A Breif History of things I Learned in this Class.

The etymology for German Autumn comes from a movie released in 1978 called Deutschland im Herbst. “Germany in Autumn”. The movie is a collection of short films with a format similar to that of a news report. It won a Special Recognition award in the 28^th Berlin International film Festival.

Ulrike Meinhof really pisses me off. I find her to be a coward and a waste of human space. She fought for a cause that should it have succeeded would have made worse for more people the very thing she was afraid was happening to Germany. She attacked her own citizens, and wrote for the continuation of attacks and class warfare. Then to further make her cause futile she killed herself rather than face the consequences for her actions.

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt, or as I have referred to him in a previous blog, the man with a really fun name, who had many P words attached to him. IE Professor, Psychologist, Physician, Philosopher, Physiologist. Is credited as the first man to call himself a psychologist. He founded the first formal laboratory in Psychological research and helped legitimize Psychology as a field.

All Quiet on the Western Front was a book that scared the living shit out of me, and a great deal of other things too. With a vivid description of the front lines of war during World War I and an extremely unhappy unsatisfying ending where no one survives and is happy. It’s a book I feel should be read once. But for me, once was more than enough. I think I’ve had enough dealing with wars for a lifetime thank you. It’s fun to think that there is a sequel to the book as well. “The Road Back”, and then another loose sequel, “Three Comrades”. Though It doesn’t appear any of the same characters appear in that book.

Now on to Political Parties,

Germany has significantly more political parties than the United States represented in state and federal offices, with a total of 12 currently elected.

Of the states I learned about Hamburg was the one I found out the most about.

Hamburg was originally named Treva, the current population is about 1.8 million people.  That’s a little less than 2/5ths the population of Minnesota living in a town the size of Duluth. It has 7 Boroughs and 104 quarters. The city got it’s name from a castle built by the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne in 808 AD. (Holy Roman Empire should not be confused with the Roman Empire as the Byzantine Emperor at the time really didn’t care for them.) Funny story, the name of the castle was called Hammaburg. Although no one knows where the castle is currently located. Hamburg was made the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishopric in 834, and was a member of the Hanseatic Leage!

Oh and about the Hanseatic League (Middle Age History is one of my favorite topics)  That was a confederation of cities with a mutual defense and trade agreement of Merchant guilds and their market towns. Mostly in the Northern Coast of Europe. It was in existence from the 13^th to the 17^th centuries. It made Hamburg a very wealthy city. The cities of the Hansaetic League were free from local nobility, reporting directly to the Holy Roman Emperor. So I would imagine cheaper taxes, the leaguetrade routes placed them in direct competition with the Norseman (vikings) until a treaty was signed.  The end of the League came about through the rise of the Swedish Empire. Which had taken control of a majority of the Baltic Sea, there was also a shift in thought from mutual benefit to individual benefit. As the Holy Roman Emperor’s power dwindled, the power of the German Princes was able to grow which further limited the freedom of each city. That being said, ten German cities still call themselves Hanse cities.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_political_parties accessed 12-18-12

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Autumn accessed 12-18-12

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915254,00.html accessed 12-18-12

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gm.html accessed 12-19-12

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_League  accessed 12-19-12

http://www.ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/european-networks/economic-networks/margrit-schulte-beerbuehl-networks-of-the-hanseatic-league accessed 12-19-12