Brandenburg

Even so, Wilgo Müller thinks the checks are critical.

He represents the far-right AFD party in the state of Brandenburg, which shares a border with Poland.

He says there's

already not enough housing or doctors or schools after so many people came to Germany in recent years fleeing conflicts in places like Syria and Iraq.

If the Catholics could arm Spain and Italy in their favor, the Republics of Venice, Holland, and England opened their treasuries to the Protestants, while the states of the North and the formidable power of Turkey stood ready to afford them prompt assistance.

Brandenburg, Saxony, and the Palatinate opposed three Protestant to three ecclesiastical votes in the Electoral College, while to the Electoral Bohemia, as to the Archduke of Austria, the possession of the imperial dignity was an important check.

if the protestants properly availed themselves of it the sword of the union might keep within its sheath the sword of the league or if matters actually came to a war might make the issue of it doubtful but unfortunately private interests dissolved the band of union which should have held together the protestant members of the empire This critical conjuncture found none but second-rate actors on the political stage, and the decisive moment was neglected because the courageous were deficient in power, and the powerful in sagacity, courage, and resolution.

The elector of Saxony was placed at the head of the German Protestants by the services of his ancestor Maurice, by the extent of his territories, and by the influence of his electoral vote.

The possession of territories and dignities deadened courage.

The want of both made heroes.

While Saxony, Brandenburg, and the rest drew back in terror, Anhalt, Mansfeld, the Prince of Weimar, and others were shedding their blood in the field.

the Dukes of Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Lüneburg, and Württemberg, and the free cities of Upper Germany, to whom the name of Emperor was of course a formidable one, anxiously avoided a contest with such an opponent, and crouched murmuring beneath his mighty arm.

For the full accomplishment however of her ambition she had to wait.

To the north-east lay the Spanish Low Countries with their line of well nigh impregnable fortresses for securing them or at least for neutralising the danger which they threatened every French minister had his scheme Richelieu had proposed to form of them a free state Mazarin desired to conquer them The Dutch proposed to divide them with France It will be seen that in this direction the ambition of France was for a time frustrated That though a great step was made at the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659 The Spanish low countries were to form the object Of thirty years more of intrigue and war Four Sweden Sweden supported by France Made good her claim to A heavy share In the spoils of victory She obtained The whole of nearer And part of further Pomerania With the reversion of the rest On the extinction of the male branch Of the Brandenburg house She thus secured The towns of Stettin Gotz Dam And Gollnau With the islands of Rügen And Wollen Which gave her complete command Of the mouths of the Oder On both banks While the cession of the town and harbour of Wiesmar The archbishopric of Bremen And the bishopric of Verden Placed in her power the navigation of the Elbe All these she held as immediate fiefs of the empire And thus claimed for Bremen Verden And Pomerania Three voices in the imperial diet She was also allowed to erect a sovereign court At Wiesmar With a university at Greifswald She had thus assured to her a communication with the Scandinavian states and her dominion of the Baltic and not only was placed in a position of marked though not crushing supremacy in the north of Europe but gained a distinct hold upon Germany both territorially and consultatively which lasted until the treaty of Stockholm in 1720 Five Spain From all participation in that part of the peace of Westphalia which concerned France and the emperor Spain was rigorously excluded Exhausted and bankrupt from the war with France and the struggle with the Dutch she had long been anxious for peace But the terms demanded by Mazarin in 1646 had been too much for her pride That minister was bent upon wresting from her the barrier of fortresses which made French safety or extension to the northeast impossible For this purpose he proposed to exchange the Spanish low countries for Catalonia and Rousillon then in the possession of France But Spain hoped in view of the confusion caused in France by the civil troubles Then nearly at their height To regain Catalonia and Rousillon by force of arms The Spanish Netherlands she determined to save in another way She resolved to bow to necessity and to close her long and profitless struggle with her rebellious subjects The Dutch on their side Were at the time Not unwilling To dissolve Their long standing alliance with France They were alarmed at her rising power and at the prospect of a French army an occupation of the Spanish low countries which at present formed a barrier between themselves and French ambition Spain sedulously fostered this feeling and on January 30th 1648 concluded a treaty at Munster whereby she at last acknowledged the complete independence of the United Provinces She ceded to them all the places in Brabant Flanders and Limburg of which they were then in possession afterwards known as the Generality and she even granted liberty of conscience to all Dutch subjects in her territory lastly she consented to close the navigation of the Scheldt and adjoining waterways and so to ruin Antwerp Her great commercial centre For the benefit Of its Dutch rival Amsterdam Germany reconstituted Upon a decentralisation basis Under the protection of France Which now became the foremost European power The supremacy of Austria In central Europe destroyed Sweden in a position of commanding strength in the North The Spanish monarchy severed from Austria and left face to face with France Switzerland formally detached from the Empire The United Provinces anew An independent kingdom Such is a rough political map of Europe after the Peace of Westphalia End of section two Section three of the English Restoration and Louis XIV by Osmond Airy This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Recording by Pamela Nagami Chapter Two Prelude to the Fronde Part One One Richelieu and Privilege:The Prime MinistershipUpon turning our eyesfrom the external grandeurof FranceTo her internal conditionWe beholdA strange contrastIt well illustratesthe tenacityOf purposeWhich was the leadingcharacteristicof Mazarin that even while the last formalities of the treaty which made France the arbiter of Europe were taking place, he with the youthful king and the queen mother were voluntary exiles from the seat of government.

So completely occupied indeed were the minds of all but the minister himself and a few of his fellow workers with the beginnings of civil discord that this great settlement passed almost without remark.

To ninety-nine out of every hundred Frenchmen the treaty between the crown and the malcontents of Paris under cover of which the court returned to the capital was of infinitely greater interest than the Treaty of Westphalia which was signed on the same day and which expressed the change which had passed over the face of Europe.

The dutch were compelled at length to return to their own shores without firing a gun nonetheless the expedition had served to raise the courage of their country and to show the english how far they still were from the Victory to which they had so confidently looked forward number six dutch alliances de itt now again pressed louis to fulfil his treaty engagements otherwise he threatened that he would make peace and enter into close alliance with the english.

For Louis this meant a serious obstacle to the carrying out of his great project He was moreover nettled at the coolness with which charles ii Had in the flush of a first success treated his offers of mediation he therefore declared his intention of sending a fleet to join the dutch in the north Sea And at the same time maintaining a Squadron in the mediterranean he promised to employ his diplomacy in their favour Wherever he had influence in europe and to assist their intrigues with all charles discontented subjects As soon as he was informed of charles Treaty with the bishop of monster he sent a corps to join the dutch troops who are resisting the prelate The conduct of the french showed However How little Their sympathies Lay With Their nominal allies They behaved as if they were in a hostile Country they pillaged the people and insulted their religion they openly cursed the dutch cause and they drank publicly in the market place of maastricht To the health Of the king of england and the bishop of munster the French commander successfully avoided every favourable opportunity for attacking the bishops Troops and indeed acted in such a way as to raise to the utmost the ill will already existing between the two nations nevertheless the fact that France Was An Alliance With The Dutch and had actually declared War Against England January sixteen Sixty Six had given Far greater weight to the Diplomacy of the states general they baffled charless ambassador in Sweden and succeeded in restraining that country From joining england they formed with Denmark an alliance february eleventh Sixteen Sixty Six By Which She bound herself to Place forty Ships At their disposal the elector of brandenburg February sixteenth Sixteen Sixty Six Promised to force the bishop to make Peace and the Heads of the house of Brunswick luna Bergen consequence offered their goodwill Heavy subsidies Were paid by the dutch in each case the result was that the warlike bishop was Compelled April Sixteen Sixty Six to renounce the english alliance and to sign an ignominious piece when the rival Fleets Again Put to see in the early summer of sixteen Sixty Six england was Without an ally From Bergen to Bayonne there was not a friendly port open to her ships.

Six months later, October 27th, 1666, after the campaign which has now to be described, these different treaties were completed and confirmed by a closer defensive alliance for ten years between the Republic, Denmark, Brandenburg, and Brunswick-Luneburg, by which each power agreed to assist the others with all its forces in case of new aggression.

It thus relieved the Republic from her dangerous dependence on Louis, and it was the first sign of that tendency to coalition against France which henceforward is so marked a feature of the politics of Europe.

Das macht voll Sinn, was du sagst.

Ich weiß gar nicht genau, was ich dazu jetzt noch hinzufügen kann, aber es gab bei einem Screening, äh, auf der Berlinale einen Moment, wo sich 'ne Person aus dem Publikum gemeldet hat, ähm, die an einer Opferberatungsstelle für Menschen rassistisch--, die betroffen von rassistischer Gewalt sind, arbeitet in Brandenburg und die, ähm, ein bisschen darüber gesprochen hat, wie grade so der Arbeitsalltag aussieht von den Menschen, die halt noch in sozialen Einrichtungen, in progressiveren, ähm, Anlaufstellen oder Vereinen Initiativen arbeiten, ähm, in Orten, die für viele Menschen, die von Rassismus betroffen sind, mittlerweile eigentlich zu No Go Areas geworden sind und, ähm, halt so 'n bisschen darüber gesprochen hat, was das mit ihr gemacht hat, diesen Film jetzt zu schauen.

Das waren halt überwiegend so sehr positive, aber auch natürlich krass schmerzhafte Emotionen, weil, ähm, sie das Gefühl hatte, dass, ähm, der Film halt den Widerstand zwar voll stärkt, aber gleichzeitig halt auch aufzeigt, was, was man riskiert, wenn man bleibt.

Also Seo Kim unsere Protagonistin, ist eben halt auch so, ähm, ihre Superpower ist auf 'ne Art, dass sie halt sich nicht vertreiben lässt, sondern dass sie immer weitermacht und aufsteht und eben in diese Selbstverteidigung geht.