History UNIT 2 Pixabay (1) Material developed by Teachers and Members belonging to the project Teresa Costanza
1.- History Across Europe The history of a people is made by men and among them those who firmly carry on the ideals of equality, justice, freedom emerge so that the people they represent will fight to gain some basic rights that lead to human freedom to live in a democratic country whose sovereignty belongs to the people and which Pixabay (2) guarantees freedom of thought, freedom of the press, of association, political pluralism. Europe has had many men who fought and sometimes lost their lives to affirm these inalienable rights. We want to introduce to you some national heroes who gave their contribution to democracy in their country. In a chronological order they are : Giuseppe Garibaldi Italian, Vasil Levski Bulgarian, Jonas Basanavičius Lithuanian, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Turkish, Nicolau Titulescu Romanian, Vaclav Havel Czech, King Juan Carlos I Spanish, Janes Potocnick, Slovenian.
The above mentioned national heroes we are going to give a brief profile of don t have in common their age or the special conditions under which they operate and, not even, the places where they live, think, act. However they are remembered for their commitment, because all of them, in different ways and times and with different fortune, have made their lives a single great mission: to gain freedom. Freedom that gives the right to self-determination, equality, justice, peaceful coexistence, and therefore a different way of saying progress. Progress is in the emancipation from the persistent chains such as poverty, ignorance, apathy. Each of these men, with strong energy and patience, but never making use of violence, has led those who wanted to break the physical and mental chains that always accompany the exploitation of man. Pixabay (3) Humanistic Thought and French Revolution s children, lay heirs of Christian values, at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first century, have welcomed and given to this continent what Mahatma Gandhi gave to India and to the world: the political action and social
environment for a new opportunity to live together. They make us feel more powerful and stronger to fight for the man and not against the man giving, in this way, a different, higher value to the same concept of progress. Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) He was a patriot and soldier, a leading figure in the Risorgimento. He renounced his Republican views and supported a united Italy under Victor Emanuel II of Sardinia. He led 1,000 volunteers red shirts in a spectacular conquest of Sicily and Naples. Then he handed his conquests over to Sardinia and Victor Wikipedia (4) Emanuel was proclaimed King of Italy. He was called the Hero of two worlds. Vasil Levski. (1837-1873) He is considered a national hero, the greatest hero of all times of Bulgaria. Levsky was known as the Apostle of liberty. He also had a nickname lion. He ideologised and planned a revolutionary movement to free his country from the Ottoman Wikipedia (5)
rule. He not only wanted to set Bulgaria free from the Ottomans but he also dreamed of giving his country a republican establishment of ethnic and religious equality. He was hanged in Sofia by Ottoman authorities. Jonas Basanavičius (1851-1927) Son of catholic parents his birth was a bit complicated and since they were devoted to pray they wanted him to be a priest. He was a Patriot, writer, scientist, physician, folklorist and a leader of the Lithuanian national movement. His father wanted him to be a priest. He edited the first number of the magazine Auṧra ( Dawn ) printed Wikipedia (6) in the Lithuanian language, banned by the tsarist regime, in the Latin alphabet and that influenced very much the development of the Lithuanian national movement. He founded the Lithuanian Scientific Society in 1907. He had the honorific title of the Patriarch of the Nation
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) He was a Turkish army officer, a revolutionary and first President of Turkey. Founder of the Turkey Republic his name Atatürk means father of the Turks and was given to him by the Turkish Parliament. To transform the former Ottoman Empire into a modern secular nation-state he started political, economic, cultural reforms: Wikipedia (7) primary education free and compulsory, equal civil and political rights to women, reduced taxes to peasants. The principles of his reforms are known as Kemalism. Nicolae Titulescu. ( 1883-1941) He was a professor of civil law, a politician, a statesman, foreign minister, finance minister in 1920 but his unpopular fiscal reforms caused the fall of the government. He was a permanent representative of Romania to the League of Nations in Geneva. He formed the National Romanian Committee. He fought for the peace between the bordering countries regardless the Wikipedia (8) country size, to prevent any form of aggression by respecting each
sovereignty and equality of all nations in the international community through the maintenance of peace. Václav Havel (1936-2011) He was a non-violence revolutionary and great intellectual, a martyr of the repression in the Soviet '' evil empire " and always a promoter of dialogue. He was a clandestine democratic opposition leader under communism and the inspirer of the" velvet revolution "in non-violent ' autumn 1989 and then head of state of Czechoslovakia which Wikipedia (9) returned to democracy. But he was also the first president of the Czech Republic. Juan Carlos I King of Spain (1938 - ) He became king in 1975. He married princess Sophia of Greece. Francisco Franco named him his successor as ruler. After Franco s death Juan Carlos became the first Spanish king since his grandfather was deposed in 1931. Carlos introduced reforms to dismantle Francoist regime and begin the Spanish transition to democracy. He encouraged Wikipedia (10)
the reformation of political parties and granted amnesty to political prisoners. A constitutional monarchy was established after a referendum in 1978. In 1981 he blocked a wright-wing military coup. He abdicated in 2014 in favor of his son Felipe VI. Janez Potocnik ( 1958 - ) Slovenia He got a bachelor s degree and a PhD in economics from the University of Ljubljana.He was a European Commissioner in 2009 and Minister Councilor at the Slovenian Prime Minister s Cabinet (2001-2002) and Minister for European Affairs (2002-2004). He was in the team for the Accession of Slovenia to the EU. He was a European Wikipedia (11) Commissioner for science and research and for environment for the last 5 years. He worked on preserving natural heritage and providing growth opportunities and new jobs. Activity: Match special people to the sentence in the Activity 2.1 here.
Activity: Do the Crossworth about special people information about their life and ideals. After of this, discuss about heros: are they real persons or are they from literature? who are the heros of 21st century according to you? use the Activity 2.2 Forum here. Activity: Answer the questions about Historical characters use the Activity 2.3 here. Activity: After doing the crosswords and visioning the material of the slideshare (learn more about special people slide show discuss on the forum of two national heroes that you like stressing the qualities that you appreciate the most. use the Activity 2.4 forum here.
References Webster s New Universal Encyclopdedia, Barnes & Nobles Books, New York, 1997 Judith S. Levey and Agnes Greenhal, The Concise Columbia Enciclopedia, Columbia University Press, 1983 http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2011/12/18/news/morto_havel_cecoslovacchi a_ex_presidente_vaclav-26811751/ http://win.storiain.net/arret/num146/artic2.asp http://www.britannica.com/ Pictures 01-> https://pixabay.com/en/learning-geography-teaching-child-928638/ 02-> https://pixabay.com/en/reflection-water-canal-mirroring-101005/ 03-> https://pixabay.com/en/be-being-presence-here-now-spirit-511557/ 04-> https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/giuseppe_garibaldi#/media/file:giuseppe_garibaldi_(1866).jpg 05-> https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/vasil_levski#/media/file:vasil_levski.jpg 06-> https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/jonas_basanavi%c4%8dius#/media/file:jonas_basanavicius_%281851-1927%29.jpg 07-> https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/mustafa_kemal_atat%c3%bcrk#/media/file:ataturk_in_1923.jpg 08-> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nicolae_titulescu#/media/file:nicolae_titulescu.jpg 09-> https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/v%c3%a1clav_havel#/media/file:vaclav_havel_imf.jpg 10-> https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/juan_carlos_i_di_spagna#/media/file:juan_carlos_i_2009_3.jpg 11-> https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/janez_poto%c4%8dnik#/media/file:janez_poto%c4%8dnik,_strasbourg_-_diliff.jpg