From Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (Regarding the Russian Revolution):

From Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (Regarding the Russian Revolution):
".....If you charged someone with the task of creating a new world, of starting a new era, he would ask you first to clear the ground. He would wait for the old centuries to finish before undertaking to build the new ones, he'd want to begin a new paragraph, a new page.

"But here, they don't bother with anything like that. This new thing, this marvel of history, this revelation, is exploded right into the very thick of daily life without the slightest consideration for its course. It doesn't start at the beginning, it starts in the middle, without any schedule, on the first weekday that comes along, while the traffic in the street is at its height....."
They cut down the trees, they burned them, they even pulled up a few stumps. The roots, they were simply buried too deep...They are coming back to the surface now, springing forth new life, in the spectacular green of early spring....Strider

Friday, June 5, 2009

Germans in France, late 18th Century

The American Revolution provided inspiration for the French Revolution. Let's back up just a bit and examine this connection. The American Revolution was successful THANKS to the French; they helped the colonists defeat the British. The French didn't do it out of love for the Americans, but because they couldn't afford for the British to have the prize of the American continent for themselves. As a result of this venture in aid of the Americans, France's economy was bankrupt. Now the French Revolution starts, much of the ideology based on America's constitution and Bill of Rights. Ben Franklin himself was ambassador to France, and was consulted often as to how the new democracy of France should be structured. Unfortunately the French path to democracy was more circuitous than the American version. The French people were not necessarily French and did not live in a new continent by their own choice. The people on the west side of the Rhine River were in French territory but spoke German. Germany as a country did not exist until much later. During this time there were only a number of individual kingdoms and principalities that happened to share varying versions of the Germanic language.

Why did Germans want to leave Alsace?:

July 25-30, 1789 Peasant revolt in Alsace
Reign of Terror: 1793-1794.
October 17, 1793 - Austrian army is driven out.
Dec. 16, 1797 - Austria recognizes French sovereinty.
1809 - Napolean drafts Germans to fight against the Austrians.
1812 - Napolean drafts Germans to fight against the Russians.

Why did Germans want to enter Ukraine?

Free land
Money allowance for Re-settlement
No forced military conscription
Freedom of speech, religion


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