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Peace of Westphalia (Miled Hill)
The Peace of Westphalia, composed of the Treaty of Osnabrück (15 May 1648) and the Treaty of Munster (24 October 1648), established the first instance of the concept of European national identity, as territorial sovereignty ensured cultural suzerainty over national population and territory. -
Christina of Sweden (1654)
Christina of Sweden abdicated her throne in 1654. Her refusal to marry, and her lack of interest in all things considered "feminine" pushed her decision to let her cousin Charles become the heir to the throne. -
Jean-Baptiste Lully - Te Deum (Charles Gauthier-Ouellette)
Jean-Baptiste Lully, compositeur officiel de la royauté sous Louis XIV, compose, en 1677, un hymne chrétien qui, à lui seul, peut résumer le règne du Roi Soleil. Son Te Deum (1677), par sa majestuosité, incorpore parfaitement l'idée de l'absolutisme français, en plus de vanter avec audace les mérites du roi. -
Treaty of Union (Miled Hill)
The Treaty of Union formally established the political union of Great Britain, composed of England and Scotland under Queen Anne (r. 1702 - 1707/1714). The Act's legacy established the most famous political union in European history until, perhaps, the twentieth century, and allowed for European national identity to grow and an increasing sense of European internationalism to emerge. -
Jean-Sébastien Bach - Messe en Si mineur (Charles Gauthier-Ouellette)
La messe en Si mineur, composée par Jean-Sébastien Bach durant son passage à la cour de Coethen, illustre l'esprit socio-politique de l'Allemagne du début du 18e siècle. En effet, cette pièce, avec son faste et sa virtuosité, offre un véritable prestige à la religion de cette époque. -
Treaty of Paris (Miled Hill)
The Treaty of Paris formally ended the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). Taking place throughout the world, particularly in Europe and the Americas, the Seven Years' War's ended was a manifestation of European internationalism up to this time. -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Les noces de Figaro (Charles Gauthier-Ouellette)
Les noces de Figaro furent composées à Vienne, en 1786, par Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Cet opéra-comique dévoile le déplacement d'une musique de cour sérieuse vers une musique bourgeoise plus légère. Dans ce siècle des Lumières où l'esprit critique se développe, il n'est pas surprenant que la réception de cette oeuvre fit couler beaucoup d'encre. -
Olympe de Gouges (1791)
Olympe De Gouges was a French feminist during the Revolution, who wrote the "Declaration of the Rights of Woman and The Female Citizen", where she criticized men for treating women as easily disposable objects, and called upon women to "wake up". -
Mary Wollstonecraft (1792)
Mary Wollstonecraft was a British feminist, who wrote the "Vindication of the Rights of Women" in 1792. In the book, Wollstonecraft strongly emphasized that women were only seen as inferior because of their lack of education. -
Jean-Paul Marat (Sarra Hamdi)
Swiss journalist, Marat was known for his polemic, radical articles all throughout the period of the French revolution and its aftermath(the first republic in 1792).Symbol of the struggle between underground political factions and militias in revolutionary France, his assassination is the peak of the far-flung political and ideological animosity (the assassin Charlotte Corday was one of Girondins) … that precluded the stability of the republic -
Ludwig Van Beethoven - Symphonie no.3, «Eroica» (Charles Gauthier-Ouellette)
Ludwig Van Beethoven commence la composition de sa troisième symphonie en 1802 et l'achève en 1804. Son interprétation, quant à elle, a lieu l'année suivante à Vienne. Cette pièce, aujourd'hui connu sous le nom de Symphonie Héroïque (Eroica), était, à la base, nommée et dédiée à Napoléon Bonaparte. Cette dédicace fut par la suite rayée, laissant voir une émotion commune à travers la population de France et d'Europe en général : le désenchantement. -
Charles Fourier (1808)
Fourier was a French philosopher, and also strong supporter of feminism. In 1808, he published the "Théorie des quatre mouvements et des destinées générales", in which he said that social progress will only happen when women will stop being oppressed. -
Congress of Vienna (Miled Hill)
The Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, passed in June 1815, was a mechanism to balance the power of European entities in the post-Napoleonic era. It ensured that the powerful European states, namely Britain, France, Austria, Russia (and sometimes Prussia), known as the Four Great Powers, could violate the sovereignty of another European entity in a collective way so as to ensure that a balance of power is maintained and no European hegemonic entity exists. -
John Stuart Mill (1869)
John Stuart Mill is considered to be one of the fathers of liberalism and, in 1869, he published "The Subjection of Women". In the essay, Mill argued that women were just as capable as men, both physically and mentally, and pushed for equal rights. -
Alexander II of Russia
Having taken on reforms like his predecessor Peter the Great, Alexander the second was a much grim and less-appreciated ruler. His authority was constantly put into question, as he was the target of multiple assassinations plots. The growing sphere of influence of the communist network in Russia as depicted by Dostoevsky got its claws on reformist Russia by the end of the nineteenth century, announcing the Revolution. -
Nicolay Rimsky-Korsakov - La Grande Pâques russe (Charles Gauthier-Ouellette)
Les grands mouvements nationalistes de la fin du 19e siècle sont adéquatement représentés dans la pièce La Grande Pâque russe, écrite par le russe Nicolay Rimsky-Korsakov. Composée entre 1887 et 1888 et interprétée pour la première fois à Saint-Petersbourgh la même année, cette ouverture symphonique dégage des sonorités ancrées dans la terre, le folklore et la liturgie orthodoxe russe. -
HRH Empress Elizabeth of Austria (Sisi) (Sarra Hamdi)
From a bourgeois upbringing,Empress Elizabeth is often represented as being an iconic beauty before her time.Reflection of the flexibility of the Austro-Hungarian society, she was herself victim of another form of political tension: political pluralism and transnational terrorist networks. as she was stabbed by an Italian Anarchist, Luigi Lucheni. -
Clara Zetkin
Clara Zetkin was a German Marxist theorist, who strongly supported feminism, and fought for women's rights. In 1911, she organized the first International Women's Day, which is still celebrated today. -
International Opium Convention (Miled Hill)
The International Opium Convention, signed in the Netherlands in early 1912, exemplified what European internationalism had become. Although the convention included non-European entities, it was included in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles that formally ended World War One. The treaty in particular, which is a first attempt at international drug control, is not important in a stand-alone way. Rather, it is a symbol of evolving European cooperation both within and external to the continent. -
Jean Jaurès (Sarra Hamdi)
Leader of the French socialist party (SFIO), Jean Jaurès was a key figure in the building of French social democracy. Famous for his pacifist stances and advocating for the German “devil” at the eve of WWI, Jaurès was assassinated by a French nationalist, complementing a general misperception of his peace-prone attitude. -
Rosa Luxemburg (Sarra Hamdi)
Marxist purist, Luxemburg or “Red Rosa” is one of the co-leaders of the diversionary branch that breached out from the SPD in 1918,the Spartacus League. With a wide worker-based support, the Spartakist movement triggered what is known as the German revolution of 1919.Violently suppressed by the governmental; militia the Freikorps, Luxemburg’s death is indeed the use of assassination as a ruthless political tool to silence a movement in a turmoiled society. -
Leo Trotsky (Sarra Hamdi)
One of the main actors of communist October revolution in Russia, Trotsky was methodically evinced from the Politburo apparatus by his virtual rival Stalin. Carefully escaping to Mexico during Stalin’s Great Purges in the late 1930s, he’ll be (poorly) attacked with an ice axe, a symbolic arm (shaped like the sickle),by a Mexican soviet spy, Mercader, in 1940. -
Olivier Messiaen - Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Charles Gauthier-Ouellette)
Alors qu'il est emprisonné dans le Stalag VIII-A à Görlitz, le compositeur d'origine française Olivier Messiaen crée le Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1941). Cette pièce, qu'il interprète lui-même avec trois autres détenus, résonne des cris de désespoir d'hommes désillusionnés. Que ce soit par la forme ou les sonorités, le Quatuor pour la fin du temps offre une vision rappelant l'Apocalypse de Jean, dont il est inspiré. -
North Atlantic Treaty (Miled Hill)
The North Atlantic Treaty established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an organization composed mainly of Western European states and North America for collective defense. From 1648 - 1949, this treaty exemplifies the movement towards a more unified European identity after five centuries of warfare. European internaitnalism has evolved, with this treaty, to a sense of European nationalism.
