Pljeskavica: Serbian Burgers

These are the SUPERSIZE burgers of supersize burgers, about the size of a salad plate. They come served on special large rolls/buns, called "lepinja" (pronounced as if, "lepeenyah," in Serbian, and they are sort of a flatbread. I bought some extra large rolls to make my "pljeskavica," which is pronounced as if, "pless-kah-veet-sah," but I wouldn't be surprised to find actual "lepinja" here in Cleveland in a couple of areas where fairly large numbers of Serbian and Croatian immigrants settled. Pljeskavica are somewhat spicy, but not terribly so, although you can spice up the meat with extra chili pepper flakes, and by using hot paprika.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground chuck
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 pound ground pork
3 tablespoons water
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika, regular (sweet) or hot, your preference
2 teaspoons (or to taste) chili pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
large rolls/buns for serving (+ butter, paprika and chili flakes)

Knead the ingredients together. Cover and refrigerate for 4 or 5 hours, then take it from the refrigerator about 30 to 45 minutes prior to cooking. Form into patties 6 or 7 inches in diameter (or according to the rolls/buns you will use), and about 1/2 inch thick. Grill or fry the patties on a griddle or in a large skillet. Melt some butter in a skillet, add a little paprika and some chili flakes. Season the cut side of the top of each roll/bun by dipping into the butter mixture. If you have fried the burgers on a griddle or in a skillet, you can just gently dip the bun into the already seasoned meat drippings instead of melting the butter. Place each burger onto a roll/bun and serve with cheese or "kajmak" (Serbian/Croatia cheese spread)* and ajvar/ljutenica, ** or your favorite toppings.

* Here is the link to my recipe for "kajmak:" http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/06/serbian-cheese-spread-kajmak.html

** Here is the link to my recipe for "ajvar/ljutenica:"  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/07/red-pepper-relish-serbian-croatian.html

1) Pljeskavice with just grilled red sweet peppers and with tomatoes and onion on the side  2) With ajvar/ljutenica  3) With kajmak and ajvar/ljutenica

WORD HISTORY:
Cravat-The distant origins of this word are uncertain, and its history is a bit shaky, but it goes back to transliterated Serbo-Croatian "Hrvat," which means "Croat" (where this came from is uncertain). During the 1600s some Croatian cavalry served in the French army as mercenaries. These Croatian troops wore a kind of scarf or cloth around there necks, which was called "cravate," by the French, a term which then spread to German, as "Krawatte," and to English, as "cravat," in the mid 1600s. There "seems" to be an alternate idea that the word originally was picked up by German as "Krawatte," and then spread to French. My German sources indicate the word came TO German FROM French; thus, my history above.

Red Pepper Relish: Serbian & Croatian Ajvar/Ljutenica

Ajvar, essentially pronounced as if "eye-var," and "ljutenica," pronounced as if, "loot-en-eetsa," are types of relish often used as condiments in Serbia, Croatia and in other parts of the Balkans. Recipes vary somewhat by region, but "ljutenica" is the spicy hot version of the relish in most areas. So you can make it mild or spicy hot, as you wish. It is used on sandwiches and burgers, as well as just spread onto slices of bread. When I was a kid, Serbia was often written as, "Servia," and Serbian was often written as, "Servian," but those variant spellings ceased decades ago; at least, to my knowledge. 

2 pounds roasted sweet red bell peppers, or store bought roasted peppers
1 small to medium roasted eggplant (aubergine), about 1/2 to 3/4 pound
1 medium ripe tomato, roughly chopped 
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon hot (or mild) Hungarian paprika
1 hot chili pepper 
2 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2  teaspoon black pepper
pinch or two of sugar

To roast the peppers and eggplant: heat the oven to 450 F. While the oven is heating up, wash and cut the peppers and eggplant in half. Remove the stems and seeds from the peppers. You can rub a little olive oil onto each, if you wish. Place the vegetables cut side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Roast for about 25 to 30 minutes, until the skin on the peppers begins to blacken in spots (the eggplant skin will get a wrinkled look to it). Let the peppers cool a bit, then peel off the skin. You can scoop out the eggplant and toss the skin away, along with the pepper skins.
   
Put all ingredients into a food processor or blender and process until still a little chunky, although some make it into a smooth paste. Often used in the Balkans on burgers there called "pljeskavice." For that recipe, here is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/07/pljeskavica-serbian-burgers.html

WORD HISTORY: 
Aubergine-There is some slight uncertainty about the history of this word, and its ultimate origin is not known, although a Dravidian language may be the source. ^ It goes back to transliterated Sanskrit "vatigagama," ^^ which meant "eggplant." This gave Persian "badingan/badengan," which was borrowed by Arabic ^^^ as transliterated "al-badinjan," and with the continued meaning "eggplant." Large parts of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) were conquered by the Arabic speaking Moors, from northwestern Africa, and this brought the word to the various languages/dialects of Iberia in sometimes slightly different forms. French borrowed the word as "alberge/albergen(?), "perhaps" from a form in Catalan, which then became "aubergine," and English borrowed the word in the very late 1700s, and it finally overtook the word "eggplant" in England and Britain, although "eggplant" remained as the main word, and still does, in the United States and, I believe, in Canada, although "aubergine" is likely used by French speaking Canadians. I dare say that quite a number of Americans would be at a loss if someone told them, "We just bought a nice aubergine." German, a close relative of English, used "eierpflanze" (egg/eggs plant), before borrowing "aubergine" from French in just the past century, although some southern dialects use "Melanzani," a borrowing from nearby Italian. The idea behind the naming of the produce as "eggplant" comes from the oval shaped white eggplant looking like eggs, and the name carried over to the purple color produce too.   

^ Dravidian is a language family of southern Asia, principally with languages spoken in the south of India. English belongs to the Indo European family of languages, and then the Germanic branch of Indo European.
  
^^ Sanskrit is an ancient language from the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo European; thus, it is related to English, although much further down the family tree. It is still in use to some degree, especially in India.

^^^ Arabic is from the Semitic languages, the most common of which are Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew and Tigrinya. Arabic and Hebrew are commonly known in much of Europe and North America, but Amharic is spoken in a large part of Ethiopia. Tigrinya is also spoken in parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea, another East African nation. 

Serbian Cheese Spread: Kajmak

This is sort of a quick version, not traditional. In the not too distant past, and even today in rural areas with cows, sheep or goats, raw milk was boiled and the cream was skimmed off to make homemade kajmak, which was not often commercially produced. This recipe substitutes other ingredients for the raw milk and thus cuts down on the more labor intensive traditional way. This is NOT a weight watcher's delight, but if you don't get carried away, it shouldn't hurt you. In times now gone by in many parts of the world, rich and fatty foods were seen as necessary to maintain or increase body weight, when much more physical labor was needed for many jobs.

This cheese is not only common in Serbia, but also in Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and other areas of the Balkans. In Serbo-Croatian the pronunciation is essentially like, "kai-muk," with the first part rhyming with "eye." It is often spread on bread, or used to top the common burgers of the region, called, "pljeskavice," pronounced as if, "pless-kah-veetsa." For the recipe for "Pljeskavice,: here is the link:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/07/pljeskavica-serbian-burgers.html  I also have a posting for "creme fraiche," which is similar to sour cream, with a slight difference, but it is very easy to make, and you can find it in some supermarkets or dairy stores. For Clevelanders, it is available at one of the cheese/dairy stands at the West Side Market, although, at least, one of the other stands has it "around the holidays," as I was told.

1/2 pound feta cheese, rinsed
1 stick (4 ounces) butter
8 ounces creme fraiche or sour cream
pinch of salt (optional, if using salted butter, you won't need even a pinch of salt)

You can use a beater or food processor. Let the cheese and butter come to room temperature. Mix the feta and butter, then mix in the creme fraiche or sour cream. Mix until smooth.

WORD HISTORY:
Feta-The ultimate origin of this word is unknown, and in fact, its history is shaky, but it seems to go back to Latin "offa," which meant, "piece, chunk," the diminutive form of which was "offetta," meaning, "morsel, small piece." This passed into Italian as "fetta," meaning, "piece, slice," and Greek borrowed the word as transliterated "féta," circa 1600. English borrowed the word from Greek in the first part of the 1900s. 

The German Question, Part Seventy

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part One/E "Europe Moves Toward War"

"The Match Touches The Powder Keg" (Part Two-"The War Begins")

There were many meetings, attempts at mediation and diplomatic communications between the various nations during the time after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the beginning of the war. The whole process was very complex, and most of these matters go beyond the scope of these articles. It will be difficult enough to keep this highly complicated situation as simple as possible here. Since this series is about Germany, the point of view of the German leaders, both civilian and military, is the concern here, and the German military strategy had much to do with the outbreak of what came to be called "The Great War." That basic strategy bears repeating: mobilize quickly, keep minimal forces along the border with Russia to hold off any Russian attacks, first deploy the vast bulk of the German army against France, attack and defeat France and then turn forces against slow to mobilize Russia. So the German strategy, with its reliance on such precise timing (often seen as "characteristically German"), became a major player in the road to war. This didn't make the Germans "wrong," as it was their perception of what they needed to do to survive a war against major enemies on their eastern and western borders. Once Bismarck's policy of keeping the Russians and French (and somewhat, the British) apart was lost, German military strategists could do no more than draw up plans on how to survive a two-front war.*

Some historians have argued that the German upper classes, fearful of the rising workers' movement and its electoral successes for seats in the Reichstag (the German parliament), desired war to unite the country, and slow down the advances made by workers. I'm not really sold on this point of view, but there may be some limited truth to it. It was certainly more true in Russia, where Tsar Nicholas II and the three hundred year old Romanov dynasty faced numerous problems, including pressures about workers' rights. While initially apprehensive about war with Germany, as a major Russian military overhaul was incomplete,** Russian military leaders came to believe the Russian army could, especially with French forces (and deploying British forces) attacking Germany's western frontier, roll over the German army and bring any war to a quick, decisive conclusion. This miscalculation of Russian strength by Russian military leaders also made war more possible. And, as noted in the first part of this segment, Austro-Hungarian leaders wanted to destroy the Black Hand and other Serbian nationalist organizations and seriously limit Serbia's expansionist dreams, thus thwarting any immediate threat of South Slav unity and the threat such unity posed for Austria-Hungary. Emboldened by the open-ended backing of Germany, this hardly restrained Austria-Hungary on wanting to go to war with Serbia.

Austria-Hungary presented an ultimatum with a 48 hour deadline to Serbia, with serious implications for Serbia's respect from others, and thus its own self respect, and it was essentially a guarantee of war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia.*** Germany told Austria-Hungary it backed the ultimatum. Behind the scenes, however, German leaders had decided to act as if they knew nothing of the details of the ultimatum, and the entire German government, including Kaiser Wilhelm, went on vacation as a sort of cover. The idea was, once Serbia rejected the ultimatum and Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia, Germany would plead no knowledge of the matter and would negotiate with the other major powers about the whole thing being between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and this then would keep the war localized and small, with Serbia undoubtedly defeated and Germany's main ally, Austria-Hungary, bolstered in international eyes as being decisive.

At that moment in time, Serbia could not get backing from its foremost ally, Russia, and the Russians advised Serbia's leaders to accept the ultimatum, even the provisions that would have violated Serbian sovereignty. Not long afterward, however, Russian leaders, discouraged by Austria-Hungary's refusal to grant Russia's request for an extension of the deadline for Serbia, decided to take a stronger stance, with the hopes of getting Austria-Hungary to at least begin to back down from the overt threat to Serbia. When this didn't happen, in an effort to put teeth into the Russian stance, Nicholas ordered a partial mobilization of his military "specifically" against Austria-Hungary to begin in a few days. Serbia accepted the ultimatum, except for the part cited in "Note 3," below. European diplomats encouraged Germany to tell Austria-Hungary to agree to the Serbian acceptance, but no such encouragement was given by Kaiser Wilhelm. Serbia, now expecting an attack by Austria-Hungary, mobilized. Austria-Hungary mobilized forces along the border with Serbia in preparation for its (already planned) attack on that country. The system of alliances was now very much in play. "If" Russia declared war on, or attacked, Austria-Hungary, Germany was obligated to declare war on Russia. (Remember, with the German strategy, German leaders felt they had to attack and defeat France BEFORE Russian mobilization had gathered full steam and posed a major threat to Germany's eastern frontier. Thus any Russian announcement of mobilization would force Germany's hand.) With France and Britain allied in ways to one another and to Russia, this would bring them into the war, and indeed, France cancelled all leaves for its military personnel.

Now, just before Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia, Kaiser Wilhelm began to think matters over. He saw the Serbian acceptance of most of the ultimatum as positive, stating that negotiations could work out the parts of the ultimatum not accepted by Serbia. He saw Serbia as humiliated and he proposed making the humiliation even worse by having Austro-Hungarian troops stationed in the Serb capital of Belgrade until all matters were resolved. Wilhelm decided to influence Austria-Hungary against attacking Serbia. The German leaders, including the military, were furious with Wilhelm; so furious, that in communications with their ambassador in Vienna, they deliberately left out any reference to the Kaiser's desire for Austria-Hungary to rescind military plans against Serbia. On July 28th Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

To keep this brief, all of the major powers' system of alliances made the dominoes fall, and Germany's military strategy prompted her response. On July 29, in support of Serbia, the Tsar ordered Russian general mobilization. Germany demanded that the Tsar rescind the order, but Russian mobilization continued, prompting German mobilization. Germany declared war on Russia on August 1. The French ordered mobilization. With France obviously prepared to honor their alliance with Russia, Germany declared war on France on August 3. Britain declared war on Germany on August 4. Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia on August 6. The "Great War" had started. (Italy, Belgium and the Ottoman Empire will be covered in the next segment.)

* Each nation had its own perception of self interest and I'm not making moral judgments here about right or wrong. France needed Russia as an ally in any war to tie down German forces on Germany's eastern border; thus helping to keep France from facing the full brunt of German military power. France needed Britain to help bolster the forces opposing Germany in western Europe. Britain's role in these alliances was perhaps less important as an individual country, as without France, if for some reason Britain went to war with Germany, where would their armies fight? Naval actions were possible and colonial military operations, but in Europe itself, there was no common area. The only major European country that benefited from an alliance with Britain against Germany was France, where British troops could cross the Channel into France and then move to the German border. The strong ties between the British and German monarchies (and other nobility) could have benefited Germany by keeping Britain neutral, but Kaiser Wilhelm's policies did anything but encourage British-German cooperation. Austria-Hungary's desire to crush Serbian nationalist groups and Serbia's expansionist notions was in its interest. More examples could be cited, but I'm sure you get the idea.

** On the other hand, German military leaders were more inclined to war with Russia, simply because the Russian military build up was incomplete in 1914; thus they saw a weaker Russia at that moment. Another strike at any peaceful solution.

*** One of the provisions required Serbia to permit Austro-Hungarian authorities to operate inside Serbia to investigate Serbian nationalist groups and connections of Serbian nationals and officials with the assassination of the Archduke. Just imagine what would happen if another country, even an ally of the United States, demanded (by ultimatum) permission of the US government to have their own officials operate within American borders to seek out anyone associated with some similar incident. That's one thing that would undoubtedly unite many people along the American political spectrum.

WORD HISTORY:
Chancellor-This word's German form, "Kanzler," is used in Germany and Austria as the title for the leading minister of government, and it is equivalent to what some countries, most notably Britain, call the "Prime Minister" (also called the "Premier" in some countries). In Switzerland, "Kanzler" is also used in government (among the majority German-speaking population, and the similar French and Italian words are used among those respective parts of the population), but the position there is not for the leading minister of government, but rather for the head of a federal council. In the United States, it is more common to find the term used in reference to the head of some universities. The word, then as "canceler," came into use in England prior to the Norman Invasion (which occurred in late 1066 A.D.) as a term for the king's secretary (ah, not the kind with a typewriter or computer), who attended to legal matters. Later, probably under the influence of the Norman-French dialect brought to England, it was spelled "chaunceler." Most sources show no history for the word further back than Latin, although one source notes "kar" as the Indo-European source (I'm not sold on this theory). It does go back to Late Latin "cancellarius," which meant "a type of secretary or official who sat behind a latticework barrier in Roman government." The key here is "lattice" or "latticework," as this was the original meaning in Latin. By the way, it is closely related to "cancel," which originally meant "to put lines (like latticework) through some written matter to 'cancel' it out." See how words and their meanings come about. Who would think that a word meaning "lattice" would have anything to do with a position in government AND a word to remove another word or phrase from a text?

Just a note: The English position of "canceler," as mentioned above, having to do with legal matters, and dating to around 1000 A.D., is still around! It eventually became "Chancellor" and then "Lord Chancellor," and the position is still involved in legal affairs, essentially being the head of the courts.

The German Question, Part Sixty-Nine

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part One/D "Europe Moves Toward War"

"The Match Touches The Powder Keg" (Part One)

On our long march through German history during this series, we have seen numerous wars. Most of those wars (and in other parts of the world, too) were not fought so much about the ethnicity (real or perceived) of the people of one region or another, but rather about religion, or more especially about nobles or rulers squabbling over territory and lands with certain natural resources of some kind, or about which particular noble would take the throne of some particular entity. Especially by the 1800s, things began to change, as various groups of people considered their ethnic identity as more important. These groups, including many Germans, often wanted to be ruled by people like themselves; that is, people of the same ethnic background. This created many a "flash point" throughout Europe, as the national maps up to that point had seldom been drawn with ethnic identities in mind. Even when the "new" German Empire was formed, while overwhelmingly German in ethnicity, it was NOT exclusively German, as I pointed out a few articles ago, but rather contained some fairly large minority groups, especially Poles. Now we have entered into the Twentieth Century and the tensions have escalated, as aging empires with many different ethnic groups as subjects felt the strain of nationalism among those ethnic subjects. Serbia, not an overly large country back then, sought to join other Serbians, then under Austro-Hungarian rule, to their nation, as well as to establish a sort of new empire, containing mainly people of close ethnic relation to the Serbs, but who saw themselves as distinct, for any number of reasons, including religion. Serbian desire for a "Greater Serbia" made many an official in the Austro-Hungarian Empire feel that the existing Serb state would have to be reduced or completely smashed. So that's where we are. Like them, not like them; love them, hate them; nationalism and ethnic identity were and are facts.

In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, along with his wife, Sophie, visited the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia-Herzegovina and its capital at Sarajevo. The planned visit was full of tension, as the province had many Serbians or other separatists. The Archduke had previously made it clear that, when he ascended the throne, the various minority groups of the Austro-Hungarian Empire would be given more local independence. As the Archduke's plan might quell Serbian and South Slav nationalism, separatists felt he had to be eliminated. During a motorcade through the city, a bomb was thrown at the Archduke's car, but it ended up rolling under the car next in the motorcade where it exploded, injuring several people, including a couple of officials, who were taken to the hospital. The Archduke, his wife, and the other officials continued the motorcade which ended at City Hall, where a ceremony took place. After the ceremony, the Archduke changed plans and decided to go to the hospital to see those injured by the bomb. Another assassin stood waiting for the return of the motorcade along the originally planned route. The driver of the Archduke's car made a wrong turn onto the street where this man, Gavrilo Princip, was standing. One of the officials shouted for the driver to stop and back up to take the street to the hospital. Princip saw his chance and fired shots at the Archduke and his wife; both died.

Even after all of these years, there is uncertainty about all those involved in some way in this assassination. Basically, the Black Hand had agents, supported in spirit, if not directly (bombs, guns, ammunition, and money) by officials in the Serbian government, who went over the border into Bosnia-Herzegovina and participated in some way in the attack, with some later making their way back into Serbia. Whatever the truth, perception is reality, and Austria-Hungary saw the assassinations as a chance to seriously damage Serbia and to smash the Black Hand.* Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany offered his support to Kaiser Franz Josef and his government to decimate the Black Hand and to go after Serbia, if it was felt to be necessary. Although undoubtedly not seen as such at the time, this open-ended support now put Germany's fate into the hands of Austria-Hungary. With Germany now publicly supporting Austria-Hungary, within weeks the Austro-Hungarian government demanded that the plotters be turned over to them by Serbia, something Serbia refused to do, citing its own sovereignty. This brought an ultimatum from the Austro-Hungarian government; an ultimatum worded so as to be almost impossible for Serbia to comply with and not be humiliated as an independent, sovereign nation. Up to this point, it was thought that any war would be very limited. The problem was, there were so many moving parts in other areas of Europe.** (A Word History is below the notes)

* It certainly didn't help that the Serbian government, early on, denied being in on the plot, and Serbian officials stated that they had warned the Austro-Hungarian government of the attack, only then to turn completely around and state that they had no foreknowledge of the attack. You can't have it both ways.

** Just briefly: Russian government and (seemingly) public opinion wanted Russia to stand up for Serbia in its role as protector of Orthodoxy and Slavic people. France still wanted Alsace-Lorraine. The German military, well aware of the Russian alliances with France and Britain, and therefore the possibility of a two-front war for Germany, had developed plans over time to deal a quick blow against France, and then turn against Russia, if such a war ever came about. This is a VERY important detail, as the Germans, once the Russians, French and British began to show that they would honor their alliances, were faced with enacting their overall strategic plan, or being battered in both the west and the east. Further, their plan rested upon fast action against France. Russia was a huge country with a large military age male population, but it was also an antiquated country, with far removed provinces, where mobilization of its large forces would take several weeks. Germany, with its reservists and excellent rail system, could mobilize substantial forces quickly, deploy a major portion of them against France, and defeat France before the Russians could get sufficient forces mobilized and into the field against Germany, or at least that was the German theory. So, time was of the essence for the Germans, something that worked against peace. The Germans also advocated a quick and decisive surprise attack by Austria-Hungary against Serbia, before too much involvement by other European nations could take place. Instead, the situation festered.

WORD HISTORY:
Gift-This common word is simply a form of the verb "give," but it has taken an interesting turn in meaning in most of the other Germanic languages. It goes back to Indo European "ghebh-ti," which meant "something received or given," a suffixed form, the main Indo European root of which, "ghabh/ghebh," is the source of "give." This then gave Old Germanic "giftiz," which related to a "dowry" for marriage. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "gift," with much the same meaning, "dowry, a family's marriage contribution or portion" (Old High German had "gift," and modern German has the compound "Mitgift," with the same meaning, "dowry"). There are some who believe "gift," meaning "dowry," died out in English, as that word "gift" was "seemingly" replaced by "dowry," a word borrowed from French. They believe English then reacquired the word "gift" in the 1300s from Norse "gipt" (North Germanic), and it has kept that word's most common meaning, "present, something given or received." Others believe this general history to be true, but that the original English word did NOT die out, and that it was simply influenced in meaning by the Norse form "gipt." The interesting turn in this word is, in some of the other Germanic languages, it came to mean "poison, venom." "Possibly" we don't use "gift" with that meaning, as English had borrowed the word "poison" from French, which had replaced our own English word "ator" (which had several forms); thus, no need for another word with that meaning. Anyway, the idea of "marriage portion" (remember, it still meant this in other Germanic languages) came to be applied to a "portion" of other things, including a "portion" or dose of medication, and then later to a dose of "poison," or an injection of venom by insect or snake. So the base word means "poison" in the other continental Germanic languages and they use other words to convey the sense "a present, something given." So, forms of "gift" in the other Germanic languages German and Low German have "Gift," Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish all have "gift," West Frisian has "fergif," Dutch has both "gif" and "gift" (Dutch "gift" has the duel meaning "poison" and "present/gift," which could pose some interesting statements. Hmm....). Only (non-continental) Icelandic varies, and it has "gjöf" for "gift," and "eitur" for "poison" (notice the Icelandic word and the former English word for poison, "ator," plus modern German "Eiter" and Dutch "etter" both mean "pus," and all forms come from the same original Germanic source). The verb form of "gift" came along in the late 1500s meaning "to give a gift to someone," also, "to give as a gift to someone," but the verb isn't very commonly used; at least, not in the U.S. 

The German Question, Part Sixty-Eight

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part One/C "Europe Moves Toward War"

"The Match Moves Closer To The Powder Keg"

The main question in this entire series is, "Who is a German?" By process of elimination for a variety of reasons, we have found that a number of Germanic-based groups, some originally referred to as "Germans," came to be viewed otherwise over time. We found that in 1871, Austria, the leading German state for centuries, was not included in a newly unified German nation.* Even though the German part of Austria remained outside the borders of Germany, the ties between the two countries remained strong, and the overall issue of the "German-ness" of Austria still was not totally solved, although it may have seemed to have been. The alliance between the two nations (and alliances between other European nations) would now help to ignite a war like none ever witnessed up to that time.

The Ottoman Turks had ruled a sizable portion of the Balkans for centuries, including an area known as "Bosnia-Herzegovina," where a large element of the Slavic-based population had converted to Islam. Eventually, restlessness by the population, out and out rebellion, and continued decline of the Ottoman Empire, brought about a deal where Austria-Hungary would occupy and administer the region (1878), and in the same agreement, Serbia, another (South) Slav region,** and Eastern Orthodox in religion, which had earlier gained independence from Ottoman rule, was recognized as an independent nation (as a "kingdom"). Serbia lay on the eastern border of Bosnia-Herzegovina. A few years later, Germany and Russia agreed that Bosnia-Herzegovina could eventually be formally annexed to Austria-Hungary. However, with the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and with Austria-Hungary's restless South Slav minorities, the Serbs more and more wanted to form an independent "South Slav" nation, a nation where they would be the dominant entity. By the late 1890s, the Serbian Eastern Orthodox religion and Slavic identity brought them many supporters in the Russian Empire, where Tsar Nicholas II pulled back from the earlier Russian consent for Austria-Hungary's annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.*** Ethnic and religious unrest, along with various rebellions and military actions, over time, had kept the Balkans region extremely unstable; always with the possibility of bringing clashes between some of the major powers. This question about Bosnia-Herzegovina simply continued this "distinction." In 1908, with turmoil and revolt within the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary took the opportunity to annex Bosnia-Herzegovina, with Russian consent.**** The international reaction was very negative, but in the end, the annexation stood, and Bosnia-Herzegovina became a formal province of Austria-Hungary.

Serbia's dream of leading a unified nation of South Slavs was dealt a major setback, and the Serbian leaders, without support from Russia, had no choice but to accept the annexation, at least in public. With the more extremist Serbian nationalist elements inflamed by the annexation, matters became more clandestine, with anti Austro-Hungarian literature distributed within South Slav areas of the aging empire, in an effort to stir the local populations to revolution. The most famous of the pro-Serbian nationalist groups was the Black Hand, which, in the public mind, has tended to be associated with any of the Serbian groups. The actual Black Hand seems to have led several, although connected, lives. The organization was so secretive, details on all of its activities and editions, including its founding date, are still subject to question to this day.

The Austro-Hungarian Emperor, Franz Josef, lost his only son and heir, Rudolf, to suicide in 1889, making his nephew, Franz Ferdinand, the new heir to the throne. He was the son of one of Franz Joseph's brothers, Archduke Karl Ludwig, who renounced his right to succession, thus making his son the presumptive heir. The new heir was far more liberal in his thinking than his more staid and conservative uncle. He had sympathies for the non German and non Hungarian groups in the multi-ethnic empire, and he made it clear that if he became emperor, he favored regional self governance for these groups within the empire. Conservative Kaiser Franz Josef was not impressed, and the two men were never close.

Next...."The Match Touches The Powder Keg" (A Word History is below the notes)

*Just the constant reminder that the Austrian Empire by that time was called "Austria-Hungary," or the "Austro-Hungarian Empire," as the former empire had been divided between an Austrian (German) part, and a Hungarian part, both with large numbers of people who were neither German nor Hungarian, but with a common Habsburg ruler and a common foreign policy.

** The term "South Slavs" was used to distinguish between the Slavic people in the Balkans (like Serbs, Croats, Slovenians, etc) and those in other parts of Europe (like Czechs, Slovaks, Russians, etc).

*** The Russian Empire was the largest Slavic entity in the world, although it contained large numbers of non-Slavic people, and indeed, non-Russian Slavs (like Ukrainians, for example). Likewise, while many religions were part of the Russian Empire, Russian (Eastern) Orthodox was the dominant and official state  religion.

**** In exchange for Russian consent, Austria-Hungary agreed to provide support for Russian naval access into the eastern Mediterranean Sea; something desired by Russia for quite some time, but opposed by others, including Great Britain. The uproar over the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the possibility of outright war, however, caused the Russians to shelve the idea of their naval entry into the Mediterranean, thus forcing the Russians to accept the annexation, without any benefit for themselves. Remember, all of the major European powers were seeking to maintain some sort of "balance of power" in Europe, although this did not exclude the individual powers from attempting to gain certain advantages for themselves. The threat of a war, which could potentially draw in all of the European powers, brought the parties involved in these maneuvers to step back and take a deep breath; at least up to this point.

WORD HISTORY:
Strudel-Now this is my kind of word! Unfortunately, there is not much information about how German either acquired the word from another language, or developed it from some form of Old Germanic. English borrowed the word from German in the late 1800s, and it goes back to Middle High German "Strudel," which meant "whirlpool, eddy," which it still means in modern German, alongside the name for the pastry. This seems to have gone back to Old High German "stredan," a verb form which meant "to swirl, whirl, boil" (modern German still has the little used verb "strudeln," with the same meaning). I could find no word in Old English that would have been an English form of this word. The pastry name was applied in Vienna, and is thus south German, and it seems to come from the "swirling layers of thin dough" looking like a "whirlpool" when the dough is rolled up. Regardless of the word's lack of better history, I'm sure glad we have it! While it originated in Vienna, it is common throughout Germany, although more so in the south, in Bavaria, where in Bavarian dialect it is pronounced more like "shhdroo-ool." Give me some, regardless of how it is pronounced!