Famous leaders biographys

[brgnorway 0]

I found some books on churchill and napoleon in  my search for stuff,there wouldn`t happen to be any norwegian

ones  i should look out for

Norwegian kings had a brief history of making most of northern Europe feel ......... uncomfortable shall we say!

However, being the nice people we are - we usually leave it to the swedes to provide madmen and tyrants.

We gave you Nansen though - in the name of peace:

(the russians love him as he saved millions from starving)

However, William of Normandy (a norwegian) made life hard for the anglo saxons:

[Tamme 0]

I don't know if Mein Kampf is illegal stuff in Finland. My grandfather has all the parts. He hasn't read it either 'cause it's so boring.

[The Frenchman 0]

i'm not interested in reading this lunatic's babbles.

Me too. I rather read the little red book.

[cam0flage 0]

I found some books on churchill and napoleon in my search for stuff,there wouldn`t happen to be any norwegian

ones i should look out for

Norwegian kings had a brief history of making most of northern Europe feel ......... uncomfortable shall we say!

However, being the nice people we are - we usually leave it to the swedes to provide madmen and tyrants.

We gave you Nansen though - in the name of peace:

(the russians love him as he saved millions from starving)

Quote[/b] ]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0349114927.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

However, William of Normandy (a norwegian) made life hard for the anglo saxons:

Quote[/b] ]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0851157637.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Sorry bgnorway, but William of Normandy was from France.

I think you are talking about King Hardrada, who invaded England in 1066, but his forces were almost completely destroyed by Harold of Wessex, who had been chosen as the king of England earlier during the same year.

I don't think Hardrada gave Harold such hard time, but certainly gave more opportunities to William the Conqueror to prepare his invasion.

[-TU--33ker 0]

William of Normandy was a French duke, but his origins are scandinavian.

But tell me more about Nansen saving the Russians... Never heard about this.

[cam0flage 0]

$33ker @ Sep. 14 2003,16:45)]William of Normandy was a French duke, but his origins are scandinavian.

But tell me more about Nansen saving the Russians... Never heard about this.

Depends on how you look at it. The inhabitants of Normandy were Scandinavians who migrated there during the 8th century. I still think that they pretty much blended in the French population after a period of warfare that ensued when they first arrived. They were an independent population, but I think their adoption of the French language shows how great the French influence was.

[brgnorway 0]

Sorry to disappoint you all but William of Normandie also called "Gange Rolv, Gange-Rolf, Gangerolf, Rollo" , was a viking chief from Moere in the north west of Norway.

After raids in Viken in Norway he was banned from Norway - which made him go to France and settle after being offered land from the french king.

By the way - the name Gangerolf is norwegian and means litteraly "walking Rolf" (Rolf is a norwegian name) . He received the nickname due to his enourmous weight - no horse could carry him.

Tu:

Quote[/b] ]But tell me more about Nansen saving the Russians... Never heard about this.

Nansens Humanitarian Efforts

Quote[/b] ]For almost a year in 1917-1918, as the head of a Norwegian delegation in Washington, D. C., Nansen negotiated an agreement for a relaxation of the Allied blockade to permit shipments of essential food. In 1919, he became president of the Norwegian Union for the League of Nations and at the Peace Conference in Paris was an influential lobbyist for the adoption of the League Covenant and for recognition of the rights of small nations. From 1920 until his death he was a delegate to the League from Norway.

In the spring of 1920, the League of Nations asked Nansen to undertake the task of repatriating the prisoners of war, many of them held in Russia. Moving with his customary boldness and ingenuity, and despite restricted funds, Nansen repatriated 450,000 prisoners in the next year and a half.

In June, 1921, the Council of the League, spurred by the International Red Cross and other organizations, instituted its High Commission for Refugees and asked Nansen to administer it. For the stateless refugees under his care Nansen invented the «Nansen Passport», a document of identification which was eventually recognized by fifty-two governments. In the nine-year life of this Office, Nansen ministered to hundreds of thousands of refugees - Russian,Turkish, Armenian, Assyrian, Assyro-Chaldean - utilizing the methods that were to become classic: custodial care, repatriation, rehabilitation, resettlement, emigration, integration.

The Red Cross in 1921 asked Nansen to take on yet a third humanitarian task, that of directing relief for millions of Russians dying in the famine of 1921-1922. Help for Russia, then suspect in the eyes of most of the Western nations, was hard to muster, but Nansen pursued his task with awesome energy. In the end he gathered and distributed enough supplies to save a staggering number of people, the figures quoted ranging from 7,000,000 to 22,000,000.

In 1922 at the request of the Greek government and with the approval of the League of Nations, Nansen tried to solve the problem of the Greek refugees who poured into their native land from their homes in Asia Minor after the Greek army had been defeated by the Turks. Nansen arranged an exchange of about 1,250,000 Greeks living on Turkish soil for about 500,000 Turks living in Greece, with appropriate indemnification and provisions for giving them the opportunity for a new start in life.

Nansen's fifth great humanitarian effort, at the invitation of the League in 1925, was to save the remnants of the Armenian people from extinction. He drew up a political, industrial, and financial plan for creating a national home for the Armenians in Erivan that foreshadowed what the United Nations Technical Assistance Board and the International Bank of Development and Reconstruction have done in the post-World War II period. The League failed to implement the plan, but the Nansen International Office for Refugees later settled some 10,000 in Erivan and 40,000 in Syria and Lebanon.

Nansen died on May 13, 1930, and was buried on May 17, Norway's Independence Day.

[-TU--33ker 0]

thanks

my knowledge about this time isn't very good. and most people know nansen as an explorer only.

And all I knew about William is that he was a "Nordmann" (Normandy), a Viking who settled in northern France and invaded England in 1066.

The Bayeux tapestry is a famous document about that time.

Bayeux tapestry

William of Normandy aka William the Conqueror:

William's cavalrymen at the battle of Hastings:

[brgnorway 0]

$33ker,Sep. 14 2003,18:13]

Quote[/b] ]And all I knew about William is that he was a "Nordmann" (Normandy), a Viking who settled in northern France and invaded England in 1066.

...well I intentionally forgot to say that the danes also claim Williams origins to be danish (from Faxe) . But they are wrong of course!

The settlements of norwegians and danes in north of France was a result of the french king's need to stabilise his kingdom.

The vikings were pouring in - burning and looting - and some normans/egians were offered land in exchange for protection against other maurading vikings. Most people believe the viking only burned, stole and then left - but this is not so.

The vikings had a habit of settling down and establishing subsistence farming as well as marketplaces.

The swedish vikings had their eyes cast upon eatern europe, the danish moved southwards and to france, and the norwegians went mainly to the english isles and north of those. However, norwegian vikings landed in Sicily as well as in Turkey and even established small communities in northeast america.

Edit: I've done some background checking and it's fair to say that the origins of William the conqueror has been subjected to some wishfull thinking. However, the jury is still out on the origins - but it's reasonable to asume he is of norwegian origin rather than being norwegian.

(Me sulks and goes hiding in shame)