhebeenvraag.be/vraag/25536/Klopt-het-dat-vele-Schotse-clans-Vlaams-bloed-hebben
http://flemishamerican.blogspot.nl/2010/09/robert-bruce-and-his-flemish.html

Het begon met Willem de Veroveraar, wiens Vlaamse achternicht Maud met David Canmore huwde, die vanaf 1124 als David I de scepter zwaaide over de Schotse Low- en Highlands. In Mauds kielzog trokken vele Vlaamse edelen noordwaarts. Sommigen waren afstammelingen van de strijders die bij de slag van Hastings in 1066 onder Graaf Eustachius II van Boulogne de rechterflank vormden van het Normandische leger. Op hun beurt werden zij de stamvaders van belangrijke Schotse adellijke geslachten als de Flemings, Oliphants, Bruces en Camerons.

De sporen van de Vlaamse aanwezigheid in Schotland tijdens de Middeleeuwen zijn talrijk:
•de burchten op kunstmatige heuvels (een bouwstijl afgestemd op de vlakten van de Lage Landen, maar een beetje vreemd en overbodig in het glooiende Schotse landschap),
•de namen van steden en dorpen (Schotland telt verschillende Flemingtons),
•de taalkundige overblijfselen: het affix ‘-(t)je’ voor diminutieven, woorden als ‘to kittle’ (kittelen), ‘mutch’ (muts) en ‘steek’ (steek),
•de architectuur van kerken en kloosters (in Perth hangt een klok uit 1506, gemaakt door een Mechelaar);
•ook ‘rechtstaande’ windmolens, hoewel een symbool van Nederland, zouden in de 11de eeuw ofwel in Schotland, ofwel in Vlaanderen zijn ontstaan.

Old Rauma

Old Rauma (Finnish: Vanha Rauma, Swedish: Gamla Raumo) is the wooden city centre of the town of Rauma, Finland. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The area of Old Rauma is about 0.3 km², with approximately six hundred buildings (counting both proper houses and smaller buildings like sheds) and about 800 people living in the area. The town of Rauma expanded outside the Old Rauma proper only in the early 19th century. The oldest buildings date from the 18th century, as two fires of 1640 and 1682 destroyed the town. Most buildings are currently inhabited and owned by private individuals, although along the two main streets and around the town square they are mainly out side in business use.

Locations of special interest include the Kirsti house, which is a seaman’s house from the 18th and 19th centuries, and the Marela house, which is a shipowner’s house dating to the 18th century but with a 19th-century facade, both of which are currently museums. Other sights include the rare stone buildings of the Old Rauma: the Church of the Holy Cross, an old Franciscan monastery church from the 15th century with medieval paintings and the Old Town Hall from 1776. Another church in Rauma, the Church of the Holy Trinity, also from the 15th century, burned in the fire of 1640.

http://www.oldrauma.fi/

Antanas Smetona

Antanas Smetona ( 10 August 1874 – 9 January 1944) was one of the most important Lithuanian political figures between World War I and World War II. He served as the first President of Lithuania from 4 April 1919 to 19 June 1920. He again served as the last President of the country from 19 December 1926 to 15 June 1940, before its occupation by the Soviet Union. He was also one of the famous ideologists of nationalism in Lithuania.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=smetona&GSfn=antanas&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=9792829&
https://www.lrp.lt/lt/institution/istorija/1

De waterreus

De waterreus is een manspersoon of geest die vroeger voor Scheveningen in de zee leefde. Hij was vervloekt en gedoemd voor altijd in de golven te leven. Alleen een meisje dat ’s nachts met haar wijsvinger een kruis op zijn voorhoofd zou maken, kon hem redden. Een straatarme weduwe had een beeldschone dochter, die om niet te verhongeren, elke dag uit vissen werd gestuurd. Het meisje moest in het begin niets hebben van de enge geest, maar na verloop van tijd werden ze toch op elkaar verliefd. Toen de hoeveelheid vis die de waterreus steeds in haar netten dreef, de jaloezie van de andere dorpsgenoten opwekte, vertelde ze dat ze een bondgenoot in de zee had. Toen de ongelovige dorpsgenoten het zelf uiteindelijk hadden gezien, kwam hij aan land waarna ze trouwden en hun talrijk nageslacht heet sindsdien waterreus.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070312203012/http://home.wanadoo.nl/jjw/legende.htm

http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_gid001186501_01/_gid001186501_01_0053.php

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterreus

Het moerasvrouwtje

Het moerasvrouwtje is een mythisch wezen, ze komt voor in volksverhalen en sprookjes. Het moerasvrouwtje brouwt de dampen en nevels boven het moeras. Ze heerst over de onderwereld. Ze is een soort heks of tovenares en de tante van de elfen. Ze lokt mensen naar haar moeras.

Het moerasvrouwtje komt voor in:

Het meisje dat op het brood ging staan, De dwaallichtjes zijn in de stad en Elfenheuvel van Hans Christian Andersen

Faith en het verhaal van de moerasvrouw, Charles Johnson

Mosekonens Bryg (De moerasmensen), I.S. Olsen

Das Geheimnis der Moorfrau, Kathrin Sander

De moerasvrouw, Rien Broere

Het moerasvrouwtje heeft overeenkomsten met Vrouw Holle die heerst over de alven en kabouters (als zij haar kussen uitklopt, gaat het sneeuwen op aarde),

The Battles of the Kinarot Valley

The Battles of the Kinarot Valley, is a collective name for a series of military engagements between the Haganah and the Syrian army during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, fought between May 15–22, 1948 in the Kinarot Valley. It includes two main sites: the Battle of Degania–Samakh (Tzemah), and battles near Masada–Sha’ar HaGolan. The engagements were part of the battles of the Jordan Valley, which also saw fighting against Transjordan in the area of Gesher.
The battles began shortly after the Israeli declaration of independence, when Syria shelled Ein Gev on the night of May 15–16. They were the first military engagement between Israel and Syria. On May 18, Syria attacked the Israeli forward position in Samakh (Tzemah), and on May 20 attacked Degania Alef and occupied Masada and Sha’ar HaGolan. The attack on Degania Alef was a failure, after which the Syrian forces attempted to capture Degania Bet. After reaching a stalemate, they retreated to their initial position in Tel al-Qasr, where they remained until the end of the war.

The campaign was perceived as a decisive Israeli victory, causing reorganizations in the Syrian high command and the birth of heroic tales in Israel. However, Syria made a small territorial gain and certain actions were criticized within Israel, such as the retreat from Masada and Sha’ar HaGolan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_the_Kinarot_Valley

What is Biafra and Why are Some Nigerians Calling for Independence?

What is Biafra and Why are Some Nigerians Calling for Independence?
More than 45 years ago, Nigeria was nearly divided by a bloody civil war that led to the deaths of over a million people.

http://europe.newsweek.com/what-biafra-and-why-are-some-nigerians-calling-independence-401164?rm=eu

Operation Uvda

Operation Uvda was an operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, from March 5 to March 10, 1949. It was the last campaign undertaken by the IDF during the war and its objective was to capture the southern Negev desert, which was claimed by the Kingdom of Jordan to be under Jordanian control in the armistice talks of 1949.

The southern Negev was designated to be part of the Jewish State in the 1947 UN Partition Plan. The name uvda (עובדה) is Hebrew for “fact”, referring to the operation’s objective to establish de facto Israeli sovereignty over the territory in question, rather than actually conquer it. As such, the Israeli forces did not meet significant resistance on their way. The region claimed during this operations is now referred to as Uvda.

The Negev, Golani and Alexandroni brigades participated in the operation, as well as a number of smaller units.

Read more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Uvda

The Republic of Tarnobrzeg

The Republic of Tarnobrzeg  was a short-lived entity, proclaimed November 6, 1918 in the Polish town of Tarnobrzeg. Its main founders were two socialist activists – Tomasz Dabal and Father Eugeniusz Okon, a Roman Catholic priest.

The idea of the Republic had its roots in mass demonstrations of peasants, which were taking place almost on daily basis in the fall of 1918. Tarnobrzeg had been part of the Austrian Empire (province of Galicia) and dissolution of this entity created a political unrest. On November 6, after a demonstration with some 30,000 people, local peasants decided to take advantage of it and seize power.

As news of the Russian Revolution came to Tarnobrzeg, the people decided to follow Communist ideas. They demanded liquidation of capitalist government and introduction of a land reform, which would result in taking away land from rich owners and giving it to the poor peasantry. Also, directed by Okon and Dabal, the peasants started to organize local administration as well as a peasants’ militia.

A demonstration in Tarnobrzeg in early years of the 20th century, probably in 1918
The Republic of Tarnobrzeg was suppressed by units of the freshly created Polish Army at the beginning of 1919. Father Okon was arrested but soon released, when the locals elected him to the Polish Parliament.

http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/57826,,,,republika_tarnobrzeska,haslo.html
http://www.galeria.tarnobrzeg.info/displayimage.php?album=1&pos=31

– Henryk Zieliński, Historia Polski. 1914-1939, Wrocław 1985, ISBN 83-04-00712-6.
– Ziemowit Szczerek: Polskie państwa, o których nie słyszeliście (pol.). Ahistoria.pl, 2011-07-19. [dostęp 2013-02-24].

The Soviet war in Afghanistan

The Soviet war in Afghanistan lasted nine years from December 1979 to February 1989. Part of the Cold War, it was fought between Soviet-led Afghan forces against multi-national insurgent groups called the Mujahideen, mostly composed of two alliances – the Peshawar Seven and the Tehran Eight. The Peshawar Seven insurgents received military training in neighboring Pakistan and China, as well as weapons and billions of dollars from the United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and other countries.

Mujahideen fighters in Kunar Province of Afghanistan in 1987
The Shia groups of the Tehran Eight alliance received support from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Early in the rule of the PDPA government, the Maoist Afghanistan Liberation Organization also played a significant role in opposition, but its major force was defeated by late 1979, prior to the Soviet intervention.

The decade-long war resulted in millions of Afghans fleeing their country, mostly to Pakistan and Iran. Hundreds of thousands of Afghan civilians were killed in addition to the rebels in the war.

The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on December 24, 1979, under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989, under the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. Due to the interminable nature of the war, the conflict in Afghanistan has sometimes been referred to as the “Soviet Union’s Vietnam War” or the “Bear Trap”.

Soviet forces after capturing some Mujahideen.

Soviet ground forces in action

The Soviet invasion

Soviet Paratroopers in Kabul

Soviet Spetsnaz (special operations) group prepares for a mission in Afghanistan, 1988.

Soviet T-62M main battle tank withdraws from Afghanistan

Soviet troops withdrawing from Afghanistan in 1988