SO, the idea of this tread would be something similar to the late 'The Rest Of The World' s,: say something about your country, where it is, some history, and something you find important saying. I'm going to post about my country, but not right now.

Today (17. may) is the norwegian independence day. We call it the national day (thats in norwegian: nasjonal dagen). Everyone in the country celebrates it. I would be out celebrating right now, but the weather here is very bad.. I went out earlier today, and that was enough for me. Still have my suit on..

My county was ocipied from USSR 1944-1991 but Russian solders there was till 1994,
Latvia has be free 1918-1939, you know Molotov Rebentrop pact and from 12 century here rule germans, but well I dont nothing about it, its only good, after Livonia fall here rule pols, after Swedish Poloish wall, Pols/sweeds, danish and leither from 17th century russians-till 1918 when we fight freedom, but totaly free we was in 1920 when we kick Russian army beck

It was important what you all shoud know for know

Well, Canada was under British rule until only like...40 years ago or something...Wow, I know so much about my country

@Horlequism dude Canada belong to France long time and then was war and british winn it and its because it belongs to britan so long, and well you know those old indian movies well some part of treuth are there too

@Horlequism You should write a book about Canada, dude

Well, I currently reside in the USA, although I will be moving to Scotland quite soon, like within two months.

I live in Wyoming, the least populated state in the Union, where there are more cows than people. And I quite like that. I don't suppose that there is really anything special to say about America in general that everybody doesn't already know. But right here it is wide open and quiet and usually peaceful. People in my state are friendly and laid-back. And Yellowstone Park is an excellent place to visit if you're traveling. I went there for the first time last fall and loved it.

Once in Scotland I'll be living in a highly populated area, which will be different for me, but hopefully we'll be heading to the highlands within a couple years. I think I'll leave it to Daibh to tell you all about Scotland.

Finland is up here in the North. For years we were first part of Sweden and then part of Russia, but then we finally gained our independency on 6th of December 1917, after the revolution in Russia. Foreigners know Finland best from Nokia (so, it´s Finnish, not Japanese company), beautiful nature and metal music. And no, against common beliefs, there are no polar bears here, even though it´s pretty cold here during the winter time.

@Ernator you was in Russian empire like Latvia, and we got freedom in same revoulution, but in Finlands theritory newer was WWI how in Latvia, and in same time two armies was here, In east Russian, west Greman(Bermont) and in midle Latvian

So, this is where my country lies, i hope that you already knew that

I'll just write something about our last 80 years.

Spain

Chapter I: The Second Republic and the Civil War

Let's start with the good old days back in the 30's. After centuries of monarchy, during which the Kings of Spain enslaved millions of natives, mostly in America, and punished the population with high taxes and almost no education, finally the masses rebelled against King Alfonso XIII and proclaimed the Spanish Republic on April 14th, 1931, a day to remember. The King escaped and the II Republic (2nd Republic because we had had a short Republican period back in 1874) was created as one of the first, if not the first truly modern democracy in South Europe: Women were allowed to vote and had exactly the same rights as men; the Constitution explicited that the state was aconfessional; unemployment slowed down drastically and the population was able to read and write for the first time since the Romans' period. There were no famines either, and social security (health) reached a good level, comparable with other 'modern' nations. Politically, the Republic was a true democracy, as I have said, but with a Marxist background...

... which the Church, the army and most of the powerful, rich people did not like. Note that Spain had been one of the bastions of the Catholic Church for centuries, and you'll still find nowadays that Spain is one of the most religious Catholic countries in the European Union together with Ireland - so remember, we are still talking about the 30's. The government started to prosecute Catholics for being subversive against the Republic, without considering that there was a clear Catholic majority among the Spanish population. Thus, in 1933 the right-wing party CEDA won and replaced the left-wing government which founded the Republic in 1933, and the 'exaltated' radical leftists started to burn churches and kill priests. The streets were full of hatred and tension: The priests and army announced that they would resist against the "dismembrance of the Motherland", while an Anarchist would kill you on the streets just because he saw you reading a monarchistic newspaper, and the police would do nothing; apart from the coup attempt by Fascist General Sanjurjo in 1933... I forgot to mention that Catalan separatists announced the foundation of a Catalan Republic (which never took place) even with a new currency on October 7th, 1934 ("The Catalan State inside the Spanish Federal Republic"). The situation was too tense to be true: In 1934, Asturian mine workers revolted against the right-wing government and were brutally repressed by the army, commanded by General Franco. 2000 people killed. This fight is known as the first fight of the Spanish Civil War.

On February 16th, 1936, a new left-wing coalition, the Popular Front, supported by the Anarchists, won the election, which caused even more tension and a polarization between the progressive, anti-clerical society and the traditional, Catholic one: the myth of the "Two Spains" ("Las dos Españas"). Finally, on July 17th, 1936, the war started. Lots of commanders of the Army, mostly Fascists, called themselves "Spanish Nationalists" and were supported by the Church and conservatives. The most important leaders were Emilio Mola, who died in a plane accident, and Francisco Franco.

The Spanish Civil War lasted for three horrible years during which horrible massacres were done in both sides: Republicans ('Reds') and Nationalists ('Fascists'). 50000 people were executed in each one of the sides. The Republic had too many troubles to deal with: Nazi Germany supported the Fascist rebellion: Adolf Hitler sent his air division "Legion Condor" to set the first city bombardment in history in Guernica (1937); Fascist Italy even sent thousands of soldiers (Corpo Truppe Voluntarie) to fight aside with the Rebellion, and the worst thing was that although the Nationalists stood as one, the Republicans didn't. Anarchists forced a communal sharing of the land even though farmers didn't want to (thus they were executed); Communists wanted Spain to become a Soviet Republic; Socialists and Democrats wanted the democracy to survive, but they all fought for the Republic. In addition, France, Great Britain and other important countries keeped an embargo on the Soviet aid to the Republic. The Soviet Union was not able to export as many weapons as they wanted: the democracies (France, UK, USA) remained neutral in the conflict, thinking that a Soviet republic in Western Europe would be too hazardous for their interests. In the end, Franco won the war on April 1st, 1939.

Chapter II: From Fascism to Democracy

After the war, 1 million Spanish were dead. Almost all the Spanish intellectuals supported the Republic and were either exiled (like Pablo Ruiz Picasso) or executed (like Federico García-Lorca). Franco was not a Fascist himself (just a Catholic army man), but his former chiefs (Mola, Sanjurjo) were Fascists, and his followers too. He started a dictatorship in 1939 which lasted until his death in 1975. He called his ideology "National Catholicism" and destroyed all the positive social policies the Republic had introduced: Women and men were separated in school once again; the state was defined as Catholic; homosexuals were arrested and usually executed; freedom of speech and press was cancelled, all the political parties except Franco's La Falange were outlawed and hunger and misery rose among the population, which is logical in a post-war state. In addition, the education returned to be controlled by the Catholic clergy.

What role did Spain play in WWII? Well, as Hitler invaded France in 1940 and set his puppet regime in Vichy (Pétain), he went to Hendaye, a French town close to the Spanish border, where he met Franco. Spanish Fascists were excited about a possible alliance with Germany, Italy and Japan (the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo-Madrid Axis), but knowing that the Spanish Civil War ended in the same year when WWII started (1939) and that Spanish infrastructures were totally destroyed in this post-war period, Franco considered that it would be healthier for the country to remain neutral - although Nazi Germany had done him some great favours with the bombardment of Guernica by the "Legion Condor" and the one of Almería by sea by Germany. Franco's strong Anti-Bolshevism forced him to create an infantry division, "División Azul" (Blue Division) which would help Hitler's troops against the Soviet Union. Later, the Blue Division became a myth for Spanish fascists.

The Franco days were full of religious extremism (the police could perfectly send you to jail if you were kissing your girlfriend on the streets for being 'immoral'), economic recession (Franco did not open Spanish economy to the world until the 60's, that's more than 20 years), social inequities (women were officially inferior to men) and many, many negative aspects. I have to admit that he managed to do an important issue, though: the creation of a middle-class which did not exist before. For instance, there are some more languages in Spain than Spanish, for example Catalan (Catalonia, Valencia, Balearic Islands), Galician (Galicia), Basque (Basque Country), Bable (Asturias) or Provençal (Val d'Arán in North Catalonia). Franco outlawed any spoken language of these which was not Spanish! People speaking in Catalan in an airport were arrested, for example.

Franco died on November 20th, 1975. Then, a peaceful process, the Transición (Transition) was opened. The Spanish people wanted no more dictatorship after 40 years of Fascist oppression, but NOT a Communist dictatorship either. The legalisation of the Communist Party (PCE) in 1977 was a real shock, but the Communists had to promise that they would honour the Spanish red-yellow-red flag (not the Republican one: red-yellow-purple) and respect the new Head of State, King Juan Carlos I (John Charles I), as well as the monarchy and the democracy. Finally, there was a democratic election for the first time in 1978 since the Republican days which Adolfo Suárez (Centrist, UCD) won. Finally, the great democratic year of 1978 culminated in the Constitution on December 6th. NOTE: THE KING WAS ELECTED BY FRANCO AS HIS SUCCESSOR AS HEAD OF STATE. There was never a referendum on monarchy or republic.

The Spanish Constitution is far from perfect. It includes a monarchy once more because the King helped very much to make a democracy out of Spain, but 30 years later he's still in charge. In addition, the separatist movements in the Basque Country and Catalonia (they call themselves "Nationalists" here) had to be compensated after so many years of Fascist centralistic brutality, so the Constitution gives them a lot of power. In which sense? A Catalan vote counts more for the Parliament than a vote in Madrid, for example (which I find anti-democratic). This is why the Catalan separatist party which betrayed the Republic in 1934, ERC, has more representation than the Communists, for example, with many, many less votes.

Last Chapter: Modern Spain

Although there was a little coup attempt against democracy on February 23th, 1981, by a group of Fascists, it did not succeed at all due to the strong oppossition of the King, the Parliament and overall the population. The next year, 1982, there was another election, now won by the strongest party in Spain, PSOE, the Socialist Party. The Socialists (really Social Democrats) have been winning the elections until 1996 (being Felipe González the president), when right-wing Conservatives of PP (Popular Party), with José María Aznar as leader. The Conservatives made the Spanish economy rise a lot, but social injustice was created too. The people of Spain disliked Aznar's alignment with the USA, unlike the Socialists had done back in the 80's (actually, they did a referendum to choose if we would join NATO), when we joined the European Union.

The main theme in democratic Spain is Terrorism. We have been suffering Basque separatist terrorism since the 70's, being ETA the main terrorist organization. They press for a nationalism created in the end of the 19th century by Catholic Fundamentalist Sabino Arana (check my post in the thread "The IRA and other terrorist groups"), although nowadays the Basque youth does not know it. Basque Nationalism is based on racistic ideas, and unfortunately the Basque National Party, PNV, has been ruling the Basque Country since the creation of democracy here and consequently controlling Basque education, corrupting young minds.

Catalan separatism, however, is based on economic issues. Catalan separatism is very different from Basque separatism, although both hate everything related with Spanish unity. Catalonia (especially its capital Barcelona) has always been an important industrial and commercial centre, and the Catalan bourgeoisie has always been irritated for needing to feed central monarchy with their money.

In the most recent months, we have experienced a new form of terrorism: Islamic terrorism. Read some information on the attacks on March 11th, 2004 by yourself; I am still too shocked to talk about them because I lived them very personally.

Finally, some information about our society. The Catholic integrism of the Fascist days has decayed very drastically in the past years (fortunately). The new Socialist government seems to be very interested on social issues such as homosexual marriage, stem cell research and other points in which the Catholic Church strongly disagrees. Now, they have not that much representation or support by the people, so political instability due to religious reasons is totally unexpectable. The society is rather 'modern' and alligns with social development, not recession.

On the other hand, extreme right-wing racist movements have started to reappear with the immigration - it was us Spanish people who emigrated to Latin America back in the 60's; now that our economy has been built up and we place ourselves as the 9th richest country in the world after recent studies, it is mostly Latin Americans, Romanians and North Africans who come here for some money. Unfortunately, most of the crimes in Spain are committed by strangers, which gives racists a "reason" (that's how they call it) to discriminate against them. Ah well, I hope racism will disappear some day...

... Oh, and last but not least, we have a Metal scene, even if it's not as important as in Scandinavia! (Mago De Oz, Ars Amandi, Warcry, Saratoga... ). Only I don't know any Spanish Death, Black or Doom Metal bands. Most metalheads are concerned about Heavy Metal and Hard-Rock (so-called "Rock Nacional", "National Rock": Barón Rojo, Obús, Asfalto... check them out if you want some traditional 80's heavy sound!)


Information about our older history later.

I dont no if youve haerd of teh untied states of america before but it was made in 1776 by george washington, who killed the english because they were oppressing him and stuff. also its teh greatest counterey in the world i hear.

... Sarcasm aside, rather than talking about the USA (a country that I think many of you are somewhat acquainted with), I think I'd rather talk about the state I reside in instead, Massachusetts.

Massachusetts is a relatively small state in the North Eastern portion of the US - though its population is proportionally large. It was first settled in the early 1600s, in which two colonies were formed - Massachusetts and Plymouth, the latter eventually being absorbed into Massachusetts. The colony was, essentially, established as a Puritan theocracy, pushing many people out of the boarders and forming other states, such as Connecticut to the South and New Hampshire to the North.

The state was also one of the centers of the American Revolution against Great Britain and the formation of the Constitution, both actively and intellectually. Massachusetts is also noted for having the oldest active written constitution in the world, ratified by the citizens in 1780. The document greatly influenced the structure of the United States Constitution.

The capital of the State, Boston, is a major port city in the United States. It is also noted for being the city in which the vast majority of Irish immigrants ended up - an aspect that radically shaped the image of Massachusetts (for example, though Massachusetts was founded on strongly anti-Catholic sentiment, the amount of people who follow Catholicism in the state today is at a significantly higher rate than many others (about 42% of all Christains in the state) - much of this can indeed be attributed to the Irish immigration).

Massachusetts has also been known as being one of the most politically progressive states in the Union - both in history and today. It was one of the first to formally ban slavery. Recently, it is the first state to begin forming a more socialized heathcare system, as well as, most famously in the 'States, legalizing homosexual marriage.

I will tell you about Israel :
Israel is a country since 1948 and day after it Israel was attacked by Syria,Egypt,Jordan,Lebanon and Israel still wasn't prepared for such big war ,because they didn't have official army yet ,but a lot of volunteers went to protect their country ,and after it Israel won .
at 1956 Israel had another war "sinay war" this war was with Egypt (i don't know details about it) but Israel won and conquer Sinay (Egypt teretory) .
Israel had alot of another war 's but i am llazy to write it ...
Israel had war's at : 1967 ,1969-1970,1973,1982 . and of course the was at those day's .
at 1978\9 Israel signed piece with Egypt .
at 1994 Israel signed piece with Jordan .
Israel attacked by Iraq at the war at 1991 while USA were attacking Iraq .

@ Kariasakis7 Wow! You seem to know our history better than I do. Guess I have slept during my history classes. But I think that you find Latvia´s history more important than I find Finland´s, which is understandable. Maybe you´d like to tell us something more about Latvia?

letsee i live in the states but i was born and raised in russia so i will talk about that.
Arkona was the name of the last russian pagan town that existed Also the original russian alphabet looks nothing like the one they have today. The one that is used today came about when the christians where trying to whipe out paganism so the made it illegal to use the old alphabet (even if it was much more advanced) and now we are stuck with a ripoff of a greek alphabet. Another awsome thing about russia....if you leave the major cities and head out east most of the smaller villages still follow the pagan ways, even if christianity has seeped into them most people still believe in the house/field/water spirits and things like that

oh and the russian government sucks some major donkey balls :\

One of the main turning points in Finland's history lies between 30.11 1939 - 13.3 1940

The WINTERWAR Small Finland against huge Soviet Union

105 days bitter fighting in ruthless conditions over minus 40 degrees Celcius

everyone knows about Mexico right? at least the location and shit...

well, we are a happy country, uhm...we have hot chicas, we have the best beer and the best tacos ever.

What can I say, I like my country because it has really beautiful places, most people already know about Cancún right? I also love our history, aztec and mayan stuff is really fucking misterious and I love that fact. We don't have white xmass because most times the sun is screwing our states, though half of the states have just a couple of months of snow.

what else? uhm...we are very friendly I guess. we have cool metal bands like Disgorge and The Chasm...Brujeria could fit there as well.

what else would you like to know about mexico...or what do you already know about Mexico...

Written by Ernotar on 18.05.2006 at 15:44

@ Kariasakis7 Wow! You seem to know our history better than I do. Guess I have slept during my history classes. But I think that you find Latvia´s history more important than I find Finland´s, which is understandable. Maybe you´d like to tell us something more about Latvia?

Me too I was sleeping in history lesens too
About history I study it in unvesety and im to bored about latvian history so I want rest of it, well I must agree whit some guys, I wish I live in Mexico and drunk bottle of treqilla in day

Brazil is a huge country (3 times bigger than Europe, I guess), and has a lot of beautiful places to live. Although our politicians aren't the ones you'd like to have in your country, we still are happy, despite all the corruption, poverty and injustice we still have here. Rio de Janeiro and the city I live, Salvador, are among the most beautiful cities in the world. We have marvelous beaches, pretty girls and Brazilian people are quite receptive. I love my country!

Brazil is a huge country (3 times bigger than Europe, I guess), and has a lot of beautiful places to live. Although our politicians aren't the ones you'd like to have in your country, we still are happy, despite all the corruption, poverty and injustice we still have here. Rio de Janeiro and the city I live, Salvador, are among the most beautiful cities in the world. We have marvelous beaches, pretty girls and Brazilian people are quite receptive. I love my country!

Brazil is a huge country (3 times bigger than Europe, I guess), and has a lot of beautiful places to live. Although our politicians aren't the ones you'd like to have in your country, we still are happy, despite all the corruption, poverty and injustice we still have here. Rio de Janeiro and the city I live, Salvador, are among the most beautiful cities in the world. We have marvelous beaches, pretty girls and Brazilian people are quite receptive. I love my country!

my countrys standard youth loves american culture<<<<<<<<<<<<< fucken gay........... umm there was a whole generation of kids and teenagers stolen. arrr what else we sell all our fucken resources to other fuckers ...we have a water shortage, we are the son of england and the brother of the world we have snow,desert and reefs a couple of thousand beachs and kickass fishing places inland and sea and a population of roughly 20 million people and kangaroo meat tastes alright same for crocadile and our metalheads are few and far between

Why would you say American culture is gay? When you say American, are you talking about USA or other American countries? And by American culture, do you mean the mainstream MTV bullshit? I can agree with you on that. Otherwise, you're just coming off as ignorant.

Before i give you histroy of my country, how many of you do you know where is MALTA ?

I have some interest in that .

Written by Lupas on 19.05.2006 at 17:17

Before i give you histroy of my country, how many of you do you know where is MALTA ?

I have some interest in that .

malta is that small country in midle of Sout Africa Republic where no ocean only desert and lions are

Man How long Malta has been under britsih rule
I like those big Cannons in Valeta, and Valeta seams nice town, specely see side, but I never had see country side, and do you live near see?
How KM are from Malta to closer Italian town?

Written by Lupas on 19.05.2006 at 17:17

Before i give you histroy of my country, how many of you do you know where is MALTA ?

I have some interest in that .

I feel you, brother

@K7 :

SOuth Africa good one K7 and lions and desert

MAlta has a wonderful histroy. From all i am proud that i have born in Malta cause i like very much histroy and my best subject in school was histroy.
BTW Malta has a histroy from 5000 BC till now . English rule here from 1798 till 1979.
But many great empire rules malta , from Romans , Arabs, French, Sicilian s, well most of all
Valletta is the capital city , and it still standing as it is from the era of The Kinghts of Malta from 1567.
Since it is an island is surround with the sea and has 2 small islands that are habitated by man . Namely GOZO and Kemmuna . Pop. here is around 400,000 , a bit crowd in small land .
From Sicily it is only 92 Km and 270km from Africa

I used to live near Valleta only 1 mile . A town called Hamrun
Till next time ..........

Lupas well yes lions and desert

You forgot greeks who was there, there was some places where thay stay
Romans well yes it is great part of history where Maltease culture mix whit greek/romans in duferent for how in Ilalia and arabs, normans, sicialands mix together and now we call it Malta, and still time stand still there.

Man in your town you can swimm free in see, its near see.
BTW how calls this see in english?

And you drive ny car in that side how in UK?

Oh, Alba!

The recorded history of Scotland begins in the 1st century AD, when the Romans invaded Britain. The Romans, upon the invasion, added southern Britain to their empire as the province Britannia. They were unable, however, to subdue the fierce tribes in the north (as we are naturally marvelous). So in order to separate themselves from us the Emperor Hadrian constructed a massive wall across the island from sea to sea. The Romans called the land north of the wall Caledonia, and they called the people Picts--from the Latin piclus, meaning "painted"--because they painted their bodies. -You can still see parts of the wall along the border, if you were so inclined.

SO by the 5th century Celtic immigrants from Ireland, called Scots, settled north of the Clyde. The Scots were already Christians when they left Ireland. In the next century St. Columba converted the king of the Picts to Christianity. In the 9th century Kenneth MacAlpine, king of the Scots, added the Pictish kingdom to his own. In about the 10th century the land came to be known as Scotland. (still, Alba to the Gael)

After the Normans conquered England in 1066, many Anglo-Saxons from England settled in the Lowlands of Scotland. Here the Scots gradually adopted English ways. Feudalism was established, and the chiefs of the clans became nobles. Towns grew, trade increased, and Scotland prospered. -This was perhaps the humble beginnings of what would eventually be the scourge of our Nation. "Lowland Scots with English habits"

So after many a'wee scuffle wae the fellas down south, the major turning points in our history began:

The Scots rose led by William Wallace (a supposedly large, manly gentleman, quite unlike St. Mel Gibson) and they routed, or "Kicked Ass" on the English at Stirling Bridge in 1297 and pursued them across the border. The next year Edward returned and inflicted a disastrous defeat on the Scots at Falkirk -we were drunk, and Wallace was later captured and executed.

Our spirit was still unbroken, and we soon found another great champion in Robert the Bruce.
The last great battle in the war for independence was fought in 1314 at Bannockburn near Stirling Castle. There Bruce inflicted a disastrous defeat on superior English forces led by Edward II. In 1328 Edward III formally recognized Scotland's independence.

In the later Middle Ages, Scotland suffered from weak kings and powerful nobles -the greed of man playing a part in Alba as it has everywhere
The next major stage on the other hand was perhaps the Protestant Reformation, which by that time swept across much of Europe. Scotland was still a Roman Catholic country. Its young queen, Mary Stuart, was in France when John Knox returned home to Scotland from Geneva, Switzerland. Knox was a follower of John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Reformation. With fiery eloquence he spread Calvin's Protestant doctrine. Knox and others drove Mary out. In 1560 Scotland's parliament adopted a confession of faith drawn up by Knox and established the Church of Scotland on a Presbyterian basis.

The age-old rivalry between Scotland and England ended formally in 1707 when the parliaments of both nations agreed to the Act of Union -much to the dismay of real Scots.

And moving on to more recent fuck ups?t The Highlanders whom still remained loyal to the exiled Stuarts attempted to restore the house to the throne; In 1745 they supported his son, Charles Edward, known as the Young Pretender and Bonnie Prince Charlie. The Young Pretender's quest for the throne ended in 1746 at the battle Culloden when the Highland forces were defeated by the English -this was a sad time, and its effects still loom over us all. The death not only of men; but of culture and language. Only now are we picking up the pieces.

The end of the 18th century has been called Scotland's most creative period. David Hume won world fame in philosophy and history, Adam Smith in political economy, and Robert Burns in poetry. In the next generation Sir Walter Scott made the land and history of Scotland known throughout the world. During this period the Scots were also pre-eminent in establishing the fledgling colonies in America, Canada and Australia -yet, not always by free will. Many of our people were violently driven from our homes, mainly in the Western Isles, to make way for sheep. Yeah, sounds silly, but people fought for their superiority over sheep, and were killed, raped, and sent away from home and their families just to make "better use of the land" .

The national day of sweden is on 6/6, this year it will be the number of the beast (6/6 06).

Sweden is known for being open-minded and kind country and get we had a race-biological institute until 1970... Also many swedes supported Hitler under the WWII. But on the other hand, there were many volunteirs who helped the finns in the winter war.