Michael

“During the thirteenth century Genoese traders in the Black Sea port of Caffa struck a deal to run slaves captured in the Caucasus by the Mongols to the Mamluk rulers of Egypt, shipping them to the Nile Delta via the Black Sea and Mediterranean, whereupon the slaves would be forcibly impressed into the Mamluk army. Effectively this meant that the Christian Genoese were directly responsible for supplying workers to a power that was doing its best to crush the western crusader states of Syria and Palestine.”
― Dan Jones, Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages

“Die Eröffnung der 750 Meter langen Siegesallee war ein vielsagendes Beispiel. Sie führte entlang einer der Verkehrsachsen der Hauptstadt und war von Denkmälern gesäumt. In einer langen Reihe halbrund angelegter Nischen mit Steinbalustraden standen auf hohen Podesten Statuen der Herrscher des Hauses Brandenburg, flankiert von den Büsten der Generale und hoher Staatsbeamter ihrer Herrschaft.
Bereits zum Zeitpunkt der Eröffnung wirkte dieses gigantische Projekt völlig unzeitgemäß. Um die Allee rechtzeitig zu vollenden, hatte Kaiser Wilhelm II. die Statuen bei Bildhauern von unterschiedlicher Kunstfertigkeit in Auftrag gegeben – sie waren allesamt konventionell und bombastisch, viele wirkten überdies plump und leblos. Das Ergebnis war eine kostspielige Demonstration von Prunk und Monotonie.
Mit der gewohnten Respektlosigkeit nannten die Berliner die Allee nur noch die »Puppenallee«, und unzählige zeitgenössische Karikaturen machten sich über den Größenwahn des Kaisers lustig. Die Krönung war eine Werbeanzeige aus dem Jahr 1903, die eine Siegesallee zeigte, gesäumt von riesigen Odol-Flaschen.”
― Christopher Clark, Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600–1947

“In vielen österreichischen Einheiten sprachen Offiziere und Mannschaften unterschiedliche Sprachen. So berichtete der Stabschef des österreichischen I. Korps bei der Schlacht von Münchengrätz, dass das gemischte polnische und ukrainische 30. Regiment tapfer bis zum Einbruch der Dämmerung gekämpft habe, die Männer dann aber nicht mehr in das Lage gewesen seien, die pantomimisch erteilten Anweisungen ihrer Offiziere zu erkennen.”
― Christopher Clark, Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600–1947

“Sacrosanctis was in fact the public face of a corporate conspiracy between the leading men of three powerful European families: the Medici (in the form of Pope Leo); Jakob Fugger, head of the Augsburg banking and mining dynasty and a man often said to have been the richest in human history; and Albert, archbishop of Mainz, a member of the politically influential Hohenzollern dynasty and (not coincidentally) the man to whom Luther mailed the first copy of his Theses.
The nature of the agreement between these three was broadly thus: Albert, who was already archbishop of Magdeburg, had been permitted by the pope to become archbishop of Mainz at the same time – which made him the most senior churchman in Germany, and meant he controlled two of the seven electoral votes which determined the identity of the German emperor. (His brother already controlled a third.) Vast fees were due to Rome as a tax on taking office as an archbishop – but Albert could afford these, thanks to a loan from Fugger, who advanced the money on the basis that he would have the Hohenzollern and their electoral votes in his pocket. Albert, for his part, promised Leo he would do all he could to make sure that German Christians bought as many indulgences as possible, partly because his share of the proceeds could repay his debt to Fugger and partly so that funds would flow rapidly to Leo in Rome for the completion of St Peter’s. For the parties involved this was a neat arrangement by which they all got what they wanted – so long as the faithful did their part and kept pumping money into pardons.”
― Dan Jones, Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages