scholarly journals The Historical Memory of the 1812 War in Lithuania in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries: A Complex Process

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-97
Author(s):  
Virgilijus Pugačiauskas ◽  
Olga Mastianica-Stankevič

In historiography, significant attention to the memory culture of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe focuses on issues relating to the memory culture of the Franco-Russian War of 1812; however, the case of Lithuania is not commonly analysed separately, thus this article discusses how assessments of the 1812 war were maintained in the historical memory in Lithuania. The Russian government offered the population in the lands of the former GDL its official version of the historical memory of the 1812 war (of a heroic battle against an invader), which contradicted the version this population considered as ‘its own’, experienced as their support for Napoleon and the new political and social prospects they believed he would bring. The Russian government’s censorship of written literature suppressed the spread of the people’s ‘own’ local historical memory, yet it did not prove to be so effective due to the population’s very limited opportunities to use the printed word. Communicative memory dominated in the land in the first half of the 19th century, becoming the main source testifying to and passing on to subsequent generations the actual multifaceted experiences of the 1812 war, including the chance of liberation from the yoke of the Russian Empire. In the second half of the 19th century, representatives of local Russian imperial government structures and the local Russian intelligentsia, responding to the 1812 war as a Polish struggle for freedom and a symbol of political independence, explained in academic, educational and popular literature that the hopes of the Poles related to Napoleon were actually unfounded: the French emperor had no intentions of restoring the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth within its historical boundaries, but simply wanted to fill his army units with Polish forces. It was highlighted that this expression of Polish support for Napoleon stopped the Russian imperial government’s potential plans to restore the Poles’ former statehood. This so-called regional narrative which appeared in history textbooks and was used by exacting emotional and visual impact in order to influence the political and cultural provisions of the younger generation had a dual purpose. First, to justify the discriminatory policies against individuals of ‘Polish origins’. Second, to ‘block’ the path for using the 1812 war as a historical argument testifying not just to the common historical past and struggle of Poles and Lithuanians but also their possible political future, which was openly expressed in the Polish national discourse of the early 20th century. Over the course of a hundred years, despite the government’s actions, Poles managed to uphold ‘their own’ historical memory about the 1812 war; its meanings were spread in various forms of media such as fictional literature, museum exhibitions and history textbooks, and were used to shape the political and cultural position of the younger generation. In the Lithuanian national discourse on the other hand, the 1812 war, along with the 1830–1831 and 1863–1864 uprisings, was viewed as a matter concerning the Poles and the Polonised nobility, and it was thus a foreign place of historical memory. The 1812 war and assessments of its potential importance to Lithuanians in the Lithuanian national discourse of the early 20th century were one-off cases and fragmented, while their spread among broader layers of society was limited.

1970 ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Lebanese American University

A French colony in the 19th century, Algeria was awakened to the ideas of independence in the early 20th century, particularly after the organization of the FLN (National Liberation Front) in 1930. Women were encouraged to participate in the political struggle but the era of independence did not bring them the liberation they expected.


Author(s):  
Marharyta M. Karol

The article examines the stages of the formation of historiography devoted to the problems of confessional conversions in the second half of the 19th century on the territory of the Belarusian provinces. The historiographic trends that formed from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century were identified and analysed. The authour studies the peculiarities of Belarusian and foreign historiography at the present stage, when a large number of works on religious issues has appeared, including confessional conversions. It is argued that in Soviet times, the issue of transitions from Catholicism to Orthodoxy was practically not touched upon. In their approaches and assessments, some researchers continue the traditions of pre-revolutionary historiography, but the majority of modern scientists strive to give an objective picture of religious processes on the Belarusian lands, to show them in the context of general state policy. The relevance of the article is due to the coverage of various points of view on the problem of confessional conversions. It is noted that pre-revolutionary researchers, first of all, sought to prove the voluntariness of conversions to Orthodoxy, but during this period, works were also created in which this thesis was questioned.


2018 ◽  
pp. 359-373
Author(s):  
Dominika Gołaszewska-Rusinowska

This case study focuses on the life and work of Joaquín Costa. He was a Spanish intellectual who in late 19th century and early 20th century started the intellectual and political movement called Regenerationism. This movement emerged in response against the political system of Spanish Restoration.  


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Jurgita Venckienė

During development of the Standard Lithuanian language at the end of the 19th century, the dialectal basis was chosen first, and the orthography varied yet for another twenty years. This article analyses the dual orthography – of books and personal orthography of their authors. The study is designed to find out whether the books published during that period reflect the orthographic model chosen by their authors; what factors, in addition to the author’s choice, may have influenced the orthography of the books.The influence of printers on the orthography of books during that period was smaller than before, as many authors did the proofreading themselves. Thus, printers were able to change the orthography in cases where books were printed without the author’s knowledge or consent, such as prayer books. If the author chose unusual, rare, or even self-invented characters, a limited inventory of prints could be a serious obstacle to keep their orthography in the book. As the case of Jonas Basanavičius shows, even when the author offered to finance the acquisition of the necessary prints, this was not necessarily done.At the end of the 19th century, books were published as supplements to periodicals. The editors of newspapers Ūkininkas and Tėvynės sargas adapted the orthography of such books to their periodicals. Under the terms of the press ban, it was often important for authors just to print a book, and the spelling model was chosen by the publisher. However, authors such as Basanavičius, who considered themselves the creators of the standard language, took care to present their chosen or created model of orthography in their books as well.As the cases of Liudvika Didžiulienė, Dominykas Tumėnas and Basanavičius show, two orthographic standards emerged during the research period: correspondence was written one way and books were printed another. Hence, it is not always possible to judge the orthographic model chosen by the authors in books published at the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 297
Author(s):  
Israel Campos Méndez

Resumen: El interés que ha suscitado la figura del dios Mitra ha dejado como reflejo estudios que se remontan al periodo romano. Sin embargo, a partir del Renaci­miento el descubrimiento casual de piezas escul­tóricas de asunto mitraico, atrajo el interés de in­vestigadores que indagaron en sus escritos sobre la identidad de la divinidad que aparecía matando un toro. Durante los siglos XVI al XVIII, la temática solar y la identificación del Mitraísmo se convirtió en el contenido de estos estudios. A partir del s. XIX, empieza a tomar forma una investigación de carácter más científico sobre la cuestión mitraica, que encontrará su nacimiento formal con los tra­bajos de F. Cumont a principios del s. XX. Este si­glo pasado ha sido el que ha visto florecer el mayor y más profundo volumen de estudios desentrañan­do los misterios vinculados al dios Mitra, tanto en su vertiente de divinidad de los panteones védicos y avésticos, como en el ámbito del culto mistérico desarrollado en el marco del Imperio Romano. En los comienzos del siglo XXI, todavía permanecen abiertas algunas hipótesis iniciales, pero sí se cons­tata una vitalidad en los estudios para la compren­sión global del Mitraísmo.Palabras clave: Mitra, Mitraísmo, Avesta, Veda, Cumont.Abstract: One mark of the interest attached to the god Mithra is the line of studies dating back to the Ro­man period. It was, however, during the Renais­sance that the accidental discovery of sculptural pieces of a Mithraic subject attracted the interest of researchers, who sought to identify the bull-ki­lling divinity. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, this field of research re-oriented itself to the solar theme and the identification of Mithraism. In the 19th century, it took on a scientific nature, and the landmark the studies of F. Cumont saw the light of day in early 20th century. As the century progres­sed ambitious in-depth studies flourished, unra­velling the mysteries linked to the cult of the god Mithra, both in terms of the divinity of the Vedic and Avestan pantheons and of the sphere of the mystery cult established in the context of the Ro­man Empire. At the beginning of the 21st century, some initial hypotheses remain open, but the vi­tality of studies pursuing a global understanding of Mithraism remains unchallenged.Key words: Mithra, Mithraism, Avesta, Veda, Cumont.


2021 ◽  
pp. 026142942110463
Author(s):  
Dean Keith Simonton

The terms giftedness and genius entered the research literature in the 19th century. Although not synonymous, both terms were defined according to potential or actual achievement in a specific domain. However, in the early 20th century, both terms became defined according to performance on domain-generic IQ tests. Given the empirical relations between achievement and intelligence, this transfer of meaning is unjustified. Both giftedness and genius must be defined with respect to potential or actual domain-specific achievements.


Author(s):  
Joshua Schuster

Anti-Semitism, a term coined in Europe at the end of the 19th century, is the hatred of Jews and Jewishness, the latter being perceived in widely varying and contradictory ways. By the early 20th century, Jewishness was associated negatively with capitalism as well as with Communism and an adherence to ancient, outmoded beliefs and keenness toward urban and modernist sensibilities. Purveyors of anti-Semitism drew caricatures of Jews to fit a variety of exclusionary agendas, casting blame on the minority group for upsetting Christian, nativist, and purist values in politics, nationalism, religion, or culture. Modernist artists who were prone to agree with arguments that foretold the decline of civilization drew on the figure of the Jew to embody a series of malaises, depicting Jews as unwanted, archetypal Others to Western cultural values.


Classics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis

Since the Western Roman Empire collapsed, classical, or Greco-Roman, architecture has served as a model to articulate the cultural, artistic, political, and ideological goals of later civilizations, empires, nations, and individuals. The Renaissance marked the first major, widespread re-engagement with classical antiquity in art, literature, and architecture. Debates over classical antiquity and its relation to the modern world continued ever since. One such important debate was that of the quarrel between the Ancients and Moderns, which resulted when Charles Perrault published his Parallèles des anciens et des modernes in 1688. This dispute focused on whether the modern age could surpass antiquity, especially in literature. The Greco-Roman controversy (1750s and 1760s) was another example of Europeans engaging with the classical past; this debate focused on whether Greek or Roman art was of greater historical value; an argument has continued unabated to this day. Figures like Johann Joachim Winckelmann argued (in publications such as Winckelmann 1764, cited under Early Archaeological Publications on Greece and Classical Ruins in the Roman East, on Greek art) for the supremacy of Greek forms, while others like Giovanni Battista Piranesi (whose 1748–1778 views of Rome are reproduced in Ficacci 2011, cited under Early Archaeological Publications on Italy) advocated for Rome’s preeminence. Such debates demonstrate how classical antiquity was an essential part of the intellectual and artistic milieu of 18th-century Europe. This bibliography focuses on the appropriation of classical architecture in the creation of built forms from 1700 to the present in Europe and North America, which is typically called neoclassical or neo-classical, both of which are acceptable. Scholars often define the neoclassical period as lasting from c. 1750 to 1830, when European art and architecture predominantly appropriated classical forms and ideas. The influence of classical architecture continued in popularity throughout the 19th century and early 20th century in the United States. The early 19th century saw the flourishing of the Greek Revival, where Greek forms dominated artistic and architectural production, both in Europe and the United States. The ascendance of Queen Victoria in 1837 marked a shift toward a preference for the Gothic and Medieval forms. Neoclassical forms saw a resurgence in the second half of the 19th century, as Roman architectural forms became increasingly popular as an expression of empire. The term “Neo-classical” was coined as early as January 1872 by Robert Kerr, who used the term positively. It later took on certain negative overtones, when it was used as a derogatory epithet by an unknown writer in the Times of London in 1892. Neoclassical architecture has fared no better with the rise of modernism in the early 20th century onward and since then it has been seen as old-fashioned and derivative. Neoclassical architecture was not a mindless imitation of classical architectural forms and interiors. The interest in classical architecture and the creation of neoclassical architecture was spurred on by important archaeological discoveries in the mid-18th century, which widened the perception of Greek and Roman buildings. The remarkable flexibility of ancient architecture to embody the grandeur of an empire, as well as the principles of a nascent democracy, meant that it had great potential to be interpreted and reinterpreted by countless architects, patrons, empires, and nation states—in different ways and at different times from the 18th to the 20th century. This bibliography is organized thematically (e.g., General Overviews; Companions, Handbooks, and Theoretical Works; Reference Works; Early General Archaeological Publications; The Reception of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the Bay of Naples; and World’s Fairs and Expositions) and then geographically, creating country- or region-specific bibliographies. While this model of organization has some flaws, it aims to avoid repetition and highlights the interconnected nature and process of the reception of classical architecture in later periods.


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