German architect and engineer Joseph Friedrich (Fritz) Kramer completed building the Shandong Province Railway in China in early January of 1904. He was then promoted by his employer H.D. Schmidt Consulting Architects, Engineers and Surveyors and sent to what is now called Namibia to manage the technical aspects of the company and to set the infrastructure of the port city of Swakopmund. This edition has much more information about him as well as up to twenty (20) additional pages devoted to my grandmother, Anna Arhens. The story goes on to my parents migrating from Germany to Australia and my service with the Australian infantry unit of 1RAR and HQ 1ATF in Vietnam during 1968 and 1969. After having been diagnosed as suffering from chronic PTSD, I was encouraged to complete tertiary studies and now I am an engineer (retired) like my grandfather before me.
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I found great difficulty in researching this novel because the early officials of the Catholic Church regarded all references to gladiators as somehow evil and destroyed many of the records about Thumelicus, the son of Thusnelda and Armin. Eventually, I used the legends and songs about him and his parents which survive in the folklore stories and songs of the German people! As well, the achievements of both of his parents are well documented as a result of the Roman army losing three of its crack legions of heavy infantry plus all supporting units.
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A walk through the histories of northern and southern Europe, North Africa, Syria and Egypt. The people you will meet through reading this book include Arminius, Augustus, Segestes, Thusnelda, Caius Marius, Caius Julius Caesar, Octavius, Julia Caesar, Pompey, Brutus, Marcus Antonius, and Cleopatra and her brothers. This book tells you history through the medium of storytelling.
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The story starts with the historical facts of ancient Germanic tribes amalgamating and two of them becoming dominant. These were the Franks and the Saxons. In the case of the Saxons, they were originally the remnants of the army of Alexander the Great and they dispersed to many parts of the world after his death in Babylon. It is known that the Saxons arrived on the northern coasts of Germania, arriving there in Greek ships. The Saxons amalgamated with the Engel tribe from about midway of the Jutland peninsula. The Engels were fine warriors and sailors. They lived along a fiord with its entrance on the western side of the peninsula. The name of the fiord was Eckenforde. Soon after that, the Saxons again amalgamated, this time with the Kimbern tribe from the north of the peninsula.
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Story of a migrant to Australia from Germany who lies about his age when joining the Australian Army in 1967 in order to serve in Vietnam.
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His Forefathers and Mick traces the riveting saga of the Kramer family across three tumultuous generations. Friedrich Kramer, an intrepid German engineer, revolutionises railway and communications technologies in early 20th century China and Namibia, unknowingly setting the stage for international espionage and warfare. His son, grappling with the shadows of World War Two, seeks redemption and a fresh start in Australia, only for his son, Michael, to confront his own battlefield in Vietnam. Each generation wrestles with the legacies of the past, forging their paths in a world that refuses to forget. This is a gripping tale of ambition, identity, and the relentless pull of heritage.
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This story is about an amazing couple in the 14th century, who actually had a working 'open marriage', such that Queen Isabella even tolerated King Edward II's homosexual activities with his male 'favourites'. Things remained that way until the current favourite of the king, called Piers Gaveston, was killed. He was replaced by Hugh le Despencer the Younger and an intense homosexual affair developed between the king and his chamberlain. After a time, Hugh le Despencer the Younger moved against Isabella by reducing her income markedly as well as taking her lands and other riches from her. Things came to a head when he also took her children from her and she went to France, raised a mercenary army and invaded England. She deposed her husband and installed her son as King Edward III.
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A Castle of Doomsday is historical fiction closely based on fact and it is also the story of the castles inside the city walls of York. William the First built two castles within the walls of York. One was at Bailey Hill and the other was York Castle, which has since become known as "Clifford's Tower". The original castles were constructed of timber. They were burned down by the people around York and their Danish Viking allies. Richard the First was the son of King Henry II and gained fame by his courage, becoming known as Richard the Lionheart, who presided over the apparent massacre of Jews at the keep of York Castle in England. The Normans replaced it with a second timber castle keep, which was destroyed in a storm in 1228. After that, the stone structure was built, and that still stands today. It was built of stone and is called Clifford's Tower because King Edward II had Baron de Clifford hanged from the battlements of the Keep of York Castle for treason in 1322 A.D.
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In 1975, the last American soldier was withdrawn from Vietnam after the shameful bungling at the American embassy in Saigon as Vietnamese tanks came crashing through the gates on their way to liberate Indochina from American capitalist exploitation! The new national governments took over in all Indochina countries (Cambodia, Laos & Vietnam). Many of the heroes who sacrificed all to ensure victory now came out of the forests and some of them took for themselves property, houses, flats and cars belonging to many of the former ruling classes. Unlike the scenes in Europe after WW2, there was not wholesale revenge and killings of former ruling classes, the new government choosing instead to send the former rulers to re-education camps. There were some cases where people denounced others in order to obtain their wealth or power. Such is the mean spirit of jealous people! They caused many to flee from their homelands in Indochina. Many of these people became 'Boat People' and successfully settled in Australia, becoming Australian citizens and successful business people. This is the story of a cross section of these brave people.
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The Allied war effort in Indochina (the French colonies of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) was a war of aggression which allowed many millions of US dollars of arms sales. All Allied servicemen that I came into contact with did their duties to the best of their abilities. As an Australian serving with the First Battalion Royal Australian Regiment in Vietnam during 1968–1969, I feel that it is my duty to inform readers of how the Australian infantry soldiers saw the war and how they felt about fighting the Vietnamese. Because of the fact that this story is so vast, I am splitting the full story into two volumes. "A Gracious Enemy & After the War Volume One" covers events in Indochina from 1770 to 1975, when the Americans withdrew from Vietnam after losing more than 50,000 war dead. It must be remembered that the US army has a rate of 10 soldiers in support for every "Grunt" at the "Sharp End". When viewed in this way, the American KIA figure for the twelve years of US involvement is extremely high. After the American withdrawal in 1975, the Vietnamese Army invaded Kampuchea and removed the Pol Pot Regime from power. The yet-to-be-completed "A Gracious Enemy & After the War Volume Two" deals with events in and outside of Vietnam after 1975 and includes the arrival and successful integration into Australian society of the Vietnamese Boat People.
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"Arminius and Thusnelda Versus Rome" is the story of the battle that defined Europe. In today's Europe, there is a boundary between those who prefer beer and those who drink wine. It is also the boundary between where the Romance languages, based on Latin, are spoken and where the Germanic languages are spoken.
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A Castle of Doomsday is historical fiction closely based on facts and it is also the story of the castles inside the city walls of York. Both of them were built by William the Conqueror. One was at Bailey Hill and the other was York Castle. Its keep has since become known as "Clifford's Tower". Both castles were originally constructed of timber. They were burned down by the people of York and their Danish Viking allies.
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The full story of the three Indochina Wars, including warts and all. The first was the Indochinese people fighting against the French colonists and their suppliers and allies from the USA. The second was the people of Indochina (Cambodia, Laos & Vietnam) fighting against an allied coalition force made up of Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, South Vietnam and the USA. The Second Indochina War is usually referred to as the Vietnam War. This book examines the readjustment of Vietnamese society after the uprising of the Tay Son Brothers in 1770, their stopping of the Trinh and Nguyen families’ oppression of the Vietnamese people.
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