Time Period: 1945-1949 (2 Quizzes and Answers)

1945-1949 (I)

1. Into how many different Regions was Germany divided into by the Allies at the end of World War II?
2. In which Country was Klement Gottwald elected Premier in 1946?
3. In which City/Town did Winston Churchill give his ‘Iron Curtain’ speech?
4. Which two parties merged in East Germany in 1946?
5. Formed in 1945, it is known as the World Bank. What is its official name?
6. Who was the First United Nations Secretary-General?
7. What did President Truman create in 1946 to regulate the Nuclear Industry?
8. In which City did the Swedish diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg, who saved countless Jewish lives during the holocaust, disappear in?
9. This energy producing industry in Britain was nationalized in 1947. Which industry was this?
10. What is the more common name for The European Recovery Program?
11. This 1947 Act was passed over President Truman’s veto. It restricted the rights of labor unions. What was this act called?
12. In 1947, the U.S. withdrew as mediator in this Country. Which Country was this?
13. This Slovakian War Leader was executed in 1947. Who was he?
14. Which Country was involved in a Civil war from 1944 to 1949 that involved such groups as EKKA, EAM/ELAS?
15. Who did American troops prevent from grabbing the Port of Trieste from Italy in 1947?

Answers to 1945-1949 (I)

1. Four regions to be controlled by France, the UK, the U.S.A., and the USSR.
2. Czechoslovakia. Gottwald would eventually become President through a communist coup d’etat in 1948.
3. Fulton, Missouri in 1946. (At Westminster College on March 5, 1946).
4. The East German Social Democrats and The Communists.
5. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
6. Trygve Lie of Norway.
7. The Atomic Energy Commision.
8. Budapest. He is thought to have been abducted by the Russians for reasons which even today are still unclear.
9. The Coal Industry.
10. The Marshall Plan.
11. The Taft-Harley Act.
12. China
13. President Tiso.
14. Greece. The war was essentially a fight between the Communists and Monarchist Partisans for control of the Country.
15. The Yugoslavs. People of Trieste would later vote by plebiscite in 1949 to join Italy.

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1945-1949 (II)

1. In which Country did Mátyas Rákosi become Premier in 1947?
2. What was ‘Bizonia’? Hint: It is not a 'Sci-Fi' word.
3. This doctine was issued by the U.S. in 1947 in response to Soviet expansion what was it called?
4. Who were the four main candidates in the 1948 U.S. Election?
5. What was the main goal of The Hague Congress of 1948 that was chaired by Winston Churchill?
6. This Dutch Queen abdicated in 1948 and was succeeded by her daughter, Juliana. Who was she?
7. What did the British Citizenship Act of 1948 grant?
8. This man became U.S. Secretary of State on January 7,1949. He succeeded George Marshall. Who was he?
9. Who told the U.S. House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee on August 2,1948 that 10 years earlier Algar Hiss, had given him secret State Department Documents to pass on to the Soviets?
10. What officially ended on May 12,1949?
11. President of the Parliamentary Council, this man proclaimed the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. Who was he?
12. Which Treaty was signed by 12 Western Nations on the April 4, 1949?
13. This man, the first U.S. Secretaty of Defense resigned in March 1949. He would later commit suicide on May 22nd of the same year. Who was he?
14. Omar Bradley was appoined by President Truman to this position in 1949. It had only recently been established by law. What was the position?
15. This man wrote an article entitled ‘The Sources of Soviet Conduct’, in 1947. It would form the basis for Truman’s Policy of Containment. Who was this Writer?

Answers to 1945-1949 (II)

1. Hungary. He was backed of course by the Soviet troops occupying Hungary.
2. The name given to the combined British and American zones in Germany which were merged on January 1,1947?
3. The Truman Doctrine. It was adopted in response to the Ciommunist insurrections in Greece and Turkey. U.S. offered to support countries threatened by communist insurgencies.
4. Harry Truman, Thomas Dewey, Henry Wallace (the darling of the leftist Democrats), and Strom Thurmond, (who gained Soputher support). Truman won with 24.1 million votes to Dewey’s 22 million.
5. To Promote European Unity.
6. Queen Wilhelmina.
7. British passports to all citizens of the Commonwealth Citizens.
8. Dean Acheson.
9. Whittaker Chambers. His would be indicted on December 15, 1948 on two counts of perjury for lying about his connection to a Soviet spy ring.
10. The Berlin Blockade by the Soviets. It had last for over a year. The airlift into West Berlin, however would only end on September 30,1949, after more than 275,000 flights had been made into West Berlin.
11. Konrad Adenauer.
12. The North Atlantic Treaty which led to the creation of NATO.
13. James Forrestal.
14. Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff.
15. George Kennan. The article was titled by 'X’ and appeared in the magazine Foreign Affairs.

German History - Ranking of Most Important Events

1. Events of World War II.
2. Unification of Germany by Bismarck.
3. Treaty of Versailles.
4. 30 Years War. Devastation of Germany.
5. Events of World War I.
6. Adolph Hitler becomes Chancellor.
7. Frederick the Great expands Prussian Power.
8. The Berlin Wallcomes down. The End of Communism.
9. The Enlightenment.
10. Frederick Wilhelm I sets up Prussian standing army.
11. Otto I becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
12. Henry Fowler forms Saxon state.
13. Goths defeat Romans at Battle of Teutoburg Forest - 9 AD.
14. The Napoleonic Wars and the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine.
15. Frederick Barbarossa grows Saxon kingdom in Medieval times.
16. Bismarck introduces pensions and social reform.
17. Re-unification of East and West Germany in the early 1990s.
18. Failed Marxist Revolution in 1848.
19. Huns overrun Germany.
20. Nazis burns the Reichstag, instigates Nuremburg Law and clamp down on freedom of speech.
21. German re-armament after World War I.
22. Building of the Berlin Wall. Division of Germany.
23. The Nuremburg Trials.
24. West Germany helps found the Common Market.
25. German Economic miracle following World War II.
26. Teutonic Knights set up state in North Eastern Prussia.
27. Mass Migration to the US during the 17th and 18th centuries.
28. The Dreadnought Naval Race with the British prior to World War I.
29. Kaiser Wilhem II removes Bismarck as the German chancellor in 1890.
30. The Berlin Airlift.

Historical Demographics

The study of human population growths and shifts is both a fascinating topic as well as a necessary prerequisite in understanding historical dynamics.
The following is a list of some useful sites:

http://desip.igc.org/populationmaps.html
Shows the increase in world population via a series of Maps : 1AD to 2050AD

http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/human_pop/human_pop.html
Has some wonderful graphics - although the analysis seems stalled in the Ehrlich Population Explosion Paradigm where global population is increasing at an increasing rate (J-Curve). Better models argue that the rate of increasing is decreasing.
Nevertheless the website does deal with such issues as human carrying capacity, the AIDS phenomenon and the Demographic Transition

Demographic Transition (refers to type of society)
Stage 1: High Birth rate but fluctuating Death rate eg. 19th century Africa
Stage 2: Declining Death Rates but High birth Rates eg. Mexico
Stage 3: Declining Birth and Death Rates: eg, US
Stage 4: Low Death and Low but fluctuating Birth Rates eg. Sweden

http://www.pnas.org/content/104/49/19214.full
Historical influence of climate change on World Population

The History of the Kabbalah

The following is an excerpt of the leader into the Jewish Virtual Library's History of the Kabbalah

Kabbalah is the name applied to the whole range of Jewish mystical activity. While codes of Jewish law focus on what it is God wants from man, kabbalah tries to penetrate deeper, to God's essence itself.
There are elements of kabbalah in the Bible, for example, in the opening chapter of Ezekiel, where the prophet describes his experience of the divine: "... the heavens opened and I saw visions of God.... I looked and lo, a stormy wind came sweeping out of the north-a huge cloud and flashing fire, surrounded by a radiance; and in the center of the fire, a gleam as of amber" (1:1,4). The prophet then describes a divine chariot and the throne of God.
The rabbis of the Talmud regarded the mystical study of God as important yet dangerous. A famous talmudic story tells of four rabbis, Azzai, Ben Zoma, Elisha ben Abuyah, and Akiva who would meet together and engage in mystical studies. Azzai, the Talmud records, "looked and went mad [and] Ben Zoma died." Elisha ben Abuyah became a heretic and left Judaism. Rabbi Akiva alone "entered in peace and left in peace." It was this episode, the later experiences of individuals who became mentally unbalanced while engaging in mystical activities, and the disaster of the false Messiah Shabbetai Zevi that caused seventeenth-century rabbis to legislate that kabbalah should be studied only by married men over forty who were also scholars of Torah and Talmud. The medieval rabbis wanted the study of kabbalah limited to people of mature years and character.
The most famous work of kabbalah, the Zohar, was revealed to the Jewish world in the thirteenth century by Moses De Leon, who claimed that the book contained the mystical writings of the second-century rabbi Simeon bar Yochai. Almost all modern Jewish academic scholars believe that De Leon himself authored the Zohar, although many Orthodox kabbalists continue to accept De Leon's attribution of it to Simeon bar Yochai. Indeed, Orthodox mystics are apt to see Bar Yochai not so much as the Zohar's author as the recorder of mystical traditions dating back to the time of Moses. The intensity with which Orthodox kabbalists hold this conviction was revealed to me once when I was arguing a point of Jewish law with an elderly religious scholar. He referred to a certain matter as being in the Torah, and when I asked him where, he said: "It's in the Zohar. Is that not the same as if it was in the Torah itself?"
The Zohar is written in Aramaic (the language of the Talmud) in the form of a commentary on the five books of the Torah. Whereas most commentaries interpret the Torah as a narrative and legal work, mystics are as likely to interpret it "as a system of symbols which reveal the secret laws of the universe and even the secrets of God" (Deborah Kerdeman and Lawrence Kushner, The Invisible Chariot, p. 90). To cite one example, Leviticus 26 records "a carrot and a stick" that God offers the Jewish people. If they follow his decrees, He will reward them. But if they spurn them, God will "set His face" against the people: "I will discipline you sevenfold for your sins...." and "I will scatter you among the nations" (26:28, 33). At the chapter's conclusion, God says: "Yet, even then, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or spurn them so as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them, for I am the Lord, their God" (26:44).

For more go to http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/kabbalah.html

Source of image (Ten Sefirot) : Ucalgary

1960's Quiz

The 1960s

1. On August 11, 1966 Indonesia signed a peace-deal ending three years of bush war with this Southeast Country. Which Country is this?
2. This man killed 12 people at The University of Texas in Austin, before being shot dead by a policeman. Who was this man?
3. This U.S. built fighter plane, used by the German Air Force in the 1960s, was noted for its many crashes. What was the plane?
4. Army colonels took power in which Country in 1967?
5. What did Jack Ruby die of?
6. This American Nazi Leader was shot dead in Arlington, Va in 1967. Who was he?
7. This daughter of Stalin fled to the West in 1967. What was her name?
8. In 1967, the Queen met these estranged relatives in public. Who were they?
9. This European enclave voted overwhelmingly to stay with Britain in September 1967. Name this enclave?
10. Che Guevara was shot dead in the jungle of this South American Country. Which Country is this?
11. Who wrote a book about mankind called The Naked Ape?
12. British troops left this port in Southern Yemen in 1967, after 128 years of colonial rule. Name this
port?
13. This Liberal Leader took power in Czechoslovakia in January 1968. Who was he?
14. This American ‘spy ship’ was seized by the North Koreans in 1968. What was this ships name?
15. Who was the U.S. Secretary of State in January 1968?

Answers to The 1960s

1. Malaysia
2. Charles Whitman.
3. The Starfighter.
4. Greece
5. A blood clot to the lung. He was suffering from cancer.
6. Lincoln Rockwell.
7. Svetlana Alliluyeva (give yourself one point if you just got Svetlana).
8. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
9. Gibralter
10. Bolivia
11. Desmond Morris.
12. Aden
13. Alexander Dubcek.
14. Pueblo
15. Dean Rusk.

Modern African History Quiz I

What are the modern names of these African Countries/Territories:

1. Portuguese West Africa.
2. Bechuanaland
3. German East Africa.
4. Dahomey
5. Northern Rhodesia.
6. French Guinea.
7. German South West Africa.
8. Gold Coast.
9. Upper Volta.
10. Nyasaland
11. Rio De Oro.
12. French Somaliland.
13. Southern Rhodesia.
14. British East Africa.
15. Spanish Guinea.

Answers to Modern African History I

1. Angola
2. Botswana
3. Tanzania
4. Benin
5. Zambia
6. Guinea
7. Namibia
8. Ghana
9. Burkina Faso.
10. Malawi
11. Western Sahara.
12. Djibouti
13. Zimbabwe
14. Kenya
15. Equatorial Guinea

Just the Facts II - The Hittites

I have always found Ancient History fascinating (although for that matter I find most History fascinating). However Ancient History is unique in that it relies so much on archeaological discoveries and puzzle solvingf to elucidate its chronologies, patterns of events and interpretations. In an earlier post I discussed the Mespotamians - today's post focuses on the Hittites.

Hittites

• Dominated Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) between 1750 and 1180 BC
• Hittite History is divided into three kingdoms: Old (1750-1500BC), Middle(1500-1430BC) and the New(1430-1180BC)
• Were a relatively open minded and liberal civilization in comparisson to those of Mesppotamia - Hittite Laws rarely made use of the death penalty
• Had many deities in fact the Hittites were called the 'people of the thousand gods'. These included: Arinna - the sun goddess, Tarhunt - god of thunder who battles the serpent Illuyanka and Ishara - the goddess of the oath
• Famous leaders include: Labarnas II(unified people - set up capital at Hattusa), Musilis (grandson of Labarnas - won control of Syrian trading routes and reached Babylon), Suppiluliumas I (defeated Mittanian kingdom - set up Hittite Empire), Muwattlalis (Rival of Egyptian pharaoh Ramases II - fought Ramases' trrops to a stalemate at Kadesh) and Hattusillis III (concluded peace treaty with the Egyptians)
• The city of Troy is believed to be a Hittite vassal state
• Its Empire was bought down by attacks from the Sea People and Archaen Greeks.
• Smaller Hittite kingdoms in Syria and Asia minor surived until the seventh century BC.
• Kingdoms were finally overrun by the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
• The Hittites spoke an Indo-European language
• The Hittites should not be confused with Hattians an earlier population that occupied thec Asia Minor region
• Hittites are thought to be an influential force in driving the Iron Age. They were well known for their chariot construction.
• Some useful sites on the Hittites include: http://www.mesas.emory.edu/hittitehome/ - has a King's list and an excellent Map of theHittite Empire; http://www.ancientanatolia.com/historical/hittite_period.html and http://www.hittites.info/
• The Hittites are mentioned in the Bible - in Genesis Abraham buys land from a Hittite for example, Esau marries a Hittite woman. They are also mentioned in Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Chronicles, Kings, Ezekiel and Ezra. For more read:D. J. Wiseman, Peoples of the Old Testament Times, Clarendon Press, Oxford (1973)
• Like the Mespotamians the Hittites used cuneiform letters
• The Hittites are thought to have had the first constitutional monarchy
• Another imporant Hittite city was that of Nesa

French Revolution - Quiz II

Its Bastille Day in France - which means that its time for another French Revolution Quiz.

French Revolution II

1. What did the Third Estate form on June 17, 1789?
2. Whose dismissal on the 12th of July 1789 ignited hostility on the streets of Paris?
3. What is the claim to fame of Marquis de Launay?
4. Who was in placed charge of the National Guard soon after the riots of Paris?
5. What was issued on 27 August 1789?
6. What was the ‘Great Fear’?
7. To the nearest 3 million, what was the population of France at the time of the Revolution?
8. To which building did the crowd go to immediately before attacking the Bastille?
9. Which foreign regiment assisted in the defense of the Bastille?
10. What was declared dead on the 4th August 1789?
11. What was mortmain?
12. To whom was the tithe paid?
13. What event occured on October 5-6, 1789?
14. To what Parisian Palace did Louis XIV and his family return to after the event mentioned in
Question 13?
15. What profession were Vernet, Gérard, Vien, and Fragonard all members of?

Answers to French Revolution II

1. The National Assembly. The National Assembly would create a French Constitution on July 9, 1789.
2. Jacques Necker’s.
3. He was governor of the Bastille when it was stormed on the 14th July 1789. De Launay would be killed and his head placed on the end of a pike.
4. Marquis of Lafayette.
5. Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen - proclaiming liberty of thought, property, press and freedom from arbitrary imprisonment.
6. A fear amongst the peasantry of an aristocrat and military backlash against the people, that followed the Storming of the Bastille.
7. Twenty-five million of which 24 belonged to the Third Estate.
8. The Invalides to obtain weapons.
9. The Swiss Guards.
10. The Ancien Régime with the abolishment of privileges.
11. A condition of feudal servitude that made it possible in Ancien Régime times for a serf to sell their own property.
12. The Church.
13. The March of the Women on Versailles.
14. Tuileries
15. They were all famous artists, who were politically involved at the time?

Famous Historians Quiz

Famous Historians

Who wrote the following Books or series of Books?

1. Hitler and Stalin - Parallel Lives
2. The Guns of August
3. A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in The White House
4. The Trouble Makers
5. History of England from the Accession of James II
6. The Creators
7. The Decline of the West
8. Conquest of Mexico
9. The Rise of Christian Europe
10. D. Day and Citizen Soldiers
11. The Mediterranean and The Mediterranean World at the Time of Philip II
12. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
13. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
14. On Heroes, Hero - Worship and the Heroic in History
15. The Holocaust - The Destruction of European Jewry 1933-1945

Answers to Famous Historians
1. Alan Bullock.
2. Barbara Tuchman.
3. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
4. A. J. P. Taylor.
5. Thomas Macauley.
6. Daniel Boorstin.
7. Oswald Spengler.
8. William Prescott.
9. Hugh Trevor-Roper.
10. Stephen Ambrose.
11. Fernand Braudel.
12. Edward Gibbon.
13. William Shirer.
14. Thomas Carlyle.
15. Nora Levin.

Winston Churchill Quiz

Winston Churchill

1. Where was Churchill born?
2. What was his mother’s maiden name?
3. Against which forces did he fight against in Sudan?
4. During which war was he captured, imprisoned, and then escaped?
5. What constituency was he elected to represent in Parliament in 1900?
6. Which party did Churchill join in 1904?
7. Which position did Churchill hold between 1924 and 1929?
8. Why was Churchill excluded from The War Cabinet in 1915?
9. Which position did he assume when war broke out with Germany on the September 3, 1939?
10. What Charter did Churchill help shape in 1941 ?
11. How many volumes make up his series of books, The Second World War?
12. What did Churchill receive in 1963?
13. Of which famous military figure did Churchill write a biography of during the period 1929-1939?
14. How old was Churchill when he died?
15. There was another Winston Churchill who lived between 1871 and 1947. What was the profession of this other Winston Churchill?

Answers to Winston Churchill

1. Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England.
2. Jennie Jerome.
3. The Dervishes.
4. The Anglo-Boer War.
5. Oldham
6. The Liberals.
7. Chancellor of the Exchequer.
8. He was held responsible for the failed attempt to open the Dardanelles and The Ruinous Galipoli Campaign.
9. First Lord of the Admiralty.
10. The Atlantic Charter with the U.S.
11. Six Volumes.
12. United States Citizenship through an act of Congress.
13. John Churchill, his ancestor (aka Duke of Marlborough).
14. Ninety-one.
15. He was a Historical Novelist.

Great Danes

In my opinion the ten most important Danes of All-Time

1. Niels Bohr - Physicist. Developed the Bohr model of the atom.
2. Soren Kierkegaard - Philosopher
3. Hans Christian Andersen - Writer of Children’s stories
4. Hans Christian Oersted - Physicist - discovered magnetic effect of electric current.
5. Canute - Medieval King of England and Denmark. United two countries.
6. Christian III - 16th century Danish King. Bought Reformation to the country.
7. Vitus Bering - Explorer. Discovered Bering Sea.
8. Henrik Dam - Biochemist. Discovered vitamin K.
9. Christian X - King of Denmark during World War II. Figure of resistance to German ocupation.
10. Johannes Bronsted - Chemist. Main achievement occurred in the field of Acids and Alkalines.

French Revolution - Quiz I

The French Revolution

1. What nationality was Jacques Necker?
2. What was the currency in France that was being used c. 1780?
3. Besides Necker name two of the three other finance ministers who worked to secure National solvency?
4. What was the ‘lettre de cachet’?
5. What two wars had effectively bankrupted France by 1785?
6. Who was the editor of the Encyclopédia?
7. Three French philosophers from the Enlightenment are often considered to be driving forces behind the Revolution. Name two of them?
8. What was called by the Louis XVI on the 8th August 1788 to meet on May 1st 1789?
9. Who wrote the Pamphlet ‘What is the Third Estate’?
10. Why did the First and Second Estate want Separate Estate sessions and a block vote by Estate?
11. What ‘jewel’ related incident had earlier in her reign tarnished the reputation of Marie Antoinette?
12. Which famous event happened on the 20th June 1789?
13. This famous astronomer was chosen on June 3rd 1789 to head the Third Estate. Who was he?
14. What disease did the Dauphin die of in 1789?
15. Which sub-class made up most of the political representatives of the Third Estate?

Answers to French Revolution

1. He was Swiss.
2. The livres.
3. Jacques Turgot, Charles-Alexandre de Calonne and Archbishop Etienne de Brienne.
4. A warrant issued by the king that could result in imprisonment without trial. It was usually invoked to suppress criticism of the crown.
5. The ‘Seven Years War’ and the American Revolution.
6. Denis Diderot. The Encyclopédia was a major work of the Enlightenment. By its very nature, it contained anti-absolutist overtones which contributed to the intellectualism of the Revolution.
7. Charles Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire.
8. The Estates-General. It had last been called in 1614.
9. Abbé Sieyes, he would later gain notoriety in the Revolutionary Government.
10. So the two of them together could outvote the Third Estate.
11. The Affair of the Necklace.
12. The Taking of the Tennis Court Oath. The Third Estate agreed not to disperse until a new constitution had been implemented.
13. Jean-Sylvain Bailly. He would conduct himself admirably, but would lose popularity when he ordered the National Guard to fire on anti-royalist crowds. As an astronomer he is famed for writing the ‘Histoire de l’astronomie’ (1775-1787).
14. Tuberculosis
15. The Bourgeoisie.

Just the Facts I - Mesopotamia

Location: In the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Mesopotamia means the 'land between the rivers'. An alternative name for the civilization is Sumer (means 'cultivated land').

Key Crops grown: Wheat and Barley

Early Beginnings: 4000-3000BC - Migration of Semitic and Indo-European groups into region. Although settlements such as Ur are thought to have been founded in 6000BC.

Main Cities (Early Stage): Ur, Uruk, Umma, Lagash, Kish, Nippur and Adab. Ur is the city mentioned in Genesis where it is described as the birthplace of the patriarch Abraham.

Key Features of Society: Temple Economy - ruler/king administered lands on behalf of gods. The ruler was responsible for distribution of food. Central graion silos were vital to the economy.
Mespotamian cities were known for their diverse array of artisans abd craftsmen.

Other Important facts

• An important literary work associated with the early Mesopotamians is the Epic of Gilgamesh. For more on the Epic go to http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/.
• Lugalzaggesi, king of Umma, is one of the more significant rulers of the civilization. He conquered Lagash, Uruk and Adab but was defeated by Sargon I of Akkad, thus ending his dream of uniting Mesopotamia.
• The kingdom of Akkad was founded by Sargon of Agade in 2334. The word Sargon means 'legitimate king'.
• Sargon's kingdom would eventually spread into Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). He is also credited with smashing the dominance of Uruk. The following site contains an extract of an Akkadian father giving advice to his son (reminds me of Polonius and Laertes in Hamlet) - http://history-world.org/advice_of_an_akkadian_father_to_.htm
• One title held by Sargon was 'King of the Four Corners'.
• Akkad fell in 2250 a time that coincided with the emergence of the Guti mountain people.
• Ur (ruled by the Third Dynasty) was the dominant city in the 22nd century BC but it collapsed as a power in the wake of the Elam invasions. For more on the Elam (Early Iranians) go to http://www.iranchamber.com/history/elamite/elamite.php
• The Mesopotamians had many deities. Some of the more well known ones are: Enki (water/wisdom), Enlil (wind/air), Ninhursag (motherhood) and An (father/sky). For a list of Mespotamian deities and their Babylonian equivalents check out http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/Mesochart.html
• The type of writing introduced by the Sumerians was Cuneiform - that used a system of pictographs. A blunt reed (stylus) was used to depict the pictographs on a clay tablet. The site http://www.mythome.org/cuniformdevelopment.html has some very useful information on the evolution of this earlier writing style.

An Alternative Early History of WWII

1940 – Hitler order Panzer division to attack British Troops at Dunkirk. A German victory sees the surrender of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force). Germans initiate Operation Sea Lion – the invasion of the UK.

October 1940 - Pro-German groups in the US urge Roosevelt to cut ties with the UK. He refuses.

December 1940 – Germans invade Britain. Italy with Arab support strike at British possessions in North Africa.

January 1941 – German forces land in Kent. They encounter stiff resistance from English Home guard but advance to London.

February 1941 – London falls to German troops. US pledges to support British government. Oswald Mosely is put in charge of pro-Nazi puppet government. Churchill chosen to head what is left of the British government. He will organize resistance to Germany from base in Northern town of Oldham.

March 1941 – Persecution of British Jews in the London area begins. Oswald Mosely is assassinated by a British resistance figure. Germans pound Oldham, Manchester and Liverpool demanding the surrender of Churchill’s government. Scottish forces and Geordie irregulars beat back a German tank advance.

April 1941 – Roosevelt fails to win Congressional support for a US Expeditionary force to help out the Brits. Birmingham and Coventry now under German control.

May 1941 – American ‘Firsters’ demand a presidential recall of Roosevelt. To which they succeed. Roosevelt chastised for ‘backing a sinking ship’. Republicans win recall vote. Roosevelt government collapses. ? elected President. John Foster Dulles chosen as secretary of state. US in crisis. Dulles negotiates anti-communist pact with Germans. Offers to withdraw US support for Churchill-led British government in exchange for American involvement in the new German order.

Germans launch a sea attack onto Scotland from bases in Norway. Scotland falls in mid June (Surrender of Glasgow).

July 1941 – Churchill’s government falls. Germans now in control of Lancashire, Yorkshire and Northumbria. Churchill flees to South Africa where he is greeted by Smuts. He will eventually settle in New Zealand.

October 1941 – Spain joins war effort on the side of the Axis. Franco’s presence in North Africa takes pressure off German troops in the region.

November 1941 – Ukrainian revolts (encouraged by the Germans) are savagely put down by the Stalinist regime.

US Presidents - Best and Worst (My Opinion)

10 Greatest US Presidents

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. Thomas Jefferson
3. Franklin Roosevelt
4. George Washington
5. Harry Truman
6. Theodore Roosevelt
7. Woodrow Wilson
8. James Madison
9. Ronald Reagan
10. John Fitzpatrick Kennedy

10 Worst US Presidents

1. Warren Harding
2. Ulysses Grant
3. Gerald Ford
4. Herbert Hoover
5. Jimmy Carter
6. Millard Fillmore
7. James Buchanan
8. William Taft
9. Martin Van Buren
10. Zachary Taylor