Period In Europe Research Articles

Early Modern Information Overload

Contemporary discussions of information overload have important precedents during the years 1550-1750. An examination of the early modern period in Europe, including work of humanism, science, theology, and popular encyclopedias demonstrates that perceptions of information overload have as much to do with the ways in which knowledge is represented as with any quantitative measurers in the production of new texts, ideas, or facts. Key figures in this account include Francis Bacon, Conrard Gesner, Francesco Sacchini, Johann Heinrich Alsted, Casoar Bauhin, Rempert Dodeones, Samuel Bochrt, Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, John Wilkins, Jonathan Swift, Ephraim Chambers, Smauel Johnson, Denis Diderot, and Louis-S�bastian Mercier.

European Societies in the Bronze Age. By Anthony F. Harding.

The Bronze Age, roughly 2500 to 750 BC, was the last fully prehistoric period in Europe and a crucial element in the formation of the Europe that emerged into history in the later first millennium BC. This book focuses on the material culture remains of the period, and through them provides an interpretation of the main trends in human development that occurred during this timespan. It pays particular attention to the discoveries and theoretical advances of the last twenty years that have necessitated a major revision of received opinions about many aspects of the Bronze Age. Arranged thematically, it reviews the evidence for a range of topics in cross-cultural fashion, defining which major characteristics of the period were universal and which culture and area-specific. The result is a comprehensive study that will be of value to specialists and students, while remaining accessible to the non-specialist.

Natur, Raume, Landschaften

Krause, Burkhardt, and Ulrich Scheck, eds. Natur, Raume, Landschaften. 2. Internationales Kingstoner Symposium. Munich: Iudicium, 1996. 288 pp. DM 56.00 paperback. Schulz, Karla L., and Kenneth S. Calhoon, eds. The Idea of the Forest: German and American Perspectives on the Culture and Politics of Trees. German Life and Civilization, 14. New York: Lang, 1996. 221 pp. $49.95 hardcover. Any attempt to come to terms with such broad concepts as space, nature, landscape would appear to require a diverse set of tools and texts. The two volumes reviewed here represent attempts to provide a multi-dimensional, multi-cultural perspective on these themes without reducing them to simplistic definitions. Both volumes are collections of essays from conferences held in the early 1990s and thus, to some extent, resonate with the ecological debates of the period-in both Europe and North America. The essays in Natur, Raume, Landschaften, which gathers papers from the 1993 International Symposium at Kingston, Ontario, cover a immense amount of ground as the topic of the symposium suggests: Raumbilder and Raumvorstellungen im interkulturellen Vergleich/ Nature, Spaces, Landscapes: Images and Concepts of Space in Intercultural Perspective. Of the nineteen articles, five are in English, fourteen in German, thus illustrating, on a purely linguistic level, the attempt to bring scholars from diverse spaces into the discussion. In contrast to many volumes that seek to understand the conceptions of space, territory, nature, and landscape in an intercultural or cross-cultural perspective, this volume does not focus on discourses such as travel, primitivism, tourism or imperialism. The first handful of essays turns attention to more philosophical understandings of space, perception, and aesthetic appreciation. Burkhardt Krause's article, which investigates the philological and historical development of the terms Landscaft, Landschaft, and Landscape as culturally constructed, illustrates the intercultural aspect of many of the essays, which seek to uncover the meanings of the three major terms through comparative studies in disciplines as diverse as literary studies (Anke Uebel) and ecology/forestry (Thomas Keller). The concept of natural spaces spills over into the conceptualization of urban spaces in the second part of the volume. Es gibt keine Raumgeschichte ohne Mediengeschichte, (273) declares Geoffrey Winthrop-Young, and certainly one of the dominant and most interesting topics covered in the volume is the interplay between media and the space (Jochen Horisch, Andreas Bohn). …

NAZISM AND POLARIZATION: THE LEFT AND THE THIRD REICH

This review provides an overview and critique of recent scholarship on German National Socialism. It focuses on four problems through which historians have recently challenged the Marxist scholarship that played a significant role in shaping debates on Nazism in the sixties and seventies : the composition of the Nazi electorate, the Nazi ‘racial state’, Nazi social policy, and the Holocaust. Although acknowledging the importance of such themes in recent work as the Nazi regime's racism, anti-Semitism, and modernity, the review maintains that the key issue in Marxist scholarship, the polarization between left and right during the interwar period in Europe, provides the essential context for understanding the Nazi regime's ideological extremes and racial practices. To make its case, it explores four examples of the left's influence, the German left's relative cohesion as political and social movements, its place in the discourse of ‘racial hygiene’, its role in debates on the ‘standard of living’, and finally, its relevance to Nazi expansionism and the ‘Final Solution’.

ATM industrial perspectives

The Aviation Industry today is undergoing a significant period of development with a doubling of air traffic over a 12 to 15 year period in Europe, something similar in USA and even more in Asia. This is linked to world wide economic growth and the increase of leisure activities. To meet this challenge, it is essential that industrial suppliers of ATM systems be fully involved in the development of system concepts and implementation plans. This article reviews some of the key issues to be addressed.

Putting science at the heart of Europe: the European Science Foundation's next 25 years

In this paper I would like to draw on some of the European Science Foundation's past and present initiatives to illustrate how we might build on its strengths – and overcome its weaknesses – in order to capitalize on European scientific potential during one of the most important periods in Europe's recent history. In effect, I would like to set out my personal vision for the European Science Foundation (ESF). This is certainly a fitting time to be looking forward. We are not only on the brink of a new millennium, the ESF is also celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and should take stock of its past achievements and assess how these can be used to enhance European science over the next two and half decades. More crucially, Europe's social, political and economic landscape is undergoing one of its most radical upheavals, spearheaded by the euro and other facets of European union. These developments will inevitably have a major impact on how science is organized, funded and conducted. Like it or not, science is inextricably linked to Europe's socio-economic environment. The challenge is to develop a strategy, and the associated structures and resources, to place science at the heart of the ‘new Europe’.

Where are the glacial refugia in Europe? Evidence from pteridophytes

In this paper we demonstrate that, by investigating polyploid complexes inAsplenium, it is possible to locate the areas in Europe that are southern glacial refugia, and are likely to have been so since the beginning of the Pleistocene during the consecutive cold and warm periods in Europe. Identification and conservation of these specific areas that serve as safe havens for plants, and perhaps animals, is of paramount importance for the maintenance of European biodiversity because Man's activities are resulting in an ever-increasing loss of natural habitats and putting diversity at risk. The genusAspleniumin Europe comprises some 50 taxa: half of these are diploid while the other half are polyploids derived from the diploids. All aspleniums in Europe are (small) rock ferns with high substrate specificity. Today, most of mainland Europe, Scandinavia and the British Isles has been colonized by polyploidAspleniumspecies, while the diploids that gave rise to these polyploids are distributed around (and more or less confined to) the Mediterranean Basin. In the tetraploids genetic variation is partitioned mostly between sites, whereas diploids show a high degree of genetic variation both within and between sites. The tetraploid taxa seem capable of single spore colonization via intragametophytic selfing, but the diploid taxa appear to be predominantly outbreeding. For most diploids at least two gametophytes, produced by different spores, have to be present to achieve fertilization and subsequent sporophyte formation for the successful colonization of a new site. This results in a slower rate of colonization. The formation of auto- and allopolyploid taxa from diploid communities appears to have been a recurrent and common feature in Europe. Minority cytotype exclusion is likely to prevent the establishment of tetraploids within the diploid communities, but spores from tetraploids can establish populations outside the diploid communities. The differences between colonization abilities of tetraploid and ancestral diploid taxa, resulting from their different breeding systems, has prevented the merging and mingling of their ranges and led to the establishment of contact/hybrid zones. This has resulted in the restriction of diploid populations to ancient glacial refugia and the colonization of the rest of Europe by polyploids. Mapping the current distribution of these diploid communities and comparing the genetic diversity within and between outbreeding diploidAspleniumtaxa allows us to define the area, age and historical biogeography of these refugia and to assess their importance for present day genetic and species diversity in Europe.

Where are the glacial refugia in Europe? Evidence from pteridophytes

In this paper we demonstrate that, by investigating polyploid complexes inAsplenium, it is possible to locate the areas in Europe that are southern glacial refugia, and are likely to have been so since the beginning of the Pleistocene during the consecutive cold and warm periods in Europe. Identification and conservation of these specific areas that serve as safe havens for plants, and perhaps animals, is of paramount importance for the maintenance of European biodiversity because Man's activities are resulting in an ever-increasing loss of natural habitats and putting diversity at risk. The genusAspleniumin Europe comprises some 50 taxa: half of these are diploid while the other half are polyploids derived from the diploids. All aspleniums in Europe are (small) rock ferns with high substrate specificity. Today, most of mainland Europe, Scandinavia and the British Isles has been colonized by polyploidAspleniumspecies, while the diploids that gave rise to these polyploids are distributed around (and more or less confined to) the Mediterranean Basin. In the tetraploids genetic variation is partitioned mostly between sites, whereas diploids show a high degree of genetic variation both within and between sites. The tetraploid taxa seem capable of single spore colonization via intragametophytic selfing, but the diploid taxa appear to be predominantly outbreeding. For most diploids at least two gametophytes, produced by different spores, have to be present to achieve fertilization and subsequent sporophyte formation for the successful colonization of a new site. This results in a slower rate of colonization. The formation of auto- and allopolyploid taxa from diploid communities appears to have been a recurrent and common feature in Europe. Minority cytotype exclusion is likely to prevent the establishment of tetraploids within the diploid communities, but spores from tetraploids can establish populations outside the diploid communities. The differences between colonization abilities of tetraploid and ancestral diploid taxa, resulting from their different breeding systems, has prevented the merging and mingling of their ranges and led to the establishment of contact/hybrid zones. This has resulted in the restriction of diploid populations to ancient glacial refugia and the colonization of the rest of Europe by polyploids. Mapping the current distribution of these diploid communities and comparing the genetic diversity within and between outbreeding diploidAspleniumtaxa allows us to define the area, age and historical biogeography of these refugia and to assess their importance for present day genetic and species diversity in Europe.

Conditions of Authoritarianism, Fascism and Democracy in Inter-War Europe: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Analysis

1. Introduction In view of the economic and political crises which are now affecting many parts of the world there has been renewed interest in the question of how major countries and regions previously faced such challenges in order to learn as much as possible from these experiences. The end of the Cold War and the wave of democratization it entailed in many Eastern European and Third World countries has, in the absence of overriding superpower rivalry and influence, also directed attention to the internal factors which have shaped these developments in each case (see, e.g., Hadenius, 1992, Held, 1993, Huntington, 1991, Vanhanen, 1990). For these reasons, an analysis of the social and political reactions to the Great Depression during the inter-war period in Europe may not only reveal some insights which are pertinent to crisis theory (Almond et al., 1973, Dobry, 1986) and an empirical theory of democracy (see in particular Dahl, 1989) in general, but may also be relevant for contemporary political concerns. The inter-war period in Europe seems to be particularly interesting in this respect because it most closely resembles what can be called a quasi-experimental research design which is, for ethical or practical reasons, relatively rare in the social sciences (Mill, 1843). The cases to be considered share many socio-economic and political-cultural characteristics. Their history is relatively well-researched and documented, The time period is clearly demarcated by common events, i.e., of the two World Wars, which significantly altered the internal and external political landscape and set it apart from earlier and later developments. All cases could initially be termed parliamentary democracies, some of them having been established for a relatively long period, and others being of comparatively recent origin and more democratic in form than in substance. These countries were then affected by a common external stimulus: the world economic crisis of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Some parliamentary regimes survived while others turned to a more authoritarian form of rule and, in particular, to fascism. This period has, of course, been discussed and analyzed from a large variety of research perspectives (for a critical review and a test of major hypotheses see Berg-Schlosser/De Meur, 1994). Our concern here is not so much with the economic aspects of the crisis and the impact of the various economic policies pursued (although these must also be assessed within our overall context) since they have been largely discussed by economic historians and economists (see, e.g., Kindleberger, 1973, Schulz, 1985, Gourevitch, 1986, Eichengreen, 1992). Rather, we are concerned with the social and political reactions to the crisis and the factors which contributed to the final regime outcome, i.e., the survival or breakdown of democratic systems. Our research differs from previous and related projects in a number of critical respects. Most importantly, we consider the inter-war European crises to have been political in nature. They certainly had their economic and social 'causes', but what links these varying inputs to the 'crisis outcomes' are essentially political decisions and political factors related to both the institutional and cultural patterns of the polities in question and to their political actors. This impact of political variables thus depends upon a complex interaction of structures, cultures and pre-conditions both at any one point in time and in terms of the development sequence that gave rise to such configurations. These general factors are all linked to specific outcomes through the actions of intermediary groups and individual actors and through the particular choices of these persons and groups, including the possibility of new alignments being formed at critical moments. By proceeding in this manner, we are attempting to steer clear of the pitfalls of a premature and over-generalizing historical materialist determinism on the one hand, and the overly personalizing ('men make history') and individualizing ('not true in my country') approach of many conventional historians on the other. …

Money: a history

Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean from Alexander to the end of the Roman Empire the Medieval Period in Europe the Islamic lands India and South-East Asia China and the Far East the Early Modern Period Africa and Oceania the Modern Period.

Decadal periodicities of Nile River historical discharge (A.D. 622–1470) and climatic implications

The Roda Milometer (Cairo, Egypt) has recorded more than 2,000 gauge readings, i.e. annual low‐water and flood levels, from A.D. 622 to the beginning of this century. Spectral analysis of the A.D 622–1470 data set yields several statistically significant periodicities, for both low‐water (256; 75.9; 52.6; 38; 28.9; 20.9; 18.5 and 13.4 yr) and flood levels (75.9; 33.6; 21.4; 14.7; 13.7; 9.7 and 8.1 yr). Evolutionary Multi Taper Method analysis suggests that shifts or disappearances of spectral peaks occur in sub‐intervals of the studied time span. This is noticeable for the low frequency peaks in the sub‐interval A.D. ∼950 ‐ ∼1250 which corresponds to the Medieval Warm Period in Europe. By contrast, a remarkable time stability is observed for the 5 yr period, that could confirm the existence of a robust ENSO‐like forcing during the studied period.

Conditions of Authoritarianism, Fascism and Democracy in Inter-War Europe

Conditions of democracy continue to be discussed for various parts of the world. The inter-war period in Europe, with some of the most dramatic breakdowns of democratic systems, provides an interesting laboratory for systematic investigation in this respect. This paper summarizes the major findings of a large international research project covering 18 European states. It presents and discusses broader social structural, political cultural, institutional, etc. conditions of democracy against which the impact of the world economic crisis of the late 1920s and early 1930s, the respective social and electoral reactions, the political moves of major actors and the final survival or breakdown of parliamentary regimes are assessed. It employs both macro-quantitative and macro-qualitative methods in a cross-sectional and, as far as possible, longitudinal manner. In this way, in a quasi-experimental systematic comparative design structure- and actor-oriented approaches, i.e., the opportunity-set and the actual choices and outcomes, are brought into a common perspective. The results point to interesting applications to the present situation in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

The Hand Press Book File in RLIN: the development of a European unified database

A unified database to record all printing of the hand press period in Europe (from the beginning of printing until 1830) is being developed by the Consortium of European Research Libraries. The problems encountered in designing this multi‐file, multinational and multilingual database and the solutions adopted, in using the Research Libraries Information Network, are described. Future plans to include relevant holdings from many of Europe’s national library collections are outlined.

In Search of Better Quantification for War History: Numerical Superiority and Casualty Rates in Early Modern Europe

What are our next moves in the analysis of war history numbers? For separate wars and battles there are plenty of data. Old and new dictionary-encyclopedias of warfare are as loaded with numbers as the most numerate fields of historiography. The fascination for keeping the score, for quantifying wins and losses, continues. The 'war and society' historians are currently adding new dimensions by calculating the impacts of army and navy growth rates since the middle ages and assessing the economic and political pressures exerted by the rise of the 'fiscal-military state'.l What are the prospects for extending their approach to other aspects of war history? Is it possible, for a start, to quantify the long term importance of two fundamentals: superiority of numbers in winning and the casualty costs of both winning and losing? This article surveys both expert opinion and the authoritative numbers in six standard library reference section dictionary-encylopedias, to test the possible patterns in numerical superiority and casualty rate figures over the earlymodern period in Europe. The focus is the era of one-day battles among uniformly armed and ordered land combatants between the 1490s and the 1780s, when the numbers calculations are both detailed but also relatively simple. Perhaps the greater complexities of later wars, on land and sea and on other continents as well, may be examined subsequently, as may earlier battles and armed contests between culturally diverse or otherwise unequal sides. Meanwhile,

Cultural aspects of ageing: Gender and inter-generational issues

A broad review is made of the economic, social and political developments that accompanied the 20th century demographic transition in the developed industrialized societies of Europe and North America and their implications for older people, emphasizing changes in work patterns, the position of women, family and household structures. The denigration of older people is not new, but there is greater consciousness of the disadvantaging aspects of ageist expressions. The different stages of economic development and family systems and norms in developing societies now undergoing the demographic transition in Asia and elsewhere are likely to make the lives of older people there very different from those experienced during the transition period in Europe.

Conditions of Authoritarianism, Fascism, and Democracy in Interwar Europe

Comparative political analysis at the macrolevel of political systems can reduce the inevitably high complexity of such comparisons by the systematic matching or contrasting of cases, depending on the particular problem. Such “most similar systems” or “most different systems” designs, in Przeworski and Teune's terminology, thus constitute one of the major ways out of the usual “small N—many variables” dilemma. This article proposes a detailed and comprehensive method to establish such similarities and dissimilarities in a systematic and, at all stages, transparent way. The examples chosen refer to an analysis of the conditions of survival or breakdown of democratic systems in the interwar period in Europe.

Biology and ecology ofHerpestomus brunnicornis(Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), a potential biological control agent of the apple ermine moth (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae)

Abstract Fourth and fifth instar larvae, and also pupae of the apple ermine moth, Yponomeuta malinellus Zeller, are attacked by the ichneumonid Herpestomus brunnicornis Gravenhorst in central Europe. The parasitoid was studied as a potential biological control agent of the apple ermine moth in British Columbia. Investigations of the biology of H. brunnicornis its distribution of attack within the tree canopy and the rate of parasitism in relation to spatial variation in the number of hosts per tent were studied over a 4 year period in Europe. The following biological parameters of H. brunnicornis were studied: adult emergence, sex ratio, copulation, potential fecundity per day, host feeding, oviposition behaviour, handling time, and larval and pupal development. In the present study, the number of tents of the apple ermine moth varied from 0–5 to 1 ‐3 per 30‐leaf cluster and pupal parasitism by H. brunnicornis ranged from 3–9% to 8–5% in 1993–1995. Host tents were randomly distributed within and between apple trees. No significant differences were found between the number of emerging H. brunnicornis per tent and the four directional quadrants within the tree canopy in 1993–1995. The index of dispersion indicated that the distribution of emerging parasitoids per host tent was contagious. Percentage parasitism between tents by H. brunnicornis was inversely related to the number of host larvae/ pupae per tent. Herpestomus brunnicornis is a synovigenic parasitoid whose females have a small maximum egg load. In addition, handling time on host pupae is high. Both these characteristics appear to provide an adequate explanation for the inverse density‐dependence in parasitism on a spatial scale.

Comparing political systems: Establishing similarities and dissimilarities

Abstract. Comparative political analysis at the macro‐level of political systems can reduce the inevitably high complexity of such comparisons by the systematic matching or contrasting of cases, depending on the particular problem. Such ‘most similar systems’ or ‘most different systems’ designs, in Przeworski & Teune's terminology, thus constitute one of the major ways out of the usual ‘small N—many variables’ dilemma. This paper proposes a detailed and comprehensive method to establish such similarities and dissimilarities in a systematic and at all stages transparent way. The examples chosen refer to an analysis of the conditions of survival or breakdown of democratic systems in the inter‐war period in Europe.

Towards an absolute chronology for the last glacial period in Europe: radiocarbon dates from Oerel, northern Germany

Radiocarbon dates from the terrestrial Weichselian standard profile of Oerel are presented. The end of the Early Weichselian (WE IV, corresponding to isotopic stage 5a) is dated by two independent analyses to around 61 000 years B.P. The two subsequent interstadials, Oerel and Glinde, which have been described from this locality in an earlier publication, are dated to ca. 58 000 - 54 000 B.P. and 51 000- 48 000 B.P., respectively. The dates of both interstadials are in good agreement with the chronology available from the deep sea record. The chronology of the younger part of the Pleni-Weichselian is briefly reviewed.

The individual in Japanese history: Parallels to and divergences from the European experience

This paper shows that Japan underwent a sequence of historical periods during which the level of technical development and the place of the individual in society paralleled that of similar periods in Europe. Particular attention is paid to 16th-century Japan, a period remarkably similar to the European Renaissance in its individualism and socioeconomic and cultural vitality. In both Japan and Western Europe, this renaissance followed the breakdown of an imperium and its replacement by a feudal system. The historical parallel continues with those parts of Europe in which absolutist governments were successfully imposed, since Japan underwent a similar phenomenon, accompanied by a similar decline in individualism and in technological development. Although no definitive conclusions can be reached, the paper explores the implications of these parallels for our understanding of both Japan and the general historical and psychological processes involved in the growth of individualism and technology.