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PRUSSIA
The area known as Prussia was inhabited in early times by West Slavic tribes, ancestors of the modern Poles, in the West, and Baltic tribes, closely related to Lithuanians, in the East. Sometime after the seventh century, the area was invaded and settled by pagan German tribes, later known as Prussians. In 1226, Prussia was conquered by the Teutonic Knights, a military religious order, who converted the Prussians to Christianity. The Teutonic Knights were overthrown by the Prussians with help from Poland and Lithuania in 1454. Prussia was divided into Royal Prussia in the west and Ducal Prussia in the east. Royal Prussia was incorporated into Poland providing it with a corridor to the Baltic Sea (the "Danzig Corridor"). Ducal Prussia became a Polish territory. At this time, the port city of Danzig (modern day Gdansk) was designated a "free city". The Protestant Reformation in the early to mid 1500s saw most Prussians convert to Protestantism whereas Poland remained, and still remains, solidly Roman Catholic. In 1525 Ducal Prussia became a hereditary duchy under Albrecht Hohenzollern, the last grand master of the Teutonic Knights. In 1657, after an invasion by the Swedes, Poland surrendered sovereignty over Ducal Prussia which then became the Kingdom of Prussia headed by the Hohenzollern line. Prussia's power grew and in 1772, under King Friedrich II (Frederick the Great), consisted of the provinces of Brandenburg, Pomerania, Danzig, West Prussia and East Prussia (modern day eastern Germany, northern Poland, and a small portion of Russia). A major event in German history was the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, making Germany a world power. It was during this war that, in 1870, Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck orchestrated the unification of the German states. The German Empire was established under Prussian leadership with Bismarck as Chancellor and Wilhelm I as emperor. Wilhelm II, the last of the Hohenzollern dynasty, became Emperor of Germany (Kaiser) in 1888 and ruled until Germany's defeat in World War I. After defeat in World War I, Germany was forced to give up the Danzig Corridor to Poland and Danzig once again became a free city. This caused the province of East Prussia to be separated from the rest of Germany. The Rosenberg District was at this time contained in East Prussia. After Germany's defeat in World War II, West Prussia and East Prussia were divided by Poland and the Soviet Union. Part of East Prussia around Köningsberg is now part of Russia and is known as Kaliningrad.
20 Mark - 1872-A
KM-501 - 7,97 g
Mintage - 7,717M
This coin's obverse depicts Kaiser Wilhelm I
(b1797-d1888). Wilhelm was the seventh
King of Prussia and the first German Emperor or Kaiser. He acceded to the
Prussian throne in 1861 after his older brother Frederick William IV died. He
was instrumental with the assistance of of the Iron Chancelor, Count von Bismark,
and other advisors in founding the German state in the modern sence--uniting a
great diversity of principalities under the martial leadership of Prussia.
William was crowned German Emperor in 1871 after defeating Emperor Napoleon III
in the Franco Prussian War. The A under the bust is the mintmark for the
Berlin mint. The German legend says
WILHELM DEUTSCHER KAISER KONIG V. PREUSSEN (Wilhem German Kaiser King of
Prussia). The reverse pictures the
German imperial coat of arms with DEUTSCHES REICH (German Empire) on the sides.
The bottom shows the date 1872 with the denomination 20 M. just above.
There are more Prussian gold coins in this section if you are interested - Page Prussia 1
REPUBLIC OF CHINA
People may have lived here for about 10,000 years, with migration from China beginning in the 15th century. In 1517 Portuguese sailors reached Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, or beautiful island. The Dutch invaded in 1624 and built a capital at Tainan - two years later they lost the island to a Spanish invasion. In 1641, they defeated the Spabish and regained control. During the 1660s the Ming and Manchu dynasties invaded, expelling the Dutch and wrestling one another for control of the island. The Manchus eventually won, making Taiwan a county of Fujian Province and triggering a flood of Chinese immigration. Japan took Taiwan from China in 1895 and held on to it until the end of WWII, when it was handed back to China. When Communist forces took control of China in 1949, the president, General Chiang kai-Shek, and his nationalist party, the Kuomintang, fled to Taiwan to plan their reconquest of the mainland. One and a half million Chinese also left the mainland for Taiwan when the communists took control. The leaders of both communist Peoples' Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) claim to be the voice of all China, but the international community has, almost without exception, chosen the PRC. In 1971 the Kuomintang lost the Chinese United Nations seat, and in 1979 the USA withdrew its recognition of the Republic. When Chiang kai-Shek died in 1975 and was replaced by his son Ching-kuo, Taiwanese started muttering the word 'dynasty', and criticism of the one-party system rose. In 1986, those opposed to Chiang formed the Democratic Progressive Party, and were granted seats in the legislature. Two years later Chiang died and was replaced by the first native-born president, Lee Tenghui.
$ 2000 - 1966
Y-544
- 31,06 g
Edge - Chinese Character
This coin was issued by the Republic of China to commemorate the 80th birthday of President Chiang kai-Shek (b1887-d1975). Chiang fought in China's civil war which overthrew the Manchu dynasty in 1911. He was a military and political leader of the Republic. In 1949, Chiang took his Kuomintang government from the mainland to Taiwan as the communists routed his forces. He headed up the ROC in exile in Taipei until his death. The obverse has a bust of Chiang with a Chinese legend around the lower half. The reverse has a Chinese representation of two cranes with the denomination below.
RHODESIA
In 1888, the Ndebele (Zulu) granted mineral rights in the area to Cecil Rhodes, a British financier. By 1893, Rhodes's British South Africa Company occupied most of the region. In 1895, this company named its territory Rhodesia. The British South Africa Company crushed black African uprisings in 1896 and 1897, and reports of gold brought more Europeans to the area. In 1897, the United Kingdom recognized Southern and Northern Rhodesia as separate territories. In 1922, the white settlers of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) voted for self-government, and Southern Rhodesia became a self-governing British colony in 1923. In 1953, the United Kingdom set up the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which included Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), and Nyasaland (now Malawi). In 1961, the United Kingdom and Southern Rhodesia approved a new constitution. The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was dissolved in 1963. In 1964, Northern Rhodesia became the independent nation of Zambia, and Nyasaland became independent as Malawi. Southern Rhodesia became known as Rhodesia. Its government demanded independence in 1964. The United Kingdom declared that Rhodesia must first guarantee the black majority a greater voice in the government. Rhodesian talks with the United Kingdom finally broke down. On Nov. 11, 1965, Prime Minister Ian Smith declared Rhodesia independent. Rhodesia was the first colony to break with the United Kingdom without consent since the American Colonies did so in 1776. The United Kingdom called Rhodesia's action illegal and banned all trade with Rhodesia. Rhodesia rejected British proposals for a settlement. In 1966, the United Nations imposed economic sanctions against Rhodesia. Most countries then stopped or reduced their trade with Rhodesia. In 1969, Rhodesian voters—mostly whites—approved a new constitution designed to prevent the black African majority from ever gaining control of the government. The Constitution took effect in 1970. Rhodesia declared itself a republic on March 2, 1970. But no country recognized its independent status. In 1971, the United Kingdom and Rhodesia reached an agreement that included provisions to gradually increase black representation in the government. But most Rhodesian blacks opposed the pact, and it did not take effect. In the early 1970's, fighting erupted between government troops and black guerrillas in Rhodesia. In 1974, the two sides agreed to a cease-fire. In 1976, fighting again broke out between Rhodesian government troops and black guerrillas. Mozambique and other black African nations joined in the demand for an end of white rule in Rhodesia. Clashes between Rhodesian government troops and troops of Mozambique broke out near the border between the countries. In the mid-1970's, Rhodesia's white rulers, led by Prime Minister Smith, began making plans to establish a new government with a majority of black leaders. In 1978, the whites reached an agreement with moderate Rhodesian blacks to form a government. Voting procedures were changed to allow all people 18 years old or over to vote. Elections in April 1979 resulted in a government with a majority of black leaders. Abel T. Muzorewa, a Methodist bishop, became the first black prime minister. But many blacks rejected the new government as unrepresentative, and no other country officially recognized it. Widespread fighting between black guerrillas and the government went on until September 1979, when the United Kingdom arranged a peace settlement between the government and the rebels. Both sides finally agreed to the formation of a new government. In elections held in February 1980, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party won a majority of the seats in the House of Assembly. Robert Mugabe, the party's leader, became prime minister. Whites were guaranteed political representation and fairness. On April 18, 1980, the United Kingdom recognized the country's independence, and Rhodesia's name was officially changed to Zimbabwe. Since then, freedom and economic conditions have withered away. Rhodesia used to be a net food exporter but today, under radical black rule, it has become another basket case on the African continent. Whites have become second class citizens in a nation that they built. The Mugabe government has started wholesale seizures of white-ownwed farms ensuring Zimbabwe's continued spiral into chaos and poverty.
£ 1 - 1966
KM-006 - 7,99 g
Mintage - 5.000
This coin was issued by Rhodesia, a former British colony than had declared a Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965. The republic led by Ian Smith came under great pressure from the West and finally signed over the country to black rule. The country, now known as Zimbabwe, is in utter chaos today after years of mismanagement by the Mugabe government. This coin was issued to celebrate the first year of independence after UDI and still depicted the Queen on the obverse. The reverse has the image of a lion with the country name, date, and denomination.
There are more Rhodesian gold coins in this section if you are interested - Page Rhodesia 1
ROMANIA
Ancient Romania was inhabited by Thracian tribes. In the first century BC, Greece established the state of Dacia there to counter the threat from Rome. Dacia fell to Rome in 106 AD, becoming a province of the Roman Empire. Faced with Goth attacks in 271 AD, Emperor Aurelian decided to withdraw the Roman legions south of the Danube, but the Romanised Vlach peasants remained in Dacia, forming a Romanian people. By the 10th century, small Romanian states emerged, and their consolidation led to the formation of the principalities of Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania. From the 10th century the Magyars spread into Transylvania and by the 13th century it was an autonomous principality under the Hungarian crown. In the 14th century Hungarian forces tried unsuccessfully to capture Wallachia and Moldavia. Throughout the 14th and 15th centuries Wallachia and Moldavia offered strong resistance to Ottoman Empire expansion. During this struggle the prince of Wallachia, Vlad Tepes became a hero; he later became associated with Dracula. Transylvania fell to Ottoman control in the 16th century, and after this Wallachia and Moldavia paid tribute to the Turks but retained their autonomy. In 1600 the three Romanian states were briefly united under Mihai Viteazul, prince of Wallachia, after he joined forces with the ruling princes of Moldavia and Transylvania against the Turks. Unity lasted only one year, after which he was defeated by a joint Habsburg-Transylvanian force, and then captured and beheaded. Transylvania came under Habsburg rule, while Turkish suzerainty continued in Wallachia and Moldavia until well into the 19th century. In 1775 the northern part of Moldavia, Bucovina, was annexed by Austria-Hungary. This was followed in 1812 by the loss of its eastern territory, Bessarabia, to Russia. After the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29, Ottoman domination over the principalities finally came to an end. After 1848 Transylvania fell under the direct rule of Austria-Hungary from Budapest, and ruthless Magyarisation followed. In 1859 Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected to the thrones of Moldavia and Wallachia, creating a national state, which was named Romania in 1862. Carol I succeeded him in 1866, and in 1877 Dobruja became part of Romania. Romania was declared a kingdom in 1881, with Carol I as king. He died at the start of WWI and was succeeded by his nephew Ferdinand I who, in 1916, entered the war on the side of the Triple Entente. His objective was to liberate Transylvania from Austria-Hungary. In 1918, Bessarabia, Bucovina and Transylvania became part of Romania. After WWI, numerous political parties emerged in Romania, including the Legion of the Archangel Michael, better known as the fascist Iron Guard. Led by Corneliu Codreanu, this party dominated the political scene by 1935. Carol II, who had succeeded his father Ferdinand I to the throne, declared a royal dictatorship in 1938, and all political parties were dissolved. In 1939 he clamped down on the Iron Guard (which he had previously actively supported) and had Codreanu and other legionaries assassinated. In 1940 the USSR occupied Bessarabia, and Romania was forced to cede northern Transylvania to Hungary by order of Germany and Italy. Southern Dobruja was also given to Bulgaria. These setbacks sparked off widespread demonstrations, and the king called in General Marshall Ion Antonescu to help quash the rising mass hysteria. Antonescu forced Carol to abdicate in favour of his 19-year-old son Michael, and then imposed a fascist dictatorship with himself as conducator (leader). In 1941 he joined Hitler's anti-Soviet war. In 1944 with the Soviet Union approaching Romania's border, Romania switched sides. The Soviet-engineered return of Transylvania to Romania helped the Moscow-backed communists win the 1946 elections. A year later King Michael was forced to abdicate, and a Romanian People's Republic was proclaimed. A period of state terror then ensued, in which all pre-war leaders, prominent intellectuals and suspected dissidents were rounded up and imprisoned in hard-labour camps. In the late 1950s Romania began to distance itself from Moscow, pursuing an independent foreign policy under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1952-65) and Nicolae Ceausescu (1965-89). Ceausescu condemned Soviet 'intervention' in Czechoslovakia in 1968, earning him praise and economic aid from the West. If his foreign policy was skilful, his domestic policy was inept and megalomaniacal. Most of his grandiose projects (the construction of the Danube-Black Sea 'Death' Canal and the behemoth House of the People in Bucharest, and systemisation) were expensive failures. His Securitate (secret police) kept the populace in check, recruiting a vast network of informers. While Ceausescu and his wife, Elena (his first deputy prime minister), lived in luxury, his people struggled to feed themselves, as bread, eggs, flour, oil, salt, sugar, beef and potatoes were rationed; by the mid-1980s meat was unobtainable. In 1987 protest riots in Brasov were crushed. On 15 December 1989, as one communist regime after another collapsed in Eastern Europe, Father Laszlo Tokes spoke out against Ceausescu from his Timisoara church. That evening a crowd gathered outside his home to protest at the decision of the Reformed Church of Romania to remove him from his post. Clashes between the protesters and the Securitate and army troops continued for the next four days. On 19 December the army joined the protesters. On 21 December Bucharest workers booed Ceausescu during a mass rally and street battles between army troops and Securitate and the people began in the capital. The following day the Ceausescus tried to flee Romania, but were arrested. They were tried by an anonymous court, and executed by firing squad on Christmas Day.
20 Lei - 1944
KM-M006
- 6,55 g
Mintage 1,000M
This is considered a medal as it has no
denomination even though it was minted to the Latin Monetary Standard as the 20
Lei coin. The obverse features
three Romanian kings (Mihai Viteazul (b1558-d1601), Ferdinand I (b1865-d1927),
and Mihai II (b1892-d1953)), a Romanian legend, and the dates 1601-1918-1944.
Mihai Viteazul was the Wallachian prince who built the first Romanian union of
Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia which lasted about one year until he was
assassinated . Ferdinand I was king in 1918 when Bessarabia,
Bucovina and Transylvania
joined Romania. Mihai II was king in 1944 when he threw out General Ion
Antonescu who had sided with the Axis and Mihai joined the Russian side. The
reverse has a crowned eagle's head and ROMANIA as well as shields of the
country's provinces.
There are more Romanian gold coins in this section if you are interested - Page Romania 1
RUSSIA
The founding of Novgorod in 862 by the Viking Rurik of Jutland is traditionally taken as the birth of what became the Russian state. Rurik's successor, Oleg helped make Kiev the dominant regional power in the 10th and 11th centuries until shifting trade routes rendered it a commercial backwater. The merchants of Novgorod eventually declared independence from Kiev and joined the emerging Hanseatic League, a federation of city-states that controlled Baltic and North Sea trade. Centuries of prosperity were quashed in the 13th century by the marauding Mongolian Tatars, who held sway until 1480. The 16th century witnessed the ugly expansionist reign of Ivan the Terrible, whose incursions into the Volga region antagonised Poland and Sweden to Russia's later cost. When the 700-year Rurikid dynasty ended with the childless Fyodor, vengeful Swedish and Polish invaders each bloodily claimed the Russian throne. The issue was finally settled in 1613, with the 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov issuing in a dynasty that was to rule until 1917. Peter the Great, the dynasty's strongest ruler, celebrated vanquishing the Swedes by building a new capital in St Petersburg. The long-suffering serfs were freed in 1861 and there was growing opposition to the repressive and autocratic tsarist rule. Peasants were angry at having to pay for land they regarded as their own, liberals advocated constitutional reform along Western European lines and terrorists expired Alexander II in 1881. Many radicals fled, including the most famous exile Vladimir Ulyanov, better known by his later nom de guerre, Lenin. Under the young but weak Nicholas II, ignominious defeat in the war with Japan (1904-5) led to further unrest. What became known as Bloody Sunday led to mass strikes and the murder of industrialists. Social Democrat activists formed workers' councils (soviets), and a general strike in October 1905 brought the country to its knees. The tsar finally buckled and permitted the formation of the country's first parliament (duma), only to disband it when he didn't like its leftist demands. Russia's disastrous performance in WWI fomented further unrest. Soldiers and police mutinied and a reconvened duma assumed government, manned by the commercial elite. Soviets of workers and soldiers were also formed, thus creating two alternative power bases. Both were unified in their demands for the abdication of the tsar, an action Nicholas was forced to undertake on 1 March 1917. On 25 October a splinter group of Social Democrats (known as Bolsheviks and led by the exiled Lenin) seized control and empowered the soviets as the ruling councils. Headed by Lenin and supported by Trotsky and the Georgian Stalin, the soviet government redistributed land to those who worked it, signed an armistice with Germany and created Trotsky's Red Army. In March 1918 the Bolshevik Party was renamed the Communist Party and the nation's capital was moved from Petrograd (St Petersburg's new, un-German-sounding name) to Moscow. Strongholds of those hostile to the communist regime had developed in the south and east of the country. Their collective name, the Whites, was their only source of cohesion. Three years of civil war resulted, with over a million citizens fleeing. The economic consequences of the civil war were disastrous, culminating in the enormous famine of 1920-21. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was established in 1922 and, following Lenin's death in January 1924, a new world record in the mistreatment of fellow humans was achieved by his successor, Stalin. He introduced farm collectivisation, destroying the peasantry both as a class and as a way of life. Millions were executed or exiled to Siberian concentration camps. Russia's nonagression pact with Germany set the scene for WWII, with Hitler and Stalin passing states between them like hot potatoes. The tables turned in 1941 when Hitler's Operation Barbarossa issued in a bloody period of warfare that would eventually kill a sixth of the population. The battles for Leningrad (former Petrograd) and Stalingrad (today again known as Volgograd) were particularly protracted and obscene. One million Soviet troops died defending Stalingrad, the symbolically important namesake of their leader. At the war's end, the Soviet's 'liberation' of Eastern Europe was soon recognised as a misnomer. Russia's extended control over much of Eastern Europe was the key to its emergence as one of the world's superpowers. Stalin re-established the old pattern of unpredictable purges and, as the Cold War developed, he established the Western ideology as the country's new enemy. Following Stalin's death in 1953, Nikita Krushchev emerged as leader and cautiously attempted to de-Stalinise the Party and brazenly arm Cuba. His efforts were undone by conservative Brezhnev, and JFK's brinkmanship. Despite increased repression, dissident movements sprang up. But change was on the way and Russian communism's poor image was soon thoroughly overhauled by soviet iconoclast Mikhail Gorbachov. Gorbachov introduced political and economic reforms (perestroika) and called for greater openness (glasnost). In 1988 he shocked the world by holding elections to transfer power from the Party to a new parliament. Reduced repression led to the eventual independence of the 15 Soviet republics, with the Baltic republics leading the way. This reduced sphere of influence and severe economic crisis caused Gorbachov domestic strife. A reactionary coup in August 1991 opened the way for his even more radical successor, Boris Yeltsin. Power was slowly transferred from Soviet to Russian hands. A new Confederation of Independent States (CIS) emerged with Yeltsin as president of the newly independent Russia. Further conflict with the old guard was resolved with some bloodshed and a new constitution was passed. Russia is now finally becoming orderly and its citizens are prospering under capitalism.
5 Rubley - 1841-SPB
KM-175.1 - 6,54 g
Mintage - 1,668M
This coin was minted in St. Petersburg. The
obverse features the Russian imperial arms with the mintmaster's initials ACh
(for Alexei Chadov). The reverse
has the denomination 5 RUBLEJ,
the date 1841, and the mintmark S.P.B.encircled by a Russian
legend HISTATO
ZOLOTA 1 ZOLOTHIK+ 39
DOLEJ.
There are more Russia
gold coins in this section if you are interested - Page
Russia 1
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