#Romanian United Principalities

[estbela]

pleaseeee elaborate on your robul marriage post bc i've been thinking about this concept all day....!!! i need a full length post 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

I'll try my best but I am terrible at explaining myself sometimes but I will for you anon!!! (and also because RoBul has been consuming my thoughts lately)

(Also this post is a mess and I probably got some info wrong i'm sorry)

First of all, before actually talking about RoBul I do need to mention the history behind the proposals!! So during the Middle Ages, you probably know that Bulgaria was an empire, twice! And At times, Wallachia & romanians(who were called vlachs at the time alongside probably othee ppl who were also called vlachs, which yes, makes it confusing to research.) were part of it. The guys who founded the second bulgarian empire (Asen & Peter) were also probably vlachs, so there was cooperation between the bulgarians & vlachs in the empire.

This was one of the reasonings for the union essentially, that bcs they worked together well in the past, they would also work well tovether now, and together be pretty strong. Bulgaria especially would have had a lot to gain through the union(it wasn't independent and had only recently gained some autonomy from the Ottoman Empire), which was the reason proposals mostly came from the bulgarian side.

Anyway yada yada yada all the proposals for the union were fruitless, because of a lot of factors, which could be basically summarised like this: Neighbouring countries didn't want this to happen, and both Bulgaria and Romania had different goals and plans, sometimes that contradicted eachoter.

But if somehow they had succeeded to unite, well, that's certainly an interesting scenario. And now I will mention the union of Moldavia & Wallachia, which would form Romania. You see, those two principalities weren't allowed to truly unite by the powers of Europe, but they had not said that the danubian principalities could not elect the same leader to form a personal union, which led to Romania.

During the reign of king Carol I, he had considered doing this, aka being elected by Bulgaria too, to form a union of this king, but this was strongly opposed by Russia & Austro-Hungary, so yeah. But if he had somehow done this & Austro-Hungary & Russia didn't like...attack...uhmm...Romano-Bulgaria (I GUESS???) immediately, I guess Robul would officially be married!! Let's say they unite in like the 1880s.

Which comes with a lot of questions, obviously, that I will gloss over and just focus on RoBul. Thing is, I think Ro & Bul have somewhat different opinions on marriage. I mean, I see Bul as being way more keen on the concept of marriage than Ro is, so like Ro isn't very into marriage I guess? I see him aa someone who really values his freedom and independence, and isn't very willing to tie himself down, thought he'll do it for someone he loves. And that someone is Bul in this scenario.

Honestly...I think at first it is alright. I think Ro would have more control thought, similar to Austro-Hungary in a way, since from what I read, it would have been a similar kind of union to this one. I think Bul would be fine with this tho, especially at the start. He trusts Ioan(my human name for Ro) and his judgement, and Ro would also seek his opinion on things. Ro is happy about having control on some stuff.

But they do clash, quite a lot. Their personalities and view on things and their friends are different. Serbia is Ro's friend...while him and Bulgaria often don't see eye to eye. Russia and Bulgaria as well...yeah. Ro does not like Ivan very much, and Tsvetan also has conflicted thoughts on him, but veers towards liking him.

And also!!! Unless Bulgaria somehow achieved independence, Romania qould go back to being a vassal. Which well, I doubt Ioan would be fond of that. Honestly, I cannot say if being an union would help Bul achieve independence sooner, but it is not that important I suppose.

Also the capital of such a state would probably be Bucharest, like how the capital of Austro-Hungary was Vienna.

And to continue, as time goes on, I do think all these factors, including the political and cultural differences do put on a strain on their relationship. I cannot say if they would even enter the Balkan Wars, but this would also be a reason for fighting between them. Romania tends towards being neutral and really thinking things through while Bulgaria does tend to act based on instict and feelings, so I can see them participating in the first balkan war, and when Bul does not get what was promised for him, I can see him wanting to start the second balkan war, while Ro is trying to stop him from doing so, because it would be pointless in his opinion (as he was less focused on Bul's goal to unite with Macedonia and more focused on Transylvania and Moldova, which was definitely something they argued about!)

But I think they do have good times, really. I mean, being together like when they were children (in the middle ages) is wonderful for both of them. I think they can be very sweet together, and being marriage would def appeal to them because of being almost always together.

And now I am gonna stop talking about alternate reality and focus on their relationship more(because I suck at alternate history). The thing is, as I already said, where Ioan thinks, Tsvetan feels. And I think they do appreciate eachoter for these qualities, but in the end when you have different opinions about a lpt of things it's very hard to be in a marriage, especially if this marriage holds the fate of a country. I think they'd try to pretend those problems aren' there, thought, until they eventually have to face them with no way to run away from them. Alrhough I see Tsve as more willing to talk about things, while Ioan wants to pretend nothing is wrong and is non-comfrontational unless he believes talking will help him.

So at the end, things are...bad. towards the first world war, their relationship is already standing on it's last leg, but WW1 in this reality is what kills it truly. They each become their own country, like Austro-Hungary, and just, not talk to eachoter for a long time.

Althought...there is another scenario, in which they unite in the communist era. So like, everything happens the way it did in actual history until the communist period, where somehow those 2 manage to unite. I guess they'd fight for different reasons then, as again Bul kinda likes Russia & Ro Does Not. They probably separate in the 90s.

Also in these scenarios RoBul 100% has a way more complicated weird relationship going on and they do make it other people's problem.

[sisididis]

Romania and his relationships

La mulți ani, România! 🇷🇴 

As a special treat for today, here are some headcanons about Ro and his closest relationships throughout the years. The lines stand for family, friends and tense relations. 

Romania

Was "born" as a result of the Romanization of Dacia (106 - 271 CE)

And gradually became known as Wallachia even though he represented all the Romanians in the Carpato-Danubian-Pontic territory. 

A troublemaker with a fatalist attitude.

He's a gourmand but regrets it because his food is heavy. 

Is acutely aware of his position as a Latin "island" in a Slavic "sea” and is extra sensitive when people try to deny his heritage.

Has a complicated relationship with the Church. His faith is almost as important to his identity as his language because it kept him from assimilating with the empires which ruled him (the Catholic Austro-Hungarians and the Muslim Ottomans). 

Lately, his fashion choices have become more daring and experimental.

He's very street-smart and can blend in with any crowd. 

He's very superstitious and believes in old-world remedies. He’s big on conspiracies and sometimes thinks the world is plotting against him. 

Is proud of the inventions his people gifted the world, like the fountain pen, the first experimental air jet, insulin and so on. 

Does anything in his power to avoid staying in Bucharest and owns houses in several cities (like in Sibiu). 

Still does not know what to make of communism.

He's a sweet tooth and has been known to claim ownership of his neighbors' food: "What do you mean găluște cu prune are not Romanian? Of course they are!" 

He'll roll his eyes when he hears someone mention Dracula but will overlook it if it brings him 💰.

Can speak Greek thanks to being ruled by Phanariots for so long.

Wants to punch something every time Ned opens his mouth. The same goes for Hungary.

He's hardworking and eager to keep up with the rest of the world. 

Romania has one of the highest emigration rates in the EU so Ro should have an episode in which he travels abroad to work just like Romano.

Romania and Bulgaria

One of Ro's closest and longest relationships.

They've seen each other at their best and worst.

Their earliest encounter occurred between the 3rd and 7th centuries when the Bulgar and Slav migratory peoples crossed Ro's territory to settle south of the Danube. 

Back in the day, Bul personally taught Ro the Cyrillic alphabet. Ro went on to use it until 1862 when the then-ruler of the United Romanian Principalities decreed that the Latin alphabet must replace the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet. 

That's right, kids. Romanian, a Latin language, used to be written in Slavic script. 

Saw a great deal of each other during their time as Ottoman vassals.

Ro had personally sheltered Bul during his time as a revolutionary émigré. Wallachia became a safe haven for hundreds of Bulgarian revolutionaries during Ottoman rule. After Bulgaria's liberation in 1878, many chose to stay behind and settle in Romania. 

Even though Ro and Bul did not always fight on the same side, they hold no resentment over their past. Only friendly jibes! Like Bul calling Ro a "shameless mămăligă eater."

Bul's seaside is very popular among Romanians, so Ro likes to visit Bul during summertime when Bul can hang out in his boxers all he wants and Ro can visit his late queen’s palace. 

Nowadays, they bond over being EU’s late-bloomers and GOSSIP. Ro talks himself hoarse on the phone with Bul.

They also discuss the latest Turkish telenovelas but would rather die than admit they like them.

Ro and Russia

A very tense relationship

Have met first through Ro's little brother when Dimitrie Cantemir allied with Peter the Great to form an anti-Ottoman alliance.

Their relationship formalized during the 18th and 19th centuries when Russia demanded a say in Mol and Ro's internal affairs as the "big brother" of all Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire.

Even though the Russian occupation protectorate did not benefit Ro and Mol much, it introduced the two brothers to their first government by law.

With the occupation, the Russians also brought over nobility customs, like ballroom dancing.  

After Russia helped Ro gain his independence from the Ottoman Empire, the relationship got warmer (for a while).

King Carol I of Romania had even considered Tsar Nicholas's eldest daughter, Olga, a potential bride for his grandson, Carol II.

But after the Bolshevik takeover and the assassination of the Romanovs, Ro and Russia's relationship turned icy again.

One of the most sensitive topics today is the loss of Romania's national treasure, which was transported to Russia during WWI for safekeeping. Romania had to decide between sending the treasure to Great Britain or Russia. In the end, we chose to send Russia 93 tons of treasure as a display of mutual trust. After the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks seized the treasure and refused to return it. Since then, minuscule parts of the treasure have been returned as displays of "goodwill."

Their relationship hit an all-time low after the loss of Moldova and the installation of the communist regime.

Nowadays, Ro tries to keep his distance from Russia as much as geographically possible.

Ro and Hungary

Ro’s other historically tumultuous relationship 

Ro has been the underdog for much of their shared history, but the tables turned after 1918 with Transylvania's independence and Romania’s unification.

Ro remembers a time when both had fought against a common enemy - the Ottoman Empire.

But that alone isn't enough to get over their past.  

Ro probably gatecrashed Austria and Hungary's wedding and did everything in his power to be a constant nuisance under their rule.

He sends text messages to Hungary every year on the 4th of August, saying, "you're welcome." Hungary knows to block his number on that day.  

Nowadays, I see them being (somewhat) tolerant of each other (even cordial during spells of drunkenness).

Ro can speak fluent Hungarian and shares a people with Hungary.

Ro and Italy

Home to Ro's largest diaspora 

One of Ro's closest relationships

Have an easy time understanding each other thanks to their common Latin heritage.

Italy is a popular holiday destination among Romanians, and Ro admires the Italy brothers' culture greatly.

Although they like to tease Ro about his Latin origins, which never fails to annoy Ro.

Ro and Spain

Home to Ro's second-largest diaspora 

A generally warm relationship

Romanians are very taken with anything Spanish (see that Romania sent to Eurovision three songs in Spanish: Zaleilah, Llámame , Liubi Liubi, I Love You).

Also have an easy time understanding each other thanks to their common Latin heritage.

Both are very friendly and hospitable, but Ro tends to be more serious and pessimistic than Spain.

Ro is a big fan of Spanish telenovelas and has a romanticized image of Spain (flamenco, paella, sunshine and passionate lovers).

France and Ro

One of Ro's closest and most complicated relationships that had once resembled that between a mentor and his protégé. 

Especially during Napoleon III's reign when Napoleon actively championed the unification of the Romanian Principalities (Ro and Mol) under a single ruler. 

Take that Austro-Hungary, the UK and the Ottomans! 😝

Most of Ro's intellectual class during the 19th and early 20th century was educated in France or emigrated to France at some point.

In turn, plenty of important French figures contributed to Ro's modernization. French architects such as Albert Galleron built some of Romania's most symbolic landmarks, e.g., the Romanian Atheneum, while pioneers such as Carol Davila reformed Romania's national health system and founded its first ambulance system and Bucharest's School of Medicine.

Ro wanted to emulate everything French to the point that Bucharest became known as 'Little Paris' (see that we also have our own Arc de Triomphe).

Ro speaks fluent French and is an avid Francophile.

Although everyone jokes about the white-handkerchief-waving French, the opposite is true in Romania.

Much of the Romanian army's success on the Eastern Front during WWI was owed to General Henri Berthelot, who reorganized, equipped and trained the Romanian army.

After his mission here, he became so attached to Romania that upon seeing the Romanian detachment march during the 1919 Paris military parade, he told a French marshal: "Foch, saluez ! C'est la famille." 

Much like Poland, Ro gave France some of his most brilliant minds and talents, like Constantin Brancuși, Emil Cioran, and Eugen Ionescu.

During the Cold War, Ro and France's relationship became colder. Yet Ro was grateful to France for sheltering his dissidents who fled the communist regime. 

Nowadays, Ro still looks up to Francis but can't stand his arrogance.  

Ro and Prussia

First came in contact during the Teutonic Knights' mission in Transylvania in 1211.

Maintained ties thanks to the presence of Saxons in Transylvania. 

Ro and Gil became very, very close after the Romanian Parliament elected Prince Carol of the Prussian dynasty Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen to rule Romania.

Trash-talked Austria at every opportunity given the historical rivalry between the Habsburgs and the Hohenzollerns.

Had a tense relationship during WWI and WWII because Ro liked to switch sides a lot.

Ro was a neutral country until 1916, then an Entente power until 1917, then signed an armistice with the Central Powers in 1917, only to rejoin the war on the Entente's side ONE DAY before the war ended in 1918.

(Congrats Ro! You won the war out of sheer luck.)

Ro switched sides again during WWII and ended up on the Allies' side after initially joining the Axis.

You can see why Gil found Ro such a reliable ally.

Ro and Gil (then DDR) reconnected during the Cold War and maintain an amicable relationship today.

Ro speaks fluent German thanks to his Transylvanian Saxon population.

Mol and Ro

They're the cutest brothers, and I would die for them. 

Their relationship holds a deep sense of loss and regret that might never disappear.

There was a time when Mol was admired by all his neighbors (like in 1497 when Ștefan cel Mare put the Polish in their place), and Ro was the proudest brother.

1859 - 1940 was perhaps the happiest time of their life because they were finally together.

Nowadays, Ro knows that Mol is not the same as he was before 1940.

After 1991, Mol found his voice, and Ro couldn't be prouder to see his little brother come into his own.

Still! His growth is so bittersweet! 

Ro and Mol always give each other 12 points during Eurovision and consider it the height of betrayal if one doesn't. 

Ro sometimes "forgets" to remind people that O-Zone was a Moldovan band. 

[darkmaga-retard]

Mark Wauck

Aug 09, 2024

The FBI raid on Scott Ritter’s house under the pretext of Ritter being a “foreign agent” raised a chorus of voices in response, basically all asking: What about Hunter? And quite reasonably so. In fact, the very obvious followup question would be: What about Zhou?

Now, I’m sure it hasn’t escaped the notice of readers that Zhou is, for all intents and purposes, MIA. I mean, nobody even seems to be pretending any longer that he’s the POTUS. Not really. They don’t even bother filling in his calendar any longer. What’s going on? Here we are, the Anglo-Zionist Empire, cruising toward WW3 and the alleged POTUS is pretty much MIA. It’s the same old question: Who’s in charge?

Interestingly, a week or so ago the White House—not Zhou—called Kama Sutra back from her under the radar “campaign” to be briefed on the “Iran threat”, meaning, I suppose, the threats the regime—but not Zhou personally, as far as I’ve noticed—has been making against Iran. Since she hasn’t paid any attention to affairs of State for the past three or four years, someone apparently thought it was time to break her in—point out Iran to her on a map, etc.

So, while all this is going on—or not—lo and behold this week Hunter and FARA were linked in the same sentence in the MSM (ABC). That’s an event! I quote here from TGP:

DOJ Turns on Joe Biden, Claims Hunter Biden Was Bribed by Romanian Oligarch to Influence US Policy When Biden Was Vice President According to ABC News, at Hunter Biden’s upcoming tax trial, “the government will introduce the evidence … that [Hunter Biden] and Business Associate 1 received compensation from a foreign principal who was attempting to influence U.S. policy and public opinion and cause the United States to investigate the Romanian investigation of [Popoviciu] in Romania.”

Folks, they’re talking about FARA.

[unilifeabroadcareersolution]

Study in Romania

Romania is an open invitation for business students, international and foreign affairs students, and the next generation of global economic market experts. Romania, once ruled by an oppressive government, is fresh out of the gate, and as a new member of the European Union, it is finally enticing foreign investors. Romania is a beautiful country with a diverse population that has a rich academic history. Romania, with its fantastic natural landscapes, fusion of European cultures, and mediaeval castles, is widely regarded as the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel. Universities in Romania can provide international students with a one-of-a-kind educational experience. Romanian higher education and living expenses are among the lowest in the European Union.

Life in Romania

Romania is home to over 19.6 million people and is located at the crossroads of Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe. It is bordered by five countries: Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, and Moldova. Its coastline runs along the Black Sea, and the Danube River, Europe’s second-longest river, ends in Romania’s Danube Delta. The Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united to form the country in 1859. Romania has had a turbulent history since then, but it has been a democracy since the 1989 Revolution. It joined the European Union in 2007 and is classified as a developing country.

Benefits of Study in Romania

High Education System

The Romanian higher education system is now a model of excellence. Every year, thousands of students from all over the world come to Romania to study and discover a unique blend of tradition and modernity. Furthermore, international students have the opportunity to study at a variety of institutions (universities, colleges, etc.).

Cost of Study

Tuition fees range from 14,000 RON (3,000 EUR) to 30,000 RON (6,300 EUR) per academic year, depending on the programme and institution. Depending on the study domain or your citizenship, some programmes may even be less expensive than others.

Scholarships

The Romanian government provides generous student grants, including full fee waivers. These are frequently awarded before you begin your degree, but it is common practise in Romana for universities to cover the following year’s fees for the top-performing students in each year group.

UniLife Abroad Services

Guides in choosing the right University or College.

Help to select the right study programs based on the candidate’s academic profile and career interest.

Help students with admission to the College or University as per their decisions.

Help to prepare the complete application for Student Visas.

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Help to prepare the application package for Multiple Entry Visa.

Help students with Permanent Residency.

Contact us : 8428440444 , 8428999090

Mail id : anagha@unilifeabroad.com

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.2

437 – Emperor Valentinian III begins his reign over the Western Roman Empire. His mother Galla Placidia ends her regency, but continues to exercise political influence at the court in Rome. 626 – Li Shimin, the future Emperor Taizong of Tang, ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Xuanwu Gate Incident. 706 – In China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang inters the bodies of relatives in the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang outside Chang'an. 866 – Battle of Brissarthe: The Franks led by Robert the Strong are defeated by a joint Breton-Viking army. 936 – King Henry the Fowler dies in his royal palace in Memleben. He is succeeded by his son Otto I, who becomes the ruler of East Francia. 963 – The Byzantine army proclaims Nikephoros II Phokas Emperor of the Romans on the plains outside Cappadocian Caesarea. 1298 – The Battle of Göllheim is fought between Albert I of Habsburg and Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg. 1494 – The Treaty of Tordesillas is ratified by Spain. 1504 – Bogdan III the One-Eyed becomes Voivode of Moldavia. 1555 – Ottoman Admiral Turgut Reis sacks the Italian city of Paola. 1561 – Menas, emperor of Ethiopia, defeats a revolt in Emfraz. 1582 – Battle of Yamazaki: Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeats Akechi Mitsuhide. 1613 – The first English expedition (from Virginia) against Acadia led by Samuel Argall takes place. 1644 – English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor. 1645 – Battle of Alford: Wars of the Three Kingdoms. 1698 – Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine. 1723 – Bach's Magnificat is first performed. 1776 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence is not adopted until July 4. 1816 – The French frigate Méduse strikes the Bank of Arguin and 151 people on board have to be evacuated on an improvised raft, a case immortalised by Géricault's painting The Raft of the Medusa. 1822 – Thirty-five slaves, including Denmark Vesey, are hanged in South Carolina after being accused of organizing a slave rebellion. 1823 – Bahia Independence Day: The end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia. 1839 – Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 kidnapped Africans led by Joseph Cinqué mutiny and take over the slave ship Amistad. 1840 – A Ms  7.4 earthquake strikes present-day Turkey and Armenia; combined with the effects of an eruption on Mount Ararat, kills 10,000 people. 1853 – The Russian Army crosses the Prut river into the Danubian Principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia), providing the spark that will set off the Crimean War. 1864 – Dimitri Atanasescu founds the first Romanian school in the Balkans for the Aromanians in Trnovo, in the Ottoman Empire (now in North Macedonia). 1871 – Victor Emmanuel II of Italy enters Rome after having conquered it from the Papal States. 1881 – Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James A. Garfield (who will die of complications from his wounds on September 19). 1890 – The U.S. Congress passes the Sherman Antitrust Act. 1897 – British-Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi obtains a patent for radio in London. 1900 – An airship designed and constructed by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin of Germany made its first flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen. 1900 – Jean Sibelius' Finlandia receives its première performance in Helsinki with the Helsinki Philharmonic Society conducted by Robert Kajanus. 1921 – World War I: U.S. President Warren G. Harding signs the Knox–Porter Resolution formally ending the war between the United States and Germany. 1934 – The Night of the Long Knives ends with the death of Ernst Röhm. 1937 – Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight. 1940 – Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose is arrested and detained in Calcutta. 1940 – The SS Arandora Star is sunk by U-47 in the North Atlantic with the loss of over 800 lives, mostly civilians. 1962 – The first Walmart store, then known as Wal-Mart, opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas. 1964 – Civil rights movement: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places. 1966 – France conducts its first nuclear weapon test in the Pacific, on Moruroa Atoll. 1976 – End of South Vietnam; Communist North Vietnam annexes the former South Vietnam to form the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam. 1986 – Rodrigo Rojas and Carmen Gloria Quintana are burnt alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile. 1986 – Aeroflot Flight 2306 crashes while attempting an emergency landing at Syktyvkar Airport in Syktyvkar, in present-day Komi Republic, Russia, killing 54 people. 1988 – Marcel Lefebvre and the four bishops he consecrated were excommunicated by the Holy See. 1990 – In the 1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy, 1,400 Muslim pilgrims are suffocated to death and trampled upon in a pedestrian tunnel leading to the holy city of Mecca. 1994 – USAir Flight 1016 crashes near Charlotte Douglas International Airport, killing 37 of the 57 people on board. 1997 – The Bank of Thailand floats the baht, triggering the Asian financial crisis. 2000 – Vicente Fox Quesada is elected the first President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional, after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional. 2001 – The AbioCor self-contained artificial heart is first implanted. 2002 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon. 2005 – The Live 8 benefit concerts takes place in the G8 states and in South Africa. More than 1,000 musicians perform and are broadcast on 182 television networks and 2,000 radio networks. 2008 – Colombian conflict: Íngrid Betancourt, a member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia, is released from captivity after being held for six and a half years by FARC. 2010 – The South Kivu tank truck explosion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo kills at least 230 people. 2013 – The International Astronomical Union names Pluto's fourth and fifth moons, Kerberos and Styx. 2013 – A magnitude 6.1 earthquake strikes Aceh, Indonesia, killing at least 42 people and injuring 420 others.

[venicepearl]

Elena Cuza (17 June 1825 – 2 April 1909), also known under her semi-official title Elena Doamna, was a Moldavian, later Romanian noblewoman and philanthropist. She was princess consort of the United Principalities and the wife of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the first Romanian prince.

[bllsbailey]

Filings in Federal Tax Case Claim Hunter Biden Was Paid by Romanian Oligarch to Get Investigation Killed

Bailey: This scumbag will get away with all of this without having to do any time in jail. Why because the Democrat Communist Party and mainstream media will protect him and his daddy.

A number of pre-trial motions have been filed in Hunter Biden's federal tax evasion case, scheduled for trial in Los Angeles in early September, over the last week, and they're quite revealing as to what evidence the government will be introducing related to Hunter's foreign business dealings. This won't be your ordinary tax evasion case, boys and girls (and I'll be in the courtroom daily to bring RedState readers all of the dirty details).

The biggest revelations are in the Government's response to a defense motion to exclude evidence, testimony, or reference to allegations of improper political influence or corruption. In response, the prosecutors detailed a scheme they plan to present evidence of in which Hunter Biden was paid through Boies Schiller Flexner law firm by a Romanian oligarch to get a corruption investigation shut down. Hmm, something about that allegation sounds familiar...

The prosecutors wrote:

The government anticipates Business Associate 1 will testify that:

That compensation was over $3 million, which was split between Hunter Biden and the two business associates, one of whom is believed to be Chris Boies, David Boies' son, and part of the firm Boies, Schiller, Flexner.

Arguing as to why the defense motion should be denied and this evidence allowed, the prosecutors wrote:

The first category of evidence the defendant seeks to exclude is any “reference to allegations that Mr. Biden acted on behalf of a foreign principal to influence U.S.policy and public opinion . . .” Motion at 3 (emphasis added). The government does not intend to reference allegations at trial. Rather, the government will introduce the evidence described above, including that the defendant and Business Associate 1 received compensation from a foreign principal who was attempting to influence U.S. policy and public opinion and cause the United States to investigate the Romanian investigation of G.P in Romania.

So, if they aren't simply referencing allegations, but introducing evidence, why hasn't David Weiss charged Hunter Biden and business associates 1 and 2 with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act? In July 2023, when Hunter's failed plea deal was being argued in Delaware, prosecutors said that FARA charges weren't off the table. What happened? (Jonathan Turley has a great piece going over that in detail that can be read here.)

And then we have Hunter's work with CEFC. Smart people will understand the humor in the prosecution's phrasing here:

As alleged in the indictment, the government will also introduce at trial evidence of the defendant’s business dealings with CEFC China Energy Co. Ltd (“CEFC”), a Chinese energy conglomerate, and his compensation for his position on the board of a Ukrainian energy industrial conglomerate. This evidence will not include evidence that the defendant performed lobbying activity in exchange for this compensation. Rather, the evidence will show the defendant performed almost no work in exchange for the millions of dollars he received from these entities.

We also learned that both Hallie Biden and her sister have immunity agreements in exchange for their truthful testimony - so they won't be charged for any type of drug offenses they might end up testifying to.

Hunter's attorneys also want to exclude evidence or even reference to his "salacious" expenditures - you know, the expenditures he made when he wasn't paying taxes:

Mr. Biden moves to exclude any evidence, testimony, or reference to his alleged “extravagant” lifestyle during the time period in question and any salacious details about money purportedly spent on certain personal expenses, including, but not limited to, reference to sex workers, adult entertainment, a sex club membership, pornography, and strip clubs. To the extent the Court is inclined to allow into evidence that Mr. Biden spent money on items other than his taxes in the years charged, Mr. Biden would agree to stipulate that he spent money on other, generalized “personal expenses.”

So, the jury is supposed to just assume that Hunter had so many "personal expenses" that he couldn't pay his taxes despite earning $11 million during the time in question? That might be worse than just saying what he spent it on.

Of course, Hunter wants to argue that he was too drug-addled to remember to pay his taxes, and that he had no control of his spending, yet he was entering detailed financial agreements with his business partners to circumvent federal laws at the same time. One would have to be drug-addled to buy that argument.

There will be a hearing on these motions on August 21, and RedState will be there in the courtroom.

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[mariacallous]

This June in London, I hosted the first two foreigners to have served time in China’s prisons and gone public about it. There may well be at least 5 million prisoners in China (excluding those in the prison camps of Xinjiang and Tibet), according to former foreign correspondent turned due diligence investigator Peter Humphrey, many of them there for trivial or indeed political reasons, and at least 5,000 are foreigners. As the Biden administration continues a series of visits to Beijing, seeking a diplomatic reconciliation that the Chinese leadership seems to have little interest in, foreign officials should keep the plight of Chinese prisoners in mind.

Humphrey, together with Romanian theologian and teacher Marius Balo, came to London to testify in the British Parliament on forced labor, denial of health care, psychological torture, and mistreatment. Humphrey, who spent 48 years working on China, served two years in China’s prisons on trumped-up charges of “illegally acquiring personal information” of Chinese nationals—as a result of his work as a corporate due diligence investigator—and was denied medical treatment for prostate cancer.

As a result, his cancer was exacerbated, and he fought a life-and-death struggle with the illness for five years after his release. Balo, who served eight years in China’s prisons on false charges of complicity to contract fraud and was released last year, watched at least two fellow foreign prisoners die due to denial of medical care. “The Chinese prison system weaponizes prisoners’ health as an instrument to extort confessions, refusing to provide medical attention to prisoners who refuse to admit guilt,” Humphrey explained.

As the United States seeks to reset its relationship with China, and other democracies wrestle with how to address the challenges posed by Beijing, they must not forget China’s prisoners. Often we think of prisoners of conscience—dissidents, religious practitioners and the millions of Uyghurs and Tibetans in China’s gulags—but Humphrey and Balo are reminding the world that ordinary prisoners detained for alleged crimes are also victims of human rights abuse in China. “In their aggregate,” Humphrey said, “the harsh conditions in China’s pre-trial detention facilities and prisons add up to torture.”

There is simply no access to justice, for a start. “Among the millions of prisoners in the system, not a single prisoner has had a fair and transparent trial. Not a single one,” Humphrey said. “Sentences tend to be reckless, inconsistent, and disproportionate to any offense. So the entire system is arbitrary and subject to the whims of Communist Party officials. The system works in favor of anybody with connections to use the law to bash people they dislike.” Balo agrees. “Justice in China is always based on someone’s whims, the party’s whims, expressed through its foot soldiers,” he said.

During a trial, Humphrey explains, no defense evidence is presented, no evidence contradictory to the prosecution’s is permitted, no defense witnesses are called and no cross-examination of prosecution witnesses is allowed. Indeed, prosecution witnesses are only required to provide written testimonials and are not required to appear in person. In short, Humphrey argues, defense counsels are prevented from conducting any genuine, vigorous defense.

“Police do not conduct investigations with any real detective work or forensic procedures,” Humphrey added. Instead, they rely on extracting confessions from detainees who are “interrogated day by day locked inside a cage” and by extracting “witness statements” that are often coerced. Is it any wonder, he asked, that 99.9 percent of prosecutions result in convictions and sentences, and 99.9 percent of appeals are rejected?

China’s penal system has essentially two principal categories of detention— “administrative” and “judicial”—with three types of jail, excluding the prison camps of Tibet and Xinjiang: detention centers, remand centers, and prisons. Detention centers are run by the police and used for minor crimes, remand centers are used to hold those under investigation (pre-trial detention), while prisons hold those who have been sentenced. But in addition, there are the “black jails” —officially known by the bureaucratic term “residential surveillance at a designated location”—which are secret facilities in which the police behave with impunity and no oversight and into which those detained disappear, are denied legal representation and are cut off from family contact.

In pre-trial detention, Balo was held in a 120-square-foot cage with 10 to 12 other prisoners, none of whom spoke English. He was never allowed out, except for questioning. “I was never tortured physically. Everything was psychological torture,” he said. “I could not contact anyone. I could never see daylight. When I went to court, they shoved a bag over my head.” Each morning, everyone in the cage would wake up at 6 a.m. and be forced to watch cellmates defecate in a hole in the corner, which was the only toilet available. The television above the hole blared out the regime’s propaganda broadcasts.

Both men point not only to the denial of medical care but to systematic forced labor. “China’s entire prison system holding many millions of prisoners is in fact a gigantic, self-perpetuating commercial enterprise, which brings profits to the state, income to prison officers, and funds prison operations,” Humphrey said. “Every prison imposes forced production labor on its prisoners.” In this context, he described, prison officers become “labor supervisors, marketing and sales managers,” and they are paid bonuses for higher output. Contracts with commercial manufacturers are negotiated and won by prison officers.

Prison campuses contain entire factories producing a range of goods for the international markets, ranging from sports shoes, apparel and daily hardware items to electronic products such as keyboards and appliances. Humphrey and Balo both describe watching Chinese inmates marching out to the factories soon after 6 a.m. every day, working 12 hours a day, six days a week and being subjected to writing thought reports and ideological study on the seventh day. “They had to sing ‘the Chinese Communist Party is my mother’ as they marched,” Balo recalled.

Foreign prisoners are generally not required to perform heavy factory labor, but instead undertake manual tasks in a work room in their cell block. This includes making gift bags for retail chains, packaging materials, and packing items such as Christmas cards, plastic tags for retail display racks, keyboards, and breakfast oatmeal sachets. Balo himself packed Christmas cards for the Tesco supermarket chain, and Humphrey witnessed items being produced for brands such as H&M, C&A and 3M.

In recent years, Humphrey has received reports of prison labor production of pregnancy test kits and personal protective equipment. “Chinese prisons make huge profits,” he said. As a consequence, “there is no incentive to release prisoners early. There is every incentive to keep prisoners in prison for as long as possible to squeeze more labor out of them.”

That has implications for companies in the West. Global corporate brands are naive if they believe they can manufacture in China without the risk of forced labor in their supply chains. The United States already has several laws aimed at tackling forced labor and prison labor, including the 2021 Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which gives authorities the power to block imports of goods suspected of being produced by forced labor.

And while corporate due diligence investigations have always been challenging in China, they have now been made impossible with the introduction of a new anti-espionage law that took effect on July 1. That law protects economic information in a way that could easily result in due diligence being categorized as spying.

Humphrey was jailed because of a due diligence investigation that went wrong. The person he was hired to investigate turned out to be politically well connected, and when she discovered she was the subject of his inquiries, she called the police. Under the new law, instead of facing two years in prison, Humphrey could receive a life sentence for alleged spying if he were still in China. In his view, in these circumstances multinationals cannot satisfactorily check whether a Chinese company is using forced labor or is engaging in other illegal or unethical activities. “The only way to avoid this risk is not to manufacture in China at all,” he said.

If we want to ensure that we are not complicit with forced labor, torture and unjust imprisonment, we need to raise the stakes. Goods made in China should carry a health warning, like cigarettes: “This product may have been made by slave labor.” Mandatory due diligence rules should be imposed on multinational companies investing in China, requiring them to thoroughly and regularly investigate their supply chains. If they are unable to do so due to barriers erected by the Chinese state, they should cease manufacturing in China. Only when the Chinese prison system’s lucrative business profits are threatened will we see the change required.

Doing business in China is always risky. As Humphrey and Balo remind us, the risk includes losing your liberty and potentially your life in a Chinese jail.

[gameguides]

Victoria 3 Formable Nations

Welcome to our Victoria 3 Formable Nations guide. This guide will show you Prominent, Unknown, Colonial Nations, Empire, Kingdom, Principality, Colony and everything you need to know. #Victoria3  We know that there are people who have a hard time finishing the Victoria 3 game. If you are one of those who find it difficult to finish the game, let's take you to our Victoria 3 guide.

Victoria 3 Formable Nations

This guide will show you Prominent, Unknown, Colonial Nations, Empire, Kingdom, Principality, Colony and everything you need to know. Recognized These are all the Recognized Nations / Countries: - Byzantium – Rank: Empire – Culture: Greek - Danubian State – Rank: Empire – Culture: Hungarian, Romanian, Croatian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene - Indonesia or Majapahit, Srivijaya – Rank: Empire – Culture: Balinese, Batak, Bornean, Dayak, Javan, Malay, Moluccan, Sumatran - Germany or German Empire – Rank: Empire – Culture: North German, South German - Gran Colombia – Rank: Empire – Culture: North Andean - Iberia – Rank: Empire – Culture: Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Basque, Galician - India – Rank: Hegemony – Culture: Assamese, Avadhi, Baluchi, Bengali, Bihari, Gujarati, Kanauji, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Panjabi, Pashtun, Rajput, Sindi, Tamil, Telegu - Italy or Kingdom of Heaven – Rank: Empire – Culture: North Italian, South Italian - Poland-Lithuania – Rank: Empire – Culture: Polish, Lithuanian - Scandinavia or Kalmar Union, Fennoscandia – Rank: Empire – Culture: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic - North German Federation – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: North German - South German Federation – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: South German - Czechoslovakia – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Czech, Slovak - England – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: English - Ireland – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Irish - Poland – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Polish - Romania – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Romanian - United Baltic Provinces – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Latvian, Estonian, Lithuanian - Yugoslavia – Rank: Empire – Culture: Serbian, Croatian, Slovene, Bosniak - France – Rank: Empire – Culture: French - Great Britain or British Republic, British Commonwealth, Greater Manchester, Mancunian Commune – Rank: Empire – Culture: English, Scottish - Prussia – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: North German - Russia or Soviet Union – Rank: Empire – Culture: Russian - Spain – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Spanish - Sweden – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Swedish Victoria 3 Formable Colonial Nations These are all the Colonial Nations / Countries: - Free States of America – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Yankee - Australia – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Australian - Canada – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Anglo-Canadian, Franco-Canadian - West Indies – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Afro-Caribbean - Confederate States of America () – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Dixie Costa Rica – Rank: Principality – Culture: Central American El Salvador – Rank: Principality – Culture: Central American Guatemala – Rank: Principality – Culture: Central American Honduras – Rank: Principality – Culture: Central American Nicaragua – Rank: Principality – Culture: Central American America (*) – Rank: Empire – Culture: Dixie, Yankee - Brazil – Rank: Empire – Culture: Brazilian - Central America – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Central American - Colombia or New Granada – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: North Andean - Mexico or Mexican Empire, New Spain – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Mexican - South Africa or Cape Colony – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: English, Boer (*) Confederate States of America: Confederate State of America, Confederated Sovereigns of America, Communist States of America, Confederate Synods of America (*) America: United States of America, United Senators of America, United State of America, United Sovereign Archduchy, United, Syndicates of America, United Synods of America Unrecognized These are all the Unrecognized Nations / Countries: - Aotearoa – Rank: Empire – Culture: Māori - Arabia – Rank: Empire – Culture: Mashriqi, Bedouin, Misri, Yemenite - Ethiopia – Rank: Empire – Culture: Amhara, Oromo, Tigray - Mali – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Bambara, Fulbe - Turkestan – Rank: Empire – Culture: Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Turkmen, Tajik, Uighur - Baluchistan – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Baluchi - Laos – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Lao - Yemen – Rank: Principality – Culture: Yemenite, Bedouin - Zimbabwe – Rank: Kingdom – Culture: Shona, Nguni - Hindustan – Rank: Empire – Culture: Avadhi, Sindi, Kannada, Bengali - China (*) – Rank: Empire – Culture: Manchu, Han (*) China: Great Qing, Empire of China, People’s Republic of China Read the full article

[silentambassadors]

Romania is a good example of the fluid multi-national nature of many of the small states in Europe - prior to its conquest by the Ottomans in the mid-16th Century, there were many city-states in the area, many of which, in turn, had their own patrilineal aristos (most commonly, princes).  Near the end of Ottoman ascendancy in that part of Europe, various of the Danubian principalities joined together (notably Moldavia and Wallachia) to form the United Principalities, the precursor to the modern state of Romania.  After the Ottomans formally departed in 1877, the Kingdom of Romania was founded under Carol I, a German prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.  The inter-bellum years were not particularly kind to Romania and its people, and post-WWII was even less so, as the influence of the Soviet reaches allowed for the authoritarian (and, quite frankly, sadistic) rule of the Ceaușescus until their execution by their own people in 1989 as Communism fell in Europe.  Romanian, as you know, is a romance language - and I guess here we see what happens when romance and internecine authoritarian squabbles mix.  Harkening back to the good old days of Ancient Rome indeed.....

Stamp details: Top left: Issued in: 1864 From: Bucharest, Romanian United Principalities YC #11

Top right: Issued on: December 31, 1866 From: Bucharest, Romania MC #16

Second row left: Issued in: 1885 From: Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania MC #57

Second row right: Issued in: 1919 From: Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania MC #254

Third row left: Issued on: April 8, 1948 From: Bucharest, Romanian People’s Republic MC #1118

Third row right: Issued on: August 25, 1965 From: Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania MC #2427

Bottom left: Issued on: January 8, 1990 From: Bucharest, Romania MC #4585

Bottom right: Issued on: January 23, 2019 From: Bucharest, Romania MC #7493

Recognized as a sovereign state by the UN: Yes (since December 14, 1955) Official name: Romania; România Member of the Universal Postal Union: Yes (since July 1, 1875)

[sapphetti]

Unirea Principatelor (1857) by Theodor Aman

[rvexillology]

Alternate Flag for the United Romanian Principalities (Part 1 - Moldavia)

from /r/vexillology Top comment: As a romanian who lives in Rep. Of Moldova I'm very happy to see this.

[justforbooks]

The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution, was a successful war of independence waged by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1830. The Greeks were later assisted by Great Britain, France and Russia, while the Ottomans were aided by their North African vassals, particularly the eyalet of Egypt. The war led to the formation of modern Greece. The revolution is celebrated by Greeks around the world as independence day on 25 March.

Greece came under Ottoman rule in the 15th century, in the decades before and after the fall of Constantinople. During the following centuries, there were sporadic but unsuccessful Greek uprisings against Ottoman rule. In 1814, a secret organization called Filiki Eteria (Society of Friends) was founded with the aim of liberating Greece, encouraged by the revolutionary fervor gripping Europe in that period. The Filiki Eteria planned to launch revolts in the Peloponnese, the Danubian Principalities, and Constantinople itself. The insurrection was planned for 25 March 1821 (on the Julian Calendar), the Orthodox Christian Feast of the Annunciation. However, the plans of Filiki Eteria were discovered by the Ottoman authorities, forcing the revolution to start earlier. The first revolt began on 6 March/21 February 1821 in the Danubian Principalities, but it was soon put down by the Ottomans. The events in the north urged the Greeks in the Peloponnese (Morea) into action and on 17 March 1821, the Maniots were first to declare war. In September 1821, the Greeks under the leadership of Theodoros Kolokotronis captured Tripolitsa. Revolts in Crete, Macedonia, and Central Greece broke out, but were eventually suppressed. Meanwhile, makeshift Greek fleets achieved success against the Ottoman navy in the Aegean Sea and prevented Ottoman reinforcements from arriving by sea.

Tensions soon developed among different Greek factions, leading to two consecutive civil wars. The Ottoman Sultan called in his vassal Muhammad Ali of Egypt, who agreed to send his son Ibrahim Pasha to Greece with an army to suppress the revolt in return for territorial gains. Ibrahim landed in the Peloponnese in February 1825 and brought most of the peninsula under Egyptian control by the end of that year. The town of Missolonghi fell in April 1826 after a year-long siege by the Turks. Despite a failed invasion of Mani, Athens also fell and the revolution looked all but lost.

At that point, the three Great powers—Russia, Britain and France—decided to intervene, sending their naval squadrons to Greece in 1827. Following news that the combined Ottoman–Egyptian fleet was going to attack the island of Hydra, the allied European fleets intercepted the Ottoman navy at Navarino. After a tense week-long standoff, the Battle of Navarino led to the destruction of the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet and turned the tide in favor of the revolutionaries. In 1828 the Egyptian army withdrew under pressure of a French expeditionary force. The Ottoman garrisons in the Peloponnese surrendered, and the Greek revolutionaries proceeded to retake central Greece. Russia invaded the Ottoman Empire and forced it to accept Greek autonomy in the Treaty of Adrianople (1829). After nine years of war, Greece was finally recognized as an independent state under the London Protocol of February 1830. Further negotiations in 1832 led to the London Conference and the Treaty of Constantinople; these defined the final borders of the new state and established Prince Otto of Bavaria as the first king of Greece.

The consequences of the Greek revolution were somewhat ambiguous in the immediate aftermath. An independent Greek state had been established, but with Britain, Russia and France having significant influence in Greek politics, an imported Bavarian dynast as ruler, and a mercenary army. The country had been ravaged by ten years of fighting and was full of displaced refugees and empty Turkish estates, necessitating a series of land reforms over several decades.

The population of the new state numbered 800,000, representing less than one-third of the 2.5 million Greek inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire. During a great part of the next century, the Greek state sought the liberation of the "unredeemed" Greeks of the Ottoman Empire, in accordance with the Megali Idea, i.e., the goal of uniting all Greeks in one country.

As a people, the Greeks no longer provided the princes for the Danubian Principalities, and were regarded within the Ottoman Empire, especially by the Muslim population, as traitors. Phanariotes, who had until then held high office within the Ottoman Empire, were thenceforth regarded as suspect, and lost their special, privileged status. In Constantinople and the rest of the Ottoman Empire where Greek banking and merchant presence had been dominant, Armenians mostly replaced Greeks in banking, and Jewish merchants gained importance.

In the long-term historical perspective, this marked a seminal event in the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, despite the small size and the impoverishment of the new Greek state. For the first time, a Christian subject people had achieved independence from Ottoman rule and established a fully independent state, recognized by Europe. Whereas previously, only large nations (such as the Prussians or Austrians) were judged worthy of national self-determination by the Great Powers of Europe, the Greek Revolt legitimized the concept of small, ethnically-based nation-states, and emboldened nationalist movements among other subject peoples of the Ottoman Empire. The Serbs, Bulgarians, Albanians, Romanians and Armenians all subsequently fought for and won their independence.

Shortly after the war ended, the people of the Russian-dependent Poland, encouraged by the Greek victory, started the November Uprising, hoping to regain their independence. The uprising, however, failed, and Polish independence had to wait until 1918 at Versailles. The newly established Greek state would become a catalyst for further expansion and, over the course of a century, parts of Macedonia, Crete, Epirus, many Aegean Islands, the Ionian Islands and other Greek-speaking territories would unite with the new Greek state. The Greek rebels won the sympathy of even the conservative powers of Europe.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[mishinashen]

Boléro violet by Henri Matisse, 1937

Suffused with the brilliant light of the South of France, Boléro violet is an exquisite portrait from one of the most important and creative periods of Matisse’s art. The arrangement of the exotically dressed girl, with her upper body posed diagonally across the painting, is invitingly intimate, with the sweeping arm of her chair creating a subtle distinction between the position of the model and the picture's surface. The emphasis Matisse placed on decorative patterns is particularly apparent in Boléro violet. The buttercup gold and orange striped wallpaper, vivid purple coat and strikingly stylised features of the model - her dark hair and red lips being especially pronounced - combine to create a beguiling vision of the artist’s opulent domain.

The model in the painting is Princess Hélène Galitzine, daughter of Russian aristocrat Prince Serge Galitzine and Helene Ghijitzky. Not yet eighteen years-old when Matisse created Boléro violet, her strikingly dark hair provided a perfect foil to Lydia Delectorskaya’s fair colouration. Throughout 1937 Hélène was one of Matisse’s principal models and posed for a number of important works, often alongside her cousin Delectorskaya. The pair continued to model together for the next couple of years, and posed for the monumental La musique in 1939 (fig. 1). In the same year he completed La musique, Matisse made a statement recognising the importance of his models: ‘The emotional interest aroused in me by them does not appear particularly in the representation of their bodies, but often rather in the lines or the special values distributed over the whole canvas or paper, which form its complete orchestration, its architecture… It is perhaps sublimated sensual pleasure’ (H. Matisse, quoted in Henri Matisse. Figure Color Space (exhibition catalogue), Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, 2005, p. 40).

Throughout his life, Matisse approached clothing and textiles with the keen eye of a collector. Costumes of all descriptions could be found in numerous chests about his house and studio. From Romanian peasant clothing to Parisian ball gowns, Matisse’s appetite for clothing was enormous. He commissioned the celebrated designer Paul Poiret’s sister to make dresses for his wife and daughter, and on one occasion in 1938, he spent a day in the area around the rue de la Boëtie in Paris buying several items of haute couture at the spring sales. By the time he moved to his new apartment in the old Excelsior-Regina Palace Hotel in Cimiez in 1939, his collection of costumes required a whole room to store them. As Hilary Spurling has noted: ‘Moroccan jackets, robes, blouses, boleros, caps and scarves, from which his models could be kitted out in outfits distantly descended - like Bakst's ballet, and a whole series of films using Nice locations in the 1920s as a substitute for the mysterious East - from the French painterly tradition of orientalisation’ (H. Spurling, Matisse: His Art and his Textiles (exhibition catalogue), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2005, p. 29).

According to Lydia Delectorskaya in 1937 Matisse had become particularly fascinated with a set of Romanian blouses which he rediscovered amongst his studio props. These blouses had been a gift from the Romanian painter Theodor Pallady, who regularly corresponded with Matisse, discussing their art and in particular the important role of its more decorative aspects. Hélène Galitzine was photographed by the artist wearing one of these blouses (fig. 2), and he subsequently painted a number of works - using other models - that used the geometric oak-leaf embroidery as the central decorative motif. Similarly, Matisse produced several improvisations on the decorative qualities of a richly hued jacket decorated with elaborate gold embroidery (fig. 3). Matisse had used this coat in an earlier oil (fig. 4), and echoes of its orientalist charm are reawakened in his paintings in the late 1930s.

In a discussion concerning his working methods with the poet Tériade, which was later published in 1937, Matisse wrote: ‘In my latest paintings, I united the acquisitions of the last twenty years to my essential core, to my very essence. […] The reaction of each stage is as important as the subject. For this reaction comes from me and not from the subject. It is from the basis of my interpretation that I continually react until my work comes into harmony with me... At each stage, I reach a balance, a conclusion. At the next sitting, if I find there is a weakness in the whole, I make my way back into the picture by means of the weakness - I re-enter through the breach-end, I reconceive the whole. Thus everything becomes fluid again and as each element is only one of the component forces (as in an orchestration), the whole can be changed in appearance but the feeling sought still remains the same. A black could very well replace a blue, since basically the expression derives from the relationships. One is not bound to a blue, to a green or to a red, whose timbres can be introverted or replaced if the feeling so dictates… At the final stage the painter finds himself freed and his emotion exists complete in his work' (quoted in Jack Flam (ed.), Matisse on Art, Berkeley, 1995, p. 123).

Discussing Matisse’s portraits of the mid-1930s, John Elderfield wrote: ‘his model is shown in decorative costumes – a striped Persian coat [fig. 5], a Rumanian blouse – and the decorativeness and the very construction of a costume and of a painting are offered as analogous. What developed were groups of paintings showing his model in similar or different poses, costumes, and settings: a sequence of themes and variations that gained in mystery and intensity as it unfolded’ (J. Elderfield in Henri Matisse, A Retrospective (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1992, p. 357). Boléro violet is an extraordinary example of Matisse’s constantly evolving perception of form and colour. The paintings of the late 1930s are the supreme outcome of decades of improvisation on these decorative elements, wherein contrasting patterns and colours of the present work harmonise, and the features of the young Hélène are transfigured into the epitome of timeless elegance. The first owner of the present work was Aldus Chapin Higgins of Worcester, Massachusetts. Higgins acquired Boléro violet from Paul Rosenberg’s Paris exhibition of Matisse’s recent works in 1937 which subsequently travelled to London. The previous year Rosenberg persuaded Matisse to sign a three year contract, thus becoming his principal dealer. These exhibitions in Paris and London, held for the next few years, helped the artist to sell directly to a large number of collectors from America and Europe. Aldus C. Higgins was a businessman who spent his entire career with his family’s firm, the Norton Emery Wheel Company. He also invented a water-cooled electric furnace which won the John Scott medal for exceptional achievement in mechanical arts in 1914. Higgins also commissioned the architect Grosvenor Atterbury to build him a house modelled on Compton Wyngates, the Elizabethan seat of the Marquesses of Northampton. The house was completed in 1923, and Higgins and his wife, Mary, lived there until their deaths when it was given to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, of which his family had been tremendously supportive. Aldus and Mary Higgins were avid collectors of art, and during trips to Europe purchased many wonderful paintings including the magnificent Fauve canvas, L’Oliviers by Georges Braque and Georges Rouault’s Coucher du soleil which were both eventually bequeathed to the Worcester Art Museum. Boléro violet remained in Higgins' family possession until 1990, when it was acquired by the present owner.

[sailorgreywolf-german]

I’m trying to sort out some Romanian history for some Prussia/Romania stuff. And I’m trying to decide which of the Principalities he represented when he was not Romania, since Romania has not always been one unit. Obviously it can’t be Transylvania for competing claims reasons. I am leaning towards Wallachia, but I’m not sure.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.13 (before 1940)

1174 – William I of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173–74, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Henry II of England. 1249 – Coronation of Alexander III as King of Scots. 1260 – The Livonian Order suffers its greatest defeat in the 13th century in the Battle of Durbe against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania 1402 – Nanjing surrenders to Zhu Di without a fight, ending the Jingnan campaign. The Jianwen Emperor disappears and his family is incarcerated. 1558 – Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul de Thermes at Gravelines. 1573 – Eighty Years' War: The Siege of Haarlem ends after seven months. 1586 – Anglo–Spanish War: A convoy of English ships from the Levant Company manage to repel a fleet of eleven Spanish and Maltese galleys off the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria. 1643 – English Civil War: Battle of Roundway Down: In England, Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester, commanding the Royalist forces, heavily defeats the Parliamentarian forces led by Sir William Waller. 1787 – The Congress of the Confederation enacts the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory. It also establishes procedures for the admission of new states and limits the expansion of slavery. 1793 – Journalist and French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat is assassinated in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday, a member of the opposing political faction. 1794 – The Battle of Trippstadt between French forces and those of Prussia and Austria begins. 1814 – The Carabinieri, the national gendarmerie of Italy, is established. 1830 – The General Assembly's Institution, now the Scottish Church College, one of the pioneering institutions that ushered the Bengali Renaissance, is founded by Alexander Duff and Raja Ram Mohan Roy, in Calcutta, India. 1831 – Regulamentul Organic, a quasi-constitutional organic law is adopted in Wallachia, one of the two Danubian Principalities that were to become the basis of Romania. 1854 – In the Battle of Guaymas, Mexico, General José María Yáñez stops the French invasion led by Count Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon. 1863 – American Civil War: The New York City draft riots begin three days of rioting which will later be regarded as the worst in United States history. 1878 – Treaty of Berlin: The European powers redraw the map of the Balkans. Serbia, Montenegro and Romania become completely independent of the Ottoman Empire. 1913 – The 1913 Romanian Army cholera outbreak during the Second Balkan War starts. 1919 – The British airship R34 lands in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight. 1930 – The inaugural FIFA World Cup begins in Uruguay.