Jean Monnet of France said that France should control the German coal areas of the Ruhr and Saar and use it to rebuild French industry. In 1946 the occupying powers agreed to put strict limits on how quickly Germany could reindustrialize. Limits were placed on how much coal and steel could be produced.
This was the first German industrial plan. It was signed in early 1946 and said that German heavy industry was to be cut down to half% of its 1938 levels by the destroying 1,500 manufacturing plants.
By the end of 1946 governments could see the problems of the plan, and the agreement was changed several times, the last time in 1949. But dismantling factories went on into 1950. Germany had been very important to the economy of Europe for a long time. This meant that a poor Germany was holding back European recovery, because other countries could not sell so many things to Germany. A poor Germany was also expensive for the occupying powers. They had to give Germany food and other things which it needed and could not grow or make for itself anymore.
Because of this the Morgenthau and Monnet plans were rejected.
The Marshall Plan ended in 1952. Ideas to extend it were stopped because of the cost of the Korean War and rearmament. U.S. Republicans hostile to the plan had also gained seats in the 1950 Congressional elections.
The Marshall Plan has been described as "the most unselfish act in history." However, this may not be the case. The United States benefited from the plan because part of the agreement for giving the aid was that the country would have to open up their economies to US companies.
"Historical revisionist" historians, such as Walter LaFeber, during the 1960s and 1970s said that the plan was American economic imperialism. That means, that it was an attempt to gain control over Western Europe just as the Soviets controlled Eastern Europe.
Tyler Cowen, economist, has said that nations receiving the most aid from the Marshall Plan (Britain, Sweden, Greece) saw the least returns and grew the least between 1947 and 1955. Those nations who received little (e.g. Austria) grew the most.
When he looked at West Germany's economy from 1945 to 1951, German analyst Werner Abelshauser decided that foreign aid was not needed to start the recovery or to keep it going. Cowen found that the economic recoveries of France, Italy, and Belgium, started before the Marshall Plan. Belgium relied heavily on free market economic policies after its liberation in 1944, and had the fastest recovery. It also did not have the severe housing and food shortages seen in the rest of continental Europe.
Ninety-Five Theses
The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power of Indulgences, commonly known as The Ninety-Five Theses, was written by Martin Luther.
Luther argued that the Church should not sell indulgences. Because many people agreed, Luther became very popular, paving the way for the Protestant Reformation.
On October 31, 1517, Luther approached the church authorities with his pressing call for reform. On this day he presented them with his theses. When the bishops did not respond, Luther circulated his theses privately. The theses spread quickly and were printed in Nuremberg, Leipzig, and Basel.
Most recently, in February 2007, the media reported that a handwritten note by Luther's secretary Georg Rörer, found in the university library at Jena, appeared to confirm the traditional account of Luther's nailing the theses to the door. As of February 2007, this new find has yet to be assessed by scholars.
Indulgence
An indulgence, in Roman Catholic theology, means that temporal punishment (punishment here on Earth) for sins which have already been forgiven is taken from the sinner.
The indulgence is given by the church after the sinner has confessed and received absolution.
Indulgences replaced the severe penances of the early church.
The basis of indulgences was said to be that the church has a "treasury of merit". This came from past Christians who had been even better than was required to gain salvation. Their good deeds were kept in a kind of bank that the Pope could draw from. He could give or sell the merit to others whose sins prevented them from being saved.
During the crusades, the Pope promised "full indulgence" to those who volunteered to fight the Muslims. This meant that if they became soldiers in the Pope's army and died, they would go to heaven even if they had done evil things.
By 1500, indulgences had developed into a printed letter that said that having paid money a person had received full pardon for all their sins. Even people who had died and were suffering in purgatory could be instantly freed if a living person paid for the indulgence. The money was used for building a church in Rome, with some of it going to local princes or secular leaders.
This extreme abuse of indulgences caused Martin Luther to protest against them. Luther said that it is better to give money to the poor and repent of one's sins instead of paying money to the Church. This was the starting point for the Protestant Reformation (1517). Soon after, at the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church tried to respond to the problems that led to the Reformation and the sale of indulgences was stopped.
In modern times, the idea of indulgences has occasionally been used by the Catholic Church, but only as a reward for certain pious acts, and not as a full pardon for sins.
Prospero (moon)
Prospero is a small retrograde non-spherical moon of Uranus found on 1999-07-18 by the astrophysicist Matthew Holman and his team, and given designation S/1999 U 3. Confirmed as Uranus XVIII it was named after the sorcerer Prospero in William Shakespeare's play "The Tempest".
The orbital parameters suggest that it may belong, together with Sycorax and Setebos to the same dynamic cluster, suggesting common origin.
However, this suggestion does not appear to be supported by the observed colours. The moon appears grey in the visible light
, similar to Setebos but different from Sycorax (which is "light red").
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (5 January, 1744 - 27 November, 1811) was a Spanish neoclassical statesman, writer, and philosopher.
Involved in the disgrace of his friend, Francisco de Cabarrús, Jovellanos spent the years 1790 to 1797 in a sort of prison at Gijon where he wrote.
In 1797 he came back and refused the post of ambassador to Russia, but accepted to become minister of grace and justice.
Joseph Bonaparte, on mounting the Spanish throne, made Jovellanos lots of offers but he refused them all and joined a patriotic party.
When he was involved in the fall of the party he was sent back to Gijon. The vessel in which he sailed was compelled by stress of weather to put in at Vega de Navia (now Puerto de Vega) in Asturias where died on November 27 1811.
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a skyscraper in Manhattan, New York City, United States. It is tall and has 102 floors. Named after the popular nickname for New York, the Empire State, it is one of the most famous landmarks in the US. When the Empire State Building opened on May 1, 1931, it was the world's tallest building.
Designed by the architects named Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates, it was built at a time when many people were trying to make the world's tallest building, but the Empire State Building won. The old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was destroyed so that the Empire State Building could be built. The Empire State Building was completed in 410 days. It opened on May 1, 1931, when United States President Herbert Hoover pushed a button in Washington, D.C. to turn on the lights. The Empire State Building's design was based on the 21-story Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, built in 1929. In the 1930s, the Empire State Building was called the "Empty State Building" because not many people worked in the building.