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History of books
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Modern Book Printing, the fourth of the six Walk of Ideas sculptures displayed in Berlin during 2006, represents a pile of modern codex books.
The history of books starts with the development of writing, and various other inventions such as paper and printing, and continues through to the modern day business of book printing. The earliest history of books actually predates what would conventionally be called "books" today and begins with tablets, scrolls, and sheets of Papyrus. Then hand-bound, expensive, and elaborate books, called codices, appeared. These gave way to press-printed volumes and eventually lead to the mass printed tomes prevalent today. Contemporary books may even have no physical presence with the advent of the e-book.
Contents
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1 Clay tablets
2 Papyrus
3 East Asia
4 Pre-columbian codices of the Americas
5 Wax tablets
6 Parchment
6.1 Greece and Rome
6.2 Description
6.3 Book culture
6.4 Proliferation and conservation of books in Greece
6.5 Book production in Rome
7 Paper
8 Middle Ages
8.1 Books in monasteries
8.2 Copying and conserving books
8.3 The scriptorium
8.4 Transformation from the literary edition in the 12th century
9 Printing press
9.1 List of notable printing milestones
10 Contemporary era
10.1 E-books and the future of the book
11 Gallery
12 Academic programs
13 See also
14 Selected Resources
14.1 Books
14.2 Periodicals
15 References
16 External links
Clay tablets[edit]
Clay tablets were used in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC. The calamus, an instrument in the form of a triangle, was used to make characters in moist clay. People used to use fire to dry the tablets out. At Nineveh, over 20,000 tablets were found, dating from the 7th century BC; this was the archive and library of the kings of Assyria, who had workshops of copyists and conservationists at their disposal. This presupposes a degree of organization with respect to books, consideration given to conservation, classification, etc. Tablets were used right up until the 19th century in various parts of the world, including Germany, Chile, Philippines and the Saharan Desert.[1]
Papyrus[edit]
Main article: Papyrus
Egyptian Papyrus
After extracting the marrow from the stems, a series of steps (humidification, pressing, drying, gluing, and cutting), produced media of variable quality, the best being used for sacred writing. In Ancient Egypt, papyrus was used for writing maybe as early as from First Dynasty, but first evidence is from the account books of King Neferirkare Kakai of the Fifth Dynasty (about 2400 BC).[2] A calamus, the stem of a reed sharpened to a point, or bird feathers were used for writing. The script of Egyptian scribes was called hieratic, or sacerdotal writing; it is not hieroglyphic, but a simplified form more adapted to manuscript writing (hieroglyphs usually being engraved or painted).
Papyrus books were in the form of a scroll of several sheets pasted together, for a total length of 10 meters or more. Some books, such as the history of the reign of Ramses III, were over 40 meters long. Books rolled out horizontally; the text occupied one side, and was divided into columns. The title was indicated by a label attached to the cylinder containing the book. Many papyrus texts come from tombs, where prayers and sacred texts were deposited (such as the Book of the Dead, from the early 2nd millennium BC).
East Asia[edit]
A Chinese bamboo book
Writing on bone, shells, wood and silk existed in China long before the 2nd century BC. Paper was invented in China around the 1st century AD. The discovery of the process using the bark of the blackberry bush is attributed to Ts'ai Louen the cousin of Kar-Shun which is the greatest singer in China like Mhang Khan-Nohr, but it may be older. Texts were reproduced by woodblock printing; the diffusion of Buddhist texts was a main impetus to large-scale production. The format of the book evolved with intermediate stages of scrolls folded concertina-style, scrolls bound at one edge ("butterfly books") and so on.
The first printing of books started in China and was during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), but exactly when is not known.[3] The oldest extant printed book is a Tang Dynasty work of the Diamond Sutra and dates back to 868.[3] When the Italian Catholic missionary Matteo Ricci visited Ming China, he wrote that there were "exceedingly large numbers of books in circulation" and noted that they were sold at very low prices.[4]
Pre-columbian codices of the Americas[edit]
Dresden Codex (page 49)
In Mesoamerica, information was recorded on long strips of paper, agave fibers, or animal hides, which were then folded and protected by wooden covers. These were thought to have existed since the time of the Classical Period between the 3rd and 8th centuries, CE. Many of these codices were thought to contain astrological information, religious calendars, knowledge about the gods, genealogies of the rulers, cartographic information, and tribute collection. Many of these codices were stored in temples but were ultimately destroyed by the Spanish explorers.[5]
Currently, the only completely deciphered pre-Columbian writing system is the Maya script. The Maya, along with several other cultures in Mesoamerica, constructed concertina-style books written on Amatl paper. Nearly all Mayan texts were destroyed by the Spanish during colonization on cultural and religious grounds. One of the few surviving examples is the Dresden Codex.[6]
Although only the Maya have been shown to have a writing system capable of conveying any concept that can be conveyed via speech (at about the same level as the modern Japanese writing system), other Mesoamerican cultures had more rudimentary ideographical writing systems which were contained in similar concertina-style books, one such example being the Aztec codices.
Wax tablets[edit]
Woman holding wax tablets in the form of the codex. Wall painting from Pompeii, before 79 AD.
Romans used wax-coated wooden tablets or pugillares upon which they could write and erase by using a stylus. One end of the stylus was pointed, and the other was spherical. Usually these tablets were used for everyday purposes (accounting, notes) and for teaching writing to children, according to the methods discussed by Quintilian in his Institutio Oratoria X Chapter 3. Several of these tablets could be assembled in a form similar to a codex. Also the etymology of the word codex (block of wood) suggest that it may have developed from wooden wax tablets.[7]
Parchment[edit]
Main article: Parchment
Parchment progressively replaced papyrus. Legend attributes its invention to Eumenes II, the king of Pergamon, from which comes the name "pergamineum," which became "parchment." Its production began around the 3rd century BC. Made using the skins of animals (sheep, cattle, donkey, antelope, etc.), parchment proved easier to conserve over time; it was more solid, and allowed one to erase text. It was a very expensive medium because of the rarity of material and the time required to produce a document. Vellum is the finest quality of parchment.
Greece and Rome[edit]
The scroll of papyrus is called "volumen" in Latin, a word which signifies "circular movement," "roll," "spiral," "whirlpool," "revolution" (similar, perhaps, to the modern English interpretation of "swirl") and finally "a roll of writing paper, a rolled manuscript, or a book." In the 7th century Isidore of Seville explains the relation between codex, book and scroll in his Etymologiae (VI.13) as this:
“ A codex is composed of many books (librorum); a book is of one scroll (voluminis). It is called codex by way of metaphor from the trunks (caudex) of trees or vines, as if it were a wooden stock, because it contains in itself a multitude of books, as it were of branches. ”
Description[edit]
The scroll is rolled around two vertical wooden axes. This design allows only sequential usage; one is obliged to read the text in the order in which it is written, and it is impossible to place a marker in order to directly access a precise point in the text. It is comparable to modern video cassettes. Moreover, the reader must use both hands to hold on to the vertical wooden rolls and therefore cannot read and write at the same time. The only volumen in common usage today is the Jewish Torah.
Book culture[edit]
The authors of Antiquity had no rights concerning their published works; there were neither authors' nor publishing rights. Anyone could have a text recopied, and even alter its contents. Scribes earned money and authors earned mostly glory, unless a patron provided cash; a book made its author famous. This followed the traditional conception of the culture: an author stuck to several models, which he imitated and attempted to improve. The status of the author was not regarded as absolutely personal.
From a political and religious point of view, books were censored very early: the works of Protagoras were burned because he was a proponent of agnosticism and argued that one could not know whether or not the gods existed. Generally, cultural conflicts led to important periods of book destruction: in 303, the emperor Diocletian ordered the burning of Christian texts. Some Christians later burned libraries, and especially heretical or non-canonical Christian texts. These practices are found throughout human history but have ended in many nations today. A few nations today still greatly censor and even burn books.
But there also exists a less visible but nonetheless effective form of censorship when books are reserved for the elite; the book was not originally a medium for expressive liberty. It may serve to confirm the values of a political system, as during the reign of the emperor Augustus, who skillfully surrounded himself with great authors. This is a good ancient example of the control of the media by a political power. However, private and public censorship have continued into the modern era, albeit in various forms.
Proliferation and conservation of books in Greece[edit]
Little information concerning books in Ancient Greece survives. Several vases (6th and 5th centuries BC) bear images of volumina. There was undoubtedly no extensive trade in books, but there existed several sites devoted to the sale of books.
The spread of books, and attention to their cataloging and conservation, as well as literary criticism developed during the Hellenistic period with the creation of large libraries in response to the desire for knowledge exemplified by Aristotle. These libraries were undoubtedly also built as demonstrations of political prestige:
The Library of Alexandria, a library created by Ptolemy Soter and set up by Demetrius Phalereus (Demetrius of Phaleron). It contained 500,900 volumes (in the Museion section) and 40,000 at the Serapis temple (Serapeion). All books in the luggage of visitors to Egypt were inspected, and could be held for copying. The Museion was partially destroyed in 47 BC.
The Library at Pergamon, founded by Attalus I; it contained 200,000 volumes which were moved to the Serapeion by Mark Antony and Cleopatra, after the destruction of the Museion. The Serapeion was partially destroyed in 391, and the last books disappeared in 641 CE following the Arab conquest.
The Library at Athens, the Ptolemaion, which gained importance following the destruction of the Library at Alexandria ; the Library of Pantainos, around 100 CE; the library of Hadrian, in 132 CE.
The Library at Rhodes, a library that rivaled the Library of Alexandria.
The Library at Antioch, a public library of which Euphorion of Chalcis was the director near the end of the 3rd century.
The libraries had copyist workshops, and the general organisation of books allowed for the following:
Conservation of an example of each text
Translation (the Septuagint Bible, for example)
Literary criticisms in order to establish reference texts for the copy (example : The Iliad and The Odyssey)
A catalog of books
The copy itself, which allowed books to be disseminated
Book production in Rome[edit]
Book production developed in Rome in the 1st century BC with Latin literature that had been influenced by the Greek.
This diffusion primarily concerned circles of literary individuals. Atticus was the editor of his friend Cicero. However, the book business progressively extended itself through the Roman Empire; for example, there were bookstores in Lyon. The spread of the book was aided by the extension of the Empire, which implied the imposition of the Latin tongue on a great number of people (in Spain, Africa, etc.).
Libraries were private or created at the behest of an individual. Julius Caesar, for example, wanted to establish one in Rome, proving that libraries were signs of political prestige.
In the year 377, there were 28 libraries in Rome, and it is known that there were many smaller libraries in other cities. Despite the great distribution of books, scientists do not have a complete picture as to the literary scene in antiquity as thousands of books have been lost through time.
Paper[edit]
Main article: History of paper
Papermaking has traditionally been traced to China about AD 105, when Cai Lun, an official attached to the Imperial court during the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD), created a sheet of paper using mulberry and other bast fibres along with fishnets, old rags, and hemp waste.[8]
While paper used for wrapping and padding was used in China since the 2nd century BC,[1] paper used as a writing medium only became widespread by the 3rd century.[9] By the 6th century in China, sheets of paper were beginning to be used for toilet paper as well.[10] During the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD) paper was folded and sewn into square bags to preserve the flavor of tea.[1] The Song Dynasty (960–1279) that followed was the first government to issue paper currency.
An important development was the mechanization of paper manufacture by medieval papermakers. The introduction of water-powered paper mills, the first certain evidence of which dates to the 11th century in Córdoba, Spain,[11] allowed for a massive expansion of production and replaced the laborious handcraft characteristic of both Chinese[12][13] and Muslim[12][14] papermaking. Papermaking centres began to multiply in the late 13th century in Italy, reducing the price of paper to one sixth of parchment and then falling further.[15]
Middle Ages[edit]
Main articles: Manuscript culture and Illuminated manuscript
The codex Manesse, a book from the Middle Ages
By the end of antiquity, between the 2nd and 4th centuries, the scroll was replaced by the codex. The book was no longer a continuous roll, but a collection of sheets attached at the back. It became possible to access a precise point in the text quickly. The codex is equally easy to rest on a table, which permits the reader to take notes while he or she is reading. The codex form improved with the separation of words, capital letters, and punctuation, which permitted silent reading. Tables of contents and indices facilitated direct access to information. This form was so effective that it is still the standard book form, over 1500 years after its appearance.
Paper would progressively replace parchment. Cheaper to produce, it allowed a greater diffusion of books.
Books in monasteries[edit]
A number of Christian books were destroyed at the order of Diocletian in 304 AD. During the turbulent periods of the invasions, it was the monasteries that conserved religious texts and certain works of Antiquity for the West. But there would also be important copying centers in Byzantium.
The role of monasteries in the conservation of books is not without some ambiguity:
Reading was an important activity in the lives of monks, which can be divided into prayer, intellectual work, and manual labor (in the Benedictine order, for example). It was therefore necessary to make copies of certain works. Accordingly, there existed scriptoria (the plural of scriptorium) in many monasteries, where monks copied and decorated manuscripts that had been preserved.
However, the conservation of books was not exclusively in order to preserve ancient culture; it was especially relevant to understanding religious texts with the aid of ancient knowledge. Some works were never recopied, having been judged too dangerous for the monks. Moreover, in need of blank media, the monks scraped off manuscripts, thereby destroying ancient works. The transmission of knowledge was centered primarily on sacred texts.
Copying and conserving books[edit]
An author portrait of Jean Miélot writing his compilation of the Miracles of Our Lady, one of his many popular works.
Despite this ambiguity, monasteries in the West and the Eastern Empire permitted the conservation of a certain number of secular texts, and several libraries were created: for example, Cassiodorus ('Vivarum' in Calabria, around 550), or Constantine I in Constantinople. There were several libraries, but the survival of books often depended on political battles and ideologies, which sometimes entailed massive destruction of books or difficulties in production (for example, the distribution of books during the Iconoclasm between 730 and 842). A long list of very old and surviving libraries that now form part of the Vatican Archives can be found in the Catholic Encyclopedia.
A very strong example of the early copying and conserving books is that of the Quran. After Muhammad, his companion Abu Bakr, on the recommendation of Umar Bin Alkhattab, assigned Zayd bin Saabit to compile the first official scripture of the Quran. Zayd collected all the available scriptures of the Quran scripted by different companions of Muhammad during his life. He compiled one scripture and got it verified by all the companions who had memorized the whole book while Muhammad was alive. Then this first official scripture was kept at the house of Hafsa, the wife of the Muhammad. By the time of the third caliph Uthmaan, the Islamic state had spread over a large portion of the known world. He ordered the preparation of the official copies of the first official scripture. The copies were duly verified for accuracy. These copies were sent to each city of the caliphate so that further copies can be made locally with the perfect accuracy.[16]
The scriptorium[edit]
The scriptorium was the workroom of monk copyists; here, books were copied, decorated, rebound, and conserved. The armarius directed the work and played the role of librarian.
The role of the copyist was multifaceted: for example, thanks to their work, texts circulated from one monastery to another. Copies also allowed monks to learn texts and to perfect their religious education. The relationship with the book thus defined itself according to an intellectual relationship with God. But if these copies were sometimes made for the monks themselves, there were also copies made on demand.
The task of copying itself had several phases: the preparation of the manuscript in the form of notebooks once the work was complete, the presentation of pages, the copying itself, revision, correction of errors, decoration, and binding. The book therefore required a variety of competencies, which often made a manuscript a collective effort.
Transformation from the literary edition in the 12th century[edit]
The scene in Botticelli's Madonna of the Book (1480) reflects the presence of books in the houses of richer people in his time.
The revival of cities in Europe would change the conditions of book production and extend its influence, and the monastic period of the book would come to an end. This revival accompanied the intellectual renaissance of the period. The Manuscript culture outside of the monastery developed in these university-cities in Europe in this time. It is around the first universities that new structures of production developed: reference manuscripts were used by students and professors for teaching theology and liberal arts. The development of commerce and of the bourgeoisie brought with it a demand for specialized and general texts (law, history, novels, etc.). It is in this period that writing in the common vernacular developed (courtly poetry, novels, etc.). Commercial scriptoria became common, and the profession of book seller came into being, sometimes dealing internationally.
There is also the creation of royal libraries as in the case of Saint Louis and Charles V. Books were also collected in private libraries, which became more common in the 14th and 15th centuries.
The use of paper diffused through Europe in the 14th century. This material, less expensive than parchment, came from China via the Arabs in Spain in the 11th and 12th centuries. It was used in particular for ordinary copies, while parchment was used for luxury editions.
Printing press[edit]
Main article: Printing press
The invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 marks the entry of the book into the industrial age. The Western book was no longer a single object, written or reproduced by request. The publication of a book became an enterprise, requiring capital for its realization and a market for its distribution. The cost of each individual book (in a large edition) was lowered enormously, which in turn increased the distribution of books. The book in codex form and printed on paper, as we know it today, dates from the 15th century. Books printed before January 1, 1501, are called incunables. The spreading of book printing all over Europe occurred relatively quickly, but most books were still printed in Latin. The spreading of the concept of printing books in the vernacular was a somewhat slower process.
List of notable printing milestones[edit]
Jikji, Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Seon Masters, the earliest known book printed with movable metal type, 1377. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.
Handwritten notes by Christopher Columbus on the Latin edition of Marco Polo's Le livre des merveilles.
First printed book in Georgian was published in Rome, in 1629 by Niceforo Irbachi.
1377: Jikji is the abbreviated title of a Korean Buddhist document, Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Seon Masters, the earliest known book printed with movable metal type.
1455: The Gutenberg Bible was the first major book printed in Europe with movable metal type by Johannes Gutenberg.
1461: Der Ackermann aus Böhmen printed by Albrecht Pfister, the first printed book in German, and also the first book illustrated with woodcuts.
1470: Il Canzoniere by Francesco Petrarca, the first book printed in the Italian language.
1472: Sinodal de Aguilafuente was the first book printed in Spain (at Segovia) and in Spanish language.
1474: Obres e trobes en llaor de la Verge Santa Maria was the first book printed in Catalan language, at Valencia.
c. 1475: Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye was the first book printed in the English language.
1476: La légende dorée printed by Guillaume LeRoy, the first book printed in the French language.
1476: Grammatica Graeca, sive compendium octo orationis partium, probably the first book entirely in Greek by Constantine Lascaris.
1477: The first printed edition of the Geographia, probably in 1477 in Bologna, was also the first printed book with engraved illustrations.
1477: The Delft Bible, the first book printed in the Dutch language.
1483: Misal po zakonu rimskoga dvora, the first book printed in the Croatian language and in Glagolitic alphabet.
1485: De Re Aedificatoria, the first printed book on architecture
1487: "Pentateuco", the first book printed in Portugal, in Hebraic language, by the Jew Samuel Gacon in Vila-a-Dentro, Faro.
1494: Oktoih was the first printed Slavic Cyrillic book.
1495: The first printed book in the Danish language.
1495: The first printed book in the Swedish language.
1497: "Constituições que fez o Senhor Dom Diogo de Sousa, Bispo do Porto", first book printed in the Portuguese language, by the first Portuguese printer, Rodrigo Álvares, in Porto, on January the 4th.
1499: Catholicon, Breton-French-Latin dictionary, first printed trilingual dictionary, first Breton book, first French dictionary
1501: Harmonice Musices Odhecaton, printed by Ottaviano Petrucci, is the first book of sheet music printed from movable type.
1501: "Aldus Manutius" printed the first portable Octavos, also inventing and using italic type.
1508: Chepman and Myllar printed the first books in Scotland.
1511: Hieromonk Makarije printed the first books in Wallachia (in Slavonic)
1512: Hakob Meghapart printed the first book in Armenian - Urbatagirk.[6]
1513: Hortulus Animae, polonice believed to be the first book printed in the Polish language.
1516: A reprint of the Lisbon edition of the Sefer Aburdraham is printed in Morocco, the first book printed in Africa.[17]
1517: Psalter, first book printed in the Old Belarusian language by Francysk Skaryna on 6 August 1517
1539: La escala espiritual de San Juan Clímaco, first book printed in North America - Mexico
1541: Bovo-Bukh was the first non-religious book to be printed in Yiddish
1544: Rucouskiria by Mikael Agricola, the first book printed in the Finnish language.
1545: Linguae Vasconum Primitiae was the first book printed in Basque
1547: Martynas Mažvydas compiled and published the first printed Lithuanian book The Simple Words of Catechism
1550: Catechismus by Primož Trubar was the first book written in the Slovene language.
1561: The first printed books in the Romanian language, Tetraevanghelul and Întrebare creştinească (also known as Catehismul) are printed by Coresi in Braşov.
1564: the first book in Irish was printed in Edinburgh, a translation of John Knox's 'Liturgy' by John Carswell, Bishop of the Hebrides.
1564: the first dated Russian book, Apostol, printed by Ivan Fyodorov
1571: the first book in Irish to be printed in Ireland was a Protestant catechism (Aibidil Gaoidheilge agus Caiticiosma), containing a guide to spelling and sounds in Irish.[18]
1577: Lekah Tov, a commentary on the Book of Esther, was the first book printed in the land of Israel
1581: Ostrog Bible, first complete printed edition of the Bible in Old Church Slavonic
1584: first book printed in South America - Lima, Peru
1593: Doctrina Christiana was the first book printed in the Philippines
1629: Nikoloz Cholokashvili helped to publish a Georgian dictionary, the first printed book in Georgian
1640: The Bay Psalm Book, the first book printed in British North America
1651: Abagar - Filip Stanislavov, first printed book in modern Bulgarian
1678-1703: Hortus Malabaricus included the first instance of Malayalam types being used for printing
1798: The first printed book in Ossetic
1802: New South Wales General Standing Orders was the first book printed in Australia, comprising Government and General Orders issued between 1791 and 1802
Aurora Australis, the first book published in Antarctica.
See also Editio princeps, Spread of the printing press
Contemporary era[edit]
During the Enlightenment more books began to pour off European presses, creating an early form of information overload for many readers. Nowhere was this more the case than in Enlightenment Scotland, where students were exposed to a wide variety of books during their education.[19] The demands of the British and Foreign Bible Society (founded 1804), the American Bible Society (founded 1816), and other non-denominational publishers for enormously large inexpensive runs of texts led to numerous innovations. The introduction of steam printing presses a little before 1820, closely followed by new steam paper mills, constituted the two most major innovations. Together, they caused book prices to drop and the number of books to increase considerably. Numerous bibliographic features, like the positioning and formulation of titles and subtitles, were also affected by this new production method. New types of documents appeared later in the 19th century: photography, sound recording and film.
Typewriters and eventually computer based word processors and printers let people print and put together their own documents. Desktop publishing is common in the 21st century.
Among a series of developments that occurred in the 1990s, the spread of digital multimedia, which encodes texts, images, animations, and sounds in a unique and simple form was notable for the book publishing industry. Hypertext further improved access to information. Finally, the internet lowered production and distribution costs.
E-books and the future of the book[edit]
It is difficult to predict the future of the book in an era of fast-paced technological change.[20] Anxieties about the "death of books" have been expressed throughout the history of the medium, perceived as threatened by competing media such as radio, television, and the Internet.[21][22] However, these views are generally exaggerated, and "dominated by fetishism, fears about the end of humanism and ideas of techno-fundamentalist progress".[23] The print book medium has proven to be very resilient and adaptable.
A good deal of reference material, designed for direct access instead of sequential reading, as for example encyclopedias, exists less and less in the form of books and increasingly on the web. Leisure reading materials are increasingly published in e-reader formats.
Although electronic books, or e-books, had limited success in the early years, and readers were resistant at the outset, the demand for books in this format has grown dramatically, primarily because of the popularity of e-reader devices and as the number of available titles in this format has increased. Since the Amazon Kindle was released in 2007, the e-book has become a digital phenomenon and many theorize that it will take over hardback and paper books in future. E-books are much more accessible and easier to buy and it’s also cheaper to purchase an E-Book rather than its physical counterpart due to paper expenses being deducted.[24] Another important factor in the increasing popularity of the e-reader is its continuous diversification. Many e-readers now support basic operating systems, which facilitate email and other simple functions. The iPad is the most obvious example of this trend, but even mobile phones can host e-reading software.
Gallery[edit]
European output of manuscripts 500–1500
European output of printed books c. 1450–1800
European output of books 500–1800
Academic programs[edit]
University of Amsterdam, Department of cultural studies. BA and MA program with specialisation in the history of the Book
Curtin University. Master of Information Management - Librarianship stream
Drew University, Department of Modern History and Literature. MA, PhD in one of three streams including Book History
University of Edinburgh. Postgraduate Degree (MA) in The History of the Book
School of Book Science at University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. BA and MA program with specialisation in the history of the Book
University of London, Institute of English Studies. Postgraduate MA in the History of the Book
Mainz Gutenberg University. Mainzer Institut fur Buchwissenschaft
University of Münster, Germany. MA programs with specializations in Book Studies
Oxford Brookes University. MA Book History and Publishing Culture
University of Roehampton. Publishing and Book History
University of St Andrews. MLitt - The Book. History and Techniques of Analysis
Texas Tech University, Department of English. MA, PhD emphasis in History of the Book
University of Toronto. MA, PhD Program in Book History / Print Culture
See also[edit]
Textual scholarship
Selected Resources[edit]
Books[edit]
The Cambridge history of the book in Britain. Cambridge UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press. 1998–2002. ISBN 0-521-57346-7 (v. 3), ISBN 0-521-66182-X (v. 4). Contents: v. 1 ed. Richard Gameson (publication forthcoming 2008), v. 2 eds. Nigel Morgan and Rod Thomson (publication forthcoming 2007), v. 3 1400-1557 eds. Lotte Hellinga and J.B. Trapp, v. 4 1557-1695 eds. John Barnard and D.F. McKenzie, with the assistance of Maureen Bell.
Histoire de l'édition française. Paris: Fayard : Cercle de la Librairie. 1989. ISBN 2-213-02399-9 (v. 1). v. 1-4 ; eds. Roger Chartier and Henri-Jean Martin.
Histoire des bibliothèques françaises. Paris: Promodis-Éd. du Cercle de la Librairie. 1988. ISBN 2-903181-72-1 (v. 1). v. 1-4 ; eds. André Vernet, Claude Jolly, Dominique Varry, Martine Poulain.
Blair, Ann (2010). Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information before the Modern Age. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300165395.
Chartier, Roger (2005). Inscrire et effacer : culture écrite et littérature (XIe-XVIIIe siècle). Paris: Gallimard : Le Seuil. ISBN 2-02-081580-X.
Chow, Kai-Wing (2004). Publishing, Culture, and Power in Early Modern China. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3368-6.
Craughwell, Thomas J., and Damon Smith (2004). Q.P.B. Short History of the Paperback, and Other Milestones in Publishing. New and updated ed. New York: Quality Paperback Book Club. ISBN 1-58288-104-9
Dane, Joseph (2003). The Myth of Print Culture: Essays on Evidence, Textuality, and Bibliographical Method. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-8775-2. ISBN 9780802087751.
Darnton, Robert (2009). The case for books: Past, present, and future. PublicAffairs.
Darnton, Robert (1985). The great cat massacre and other episodes in French cultural history. Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-055089-5.
Diringer, David (1982). The book before printing : ancient, medieval, and oriental. New York: Dover. ISBN 0-486-24243-9.
Eisenstein, Elizabeth (2005). The printing revolution in early modern Europe. Cambridge UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-84543-2. ISBN 0-521-60774-4.
Febvre, Lucien; Henri-Jean Martin (1997). The coming of the book : the impact of printing 1450-1800. London: Verso. ISBN 1-85984-108-2. tr. by David Gerard ; ed. by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith and David Wootton ; Note : reprint, other reprints by this publisher 1990 & 1984, originally published (London : N.L.B., 1976) ; Translation of L'apparition du livre.
Finkelstein, David (2005). An introduction to book history. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-31442-9. ISBN 0-415-31443-7.
Fischer, Ernst (2010). The Book Market. Mainz: Leibniz Institute of European History. OCLC 692301471.
Hall, David (1996). Cultures of Print: Essays in the History of the Book. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 0585142076. ISBN 9780585142074.
History of the book in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 2004–2007. ISBN 0-8020-8943-7 (v. 1), ISBN 0-8020-8012-X (v. 2), ISBN 978-0-8020-9047-8 (v. 3). Contents: v. 1 eds. Patricia Fleming and Fiona Black (2004), v. 2 eds. Patricia Fleming, Yvan Lamonde, and Fiona Black (2005), v. 3 eds. Carole Gerson and Jacques Michon (2007).
Howsam, Leslie (2006). Old Books and New Histories: An orientation to studies in book and print culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-9438-4.
Johns, Adrian (1998). The Nature of the Book: Print and Knowledge in the Making. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-40122-5.
Katz, Bill (1998). Cuneiform to computer : a history of reference sources. Lanham Md.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3290-9. Series : History of the book, no. 4.
Martin, Henri-Jean (c. 2004). Les métamorphoses du livre. Paris: Albin Michel. ISBN 2-226-14237-1. Series : Itinéraires du savoir.
McKitterick, David (2003). Print, Manuscript and the Search for Order, 1450-1830. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82690-X.
Nunberg, Geoffrey (Ed.) (1996). The Future of the Book. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520204515
Price, Leah (2012). How to Do Things with Books in Victorian Britain. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691114170.
Thiollet, Jean-Pierre (2005). Je m'appelle Byblos, H & D, Paris. ISBN 2-914266-04-9
Warner, Michael (1990). The Letters of the Republic: Publication and the Public Sphere in Eighteenth-Century America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-52785-2.
Periodicals[edit]
The Library: Transactions of The Bibliographical Society. London: Bibliographical Society. 1889. ISSN 0024-2160.
The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. New York: Bibliographical Society of America. 1899. ISSN 0006-128X.
The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada. Toronto, Canada: The Bibliographical Society of Canada. 1962. ISSN 0067-6896.
Studies in Bibliography. Charlottesville, VA: The Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia. 1948. ISSN 0081-7600.
Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens. Frankfurt am Main: Buchhändler-Vereinigung. 1956. ISSN 0066-6327.
Annual bibliography of the history of the printed book and libraries. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. 1970. ISSN 0303-5964.
Script & Print. Australia: Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand. 1970. ISSN 1834-9013. Note: previously Bulletin of the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand.
Quaerendo. Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd. 1971. ISSN 0014-9527. Note "A quarterly journal from the low countries devoted to manuscripts and printed books."
Revue française d'histoire du livre. Bordeaux: Société des bibliophiles de Guyenne. 1971. ISSN 0037-9212. OCLC 1791119.
Book History. United States of America: Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Printing. 1998. ISSN 1098-7371.
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b c Needham, V 1, p. 122
Jump up ^ Leila Avrin. Scribes, Script and Books. The Book Arts from Antiquity to the Renaissance. American Library Association / The British Library 1991, p. 83.
^ Jump up to: a b McDermott, Joseph P. (2006). A social history of the Chinese book: Books and literati culture in late imperial China. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-962-209-782-7.
Jump up ^ Bulkeley, Kelly (2008). Dreaming in the world's religions: A comparative history. New York: New York University Press. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-8147-9956-7.
Jump up ^ Suarez, M.E. & Wooudhuysen, H.R. (2013). The book: A global history. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Pages 656–7.
^ Jump up to: a b "O Códice de Dresden". World Digital Library. 1200–1250. Retrieved 2013-08-21. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "WDL" defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
Jump up ^ Bernhard Bischoff. Latin Palaeography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Cambridge University Press 2003 [reprint], p. 11.
Jump up ^ "Papermaking". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
Jump up ^ Needham, V 1
Jump up ^ Needham, V 1, p. 123
Jump up ^ Burns, Robert I.: "Paper comes to the West, 800–1400", in: Lindgren, Uta: Europäische Technik im Mittelalter. 800 bis 1400. Tradition und Innovation, 4th ed., Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-7861-1748-9, pp. 413–422 (418)
^ Jump up to: a b Thompson, Susan: "Paper Manufacturing and Early Books", Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 314 (1978), pp. 167–176 (169)
Jump up ^ Lucas, Adam Robert: "Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe", Technology and Culture, Vol. 46, No. 1 (2005), pp. 1–30 (28, fn. 70)
Jump up ^ Burns, Robert I.: "Paper comes to the West, 800–1400", in: Lindgren, Uta: Europäische Technik im Mittelalter. 800 bis 1400. Tradition und Innovation, 4th ed., Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-7861-1748-9, pp. 413–422 (414–417)
Jump up ^ Burns, Robert I.: "Paper comes to the West, 800–1400", in: Lindgren, Uta: Europäische Technik im Mittelalter. 800 bis 1400. Tradition und Innovation, 4th ed., Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-7861-1748-9, pp. 413–422 (417)
Jump up ^ Quran#Compilation
Jump up ^ Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress: First Book in Africa
Jump up ^ Gillespie, Raymond; Hadfield, Andrew (2 February 2006). The Oxford History of the Irish Book, Volume III : The Irish Book in English, 1550-1800: The Irish Book in English, 1550-1800. OUP Oxford. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-19-151433-3.
Jump up ^ Eddy, Matthew Daniel (2012). "Natural History, Natural Philosophy and Readership". The Edinburgh History of the Book in Scotland. 2: 297–309.
Jump up ^ Robert Darnton, The Case for Books: Past, Present and Future, New York, Public Affairs, 2009. ISBN 978-1-58648-826-0.
Jump up ^ Nunberg, Geoffrey (1996-01-01). The Future of the Book. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520204515.
Jump up ^ Carrière, Jean-Claude; Eco, Umberto (2012-05-01). This is Not the End of the Book: A Conversation Curated by Jean-Philippe de Tonnac. Vintage. ISBN 9780099552451.
Jump up ^ Ballatore, Andrea; Natale, Simone (2015-05-18). "E-readers and the death of the book: Or, new media and the myth of the disappearing medium". New Media & Society: 1461444815586984. ISSN 1461-4448. doi:10.1177/1461444815586984.
Jump up ^ http://www.teenink.com/opinion/current_events_politics/article/211256/Are-E-books-Taking-Over-the-Printed-World/
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to History of the book market.
Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP)
Program in the History of the Book in American Culture
The Atlas of Early Printing
Development of the Printed Page at the University of South Carolina Libraryies Digital Collections
Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, Center for Digital Initiatives, University of Vermont Libraries
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text:
End of World War II in Europe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The German Instrument of Surrender signed at Reims, 8 May 1945
[show]
v
t
e
West European Campaign (1944–45)
Overlord
Dragoon
Paris
Paris to the Rhine
Channel Coast
Market Garden
Aachen
Hürtgen Forest
Scheldt
Queen
Bulge
Nordwind
Blackcock
Colmar Pocket
Reichswald
Invasion of Germany
End of World War II in Europe
The final battles of the European Theatre of World War II as well as the German surrender to the Soviet Union and the Western Allies took place in late April and early May 1945.
Contents
[hide]
1 Timeline of surrenders and deaths
2 See also
3 Citations
4 References
5 Further reading
6 External links
Timeline of surrenders and deaths[edit]
Main article: Timeline of Axis surrenders in World War II
Allied forces begin to take large numbers of Axis prisoners: The total number of prisoners taken on the Western Front in April 1945 by the Western Allies was 1,500,000.[1] April also witnessed the capture of at least 120,000 German troops by the Western Allies in the last campaign of the war in Italy.[2] In the three or four months up to the end of April, over 800,000 German soldiers surrendered on the Eastern Front.[2] In early April, the first Allied-governed Rheinwiesenlagers were established in western Germany to hold hundreds of thousands of captured or surrendered Axis Forces personnel. Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) reclassified all prisoners as Disarmed Enemy Forces, not POWs (prisoners of war). The legal fiction circumvented provisions under the Geneva Convention of 1929 on the treatment of former combatants.[3] By October, thousands had died in the camps from starvation, exposure and disease.[4]
The Dachau death train consisted of nearly forty railcars containing the bodies of between 2,000 and 3,000 prisoners who were evacuated from Buchenwald on 7 April 1945.
Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps and refugees: Allied forces began to discover the scale of The Holocaust. The advance into Germany uncovered numerous Nazi concentration camps and forced labor facilities. Up to 60,000 prisoners were at Bergen-Belsen when it was liberated on 15 April 1945, by the British 11th Armoured Division.[5] Four days later troops from the American 42nd (Rainbow) Infantry Division found Dachau.[6] Allied troops forced the remaining SS guards to gather up the corpses and place them in mass graves.[7] Due to the prisoners' poor physical condition, thousands continued to die after liberation.[8] Captured SS guards were subsequently tried at Allied war crimes tribunals where many were sentenced to death.[9] However, up to 10,000 Nazi war criminals eventually fled Europe using ratlines such as ODESSA.[10]
Germans leave Finland: On 25 April 1945, the last Germans were expelled by the Finnish Army from Finland and retreated into Norway.
Mussolini's death: On 25 April 1945, Italian partisans liberated Milan and Turin. On 27 April 1945, as Allied forces closed in on Milan, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans. It is disputed whether he was trying to flee from Italy to Switzerland (through the Splügen Pass), and was traveling with a German anti-aircraft battalion. On 28 April, Mussolini was executed in Giulino (a civil parish of Mezzegra); the other Fascists captured with him were taken to Dongo and executed there. The bodies were then taken to Milan and hung up on the Piazzale Loreto of the city. On 29 April, Rodolfo Graziani surrendered all Fascist Italian armed forces at Caserta. This included Army Group Liguria. Graziani was the Minister of Defence for Mussolini's Italian Social Republic.
The front page of The Montreal Daily Star announcing the German surrender.
Final positions of the Allied armies, May 1945
Axis-held territory at the end of the war in Europe shown in blue
Keitel signs surrender terms, 8 May 1945 in Berlin
Hitler's death: On 30 April, as the Battle of Nuremberg and the Battle of Hamburg ended with American and British occupation, in addition to the Battle of Berlin raging above him with the Soviets surrounding the city, along with his escape route cut off by the Americans, realizing that all was lost and not wishing to suffer Mussolini's fate, German dictator Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his Führerbunker along with Eva Braun, his long-term partner whom he had married less than 40 hours before their joint suicide.[11] In his will, Hitler dismissed Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, his second-in-command and Interior minister Heinrich Himmler after each of them separately tried to seize control of the crumbling Third Reich. Hitler appointed his successors as follows; Großadmiral Karl Dönitz as the new Reichspräsident ("President of Germany") and Joseph Goebbels as the new Reichskanzler (Chancellor of Germany). However, Goebbels committed suicide the following day, leaving Dönitz as the sole leader of Germany.
German forces in Italy surrender: On 29 April, the day before Hitler died, Oberstleutnant Schweinitz and Sturmbannführer Wenner, plenipotentiaries for Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff and SS Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff, signed a surrender document at Caserta[12] after prolonged unauthorised secret negotiations with the Western Allies, which were viewed with great suspicion by the Soviet Union as trying to reach a separate peace. In the document, the Germans agreed to a ceasefire and surrender of all the forces under the command of Vietinghoff at 2pm on 2 May. Accordingly, after some bitter wrangling between Wolff and Albert Kesselring in the early hours of 2 May, nearly 1,000,000 men in Italy and Austria surrendered unconditionally to British Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander at 2pm on 2 May.[13]
German forces in Berlin surrender: The Battle of Berlin ended on 2 May. On that date, General der Artillerie Helmuth Weidling, the commander of the Berlin Defense Area, unconditionally surrendered the city to General Vasily Chuikov of the Soviet army.[14] On the same day the officers commanding the two armies of Army Group Vistula north of Berlin, (General Kurt von Tippelskirch, commander of the German 21st Army and General Hasso von Manteuffel, commander of Third Panzer Army), surrendered to the Western Allies.[15] 2 May is also believed to have been the day when Hitler's deputy Martin Bormann died, from the account of Artur Axmann who saw Bormann's corpse in Berlin near the Lehrter Bahnhof railway station after encountering a Soviet Red Army patrol.[16] Lehrter Bahnhof is close to where the remains of Bormann, confirmed as his by a DNA test in 1998,[17] were unearthed on 7 December 1972.
German forces in North West Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands surrender: On 4 May 1945, the British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery took the unconditional military surrender at Lüneburg from Generaladmiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, and General Eberhard Kinzel, of all German forces "in Holland [sic], in northwest Germany including the Frisian Islands and Heligoland and all other islands, in Schleswig-Holstein, and in Denmark… includ[ing] all naval ships in these areas",[18][19] at the Timeloberg on Lüneburg Heath; an area between the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen. The number of German land, sea and air forces involved in this surrender amounted to 1,000,000 men.[20] On 5 May, Großadmiral Dönitz ordered all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases.
At 16:00, General Johannes Blaskowitz, the German commander-in-chief in the Netherlands, surrendered to Canadian General Charles Foulkes in the Dutch town of Wageningen in the presence of Prince Bernhard (acting as commander-in-chief of the Dutch Interior Forces).[21][22]
German forces in Bavaria surrender: At 14:30 on 4 May 1945, General Hermann Foertsch surrendered all forces between the Bohemian mountains and the Upper Inn river to the American General Jacob L. Devers, commander of the American 6th Army Group.
Central Europe: On 5 May 1945, the Czech resistance started the Prague uprising. The following day, the Soviets launched the Prague Offensive. In Dresden, Gauleiter Martin Mutschmann let it be known that a large-scale German offensive on the Eastern Front was about to be launched. Within two days, Mutschmann abandoned the city, but was captured by Soviet troops while trying to escape.[23]
Hermann Göring's surrender: On 6 May, Reichsmarshall and Hitler's second-in-command, Hermann Göring, surrendered to General Carl Spaatz, who was the commander of the operational United States Air Forces in Europe, along with his wife and daughter at the Germany-Austria border. He was by this time the most powerful Nazi official still alive.
German forces in Breslau surrender: At 18:00 on 6 May, General Hermann Niehoff, the commandant of Breslau, a 'fortress' city surrounded and besieged for months, surrendered to the Soviets.[22]
Jodl and Keitel surrender all German armed forces unconditionally: Thirty minutes after the fall of "Festung Breslau" (Fortress Breslau), General Alfred Jodl arrived in Reims and, following Dönitz's instructions, offered to surrender all forces fighting the Western Allies. This was exactly the same negotiating position that von Friedeburg had initially made to Montgomery, and like Montgomery the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, threatened to break off all negotiations unless the Germans agreed to a complete unconditional surrender to all the Allies on all fronts.[24] Eisenhower explicitly told Jodl that he would order western lines closed to German soldiers, thus forcing them to surrender to the Soviets.[24] Jodl sent a signal to Dönitz, who was in Flensburg, informing him of Eisenhower's declaration. Shortly after midnight, Dönitz, accepting the inevitable, sent a signal to Jodl authorizing the complete and total surrender of all German forces.[22][24]
At 02:41 on the morning of 7 May, at SHAEF headquarters in Reims, France, the Chief-of-Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command, General Alfred Jodl, signed an unconditional surrender document for all German forces to the Allies, committing representatives of the German High Command to attend a definitive signing ceremony in Berlin. General Franz Böhme announced the unconditional surrender of German troops in Norway on 7 May. It included the phrase "All forces under German control to cease active operations at 2301 hours Central European Time on May 8, 1945."[18][25] The next day, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and other German OKW representatives travelled to Berlin, and shortly before midnight signed an amended and definitive document of unconditional surrender, explicitly surrendering to all the Allied forces in the presence of Marshal Georgi Zhukov and representatives of SHAEF.[26] The signing ceremony took place in a former German Army Engineering School in the Berlin district of Karlshorst; it now houses the German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst.
German forces on the Channel Islands surrender: At 10:00 on 8 May, the Channel Islanders were informed by the German authorities that the war was over. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a radio broadcast at 15:00 during which he announced: "Hostilities will end officially at one minute after midnight tonight, but in the interests of saving lives the 'Cease fire' began yesterday to be sounded all along the front, and our dear Channel Islands are also to be freed today."[27][25]
VE-Day: News of the imminent surrender broke in the West on 8 May, and celebrations erupted throughout Europe and parts of the British Empire. In the US, Americans awoke to the news and declared 8 May V-E Day. As the Soviet Union was to the east of Germany it was 9 May Moscow Time when the German military surrender became effective, which is why Russia and many other European countries east of Germany commemorate Victory Day on 9 May.
German units cease fire: Although the military commanders of most German forces obeyed the order to surrender issued by the (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW)—the German Armed Forces High Command), not all commanders did so. The largest contingent were Army Group Centre under the command of Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner who had been promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Army on 30 April in Hitler's last will and testament. On 8 May, Schörner deserted his command and flew to Austria; the Soviet Army sent overwhelming force against Army Group Centre in the Prague Offensive, forcing German units in Army Group Centre to capitulate by 11 May. The other forces which did not surrender on 8 May surrendered piecemeal:
The Second Army, under the command of General von Saucken, on the Heiligenbeil and Danzig beachheads, on the Hel Peninsula in the Vistula delta surrendered on 9 May, as did the forces on the Greek islands; and the garrisons of the last Atlantic pockets in France, in Saint-Nazaire, La Rochelle (after the Allied siege), and Lorient.
Battle of Slivice, the last battle in Czechoslovakia, on 12 May
On 13 May, the Red Army halted all offensives in Europe. Isolated pockets of resistance in Czechoslovakia were mopped up by this date.
People gathered in Whitehall to hear Winston Churchill's victory speech, 8 May 1945
The garrison on Alderney, one of the Channel Islands occupied by the Germans, surrendered on 16 May, one week after the garrisons on Guernsey and Jersey had surrendered on 9 May and those on Sark on 10 May.
The Georgian Uprising of Texel (5 April – 20 May) was Europe's last battlefield in World War II. It was fought between Georgian Nazi-collaborationist army units on Texel against the German occupiers of that Dutch island.
Another military engagement took place in Yugoslavia (today's Slovenia), on 14 and 15 May, known as the Battle of Poljana.
A small group of German soldiers deployed on Svalbard in Operation Haudegen to establish and man a weather station there lost radio contact in May 1945; they surrendered to some Norwegian seal hunters on 4 September, two days after the Surrender of Japan.
Dönitz government ordered dissolved by Eisenhower: Karl Dönitz continued to act as if he were the German head of state, but his Flensburg government (so-called because it was based at Flensburg in northern Germany and controlled only a small area around the town), was not recognized by the Allies. On 12 May an Allied liaison team arrived in Flensburg and took quarters aboard the passenger ship Patria. The liaison officers and the Supreme Allied Headquarters soon realized that they had no need to act through the Flensburg government and that its members should be arrested. On 23 May, acting on SHAEF's orders and with the approval of the Soviets, American Major General Rooks summoned Dönitz aboard the Patria and communicated to him that he and all the members of his Government were under arrest, and that their government was dissolved. The Allies had a problem, because they realized that although the German armed forces had surrendered unconditionally, SHAEF had failed to use the document created by the "European Advisory Commission" (EAC) and so there had been no formal surrender by the civilian German government. This was considered a very important issue, because just as the civilian, but not military, surrender in 1918 had been used by Hitler to create the "stab in the back" argument, the Allies did not want to give any future hostile German regime a legal argument to resurrect an old quarrel.
Order JCS 1067 was signed into effect by President Harry S. Truman on 10 May 1945. This was part of the post-war economic plan that advocated how the Allied occupation would include measures to prevent Germany from waging further war by eliminating its armament industry, and the removal or destruction of other key industries required for military strength. This included the removal or destruction of all industrial plants and equipment in the Ruhr.[28] In 1947, JCS 1067 was replaced by JCS 1779 that aimed at restoring a "stable and productive Germany"; this led to the introduction of the Marshall Plan.[29]
Declaration Regarding the Defeat of Germany and the Assumption of Supreme Authority by Allied Powers was signed by the four Allies on 5 June. It included the following:
The Governments of the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and the Provisional Government of the French Republic, hereby assume supreme authority with respect to Germany, including all the powers possessed by the German Government, the High Command and any state, municipal, or local government or authority. The assumption, for the purposes stated above, of the said authority and powers does not effect[a] the annexation of Germany.
—  US Department of State, Treaties and Other International Acts Series, No. 1520.[31]
The Oder-Neisse Line
It is disputed whether this assumption of power constituted debellation—the end of a war caused by the complete destruction of a hostile state.[32][33][b]
The Potsdam Agreement was signed on 12 August 1945. In connection with this, the Allied leaders planned the new postwar German government, resettled war territory boundaries, de facto annexed a quarter of pre-war Germany situated east of the Oder-Neisse line, and mandated and organized the expulsion of the millions of Germans who remained in the annexed territories and elsewhere in the east. They also ordered German demilitarization, denazification, industrial disarmament and settlements of war reparations.
The Allied zones of occupation in post-war Germany, highlighting the Soviet zone (red), the inner German border (heavy black line) and the zone from which British and US troops withdrew in July 1945 (purple). The provincial boundaries are those of pre-Nazi Weimar Germany, before the present Länder were established.
Allied Control Council created to effect the Allies assumed supreme authority over Germany, specifically to implement their assumed joint authority over Germany. On 30 August, the Control Council constituted itself and issued its first proclamation, which informed the German people of the Council's existence and asserted that the commands and directives issued by the Commanders-in-Chief in their respective zones were not affected by the establishment of the Council. Cessation of hostilities between the United States and Germany was proclaimed on 13 December 1946 by US President Truman.[34]
Paris Peace Conference ended on 10 February 1947 with the signing of peace treaties by the wartime Allies with the minor European Axis powers (Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland; although Italy by some was considered a major power).
The Federal Republic of Germany, that had been founded on 23 May 1949 (when its Basic Law was promulgated) had its first government formed on 20 September 1949 while the German Democratic Republic was formed on 7 October.
End of state of war with Germany was declared by many former Western Allies in 1950. In the Petersberg Agreement of 22 November 1949, it was noted that the West German government wanted an end to the state of war, but the request could not be granted. The US state of war with Germany was being maintained for legal reasons, and though it was softened somewhat it was not suspended since "the US wants to retain a legal basis for keeping a US force in Western Germany".[35] At a meeting for the Foreign Ministers of France, the UK, and the US in New York from 12 September – 19 December 1950, it was stated that among other measures to strengthen West Germany's position in the Cold War that the western allies would "end by legislation the state of war with Germany".[36] In 1951, many former Western Allies did end their state of war with Germany: Australia (9 July), Canada, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands (26 July), South Africa, the United Kingdom (9 July), and the United States (19 October).[37][38][39][40][41][42] The state of war between Germany and the Soviet Union was ended in early 1955.[43]
"The full authority of a sovereign state" was granted to the Federal Republic of Germany on 5 May 1955 under the terms of the Bonn–Paris conventions. The treaty ended the military occupation of West German territory, but the three occupying powers retained some special rights, e.g. vis-à-vis West Berlin.
Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany: Under the terms of this peace treaty, the Four Powers renounced all rights they formerly held in Germany, including Berlin. As a result, Germany became fully sovereign on 15 March 1991. Under the terms of the Treaty, the Allies were allowed to keep troops in Berlin until the end of 1994 (articles 4 and 5). In accordance with the Treaty, occupying troops were withdrawn by that deadline.
US soldiers view the corpses of prisoners which lie strewn along the road in the newly liberated Ohrdruf concentration camp
See also[edit]
World War II portal
War portal
History portal
End of World War II in Asia
Aftermath of World War II
Allied Commissions
Council of Foreign Ministers
Effects of World War II
German Instrument of Surrender
Line of contact
Surrender of Japan
Western betrayal
German prisoners of war in northwest Europe
Citations[edit]
Notes
Jump up ^ Facsimile of the original text, the transcription used in the Avalon source for the paragraph is erroneous. In this case, "effect" is correct.[30] The implication is that annexation of Germany did not occur with the assumption of all the powers of the German state by the four Allied powers. However the next paragraph explicitly stated that the "[four Allied powers] will hereafter determine the boundaries of Germany or any part thereof and the status of Germany or of any area at present being part of German territory".[30]
Jump up ^ Although the Allied powers considered this a debellatio ( The human rights dimensions of population, UNHCR web site, p. 2 § 138 ) other authorities have argued that the vestiges of the German state continued to exist even though the Allied Control Council governed the territory; and that eventually a fully sovereign German government resumed over a state that never ceased to exist ( Junker, Detlef (2004), Junker, Detlef; Gassert, Philipp; Mausbach, Wilfried; et al., eds., The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War, 1945–1990: A Handbook, 2, Cambridge University Press, co-published with German Historical Institute, Washington D.C., p. 104, ISBN 0-521-79112-X .)
References
Jump up ^ The Daily Telegraph Story of the War, (January 1st to October 9th 1945) page 153
^ Jump up to: a b the Times, 1 May 1945, page 4
Jump up ^ (Biddiscombe 1998, p. 253)
Jump up ^ Davidson, Eugene (1999). The Death and Life of Germany. University of Missouri Press. pp. 84–85. ISBN 0-8262-1249-2.
Jump up ^ "The 11th Armoured Division (Great Britain)", United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Jump up ^ "Station 11: Crematorium – Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site". Kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
Jump up ^ Wiesel, Elie (2002). After the Darkness: Reflections on the Holocaust. New York, NY: Schocken Books. p. 41.
Jump up ^ Knoch, Habbo (2010). Bergen-Belsen: Wehrmacht POW Camp 1940–1945, Concentration Camp 1943–1945, Displaced Persons Camp 1945–1950. Catalogue of the permanent exhibition. Wallstein. p. 103. ISBN 978-3-8353-0794-0.
Jump up ^ Greene, Joshua (2003). Justice At Dachau: The Trials Of An American Prosecutor. New York: Broadway. p. 400. ISBN 0-7679-0879-1.
Jump up ^ Wiesenthal, Simon (1989). "Chapter 6: Odessa". Justice not Vengeance. George Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Jump up ^ Beevor 2002, p. 342.
Jump up ^ Ernest F. Fisher Jr: United States Army in WWII, The Mediterranean - Cassino to the Alps. Page 524.
Jump up ^ Daily Telegraph Story of the War fifth volume page 153
Jump up ^ Dollinger, Hans. The Decline and the Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 67-27047. p. 239
Jump up ^ Ziemke 1969, p. 128.
Jump up ^ Beevor, Antony (2002). Berlin: The Downfall 1945. Viking-Penguin Books.
Jump up ^ Karacs, Imre (4 May 1998). "DNA test closes book on mystery of Martin Bormann". Independent. London. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b The German Surrender Documents – WWII
Jump up ^ "Monty Speech & German Surrender 1945". British Pathé. Retrieved December 2013. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
Jump up ^ the Times, 5 May 1945, page 4
Jump up ^ World War II Timeline:western Europe: 1945 Archived 22 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Jump up to: a b c Ron Goldstein Field Marshal Keitel's surrender BBC additional comment by Peter – WW2 Site Helper
Jump up ^ [Page 228, "The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan", Hans Dollinger (de), Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 67-27047]
^ Jump up to: a b c Ziemke 1969, p. 130.
^ Jump up to: a b During the summers of World War II, Britain was on British Double Summer Time which meant that the country was ahead of CET time by one hour. This means that the surrender time in the UK was "effective from 0001 hours on May 9".RAF Site Diary 7/8 May Archived 18 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
Jump up ^ Ziemke 1990, p. 258 last paragraph.
Jump up ^ The Churchill Centre: The End of the War in Europe Archived 19 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine.
Jump up ^ Morgenthau, Henry (1944). "Suggested Post-Surrender Program for Germany [The original memorandum from 1944, signed by Morgenthau] (text and facsimile)". Box 31, Folder Germany: Jan.-Sept. 1944 (i297). Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum (published 27 May 2004). Archived from the original on 31 May 2013. Demilitarization of Germany: It should be the aim of the Allied Forces to accomplish the complete demilitarization of Germany in the shortest possible period of time after surrender. This means completely disarming the German Army and people (including the removal or destruction of all war material), the total destruction of the whole German armament industry, and the removal or destruction of other key industries which are basic to military strength.
Jump up ^ Beschloss, Michael R (2003). The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941–1945. Simon & Schuster. pp. 169–170. ISBN 0743244540.
^ Jump up to: a b Plenipotentiaries 1945, p. 1 (3 PDF).
Jump up ^ Declaration Regarding the Defeat of Germany Archived 18 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine., The Avalon Project, Yale Law School, Retrieved 14 September 2008
Jump up ^ United Nations War Crimes Commission (1997), Law reports of trials of war criminals: United Nations War Crimes Commission, Wm. S. Hein, p. 13, ISBN 1-57588-403-8
Jump up ^ Yearbook of the International Law Commission (PDF), II Part Two, 1993, p. 54)
Jump up ^ Werner v. United States (188 F.2d 266) Archived 14 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine., United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit, 4 April 1951. Website of Public.Resource.Org Archived 28 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
Jump up ^ A Step Forward Time Magazine Monday, 28 November 1949
Jump up ^ Staff. Full text of "Britannica Book Of The Year 1951" Open-Access Text Archive. Retrieved 11 August 2008
Jump up ^ War's End Time Magazine, 16 July 1951
Jump up ^ Elihu Lauterpacht, C. J. Greenwood. International law reports. Volume 52, Cambridge University Press, 1979 ISBN 0-521-46397-1. p. 505
Jump up ^ James H. Marsh. World War II:Making the Peace, The Canadian Encyclopedia, Retrieved 11 August 2008
Jump up ^ 1951 in History BrainyMedia.com. Retrieved 11 August 2008
Jump up ^ H. Lauterpacht (editor), International law reports Volume 23. Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-949009-37-7. p. 773
Jump up ^ US Code—Title 50 Appendix—War and National Defense Archived 6 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine., U.S. Government Printing Office Archived 29 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine..
Jump up ^ Spreading Hesitation Time Magazine Monday, 7 February 1955
References[edit]
Beevor, Antony (2002), Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Viking-Penguin Books, p. 342
Plenipotentiaries (5 June 1945), "Declaration Regarding the Defeat of Germany and the Assumption of Supreme Authority with respect to Germany by the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the provisional government of the French Republic (facsimile)", Germany No. i (1945): Unconditional Surrender of Germany Declaration and other Documents issued by the Governments of the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the Provisional Government of the French Republic (PDF), pp. 1–6 (3–7 PDF), retrieved December 2013 Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
Ziemke, Earl F. (1969), Battle for Berlin: End of the Third Reich, London: Macdomald & Co, p. 128
Ziemke, Earl F. (1990), "Chapter XV: The Victory Sealed: Surrender at Reims", The U.S. Army in the occupation of Germany 1944–1946, Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D. C., Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 75-619027
Further reading[edit]
Deutsche Welle special coverage of the end of World War II—features a global perspective.
On this Day 7 May 1945: Germany signs unconditional surrender
Account of German surrender, BBC
Charles Kiley (Stars and Stripes Staff Writer).Details of the Surrender Negotiations This Is How Germany Gave Up
London '45 Victory Parade, photos and the exclusion of the Polish ally
Multimedia map of the war (1024x768 & Macromedia Flash Plugin 7.x)
External links[edit]
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
German Instrument of Surrender, 1945
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Winston Churchill announces the Surrender of Germany
The short film A DEFEATED PEOPLE (1946) is available for free download at the Internet Archive
End of World War II in Europe is available for free download at the Internet Archive
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values: نهاية الحرب العالمية الثانية في أوروبا – Arabic

values: Fin de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en Europa – Spanish

values: پایان جنگ جهانی دوم در اروپا – Persian

values: Fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale en Europe – French

values: 유럽의 제2차 세계 대전 종전 – Korean

values: Akhir Perang Dunia II di Eropa – Indonesian

values: Fine della seconda guerra mondiale in Europa – Italian

values: Einde van de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Europa – Dutch

values: 欧州戦線における終戦 (第二次世界大戦) – Japanese

values: Fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial na Europa – Portuguese

values: Sfârșitul celui de-al Doilea Război Mondial în Europa – Romanian

values: Завершение Второй мировой войны в Европе – Russian

values: ஐரோப்பாவில் இரண்டாம் உலகப் போரின் முடிவு – Tamil

values: Avrupa'da II. Dünya Savaşı'nın Sonu – Turkish

values: Завершення Другої світової війни у Європі – Ukrainian

values: 第二次世界大戰歐洲戰場的結束 – Chinese

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