the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
Hungary is slightly bigger than its western neighbour Austria and has about 10 million inhabitants.
Other countries that border Hungary are Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.
Hungary's official language is the Hungarian language.
It has been a member of the European Union (EU) since 2004.
In Hungarian, the country is called Magyarország (literally, "Hungarian country"), or Magyar Köztársaság (Hungarian Republic).
This is named after the Magyar tribes who came to Hungary in the late 9th century.
Medieval Hungary, 896-1526
The Magyars established Hungary in 896, after they had arrived there from their previous, Eastern European territories.
Prince Árpád was their leader at the time; he also established the first royal house of the country, the Árpád-house.
In 1000, after the first king, Saint Stephen had been crowned, the country became a Kingdom.
In 1241, the Mongol Empire invaded the country, causing the Hungarian king Béla IV to flee and approximately 500,000 Hungarians were killed, along with with heavy damage.
In 1301, the Árpád-house died out.
Later on, kings from various houses ruled over Hungary.
The greatest of them is Matthias Corvinus, famous for taking Austrian terrirories like Vienna, etc.
and protecting the country against Ottoman aggression.
However, some decades after he had died (1490), the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent defeated the Hungarian king in the Battle of Mohács (1526).
The Kingdom was cut up into three parts: the western and northern areas remained Hungary, the southern region fell under Ottoman rule, and the eastern part became an Ottoman vassal as the Principality of Transylvania.
Between 1526 and 1867
The Kingdom of Hungary became a Habsburg dependency, because an agreement made in Vienna in 1515 said that the Habsburg family would take over the territory of the Jagellion family in Bohemia and Hungary if the line of kings should die out.
In 1686, the Ottomans were forced to leave, and the country was reunified.
Many nationalities were living in the country at this time.
Along with Hungarians, there were also the ancestors of modern Slovaks, Serbs, Danube Swabians and Romanians.
In 1703, Francis II Rákóczi, a Hungarian nobleman organized a revolution against the Habsburgs, as the Hungarians were not satisfied with them.
However, his revolution failed in 1711, and he had to go into exile.
The next most important event is the "Hungarian Revolution of 1848", when the inhabitants of the country mutinied again.
Fighting ended in 1849, with Habsburg success.
The leaders of the revolution were executed.
Austria-Hungary, 1867-1918
The country tried to find the way towards consolidation: in 1867, the two most important Habsburg territories, Austria and Hungary signed a treaty, and they established the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
The new situation was feasible for both sides: the agreement brought massive economic growth.
Between 1918 and 1946
In 1918 after the defeat in World War I, the Kingdom was abolished, and a republic was established, as people had enough of war.
This republic was short-lived, and soon the Communists seized power (1919).
Their rule was irresponsible and many people, including the peasants and the intelligentsia, were tortured.
The communists had to abandon the country as Romanian troops invaded.
In late 1919, the Hungarian forces, led by Admiral Miklós Horthy, finally occupied the capital, Budapest.
In response to the communist terror, they launched the "White Terror", in which they persecuted the communists and their supporters.
The kingdom was re-established but there was no king.
Horthy was elected as the regent of the country, as the assembly decided not to recall the Habsburgs.
Hungary lost the war.
According to the Treaty of Trianon (1920), Hungary lost two thirds of its territory.
In the majority of these territories, non-Hungarians were the majority; however, many Hungarians also found themselves outside their country, in the nation state of Romanians or Slovaks.
Thus, the main political goal of the governments under Horthy was to revise this treaty, and at least, to regain the Hungarian-inhabited lands.
Communist Hungary, 1946-1989
After the fall of Nazi Germany, Soviet troops occupied all of the country.
So Hungary gradually became a communist satellite state of the Soviet Union.
After 1948, Communist leader Mátyás Rákosi established Stalinist rule in the country.
He forced collectivization and a planned economy.
This led to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
Hungary withdrew from the Warsaw Pact.
But the Soviets sent in over 150,000 troops and 2,500 tanks.
Nearly a quarter of a million people left the country during the brief time that the borders were open in 1956.
János Kádár became leader of the communist party.
In 1991 Soviet military presence in Hungary ended, and the transition to a market economy began.
Republic of Hungary, 1989 onwards
Today, Hungary is a democratic republic.
The current president of the country is János Áder, and the prime minister is Viktor Orbán.
Orbán was Prime Minister from 1998 to 2002, and was elected again in 2010.
Hungarians make up the largest part of the population but there are also several other ethnic communities.
The largest of these are the Roma and Danube Swabians German.
Hungarian is the most widely used language in Hungary.
Ethnic communities often use their own languages as well.
The majority of Hungarians are religious, mainly Roman Catholic and Calvinist (in Hungarian 'református' - 'reformed').
There are Jews, often in intellectual and artistic occupations, and some Muslims.
Orthodox Christianity is practised by ethnic minorities from eastern Europe.
Danube Swabians
Hungary's highest point is Kékestető (1014 m; in the northeastern part of Hungary).
The River Danube, one of Europe's largest rivers, divides Hungary into a western and an eastern part.
The region west of the Danube is called Transdanubia (Dunántúl).
Transdanubia has a hilly landscape and many small villages and towns.
The large flat area in the eastern part is the Great Plains (Alföld).
Along the Slovakian border there are mountains.
Lake Balaton, Central Europe's largest lake can be found in Hungary.
This small country has several thermal spas too.
Lake Hévíz is one of the world's largest thermal lakes.
Hungary, however is a landlocked country (it has no coastline).
Its biggest cities are Budapest, Debrecen, Miskolc, Szeged, Pécs, Győr, Nyíregyháza and Szolnok.
Szolnok is found at the juncture of the Tisza River and the Zagyva River (stream).
STELLA Hungarian – free online course Hungarian for beginners (requires Macromedia Flash).
The Netherlands is a country that is part (of a constituent country) of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Most of it is in Western Europe, but there are also some parts in the Caribbean.
More than 17 million people live there.
To the north and west of the European part of the Netherlands is the North Sea, and to the east is Germany, and to the south is Belgium.
The Netherlands is one of the countries that started the European Union.
People who live in the Netherlands are called "Dutch".
The language of the Netherlands is also called Dutch.
The official capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam.
However, the government is in The Hague.
"The Netherlands" means "the low lands".
The land only rises, on average, 1 meter above sea level.
One third of the land is below sea level.
The Netherlands is also - incorrectly - referred to as Holland.
Holland was a very rich area (two provinces) in the western part of the Netherlands, thus causing people to be mistaken.
Some people who do not live in the western part of the Netherlands do not like it when people call the country Holland.
The name "Holland" originates from the old Dutch words "Holt land" which means "wood lands".
At the end of the Middle Ages the dukes of Burgundy, a country that is now part of France, united seventeen areas.
Those areas were called the Netherlands.
When the daughter of a duke married Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1477, the Netherlands became part of Spain.
In the 16th century many Dutch people became Protestant.
The king of Spain did not like it, he wanted all Dutch to be Roman Catholic.
Of course the Dutch people did not like this, and after violent excesses by the Spanish they started a war against Spain in 1568, also for reasons of taxation.
The war lasted until 1648, therefore it is called the Eighty Years' War.
An important leader of the Dutch in this war was Willem van Oranje (William of Orange) also called William the Silent.
In 1648 the Netherlands and Spain signed peace.
The Dutch people were allowed to keep all the areas they conquered.
The part of the Netherlands that was not conquered by the Dutch stayed part of Spain.
Later this part became the country Belgium.
When the Netherlands became independent, it was a very special country.
That time almost all countries in Europe were ruled by a king, but the Netherlands was a republic.
The Netherlands was made up of seven provinces, that were ruled by the big cities.
The cities were ruled by the municipality which consisted of rich civilians.
Together those provinces were ruled by a stadtholder, a very powerful man, but compared to the kings of other European countries he had much less power.
In the 17th century the Netherlands was the richest and one of the most powerful countries in the world.
Therefore, the Dutch call the 17th century the Golden Age.
Their Dutch Empire had colonies around the world.
One important colony was the East Indies, which is now called Indonesia.
They also had colonies in the Caribbean, like the other European empires.
They also started New Netherland, which is now called New York.
The Netherlands often fought wars against other European countries, especially the Anglo-Dutch Wars against England.
Michiel de Ruyter, a Dutch admiral, became a Dutch hero when he defeated the English navy close to London.
In the 18th century the Netherlands became poorer.
Many people blamed this on the government leaders, the stadtholders.
Many thought they had too much power and wanted them to get away.
In 1789 the French people deposed (got rid of) their king.
French armies attacked other countries to depose their leaders too.
In 1795 they attacked the Netherlands.
Stadtholder William V had to flee to England.
The Netherlands were renamed to Batavian Republic and became a democracy.
But the French were not content (satisfied) with the Dutch ruler, so in 1806 the French emperor Napoleon made his brother Louis Bonaparte king of the Netherlands.
Louis became popular in the Netherlands, but the emperor was again not content with him, so in 1810 the Netherlands became a part of France.
In 1815 Napoleon was defeated, and the Netherlands became independent again.
The rulers of European countries thought it was a good idea to make the Netherlands stronger, to make them able to resist another French invasion.
Therefore, Belgium and Luxembourg were added to the Netherlands.
William I, the son of stadtholder William V, became king.
Some Belgians disliked their Dutch king.
In 1830 they revolted.
William sent an army.
He was much more powerful than the Belgians but after ten days the French sent an army to support them.
In 1831 the Belgians chose their own king and Belgium became an independent country.
Some people again thought the Dutch king had too much power.
They wanted to give him less power and vote for the government themselves.
In 1848 there were violent revolts against the kings of many European countries.
The Dutch king was afraid the same would happen in the Netherlands.
Therefore, he allowed Johan Rudolf Thorbecke to write a constitution.
From then on people were allowed to vote.
At first only rich men were allowed to vote.
From 1919 on all adults were allowed to vote.
In World War I, the Netherlands did not fight and were not invaded.
The Dutch wanted to stay neutral in World War II as well, but in 1940 the country was invaded and occupied by Germany.
Like in other countries they had occupied, the German authorities started to kill Jews.
Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who lived in the Netherlands.
Her family hid from the Nazis and she wrote a diary.
She died in a Nazi concentration camp and her diary became famous.
In 1944 the American, Canadian, Polish and British armies liberated the south of the Netherlands from Nazi Occupation.
They wanted to cross the Rhine river in Operation Market Garden to liberate the rest of the country, but they were defeated.
It took until May 1945 before the entire country was liberated.
During the five years of Nazi occupation, 250,000 people had died in the Netherlands.
Shortly after the war, Indonesia declared its independence.
The Dutch sent soldiers to fight in Indonesia.
After other countries, including the United States, told the Dutch to leave Indonesia, they finally did so in 1949.
After the war the Netherlands became one of the richest countries in the world.
In 2004 the United Nations said that the Netherlands was the 5th best country to live in.
The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy.
That means the country has a king, but the real power is in the hands of a parliament, chosen by the Dutch people.
All Dutch people at least 18 years old or older are allowed to vote.
The Dutch parliament consists of two chambers: the Second Chamber (Dutch: Tweede Kamer, this is the House of Representatives, elected every four years), and the First Chamber (Dutch: Eerste Kamer, this is the Senate, elected by provincial politicians every four years).
After the Second Chamber elections, parties that have had a majority of the votes create a cabinet.
The cabinet consists of a prime minister and several other ministers and deputy ministers.
Current government is the liberal-Christian democratic Fourth Rutte cabinet, consisting of VVD, D66, CDA, and CU politicians.
Prime Minister is Mark Rutte (VVD).
The latest general elections were held on March 17, 2021.
Winners were liberal parties like VVD (also the biggest party), D66 (second biggest party) and Volt, and populist parties like FVD and JA21.
Losers were left parties like SP and GL, Christian democratic party CDA, populist party PVV, and senior citizen party 50+.
The Netherlands is known for tolerance in politics.
The Netherlands is the only country where soft drugs are not entirely considered illegal.
Furthermore, the Netherlands is one of the few countries that allow same-sex marriages, euthanasia and prostitution to a certain extent.
More information: Politics of the Netherlands.
These provinces are all located in the part of the Netherlands that is in Europe.
The country also includes three special municipalities in the Caribbean: Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius.
They are not part of any province, but together are known as the Caribbean Netherlands.
The Netherlands (both the European part and the Caribbean Netherlands), together with Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, also in the Caribbean, form a sovereign state called the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
When the Kingdom was formed in 1954, the territories in the Caribbean became part of the Netherlands Antilles.
At that time it also included Suriname in South America, which became an independent country in 1975.
Aruba left the Antilles in 1986, and Curaçao and Sint Maarten did the same in 2010.
The rest of the islands then became the Caribbean Netherlands which is part of the Netherlands proper.
The Netherlands has 344 municipalities (2022) and also three special municipalities in the so-called Caribbean Netherlands.
Cities aren't actually a subdivision of the Netherlands.
Cities are also municipalities or they make part of municipalities.
This is a list of the cities/municipalities with over 100,000 people.
In fact a large part of the Netherlands was created by the sand that came from the many rivers flowing through it.
Notable Dutch rivers are the Rhine, the Maas, the IJssel and the Scelt.
A large part of the Netherlands is below sea level.
This is because the Dutch have made many lakes and parts of the sea dry, creating polders.
Therefore, there is a saying "God created the earth, but the Dutch created the Netherlands."
This makes the Netherlands very flat.
In the very south-east of the Netherlands, in Limburg, there are some hills.
Therefore, this region is a tourist-attraction for many Dutch people.
The highest point in the European portion of the Netherlands, the Vaalserberg, is 323 metres above sea level.
The highest point in both the Netherlands proper and the Kingdom of the Netherlands is Mount Scenery, on the Caribbean island of Saba, at 887 metres.
The Netherlands is a small flat country; about 300 kilometers from north to south, and about 170 kilometers from east to west.
The Netherlands is a small country, but many people live there.
It is one of the most densely populated countries of the world.
Most people in the Netherlands speak Dutch.
In Friesland, about 200,000 people speak Frisian.
Frisian is the language with the most similarities to English.
Some Dutch people speak dialects.
The Saxon dialects spoken in the northeastern part of the Netherlands are somewhat similar to Low German.
According to a survey done in 2006, 25% of the Dutch people are Christian and 3% believe in another organised religion, like Judaism, Islam or Hinduism.
Twenty-six percent are 'unbounded spiritual' (have their own beliefs and are not tied to a religion).
The other 44% are not religious.
Nederlandse Spoorwegen () or NS is the main passenger railway operator in the Netherlands.
The rail infrastructure is maintained by network manager ProRail, which was split from NS in 2003.
Freight services, formerly operated by NS Cargo, merged with the DB Schenker group in 2000.
NS runs 4,800 scheduled trains daily.
In addition, NS provides international rail services from the Netherlands to other European destinations and carries out concessions on a number of foreign rail markets through its subsidiary Abellio such as Abellio Greater Anglia, Merseyrail and ScotRail.
Arriva is another passenger railway operator in the Netherlands.
It is a subsidiary of the German company Deutsche Bahn.
Their local headquarters is based at Heerenveen.
They have been active since 1998.
Ukraine (, ) is a country in Eastern Europe.
Russia is to the north-east of Ukraine, Belarus is to the north-west, Poland and Slovakia are to the west, Hungary, Romania, Moldova and self-proclaimed Transnistria are to the south-west and the Black Sea is to the south.
The capital of Ukraine is Kyiv ().
It was a part of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991.
During February 2022 Ukraine was invaded by Russia, as part of Russia's invasion into Ukraine.
The official language of Ukraine is Ukrainian (, [ukrajin’s’ka mova]).
In the 2001 census, about 29% of people in Ukraine said that they consider Russian to be their main language.
These two East Slavic languages are similar in some ways but different in other ways.
Division of Ukraine
The largest cities of Ukraine
Kyiv (from the late 9th century was the capital of Kyivan Rus; the capital of Ukraine since the restoration of the independent Ukrainian state in 1919)
Kharkiv (was the capital of Ukraine in 1919—1934)
Odesa
The name "Ukraine" (u-krayina) has usually been interpreted as "edge" or "borderland", but this an alternative interpretation as "territory" has been proposed.
Language specialists are still searching for evidence of the history of the meaning of the word.
It was first used in reference to a core part of the territory of Kyivan Rus in the 12th century.
In English, the historical region was usually known as "the Ukraine".
Since independence in 1991, adding "the" is no longer proper style for referring to the country.
Many different tribes lived on the territory of modern Ukraine since pre-historical times.
Most historians believe that the Great Steppe at the North of the Black Sea was a homeland of all Indo-European and Indo-Iranian languages.
Some believe it was also the birthplace of the whole European population.
Wends, Goths, Huns, Sclaveni, Avars, and other tribes and tribal groups fought among themselves, joined unions, terminated, and assimilated each other.
By the middle of the 4th century AD, Antes joined other tribes and established a state under their rule.
Their state fell under the pressure of  Avars in 602 AD and their name was longer mentioned.
Since the 7th century over 10 tribal groups joined under the name "Slavs" and made their own state named Rus.
The chronicles mention three centers that formed this state: Kuyavia (Kyiv land with Kyiv itself), Slavia (Novgorod land), and Artania (exact location unknown).
Kyivan Rus
Kyivan Rus, is the medieval state of Eastern Slavs.
Established by the Slavic with the help of the Varangian squads whose force was used to integrate separate tribes and their lands into one powerful state.
Varangian princes, who ruled Rus from its first years were gradually assimilated by natives, but the dynasty started by semy-legendary Ririk survived and continued to govern their separate principalities even after the collapse of Rus.
At an early stage of its existence Rus destroyed such powerful states as the Khazar Khaganate and Old Great Bulgaria.
Rus princes successfully fought against the Byzantine Empire, whose emperors had to pay tribute to them.
Rus' finally disintegrated into separate principalities.
In the reign of Volodymyr the Great (980-1015) the Kyivan State almost finished its expansion.
It occupied the territory from Peipus, Ladoga and Onega lakes in the north to the River Don, Ros, Sula, Southern Bug in the south, from the Dniester, the Carpathians, the Neman, Western Dvina River in the west to the Volga and the Oka River in the east, its area became about 800,000 km2.
Although some of his predecessors already accepted Christianity for themselves, Vladimir decided to convert the entire population of the state to the new religion.
Partially with the help of Byzantine missionaries preachers, partly by the brutal violence, he finally made all Kyiv population to be baptized.
For this action, the Ukrainian, and later the Russian Orthodox Churches canonized him under the name of Vladimir the Baptist.
During the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, (1019–1054), Rus reached the zenith of its cultural development and military power.
Rus raised the prestige of Eastern Slavs in Europe, improved the international significance of Kyiv.
Rus influenced the political relations in all of Europe, Western Asia, and the Middle East.
Kyivan princes supported the political, economic, dynastic relations with France, Sweden, England, Poland, Hungary, Norway, Byzantium.
The Rus state also ruled non-Slavic people (Finno-Ugric population of the North, Turkic of the East and South, Balts of the West, etc.).
Those people gradually assimilated with the Slavs, and with each other, establishing a framework for the future emergence of three new Eastern-Slavic peoples.
After the death of Mstyslav Volodymyrovych (1132), Rus lost its political unity and finally was divided into 15 principalities and lands.
Among them, Kyiv, Chernygiv, Volodymyr-Suzdal, Novgorod, Smolensk, Polotsk, and Halycian lands and principalities were most large and powerful.
The succession among the princes of Kyivan State was different: in some regions lands passed from father to son, in others from the older to the younger brother, etc.
The political relationship between individual fiefdoms and private lands was weakened, and the better development of certain lands led to the formation of local separatism;
In some regions the local aristocracy required a strong prince to rule, in order to protect their rights.
On the other hand,  while the feudal princes and boyars real power increased, and the power of the Grand Prince decreased, more and more nobles felt priority of their local interests above national ones;
There was not created their own dynasty  in the Kyiv principality, because all the princely families struggled with each other for possession of Kyiv ;
Nomads dramatically intensified their expansion to Kyivan lands.
While Kyiv was the center of all social, economic, political, cultural, and ideological life in the country for a long time before, other centers have competed with it since the mid-12th century.
There were old powers (Novgorod, Smolensk, Polotsk), as well as new ones...
Numerous princely feuds, large and small wars between different lords, were tearing Rus.
However, the ancient Ukrainian state did not fall apart.
It only changed the form of its government: The personal monarchy was replaced by the federal one, Rus came to be co-ruled by the group of the most influential and powerful princes.
Historians call this way of governing "the collective suzerainty."
The Principality of Kyiv remained a national center and the residence of bishops.
In 1206 the new powerful military-feudal Mongolian state headed by Genghis Khan started the war of conquest against his neighbors.
In 1223 in the battle near the Kalka River, 25,000 Tatar-Mongols won a crushing victory over the squads of Southern Rus Princes, who were unable to come together even in the face of grave danger.
Under the leadership of Batu, Genghis Khan's grandson, from 1237-1238, they conquered Riazan, Volodymir, Suzdal, and Yaroslavl lands.
In 1240, they attacked Kyiv.
The city was plundered and destroyed.
According to the legend, the enemy saved governor Dimitri's life for his personal courage in the battle.
Then Kamenetz, Iziaslav, Volodymyr, and Halych lost against invaders.
Batu was able to attach most of Rus to his empire, the Golden Horde, which covered the whole territory from the Urals to the Black Sea,
After the fall of Kyivan State, the political, economic, and cultural center of Ukrainian lands was transferred to the Halycian-Volyn Land.
In 1245 Prince Danylo of Halych had to admit his dependence on the Golden Horde.
Hoping to get help from Catholic Europe in his struggle for independence, he also made a secret alliance with Poland, Hungary, Masovia, and the Teutonic Knights.
In 1253 he received the crown from Pope Innocent IV and became a King of Rus.
In 1259, due to the lack of military aid from the West, the king was forced to re-recognize the supremacy of the Horde.
His successor, Lev I had to take part in the Tartar campaigns against Poland and Lithuania.
In 1308 the government moved to Danylo's grandchildren - Andrew and Lev II, who started the new struggle against the Golden Horde allied with the Teutonic knights and princes of Mazowia.
However, after their death the last monarch Yuri II again had to claim himself as the Golden Horde vassal.
He was murdered in 1340 and his death gave the rise to Poland and Lithuania (the neighbors who had a  dynastic right for the throne of Rus) to start a war for the Halycian-Volyn heritage.
In 1392 Galicia, with Belz and Chelm Lands were finally incorporated to the Kingdom of Poland and Volhynia to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
At the end of the 14th century, Ukrainian territories were divided between different states.
Lithuania seized Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Volyn Lands.
Poland ruled in Halycian and Podolian.
Southern Ukraine was under the rule of the Crimean Khanate (formed in 1447) and the Eastern under the power of Muscovy.
In 1569 Lithuania and Poland merged to the united state called Commonwealth (Polish: Rzeczpospolita) to deal with neighbors, as a result, the central Ukrainian lands of Lithuania came under Polish control.
Rus, or The Kyivan State, , ; often misspelled as "Kievan State" or even "Kievan Rus", using Russian spelling of its capital Kyiv ( [ˈkiɛf]).
As for the origin and definition of the name "Rus", there is no consensus among researchers.
Several versions exist:
Normans (Vikings), tribes who called themselves Ruses, and founded a state among Slavs, which naturally was called 'Rus Land'.
This theory originated in the 17th century and was called the 'Norman theory'.
Its authors are German historians G. Bayer and G. Miller, their followers and associates are called 'Normanists';
Ruses were a Slavic tribe that lived in the middle reaches of the Dnieper;
Rusa - the Proto-Slavic language word which means 'river';
Ukrainian historians generally adhere to anti-Norman opinion, while not denying the contribution Varangians in the process of formation of the Rus state system.
Russ, or The Rus Land in their opinion means:
The name of the territory where Kyiv, Chernigov and Pereiaslav are located (Polans, Severians, Drevlians tribes);
The name of the tribes who lived on the banks of the rivers Ros, Rosava, Rostavytsia, Roska, etc.
The name of the Kyivan state itself since the 9th century.
Cossackian State
At the end of the 15th century, the groups of warriors who called themselves Cossacks appeared on the territory between the borders of Lithuania, Muscovy, and the Crimea, in the "wild steppes" of Zaporizhia.
From the 16th century, the Sich became their military centre.
Zaporizhian Cossacks participated in the wars on the side of the Commonwealth: the Livonian War (1558-1583), the Polish-Muscovite War (1605-1618), Khotyn war (1620-1621), and Smolensk war (1632-1634).
Cossacks also organized their own campaigns in Moldavia, Muscovy, and Crimea, on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria and in Asia Minor for looting.
They willingly became mercenaries, particularly during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648).
Due to the legal and social oppression of the nobility Cossacks repeatedly revolted.
The largest rebellions were raised under the guidance of Kosynskiy (1591-1593), Nalyvaiko (1594-1596), Zhmaylo (1625), Fedorovych (1630), Sulima (1635), Pavlyuk (1637), and Ostryanin (1638).
Cossacks, again and again, defended the rights of the Ukrainian population in the Commonwealth who experienced religious and national oppression regularly.
In 1917 an independent Ukrainian People's Republic was established.
The Red Army captured it and made it into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Soviet Russia in the 1920s encouraged the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture.
In the 1930s this policy changed to making the Ukrainians into Russians.
There were mass repressions of Ukrainian poets, historians, and linguists.
As in other parts of the Soviet Union millions of people starved to death in 1932 and 1933.
During the first years of World War II, Ukrainian nationalists collaborated with Nazis against Soviet Union hoping to reestablish Ukrainian independence or to get autonomy under the authority of Germany.
Nationalists took part in mass murders of Jews, Roma people, and other victims of the Nazi regime.
However, hopes of independence were ruined and Ukrainian nationalists created Ukrainian Insurgent Army which fought against Nazi Germany but against the Soviet Union (mainly Soviet partisans) for the most part.
They failed to get independence.
Most Ukrainians fought on the side of the Soviet Union and participated in the liberation of Ukraine from Nazi Germany.
In 1986, the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded as a result of an improper test.
The accident contaminated large portions of northern Ukraine and southern Belarus with uranium, plutonium, and radioactive isotopes.
It was one of only two INES level 7 accidents (the worst level) in the history of nuclear power, the other being the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.
Under the second Soviet occupation repressions against Ukrainian nationalists continued and lasted till the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
In the Soviet epoch, Ukraine was renamed to so-called a "Soviet Socialist Republic" incorporated into Soviet Union.
Modern independence
The political demonstrations in autumn-winter 2004 after the Presidential elections gathered millions of people all over the country.
On November 26, 2004, Victor Yuschenko lost the Ukrainian presidential election (Viktor Yanukovych was declared the winner).
However, Yuschenko and his followers argued that the election had been corrupted.
They argued that the election results had been falsified by the Ukrainian government, in support of the opposing candidate Victor Yanukovych.
They organized political demonstrations in autumn-winter 2004 that gathered millions of people all over the country.
They called the demonstrations The Orange Revolution ().
Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was an important ally of Victor Yuschenko during the demonstrations.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine ordered the second round of elections, which Yuschenko won.
In March 2014, Russia occupied Crimea, made a pseudo-referendum which proclaimed Crimea independence and annexed it.
Most countries did not recognize the referendum.
The EU, OSCE, USA and Ukraine demanded that Crimea be returned.
Several countries sought to use economic sanctions to punish Russia's leaders for this.
In April 2014 Ukraine military attacked people in Donbas in eastern Ukraine, which has many Russian-speaking people.
This began a war to control Donbas.
Russian invasion
On 24 February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the invasion and attack on Ukraine.
Presidents of Ukraine
Mykhaylo Hrushevsky (1917 — 1922)
Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk (1991—1994)
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma (1994—2005)
Victor Yushchenko (2005—2010)
Victor Yanukovych (2010—2014)
Oleksandr Turchynov (2014)
Petro Poroshenko (2014–2019)
Volodymyr Zelensky (acting, since 2019)
Ukrainian diaspora in the United Kingdom
1991 establishments in Europe
Liechtenstein is a country in Western Europe.
It is the sixth smallest country in the world and, with Uzbekistan, one of only two doubly landlocked countries.
This means that it is landlocked by a landlocked country.
Liechtenstein is between Austria and Switzerland.
The capital of Liechtenstein is Vaduz, a very small town of 5,000 people.
Liechtenstein is famous for its many private banks.
1866 establishments in Europe
Portugal is a country in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe and part of the Mediterranean.
It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east.
It has been a member of the European Union since 1986.
Portugal was under a dictatorship between 1926 and 1974 called Estado Novo.
The dictatorship of Estado Novo was ended by a peaceful revolution called Carnation Revolution.
The Portuguese economy has since prospered but was hit hard by the 2007-2008 recession.
Portugal has a football team and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 and hosted the event in 2018.
It once had an empire called the Portuguese Empire, and was a powerful maritime nation from 1500s–1800s, the 10th-largest empire with a maximum land area of 10.4 million km² which included Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, East Timore, São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and even Macau in China (until 2002).
Portugal is a popular holiday destination but is sometimes overlooked in favour of larger countries like France, Spain and Italy.
The Algarve region in the south and capital Lisbon are the most popular.
Three groups of islands in the Atlantic Ocean are also part of Portugal: the Azores (Açores), Madeira and the Savage Isles (Ilhas Selvagens).
The Savage Isles are a small group of uninhabited islands, administered by Madeira.
Portugal became its own kingdom in 1139 but was not officially recognized until 1143.
Portugal has had links with England since the 1100s via a treaty.
The border with Spain has been almost the same since the 13th century.
Fishing and trade with other countries are important here.
Portugal was important in the world exploration for two reasons.
Henry the Navigator, a prince from Portugal, was very interested in exploration.
Inventions in navigation led to a bigger knowledge of geography.
This world exploration began the Portuguese Empire.
Portugal was a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries.
It tried to colonize Canada in the 16th century.
However, it lost a lot of money soon after this.
Portugal and Spain were in the Iberian Union from 1580 to 1640.
The city of Lisbon was destroyed in an earthquake in 1755.
The country was occupied during the Napoleonic Wars.
It lost its largest colony, Brazil, in 1822.
In 1910, Kingdom of Portugal ended and Portugal became a Republic.
Eight years after Portugal’s involvement in World War One, a military group took control of the country from the Portuguese First Republic called the 28 May coup d’état.
This began a time of rule by authoritarian governments called Ditadura Nacíonal that later became known as Estado Novo.
During World War II Portugal remained neutral but friendly to Britain and Spain.
In 1974 a peaceful left-wing army coup, called the Carnation Revolution had taken place that overthrown the military dictatorship and ended the Portuguese Colonial War.
Political prisoners and oppositions of António de Oliveira Salazar were freed.
The coup was an important part of Portugal’s transition to democracy and changed the way the country was ran.
The next year, Portugal allowed its colonies in Africa to be on their own sovereignty: Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe.
Portugal went into the European Union in 1986.
Another Asian colony, Macau, became part of China
Luís de Camões wrote the national poem of Portugal.
It is called Os Lusíadas and was written in 1572.
1974 establishments in Europe
Slovakia (Slovak: Slovensko) (Official name The Slovak Republic, Slovenská republika) is a country with no access to the ocean in Central Europe.
It is bordered by Austria in the southwest, Hungary in the south, Ukraine in the east, Poland in the north and Czech Republic in the northwest.
Its capital city is Bratislava, the only capital of the world that borders with other two countries.
Other main cities are Košice, Prešov, Žilina, Banská Bystrica, Trenčín, Nitra and Trnava.
Slovakia has been a member of the European Union since 2004 and its official currency is the Euro.
The Celts started to settle since 450 BC.
The coins named Biatec represent the first use of writing in Slovakia.
At the turn of millenniums, many different Germanic tribes like Quadi and Marcomanni started to overtake the area.
The Roman Empire established many outposts along the Danube river.
They even fought Germanic tribes, with the most northern presence being in Trenčín (Laugaritio), during the Marcomannic Wars.
Great Moravia was at first in constant quarrels with the Eastern Francia, and at the beginning of the 10th century, with the Magyars who arrived from Asia.
The Magyars conquered Great Moravia in 906, and established the Hungarian Principality, resulting later in the creation of the Kingdom of Hungary in year 1000.
Slovaks continued to live in the north, while most Hungarians were in the south.
A huge population loss resulted from the Mongol invasions in 1241.
The Hungarian kings started to invite other settlers, for example Germans in the 13th century, and many others started to arrive in the kingdom, Vlachs from Romania in the 14th century and Jews.
In the 16th century the Ottoman Empire occupied the southern part of the kingdom including the two most important towns, Buda (capital) and Székesfehérvár (coronation capital).
Many Hungarian nobles moved to Slovakia and the king moved to Bratislava (Pressburg, Pozsony at that time).
The wars against the Ottomans and an uprising against the Habsburgs caused much destruction.
After the Ottomans started to retreat back from Hungary, Bratislava continued to be capital until 1848, when it was moved back to Budapest.
The creation of a dual monarchy, Austria-Hungary, enabled the Hungarian government to initiate a policy of suppressing the teaching of languages other than the Hungarian language in state schools.
The official use of other languages than Hungarian was also discouraged.
During this time, a nationalist movement arose among Slovakians.
A part of this movement joined forces with a part of the Czech nationalist movement.
During World War I, this movement convinced the future victorious powers to recognise a new state of Czechoslovakia after the war.
The territory of today's Slovakia was a part of Czechoslovakia from 1918 to 1938 and again from 1945 until 1989.
Czechoslovakia was one of the states which came into existence after the breakup of Austria-Hungary at end of World War I in 1918.
Czechoslovakia split up in 1939, when Slovakia, under Hitler's influence and pressure, declared independence and became a client state.
The state existed during World War II.
It was a totalitarian one-party state and ally of Nazi Germany.
Under the regime, the state fought in the war on the side of Nazi Germany and deported about 70,000 of its Jewish citizens to Nazi extermination camps as part of the Holocaust.
The territory of Czechoslovakia was liberated by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II in 1945.
After the liberation, Czechoslovakia was reunified and briefly existed as a democratic country.
The Communist Party successfully performed a state coup in 1948 and ruled Czechoslovakia as a totalitarian one-party state which was a satellite of the Soviet Union.
In 1989, the one-party rule of the Communist Party was overthrown during the Velvet Revolution, which was a series of large and peaceful demonstrations by the citizens in the streets.
Czechoslovakia again became a democratic country.
However, it split up into two independent countries (Slovakia and Czech Republic) on January 1, 1993 in what became known as the Velvet Divorce.
Slovakia has been a member of the European Union since May 1, 2004.
Slovakia is landlocked.
It is noted primarily for its mountainous nature, with the Carpathian Mountains being in the north and various lowlands mostly in the south.
The highest mountain range are the Tatra mountains with the highest peak, the Gerlachov Peak (Slovak: Gerlachovský štít; 2,654 m).
Major Slovak rivers besides the Danube are the Váh and Hron.
At low altitudes, Slovakia's climate is humid continental (Dfb in the Koeppen climate classification, with warm summers and cloudy, cold and humid winters.
At high altitudes it is subarctic and alpine.
About 5.5 million people live in Slovakia.
Most people are Slovak (86%), but in southern regions of Slovakia live Hungarians (10%), with some municipalities even being with the Hungarian majority (for example, Komárno or Dunajská Streda), Ruthenian or Ukrainian are spoken in the northeast.
A minority Roma population speak versions of the Romany language and are scattered mainly in the east.
The Slovak constitution guarantees a freedom of religion.
The majority of Slovaks are Roman Catholics (69%), the next are the atheists (13%).
Other religions include Lutheranism, Greek Orthodox and Calvinism.
There are about 5,000 Muslims in Slovakia and 2,000 Jews.
Rail: Slovakia has 3,662 km of rails, of which 3,512 km are in standard gauge.
Rail network currently undergoes a modernisation.
Road: Slovakia has 42,993 km of roads, of which 316 km are motorways (2003).
The motorway network is currently under construction.
Air: Slovakia has 6 international airports, with the most important ones being in Bratislava and Košice, others are near Sliač, Poprad, Žilina and Piešťany.
Marine: Slovakia has no direct access to the sea.
The most important waterway is the Danube, with the ports in Bratislava and Komárno.
The Danube and the Rhine-Main-Danube canal connects Slovakia to the North Sea and the Black Sea.
Bratislava Region (Bratislavský kraj) (capital Bratislava)
Trnava Region (Trnavský kraj) (capital Trnava)
Trenčín Region (Trenčiansky kraj) (capital Trenčín)
Nitra Region (Nitriansky kraj) (capital Nitra)
Žilina Region (Žilinský kraj) (capital Žilina)
Banská Bystrica Region (Banskobystrický kraj) (capital Banská Bystrica)
Prešov Region (Prešovský kraj) (capital Prešov)
Košice Region (Košický kraj) (capital Košice)
These are further divided into many districts.
There are currently 79 districts of Slovakia.
The Slovak Republic Government Office
1993 establishments in Europe
Landlocked countries
States and territories established in the 1990s
Slovenia is a country in Southern Europe.
The capital and largest city of Slovenia is Ljubljana.
Its major language is Slovenian.
Its current population is about 2.0 million.
Slovenia's leading exports are manufactured goods and aluminium.
It is a parliamentary republic It is a member of the European Union and NATO.
The economy of Slovenia is small, open, and export-oriented.
A very long time ago, Illyrian and Celtics tribes lived in Slovenia.
In the 1st century BC, Slovenia was ruled by the Romans.
In the sixth century AD, Slavs lived there.
Slovenia was ruled by Austria from 1335 until 1918.
In 1918 it became a part of Yugoslavia.
During World War II, Italy, Hungary and Germany took parts of the country but in 1945 it became part of Yugoslavia again.
Currently it is considered the most advanced country from what is called "Ex-Yugoslavia."
It is also a member of the European Union.
France Prešeren (1800-1849) is a very famous poet in his country.
Melania Trump, Former First Lady of the United States
Slovenia.si.
Your gateway to information on Slovenia.
Slovenia Official Tourist Guide
First Division: 1909, 1916, 1957, 1979, 1982
Wood Cup: 1943, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1988
Second Division: 1902, 1930, 1944 (shared), 1983, 1985, 1986
Burton Cup: 1976
Oldham Cricket Club official website
Cricket clubs
Oldham, Greater Manchester
The denarius was a small silver coin used by the Roman Empire and Roman Republic.
The denarius weighed about 3 to 4.5 grams.
It was the main coin of Ancient Rome.
It became the most common coin produced for circulation but was slowly debased in weight and silver content.
The coin was then sometimes made of copper and painted silver in color.
During the Empire the front side usually had a picture of the emperor on it.
The denarius was introduced in 211 BC, and was last made in 275 AD.
By then it was made of bronze.
Former currencies
Former currencies of Europe
3rd-century BC establishments
3rd-century disestablishments
A jackknife is a type of knife.
It has a blade that folds into the handle.
It is also a dive where the body is bent and then straightened before entering the water and when a person backs up in their vehicle with a trailer attached and it accidentally folds.
A luffa (also spelled loofah or loofa) is a long thin dried inner part of the fruit of a tropical plant related to the cucumber .
It is often used as a sponge for washing the body.
Before it gets ripe, it is also a good vegetable.
It also comes from dried corn on the cob stems.
Tropical fruit
Kimono  are traditional Japanese style clothes. "
Kimono" meant "something you wear" originally.
About a century ago, most people in Japan wore the kimono every day.
Now, people wear other clothing in Japan most of the time.
However, they still wear the kimono for special occasions, such as formal ceremonies, but also for fun and fashion.
A kimono is a robe shaped like a "T".
Normal kimonos reach to the ankles, and have long sleeves.
The sleeves of some kimono for women also reach to the ankles, but most kimono sleeves reach to the hips.
Japanese people have been wearing garments that looked like the kimono for hundreds of years.
It was during the Heian period that many Japanese people started using the kimono and wore some clothing that were like a kimono.
Originally, it was the Chinese visitors that wore the kimono.
Later, the Japanese decided to use the kimono too.
These clothes had long, triangle-shaped sleeves and were wrapped over the body.
They were worn with a jacket and a skirt or trousers on top.
A few centuries later in the Heian period, these clothes changed to look more like a modern kimono.
The garment looked more like a rectangle, and the sleeves were square instead of triangle-shaped.
Common people wore a piece of clothing called a kosode, which means "short sleeve".
This garment looked like a modern kimono, with a wider body and smaller sleeves.
The overlap at the front of the robe was longer, the collar was wider, and the robe was shorter as well.
Noble people also wore the kosode, but they wore several layers on top of it.
Noble women wore clothing called jūni hitoe, which means "twelve layers", though the number of layered robes varied.
These robes were wider, longer and had larger sleeves than the kosode that the common people wore, and could weigh up to 20kg in total.
Noblemen wore round-necked jackets with wide, long sleeves and hakama trousers.
They would wear this with a small cap, which was usually black in colour.
Over time, wearing a lot of clothes became unfashionable.
The government created laws to stop people from wearing lots of robes at once, and starting with the Muromachi period, women and men began to wear the kosode by itself or with two or three layers, with a small, thin belt called an obi, and for women, red hakama trousers.