The Ottoman Empire

In a few weeks we're headed to Kuşadasi, Turkey.  Or rather, I should get used to saying Türkiye.  Either way I am so ready for a week away.

I know that modern Türkiye came about after the end of WWI and the fall of the Ottoman Empire.  What I didn't know was just how vast the Ottoman Empire was.

The Ottoman Empire was actually one of the world's most powerful states during the 15th and 16th centuries.  It was an Islamic superpower founded by Osman I around 1299 and it lasted more than 600 years, only coming to an end back in 1922.  

Covering about 2 million square miles with 15 million people, it was huge!  At its height, the Ottoman Empire stretched all the way to the gates of Vienna.  Today, it would be made up of Türkiye, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Egypt, Hungary, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Romania, Moldova,  Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Qatar, plus parts of Saudi Arabia, Libya, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, and Russia.  

Here's a short YouTube video about the rise of the Ottoman Empire.

©Seeker

The Ottoman Empire is known for its achievements in art, architecture, science, and medicine.  

But nothing lasts forever.  Here's another short video but this one is about the decline of the empire.

©Seeker

The darkest legacy of the Ottoman Empire is the Armenian genocide where up to approximately 1,5 million Armenian Christians living in the empire were killed from spring 1915 through autumn 1916 .  It is often called the first genocide of the 20th century and I still remember visiting the Armenian Genocide memorial in Yerevan.

Türkiye still denies that genocide occurred.  However, the Catholic Church, the United Nations, the European Parliament, and the Council of Europe have all recognised it as genocide.

In 2017, the Czech Parliament approved a resolution condemning the Armenian genocide and in 2020 the Czech Senate unanimously adopted a resolution recognising the Armenian genocide.

In 2019, the U.S. Congress affirmed the Armenian genocide and the Senate unanimously recognised the genocide.  Of course then-President Trump did not support the resolution but in 2021 President Biden officially recognised the Armenian genocide.

The Ottoman Empire made the fatal decision to side with the Central Powers in WWI.  Here's a short four-minute video about why they chose to fight alongside Germany.

©History Matters

Following the end of the war, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became the first president of the Republic of Turkey.  Here's a bit about how the empire was carved up.

©History Matters

Considering that the Ottoman Empire contained parts of the Middle East, North Africa, the Caucasus and the Balkans, it's not a big surprise that there have been multiple conflicts between countries there since the breakup of the empire.  This map shows the borders of the Ottoman Empire in 1801in green.  The red lines show wars that have been fought between countries.  

Fortunately, I'm not expecting any drama whilst on holiday in Kuşadasi.  Fingers crossed.

Seven Wonders of the World

There have been a few versions of the "seven wonders of the world."  The oldest list, known as the "classic" seven wonders were located around the Mediterranean and the Middle East.  Of the classic wonders, only one, the Great Pyramid of Giza, still exists.

1.  Great Pyramid of Giza in El Giza, Egypt.
2.  Colossus of Rhodes, was located in Rhodes, Greece.
3.  Hanging Gardens of Babylon, in Babylon, Iraq.
4.  Lighthouse of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt.
5.  Mausoleum at Halicarnassus in present-day Turkey.
6.  Statue of Zeus in Olympia, Greece.
7.   Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, Turkey.   

Next month, we're off to Kuşadasi for a week and will visit Ephesus.  I'll get to see what's left of the Temple of Artemis and will be the only item on the classic list I'll have seen.

The Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages include:
1.  Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa in Alexandria, Egypt.
2.  Colosseum in Rome, Italy.   
3.  Great Wall of China, in China.
4.  Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey.
5.  Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa, Italy.
6.  Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, in Nanjing, China.
7.  Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, UK.

So far I've managed to see four of seven from this list.  I missed out on going to Nanjing during my Shanghai trip due to rain.

In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers paid tribute to the what they thought were the greatest civil engineering achievements of the 20th century by releasing their list of Seven Wonders to the Modern World.

1.  Channel Tunnel, between the UK and France.

2.  CN Tower in Toronto, Canada.

3.  Empire State Building in New York City, USA.

4.  Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, USA.

5.  Itaipú Dam between Brazil and Paraguay.

6.  Delta and Zuiderzee Works in the Netherlands.

7.  Panama Canal in Panama.

From this list I've been to the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Toronto's been on my list of places to visit for years but who knows when I'll get a chance to visit Canada.

In 2001, a New Seven Wonders of the World was released.  The Great Pyramid of Giza didn't make the list but was added later as an honorary mention.

1.  Great Wall of China.

2.  Petra in Jordan.

3.  Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

4.  Machu Picchu in Peru.

5.  Chichén Itzá in Mexico.

6.  Colosseum in Italy.

7.  Taj Mahal in India.  

From this list I've been to the Great Wall, Petra, Christ the Redeemer, and the Colosseum.  Back in 2007, Steven and I were getting our MBAs from Georgia State University.  We did a two-week study abroad programme in Argentina and Brazil.  One of my favourite memories is of us in a helicopter flying around Jesus's head in Rio.

Ephesus for sure will be the next place from all of these lists that I'll see.  Beyond that, who knows?  The Taj Mahal and the Great Pyramid are both on my bucket list.  Stonehenge would probably be the easiest to visit.

Strážnice, Czech Republic

Kája and I spent the weekend in Strážnice which is about a two hour train ride from Brno.  

Strážnice is home to 5.400 people and is 65 km (40 miles) from Brno, close to the Slovak border.  While Neolithic pottery has been found here, the it was first written mention of the town was in 1302.  It was one of the most populated towns in Moravia at the start of the 17th century.

The old city gate bastions date back to the 16th century.  They were used to protect the town from Turkish invasions.

Behind these gates is a chapel that was consecrated in 1917.  The story goes that it was built as thanks to the men who returned in good health from WWI.

The stone cross near the gate dates back to 1769.  The baroque monument is one of the oldest in the town and marks one of the places that city executions used take place.

The nearby city cemetery dates back to 1895.

Inside the cemetery is a tombstone dedicated to the Red Army that liberated the city in April 1945.

February isn't the time of year to see storks but here's a stork nest for when the season comes.  I'm told that nearby is one of the last places in Central Europe where a forest colony of White Storks can still be seen.

The shrine at Radějovská street dates back to the first half of the 19th century.

The town hall is a protected cultural monument that dates back to the 17th century.

The Strážnice Castle, is less castle and more chateau, is from the mid-19th century.  The castle is home to the National Institute of Folk Culture and a library with over 13.000 books.

The castle is in the middle of a large park where there's an amphitheatre.  

The Parish Church of St. Martin was a Gothic church in the 15th century but it burnt down several times.  In the 1720s it was renovated in the Baroque style.  

The Strážnice Museum of the Villages of South-East Moravia is an. open-air folk museum that opened in 1981.  

The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was built in 1747.

The synagogue was built in 1804 and renovated in 1879.  It was damaged in 1941 and it was then used as a warehouse.  In 1991 it was returned to the Jewish community.  Today, it is part of the Strážnice Museum.

Next to the synagogue is the Jewish cemetery which was founded in the mid-17th century.  It is 5000m² (1.2 acres) with around 1500 gravestones.

The town is located on the Baťa Canal and it's possible to take boat rides during the summer.

In front of the city museum is a statue of the philosopher and educator Jan Amos Komenský.  He studied here in 1604-1605.

Of course no Czech town is complete without a statue of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia.  Apparently he had studied here.  

Strážnice is also the home of really good potato chips (crisps).  

I hear that the factory is the town's biggest employer.

Here's a short video I found on YouTube showing the factory and how the crisps are made.

©Strážnické brambůrky Hobža

Update:  Every year, Strážnice hosts an international folklore festival.

Martina Navrátilová

Today is the second significant day of the year.  It is the Day of Czechs Abroad and it is meant to honour Czechs who emigrated.  The USA is the country with the largest number of Czechs living abroad and one of the most famous emigres is Martina Navrátilová.   

Martina Navratilova is considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time.  She dominated women's tennis in the 1970s and 1980s and with 59 major titles.  She won her first major title in 1974 and won her last major title in 2006, just before her 50th birthday.  She'd been winning major tennis titles for 32 years.  Wow!  Here's the official trailer from YouTube for Martina Navratilova: Unrivalled.

©US Open Tennis Championships

She was born in Prague in 1956.  She started playing tennis at a young ago and she won the national tennis championship in Czechoslovakia when she was just 15.  In 1975 she turned professional.  While on tour in the USA in 1975, when she was 18 years old, she asked for political asylum and was given a green card.  When she defected, the communists stripped her of her Czechoslovak citizenship.  In 1981 she became an American citizen.  After the Velvet Revolution and Velvet Divorce, she was able to gain Czech citizenship in 2008 and is now a dual citizen of the USA and Czechland.  

Once she was an American citizen she came out of the closet and has been an active spokesperson and role model for the LGBT community.  It's sad that she could not come out earlier but if she did then it could have disqualified her from gaining U.S. citizenship.

Here's a short video I found on YouTube that talks about her life and career.

©Juana Chaves

Here's a short video about the first time she returned to Czechoslovakia in 1986.  This was the first time that she was able to see her parents since she defected.  

©Tennisfamer

I'll be honest.  When I was moving to Czechland, if someone asked me to name a famous Czech I would have only been able to name Václav Havel, Věra Čáslavská, and Martina Navrátilová.  Thanks to living here, now I know way more but I'd have to say that Martina is still the best well known.

Meet the Mayor 2023

Yesterday I got to meet the mayor.  The mayor's office wanted to hear from people about how to better meet the needs of foreigners as the city continues to grow as a centre for technology and innovation.  

Kyndryl is the city's largest private employer with about 1700 foreigners working here in Brno.  We were provided two tickets and I was lucky enough to be asked to go. 

After work I showed up at the town tall for the event.  This was my first time inside and I was floored.  

Some of it has been recently renovated and I had no idea of just how beautiful it was.

JUDr. Markéta Vańková has been Brno's mayor since 2018.  Before she was mayor, she was a representative for the South Moravian Region.

One of the chaps from the Brno Expat Centre knew me from my blog.  That was a surprise but then later on I remembered that my blog had been mentioned back in 2017.

I was impressed with how the city is trying to bring in more highly-qualified expats, especially in the field of nanotechnology, and what the city can do to help people settle in.

There are foreigners from 149 countries registered in Brno.  Slovaks don't have to register as foreigners in Czechland so their numbers aren't included.  The largest number of foreigners in Brno are from Ukraine, followed by Vietnam, Russia, India, Romania, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Philippines, USA, Poland, UK, and Belarus.  

I was gobsmacked to find out that there are 629 Americans living in Brno.  I have no idea of where they are hiding because I don't know them.  How are there more Americans here than Poles when Poland is next door?  I honestly only know a few Americans here.  I know way more people from Italy, France, Spain, and Germany here in Brno and these countries aren't even on the list.

There were maybe 50 or 75 people that were invited and I got the chance to meet up with a few friends from other companies that I haven't seen in a while. 

It really was a great experience and I count myself very lucky to have had the chance to participate.

Now to figure out where are of these other Americans are.

80th Anniversary of the End of the Battle of Stalingrad

Today is the 80th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Stalingrad.  It lasted from 23 August 1942 to 2 February 1943.  The Battle of Stalingrad was the largest and deadliest battle ever known with approximately 2 million people killed on both sides. 

The Battle of Stalingrad was the first major defeat for Hitler's army and is regarded as the turning point in the war in Europe.

In 1925, Tsaritsyn was renamed Stalingrad, after the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.  In 1961, the city was renamed Volgograd.

Here's a five-minute YouTube video about the Battle of Stalingrad.

©Simple History

There have been a few movies about the Battle of Stalingrad.  Stalingrad was a German language film released in 1993.  It follows a platoon of German soldiers transferred to the Eastern Front in WWII and they find themselves fighting in Stalingrad.  Here's the movie trailer with English subtitles.

©Strand Releasing

Another well-known film is the 2001 release of Enemy at the Gates.  

It tells the story of Vasily Zaitsev, a young sniper who killed over 225 enemy soldiers.  Here's the movie trailer.  

©Paramount Pictures

Vasily Zaitsev was a celebrated Hero of the Soviet Union for his service in WWII, which in Russia is known as "the Great Patriotic War".  Following the war, he settled in Kyiv and lived there until he died in 1991, just 11 days before the Soviet Union broke apart.  He was buried in Kyiv but he had wished to be be buried in Stalingrad so in January 2006 he was reburied in Volgograd.

Volgograd has been on my list of places to visit.  At the Stalingrad Museum his sniper rifle is on display which I'd like to see one day.  However, I don't think that it's going to be anytime soon.

Apparently Russia is glamorising Stalin again and have put up a new bust of him in Volgograd.  Although he was responsible for the deaths of 6-9 million people.

©EuroNews

Who knows how Putin will try to spin the 80th anniversary into a propaganda event trying to further justify his war in Ukraine.

Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine. 

Update:  Here's two minutes of CCTV coverage of the anniversary.

©CCTV

New Czech President

The results are in and Czechland is getting a new president.  Petr Pavel will replace incumbent president Miloš Zeman.  When he takes office in March he will be country's fourth president.

Here's what's gone over here.  Following the election in 2021,  Petr Fiala became prime minister and Andrej Babiš was out of a job.  For some reason he decided to run for president.

The first round of presidential elections took place on 13-14 January.  General Pavel ran as an independent candidate and won the first round of elections with 35,4% of the vote.  Babiš came in second with 34,99%.

Most of the other candidates put their support behind Pavel and he won the second round of voting with 58,33%.  He won by more than a million votes.  There was just over 70% voter turnout which was the highest turnout in any national election since 1998.   

President-elect Pavel enlisted in the Czechoslovak People's Army after graduating high school in 1983.  Following the Velvet Divorce, he served in the Czech Army and from 2012 to 2015 he was the Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces. From 2015 to 2018 he was the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee; the first military officer from the former Warsaw Pact to hold the position.

While he doesn't have any political experience he does have a master's degree in international relations from King's College London and speaks English, French, and Russian. 

Pavel is a social progressive who supports gay marriage, euthanasia, and rejects the death penalty.  He is pro-Western, pro-EU, pro- NATO, and he supports Ukraine.  He was endorsed by Spolu, the centre-right governing alliance.

Following the Velvet Revolution, people chanted "Havel na Hrad" ("Havel to the Castle") for Václav Havel to become president (because Prague Castle is the official office of the president).

During the campaign, it became "Pavel na Hrad".

Babíš was endorsed by outgoing president Zeman and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia.  Babiš tried to portray Pavel as a warmonger.  Babiš also caused additional controversy when he said that if Poland was attacked by Russia, then he would not comply with NATO's article 5, and would not go to Poland's defence.

Here's a short video I found on YouTube about the election.

©Al Jazeera