The Czech Republic

Capital City: Prague

Population: approx 10,500,000 (approx. 200,000 Romani)

Currency: Czech Koruna (CZK) (will possibly adopt the Euro in 2013)
1 EURO = 27 CZK

Languages: Czech (Czech has few vowels, and many consonants).

Religion: The Czech Republic has one of the least religious populations of Europe; 59% are either atheist, agnostic, or a non-organized believer; 26% Roman Catholic; There used to be 118,000 Jews, but they were virtually annihilated during WWII; in 2005, there were only a reported 4000 Jews in Czech Republic

Borders: Czech is a landlocked country: Poland to the Northeast, Germany to the West, Austria to the South and Slovakia to the East

-The Czech Republic is divided into 13 regions; composed of the ancient lands of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia

Rivers: Elbe, Vltava, Morava

Part of EU?: Yes, since 2004, along with Slovenia, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, and several other Eastern Bloc countries that had recently emerged from Communism. This was the single largest enlargement of the EU, and was met with a lot of criticism from other member countries that feared letting in so many poorer countries would result in cheap labour, massive immigration and bring down the general EU economy.

This was also the event that gave rise to stereotypes like “the Polish Plumber” (which originated from a French politician saying he wanted to hire a Polish plumber because he couldn’t find good handyman in France, stemming from the idea that Polish people provide cheap labour. The Poland tourism board turned the negative stereotype around and designed posters with gorgeous male plumbers, and subsequently female nurses, beckoning French people to come to Poland).

QUICK HISTORY

From around the 5th century, Slavs, Germanic, Eastern European people migrated into the lands of Bohemia and Moravia. The Bohemian or Czech State emerged in the late 9th century, and was a fairly powerful player as part of the Holy Roman Empire.

The first hero of Czech Nationalism was Good King Wenceslas, the Patron saint of Bohemia. Prince Wenceslas was executed on the orders of his younger brother, Boleslav, who took over the Bohemian throne. A popular cult arose proclaiming Prince Wenceslas as the perpetual spiritual ruler of all Czechs. The horse market, Prague's traditional meeting place, was the scene of a brief thrust of Czech nationalism against the Austrian Empire in 1848, when people named the place Wenceslas Square (Václavské nám.). The statue at the top of the square was erected in 1912.

The 14th century, particularly the reign of Charles IV, is considered the golden age of Czech history. He was King of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperor, and during his reign he made Prague one of Europe’s most advanced cities. He inspired several sites around the country, including Charles University and Charles Bridge in Prague, and the spa town of Karlovy Vary, before the Black Death decimated the population of Bohemia.

After the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, the Czech lands increasingly came under the control of the Habsburgs, who expelled the Protestant Czechs and banned all religions other than Catholicism.

The Hussite movement, founded by Jan Hus (1369–1415), linked the Slavs to the Reformation one hundred years before the Reformation actually happened.

Jan Hus was a University lecturer (and now a Czech nationalist symbol). He didn’t like what he saw as misuse of power by Rome and the German clergy in Prague, and questioned the authority of the Pope (he was ahead of his time, and Renaissance scholarship really took off after his death). In 1414, he was summoned to explain his views before an Ecclesiastic Council in Germany, and promised safe conduct by the Holy Roman Emperor. but was arrested on arrival and burned at the stake as a heretic on July 6 (now a Czech national holiday). Because of what happened to Hus, Martin Luther was quite concerned about meeting the Emperor at the Diet of Worms.

The Pope and Emperor launched a crusade to crush the Hussites in Bohemia, but the Protestant Hussites, with Hus as their martyr, fought back. On July 30, 1419, they stormed the New Town Hall on Charles Square and demanded the release of other arrested pro-reform Hussites. After town councilors rejected the demand, the Hussites tossed them out of third-story windows, killing several. This became known as the First Defenestration, from the Latin for "out of the window." The incident sparked a 15-year battle known as the Hussite Wars, which ended in the defeat of the radical Protestants in 1434.

In 1618, Ferdinand II, a Hapsburg who was a dedicated Catholic and vowed to stamp out Protestantism, particularly in Bohemia, became Holy Roman Emperor. Before he took power, Rudolf II had been King, and had granted Bohemian Protestants religious freedom (in the Letter of Majesty). Czech Protestants at the time were building a few new churches in Prague, but the government tried to stop them. When the Catholic leaders metaphorically threw the Letter of Majesty out the window, the Czechs rebelled, stormed Prague Castle, and literally threw a couple of Catholic Deputies out the window (Second Defenestration).

Thus began the Thirty Years' War, which engulfed the entire continent. It was the Catholic Habsburgs vs. the Protestants of other countries. The Thirty Years War was one of Europe's most violent, and the Czechs were defeated in the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620 (although war continued to rage until 1648, when it ended with the Treaty of Westphalia). Twenty-seven Czech leaders were beheaded in the Old Town Square in Prague, and hundreds of Czech nobles fled the country

The Czechs were ruled for the next 300 years as part of the Austrian empire. This period, until the late 18th century, is known as the Dark Age.

Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in WWI, the independent nation of Czechoslovakia was created in 1918, incorporating Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Slovakia. During WWII, Hitler threatened to annex part of Slovakia, allowing the remaining parts to be partitioned by Hungary and Poland, so Slovakia seceded from Czechoslovakia in 1939 and allied itself with Nazi Germany. The remaining Czech territory was occupied by Germany, and almost 400,000 Czech citizens were killed in the holocaust, while hundreds of thousands of others were forced into camps (such as Terezin) or forced to evacuate. There was a Czech-Government-in-Exile, and the occupation finally ended in 1945 when the Soviets and Americans arrived.

In 1948, the Communist party (KSC), disillusioned with the West and looking favourably to the Soviets after they helped with the Czech liberation from German rule, staged a coup d’etat and took complete control,. For the next 41 years, Czechoslovakia was a Communist state within the Eastern Bloc.

COLD WAR

North America had formed a special alliance with Western Europe, called NATO, to guard against attack from the Soviet Union. So the Russians formed their own alliance with the Communist states of eastern Europe (including Czechoslovakia), called the Warsaw Pact. Each side started arming themselves with missiles.

By the 1960s, the economy was stagnating, there was media censorship, and calls for reform.

Alexander Dubcek, a Slovakian, was a leading figure in the reform movement. His vision was a softer, more liberal form of Communism, Socialism with a Human Face, where you could be a Communist but still speak your mind without fearing repercussions from the secret police. In the Prague Spring of 1968, Dubcek’s government drafted the Action Program, removed the Czech Prime Minister and Dubcek became leader.

The Soviets weren’t happy about the Prague Spring, and the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia on August 20, 1968, which really turned the population (and the government) against the Soviets, and got them behind Dubcek. In 1969, student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Wenceslas square to protest the Soviet invasion. The Soviets had to ease up on Dubcek a bit after all the resistance (which was not confined to the Czech Republic, but worldwide), so they allowed him to stay in power for a while. The reforms of the Prague Spring were not reversed overnight, but eventually.

Reformists were purged from government, censorship got stricter, atheism was imposed, conformity and obedience were encouraged and the top creative and intellectual minds were sent into exile or imprisoned. Dubcek was ousted. Underground writing and publishing emerged from dissidents (who, frankly, were only a small portion of the population in Czechoslovakia, as much of the population adhered to the recommended the status quo)

Finally, in 1989:

... Poland became a democracy for the first time since the 1930s (and the Solidarity Union won the first free elections, after being imprisoned by the Communists)

... the wall came down in Berlin

... Hungary dismantled its iron curtain and opened its doors to the west

... the people of Bucharest overran the secret police, capitured the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu and his wife, who were quickly tried and executed

... Yugoslavia broke apart in 1991

... and the Velvet Revolution occurred in Czechoslovakia.

It started with a student demonstration in Prague, which sparked a series of other protests, swelling from about 200,000 on the first day to a half million the next. Peacefully and quietly, the Communists announced that they would relinquish their control, and the first non-Communist party was appointed, with Dubcek the speaker of the parliament and Vaclav Havel, a playwright who had been imprisoned under the Communist regie, the first Prime Minister (he remained in power for 10 years, getting the Czech Republic into the EU and NATO).

Slovakian national aspirations continued, and the two countries quietly parted ways in 1993 (the Velvet Divorce). The Czech Republic has become the first former member of the Comecon (a response to the European Coal and Steel Community set up by communist/Eastern Bloc countries) to achieve the status of a developed country (2006), and it also ranks best, compared to the former Comecon countries, in the Human Development Index.


PUPPETS/MARIONETTES

Puppetry has been practised in the Czech Republic since the 18th century as part of a family-oriented traditional activity. It had a revival in the 20th century, when puppet theaters were established. Puppet theatre was shown indifference by the country's censors, so it was used for political dissent; in this way, some puppeteers became national, revolutionary heroes. 
 

BOHEMIA(N)

Formerly the Kingdom of Bohemia, before the region was incorporated into the Czech Republic along with the Kingdoms of Moravia and Silesia.
Romani gypsies entered France and Western Europe via Bohemia, so the French called their gypsies Bohemian. Eventually, wandering artists, those who lived untraditional lifestyles, artists and creators who congregated in low-class gypsy neighbourhoods (particularly in Paris), also took on the name Bohemian.
 
 
BOHEMIAN CRYSTAL

The Czechs started working with Bohemian crystal in the 1500s (under Rudolf II, who became patron to the glassmakers during the Renaissance).
 
 
CZECH FOOD

-Czech national dish: roast pork with dumplings and sauerkraut; strong emphasis on goulash, meat dishes (particularly pork); fish is rare

-Absinthe has a connection with Prague, but it did not originate in the Czech Republic. Artists in Prague simply brewed it, and enjoyed it.


CZECH BEER

Czech beer has a long history, with the first breweries dating back to 1118 and 100 still operating today.

The Czech Republic makes a good argument for being the home of beer as we know it. Pilsner, which today describes any light beer, originated in the Bohemian town of Plzen in the 19th century. Budweiser, North America’s number 1 beer, was brewing in the Czech town of Ceske Budejovice for 100 years before the Americans put it into a six-pack. And in case anyone doubted their claim as the Masters of Beer, the Czechs have topped the list of most beer drinkers per capita. So when in the Czech Republic, pick a side in the Budweiser debate and enjoy a few pints, because chances are everyone around you will be having one too.

BUDWEISER

The history of brewing in Cesky Budejovice dates back to 1265. In the late 19th century, the beer was brought by Germans to the US, and started being brewed by Anheuser-Busch. The Czech company, and the US company, fought for years over the usage of the name Budweiser. In 2009, courts ruled in favour of the Czech company, but the US firm still markets as Budweiser or Bud in some countries, the Czech company markets as Czechvar in North America, and they both use Budweiser in the UK. Either way, a pint’s a pint!


Famous Czech People:

-Sigmund Freud

-Czechs invented contact lenses, first separated blood types

-Franz Kafka, a German-Jewish Praguer who, for much of his adult life, worked in relative obscurity as a sad Prague insurance clerk (“kafkaesque” now means absurdity)

-Milan Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being), was born in Brno but has lived in exile in France since 1975 after he criticized the Czech government and his books were banned until the Velvet Revolution in 1989

-Milos Forman directed One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus

-Martina Navratilova, Jaromir Jagr, Dominik Hasek

-The Czech Republic is the homeland of many supermodels: Eva Herzigova, Paulina Porizkova, Petra Nemcova

-Ivana Trump, Madeleine Albright (former US Secretary of State)

 
QUIRKY FACTS

-Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the country found itself without a common single-world name. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested Czechia, but it never really caught on

-According to The Economist, the Czech Republic has earned "a reputation for promoting human rights at every turn". EU officials have been irritated by the Czech Republic's activism in human rights. Kosovo was one of the main EU issues in 2009 (with Czech as the Presidency of the Council)

-The Czech Republic has the most Wi-Fi subscribers in the European Union


Language Tips

Hello: dobry’den

Goodbye: na shledanou

Please: byt prijemny

Thank You: dikuji

Excuse Me/Sorry: prominte

Yes: Ano

No: Ne

Do you speak English?: Činit tebe mluvit Anglicky

Where is?: kde is?

How much?: Kolik?

One: jeden

Two: dva

Three: troyka

Four: ctyri

Five: pet

Water: voda

Beer: pivo

Wine: vino

Cheers!: Na Zdravi!

The Netherlands

God created the Earth, and the Dutch created The Netherlands...


Capital City: Amsterdam

Population: 16.5 million (very densely-populated country); 15 million live below sea level.

Currency: Euro

Languages: Dutch; also West Frisian, but only official and spoken in the northern province of Friesland.

Religion: The Netherlands is one of the most secular countries in Europe, with only 39% being religiously affiliated.

Part of EU?: Yes, it was one of the founding members in 1957.
 
Borders: Bordered by the North Sea to the North and West; Belgium to the South; Germany to the East

Rivers: The country is divided into two main parts by three major rivers: the Rhine, the Schelde and the Meuse.

Landscape: Generally low-lying, flat; mostly coastal lowland and reclaimed land (used to be islands, the Dutch stitched them all together, built a bunch of dams and windmills, controlled it and created a country out of it.

-The Netherlands is broken into 12 provinces; The country is commonly called Holland, which is incorrect because North and South Holland are merely two of its twelve provinces

FLOODING

Being a low-lying country, there have been many floods in the Netherlands. The last major flood took place in early February 1953, when a huge storm caused the collapse of several dikes, and more than 1,800 people drowned. The Dutch government subsequently decided on a large-scale programme of public works (the Delta Works) to protect the country against future flooding. The project took more than thirty years to complete, but greatly reduced the chances of flooding (chances are now 1 in 10,000).

Following the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005, the Americans looked to the Netherlands and inspected the Delta Works for tips on how to protect their low-lying areas.



THE HAGUE

The Hague is the seat of government in The Netherlands. It is known as the World’s Legal Capital because it is home to the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia), the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice

-The Economist ranks The Netherlands as the fourth most democratic country in the world; UNICEF ranks it first in child well-being

 
QUICK HISTORY

Until the 16th century, The Netherlands was known as the Low Countries, along with Belgium and Luxembourg. They were doing quite well, taking part in the Hanseatic League trade, the Renaissance was flourishing with artists like Reubens. Bruges and Ghent were two major cities in Europe. The regions had a lot of control over their own affairs (particularly in places such as Flanders and Holland), but their independence stated to be stripped away in the 1400s, with the rise of the Duchy of Burgundy.

Burgundy was a royal court that had carved out an empire between France, Germany and the Netherlands. It was known for magnificent trade (such as its sought-after Order of the Golden Fleece, a must-have for knights) and its support of the Renaissance (Jan Van Eyck was a patron of a Duke of Burgundy). The Dukes of Burgundy wanted to turn their Duchy into a kingdom, and nearly succeeded if it weren’t for the French coming in to stop them.

In 1415, the French went to war with the English, and the Dukes fought on the English side. In the end, the last great Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was murdered, and the French took back the French part of the Duchy while the Habsburgs kept the rest of it. Charles the Bold’s daughter, Mary, married the heir to the Holy Roman Emperor (Max), and from then on the Emperors (mainly Habsburgs) protected The Netherlands. They were quite happy there, too, with all of the Renaissance paintings and excellent trade systems.

Mary and Max had two children, Philip and Margaret, both of whom married into the royal house of Spain, which began the link between The Netherlands and Spain. Philip married Joanna (the daughter of the Spanish Inquisition’s Isabella), they gave birth to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

Charles V’s son, Philip II, ruled The Netherlands from Spain in the 1500s, during the time of the Reformation. Just like their social tolerance policy today, the people of The Netherlands were very tolerant back then too, especially when it came to religion, so they weren’t happy about Philip II taking after his great-grandmother and starting a new Inquisition against those who spoke against Catholicism.

In 1566, the Dutch Calvinists (who fully supported John Calvin’s theories and the Reformation), started smashing church statues and pictures (which they saw as idols that should not be worshipped - one of the major tenets of Protestantism) in the Iconoclastic Fury. Philip II wasn’t happy with this, and sent an army to crush these protesters.

In 1572, the Dutch Revolt occurred because the people resented being harshly put down by their absentee (and Catholic!) leader. They had been feeling resentful ever since Charles V first moved out of The Netherlands and into Spain, but the momentum of the Reformation and Philip II’s action inspired them to action.

During the Revolt, other countries jumped in on the side of the religion they supported, and it all ended in Philip II’s bankruptcy and Spain’s demise. The Dutch Revolt was part of the wider Thirty Years War.

The Netherlands officially declared independence from Spain in 1579, and in 1596, there was a split between the north and South (north being the Protestant Netherlands, and the south was the Catholic Spanish Netherlands, present-day Belgium).

During the 17th century, the Dutch had their Golden Age. They were a leading seafaring and commercial power, establishing colonies around the world. They took over the spice trade in the Far East from Portugal (it had been united with the Spanish crown during the wars, so it concentrated more on that than on business), and the Dutch East/West India trading companies were established (an unfortunate sidebar to this successful trading business was the slave trade that it depended on). William the Orange was their leader.

The Dutch were ahead of the times in many ways. Their leaders were Protestant, mostly business-oriented merchants in the trade industry (which helped The Netherlands, and Amsterdam in particular, to be on par with the French and English). Most Dutch people were urban (their townhouses were copied by the English many years later), and they lived in smaller family groups than was normal at the time (the trend that later became the nuclear family). They had the first stock exchange, and had the first capitalist government.

Because the English were their closest rival, there were several Anglo-Dutch wars. It was a burden for the small country to have to fight, and they were forced to give up some of their overseas territories (such as New Amsterdam, which became New York after the Dutch governor gave it up to the Duke of York).

But where the English weren’t successful in dominating the Dutch, the French Revolution was. Napoleon came in and named his own leaders (many of whom were French Catholics from Belgium), and the fiercely independent Dutch weren’t happy.

After a 20-year French occupation, upon hearing of Napoleon’s defeat, the Habsburgs at the Congress of Vienna formed the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, which once again included Belgium (they wanted a strong country). But there were divisions between the Belgians and the Dutch, and in 1830, Belgium rebelled and formed a separate kingdom.

The Netherlands remained neutral for most of the World Wars, but it was occupied by the Germans. 104,000 out of 112,000 Dutch Jews were killed (25,000 in one night in Rotterdam). Amsterdam lost most of its population, and many were reduced to eating tulip bulbs.

Princess Juliana of the Netherlands sought refuge in Ottawa with her two daughters (current Queen Beatrix was one of them) during the war. Juliana was pregnant, so when it came time to deliver her child, the Canadian parliament declared her suite at the Civic Hospital “extraterritorial”, to ensure the Dutch citizenship of her child. A day later, the Dutch flag was flown on the Peace Tower (the only time in history that a foreign flag has waved atop the Canadian Parliament Buildings). The Canadian Army was also responsible for liberating much of the Netherlands. Today, Canada and the Netherlands have a special bond (symbolized every May during the Tulip Festival).

After the war, the Netherlands decided to leave behind its staunch independence, and forged closer bonds with its neighbours in order to protect itself in future. It established Benelux with its former partners, Belgium and Luxembourg, in 1946, and in 1951, all three countries joined France, Italy and West Germany to form the European Coal and Steel Community (the precursor to the 1957 European Union).

Today, its trade industry is still flourishing (Rotterdam is the biggest port in Europe), and it is still known for its tolerance.

 
SOCIAL TOLERANCE


They were the first:

...to legalize cannabis (in 1976)

... to legalize prescriptions of medicinal marijuana

... to legalize euthanasia (in 2000)

... to legalize same-sex marriage (in 2001)

-The Netherlands is also very permissive of immigration; during the Spanish Inquisition, the Reformation, and World Wars, many other nationalities who were being persecuted fled to the Netherlands.


FLOWERS

The Dutch rank third worldwide in value of agricultural exports, behind the US and France, with exports earning $55 billion annually. A significant portion of these exports are derived from fresh-cut plants, flowers, and bulbs, with the Netherlands being the world’s largest exporter of flowers (two-thirds of the world's total).

(Incidentally, The Netherlands also exports a quarter of all world tomatoes, and one-third of the world's exports of peppers and cucumbers).

Keukenhof Park, in Lisse, is the largest flower garden in the world, with approximately 7 million bulbs planted annually. It was designed to showcase The Netherlands’ flowers.

Flower-growing in country began in the late 19th century. Conditions in The Netherlands are perfect for flower cultivation: low lands, very wet and fertile.

The Netherlands is known for its tulips, although they actually originated, and were named, in Persia (brought to Europe by the Ottomans in the mid 16th-century). They were seen as status symbols and their names were prefixed with titles such as “Admiral”

Tulipmania was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for bulbs of the recently introduced tulip reached extraordinarily high levels and then suddenly collapsed. At the peak of tulip mania in February 1637, tulip contracts sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. Goods exchanged for a single bulb: four fat oxen, eight fat swine, twelve fat sheep, two hogsheads of wine, four tuns of beer, two tons of butter, 1000 lb of cheese, a complete bed, a suit of clothes and a silver drinking cup.

The term "tulip mania" is now used metaphorically to refer to any large economic bubble (like the dotcom bubble).


WINDMILLS


There are 1180 windmills around the country. They helped to remove excess water from lowlands and helped with agriculture. They have been around since the 13th century, and in the 19th century, there were around 9000 windmills.


CLOGS

Clogs have been worn in The Netherlands for around 500 years. Wooden shoes help to keep the feet dry, so they were used by peasants who worked in fields. They inspired the modern CROC shoe, adapted from a plastic clog to be worn in spas.

DRUGS

While most countries believe that drugs should be outlawed, Dutch officials take the point of view that they cannot eliminate drug use entirely, so they might as well control them. The Netherlands has the second highest drug related public expenditure per capita of all countries in the EU (after Sweden).75% of their expenditure is law enforcement, and 25% is health/social care. There is an enforced distinction between “soft” and “hard” drugs; the Dutch believe that smoking pot is a victimless crime, but doing hard drugs is a different story. The Dutch are also very hard on importing/selling drugs, and the amount that a person can sell is regulated, with a zero tolerance policy for drug crimes (on par with Sweden).

The number of drug-related deaths in The Netherlands is among the lowest in Europe. Magic mushrooms and all hallucinogenic drugs were deemed illegal in 2008 (but can still be bought in smartshops, shops that sell drug-related paraphernalia).

COFFEE SHOPS

Introduced in the 1970s to separate hard and soft drug use. They are only allowed to sell cannabis, and not allowed to sell alcohol. They are not allowed to sell more than 5 grams at a time. Coffeeshops are also not allowed to advertise, so many of them will have reggae-inspired flags or paraphernalia outside the shop. There is an on-going contradiction, as a coffeeshop is allowed to sell cannabis, but not to buy it: "The front door is open, but the backdoor is illegal." In 2008, the Dutch government decided that coffeeshops would no longer be allowed within a radius of 250 m of schools.

DUTCH PEOPLE:

-The Dutch are among the tallest in the world, with an average height of about 6'1" for adult males and 5;6" for adult females

-A third of Dutch people smoke tobacco. Holland has a long tradition as a smoking culture, being among the first to import the tobacco plant from the New World. (Strangely enough, the Dutch are also among the healthiest people in the world).

-Dutch people leave their windows open all the time, they don’t mind people watching them. Incidentally, the TV show “Big Brother” originated in The Netherlands.


BIKES

Due to excellent cycling conditions (particularly the flat land, although it is also quite windy and wet!), plus decreasing parking spaces, limited access to cars in cities and strict fines for motorists in collisions, nearly a third of all journeys in the Netherlands are made by bicycle. The country's 16 million people own 16 million bikes, and Amsterdam is known as the most bike-friendly city in the world. The Dutch team brought bicycles to Vancouver for the Olympics to promote healthy living, but the Canadians had to put an import tax on them.


Food and Drink

-Cheese (Gouda and Edam)

-Fries and Mayo

-Heineken, Amstel and Grolsch beer

-Salted herrings are eaten as a snack


DUTCH ARTISTS

-Rembrandt

-Vincent Van Gogh


Famous Dutchies: Erasmus from Rotterdam; Descartes’ major work was done in The Netherlands; Anne Frank, Van Halen


QUIRKY FACTS:

-Rotterdam has the biggest port in Europe (used to be the World’s Busiest Port, until Shanghai took over)

-English rivalry with The Netherlands especially during the period of the Anglo-Dutch Wars, gave rise to several phrases that promoted certain negative stereotypes of Dutch people as ungenerous and selfish: “Dutch courage”, “Dutch oven”, Dutch uncle and Dutch wife.


LANGUAGE TIPS

Hello: Hello

Goodbye: Tot ziens

Please: Alstublieft

Thank You: Dank u

Excuse Me/Sorry: Verontschuldig Mij/Droevig

Yes: Ja

No: Geen

Do you speak English?: Spreekt u Engels?

Where is?: Waar is?

How much?: Hoe veel?

One: Een

Two: Twee

Three: Drie

Four: Vier

Five: Vijf

Water: Water

Beer: Bier

Wine: Wijn

Cheers!: Cheers!

Where are my clogs?: Var zien min klumpen?

Watch out for cyclists!: pass op for feetsters!

I am drunk!: Ek ben drong can!

Spain - Espana

Capital City: Madrid

Population: 46,000,000; According to the Spanish government, 11% of the population is comprised of foreigners. Spain has always been a melting pot, and today it has the highest number of immigrants in the EU, due in part to its cultural ties with Latin America, its border, its underground economy and the strength of its agricultural/construction economy which demand low cost labour, and the people who retire along the 8000km of beaches along the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

Area: Second largest country in Western Europe after France

Currency: Euro

Part of EU?: Yes (since 1986)

Parliament: President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (Zapatero means shoemaker); King Juan Carlos I

Languages: Spanish is the only official language, however in their respective regions, Basque (in the Basque Country and Navarre), Catalan (in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands), Valencian (in the Valencian Community), and Galician (in Galicia) have been declared co-official.

Religion: 94% Roman Catholic; immigration has brought an increasing number of Muslims, making it the second largest religion (although still only around 2%).

Rivers: Madrid is the only European capital not located on a river.

Mountains: the Sierra Nevadas, the Pyrenees (Spain is the most mountainous country in Europe after Switzerland and Austria)

Well-Known Companies: Zara, Mango, Chupa Chups (“sucky sucks”).


QUICK HISTORY

In the 15th century, Spain was made up of several different kingdoms (and in a way, it still is, but more on that later); Portugal, Navarre, Aragon, Castile. But in 1469 came one of the most famous weddings of all time; Prince Ferdinand of Aragon married Princess Isabella of Castile. They then made sure that their children married advantageously; they married their daughter Joanna to the Duke of Burgundy (Philip of Habsburg, son of Mary and Max), and their other daughter to one of the Tudors, Henry 8th’s brother, Prince Arthur.

Isabella was very religious, so in 1492, she invited Pope Sixtus to set up an inquisition to find out whether the Muslims and Jews in the country (there were many of them), were actually practising Christianity, as they said they were, or if they were secretly still practising their own religion behind closed doors. This was the Spanish Inquisition (Reconquista); they used torture to get results, and the guilty were paraded through the streets and burned at the stake.

They finished by getting revenge on the Muslims for taking Constantinople away from Christianity by conquering Granada, the last Muslim stronghold in the West. Not surprisingly, the Reformation happened only 20 years later.

These were the Spanish glory days. The same year, Christopher Columbus came to visit, asking for a grant to sail to the new world. Rumor has it, Isabella had a little crush on him, so she backed him, and when he returned, Spain reaped all the glory of his discoveries.

Joanna and Philip’s daughter, Charles V, subsequently became king of Castile and Aragon, Duke of Burgundy, and soon Holy Roman Emperor. He ruled mostly from Spain, but also the Low Lands, and his other territories as well. He was the lord of all Spain’s lands in the New World as well, as well as the Habsburg lands (coinciding with his counterpart on the Austrian Habsburg branch). Their explorers went off in search of El Dorado, the fabled land of gold, and in the meantime conquered the Aztecs and the Incas.

In 1493, the Pope drew a line down the world and gave half to Spain and the other half to Portugal. They started importing slaves from Africa to populate and work on their new lands. In 1580, King Philip II (Charles V’s son) took over the Portuguese Empire, making him King of the first world Superpower. He was a complete control freak, and felt that God had given him this power and he would use it to defend his religion.

The other players in Europe started to take notice of Spain’s expanding Empire, and decided to close in on North America, ambush Spanish ships, and claim more territory for Protestantism (making the religious wars global).

Speaking of the religious wars, they were raging in Europe. The Reformation was sweeping the continent, the Dutch Calvinists were smashing Church statues in their Iconoclastic Fury. Philip, with help from the Venetians and Austrians, crushed the Muslim Turks, a major coup for Christianity by its Most Catholic King. But that was Spain’s last major success for a while: the Spanish Armada he sent to topple Elizabeth I and take the English throne was defeated; the Dutch Revolted, and after all the fighting, Philip led Spain right into bankruptcy.

By the 17th century, Spain had ceded command of the seas to England and France. Portugal declared independence, the Dutch had surpassed them and were having their own Golden Age. By 1700, the last Spanish Habsburg, Charles II, died without an heir (ending that Habsburg branch). The crown was going to pass to Philip, a relative of his and, incidentally, grandson of Louis XIV of France. This meant that he was in line to acquire the thrones of both Spain and France, and the rest of Europe was not impressed with the idea of such a great consolidation of power. The War of the Spanish Succession ensued, which ended with all of Spain’s possessions divided between the Austrians, British, and French. Philip kept the throne of Spain, but had to give up his claim to the French throne. Spain had become like its most famous literary hero, Don Quixote, who doesn't realize his glory days are over.

Spain was neutral in both world wars, but it had its own problems during the Spanish Civil War. In 1936, Spain had elected a left-wing government, which was challenged by a right-wing army general named Francisco Franco. People came from all over the world to fight this war in Spain. The left-wing sumpathizers joined the International Brigade, and other dictactors such as Hitler and Mussolini sent assistance to their friend Franco. The atrocious bombing of the Basque town Guernica on market day was memorialized in Picasso’s painting (found in Madrid’s Reina Sofia Museum).

By 1939, Franco had defeated the government and declared himself dictator of Spain. He ruled Spain until his death in 1975, and the next ruler, King Juan Carlos, was a good, democratic ruler. Spain joined the EU in 1985, showing that they were democratic.

After the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001, Spain backed the military action in Afghanistan and Iraq, and lead the EU in pushing for increased international cooperation on terrorism. Spanish parliamentary elections on March 14, 2004 came only three days after the terrorist attack on Madrid commuter rail lines that killed 191 and wounded over 1,400. With large voter turnout, PSOE  Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, took office on April 17, 2004. Carrying out campaign promises, he immediately withdrew Spanish forces from Iraq but has continued to support Iraq reconstruction efforts.

Today, there are over 400 million Spanish speakers worldwide, as a result of their previous world-domination. As a country that freed itself from fascism only 30 years ago, Spain may be the most underrated economic success story on the planet. However, the downside of the real estate boom has been a corresponding rise in the levels of personal debt; as prospective homeowners struggle to meet asking prices, the average level of household debt has tripled in less than a decade The government continues to battle the Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) terrorist organization, but its major focus for the immediate future will be on measures to reverse the severe economic recession that started in mid-2008.

Spain is now spiralling into the worst crisis since the Franco dictatorship. Over 10% of Spain's economy had been building houses. This compares with 6%-7% in the US at the height of the bubble. House prices fell drastically, expected to fall by 35% by 2011. There were almost a million unsold homes. In Castilla-La Mancha - ironically, Don Quixote's region - some 69% of all houses built over the past three years are still unsold. Spain, once again, is that old knight, wandering past empty houses in the countryside of a country that was once the greatest power in the world.

But ... it's not all bad!
 
Spain is:

 

... the world's second most popular tourist destination (after France)

...(after Italy), home to the second highest number of UNESCO sites in the world, with a total of 40 (including the Alhambra, the most visited spot in the country).

...the world's sixth-largest car manufacturer

... the eigth-biggest economy in the developed world

... the most land covered by vineyards

...home to the most bars per person than any other country (San Sebastian has the most bars per capita)


FLAMENCO

When the Gypsies arrived in Spain from India in the 1400s, Andalucia was still under Arab rule. However, the Spanish Inquisition took place shortly after their arrival, and Jews, Muslims and Gypsies alike were forced to either convert to Christianity and give up ties with their original culture, or retreat. The three groups banded together through their shared persecution, and all of their cultures, music and dance fused together to become flamenco. When they finally were allowed to come out of their hiding places and re-integrate into society, flamenco spread.

In its original form, Flamenco was only voice, a primitive cry or chant accompanied only by the rhythm which would be beaten out on the floor by a wooden staff or cane. Today, Flamenco is made up of four elements, Cante-Voice, Baile-Dance, Toque-Guitar, and the Jaleo, which roughly translated means “hell raising” and involves the handclapping, foot stomping, and shouts of encouragement.

Another important component of flamenco is the element known as duende, and this is shrouded in as much mystery as flamenco itself. Writers and poets over the years have given duende a magical and mysterious meaning, a spiritual significance that goes beyond human understanding.

The poet Federico Garcia Lorca romanticized duende saying, “Duende could only be present when one sensed that death possible.”

Many will say that duende can only be experienced in certain surroundings like an intimate flamenco session where a singer will be possessed by the dark tones of the song and the spirit will enter the mind and soul of anyone who opens up to it.

Flamenco is mostly popular in Southern Spain, in Andalusia where it originated.

SIESTA

Possibly began during the Roman Empire, the word “siesta” comes from the Latin term “hora sexta” (Sixth hour). This is the term used by Romans to refer to the period of time between 2pm and 4pm, when they would have their lunch and then have a nap in the heat of the day.

Spaniards typically get an hour less sleep per night than other Europeans (which suits their lifestyle of eating dinner no earlier than 10pm and only starting to party at midnight). However, a law has recently passed that changes government employees' work hours to a 9-5 schedule, to get them in line with the work hours of other European countries.

BULLFIGHTING

Bullfights were popular spectacles in ancient Rome, but it was in the Iberian Peninsula that these contests were fully developed. The Moors from North Africa who overran Andalusia in AD 711 changed bullfighting significantly from the brutish, formless spectacle practised by the conquered Visigoths to a ritualistic occasion observed in connection with feast days, on which the conquering Moors, mounted on highly trained horses, confronted and killed the bulls.

As bullfighting developed, the men on foot, who by their capework aided the horsemen in positioning the bulls, began to draw more attention from the crowd, and the modern corrida began to take form. Today the bullfight is much the same as it has been since about 1726.

Today, bullfighting is most associated with Spain, but the world's largest bullring is located in Mexico City, while the oldest bullring is found in Peru.

Six bulls, to be killed by three matadors, are usually required for one afternoon's corrida, and each encounter lasts about 15 minutes.

Matadors wear gold-embroidered outfits that cost thousands of euros. They have practised and studied this artform since they were children, and they get their applause and respect depending on how close they get to the bull and how graceful their movements. Also, in order to kill the bull, they must stab it directly between the shoulders, which calls for very precise and skilled swordwork.

While there is usually no doubt about the outcome, the bull is not viewed as a sacrificial victim - it is instead seen by the audience as a worthy adversary, deserving of respect in its own right. Bulls learn fast and their capacity to do so should never be underestimated. Indeed, a bullfight may be viewed as a race against time for the matador, who must display his bullfighting skills before the animal learns what is going on and begins to thrust its horns at something other than the cape.

For the matador, this means performing skillfully in front of the bull, often turning his back on it to demonstrate his mastery over the animal. The skill with which he delivers the fatal blow is another major point to look for. A skillful matador will achieve it in one stroke. Two is barely acceptable, while more than two is usually regarded as a bad job.

Ernest Hemingway pointed out in Death in the Afternoon: “The bullfight is not a sport in the Anglo-Saxon sense of the word; that is, it is not an equal contest or an attempt at an equal contest between a bull and a man. Rather it is a tragedy: the death of the bull, which is played, more or less well, by the bull and the man involved and in which there is danger for the man but certain death for the bull.”

Bullfighting supporters say: "The bullfight is a portrayal of life as it is, from life to death ... All the activists see the blood, they don't see the art. The fight is the struggle between man and beast, transformed into art."
68% of Spaniards express no interest in bullfighting, and National Spanish TV has banned it from being televised. Some in Spain despise bullfighting because of its association with the Spanish nation and its blessing by the Franco regime as the fiesta nacional. It is criticized for its cruelty to animals, as well as for the expense (it receives grants of up to 6 million euros per year).

The Catalan government is seeking to ban bullfighting this year, and would be the first region in Spain to do so if they are successful.

 

SPANISH FESTIVALS

La Tomatina (Bunol)

San Fermin (Pamplona)

Las Fallas (Valencia)

... there is even a baby-jumping festival near Burgos, where babies are lined up and jumped over!


SPANISH CUISINE


-Italy might have perfected pasta, but the Spanish brought tomatoes back from America, and someone made the first tomato sauce out of them (and the tomatoes also enhanced Gazpacho, which until then had just been an Andalusian cold vegetable soup).

- Olive oil is used lavishly in Spain, the largest olive grower on the planet.
 
Tortilla: Potato/egg omelette

Churros: Donuts dipped in chocolate

MENU DEL DIA: the most economical way to eat in Spain; three courses at lunch, all delicious and all for one low price.

PAELLA

Paella originated in the Valencian region. The word stems from the latin for PAN, and it was eaten by poor people who threw everything into a pan to make a meal. Valencian paella consists of white rice, green vegetables, meat, snails, beans and seasoning. Seafood paella replaces meat and snails with seafood and omits beans and green vegetables. Mixed paella is a free-style combination of meat, seafood and sometimes beans; The rata de marjal, marsh rat, was one of the main ingredients of early paellas.

The biggest paella in history was made in Valencia and eaten by over 100,000 people. During Las Fallas, you'll find huge pots of paella cooking in the streets of Valencia.


JAMON SERRANO:

“Cured Meat”; it is rubbed with salt, hung up for a year or so (you’ll see it hanging in bars around Spain, and on the pole at La Tomatina); the most expensive type is Jamon Iberico, for which prices start at around 100 euros.


TAPAS

Tapas originated because the lunch that farmers used to eat  was so heavy and rich in fat that they had to take a siesta afterwards. So they worked longer in the mornings, eating little bites to keep them going, so that they had a lighter workload after their lunch.

There is an old Madrid ruling (dating from the 11th century) that alcoholic drinks must be accompanied by a nourishing tidbit in order to "lesson their noxious influence," so you usually get a small free tapa thrown in with your drink.
 
Pintxos is the Basque version of tapas, meaning "something with a stick."

 Jugs or glasses of wine used to be cover with a tapa (a piece of jamon, for example).


-San Miguel and Estrella beer;

-Valencia Orange Juice

-Horchata/orxata (almond millk drink)


SPANISH WINE

Until fairly recently, Spain was not taken particularly seriously as a winemaking region. Overshadowed by France and Italy, it was mainly associated with cheap red wine and sangria (and calimoxo). But thanks to the innovative practices of a handful of winemakers, and particularly of those in Catalonia, Spanish wine is currently undergoing a renaissance, offering some of the best wines (like Spanish Rioja) in the world.


CAVA

Made by the same method as French champagne, most of the high-end producers will swear that cava is as good as, if not better than, champagne. The most famous brand of cava is Freixenet.

.
SPANISH CELEBRITIES: Pedro Almodovar, Penelope Cruz, Julio and Enrique Iglesias, Antonio Banderas, Javier Bardem, Guillermo del Toro (director of "Pan's Labyrinth")

ANTONI GAUDI
(1813-1906)

The architect of Barcelona who was killed by a tram when he stepped back to admire his work.



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

-Actually an Italian, he wasn't finding the funding he needed from his own country, so he turned to Ferdinand and Isabella, and they gave him what he needed.

The Columbus monument in Barcelona is supposed to point out towards the new world (the U.S), but it doesn’t actually point there because if it did, it would be pointing inland

ARTISTS: Diego Velazquez, Francisco Goya, Picasso, Salvador Dali

Sport: Rafael Nadal is one of the top tennis players,


SPANISH FOOTBALL:

The Spanish team won the 2008 Euro Cup; (Spain has never won the World Cup); La Liga, (The Spanish League) is ranked as the highest division of football and it is considered to be one of the world's best competitions. Successful teams in recent European competitions include Real Madrid (The Most Successful, having won the Euro Cup five years in a row, from 1956-1960), FC Barcelona (doesn’t accept sponsorship payments, but wears UNICEF shirts), Sevilla FC, Villareal FC and Valencia FC. Real Madrid and Barcelona have dominated La Liga for much of its history.


QUIRKY FACTS

-The Spanish word for “wife” is esposa, which is the same word they use for handcuffs.

-It was the Basques, not the French, who invented the beret

-Public nudity is legal in Spain

-Spain was the third country in the EU to legalize same-sex marriage (after Belgium and The Netherlands)

-There’s no concrete evidence that King Pedro of Castile spoke with a lisp and it therefore spread through the region (no one knows where the lisp really came from)


Language

You’re fit: Hola Guapa! Guapo!

Hello: Hola

Goodbye: Ciao

Please: Por Favor

Thank You: Gracias

You’re welcome: De Nada

Excuse Me/Sorry: Lo siento

Yes: Si

No: Non

Do you speak English?: Hablas Ingles?

Where is?: Donde Esta?

How much? Quanto cuesta?

One: Uno

Two: Dos

Three: Tres

Four: Quatro

Five: Cinco

Water: Agua

Beer: Cervez

Wine: Vino

Cheers!: Salute!

Germany - Deutschland

The Architects of Europe - for better and for worse!

Capital City: Berlin

Population: 82 million (Largest population in the EU, however its fertility rate is one of the lowest in the world)

Religion: Christianity, split pretty much evenly between Protestantism and Roman Catholic (64%); Germany has Western Europe’s third-largest Jewish population (in 2004, twice as many Jews from former Soviet countries settled in Germany than in Israel)

Currency: Euro

Languages: German

Part of EU?: Yes, Germany was a founding member. Also part of the G8.

-France and Germany have historically been very closely allied, presently forming what is known as the ‘core’ countries against greater integration of the European Union .

Chancellor: Angela Merkel - first female Chancellor of Germany, second chairwoman of the G-8 (after Margaret Thatcher) - she won the 2008 Charlemagne Prize for her work to reform the EU

Borders: Germany shares borders with the most European countries on the continent; to the North by the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and Denmark; to the East by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the South by Austria and Switzerland; and to the West by France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands

-Germany is divided into 16 states

 Rivers: Rhine; Elbe; Danube

QUICK HISTORY

The Germans, for better or worse, basically shaped Europe as we know it. Germany has always been a driving force; occasionially, that was a bad thing (the two World Wars and the Holocaust), but often, it was a good thing. Germany was the driving force of the EU and encouraged open confrontation of past crimes. Perhaps it is the latter that propelled Germany to become the moneybags of the continent for the past decade, giving money to places like Ireland in the 80s and Eastern Europe. German taxpayers have also spent a fortune building up and integrating East Germany since 1989

Here are a few of the key points in history in which Germany played a key role.

CHARLEMAGNE and the FRANKS

In the 700s, the barbarian Frankish tribe (from north Germany and the Netherlands) decided to team up with the Popes in Italy (this had been their winning strategy all along, and helped them to conquer many lands). The Franks were a strong tribe, and able to offer protection to the Popes, and because they had willingly converted to Catholicism (even if only for strategic purposes), the Popes were happy to work with them.

Charlemagne was the son of the first King to be officially knighted by the Pope (Pepin the Short). He was well-educated, he believed in a union of church and state, and wanted to reconvert everyone back to Christianity. Ruling from his court in Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), Charlemagne and his army invaded Spain to try to reconquest the Moors, he invaded Italy, and  other parts of Germany.

When the Pope in Rome was attacked by some of his enemies who tried to cut out his eyes and his tongue, he ran to Charlemagne for help. Charlemagne restored him to his position; to show his gratitude, the Pope crowned Charlemagne Roman Emperor. Not everyone was happy about it, but it cemented Charlemagne’s authority over his territories.

Today Charlemagne is regarded not only as the founding father of both French and German monarchies, but also as the father of Europe: his empire united most of Western Europe for the first time since the Romans, and the Carolingian renaissance encouraged the formation of a common European identity. He was the first ruler to mention a unified “Europe”. Today, the Charlemagne Prize is still given out to people who have promoted European friendship and unity.


HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE

Charlemagne, crowned Emperor of the Romans in 800 AD was the forerunner of the Holy Roman Empire, largely because he had inaugurated the tradition of imperial coronation by the Pope, which continued as a significant institution in the Holy Roman Empire until the 16th century. Charlemagne's policy of "renovatio Romanorum imperii" (reviving the Roman Empire) remained at least in theory as the official position of the Empire until its end in 1806, when the Empire was claimed by Napoleon.

In 936, Otto became King, and basically united the Germans into a single empire. He had himself crowned Emperor at Aachen. Otto wanted a proper coronation by the Pope in Rome, and took the title Holy Roman Emperor. The Emperor and the Pope had many clashes over power. This eventually lead to the Kings of France getting fed up with the Popes wanting so much power, that the French Pope at the time decided to move to Avignon.

The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories that lasted from 962 1806. It did not actually include Rome for most of its time, and it was not religious, but it was widespread; it included most of Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, northern Italy, Poland, France, etc. It was divided into hundreds of individual areas, ruled by Kings, Dukes, Bishops, Princes, etc. At no time could the Emperor simply issue decrees and govern autonomously over the Empire. His power was severely restricted by the various local leaders. They mostly called it the Holy Roman Empire to assert their equality with the Popes, to make sure everyone knew they were on par (even if they weren't).

THE BLACK DEATH

The Germans set up the Hanseatic League, a trading federation of towns (including Bruges, Bergen, and London) that linked Europe with the far East. This was profitable for the cities involved, but all of this contact with far-off lands (especially with Mongols from China) resulted in the Bubonic Plague, The Black Death, being carried into Europe. It probably came via the Silk Route (possibly the fault of Marko Polo). Another hypothesis is that during a siege in Crimea, Mongols (who were already suffering from the disease) started to throw the infected corpses over their city walls at the European invaders (the Genoese), who fled too late. It was carried around by rats who roamed the streets, and came off cargo ships. The persecution of cats in those years (due to their association with satanism and witches) is often overlooked as a contributor to the spread of the disease, because it allowed the rats to flourish.

The Black Death was the greatest disaster in European history, and caused around 50 million deaths from 1347-1350 (between a third and half of the population of Europe, worst in Italy and Spain and only around 20% of the pop in Germany). In crowded cities, like Paris or Vienna, it was common for 50% of the population to die. Doctors had no idea how to deal with it, thought that it was something in the air, some even blamed it on the Jews which resulted in attacks on Jewish communities (because they figured only God's wrath could produce such horrifying results).

Despite all of the tragedy, the Black Death actually caused working and living conditions to get better for the people who survived; they had more work opportunities, more money, and the Renaissance stemmed from this renewed zest for life.

Milan was one city that was able to escape the Plague; once it infected the first three people in the city, they were walled up in their house and left to die (a harsh, but successful, solution). And strangely enough the port city of Bruges was spared the extremes that other cities on the trade routes suffered, possibly due to a recent drop-off in trade activity resulting from the early stage of the Hundred Years War.

It was in Spain that the only ruling monarch to die of the disease met his end. The advisors of King Alfonse XI of Castile begged him to isolate himself, but he refused to leave his troops.


Also, some studies suggests that as Europeans evolved after surviving the Black Death, 10% of them grew immunity to certain types of disease (including HIV). There were other outbreaks of the disease in subsequent years; the latest cases of Plague were confirmed in 1995 in the US.



THE REFORMATION

In 1517, Martin Luther, a German Monk and theology teacher, was fed up with Catholics trying to bribe people to pay them in order to get into Heaven (among other things, they were selling indulgences, basically passes into Heaven). Luther wrote a set of 95 theses, speaking out against these teachings, and it was posted on the door of the university of Wittenberg church where he taught.

His colleagues and students rallied to his side. One of his colleagues wrote to the Pope, and Luther was excommunicated, but it was too late to stop him. His local prince, Frederick the Wise, had a word with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (who he’d just helped to elect). They met at the Diet of Worms (a meeting of the Holy Roman Empire), where Luther presented his findings. Charles didn’t agree with him, and basically gave the whole of Germany permission to hunt him down. Luther went into exile, where he rewrote the New Testament and a series of pamphlets, with the following beliefs:

-The Pope has no authority over the Church

-You don’t need sacraments, because only God - not priests - can forgive sins

-You don’t need priests

-Everyone must be able to read the bible themselves.
Luther’s followers protested against his exile (hence became known as Protestants). Thanks to the Printing Press (which was invented in 1450 by Johannes Gutenberg - incidentally, a German), Luther’s ideas spread around Europe and influenced other countries, such as England, where King Henry VIII particularly took it onboard because it quite suited his own needs.

John Calvin, a Frenchman living in Switzerland, later took over as the biggest Protestant Reformer

COMMUNISM

Karl Marx was a German intellectual who studied why rich people were rich and poor people were poor. He was surrounded by the 19th century Industrial Revolution, lived in Dickensian England where there were slums and extreme divisions between rich and poor. He came to the conclusion that the working classes remained poor because they worked hard for factory owners who made all the money. He thought the working classes should rise up and work for themselves, sharing profits equally. This idea was called Communism, and he hoped it would start a workers' revolution. Communism started in Russia (under Lenin), when all industry, banking and business was taken out of private hands and private property abolished. It spread through the Eastern European countries.
WORLD WARS

After WWII, Germany was occupied by the Allied powers of the US, UK, France and the Soviet Union in 1945. Two separate German states were formed in 1949 - West Germany (which involved itself in Western organizations, such as the European Coal and Steal Community and NATO); and Communist East Germany, which joined the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The two halves weren’t re-united until 1990, after the fall of Communism and the end of the Cold War.

EUROPEAN UNION

The EU was conceived in order to avoid the nationalist tendencies that had culminated in the World Wars. In 1950, the European Coal and Steel Community began to unite European countries economically and politically in order to secure lasting peace. The six founders were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The EU now comprises 27 countries.

Well-Known Companies: 37 of the Fortune 500 Companies are headquartered in Germany; Daimler, Volkswagon, Allianz, Deutsche Bank, Mercedes, BMW, Adidas, Nivea


-Germany has the largest economy in Europe, the world’s fifth-largest economy.
-Germany is the largest exporter and the second-largest importer of goods

GERMAN CARS

There are many famous German car companies: Audi, Mercedes Benz (the company, named after the founder's 10-year-old daughter, started off with a tricycle); Volkswagen; Porsche; BMW; Mini Cooper (and in case the Mini Coop wasn't small enough for you, the Smart Car); and Germany's most popular car, the VW Beetle (the most famous vehicle of all time due to its affordability and simplicity was created on direction of Adolph Hitler who wanted a car that any German could afford. Ironically, the car subsequently became a favorite of the hippie generation).

AUTOBAHN
 
German highway, where the advised speed is 130km/h but there is no official speed limit. Construction began in the 1930s, was halted during WWII (stretches that had already been built were used as runways for bomber planes). Today, the autobahn stretches 12,000 km, the third-longest highway in the world after the U.S. and China. The Autobahn is not a complete free-for-all: there are certain restrictions placed on overtaking, etc, and speed restrictions in certain areas.
 
 
GERMAN FOOD
Sauerkraut, bratwurst, dumplings, black-forest cake, bread (German bakeries produce about 6,000 types of breads, like rye bread, pumpernickel, pumpkin or sunflower seed, wheat) and approximately 1,200 different types of pastry


GERMAN BEER

German beer consumption per person is declining but—at 116 litres annually—it is still among the highest in the world.

When it comes to German beer, it’s more about quantity than quality. With 1300 around the country, including the world’s oldest, Germany is second only to the U.S. in number of breweries, despite having just a quarter of their population. Germans trail the Czechs and Irish for most beer-drinkers per capita, but they make up for it during Oktoberfest, when nearly 7 million litres are consumed in 16 days. Thankfully for those taking part in all that guzzling, German beer itself is no slouch. Since 1516, the Germans have adhered to the Reinheitsgebot, the German Purity Law, which states that beer can only be made with water, hops, yeast and barley. The law, which originated in Bavaria and applies to all 5000 varieties of beer brewed around the country, goes a long way towards keeping beer clean and preventing hangovers; in a country that downs their beer by the stein-full, you’ll need all the help you can get!


LAND OF IDEAS:

Germany calls itself the Land of Ideas: Albert Einstein; the inventor of X-Rays, Immanuel Kant, Hegel, Marx and Engel’s Communist theory; Nietzsche, Heidegger, Schopenhauer; composers Beethoven, Bach, Wagner and Brahms.

OTHER FAMOUS GERMANS

-Rammstein; The Scorpions

-The current Pope, Benedict XVI, was born in Bavaria

-The Brothers Grimm and Goethe are German

-Marlene Dietrich, Claudia Schiffer

-Ampelman

SPORTS

With more than 6.3 million official members, the German Football Association is the largest sports organisation of its kind worldwide, and has won the World Cup several times (and hosted the last one).

Germany is one of the leading motorsports countries in the world. Many race winning cars, teams and drivers have come from Germany. The most successful Formula One driver in history, Michael Schumacher has won more championships and races than any other driver since Formula One's debut season in 1946. He is one of the highest paid sportsmen in history. Constructors like BMW and Mercedes are among the leading teams in motorsport sponsorship.

Germany ranks third in overall Olympic medals

Since the 2006 World Cup celebrations the internal and external perception of Germany's national image has changed; the BBC revealed that Germany is recognized for the most positive influence in the world in 2009, leading 16 investigated countries. A majority of 61% have a positive view of the country, while 15% have a negative view.

TRIVIA:

-It is criminally illegal in Germany to deny the holocaust (it illegal in many other European countries too) - a person can be jailed - and there have been around 10 such cases, right up to 2009 - for holocaust denial. It is also illegal to use hateful symbols, such as the Swastika.

-More than 400 registered zoos and animal parks operate in Germany, which is believed to be the largest number in any single country of the world. The Zoologischer Garten Berlin is the oldest zoo in Germany and presents the most comprehensive collection of species in the world

-Germany is the third-largest producer of books worldwide (the Frankfurt Book Fair dates back 500 years and is considered the most important book fair in the world)

-Germany is a legally and socially tolerant country towards homosexuals; the mayors of the two largest German cities, Berlin and Hamburg, are openly gay

LANGUAGE

Hello: Hallo

Goodbye: Auf Wiedersehen

Please: Bitte

Thank You: Danke

Excuse Me/Sorry: Entschuldigung Me

Yes: Ja

No: Nein

Do you speak English?: Sprechen Sie Englisch

Where is?: Wo? ist

How much? Wieviel?

One: Ein

Two: Zwei

Three: Drei

Four: Vier

Five: Funf

Water: Wasser

Beer: Bier

Wine: Wein

Cheers!: Beifall! Prost!