The Learning Journey of 5 BVSS students in Germany

The Black Death came in three forms, the bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. Each different form of plague killed people in a vicious way. All forms were caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis.

The bubonic plague was the most commonly seen form of the Black Death. The mortality rate was 30-75%. The symptoms were enlarged and inflamed lymph nodes (around arm pits, neck and groin). The term 'bubonic' refers to the characteristic bubo or enlarged lymphatic gland. Victims were subject to headaches, nausea, aching joints, fever of 101-105 degrees, vomiting, and a general feeling of illness. Symptoms took from 1-7 days to appear.

The pneumonic plague was the second most commonly seen form of the Black Death. The pneumonic and the septicemic plague were probably seen less then the bubonic plague because the victims often died before they could reach other places (this was caused by the inefficiency of transportation). The mortality rate for the pneumonic plague was 90-95% (if treated today the mortality rate would be 5-10%). The pneumonic plague infected the lungs. Symptoms included slimy sputum tinted with blood. Sputum is saliva mixed with mucus exerted from the respiratory system. As the disease progressed, the sputum became free flowing and bright red. Symptoms took 1-7 days to appear.

The septicemic plague was the most rare form of all. The mortality was close to 100% (even today there is no treatment). Symptoms were a high fever and skin turning deep shades of purple due to DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation). According to Dr. Matt Luther, Vanderbilt University Medical Center "The plague often caused DIC in severe forms, and DIC can be fatal. The picture above demonstrates what DIC can look like. In its most deadly form DIC can cause a victims skin to turn dark purple. The black death got its name from the deep purple, almost black discoloration." Victims usually died the same day symptoms appeared. In some cities, as many as 800 people died every day.

info from: http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/fleas/bdeath/Black.html

1499 - Switzerland broke away from the empire

1517 - Luther initiated the Reformation

Unleashed in the early sixteenth century, the Reformation put an abrupt end to the relative unity that had existed for the previous thousand years in Western Christendom under the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation, which began in Germany but spread quickly throughout Europe, was initiated in response to the growing sense of corruption and administrative abuse in the church. It expressed an alternate vision of Christian practice, and led to the creation and rise of Protestantism, with all its individual branches.

Images, especially, became effective tools for disseminating negative portrayals of the church, and for popularizing Reformation ideas; art, in turn, was revolutionized by the movement Though rooted in a broad dissatisfaction with the church, the birth of the Reformation can be traced to the protests of one man, the German Augustinian monk Martin Luther (1483–1546).

In 1517, he nailed to a church door in Wittenberg, Saxony, a manifesto listing 95 arguments, or Theses, against the use and abuse of indulgences, which were official pardons for sins granted after guilt had been forgiven through penance. Particularly objectionable to the reformers was the selling of indulgences, which essentially allowed sinners to buy their way into heaven, and which, from the beginning of the sixteenth century, had become common practice. But, more fundamentally, Luther questioned basic tenets of the Roman Church, including the clergy's exclusive right to grant salvation.

He believed human salvation depended on individual faith, not on clerical mediation, and conceived of the Bible as the ultimate and sole source of Christian truth. He also advocated the abolition of monasteries and criticized the church's materialistic use of art. Luther was excommunicated in 1520, but was granted protection by the elector of Saxony, Frederick the Wise (1463–1525), and given safe conduct to the Imperial Diet in Worms and then asylum in Wartburg.

info from: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/refo/hd_refo.htm

1546-1547 - Emperor Charles V defeats the Protestant princes and allies

Charles V became the most powerful monarch of his day, ruling over an empire that included what is now Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, parts of Italy and central Europe, and large areas in the Americas. He spent much of his reign trying to reform the Roman Catholic Church and fighting the two greatest threats to its power: Islam and Protestantism.

Struggles for Control. Charles's rise to power occurred at the same time that Martin LUTHER was leading the Protestant Reformation* in Europe. Although strongly opposed to Luther, Charles supported reforms within the Catholic Church. But the papacy resisted the emperor's calls for reform and feared his political power. Pope Clement VII struck back at Charles by signing an alliance with France's king FRANCIS I, who hoped to acquire Spanish territories in Italy. Charles responded by supporting an English invasion of France and a rebellion by the French nobleman Charles de BOURBON.

Both the invasion and the rebellion failed, but Charles's forces captured the French king at the Battle of Pavia in 1525. Charles forced Francis to give up French claims to Naples and Milan as well as its holdings in Burgundy. Once released, however, Francis refused to honor the terms of the surrender and the war resumed. Charles's troops sacked Rome in 1527, taking Pope Clement VII prisoner. Since Charles was not there, it is not clear how responsible he was for the brutal destruction of the city. Charles and the pope finally signed a truce in 1530.

Charles had also hoped to use his military might against German princes who had become Protestants. However, the forces of the Ottoman Turks were putting pressure on Austria, and Charles needed the Protestant princes to help him fight the Turks. After defeating Turkish attempts to seize Vienna in 1532, Charles attacked and captured the Ottoman port of Tunis in North Africa. However, he and his Christian allies were unable to take the city of Algiers or to stop Turkish pirates operating in the Mediterranean. To make matters worse, the French were helping the Ottoman cause. In 1544 Charles finally convinced France to make peace and end its support to the Turks. A truce with the Ottomans came soon afterward.

The break in fighting provided an opportunity for a council to reform church practices. The Council of TRENT in 1545 addressed many of the abuses that had caused Protestants to reject the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, Charles took this chance to attack the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Protestant princes in Germany. He defeated the league in 1547 and compelled them to accept the Interim of Augsburg, a religious compromise between Catholic and Protestant practices.

Unfortunately for Charles, his victory was short lived. The Turks, the French, and the Protestant princes all went to war against the emperor again. In 1552 he had to flee from the city of Innsbruck to avoid being captured by the new French king Henry II. The French also seized several cities of the Holy Roman Empire in Germany. Charles tried to put his son PHILIP II on the English throne by marrying him to England's queen MARY I. The English accepted the marriage, but they refused to crown Philip as king.

Frustrated by setbacks on all sides, Charles decided to abdicate*. He gave the Netherlands and Spain to his son Philip and yielded the title of Holy Roman Emperor to his brother Frederick. He assembled a group of close friends and courtiers and retired to a villa* in Spain, where he died in 1558. During his life Charles had successfully kept the Ottoman Turks out of western Europe and protected Spain's interests in Italy. However, he was unable to pass his empire intact to his son or to stop the spread of Protestantism in Europe.

info from: http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/rens_01/rens_01_00100.html

1555 - The Peace of Augsburg (the princes henceforth determine the religion of their territories)

By the early 1550s, it was apparent that a negotiated settlement was necessary. In 1555 the Peace of Augsburg was signed. The settlement, which represented a victory for the princes, granted recognition to both Lutheranism and Roman Catholicism in Germany, and each ruler gained the right to decide the religion to be practiced within his state. Subjects not of this faith could move to another state with their property, and disputes between the religions were to be settled in court.

The Protestant Reformation strengthened the long-standing trend toward particularism in Germany. German leaders, whether Protestant or Catholic, became yet more powerful at the expense of the central governing institution, the empire. Protestant leaders gained by receiving lands that formerly belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, although not to as great an extent as, for example, would occur in England.

Each prince also became the head of the established church within his territory. Catholic leaders benefited because the Roman Catholic Church, in order to help them withstand Protestantism, gave them greater access to church resources within their territories. Germany was also less united than before because Germans were no longer of one faith, a situation officially recognized by the Peace of Augsburg. The agreement did not bring sectarian peace, however, because the religious question in Germany had not yet been settled fully. info from: http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/history/bl_augsburg_peace.htm

1618 - 1648 -The Thirty Years War ending with the Peace of Westphalia

The Peace of Westphalia largely settled German affairs for the next century and a half. It ended religious conflicts between the states and included official recognition of Calvinism. Its signatories altered the boundaries of the empire by recognizing that Switzerland and the Netherlands had become sovereign states outside the empire. Portions of Alsace and Lorraine went to France. Sweden received some territory in northern Germany, which in the long run it could not retain. Brandenburg became stronger, as did Saxony and Bavaria.

In addition, states within the empire acquired greater independence with the right to have their own foreign policies and form alliances, even with states outside the empire. As a result of these changes, the Holy Roman Empire lost much of what remained of its power and would never again be a significant actor on the international stage. The Habsburgs would continue to be crowned emperors, but their strength would derive from their own holdings, not from leadership of the empire. Germany was less united in 1648 than in 1618, and German particularism had been strengthened once again.

The Thirty Years' War had a devastating effect on the German people. Historians have usually estimated that between one-fourth and one-third of the population perished from direct military causes or from illness and starvation related to the war. Some regions were affected much more than others. For example, an estimated three-quarters of Wuerttemberg's population died between 1634 and 1639. Overall losses were serious enough that historians believe that it took a century after the Thirty Years' War for Germany's population to reach the level of 1618.

Germany's economy was also severely disrupted by the ravages of the Thirty Years' War. The war exacerbated the economic decline that had begun in the second half of the sixteenth century as the European economy shifted westward to the Atlantic states--Spain, France, England, and the Low Countries. The shift in trade meant that Germany was no longer located at the center of European commerce but on its fringes. The thriving economies of many German towns in the late Middle Ages and first half of the sixteenth century gradually dried up, and Germany as a whole entered a long period of economic stagnation that ended only in the second half of the nineteenth century.

info from: http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/history/bl_30_years_war.htm

1701 - Frederick crowned the first king of Prussia

In 1648 Brandenburg was a small state in northern Germany. It had been ruled by the Hohenzollern Dynasty since the late fifteenth century and consisted of the core region and its capital, Berlin; eastern Pomerania; an area around Magdeburg; the former holdings of the Knights of the Teutonic Order in eastern Prussia; and some smaller holdings in western Germany. Brandenburg became known as Prussia in 1701 when its ruler crowned himself King Frederick I of Prussia.

info from: http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/history/bl_austria_prussia.htm

1740 - 1748 - The War of Austrian Succession

1806 - The Confederation of the Rhine was established by Napoleon

1806 - Prussia declared war on France and was defeated by Napoleon

1813 - The Prussians helped defeat Napoleon at Leipzig

1814-1815 - The Congress of Vienna established the German Confederation of 39 independent German states

1815 - Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo

1862 - Otto von Bismarck was appointed the prime minister of Prussia

1870 - Franco-Prussian War

1871 January - Germany captures Paris

1871 18 January - Wilhelm I was crowned the first Kaiser of the German Empire uniting the German states into one country

1914 28 June - Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina provoking WW1

August 1914 - Germany declared war on Russia and France. The United Kingdom declared war on Germany

9 November 1918 - Germany was declared a republic

11 November 1918 - The Treaty of Versailles ended World War I and the Rhineland was placed under Allied occupation for 15 years

What are the different natural vegetations in Germany?

With its irregular, elongated shape, Germany provides an excellent example of a recurring sequence of landforms found the world over. A plain dotted with lakes, moors, marshes, and heaths retreats from the sea and reaches inland, where it becomes a landscape of hills crisscrossed by streams, rivers, and valleys. These hills lead upward, gradually forming high plateaus and woodlands and eventually climaxing in spectacular mountain ranges.

As of the mid-1990s, about 37 percent of the country's area was arable; 17 percent consisted of meadows and pastures; 30 percent was forests and woodlands; and 16 percent was devoted to other uses. Geographers often divide Germany into four distinct topographic regions: the North German Lowland; the Central German Uplands; Southern Germany; and the Alpine Foreland and the Alps.

info from: http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/facts/bl_geography.htm

The water bodies of Germany are intimately intertwined with human occupation, be it the North and/or the Baltic Sea, or the navigable rivers, which have always been important trade routes and means of access to the country. Most rivers like the Rhine (Rhein), Weser, Elbe and Odra (Oder) have their watersheds drain towards the north, whereas the Danube (Donau) is one of the important rivers that drains into the Black Sea. On the way from its source in southwestern Germany to the delta, the Danube passes through or borders eight different states and is known by no less than five different names along its course. Economically by far the most important German river is the Rhine. Interconnections through canals to other important waterways such as the Danube, make it even on a European scale an important factor of communication and transportation. On top of this, the Rhine Valley especially between Mainz and Bonn is admittedly one of the most scenic river passages of the whole continent and thus of very high tourist value.

info from: http://info.wlu.ca/~wwwgeog/special/vgt/English/ger_mod1/unit3.htm

"wald" means forest

Thüringer Wald

Schwarzwald

Bayerischer Wald

What are the major types of economies / industries in Germany?

Manufacturing is the foundation of Germany’s economy. It belongs to the G-7 group, which represents the seven richest nations in the world. Germany has several major manufacturing regions. The Ruhr is the most important industrial regions and one of the busiest in the world. It includes the Dortmand, Duisburg, and the Dussel-dorf. It produces most of the nations iron and steel. Much of Germany’s steel is used to make automobile, ships, and tools.

Germany’s main industrial regions are the Ruhr, an area of coal mines and steel mills along the Ruhr River in North Rhine-Westphalia; Bremen and Hamburg, have huge shipbuilding yards; Bavaria in the south, where many plants for the manufacture of automobiles and stereo equipment are located; and Dresden, which has power plant and a growing electronic industry.

West Germany has a high reputation in the world for the excellent design and fine workmanship of products such as the BMW, Volkswagen, and Mercedes-Benz cars. East Germany did not come close to West Germany’s technology development or its industrial production. New programs were designed to bring manufacturing in the East up to the standards of the West. Many factories are being modernized and workers are receiving training in computer technology and other modern manufacturing.

Germany imports most of it materials and energy sources. Its steel industry is near these areas. It also has small amounts of iron ore, petroleum, and natural gas.

The chemical industry is one of Germany’s most important and includes companies like Bayer, BASF, and Hoechst. Machine and vehicle construction is another major industry, which includes aircraft manufacture, shipbuilding, plant machinery, and automobiles.

Foreign trade has been a major cause in Germany’s economic success. Machinery, motor vehicles, chemical products, precision and optical goods, and electrical engineering goods are its main exports. Food, drinks, tobacco, and petroleum products are its main imports.

The majority of Germany’s trade is within the European Community. Major trade fairs are held in Hanover, mainly for mechanical and industrial products.

How is the country divided / organized today?

Germany comprises 16 states (Bundesländer), which are further subdivided into 439 districts (Kreise) and cities (kreisfreie Städte).

click for a better view (:

What are the major physical features and formations in Germany?

Total area： 357,021km²

Highest point: Zugspitze (2963m)

Lowest point: Neuendorf bei Wilster (-3.54 m)

Longest River: Rhine (865 km)

Natural resources: coal, lignite, natural gas, iron ore, copper, nickel, uranium, potash, salt, construction materials, timber, arable land

Terrain: Germany is divided into the north lowlands, the central uplands, and mountainous regions in the south

North German Plain, just like how the name suggests, is located at the northern part of Germany, consisting mainly of material left by continental glaciers during the last Ice Age. The land is mainly used for crops and grazing. There are also areas of glacially formed hills, some of which rises to nearly 180m above sea level.

South of the North German Plain is an unglaciated upland region, almost the entire region is marked by a great variety of landforms, including low mountains, plateaus, basins, escarpments, and scenic valleys. Dominant features in this upland region are the mountains. The greatest elevations occur in the Black Forest (Schwarzwald). For example, there is Feldberg, which reaches up to 4,898 feet (1,493 m)

In east-central Germany are the Thuringian Forest and parts of the Harz and Ore mountains; few peaks in these three areas rise more than 4,000 feet (1,200 m). South of the Danube River lies the Alpine Foreland, also called the Bavarian Plateau. In the extreme south the Bavarian Alps thrust upward abruptly. The loftiest peak, reaching 9,721 feet (2,963 m), is the Zugspitze, southwest of Munich in the rugged Wetterstein range.

Weather and Climate: Hot summers, cold winters. There you go, just that simple. Snow is quite rare (sadly), average temperature during winter is 2 degrees. It rains during July so we shouldn't be expecting any rainfall when we're there. But global warming is on the move...

Credits: http://geography.howstuffworks.com/europe/geography-of-germany1.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Germany