Looking Back and Looking Forward - 2021 and 2022

2021 has come and gone and I doubt that I will miss it. It was a stressful year and a strange for my personal study of history. In fact I have devoted even more time to history than usual, as a very big part of the year was filled with writing my master thesis. That however means on the other hand that I had very little time for leisure with my stamps, postcards and blogs. My main blog suffered, but this blog suffered even more. Only four posts I have published here, one each in January, March, April and December. I had actually planned many more including two or three bigger posts. Maybe I will write them this year, but I do not think so, as it will be another stressful year and I have already new plans. Apart from these personal reasons for a different year of devoting time to history also the pandemic still plays a role in changing plans especially with regard to museums, which for me are an important part of engaging with history in a leisurely way. Due to Covid-19 museums here in the region were closed on 1st November 2020 and apart from one week in March were just allowed to reopen in late May. Nonetheless I still managed to do roughly 20 museum visits in 2021. The highlights were the Nebra Sky Disc exhibition in Halle an der Saale, the new permanent exhibition at the Bavarian Army Museum in Ingolstadt, "Kinosaurier" in Hanover, the Premonstratensians in Magdeburg, Plagues in Hildesheim and exhibitions about Rudolf Manga Bell and the Silk Road in Hamburg. In my Outlook of 2021 I had written about nine exhibitions that I had hopes to visit during the year. Two of them were postponed and six of them I actually visited. Only the Late Gothic exhibition in Berlin I have not seen. When I wrote that the opening of the Humboldt Forum was not on my radar. I have not visited it yet, but hope to do so this year. 

In my outlook I had already mentioned that there seems to be no big jubilee in 2021 and I was right. I had added some jubiless to my original list and these here the stamp issue numbers I have for them:

• zero issues: 150 years Proclamation of the German Empire, 500 years Diet of Worms, 650th birthday of Zheng He, 750 years Beginning of Marco Polo's Journey
• one issue: 100th birthday of Friedrich Dürrenmatt (Switzerland), 100th birthday of Sophie Scholl (Germany), 150th birthday of Friedrich Ebert (Germany), 450th birthday of Johannes Kepler (KEP), 500 years Fuggerei in Augsburg (Germany), 1600 years Venice (Italy), 1700 years Jewish Life in Germany (Germany), 1900th birthday of Marcus Aurelius (Slovakia)
• two issues: 100th birthday of Joseph Beuys (Germany, Serbia), 100th birthday of Stanislaw Lem (Poland, Serbia), 150th birthday of Marcel Proust (Monaco, Portugal), 200th birthday of Charles Baudelaire (France, Serbia), 200th birthday of Gustave Flaubert (France, Monaco), 200 years Beginning of the Greek Revolution (Cyprus, Greece), 300 years End of the Great Northern War (Åland Islands, Russia)
• three issues: 450 years Battle of Lepanto (Italy, Montenegro, Spain)
• four issues: 450th birthday of Caravaggio (Bulgaria, North Macedonia, San Marino, Vatican), 550th birthday of Albrecht Dürer (Bulgaria, Hungary, KEP, San Marino)
• five issues: 100 years Communist Party of China (Armenia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Serbia), 100 years Discovery of Insulin (Brazil, Canada, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Switzerland), 200th death anniversary of Napoleon (Andorra - French Post, France, Italy, Malta, Saint Helena + Cuba (EDIT: 6th February 2022)), 400th birthday of Jean de La Fontaine (Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Monaco, Portugal)
• six issues: 700th death anniversary of Dante Alighieri (Czechia, Georgia, Italy, Liechtenstein, Uruguay, Vatican)
• seven issues: 200th birthday of Fyodor Dostoevsky (Bosnia and Herzegovina - Republic Srpska, Bulgaria, KEP, Monaco, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia)

And just for comparison these are the number for recent BIG jubilees:

• 16 issues: 100 years End of World War I (2018)
• 19 issues: 500 years Reformation (2017)
• 30 issues: 50 years Moon Landing (2019)
• 40 issues: 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven (2020)

In the outlook I wondered whether Dante or Napoleon might become the BIG jubilee of the year and indeed both performed rather well, but are nothing near the jubilees of the last years. Fyodor Dostoevsky on the other hand was not on my radar at all.

The end of the year also means once again to choose My Favourite History Stamps of the Year in addition to my general My Favourite Stamps of 2021 over on my stamp blog. Unlike last year I am contended with this list, so without further ado:

11. Robert Blum (Germany)

Robert Blum is one of the most famous German proponents of the Revolution of 1848, yet this is the first time that he is shown on a stamp. I actually thought that this might be the "prequel" for a 175th anniversary stamp issue of the revolution itself in 2023, but no such stamp is planned. This souvenir sheet is not connected to any anniversary and is actually part of the stamp series "Aufrechte Demokraten" (Upright Democrats), which was started in 2002, but for which this is just the sixth issue. It is great to see Blum honoured with a stamp, but I do not like this design at all with the white streak on his face and the text in the background that is covered and thus unreadable. Hence just the 11th rank.

10. 400th Birthday of Jean de La Fontaine (France)

I really like the design of this sheet, but more so because I collect also Childhood Heroes on Stamps. La Fontaine was not on my historical radar until recently, his works are however of immense importance and this sheets thus deserves to be included here.

9. Bicentenary of the Congress of Laibach (Slovenia)

This congress in Laibach, which is now called Ljubljana and is Slovenia's capital, was one of four successor congresses of the Congress of Vienna and an "attempt of the five Great Powers to settle international problems after the Napoleonic Wars through discussion and collective weight rather than on the battlefield" (Wikipedia). I guess it is not widely known that these congresses existed at all, but it is nice to see that at least one is remembered on a local/national level. This is a nice little stamp, but unfortunately a victim of my own course of the year. I bought it online, scanned it, put in my album and did not think about it further. Still a worthy addition to any stamp collection about European history.

8. Industrial Revolutions (United Kingdom)

This is a very interesting set. I am not aware of any other issue that decidedly thematises this theme and shows different inventions of the era (although I am actually sure that there are some), so this is a set of immense interest for my collection.

7. Birth Centenary of Sophie Scholl (Germany)

Standing up against extremism is once again of big importance these days and so a list like this would not be complete without Sophie Scholl. It is nice to see that they used a different image than usual and they have chosen an interesting quote: "Such a nice, sunny day and I shall go. What however is my death due to, if through us thousands of people are startled and awaken" (22nd February 1943, Scholl's death day). The question however remains why her brother Hans did not get the same treatment in 2018.

6. 230th anniversary of the Constitution of 3 May 1791 (Poland)

Did you know that Poland (or more precisely the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) was one of the first democratic states in Europa? A democratic constitution was introduced already in 1791, but was not effective very long, as the country was divided soon after and disappeared from the map for over 100 years. A rather odd jubilee, but this constitution got the European Heritage Label. Once again a painting by Jan Matejko was chosen to illustrate a historic theme on a Polish stamp.

5. 1700th anniversary of Jewish Life in Germany (Germany)

This is a striking yet simple design and once again a theme to remember these days. Like the Slovenian stamp this one was issued in early 2021 and I have forgetten it a bit in the course of the year. I guess Covid-19 prevented many bigger celebrations. This stamp is also a reminder for the sad fact that the number of special postmarks in Germany was drastically decreased in 2021. In 2019 there were over 360 special postmarks used in Germany (I mean those that are organised locally and not officially tied to a stamp issue), last year there were only roughly 170. That means a great loss for the philatelic commemoration for smaller and local events and anniversaries. In a normal year I guess there would have been multiple postmarks highlighting local connections to this jubilee, but under these circumstances there was only this one from Seelow. It is nonetheless interesting for showing a Stolperstein, the ubiquitous memorial to the Shoa.

4. Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky and the Frankfurt Kitchen (Austria)

This is another stamp without jubilee, but I like it very much, as it closes a big gap in the philatelic documentation of modern architecture. The Frankfurt Kitchen was designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, one of the first women to study architecture in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and probably the first who actually worked fully as architect, for Ernst May's social housing project New Frankfurt. It is considered to be the forerunner of the modern fitted kitchen. Schütte-Lihotzky however was not only a designer, but also a communist activist in the Austrian resistance to Nazism. A worthy and long overdue commemoration!

3. Margaret Atwood (Canada)

Do not worry, Margaret Atwood is not dead yet. So you might wonder, why do I include a stamp like this in my list of history stamps? Well the reason is that reading The Handmaid's Tale shaped my interest in historic themes in the recent years like nothing else. Compared to Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Fahrenheit 451, I think that this dystopia is the most frightening and also most realistic and in case you did not know, Atwood says that everything that she described in her book had an equivalent in real history. Is that not reason enough to investigate the dark sides of humanity's past from dictatorships to genocides for many years to come? 

2. 150th anniversary of the Internment of the Bourbaki Army (Switzerland)

As I said before, I have written my master thesis this year. The theme was the change of depiction of the Foundation of the German Empire in German history schoolbooks between 1971 and 2021 and the reason why I chose this theme was the omission of a German stamp for the jubilee. 1971 there was a stamp and my assumption was that if back then there was and now there is not a stamp there had to be changes as well in how the schools want to communicate the theme to the following generations. Well, in the books however there is no big change at all and so I am wondering even more why there was no such stamp. Our southwestern neighbour however issued a stamp about an event in the atmosphere of the German Empire's foundation. The French Armée de l'Est originally under General Charles Denis Bourbaki was interned in Switzerland in the late phase of the Franco-Prussian War and Switzerland was thus able to consolidate its reputation as a humanitarian nation. The stamp shows a detail of a panorama painting about this event. Apparently you could scan it with a particular app to view the complete painting, but I have not tried.

Honourable Mention: Konrad Adenauer (Spain)

Last year my first place stamp was the Spanish stamp about Robert Schuman that was said to be the start of a series about the Founding Figures of the European Union and I said that I was looking for the stamp about Konrad Adenauer. That stamp was now already issued, but I do not have it yet, so just a honourable mention.

1. Death Bicentenary of Napoleon Bonaparte (France)

Even if I would have got the Adenauer stamp it would not have stand a chance against this sheet. I think this is one of the most beautiful stamp issues that I have ever seen and talking about history-themed stamps nothing comes near it for me in 2021. A well deserved first place and in fact the only theme I managed to write a post about in 2021, so nothing more to add.

With Looking Back finished, let's now begin the Looking Forward.

2022 will bring us of course the announcement of the new European Heritage Label sites. That is something I always look forward to and it might happen in March. Checking out some museum programs and other online news the biggest German history exhibition of the year seems to happen in Trier. From June to November a state exhibition in three museums will thematise the Fall of the Roman Empire. Other German exhibitions I hope to visit will be held in Hildesheim (Islamic Art in Medieval treasures), Münster (Barbarossa) and maybe Stuttgart (History of Beer and Wine). The National Museum of History and Art in Luxembourg plans an exhibition about the Luxembourgian entanglement with the (Belgian) imperialism, which sounds very enticing. Too far away but still noteworthy are the exhibition about the Nebra Sky Disc at the British Museum in London and the openings of Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the Palace Museum in Hong Kong and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles. 

This is my preliminary list of Jubilees in 2022:

50 years The Limits to Growth

75 years Independence of India

100th birthday of Betty White

100th birthday of Doris Day

100th birthday of Kurt Vonnegut

100 years Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun

100 years Irish Free State

100 years Soviet Union

150th birthday of Piet Mondrian

150th birthday of Otto Braun

150th death anniversary of Giuseppe Mazzini

150 years Yellowstone National Park

200th birthday of Gregor Mendel

200th birthday of Heinrich Schliemann

200th birthday of Louis Pasteur

200th death anniversary of Karl August von Hardenberg

200 years Decipherment of the Hieroglyphs

200 years Independence of Brazil

250th birthday of Novalis

250 years First Partition of Poland

350th birthday of Peter the Great

350 years Rampjaar

400th birthday of Molière

450 years Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel

450 years Os Lusíadas

450 years Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre

550th birthday of Lucas Cranach the Elder

900th birthday of Frederick Barbarossa

Once again there is no jubilee that stands out, so most likely there will be again no BIG jubilee. I am however aware of at least one stamp for most of the themes. I would guess that of these either Mendel, Moliere or Pasteur will have the most stamps issued by the end of the year. As this year will be busy, I do not want to plan too much, but I think about posts for Ancient Egypt, Louis Pasteur and maybe Guiseppe Mazzini.

Ten Facts about the Weimar Republic

75 years ago World War II ended in Europa. Back in 2018, when the World celebrated the Centenary of the End of World War I, I actually was thinking about a three-year-series of posts here on the blog: World War I in 2018, the Interwar Period in 2019 and World War II in 2020, but as I already wrote here I failed to write much in 2019 and even now I did not managed to write anything in time for this important jubilee. As I currently have an interest in the Weimar Republic, which was actually supposed to be part of the last year, I write this post about this period in German history now and later on I will write some little posts about World War II, but these have to wait. So for the moment have fun with my ten personal favourite facts about the Weimar Republic.

1 The Weimar Constitution was actually quite interesting.

Studying constitutions and other legal textes might not be the most interesting part of history and unfortunately I still did not managed to read the Weimar Constitution as a whole, but its creation and influence are a worthy first fact. First of all it has to be mentioned that is was actually called Weimar Constitution, because it was signed in the small Thuringian town of Weimar. Berlin was unsuitable, because riots would prevent the free work of the delegates. Weimar on the other side was a linking point with the history of Goethe, Schiller and other great figures of the German literature and was also easy to defend in the case of a attack. As news and mail from Berlin were still needed in Weimar, the first regular air mail service in Germany was established between the two cities. When the Weimar National Assembly was elected earlier in January 1919, most of the German women were able to vote for the first time (some were earlier able to vote on state level). After 1933 the constitution was never formally repealed and stayed in force until the 1945. The 1949 Constitution of the German Democratic Republic, the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany and the first official constitution of the Republic of Korea were later all based on the Weimar Constitution.

2 The first commemorative stamps of the German Empire were issued during the Weimar era.
As it is written in the first article of the Weimar Constitution (shown on the stamp above), the "German Empire is a Republic" and thus also the Weimar Republic is actually still the German Empire. In consequence the Michel Catalog also lists all stamps of the Weimar Republic (and the Third Reich) as part of the German Empire. Looking now in there one might notice that before 1919 only definitives were issued and the first actual commemoratives were issued for the opening of the Weimar National Assembly. Commemoratives however remained scarce until the Third Reich, when more and more were issued for propagandistic reasons. As I unfortunately do not have these stamps, here is an interesting recent postmark to illustrate this fact. It commemorates the centenary of the last Bavarian stamps, which were also issued during the Weimar era.

3 There was not only a Treaty of Versailles.
This is actually just a small note, but while learning history in school I always just heard about the Treaty of Versailles, so if anybody else does not know the others there were also the Treaties of Saint-Germain with Austria, of Neuilly with Bulgaria, of Trianon with Hungary and of Sèvres with the Ottoman Empire, which were all signed during the Paris Peace Conference. As result of the conference also the League of Nations and the International Labour Organization were founded.

4 Thuringia was founded in 1920.
While talking about the territory of the Weimar Republic, the main theme usually is the loss of territories after World War I, mainly Alsace-Lorraine and the territories which became part of a newly-independent Poland, so I think it is actually quite interesting to take a look at the inside. Just like the German Empire until then and Germany today the Weimar Republic was a federal state consisting at its high time of 18 Länder. An alteration during the formation time of the republic was the formation of Thuringia from seven of the eight Thuringian States (Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Reuss Elder Line, Reuss Younger Line; Saxe-Coburg voted to join Bavaria instead). Later on in 1929 the Free State of Waldeck with its glorious capital city Arolsen became part of Prussia. The rest stayed the same until after World War II. Although 18 Länder is not much more than the 16 of today, the map was completely different. Just compare a map of 1930 with one of today by youself!

5 The first President of Germany was legally a traitor to his country.
The justice of the Weimar Republic made some strange decisions. In general it can be said that right-wing crimes got away much easier than left-wing crimes. Examples include the murders of Matthias Erzberger and Walther Rathenau (Organisation Consul), Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch or the Leipzig War Crimes Trials. Especially strange I think is the trial of Friedrich Ebert in Magdeburg in 1925, which fined a journalist who had called Ebert a "traitor to his country" for his role in the January 1918 strike, but it also said that, legally, Ebert had in fact committed treason. This court case prevented him from seeking medical help for a while, as he wanted to be available to give evidence and was thus even a reason for his death shortly afterwards.

6 The Weimar Republic was a very free period for art, cinema, sexuality and in general.
It is not for nothing that the Weimar period is (in parts) known as the "Goldenen Zwanziger" (Golden Twenties), but due to its horrible end this can be easily forgetten. Nonetheless entire books could be written about the freedoms of the Weimar Republic, so here are just a few keywords and names if you want to know more: Alfred Döblin, AVUS, Bauhaus, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Berlin Night Life, Bertolt Brecht, Comedian Harmonists, Fritz Lang, Käthe Kollwitz, Magnus Hirschfeld, Marlene Dietrich, Max Beckmann, Max Schmeling, Metropolis, Neue Frau, New Objectivity, Otto Dix, Paul Klee, Thomas Mann, UFA Studio, ...

7 Many important modern-style buildings were constructed in or for the Weimar Republic.
Just as a small reminder for last year's post about the Bauhaus and because the Werkbund Estates recently got the European Heritage Label, I thought I might include once again the modern architecture. Now I can also include a building I did not have a stamp of last year, the Barcelona Pavilion by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. "The pavilion for the [1929] International Exhibition was supposed to represent the new Weimar Germany: democratic, culturally progressive, prospering, and thoroughly pacifist; a self-portrait through architecture" (says Wikipedia). This sounds like just another piece of modern architecture, but it becomes more interesting if you keep in mind that neither Germany nor Spain could really live out their free and modern image presented in 1929, as shortly after both Hitler and Franco came to power.

8 All German Nobel Peace Prize Winners are connected to the Weimar Republic.
Germany has four Nobel Peace Prize Winners. Ludwig Quidde (1927) was a politician and pacifist who is mainly remembered today for his criticism of German Emperor Wilhelm II and whose long career spanned four different eras of German history including the Weimar Republic. Carl von Ossietzky (1935) was a journalist and pacifist exposing the clandestine re-armament of the Weimar Republic. He later died in Nazi custody, who earlier already refused to release him to travel to Oslo to receive the prize. Willy Brandt (1971) spent most of his childhood during the Weimar period and later fled the Nazi regime to Norway and Sweden. As Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany he helped to strengthen cooperation in Western Europa and to achieve reconciliation between West Germany and the countries of Eastern Europa. The most important winner for the Weimar Republic however was Gustav Stresemann (1926). He served as Chancellor for 102 days in 1923 and was Foreign Minister between 1923 and 1929. During a period of political instability and fragile short-lived governments he was generally seen as a factor of stability. His most notable achievement was the reconciliation between Germany and France, which was also the reason why he and Aristide Briand received the Nobel Peace Prize. His death in 1929 and the Great Depression marked the beginning of the end of the Weimar Republic.

9 Without the Weimar Republic the USA would probably not have been on the Moon.
The "Weltraumfieber" (Space Fever) in the Weimar Republic is not very famous and without a very interesting seminar in the winter semester 2018/19 I would not know about it either. During this seminar we read texts of famous space flight pioneers who promulgated ideas for spacecrafts and even made succesful tests. While they were mainly pacifist and planned to fulfil the humankind's old dream of space travel, they also included the vision of a new World standing for Germany. The ideas were later corrupted by the Nazis in Peenemünde with the construction of the V-2 rockets and after World War II scientists from Peenemünde came to the USA and the Soviet Union, where they helped to bring the Space Age. The most famous of these persons is for sure Wernher von Braun, who however only played a minor role during the Weimar Republic. If you want to know more search for Hermann Ganswindt, Hermann Oberth, Max Valier, Raketenübungsplatz in Berlin-Reinickendorf, Verein für Raumschifffahrt, Karl Debus, Werner Deubel, Reinhold Tiling, Hermann Noordung and Fritz Lang's Frau im Mond.

10 The Weimar Republic was not doomed to fail.
The Weimar Republic is usually thought from the end, which for sure is understandable, as no other failing state ended in the Holocaust, but that does not mean that this was the only possible end. During its short time of existence the Weimar Republic saw many crises and most of them the state survived. Just because it happened, does not mean it had to happen. Noone in the mid-1920s would have probably guessed what would happen shortly after, so we can not assume it. Historic processes are free and neither deterministic nor teleological. On the other side it was and is for sure important to take a look at the republic's weaknesses and the Rise of Evil to hopefully prevent that something like that will never ever happen again, but it is also possible to take look at the good sides of the Weimar Republic and I hope everyone who read this knows now that the Weimar Republic was not only a take-off ramp for Adolf Hitler but so much more.

The Laufmaschine of Karl Drais (Germany, Switzerland)

Karl Drais was born in 1785. He was a member of an influential family and his godfather was Grand Duke Karl-Friedrich of Baden. Actually he had a job in forest administration, but in 1811 he went off duty from active service to concentrate on inventions while still continuing to collect his salary. The most famous invention of Drais is the Laufmaschine or Draisine, the earliest form of the bicycle. His first reported ride took place in Mannheim on 12th June 1817. Although being of noble birth he was a fervent liberal and supported a revolution in Baden. During the Baden Revolution in 1848 he even gave up his title of Baron. After the revolution collapsed, he was in a very bad position and his pension was confiscated. Karl Drais died penniless in 1851 in Karlsruhe.

To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Laufmaschine in 2017 special stamps were issued in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Croatian Post), Germany and Switzerland. 

Conquering the Alps on Trains (Austria, Germany, Switzerland)

The Semmering Railway was built between 1848 and 1854 under Carl von Ghega and is the first mountain railway in Europe built with a standard gauge track. On the 41km long line there are 14 tunnels, 16 viaducts and more than 100 bridges. Today it is still in use as part of the Southern Railway of the Austrian Federal Railways. Since 1998 is the Semmering Railway on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The Brenner Railway was opened in 1867, 150 years ago. It was built by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and crosses the Brenner Pass. Although it has insufficient capacity and the travel speed is low, it is still considered to be a fundamental railway.

The Rhaetian Railway is a railway operator in the Swiss Canton of Graubünden and the largest private railway operator in Switzerland. It features an impressive set of structures, which were all built in perfect harmony with the landscapes through which they pass. Its construction had a major and lasting socio-economic impact on life in the mountains. The Rhaetian Railway in the Albula and Bernina Landscapes is since 2008 on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Landwasser Viaduct - built between 1901 and 1902, signature structure of
the Albula Railway

Brusio Spiral Viaduct - in use since 1908, signature structure of the Bernina Railway

The Mittenwald Railway connects Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria with Innsbruck in Tyrol. It was built as an electric local railway from 1910 to 1912 and had a substantial impact on the development of standards for electric railway operations in Central Europe. When it was opened in 1912 it was operated jointly by the Austrian Federal Railways and the Royal Bavarian State Railways.

The Other Reformations (Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom)

The Reformation-themed posts on this Blog were until now focused on the person and the ideas of Martin Luther and his supporters, but he was neither the first one nor the last one whose ideas and doings reformed. This post is about the other Reformations.

Jan Hus (1372-1415) is considered to be the first church reformer. His teachings had a strong influence on the states of Western Europe and on Martin Luther. During the Council of Constance he was burned at the stake for heresy. After his death the followers of his religious teachings, the Hussites, rebelled against their Roman Catholic rulers and defeated five consecutive papal crusades during the the Hussite Wars between 1420 and 1431.

Hus Memorial in Prague

Huldrych Zwingli was born in 1484 in the Canton of St Gall in Switzerland. He later studied theology in Vienna and Basel and became pastor. Around 1514 he first encountered the humanist writings of Erasmus of Rotterdam and started to search a deeper approach to the New Testament. In 1522 he wrote a paper against the Lent, which marked the beginning of his conflict with the Church. In 1523 the city council of Zürich organised two disputations and at the end the Reformation according to Zwingli was introduced. The doctrine of Zwingli has many similarities with the one of Luther. The main differences are the missing distinction of secular and religious power and the Real Presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper. Zwingli's Reformation spread in northern Switzerland and southwest Germany. When Zwingli tried to introduce the Reformation to other parts of Switzerland, a war between Zürich and other Catholic Cantons began. Huldrych Zwingli died during the Battle of Kappel in 1531 and the Reformation in Switzerland came to a standstill for the moment.

This is not a postcard, but a picture from the Internet.

The Church of England was separated from Rome by King Henry VIII in 1534. Although a theological separation had been foreshadowed by various movements within the English Church, the main reason became the monarch himself, although he was actually theologically opposed to Protestantism. Henry's motive was that Pope Clement VII refused the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. So Henry took the position of Supreme Head of the Church of England to ensure the annulment and was later excommunicated by Pope Paul III. Between 1536 and 1540 Henry VIII engaged in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Henry maintained a strong preference for traditional Catholic practises and just under his son, King Edward VI, more Protestant-influenced forms of worship were adopted. Queen Mary I, who succeeded Edward, returned England again to the authority of the papacy for a short time, thereby ending the first attempt at an independent Church of England. The Elizabethan Settlement from 1558 developed the middle way character of the Church of England, a church moderately Reformed in doctrine and also emphasising continuity with the Catholic and Apostolic traditions of the Church Fathers.

The Canterbury Cathedral is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Church of England. It was built in the 11th century and is considered to be a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. In 1170 Thomas Becket had been murdered in the cathedral, starting a constant flow of pilgrims. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer tell the story of such a pilgrimage in the 14th century. Since 1988 is the Canterbury Cathedral on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Johannes Calvin was born in 1509 in northern France and later studied law and theology. After he acknowledged the Reformation in 1533, he had to leave France. In Basel in 1535 he finished his main work, Institutio Christianae Religionis. Between autumn 1535 and 1538 and again from 1540 onwards he lived in Geneva, where he established a community according to his ideas. In 1541 the city council of Geneva accepted a church order written by Calvin. Together with Luther he is considered to be one of the most important figures of the Reformation. The Calvinism spread to many parts of Europe including France (Huguenots), Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland and Scotland. Johannes Calvin died in 1564.