Beef Stroganoff

One of my all time favorites, Beef Stroganoff (sometimes spelled Stroganov), developed in Russia in the second half of the 1800s. The "supposed" original recipe had no mushrooms. It is often served with noodles or rice, but I am a mashed potatoes guy, although I have also had it with noodles. I checked a number of serving suggestions before I wrote this, and a couple mentioned that Russians often serve their famous dish with crisp potato sticks, which are similar to shoestring (French) fries. I also found another serving suggestion which included mashed potatoes as being common in Russia. YES! As with all popular recipes, there are numerous variations for Beef Stroganoff, including the addition by some of white wine, some use Port wine, some use already prepared mustard of the Dijon type, some use a portion of tomato sauce. I even found that some use no sour cream! Now that's just over the line! I hope Vladimir Putin has their computer accounts hacked.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons neutral oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound of pretty lean, boneless beef, cut into strips or small chunks
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons flour (well mixed with the stock)
3 tablespoons sour cream (regular or lower fat style is fine)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon salt (use according to the amount of salt in the beef stock)

Heat the oil and butter over medium heat in a large heavy skillet. Add the onion and meat, then reduce the heat to medium low. Lightly brown the meat as the onions soften. Add the mustard and stir to mix. Add the beef stock (reserving about 4 tablespoons to mix with the flour). Bring to a light simmer and cook until the beef is tender. Add the salt and pepper, mix. Gradually add the flour mixed with the beef stock, stirring constantly until the broth thickens, giving the dish a couple of minutes to cook to eliminate the raw flour taste (you can vary the amount of flour/stock, according to how thick you like the sauce). Add the sliced mushrooms and continue cooking for just another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream.   

I had my "Beef Stroganoff" with mashed red skin potatoes and sliced tomatoes with homemade honey French dressing. * I tried washing the potatoes with easy on the skin detergent, but the potatoes still had red skin. Sometimes you just can't win.

* This is the link to my article with the homemade honey French dressing: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/08/homemade-honey-french-dressing.html

WORD HISTORY:
Pound-English has three different words "pound," but this is the noun for the "measurement of weight." The word goes back to Indo European "pen" (which had a variant, or was the variant form of, "spen"), which had the notion "to stretch, to draw out." This gave Latin "pondus," which meant, "weight," and the derived, "pondo," meaning, "by weight." This was borrowed into Old Germanic as "punda," with the meaning, "weight," but also with the developing sense of "a specific measurement of weight." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "pund," with the meanings, "measurement of weight, measurement of money, a pint in liquid." The spelling changed to "pound" several centuries later. Its relatives include: German "Pfund," Low German Saxon "Pund," Dutch "pond," Swedish "pund," Icelandic "pund," Danish "pund." Frisian once had "pund/pond." I did not find a form in Norwegian, although Old Norse had "pund," but it may not have been retained by the dialects that developed into Norwegian. Note: The Danes ruled Norway for a few centuries, with DANISH being the official language, although Norwegian dialects remained among many people. So exactly why the Old Norse and Danish "pund" did not become part of Norwegian, I have no idea.

Here Come The Cossacks!

While the actual origins of the Cossacks is a bit sketchy, most people probably think of the Cossacks as the elite cavalry of Tsarist Russia, or others may think of the nomadic horsemen of the Russian Steppe. When I was a kid, the movie "Taras Bulba" was released. It starred Yul Brynner, who just seemed perfect for the role as the Cossack leader circa 1600.* Tony Curtis starred as his son. It was one of those movies I saw back in those times that I still remember to this day, as the masses of horse mounted actors dressed in colorful Cossack costumes dashed across the big screen. The film was loosely based on a novel of the same name by Nikolai Gogol, who was actually born and raised in a Ukrainian Cossack community in the 1800s.

The Cossacks initially had a contentious relationship with Russia, at times participating in open revolt against the Tsarist government. Eventually the Tsars saw the Cossacks as great military assets, and in exchange for their military service, they were not taxed. Viewed as elite and loyal servants of the Tsar, they were revered, but also feared by the population, as the government of Tsar Nicholas II used them to help put down the revolution that started in 1905, a good deal of which took place in the countryside. This role was not to be repeated in the revolution that swept through Russia in the late winter of 1917. With many Cossack units serving at or near the front line during World War I, the Cossack units, and for that matter, other army units, stationed in the capital of St. Petersburg (renamed Petrograd during the war) were largely made up of recruits and reservists who were witnesses to the lack of food and the terrible suffering of the population. When protests erupted, they did little to quell the disturbances, which encouraged more of the population to join in, and in fact eventually, these units went over to the revolution, helping to bring down Nicholas II and tsardom in favor of a "provisional government," which itself was overthrown later that year by the Bolsheviks.** This precipitated a civil war in Russia, with Cossack troops serving both in support of the Bolshevik government, as well as in opposition. When the Bolsheviks finally emerged triumphant, untold numbers of Cossacks were allegedly killed (likely true), and Cossack lands were confiscated, as the communist government sought to eliminate the Cossacks as a separate identity, and to bring their lands under government control. Later, many more died at the hands of Stalin and his forced collectivization program, which brought widespread starvation to the Ukraine and to parts of the Caucasus region, both home to many Cossacks. Exact numbers are unknown, but some estimates are that at least a million Cossacks died at this time.

World War Two brought new challenges for the Cossacks. Faced with defending the Stalinist regime, which had so decimated their people, some Cossacks defected and went into service for the Germans, while many others continued to serve in Soviet units. As the Cossack and other Soviet defectors to the Germans often served in units used to combat resistance fighters behind the actual front lines, there's no doubt in my mind that some of these forces participated in atrocities, but the details are beyond the scope of this article, although I may cover such details in a future article. Also, Tsarist Russia had a terrible history of mistreatment and repression of its Jewish population. How much Cossacks participated in this repression is something I need to research more, along with the specifics of the World War Two actions, but I wanted to at least make mention of it here. When World War Two ended, tens of thousands of Cossacks were prisoners of the Allies, who turned them over to the Soviets by agreement among the Allied powers. These were not just soldiers, but family members too, as they tended to travel in family groups. Some committed suicide, and how many were executed I don't know, but presumably all others were sent to labor camps.

There are some books available about the Cossacks, but I consulted the following for some of the information I used here:
"The Cossacks, An Illustrated History," by John Ure, published by Overlook Press, 2002.
"The Cossacks" by Philip Longworth, published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston," New York, 1970.

* Yul Brynner was actually born in the Russian Pacific coast region at Vladivostok.

** Nicholas II abdicated for both himself and his son, who was afflicted with hemophilia. The Bolshevik takeover came to be known to most as "the Bolshevik Revolution."

WORD HISTORY:
Cossack/Cassock-These two words seem to actually be the same word, but the spelling variation and the different meanings having come to English from different "immediate" sources. They both go back to Turkic, a family of languages primarily from southwestern Asia, which then spread into southeastern Europe. ^ The exact Turkic root of the word is unclear, as some believe it be "qaz," which had the notion of "wander," and the various Turkic tribes were often nomads of the Asian plains, but there are other possible Turkic word sources. Whatever the case, the source word expanded to "quzzak/kazakh," with the meaning "wanderer, nomad, free man of the open plain," and this was borrowed by Slavic as "kozak." This gave its Russian descendant "kazak," which was later borrowed by French as "casaque," and English borrowed the word from French in the later 1500s or early 1600s. The word "Kazakh," and its plural form for a Turkic people from Asia, prominently featured in the name "Kazakhstan," is really the same word as "Cossack." The Cossacks' long history as nomadic horsemen made them expert cavalrymen and they eventually became part of the Tsarist military in Russia as elite cavalry units."Cassock" goes back to the same sources, except that Italian called a long riding coat a "casacca," after similar apparel used by the Cossacks. French likely borrowed the term from Italian as "casaque," simply with the meaning of "long coat," and English borrowed it from French in the 1500s. It began to be used for religious clothing in the mid 1600s.

^ The more specific language, "Turkish," is one of the Turkic languages, a language family just as is Indo European, the ancient ancestor of English. Linguists generally use a "family tree" setup in classifying languages, and Turkic has several branches, as does Indo European, with English belonging to the Germanic branch. Turkic also has languages in northeastern Asia. The Turkic-speaking Bulgars were a group that entered southeastern Europe, mixed with other people there, and became the modern Bulgarians, but a form of Slavic gradually replaced their own Bulgar language by about 1400. Bulgar is now extinct, as is Hunnic, the language of the famous Huns, which were also a Turkic speaking people.

Nicholas And Alexandra, The Movie and History, Part Two/End

Russian law required the autocratic ruler to be male, unless all possible male heirs were deceased or unable to assume the throne. This all came about in the late 1790s under Tsar Paul I, the son of Empress Catherine the Great and "supposedly" Tsar Peter III, the grandson of Peter the Great.* While eldest sons of rulers "often, but not always," took the thrones to replace their fathers, Paul, the only son of Peter III, was not guaranteed to succeed his father by law at that time, and his mother, Catherine, had the necessary support and became Empress and Tsarina of Russia when Peter III was assassinated, likely with the support of Catherine, after only a few months as Tsar. Catherine ruled for more than three decades, leaving her embittered son's hatred of her to fester. Not long after assuming the throne, Paul issued the new law about succession. This is important, because Nicholas and Alexandra had four daughters during the early years of their marriage, making them, and the nation, anxious about a direct heir for Nicholas, but if Nicholas had no son, the throne would have passed to another branch of the Romanov family. The desire to perpetuate Nicholas's direct line led Alexandra to begin associations with people who were thought to be able to bring about male children. Hey, I'm not making this up. While Alexandra had resisted conversion to Russian Orthodoxy, once she chose to do so and marry Nicholas, she increasingly became a religious fanatic. The movie begins with the birth of the couple's only son, Alexei. Within just a short time, however, it was found the boy was suffering from hemophilia, an affliction where most external wounds are not usually life threatening, but where internal bleeding can cause excruciating pain and possibly death. The defective gene is carried and passed along in the female line to some, but not all, males.** The "guilt" carried by some mothers is a tremendous emotional burden, and this was so with Alexandra. The boy's condition consumed much of Alexandra's energy at times, and added to her intense shyness and judgmental nature, she very much limited herself to a few friends, none of whom were really from the upper reaches of Russian society, which caused tremendous resentment toward her from that high society, where being associated with the Tsarina was a status symbol. With Nicholas's mother being relatively young when her husband died, she often became the center of attention, as unlike Alexandra, she loved social functions, which only showed others how distant and cold Alexandra was. With no reservoir of good will from others, this proved to be a problem later when Alexandra was heavily criticized by many, including many in high society.  

With no medical treatment for the boy's condition, Alexandra turned even more to her religious beliefs to sustain her and to keep her son alive. She eventually was introduced to a peasant holy man from western Siberia, Grigory Rasputin. This man was thought by some to have tremendous healing powers through a special connection to God, and through the years he was called upon to bring the young Russian heir out of his bouts of bleeding. One thing you must understand, the Russian public, and very few people even around the imperial family, knew the nature of Alexei's illness, as it was a closely guarded secret. This never allowed the Russian people to express sympathy with Alexandra, nor to understand her association with Rasputin. Rasputin was not an official of the Russian Orthodox Church, nor was he an official of the Russian government, thus he is a highly controversial figure in history, for while there are some official records about him from those times, much of the other information about him comes from personal stories and recollections from people who knew him, or "knew of him." As I mentioned in "Part One," Russian society was highly stratified, and the idea that the Tsarina, and even the Tsar himself, to some extent, would associate so closely with a peasant was a scandalous story to begin with, but stories about Rasputin's earlier life, as well as his contemporary life, circulated and cast a major shadow over the dynasty, as those stories often had to do with promiscuous sexual adventures, conflicts with religious leaders and later with drunkenness. I'm not sure the movie quite conveys the importance of Rasputin to undermining the dynasty's prestige, although it does try.

The film has several very good scenes, including "something of a reenactment" of what came to be called "Bloody Sunday," where thousands of workers peacefully marched from various parts of the capital of St. Petersburg in order to present a petition to the Tsar about dealing with their wretched working and living conditions. Police and military units opened fire, killing and wounding many, and while Nicholas had not authorized the slaughter, it brought many Russians to call the Tsar, "Bloody Nicholas," which was used to some extent to recruit revolutionaries to overthrow the government. A revolution broke out, but was gradually suppressed, although the Tsar finally relented and signed off on reforms, including the establishment of a body of elected representatives, called the "Duma," which began to place limits on his power, thus beginning a move into constitutional monarchy. After peace was restored, however, Nicholas began to retreat from some of these reforms, but with peace, some land reforms which began to give some peasants control over their own land, and a large presence of secret police (the "Okhrana"), the dynasty seemed to have righted itself, so much so, that the film veers off to show a demoralized Lenin living in exile, pining for what he believes is a never to be revolution.

Russian involvement in World War One gradually brought turmoil to Russia and to the dynasty, as defeats mounted, the lack of weapons and ammunition became acute and a lack of food, especially in the major cities, brought hungry people to question the authority of the Tsar. The Tsar made an ill-fated choice to take direct control of the Russian army, although in reality it was more symbolic, but by remaining at the military headquarters for long periods, he was gone from the capital, leaving Alexandra in charge of day to day governmental matters. Remember, Alexandra was born a German, and with Russian armies suffering devastating defeats at the hands of the Germans, Russians looked for a reason, a reason which seemed all too obvious to many; that is, Alexandra was a German spy, passing along valuable military information to her cousin Kaiser Wilhelm II (remember both were grandchildren of Queen Victoria). Further, her association with Rasputin, who had taken to heavy drinking, tainted matters even more, as he associated with people thought to be German agents by some. Those in government who criticized Rasputin soon earned the enmity of Alexandra, who saw in the, by then, famous peasant, the only way to keep her son alive. Government officials were replaced at an alarming rate, all with Nicholas's consent, but the public saw the changes as Rasputin dictating to the Tsarina, who was in the public mind, running the country. Many of the changes proved unpopular, as men were appointed who had no confidence from the elected representatives of the Duma. Revolution moved closer and closer.  

In another of the great scenes of the film, Nicholas's mother travels to see him at his headquarters. This scene never happened in real life, but it is used by the script writers to depict the real historical attempts by several Romanov family members to convince Nicholas of the changes he needed to make, including the sending of Alexandra to their vacation palace in the Crimea*** to keep her from real and perceived meddling in governmental matters. No question about it, Nicholas had great difficulty opposing his wife. In the movie, Nicholas's mother questions all of the replacements to the officials by incompetents, as well as telling her son how she wished his father were still alive, because, "he knew how to be a tsar." There's the unfavorable comparison to his father. She also tells her son that his father would have known how to deal with Rasputin, which brings a defense of the peasant by Nicholas, but his mother's further questioning of Alexandra's close association with Rasputin brings the admission by Nicholas that his wife "needs him (Rasputin)," and that she believes "he keeps my son alive." In my opinion, this whole scene, which is more extensive than I have noted here, sums up Nicholas's rule in just a few minutes. Not long thereafter, Rasputin is killed in a conspiracy involving Nicholas's nephew, Grand Duke Dmitry, and his friend, Prince Felix Yusupov. The Duma celebrates, but the problems don't go away. Revolution breaks out and Nicholas's train is halted as he tries to get back to his family at one of their palaces just outside St. Petersburg.**** Faced by representatives of the Duma, Nicholas abdicates, and in a legally questionable move, abdicates for his son, thus ending the Romanov dynasty. There is a great deal of historical basis for these film scenes.

Nicholas is allowed to return to his family and they are held as prisoners at the palace until they are sent off to Siberia by the "Provisional Government," as the replacement government was called. In the meantime, Lenin is helped to enter Russia by the Germans, with whom he promises to make peace, as Russia still remained at war at that time. The Bolsheviks plan and execute a revolution of their own against the Provisional Government, whose unpopular decision to continue the war undermines their hold on power. The Bolsheviks overthrow the government and new revolutionary guards are sent to take control of the Romanov family in Siberia. Again, all of these scenes have basis in history, as does the end, as the family is awakened and told they are leaving. They are led to the basement of the house and as they wait, the door opens and Bolshevik guards enter and begin firing. When the movie was filmed, the bodies of the family had not been located, but in more recent times the remains of Nicholas, Alexandra, their five children, a doctor and three servants have all been recovered and identified by DNA and other tests.*****

There are many books and articles about the Romanovs and specifically about Nicholas and Alexandra, but I consulted: "Nicholas and Alexandra," by Robert K. Massie,originally published by Atheneum, New York, 1967, with an edition published in 2000 by Ballantine, New York, and another edition published by Random House, New York in 2011.

* The actual father of Paul has long been in question. For one recent perspective see:  "Catherine the Great, Portrait of a Woman," by Robert K. Massie, published by Random House, New York, 2011.

** Queen Victoria had four sons, with only one, Leopold, suffering the from the bleeding disorder.

*** This palace, Livadia, near Yalta, was later used near the end of World War Two for the meeting of the "Big Three," Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt, often called, "the Yalta Conference." .

**** Because of the German name of the capital, early in the war the official name of the city was changed to the Russian form, "Petrograd."

***** The movie does not have the servants with the family. Also, there has been a dispute between some scientists over which remains are the Tsar's daughter Maria, and which belong to daughter Anastasia. The bulk of the remains were recovered in the early 1990s, but the remains of the last two children, including Alexei and one daughter (either Maria or Anastasia) were recovered and identified just a few years ago, not far from the location which had held the other remains. The Bolsheviks had long said they had buried two of the bodies separate from the others.

Photo of the 1999 Columbia Pictures DVD

WORD HISTORY:
Tarry-This word, related to "tear" (the form pronounced as if "tare," and meaning "rip"), and now generally meaning "stay somewhere, linger," goes back to Indo European "deregh" (from the root "der"=tear, rip, flay), with the notion of "pull, tear," with the additional meaning "excite, irritate," a meaning that "may" come from the idea of tugging at someone "irritating" them ("exciting," in the broad sense). This sense seems to only have been retained in the West Germanic branch of Old Germanic,^ as "tergjan(an)," with the same general meanings. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "tirgan" (the Brothers Grimm^^ also give it as "tyrgan"), which meant "excite, worry, irritate" ("worry'' is something that "tugs" at your mind, and also "irritates"), as obviously the former secondary meaning of Old Germanic was retained as the primary meaning in English, although the "pull" meaning "may" have remained among the common people, as the word eventually became "terien" (before the modern version) and the meaning retained the "irritate" meaning, and thus by extension, "to tease, to harass," but also "to delay, to hesitate," perhaps from the old notion of "pulling, tugging;" thus "holding back, delaying." The modern word certainly conveys the sense of "linger for a certain purpose, or expectation," thus that purpose "pulls at" one, keeping one from moving on. Relatives in other Germanic languages: German has "zergen," which is now somewhat dated, but means, "to provoke, to bring to anger;" Low German Saxon "targen," meaning "to provoke;" Dutch "tergen," meaning "to provoke, to taunt." West Frisian once had "tergje," which might still be used by some, but is no longer common from what I've been able to find, and Danish, Norwegian and Swedish (all from the North Germanic branch of Germanic) borrowed forms from Low German, although the Danish form, "terge," has apparently died out, and the Swedish form, "targa," has either died out or is purely dialectal, while Norwegian "terge/terga," means "rile;" that is, "provoke."

^ The main modern languages of the West Germanic branch of Germanic are: English, German, Low German, Dutch, West Frisian, East Frisian (only a small number of speakers still exist), and North Frisian (a very small number of speakers).

^^ While most of us likely think of fairy tales when we see "the Brothers Grimm," the brothers also compiled an extensive German dictionary, complete with many word histories, often including the links of those words to English and other Germanic languages, which they began publishing in the mid 1800s.  

"Nicholas And Alexandra," The Movie and History, Part One

This beautifully filmed 1971 movie, directed by Franklin Schaffner, who also directed "Patton," is "based" upon actual historical events as presented in the 1967 book of the same name by Robert K. Massie. Massie was motivated to write the book, as his son had hemophilia, just as Nicholas and Alexandra's son, Alexei, who had been afflicted with hemophilia in the early 1900s. Many years ago when I was in college, I had daytime classes, as well as some evening classes. One of the movie theaters a few blocks away had matinees on certain days with low price admission, and if there was a movie that interested me showing, I'd go there between classes. It's been so long ago I can't remember the price, but it could well have been like fifty or seventy-five cents, but remember, this was the early 1970s in money value. Anyway, that's how I first saw "Nicholas and Alexandra," although they may have charged a little more for admission to see it. The movie is more than three hours long and is available on DVD.

History shows us that Nicholas was not prepared to become the Tsar of Russia, as his father, Tsar Alexander III, was a huge man, who some have said was symbolic of the "Russian bear." He was physically strong, but also strong and confident in his beliefs, and he acted decisively when so required. This all led people to believe he would continue as Tsar for many more years, but at the age of only 49, Alexander III took ill with kidney disease and died within a few months. This brought his eldest son Nicholas to the throne of Russia at the age of 26. While Alexander III was a big man, Nicholas took after his much smaller mother, Marie, who was a Danish princess. Throughout his life Nicholas found himself being unfavorably compared to his father, both in physical stature and ruling stature, a fact mentioned in the movie.

Alexandra, her Russian name, as her real name was "Alix," a German rendering of her mother's name, Alice, was born as a princess and a Lutheran in the German Grand Duchy of Hessen und bei Rhein, at Darmstadt. Her mother died when Alix was only six years old. This brought her maternal grandmother to assume the duties of providing for the young girl's education through tutors and, to a great extent, for her general upbringing. Who was her grandmother? None other than Queen Victoria of England, as Alice had been her daughter. So as some historians have pointed out, Alix was born a German, but raised more as an Englishwoman. She spent much time with her grandmother in England, where the queen taught her about "noblesse oblige;" that is, the idea that noble birth requires the person to act responsibly and with charity toward those less fortunate. It was a concept Alix continued to pursue to a "selective" extent when she became Tsarina of Russia, but with limited success. It is important to remember, Alix was born in Germany, a "limited" constitutional monarchy, where the Kaiser (emperor) was "somewhat limited" in his authority by the elected representatives of the Reichstag (the German parliament), and she spent long periods of time in England with her grandmother, where the British monarchy was much more of a constitutional monarchy, and where Parliament had much more say. So she had seen and experienced democracy to varying degrees. When she married Nicholas, she married into an "autocracy" (see Word History below); that is, a nation governed by someone with unlimited power. There was NO legislative body of representatives elected by the Russian people at the time of Alix's arrival in Russia, although that did come, but not until much later.

Alexander III's death not only brought an unprepared Nicholas to the Russian throne, it brought the hurried marriage of Nicholas and Alix. Alix had at first turned down Nicholas's marriage proposal, as in order to marry him, Russian law required that she would have to convert to Russian Orthodoxy. She eventually relented, and she was rushed through her religious instruction, but more especially her learning of the Russian language was not far enough along for her to feel confident in its use.* This began a division with her Russian subjects right from the start, as Alix suffered from what some have described as pathological shyness (depicted in the movie), and the insecurity of her limited knowledge of Russian left her appearing cold and haughty to many Russians. Further, Russian society was dominated by a very small number of nobles and aristocrats, and that society had little, if anything, in common with her upbringing in Germany and England. Her "Victorian" values were neither appreciated nor welcomed by Russian high society, where extramarital affairs were commonplace and pretty much expected. She later tried to form sewing and knitting circles to make clothing for the poor, but the whole thing was not a great success, as many Russian society women had disdain for such an idea. In the Russian high society, the nobility and the aristocrats flaunted their wealth and power.

The rest in "Part Two" ...

* Like English, Russian is an Indo European language, but from the Slavic branch, so further down the family tree of English, which is from the Germanic branch. Further, Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet. While her Russian improved over time, Alix and Nicholas conversed in English! As I recall, she spoke to her children in English and German, and indeed often instructed them in both languages. Nicholas spoke to his children in Russian. Nicholas was related to English royalty, as his mother's sister was married to Queen Victoria's son Edward, who would later become King Edward VII (of cigar fame), when his mother passed away. Hopefully not to confuse you, but in case you haven't noticed, Edward was Alix's uncle, as he was her mother's brother. Nicholas was also closely connected to the German nobility, as both of his grandmothers were Germans, and both, like his wife Alix, were from Hessen!  
 
Photo from the Columbia Pictures DVD

WORD HISTORY:
Autocrat-This compound word, meaning "a person with absolute/total power," was borrowed from French circa 1800. The word had come from Greek "autokrates," which meant "ruling singly, ruling by oneself." This came from Greek "autos," a word of uncertain derivation, meaning "self," and "kratia," which meant "rule," from Greek "kratos," which meant "power, strength." This came from Indo European "kretis" ("power/strength") from the root "ker/kre," which had the notion of "hard," giving the further notion of "strength," and thus, "power."

The Winter Olympics

NOTE: No "Word History" for this article

So the 2014 Winter Olympics, held in Sochi, Russia, have ended without any terrorist incident, as the biggest problem was the warmer than expected temperatures wreaking havoc with ice and snow conditions for some events. From comments made on television, Russia did a really good job. The great thing is, athletes from all over the world come together to compete in front of large television audiences, as well as the live audiences at the various event venues. They have given much time in training to perfect their skills and in using those skills in various competitions leading up to their being selected for their Olympic teams. Some have their dreams shattered early on, others enjoy the ultimate triumph of winning a gold medal. All can be proud for just having been chosen to participate.

For about two weeks the world comes together briefly to compete and to show national pride, but hopefully not so much national pride as to get in the way of showing respect for the achievement other nations' athletes. Yes, we want our own athletes to win, but there is no shame in giving credit to athletes from other countries, in spite of the broken hearts felt when others triumph over us. No nation will go into decline because their athletes didn't win a ski, skating, snowboarding, hockey, sledding or curling match. All participants have tremendous athletic abilities, which I appreciate, seeing that I've never even tried ice skating, not that I'm about to try at my this point in my life, as I have enough physical ailments and I don't need to shorten any time I have left on this earth, if I can help it. I'll miss the games, but their absence makes me appreciate them more when they return.

ABC Wide World of Sports debuted in the early 1960s when I was a kid, mainly televising track and field, swimming and winter sporting events. I watched it often and their introductory segment became famous for the saying, "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat," which brought the comedic paraphrase, "The thrill of victory and the agony of da feet," a saying which will become pertinent again in just two years, as the Summer Olympics will occupy center stage.

The Olympics gives small nations the chance to compete and to excel. A special mention here for the Jamaican bobsled team. I'm not a weather historian, but when was the last time it snowed in Jamaica? Maybe like the Ice Age? The triumphs of countries like Norway and the Netherlands should not make any American fear that Norwegian ski troops will soon be invading the slopes of the Rocky Mountains, or that Dutch skaters may come skating across the Atlantic to reclaim Manhattan, although they may drink a "Manhattan." * Perhaps the likes of Lush Limbaugh and other spewers of hate have had nightmares about Canadian hockey players occupying parts of our northern states, but no, I think the nation is safe and we can be proud of all of our Olympic athletes, and they don't have to have a medal for us to be proud of them, but to those who won medals, a special ovation and pat on the back for a job well done. Now... about that Manhattan ... where are those Dutch skaters?

* For those unaware, a "Manhattan" is a cocktail typically of whiskey, sweet vermouth, angostura bitters, and a cherry, but there are variations.

Tea Time

Expanded a bit on 12-27-2015 and photo added, as well as a little editing on 8-19-21

Tea drinking apparently goes back at least 4500 to 5000 years in China. It wasn't until the mid 1500s that western Europeans came into contact with tea, as the Portuguese settled in Macao (also "Macau") in southeastern China, which remained as a Portuguese colony until 1999! Then Dutch traders established themselves in southeastern Asia in Indonesia in the early 1600s, which later became the Dutch colony "the Dutch East Indies." The mid 1600s brought the marriage of England's King Charles II to a Portuguese princess, who made tea drinking a prominent feature among the nobility. The price of tea in those times was prohibitive for the spread of the drink to those not in the upper classes, but increased trade and involvement in India brought more tea, and lower prices, and sugar, into England. It wasn't long before the British began to sweeten their tea with sugar from the New World and tea drinking became popular with the general population, making tea the national drink. The ancestral homeland of the English (the Anglo-Saxons) is northern Germany, and their close relatives, the Saxons and the Frisians, still inhabit the area. The similar climate to Britain along the North Sea coast of Germany, and the availability of tea from Dutch importers, made tea a popular drink with the Frisian and Saxon population of the area, where tea is still the regional beverage. In the East Frisian part of northern Germany, rock candy is used to sweeten their tea, with some cream carefully layered a bit below the surface. The idea is to provide three distinct tastes: the bitter black tea at the top, the tea/cream mixture in the middle, and then the addition of the sweetness of the melting rock candy near the bottom. The East Frisians are known for their pickiness for black tea and their brands are considered topnotch.

Russians have had a strong attachment to tea going back to the 1600s, although its high price initially limited its availability to the upper classes. Russians traded directly with the Chinese by overland route, organized in caravans. It was quite a trip and "supposedly" the tea acquired a smoky flavor from being near the campfires during its long journey,* a characteristic still common in the most popular form of black tea in Russia, although the flavoring is now added. It is the national beverage of Russia, although vodka drinkers may question that... hic! Hey, I'm a tea drinker, honest!

Chai is a spiced black tea (sometimes green tea) and is my favorite. Chai typically has a lot of milk and sugar, and you can most certainly get it in any Indian or Pakistani restaurant in the U.S. or elsewhere. I make my own, pretty much every day, although I'm sure some Indians might not approve of my recipe or technique, although from what I'm told, there are considerable variations, even in India. Generally chai is black tea in about a 50-50 milk/water mixture, but I use far less milk (I use evaporated milk). When I've bought chai at Indian restaurants, it has always been very sweet, and I make it somewhat less so. I use fresh grated ginger, some ground cardamom, a bit of ground cloves (and often some ground allspice, too), a small bit of mace (or nutmeg), and some ground cinnamon. Some Indians or Pakistanis use black pepper in chai, too, and others use fennel seed. After letting the spices steep for awhile, you can strain the tea into your cup. You can buy tea bags already with a spice mixture in them, but I've never been very impressed with the result. You can also put the ingredients into a pan and gently boil the mixture. In this case, I tend to use a cinnamon stick, rather than ground cinnamon, as well as whole cloves and crushed cardamom seeds. I prefer to add the milk after the cooking is done, but you can cook it right along with the tea. Note: A while back, I also started using black pepper in chai, sometimes ground or sometimes whole crushed peppercorns. It gives the chai that added "zip."  

* It seems a bit of a stretch to me that tea packed for such a trip would acquire the smoky flavor this way. I wonder if at some point some open tea was exposed to the campfire smoke, the users liked it, and they then chose to repeat the process?

 

WORD HISTORY:
Tea-This word comes from a Sino-Tibetan word, "sla/tsla," which likely meant "leaf." Sino-Tibetan is a large language family in Asia and Southeast Asia which is the ancient ancestor of the Chinese dialects, like Mandarin and Cantonese, as well as southeastern Asian languages like Burmese and others. Sino-Tibetan is to these modern Asian languages what Indo European is to English, German, Italian, Russian, etc. Min Nan, a dialect of Sino-Tibetan had "te." Malay, an unrelated language from the Austronesian language family^  in southeastern Asia, borrowed the word from Min Nan as "teh." The Dutch East India Company was a private company granted Asian trade rights by the Dutch government in the early 1600s. The Dutch picked up the word from Malay "teh," rendered in Dutch as "thee," which they then brought back to western Europe, along with a lot of the product itself. English borrowed the word in the mid 1600s as both "tee" and "tea," before finally settling on the latter. Many other European languages borrowed the word from Dutch, for example, German has "Tee" (pronounced "tay"), West Frisian has "tee," French has "thé." Interestingly, the Portuguese had established themselves in southeastern China, at Macao, in the mid 1500s. The Chinese dialect in Macao pronounced their form of Sino-Tibetan "sla/tsla" as "cha." The Portuguese took the term as "chá," which they have retained to this day as their word for "tea." This same Chinese term spread elsewhere, providing forms to Russian and Persian, and from Persian to Hindi and other languages/dialects in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. English borrowed the word, likely from Hindi, as "chai," a term now used more specifically for "sweetened spiced tea." It is pronounced "ch," as in Charles, and "eye."    

^ Hawaiian is from the Austronesian language family, too.

Field Marshal Mannerheim of Finland/Final

"Gustaf Mannerheim"
Gustaf Mannerheim was born into a noble family in southwestern Finland. He was of German-Swedish descent. He attended military (cavalry) school in St. Petersburg, Russia,* and then served in an Imperial Guard unit. Later he served with honor in the war between Russia and Japan (1904-05),** a war which ended with the mediation of American President Theodor Roosevelt.*** He served in the Russian cavalry during World War One and was decorated for his services. Mannerheim, a supporter of the Tsar, was later relegated to the reserves in the aftermath of the Tsar's abdication in March 1917, and he returned to Finland at the end of that year, by which time the Bolsheviks had overthrown the so called "Provisional Government."****

Revolutionary turmoil in Russia gave Finland the opportunity to declare its independence and Mannerheim was made commander-in-chief of the Finnish Army. The major effort of the army was to defend the government during a civil war with socialist and communist opponents. In 1919, Mannerheim was defeated in his attempt to become the first president of Finland.***** In the 1930s, Mannerheim was chairman of the National Defense Committee, which attempted to build up Finland's armed forces. When the Soviet Union invaded Finland in the late fall of 1939, Mannerheim was named Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish armed forces. After inflicting severe losses on the Soviet invaders, the Finns were forced to sign an armistice and cede territory to the Soviet Union in 1940. This brought Finland closer to Germany, as the Finns needed a strong ally against any further Soviet aggression. When Hitler's armies invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Finnish forces participated in the invasion, but with the limited objective of regaining lost Finnish territory. In a secret visit to Finland in 1942, Hitler tried to get Mannerheim, then in his early 70s, and the Finnish government to provide more military forces against the Soviets, a commitment they, at Mannerheim's urging, would not give. The old marshal always tried to keep himself at a comfortable distance from Hitler and the Nazis.

When the tide of war turned in favor of the Soviet Union, Mannerheim became President of Finland in the aftermath of the resignation of Risto Ryti. His appointment was made by special order of the Finnish parliament, as the critical wartime situation could not allow an election. Mannerheim proceeded to negotiate Finland's exit from the war, although the Soviets forced the Finns to wage war on German forces withdrawing from Finland. With the war over and Mannerheim's health in decline, he resigned the presidency in 1946. He died at age 83 in January 1951, highly respected even by former adversaries.

* Finland was part of the Russian Empire, but with a strong degree of regional independence.

** Essentially Russia and Japan both wanted Korea and Manchuria and they fought a war over it. Russia was heavily favored, but the distance from Russian supply, manpower, and naval bases, which were in European Russia, helped give the better led and motivated Japanese forces an advantage. After stunning defeats with heavy casualties, many Russians turned against the war, as they saw little worth fighting for in the Far East. A large part of the Russian population was illiterate or semi-literate, and they knew little if anything about Korea or Manchuria. Revolution broke out, but it was eventually contained.

*** Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. The treaty ending the war was signed in Maine.

**** There were TWO revolutions in Russia in 1917. The first revolution in the late winter of 1917 caused the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, and brought an end to Romanov rule in Russia. The new government was left-leaning, but still supported the war effort against Germany and Austria-Hungary, which proved to be a fatal mistake. The terrible casualties and the economic distress caused by the war helped the Bolsheviks to launch another revolution in the fall of 1917, bringing them to power, although it took them several years of civil war to really consolidate their rule over the entire country.

***** Mannerheim's service in the Russian army made him suspect to some Finns, as did his conservatism.

 Photo is a public domain photo of Gustaf Mannerheim, 1940 (from Wikimedia)

WORD HISTORY:
Whelp-I'll bet many of you have heard or seen this word, but you didn't know what it meant. This word means "pup" or "young animal, cub, usually from the canine family," and is now more of a rarity today, as "pup, puppy and cub" have all overtaken it. Its ultimate origins are uncertain, but Old Germanic had "hwelpaz," which then gave Old English "hwelp," which then became "whelp" by the Middle English period and it has remained such ever since. German has "Welf(e), but it is archaic, replaced more commonly by "Welpe"^ (puppy, pup), Dutch has "welp" (lion cub), Danish has "hvalp" (pup, cub), Norwegian has "valp" (pup, puppy), Swedish has "valp" (puppy), Icelandic has "Hvolpur" (puppy). I did not find a form in modern Frisian, but that doesn't mean there isn't one.

^ Standard German is heavily based upon "high" dialects, and "Welf(e)" is from the high dialects (thus the "f" in place of "p"), but in this case, "Welpe," from the low dialects, overtook it, and is now considered standard.

Allied Commanders of World War Two/Marshal Zhukov, Final

"Georgi Zhukov" Part 4/Final

During the summer of 1942, Hitler planned on capturing the the Soviet oilfields of the Caucasus and on taking the city of Stalingrad on the Volga River; thus cutting off the north/south river route for Soviet supplies. What is termed "the Battle of Stalingrad" was really a series of battles beginning with the German advance to the city and their ensuing attempts to capture the city with Stalin's name.* The Soviet defenders barely held on, but the worn out German forces could not fully capture Stalingrad. With Zhukov in overall command of the region, a massive offensive was planned to destroy the southern flank of the German and Axis front, and in November 1942, the Soviets struck, bringing on another chapter to the Stalingrad battle. Rumanian forces (German allies), on either side of the German forces in the city, were shattered by the Soviet attack, and the German 6th Army, along with some Rumanian units, were surrounded. Now began another phase of the battle; the reduction and final surrender of the German forces in Stalingrad, which took place in early February 1943. Interestingly, when the German forces were surrounded in Stalingrad, Zhukov was transferred north to the Leningrad sector to try organize an attack to relieve the besieged metropolis, which was not successful, although the Soviets did manage to get a quantity of supplies through to the city.

Zhukov went south again, this time to plan a defensive battle against an expected large German offensive around the city of Kursk. Large Soviet defensive works created serious problems for the German attack, and with the invasion of Sicily by the Western Allies, Hitler broke off the offensive in the Kursk area, his forces, especially his armored forces, badly depleted. Then came the Soviet counter thrust, and the Germans never really recovered. Zhukov remained in charge of large Soviet forces headed into Poland and then into Germany itself. In mid April 1945 Soviet forces launched the attack intended to end the war, and Zhukov's forces were given the direct route to the German capitol. Stiff German resistance during the initial part of the Soviet attack brought angry remarks from Josef Stalin, but Zhukov's troops finally broke through and headed for Berlin.

Zhukov served as Commander of the Soviet Zone in occupied Germany after the war, but his popularity made him a target of the paranoid Stalin, who had him sent to remote military posts. Stalin's death in 1953 brought Zhukov into public view again. In poor health from the mid 1960s, Zhukov died in 1974 from a stroke.

* The city was called Tsaritsyn in the days of the Russian Empire, but it was renamed during the early Communist era, after Stalin, in the mid 1920s. In the early 1960s the city was once again renamed, as Volgograd, as Communist leaders distanced themselves from Josef Stalin.

WORD HISTORY:
Man-While there is disagreement on the origins of this word, it likely goes back to the Indo European root "man(u)," which meant "human being, 'man,' in the general sense person." This gave Old Germanic "mann(a)," with the same meaning. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "mann," with the same meaning. Later this became "man." One of the questions about this word is why it took on the meaning "male person" in all of the Germanic languages (English has kept both meanings, "human being," and "male human"). English used "wer" for "male person;" thus "werewolf," "man wolf," but gradually "man" overtook "wer" in this meaning during the 1200s. In the male dominated world of those times, perhaps the general idea of "man," the human being, transferred to the dominate sex, male, but it is interesting that this occurred in all of the Germanic languages, which makes me wonder if this was already a secondary meaning going back in time. The verb form "to man," as in "to supply a group of men to some task," as in "man the walls of the fort," developed from the noun during the same period when "man" was overtaking "wer." Common in various forms in the other Germanic languages: German has "Mann" (male person, also husband) and the derived "Mensch" (person) plus "bemannen" ("to man"); Low German has "Mann" and "Minsch;" West Frisian has "man" and "minske;" Dutch has "man" and "mens;" Icelandic has "karlmaður" and "maður;" Danish has "mand" and "menneske;" Norwegian "mann" and "menneske;" Swedish has "man" and "människa."

Allied Commanders of World War Two/Marshal Zhukov, Part Three

"Georgi Zhukov" Part 3

As Chief of the Soviet General Staff Zhukov faced a daunting task, as German, Rumanian, Hungarian, Finnish, Italian and Slovak forces penetrated deep into Soviet territory, encircling large numbers of Soviet troops and inflicting staggering casualties on the Red Army. Zhukov's problems were complicated by the fact that he not only had to combat the Axis invaders, but he also had to contend with Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, who ordered counterattacks with little knowledge of the actual situation at the front, or with little preparation to give the attacks a chance to succeed. After strenuous arguments, Stalin relieved Zhukov at the end of July 1941, giving him command of a "front."* After some success at slowing the German onslaught in his sector, Zhukov was sent northward to keep Leningrad** from falling to the Germans. Defensive measures were implemented, including minefields, to slow the German advance. Generally small counterattacks sapped the strength of the German and Finnish forces and brought the situation to a stalemate. The Germans had to content themselves with besieging the city until they could bolster their forces for an all out attack, but this opportunity never came.

In the fall of 1941, Zhukov was shifted to the defense of Moscow to halt the German advance bearing down on the capitol. Winter weather and stubborn Soviet resistance brought the German attack to a halt with some German troops actually able to see the spires of the Kremlin off in the distance. A Soviet counteroffensive only a few days later threw the Germans back, but failed to achieve a decisive victory. Still, Moscow had some breathing room and the Germans took up defensive positions. As with Leningrad, the Germans had the idea of renewing the attack when the situation proved more favorable. But also as with Leningrad, the favorable situation never presented itself. The action now shifted to southern Russia and a decisive battle on the Volga River.

Next, the final installment on Marshal Zhukov.

* What the Russians called a "front" was what was termed an "army group" by western Europeans and Americans. An army group or a front was literally a "group of two or more armies serving in the same general area."

** Leningrad was the Soviet-era name for the northern city of Saint Petersburg, which had served as the capitol of Tsarist Russia since the times of Peter the Great, who had had the city built at great cost, including in lives. The Soviets returned the capitol to Moscow. With the fall of the Soviet Union came the renaming of the city as Saint Petersburg, but Moscow remains the capitol.

WORD HISTORY:
Yeoman-First the "yeo" part of this compound; the specifics for the "man" part will be covered in the next article. The ultimate origin of "yeo" is uncertain, but Old Germanic had "gawjan," which seems to have denoted a "piece of land near water; thus land ready for settlement and cultivation." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "gea," which meant "village, region of inhabitants." This then produced "geaman," "a settler, villager," and from this it later took on the meaning "a person who cultivates the land, a farmer." As large landowners became more common, the term was applied to "a common farmer who worked the land on a large estate." This association then led to "a person in the service of a noble." The term is rare in American English, but it is more common in British English, especially because of military units: "Yeoman Cavalry," which were volunteer cavalry used for the defense of England. Later the spelling was "yoman/yeman," depending upon dialect, before the modern spelling. "Yeo" still has some living relatives in other Germanic languages: German has "Gau," an old word for "an administrative region or district, like a county," dating back to Charlemagne (Karl der Grosse, in German), and resurrected by the Nazis for "an administrative district in the Nazi political system, both before and after they took power." It is pretty much confined to use in historical texts now; Dutch has "gouw," "a region or administrative district;" West Frisian was "gea," which means "region."

Allied Commanders of World War Two/Marshal Zhukov, Part Two

"Georgi Zhukov" Part 2

Zhukov moved up through the ranks and remained an officer in various cavalry units until he was sent to command some Soviet forces in Mongolia in the late 1930s. At that time, Japan occupied Korea and an undeclared war flared between Japan and the Soviet Union. Zhukov launched an offensive operation against the Japanese, in what was something of a Blitzkrieg operation, just a week or so before the German Blitzkrieg against Poland in 1939.* The Soviets defeated the Japanese, who were far more reluctant to cross the border thereafter. Zhukov became an instant hero in the Soviet Union. In 1940, Zhukov took command of Soviet forces along the border with Rumania, where Stalin moved forces into Rumanian territory to claim the area known as Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, which then became part of the Soviet Union.

Zhukov was promoted to Chief of the General Staff and he intensified efforts to prepare for a German invasion.** On June 22, 1941 Hitler launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, codenamed "Operation Barbarossa."

* Just very briefly, a Blitzkrieg, literally "lightening war," was an offensive which used air power to strike enemy supply, communications, command and staging areas in the rear areas, as well as on the front lines, while fast moving armored vehicles and motorized artillery and motorized infantry were concentrated at key points to break through enemy positions, bypassing strong points, which were then taken on by the slower moving infantry, who consolidated the gains made by the motorized units. The fast moving motorized units disrupted enemy rear areas, spreading confusion and terror among enemy troops. The motorized columns often had the purpose of encircling large concentrations of enemy forces. Zhukov employed similar tactics against the Japanese.

** In August 1939, Hitler and Stalin reached agreement on a "non-aggression" pact, which also contained provisions for a division of Poland between the two dictators, as well as plans for other countries and territories in eastern Europe.

WORD HISTORY:
Snide-This word goes back to Indo European "sneit," which meant "to cut." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "snithanan," with the same meaning. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "snithan," which then became "snithen," and which retained the "to cut" meaning. This gave English the now obsolete verb "snithe," meaning "to cut," and an adjectival form "snithe" which meant "cutting, sharp." "Snide" developed from these forms, and the meaning once meant "tricky," apparently from the idea of a person "being sharp, cunning." Today it is most commonly heard, at least in American English, in "snide remark(s);" that is "a sharp or cutting remark(s)." English borrowed "cut" which overtook forms of "snide" as the main word for "use of a sharp instrument to make an incision;" thus the little usage of the word. Not so in other Germanic languages (except Norwegian) where forms are quite common and usage much more prevalent: German has "schneiden," Low German has "snieden," Dutch has "snijden," West Frisian has "snije," Icelandic has "sníða" (essentially like "snitha"), Swedish has "snida," and Danish has "snide." All have a meaning "to cut," "to carve," or "to trim." Apparently a verb form has died out in Norwegian, as I could not find it, although I did find "snitt," a noun form, but it seems little used anymore. There are noun forms in other Germanic languages. German, for example, makes fairly extensive use of the base word in various forms: "Schnitt," means "a cut," and in the north of Germany a "Schnitte" means "a slice of something (often bread)," "Schneider" is a "tailor" ("cutter of cloth"), "Schneide" is the "blade of a knife," and "Schnitzel" means "clipping, chip, slice," and is famous as the "slice of meat, pounded thin, breaded and fried, with "Wiener Schnitzel" being specifically veal prepared that way.

Allied Commanders of World War Two/Marshal Zhukov

"Georgi Zhukov" Part 1
("Georgi" also transliterated at times as "Georgy" and "Georgii")*

Notes and Commentary:
First, the Soviet Union took over the former "Russian Empire," which was a multi-ethnic, multi-national empire. Because it was the "Russian Empire," citizens were often called "Russians," regardless of their actual ethnic background.** That terminology continued when the empire became the Soviet Union, and I will continue that terminology here to try to keep things simple, even if not politically correct. Second, while not popular, especially, but not exclusively, with super patriots of the political right in many western countries, we need to remember that the Soviet Union suffered more dead and casualties against Hitler and his allies than all of the western Allies combined. On the other hand, super patriots of the former Soviet Union don't like to hear how western countries helped them stave off defeat early on by supplying them with all sorts of war materials, especially tanks, trucks, etc. I'm just saying we all need to keep some perspective here. Also, I know some of my articles contain extensive footnotes, but I believe it is important to give some explanations about events or ideas. So often books or articles mention something, but the reader may not really know the meaning of that "something." I'm sure I haven't been perfect on this subject either, but I usually do try to give some basic definition to terms used, as well as to express opinions on a particular subject (Hey, it isn't called "Pontificating" for nuthin'...I mean nothing).

Zhukov was born to a poor farming family in the Kaluga area of Russia, southwest of Moscow. The harsh "you're on your own" philosophy of the Tsarist Russian Empire undoubtedly influenced his, and many other poor Russians, beliefs when revolution against Tsardom became likely. He served in the cavalry in World War One, where he further saw the huge differences between the the mainly peasant and worker soldiers and the noble and aristocratic officer corps.*** He was decorated for bravery during the war. He joined the Bolshevik Party after the Bolsheviks came to power by revolution in November 1917.**** He fought as part of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War,***** where he showed leadership qualities and rose to command a cavalry regiment.

*Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian (all Indo European languages, and therefore related to English further down the "family tree") and several other languages (some Indo European and some from other language families) use a different alphabet system called "Cyrillic." It was a writing (alphabet) system developed back in about the 900s (A.D.) and is named in honor of the Eastern Orthodox saint, Cyril. When someone "transliterates a word," they put it into the closest rendering of another alphabet system, and there are variations of how to do this; thus some spelling differences occur.

** Part of the neighborhood where I grew up had a sizable Ukrainian population, those Ukrainians being from the western part of the Ukraine, where Ukrainian Catholic was the predominant religion, not Eastern Orthodoxy, which dominates in the rest of the Ukraine. Understand, defining the "Ukraine" is not an easy issue, as borders have changed numerous times over the centuries, and even since World War One. When I was a kid, it was a part of the Soviet Union, and was called "the Ukraine," but since the break up of the Soviet Union it has become independent and is simply "Ukraine," without the article. Anyway, if you called one of the Ukrainians in my neighborhood a "Russian," most would quickly, but politely, correct you, but a few might even get downright hostile about it.

***Growing income disparity in America over the last three (plus) decades has been making it less and less possible for Americans to rise (or fall) through the social ranks. "Social mobility," as it is called, has declined markedly in the U.S., and the nation now lags behind many developed countries like Canada, Denmark, Finland, Australia, Spain, Germany, and France (based upon statistics from the "Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development"). As wealthy earners pass on wealth to their descendants, the nation has been losing its reputation as a "meritocracy;" that is, a system where people are rewarded, promoted, and paid according to their achievements, as opposed to aristocracy, where people are rewarded simply because of birth to aristocratic families. The push by American conservatives in the last few years to do away with inheritance taxes on wealthy Americans will only make matters worse, as even some wealthy individuals, like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, have noted. You would think the "free marketers" would oppose the elimination of inheritance taxes for the nonsense it is, but not so in many cases. If you notice the numerous European countries on the list above (they are not in any particular order, by the way), many American conservatives like to say, "We don't want to be like Europe." I wonder if this is what they mean? Let's be honest here, there is currently an exemption of 5 million dollars from such taxes (Federal, but there are usually state taxes, too). So, Uncle Randy leaves you $10 million. You get $5 million automatically (subject to whatever state law applies to you), and then you pay (currently) 35% Federal Estate Tax on the other $5 million, leaving you $3.25 million (again, subject to any state law pertaining to you). I have a sneaking suspicion you wouldn't turn down a grand total of $8.25 million because you had to pay a tax of $1.75 million. American conservatives say how unfair all of this is. The tax was once much higher, and should be again, but with a hearty exemption.

**** It is often called the "October Revolution" by Russians, as Russia used the Julian Calendar (developed by Julius Caesar; thus "Julian"), as opposed to the Gregorian Calendar (developed by Pope Gregory XIII) of western countries.

***** The Russian Civil War was fought between the Bolshevik Red Army and the White Army, a coalition of pro-monarchist and anti-Bolshevik forces, including foreign elements. The end of the war is a matter of opinion, as it took the Bolsheviks a few years to actually gain control of the country. Some historians say it ended in 1921, while others say 1923. I lean toward the latter.

WORD HISTORY:
Kremlin-The ultimate origins of this word are uncertain. It goes back to Old East Slavic "kreml" ("кремль") which had the notion of "separate; thus a fortress part of a city or town." This gave Old Russian "kremlinu" which later became "kremlin." English seems to have borrowed the word in the 1600s from either German or French. German had borrowed it initially from Russian as "Kremelin/Kremelien." While used for the citadel/fortress of any Russian city or town, the use of the term for the central part of Moscow dominated even a few hundred years ago, as it still does.

The World In Protest, Revolution or Civil War? Part Five

This was first published in January 2012.


So we've seen lots of protests in various parts of the world during this past year. Some of the protests have turned violent, with governments cracking down in an effort to limit the protests, and to prevent the protests from developing into outright attempts to overthrow the existing order. Even in Russia during recent weeks, large protests have taken place directed at Vladimir Putin and the United Russia political party, over what some Russians see as fraudulent parliamentary elections. So what's going on in the world?

Well, simply put, those in power, officially, or "unofficially," as in interests which support existing orders in various countries (often wealthy, business interests, or religious sects), are trying to maintain their control, while others with little or no power want some changes in their respective systems, if not out and out total change. In America for quite some time now we have seen a politically polarized electorate and governing system. The Great Depression rocked the American political system, bringing progressives, later often termed "liberals," into control of the national agenda. The country never went totally to the political left, as the midterm elections of 1938 gave Republicans* a resounding victory, although their numbers in Congress had dwindled so much since 1930, they had no place to go but up, otherwise they might have disappeared. It showed that America had political balance, since Democrats (see *) had controlled the agenda, and Franklin Roosevelt had pushed the envelop a bit too much for many Americans with his attempt to pack the Supreme Court.** Roosevelt learned his lesson, and he became one of the nation's most beloved Chief Executives, even with many Republican admirers.

The Republicans gradually made headway against Democrats over time, especially on the presidential level, as Dwight Eisenhower won two landslide elections, but the nation's agenda was clearly set by the progressive mindset of the public, and Republican officeholders tended to be moderate in policies and in temperament. Any Republican resurgence was stopped by the scandals of President Richard Nixon, a moderate Republican, in the early 1970s. It wasn't until the late 1970s when conservatives rallied to Ronald Reagan, a former Democrat, that a major Republican victory became a possibility, and a reality in 1980. While Reagan frequently poked fun at himself and was not of a nasty disposition, some of the reactionary elements in the conservative movement saw the chance to repeal progressive programs from the 1970s and 1960s, then the 1930s, and now, in my opinion, from the Civil War (we had better watch out, they may next try to undo the Revolutionary War and we'll all have to learn "God Save the Queen"). The agenda shifted more and more from progressive to conservative since those times. By the 1990s, led by then Congressman Newt Gingrich, the conservative Republicans were in firm, and growing, control of the Republican Party. Confrontation between the two parties became far more frequent, with Republicans in Congress allowing the government to temporarily shut down; a move that proved highly unpopular with many Americans. Conservatives enacted tax cuts numerous times, often skewed heavily toward upper income Americans. Statistics show that income disparity among the wealthiest Americans and the rest of us has grown tremendously since Reagan's presidency, but Americans have taken their eye off the ball, as too many are concerned with other issues, rather than with making the country fairer. Even with Democrats in control of Washington for a couple of years, conservatives boldly put forward proposals to do away with inheritance taxes, both at the federal level, and in many states. The ideological divide between the two parties is frightening to me, and in a way it reminds me of the Spanish Civil War era of the mid to late 1930s. (See next installment in this series about the Spanish Civil War)

* The Republicans of that era were not all the fire-breathing reactionaries some might associate, fairly or unfairly, with today's Republican Party, and Democrats were not socialists some might associate, fairly or unfairly, with today's Democratic Party. No, back then some of the most conservative people in the country, mainly in the south, were Democrats, and some of the more progressive people in the country, often, but not always, in New England or the Midwest, were in the Republican Party. Many of the hot-button social issues of more recent times were not really front and center back then. THE important issue was economics, and since many Americans were, or had become (due to the Depression), "have nots," the issue of fairness and income distribution was a hot topic, with even many "conservative" southerners favoring policies that helped those who were not independently wealthy. Governor, and then U.S. Senator, Huey Long of Louisiana became a champion of average people with his "Share Our Wealth" slogan. Long was a corrupt demagogue, and virtual dictator of Louisiana, but he became so popular by the mid 1930s, both major political parties feared him, especially Democrats, since he seemed an inevitable candidate for the presidency in 1936 as a third party candidate, and his appeal was to people likely to vote the Democratic ticket; thus Long, or his hand-picked candidate, could have thrown the election to the Republicans. Long was assassinated in September 1935 by the son-in-law of a judge Long was trying to have removed from office.

** Roosevelt was dissatisfied with some Supreme Court decisions and he proposed to "expand" the number of justices on the court; thus diluting the strength of a conservative block on the court. Americans saw it as a power grab, which it was, and it was a major issue used against too much power in the hands of Democrats in the late 1930s. Republicans made huge gains in the midterm election of 1938. The electoral message worked, and Roosevelt settled down to governing the country within the established boundaries. He won a third term, and then a fourth term, before passing away in April 1945, just weeks before the surrender of Hitler's Germany.

WORD HISTORY:
Price-This word traces back to Indo European "preti," which had the notion of "give back, return." This gave its Latin offspring "pretium," which meant "price, worth, value, reward." This gave Old French, a Latin-based language, "pris," with the same basic meanings. English borrowed the word from French in the 1200s, with the same French spelling, "pris," which then was altered to "prise," before the modern spelling. The verb form was derived from the noun, seemingly around 1400.

The German Question, Part Eighty-Nine

"A Divisive Treaty" Part One-The General Outline

The "Treaty of Versailles" was the treaty negotiated during the Paris Peace Conference, beginning in early 1919, to put an official end to the state of war between Germany and the Allies, and to determine war reparations and border adjustments in general, as only an armistice had been signed in November 1918.* With such a devastating war, with millions of dead and maimed, not to mention the tremendous property damage and economic dislocations, any treaty was bound to arouse passions on both sides, and even among the Allies themselves. The main negotiators were Britain, France, the United States and, sometimes, Italy.** As you can see, Germany was not included in the negotiations, although German representatives did arrive in Paris later, but only to hear what the Allied negotiators demanded, not to have input in the conference. The treaty was signed June 28, 1919.

This treaty is VERY important, and I'll be dealing with many of the specifics shortly, as some of the territorial adjustments went to the heart of the question, "Who is a German?" The treaty had ramifications, and it certainly had modest to substantial effect in helping to bring Adolf Hitler to power.

* Germany's allies signed separate treaties to officially end their participation in the Great War, and it should be noted, that Russia did not participate, as Russia and Germany had already signed a treaty in March 1918 ending hostilities against one another.

** The Italians were not always happy with the negotiations and they left the conference, but returned later. 

WORD HISTORY: 

Snap/Schnapps-I could not find a connection to an Indo European base for this word, but that doesn't necessarily mean there isn't one, although, except for recent centuries, the history on this word is sketchy. The noun and verb forms are from the same base word, and that word, then spelled "snappe," in English, came into English in the later 1400s as a borrowing from Low German and Dutch "snappen," which meant "attempt by an animal to make a quick bite, or seize something with its mouth," and we still say things like, "Be careful, the dog may 'snap' at you." This sense has made some linguists wonder if it is derived from a form of Low German/Dutch "snavel," which means "beak;" that is, the mouth part used for seizing (modern standard German has "Schnabel," a borrowing from Low German, with the "v" changed to "b"). The noun then developed a verb form. This certainly makes sense, and if this idea is correct, it would thus be related to English "nib," which in Anglo-Saxon was "neb(b)," and meant "beak, bill" (Old English also had "bile," I believe pronounced "bill-ah,"="bill, beak"). I have put the related parts in BOLD above. The Old Germanic dialects, including Old English, often used base words with various prefixes or suffixes to indicate specific meanings, and of course, there were compounds, so the "s" or "Sch" beginnings of the above German/Low German/Dutch words is not something uncommon. The "el" ending usually indicated a diminutive; that is, it makes the noun item smaller; thus perhaps "small beak." Old English had "heardneb," a compound meaning "hard beak." The notion of an animal using its beak to "quickly and suddenly" seize prey came to mean "quick bite," or "to grab quickly," in English, and we still use the word in a sort of figurative sense that way in, "I'm going to 'snap' up the bread that's on sale before it's gone." The "quickness" notion came to be associated with the word by the 1500s or 1600s, something still around, as in, "I did the job in a snap." The original meaning seems to have also included the idea of the "quick bite" being somewhat noisy; thus the additional association with sound, as in, "The branch 'snapped' from the high winds," which implies both sound and quickness/suddenness. In German, the idea of "quick bite," came to be applied to a hard liquor for "a quick gulp;" thus German "Schnaps" (notice only one "n" and the capital "S" is because all German nouns are capitalized). Standard German got the word from the same Low German word that gave English "snap;" that is, "snappen," which also gave Low German "snaps." German has the verb "schnappen," often used in the sense, "snap up a bit of fresh air," as well as being used similarly to English.

The German Question, Part Eighty-Four

"The Aftermath of the Great War & The Weimar Republic"
Part I, "The Staggering Toll"

Technically, the war with Germany did not end on November 11, 1918, as this was only an armistice, although the idea that Germany could go back to war with the Allies was more than a little absurd. The actual treaty ending the war with Germany was not signed until June of 1919 at Versailles, France.* Germany's reputation suffered serious damage during the war over cases of brutality and murder against civilians, some documented, others only sketchily so, especially in Belgium, and for their invasion of Belgium in the first place, as Belgium was a neutral country.

With war on such a scale, it is difficult to determine the actual casualties. Further, civilian, and even military, deaths in some countries continued after the war, but these deaths were certainly attributable to the war. On the German side here is what I have come up with: the German military suffered some 2 million dead and more than 4 million wounded, and I believe these figures to be pretty accurate. German civilian deaths are very difficult to determine, but it seems somewhere between 425,000 and more than 750,000 died from starvation, mainly as a direct result of the highly effective naval blockade of Germany.** Austria-Hungary suffered about a million military deaths, and more than 400,000 civilian deaths, mainly from starvation and disease.***

By comparison, the United States suffered some 117,000 military deaths in the war, with 53,400 being given as combat deaths. France lost between 1,300,000-1,400,000 military dead and 250,000-300,000 civilian dead. The United Kingdom suffered nearly 900,000 military dead. Italy suffered about 650,000 military deaths and about 500,000 civilian deaths, mainly from starvation. Russia, that is, the Russian Empire, seems to have suffered 1,800,000 military deaths and some 1.5 million civilian deaths, again mainly from disease and starvation. These numbers are not given to lessen the deaths and suffering of other nations, but purely to provide some comparisons. (A Word History is below the notes)

* Germany's allies signed separate treaties with the victorious powers. Interestingly, both Austria and Hungary signed separate treaties, since by that time, there was no longer a unified Austria-Hungary (see Note ***, below).

** There was not much fighting on German soil during the war, except during the first few weeks, and that was in the northeastern area of Germany known as East Prussia. So civilian deaths from direct military operations were limited.

*** It was not until near the very end of the war that Austria and Hungary formally separated into individual countries, but the war had actually been fought as "Austria-Hungary," which encompassed many different ethnic and nationality groups. Since this series is about Germans, one later estimate put the German part of Austria-Hungary; that is, Austria, as having suffered about 150,000 military dead and about 25,000 civilian deaths from starvation and disease.

WORD HISTORY:
Haversack-I will only deal with the overall history of the "haver" part of this compound here; "sack" will follow in the next installment of the "German Question" series. The ultimate origin of "haver" is unknown, and some sources noted that it may not be of Indo European derivation. In Old Germanic "habra/habro(n)" seems to have meant "goat." Latin had "caper," which also meant "goat," and indeed, modern Italian has "capra" as its name for this animal, obviously derived from the Latin form. Most sources seem to believe that Germanic "habra/habro(n)" and Latin "caper" come from the same source, which has led some to speculate the original word was "khabro/khabra(n)," with Latin emphasizing the "k" (spelled "c" in Latin) beginning sound, but Germanic emphasizing the "h" sound as a beginning. Latin is an Indo European language akin to English, but somewhat further down the family tree. Anyway, in Germanic the theory is, the "goat" meaning eventually transferred to the food often eaten by goats; that is, "oats," as that became the meaning of the Germanic form. The Old Germanic form then gave Old High German "habero," which later became "haber(e)." Meanwhile, the Low German dialects had "haver," and this pronunciation influenced the High German form, which became "haver(e)," and then modern "Hafer" (modern German nouns are capitalized), although "Haber" is still commonly present in some German dialects. Apparently Anglo-Saxon did not have a form of this word originally, but in some of the northern English dialects, "haver" is still present to this day as a word for "oats." This was a borrowing in the 1300s from Old Norse "hafri," as the Danes had a substantial influence upon northern English terms, where the Danes raided and settled. Old Norse is a Germanic language from the North Germanic branch of the family, which includes modern Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese. French borrowed the term "havresac" from German in the latter part of the 1600s. The German form simply meant an "oat sack," and these bags were carried by cavalrymen and then slipped over the heads of their mounts to feed them. English acquired the term from French in the mid 1700s. The term eventually came to mean "a bag that was slipped over the shoulder to carry a soldier's provisions."

The German Question, Part Seventy-Nine

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part Two/I "The Germans At War"

"German Morale Sinks; Public & Military"

During August and September 1918 the Allies, now with full engagement by the Americans, pushed the Germans back. General Ludendorff, knowing the end was near, tried to get a peace deal through the Americans, rather than the French and British, fearing these two would be much tougher on Germany. When that direct approach didn't work, he turned matters over to a new civilian government,* which continued to negotiate for an end to the war, while trying to get the least severe consequences for Germany. Ludendorff, distraught by the military and civilian situation, suffered bouts of depression, with some saying he suffered a breakdown.

Besides the military situation, the German home front was disintegrating. With the German leaders having staked almost everything on a quick victory during the 1914, the nation was ill prepared for a long-term war effort. The production of consumer goods, like clothing and shoes, dropped dramatically as the nation shifted to the production of military items, and scarce natural resources were strictly controlled by the government to give military production the highest priority. The British blockade kept many resources scarce throughout the war. Remember, in those times, the production of many, if not most, items, were much more labor intense than today, and with so many skilled male laborers taken into the military, their places had to be taken by women or older men to do jobs they had not been trained to do. This, and the scarcity of many raw materials, brought a drop in production. Further, with so many people drawn into the production process, there weren't enough people to work the agricultural sector, and food production declined. Here too, the British blockade kept formerly imported foodstuffs, including from American farmers (obviously until America entered the war), from reaching Germany. Winters became especially brutal, as coal, wood, and food were all in extremely short supply. With the war in stalemate for so long, and then with the failure of the 1918 offensives, German morale plummeted. The two revolutions in Russia showed German anti-war and anti-imperialist groups that it was not impossible to overthrow a monarchist regime.**

* Remember, Ludendorff especially, and Field Marshall von Hindenburg, had really been running Germany for about two years.

** The first revolution in March of 1917 forced the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and thus ended the Romanov monarchy. The Bolsheviks then overthrew that replacement government later that year, although it took them several years to truly get control of the vast country. 

WORD HISTORY:
Kinder(garten)-This will only be for the "kinder" part of the compound; "garten" will be in the next installment. The compound itself means "children's garden." "Kinder" (short "i" sound) is the plural of the German word "Kind" ("child"), and in the case of "Kindergarten," "Kinder" is also the possessive form (all German nouns are capitalized, thus the capital "K"). Notice that English has kept the German pronunciation, with the short "i," as opposed to the long "i" pronunciation of "kinder," as in, "she is kinder than her brother." "Kind" goes back to the Indo European root "gen," with the notion of "produce, give birth, give life." Its Germanic derivative also gave English "kin" (sort of literally "produce of relatives or family members"), "kind," with a long "i" ("types of product or produce;" as in, "He has another kind of personality"). "Generate," a word borrowed by English from Latin, is also from the same Indo European source. (Latin is an Indo European language related to English further down the family tree.) The Indo European base gave Old Germanic "kintha," which then gave Old High German "kind," and then later in Middle High German "kint," before returning to "kind," the modern spelling. The actual pronunciation in modern German is that Middle High German form "kint," with a short "i," and the "d" pronounced as a "t." In 1840, German Friedrich Fröbel used the term "Kindergarten" in reference to his ideas and schooling methods for educating young children. So he was the founder of the "Kindergarten." The word came into English shortly thereafter, as his method and schools were taken to England by German Bertha Ronge, and the word "Kindergarten" was used in English without translation. The first "Kindergarten" in America was established in 1856, in Wisconsin.

The German Question, Part Seventy-Six

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part Two/F "The Germans At War"
"A New Enemy & A Peace Treaty"

Both Britain and Germany relied heavily upon foreign trade to maintain their war industries and food supplies. When war broke out, the highly regarded British Royal Navy imposed a naval blockade of Germany, declaring all sorts of items as "contraband," including food products. Vessels of neutral foreign countries were boarded and searched for any items listed as contraband. The Royal Navy mined a large area along the route needed for ships to reach German harbors. There were protests about this policy from various countries, including the United States, as many American companies were dependent upon trade deals with Germany. The Germans protested that Britain was trying to starve the German civilian population into surrender, which was true. There were international agreements spanning decades, and even a couple of centuries, that were certainly being tested by the tight British blockade.*

The Germans, partially in a "tit-for-tat" policy, partially for military strategy, tried to blockade Britain, more so by using submarines ("U-Boats") and "raiders." The British policy was highly successful in restricting goods flowing into Germany. The German policy was never as successful, and in the end, worked against Germany, as the U-Boats sank all sorts of ships, the passenger liner "Lusitania" being the most famous, in 1915, with many Americans aboard, which only served to inflame American public opinion against Germany. President Woodrow Wilson demanded an end to attacks on passenger ships, and the Germans agreed... for awhile. The Germans suspected that America was supplying Britain with war goods by putting such goods on passenger ships. The Germans declared the resumption of attacks on any ships heading for Britain (early 1917).** Further, explosions at American munitions factories were thought to be sabotage by the Germans.*** The German leaders were convinced that America would enter the war against Germany because of the announcement of "unrestricted submarine warfare" by Germany. This prompted the German leaders to try to get Mexico (unsuccessfully) into the war against America by offering the Mexicans American lands previously part of Mexico, like Texas. The communication was intercepted by the British who later gleefully (who can blame them?) passed on the info to the American government.**** The content of the message was given to the newspapers and radio, thus fueling more anti-German sentiment.^ Then more Americans died in the sinking of British passenger ships as a result of the German policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, and President Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany, which came on April 6, 1917. Germany had a new foe.

Meanwhile in Switzerland, Vladimir Lenin and the German embassy made arrangements for Lenin to return to Russia. The Germans believed that Lenin would stir more public feelings against the "Provisional Government" of Alexander Kerensky, and that could only be good for Germany, as it might even take Russia out of the war. Lenin, on the other hand, felt that the revolution that deposed the Tsar was only the first stage of a larger revolution that could possibly bring him and the Bolsheviks to power, and even spread to other European countries. Public unhappiness with the Kerensky government, the continued war, and the control of much of the capital by workers and pro-worker soldiers, brought the Bolsheviks to power in a relatively mild revolution (November 1917).^^ It would take them several years to get true control of the entire country, and in the meantime, civil war broke out. With the Bolshevik government clinging to power and fighting pro-monarchist and other elements of Russian society, the Bolsheviks moved to secure peace with Germany to be able to concentrate their efforts on securing total power. On March 3, 1918, the Central Powers and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (say that three times real fast!) signed a peace treaty. For the first time since early in the war, a German and Central Powers' victory became a possibility. The trains began rolling westward from Russia carrying German troops to the Western Front and carrying Austro-Hungarian troops to the Italian Front. (A Word History is below the notes)

* The attempts by humans to rein in warfare practices are very deep. Let me put it this way; if country "A" is at war with country "B," does that make neutral country "C" fair game if it tries to trade with either, or both, A and B? How about if country "C" is supplying a vital resource, like oil, for example, to an enemy country? Is a policy of trying to starve civilians of enemy countries right? Some argue, if you are a civilian in a country at war, then making you as "uncomfortable" as possible is a part of war, as your discomfort will make you put pressure on your government to make peace. To be honest, countries (in a collective sense), just as individuals, tend to drift back and forth on questions, depending upon the "self interest" of the moment. I know that sounds cynical, but that's just how we humans are.

** The policy was termed "unrestricted submarine warfare."

*** To my knowledge, conclusive evidence was uncovered in some, but not all, cases, although in those cases a good deal of circumstantial evidence was pieced together. Interestingly, one of the "German" saboteurs had been, not in the German army, but in the Austro-Hungarian army. Here we come back to that connection between Germany and Austria. The circumstantial evidence does seem to indicate sabotage, but whether instigated by Germany or Austria-Hungary (or both!), I don't know.

**** Very briefly here, the British had cut German trans-Atlantic cables, so that Germany had to use American cables to contact its diplomatic personnel in North America. British intelligence "tapped" the American cable and intercepted the message. The British, unknown to the Germans, also had broken much of the German code used to transmit messages. This all provided the British with a dilemma; if they told the American government about the intercepted message, they would be admitting that they had tapped American cables, and once the Americans announced that, the Germans would know that their code had been broken. The problems were solved by bribing a Mexican official for the message, and by declaring that they had stolen a decoded text from the Mexicans, which of course, was untrue.

^ On the other hand, some German-Americans and many Irish-Americans were more pro-German, and anti-British in sentiment.

^^ Russians call it the "October Revolution," due to Russia using the old style "Julian" calendar back then.

WORD HISTORY:
Hamburger-Give me the name of any American over about two years old who doesn't know this word! The word apparently was borrowed into American English (in England too?) from German, perhaps in the late 1700s, initially as the term "Hamburg steak," either from German immigrants or from American (English?) sailors who had visited Hamburg, Germany, a major port. It seems to have meant some type of finely chopped meat, but details are sketchy. Hamburg, the city, was founded by "Karl der Grosse" ("Karl" or "Charles the Great"), known in English as "Charlemagne" (the French rendering of his name), who had a fortress built in the area in 808 A.D. The fortress or castle, a "burg" in German, was called "Hammaburg," but no one seems to know just why, although the modern German city of "Hamm" (somewhat southwest of Hamburg) supposedly derives its name from the old Low German word "ham," which meant "corner, bent" and would seem to be related to English "ham," the meat, as the "ham" was from the part of leg behind the knee; that is, the part that "angles, bends." Another possibility for both Hamm and Hamburg is the old relative of modern English "home" and modern German "Heim." I want to emphasize, these are only possibilities, however.