A message from the Minister of History

I just read Rudolf Höss` autobiography...

#rudolfhoess #nazigermany #germanhistory #ww2 #auschwitz #primolevi #auschwitzcommandant #zoneofinterest

How Brazil 🇧🇷 became independent...

⛵ In 1808, the Portuguese royal family fled to Brazil to escape Napoleon’s invasion.

📍 Rio de Janeiro became the capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Azores, making Brazil equal to Portugal for the first time.

📜 But in the early 1820s, Portugal’s parliament (the Cortes) demanded the royals return to Lisbon and planned to reduce Brazil back to a colony.

👋 King João obeyed and sailed back, but left his son Dom Pedro behind as regent.

👑 In 1822, when ordered to return, Pedro refused. Instead, he declared Brazil’s independence and founded the Empire of Brazil.

☝️ Fun fact: Brazil became the only Latin American country to remain a monarchy after independence, and it lasted more than 60 years.

#brazil #brasil #brazilianhistory #brazilianindependence #history #empireofbrazil #portugal #portugueseempire #domjoao #dompedro

The blunders of Wilhelm II – the dismissal of Otto von Bismarck (1890)

👋 Just two years after taking the throne, Wilhelm II dismissed the architect of Germany’s alliance system, Otto von Bismarck - weakening its diplomatic stability.

📢 Bismarck had dominated German politics for almost 30 years.

⚖️ Without his balancing act, Germany drifted into isolation, pushing France, Britain and Russia closer together.

🤴 Wilhelm swapped Bismarck’s seasoned statesmanship for his own impulsive, prestige-driven policies.

⚔️ This shift set Germany on a more aggressive, confrontational course in world politics (Weltpolitik).

#history #imperialgermany #wilhelmii #kaiserwilhelm #bismarck #ironchancellor #germanhistory #ottovonbismarck

The mysterious death of Ludwig II of Bavaria.

🌊 Ludwig II was found dead in Lake Starnberg in 1886, alongside his psychiatrist, under unclear circumstances.

🤔 The official story claimed drowning, but no water was found in his lungs, fuelling theories of murder or suicide.

❓ We still don`t know for sure exactly how they died.

#ludwigii #bavaria #unsolvedmysteries #neuschwanstein #starnbergersee

The beautiful and unique Georgian script!

🔤 Georgian uses its own unique alphabet - it`s not related to Latin, Cyrillic, or Greek.

🇬🇪 There are three historical scripts (Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri, Mkhedruli), with Mkhedruli used today.

🖋️ The alphabet has 33 letters, each representing one sound (no capital letters in modern use).

🌍 Georgian is the main language of Georgia and part of the Kartvelian language family (unrelated to Indo-European).

🎶 It’s known for its complex consonant clusters and melodic polyphonic traditions in speech and song.

#georgia #georgian #georgianscript #kartvelianlanguage #georgianlanguage #georgianhistory #historyoflanguage

Wilhelm II`s relationship to his grandmother Queen Victoria.

👶 Wilhelm was Queen Victoria’s first grandchild (through her eldest daughter, Vicky).

❤️ Victoria adored him as a child but later grew worried about his temperament.

🤔 Wilhelm admired his grandmother but often felt overshadowed and insecure.

✉️ They corresponded frequently, but their political outlooks clashed as he grew older.

💔 By the end of her life, their relationship was affectionate but strained, foreshadowing tensions between Britain and Germany.

#history #wilhelmii #queenvictoria #germanempire #victorianera

🏭 The Industrial Revolution began in Manchester around 1760.

🧵 Mills mechanised spinning and weaving, producing cloth at unprecedented speed.

🏢 Multi-story brick structures dominated Manchester’s skyline and symbolised industrial power.

⚙️ Engines drove looms and spindles, running almost non-stop.

#history #manchester #industrialrevolution #britishhistory

📍 Linderhof Palace, Bavarian Alps

🏰 Completed in 1880, Linderhof was the only palace King Ludwig II of Bavaria lived to see finished.

⛰️ Secluded in a valley deep in the Bavarian Alps, it offers a dramatic and romantic setting.

💎 Inspired by Versailles, Ludwig drew on the grandeur of Louis XIV, the “Sun King,” for its design.

🕊️ A private royal retreat, it was Ludwig’s escape from the constraints of ruling as a constitutional monarch.

#history #bavaria #ludwigii #linderhofpalace #linderhof #louisxiv

🖋️ As a teenager, Wilhelm II wrote some bizarre, emotionally intense letters to his mother, with whom he had a strained relationship.

⁉️ Some historians say the letters bordered on incestuous in tone, revealing a desperate need for love and acceptance from the mother who had rejected him.

😤 He blamed her for his deep insecurities, rooted in his withered arm caused by a traumatic birth.

🇬🇧 Wilhelm resented his British heritage, yet also craved validation from his British family.

🧠 These letters offer a glimpse into his unstable psyche, which would later shape his actions as emperor.

#history #kaiserwilhelmii #wilhelmii #germanhistory #germanempire #bismarck

Ludwig II’s Venus Grotto on the grounds of the Linderhof Palace.

#linderhof #venusgrotto #ludwigii #history #bavaria