European History Commons^™

Grágás And The Legal Culture Of Commonwealth Iceland, William Ian Miller

Book Chapters

The subject of this chapter is Grágás, the compilation of the laws of Iceland in the Commonwealth period. The chapter begins by outlining the court structure of Iceland and the fundamentals of legal procedure, briefly discussing the importance of law to the conversion narrative in Íslendingabók and its account of the first decision to put Iceland’s laws into writing. It describes the distinctive concepts and customs which underlie the legal system of medieval Iceland, looking at the role of the búi (neighbour) in legal procedure, and explaining the key concepts of helgi (the right of inviolability), grið (domicile, or household …

“Genocide Of The Soviet People”: Putin’S Russia Waging Lawfare By Means Of History, 2018–2023, Anton Weiss-Wendt

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This article exposes the political underpinnings of the term “genocide of the Soviet people,” introduced and actively promoted in Russia since 2019. By reclassifying mass crimes committed by the Nazis and their accomplices against the civilian population—specifically Slavic—as genocide, Russian courts effectively engage in adjudication of the history of the Second World War. In the process, genocide trials, ongoing in twenty-five Russian provinces and five occupied Ukrainian territories, present no new evidence or issue new indictments, thus fulfilling none of the objectives of a standard criminal investigation. The wording of the verdicts, and a comprehensive political project put in place …

Swiss Impact

Swiss American Historical Society Review

SWISS IMPACT highlights Switzerland's positive impact across the United States. We invite you to learn more about Swiss innovation, economic relations, sustainability, our culture, and the international partnership with the United States.

Full Issue

Swiss American Historical Society Review

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Front Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

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Swiss American Historical Society Leo Schelbert Prize

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Leo Schelbert Prize is awarded to the best submitted undergraduate or graduate research paper. The topic can be anything that relates to the mission of the Swiss American Historical Society, which focuses on increasing an understanding of Swiss and/or Swiss-American history.

The Fetterman Massacre: A Swiss American Officer Leads His Men To Disaster, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Following the American Civil War, the United States fought a major war against the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians known as Red Cloud’s War, which lasted from 1866 to 1868. It was a costly American defeat and an important Indian victory. A prominent leader of the Native Americans was the great war chief, Red Cloud, who engineered much of their success. The conflict included many raids, skirmishes, and three important and bloody engagements including the Hayfield and the Wagon Box Battles in 1867, and the highly significant Fetterman Massacre in 1866 in which the Swiss American Captain, William J. Fetterman, …

A Biographical Note On William Tell, Heinrich Pantaleon, Richard Hacken

Swiss American Historical Society Review

William Tell was born and raised in Uri, Switzerland. Due to his remarkable intellectual and physical capabilities, he quickly gained great respect among the local people. At the same time, Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg5 ruled the Holy Roman Empire with great success (1308-1313). He reaffirmed the privileges previously granted to the inner “Orte”6 of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, and even enhanced them with various additional immunities, bestowed upon them in Constance due to their commendable conduct. This occurred in the year 1309.7 Furthermore, he granted them the concession of not having to obey any prince except the emperor and …

Viola Amherd Becomes President Of The Swiss Confederation

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Swiss American Historical Society maintains ties with the Embassy of Switzerland and many of our members have an interest in both Swiss and American politics.

Spain's Vision Of Empire Through Conquest, Ideology, And Law In The Sixteenth Century, Penelope Yau-Wen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines how the process of exploration, discovery, conquest and colonization of the Americas by Spain developed along with a vision of empire that involved the formulation of political theories, laws and policies by the governing elites, while responding to the actions by the conquistadors on the field. Although events on both sides of the Atlantic were not necessarily coordinated, the interests of the Court and the conquistadors intersected and were justified through a discourse that had been shaped by Humanist intellectual currents.

The thesis intends to show how the Castilian imperial vision was an experiment that began to …

Annual Reports Of The Swiss American Historical Society, Thomas Quinn Marabello

Swiss American Historical Society Review

• Meeting began just after 9:30 AM Central Time.

• Officers present: Fred Gillespie, President; Tom Marabello, Vice President; Ernie Thurston, Treasurer & Membership Secretary; Richard Hacken, Webmaster

• Welcomed by Beth Zurbuchen, President and Board Chair John Etter, Swiss Center of North America, our hosts.

• John Etter said SAHS and the Swiss Center are connected by a desire to connect Swiss culture, heritage and rich history!

• Meeting began with President Fred Gillespie – proved naysayers wrong that people wouldn’t come to a non-East Coast location for the annual meeting.

• Should SAHS raise dues? Dues were last …

Visualizing Ancient Empire In Tudor England: Imperial Monarchy, Reformation, And The Antique Soldier In The Title Page To Richard Grafton’S Large Chronicle (1569), Peter Nicholas Otis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis analyzes the iconography and visual sources of the title page to the first volume of A chronicle at large and meere history of the affayres of Englande (1569) by the Tudor author Richard Grafton. Representing the visual synthesis of several distinct but interrelated currents that developed in the preceding century, the title page to the Large Chronicle offers a rare glimpse into a transitional moment in the middle Tudor perception and visual representation of the British past. These currents include imperializing royal iconography, with origins in antecedent representations in the late fifteenth century; the entry of the ‘classicizing’ …

The Roaring Lion Of Berlin: The Life, Thought, And Influence Of Eugen Dühring, Arden Roy

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The life and influence of 19th-century German polymath Eugen Dühring remain but a mere footnote in the history of ideas, being primarily relegated to the status of little more than a theoretical rival to Marxism in the German socialist movement and the occasional object of Freidrich Nietzsche's rhetorical flogging. Despite the current consensus on the subject, Eugen Dühring was a scholar of vast, remarkable learnedness, contributing greatly to philosophy, economics, and the natural sciences. The aim of this talk will be to clear the fog surrounding the life and work of the controversial blind scholar and give an account of …

"Killin' Nazis": How Jews Are Portrayed In Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, Skylar Baxter

Undergraduate Research Symposium

In Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, Jews are portrayed as violent, revenge-seeking Nazi hunters. This portrayal creates an ironic conflict within Tarantino's audience because Jews are seen as capable of the same atrocities of which they were victims. Under Hannah Arendt's definition of Nazis, the actions of the Jews in Inglorious Basterds are not equivalent to the crimes that Nazis committed. Jewish revenge fantasies are thereby not the same as the actual violence that Jews received from Nazis.

Unraveling The Truth: The Wannsee Conference And Holocaust Denial, Howie Parkes

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The Wannsee Conference, held in January 1942, marked a crucial turning point in the Holocaust, as it signified the Nazi regime's decision to systematically exterminate Europe's Jewish population on an industrial scale. This poster presentation examines the role of the Wannsee Conference in Holocaust denial narratives and the portrayal of the conference in the critically acclaimed film, Conspiracy (2001). I discuss how Holocaust deniers use the Wannsee Conference to argue against the existence of a plan to exterminate Jews or to suggest that the conference never took place. Through an analysis of the conference transcript, I demonstrate its significance in …

Ecumenical Dialogue Between Reformers And Orthodox Under The Ottomans (15-16th Century), Svetoslav Svetoszarov Ribolov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Despite the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453, the Orthodox Church continued to make contacts with the West. In the 15^th and 16^th centuries, Patriarchs Joasaph II and Jeremias II had ecumenical contacts and theological dialogues with two generations of Reformers. Martin Luther and Melanchthon, and later Martin Crusius, Jakob Andrеä, and their associates in Wittenberg took up the initiative for a serious ecumenical dialogue with Constantinople. Despite a sincere desire on both sides, lack of a common methodological framework in the talks did not allow for significant results. In the end, both sides did not …

Antisemitism & Vampires: The Surprising Roots Of A Popular Cultural Monster, Hannah Ross

English

This essay was for Justin Shaw’s fall 2023 English major capstone class. The essay examines antisemitism and vampires, specifically Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, John Polidori’s short story The Vampyre; A Tale, and the episode “Monster Movie” from the TV show Supernatural through the lens of antisemitic stereotypes. By looking at the literary history of the vampire one can trace its physical antisemitic stereotypes and the influence of fear of the “other” with reverse-colonization by Jews. Starting with historically classic 19th century texts and ending with a modern day television show, it is evident that the antisemitic physical stereotypes …

Rider Of The Black Horse, Theodore Schenck

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

This article explores the actions and ideology of the Russian revolutionary and terrorist Boris Savinkov through his final novel, The Black Horse. I argue that the book represents its author's attempt to come to terms with a world in which he feels politically homeless with the victory of his enemy, the Bolsheviks. Savinkov reckons with his fate through the liberal use of Biblical allusions and apocalyptic imagery.

“Into The Sea Of Forgetfulness”: An Analysis Of Anna Komnene’S Alexiad In Relation To The First Crusade, Breya D. Scarlett

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Anna Komnene’s account of the First Crusade in her work The Alexiad provides invaluable insight into the Byzantine perspective of this pivotal event defining the 11th century. While shunned in a monastery, she wrote her celebrated work known as The Alexiad. Anna’s primary motivation for writing the biography stems from her desire to emphasize the accomplishments of her father, especially in regards to protecting the Byzantine Empire against invaders, both Latin and Turkish. For Anna, the crusade functions as a Western pretext for taking land away from the Byzantines. Comparing specific sieges in the First Crusade to their Latin …

Heroes, Victims, And Future Citizens: Representations Of French Children During World War I, Megan R. Outtrim

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

The effects of total war society in France during WWI dramatically altered the daily lives of both adults and children, witnessing increasing levels of patriotic rhetoric, wartime propaganda, and anti-German sentiment. Children were often made the focal point of this propaganda, as they represented the future of the nation. As such, three specific representations of children emerge from WWI propaganda in France: the heroic child, the victimized child, and the malleable future citizen. Some of these representations were depicted in propaganda meant for children specifically, while others were depicted in propaganda meant to mobilize adults in the name of children. …