England is on an island. This isnt big news. The sea is omnipresent there and unsurprisingly - one would think - the people of England began to use the sea for themselves at an early age. A direct line from British geography via merchant shipping, the East India Company to the British Empire? No, it
Bavaria is known for a lot in the world. Lederhosen, yodelling, BMW … But the beer certainly has a particularly strong influence on the image of Bavaria in the world. And there is a lot involved. The Bavarian Purity Law, the Oktoberfest, the Munich Hofbräuhaus, the beer gardens and so on and so fort
The Panama Canal has been connecting the Atlantic and Pacific for more than a hundred years, saving ships thousands of kilometers on the sea route. Until 1914, ships still had to make the arduous journey across the tip of South America to transport goods from one sea to the other. One can imagine wh
Racism is a loyal companion in our society to this day and has been for quite a long time in history. Fortunately, racism is taboo in many circles today, which of course does not mean that it has simply disappeared. But still... You have to start somewhere. In the USA there is also regular discussio
It is usually the ubiquitous things that we least notice in everyday life and about which we know the least. In English there is even an idiom for this:“Hiding in plain sight , hiding in sight. This applies in particular to things that shape our lives day after day but are somehow too abstract to al
November is a time to observe a curious tradition in Britain. People across the country light bonfires at this time of year and recite the same poem to themselves over and over again. Remember, remember, the 5th of November.... Every schoolchild in England knows these lines of poetry. Because on Nov
There are many reasons to leave your country. Examples would be better career opportunities, cheaper training or simply nicer people (high on the list for an Austrian). Unfortunately, as we all know, not all moves are voluntary. Not all people living abroad proudly call themselves expats, join Engli
The year is 1637. Central Europe is in the midst of the Thirty Years War, the bloodiest conflict the continent has seen in a long time. The Netherlands is not far from the action. Reason enough to be afraid, one would think. But anyone who thinks that doesnt know the Dutch very well! In the midst of
In September 2014, Scotland voted on whether to secede from Britain and become an independent state again. As is well known, the majority of respondents in this referendum were against it, but today the Scottish union with England is anything but carved in stone. But if you look closely, she never r
Revolutions can be many things. Bloody or peaceful, necessary or unnecessary. What a particular revolution is then, of course, always depends on the point of view. But today I would like to talk about a completely different revolution:the Glorious Revolution of England in 1688. And even if one likes
Art is known to be a matter of opinion. What is a true feat for one is just the useless scrawl of some drunken idiot for another. And if were being honest, it often is. In the world of street art and graffiti, this problem is particularly pronounced. Nothing angers a seasoned street artist more than
Ideological stupidity has really existed in every imaginable form throughout history. There have been the dumbest political ideas on the left, on the right, and everywhere in between. And of course its fun to talk about them. So one of them should be the focus again today:patriotism. Or more specifi
For the past few weeks Ive been talking here about some examples of hooray patriotism. From its beginnings in the Greek War of Independence to the fairly recent upsurge of old euphoria in Britains Falklands War, it has happened time and time again. Time and time again, people found their (or in the
Labor Day on May 1st is a holiday like no other, even though we often dont realize it that way. But the reason for this is simple. While in Germany and elsewhere pretty much every public holiday is either religious or otherwise at least national (i.e. also quasi-religious), Labor Day is a class holi
American society is deeply divided, wrote the Süddeutsche Zeitung a few days after Donald Trumps election. The FAZ described the US election campaign as extraordinarily dirty and everyone on our side of the Atlantic agrees that the stone-age American electoral system is to blame for everything anywa
A strange friendship This old poem forms the basis of a strange friendship. If you ask people on the street in Hungary which country is their most important ally, you almost always get the same answer:Poland. For centuries they were neighbors and partners, they would never have gone to war. They co
The 9th century was a strange time. Europe was once again in upheaval. The legendary Frankish empire of Charlemagne was nearing its end. Vikings roamed the seas. But what is almost more striking than the political upheavals of the time is how stupid the rulers were actually named at the time. At tha
This article about the Vikings in England is an excerpt from my book Endstation Brexit. The British Isles have been accustomed to outside incursions from the earliest times. The Romans settled there for a few centuries and as soon as they left, the Anglo-Saxons arrived. With that, England should h
As is well known, a monarchy brings with it a lot of peculiar traditions and customs. Funny aristocratic titles, absurd rules of conduct and lots of representative ceremonies that make you shake your head. As usual, the British royal family is a good example of all this. Probably the most important
When you think of the Ottoman Empire today, the first thing that comes to mind is its downfall. One thinks of the sick man on the Bosphorus of the 19th century, of the lost First World War and finally of Atatürks assumption of power and thus the end of the empire. And before? You can find an answer
The infantry company of the Greek Army in 1940 extended four platoons. It also had a command team and battle transports. Consequently, the strength of a full-strength company of the time was close to 200 men, a large number even by the standards of the time, which, however, made up for the lack of g
The excitement from the victorious battles in the Greco-Italian war, the faith in the final victory, the animation of the relatives who are in pain, the descriptions from the war front, but also the hospitals, dominate the letters sent by the Achaean soldiers to their families, in the late 1940s. Bu
I think the Three Kingdoms in China, the Warring States period in Japan, and the first century of civil war in Rome are the top three eras that Japanese people like. What all the times have in common is that they did not fight against foreign enemies, but from the same ethnic group. No power can
To John Lawrence Sullivan , known as The Boston Strongboy , he can be considered as the great heavyweight champion in boxing history… with the London Prize Ring Rules , without gloves, and also with the Marquis of Queensberry Rules , with gloves, which can be considered the basis of the current. In