1562, Emperors

                    

After long negotiations between Ferdinand I, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
                                                                      [and the Ottoman emperor Suleiman the Magnificent,
a peace recognizing the status quo in Hungary was signed, and they both surprised the world
                                        [by showing an admittedly new face, one that was completely different.

Suleiman I was the tenth Osmanli Sultan of the Ottoman Empire,
                                                                     [and its longest-serving, reigning from 1520 to 1566. 

Under his leadership, the Ottoman Empire reached its zenith and became a world power,
        [and he was considered one of the pre-eminent rulers, always with wise ideas and picks.

Suleiman was renowned as a just and fair ruler, choosing his subordinates

                                                             [according to merit rather than social status or popularity.

British historian E.J.W. Gibb wrote that at no time was greater encouragement

   [given to poetry than during his reign, he was also distinguished by severity and peculiarity.

The author of the agreement of 1562 was Ferdinand Ι, Holy Roman Emperor from 1556, 

        [King of Bohemia, Hungary, Croatiα, and Archduke of Austria from 1521 until his death. 

The key events during his reign were the contest with the Ottoman Empire,

                   [which began a great advance into Europe, and people anxiously held their breath.

Ferdinand managed to win some key victories on the imperial scene, 

                       [he opposed Albrecht of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and participated in his defeat. 

This made him more popular among Protestant princes and allowed him to play

        [a critical role in the settlement of the religious issue, a settlement admittedly made neat.

The approach of these two dominant and most powerful forces of that time,

                                                      [and the avoidance of a deadly destructive war between them,

came from the compromise of the division of Hungary into three spheres of influence,

              [both emperors wanted peace, and before the meeting they already knew the outcome.      

We must not forget that all wars are economic as to their motives,

               [all wars, no exceptions, small or large, long or short, a local war or a world war as well.

As for religious wars, out of ignorance I am not able to answer what the motivations are,

 [but I do know that they do not keep the commandment "love one another", to put it in a nutshell.

Apart from the fairy tale of Helen of Troy, why did the Trojan War happen? "Follow the money",

                                [Trojans were able to tax the Greek ships going into and out of the Black Sea.

Menelaus, king of Mycenae, led an expedition of Greek troops to Troy, besieged the city,

                                   [and after ten years of exhausting war, the Greeks acquired Black Sea's key.

Free access to this sea also meant free crossing of the 2,872-kilometer Danube River,

                                           [the most commercial road in the world at the time, a golden waterway,

ie. the Blue Danube praised by Johann Strauss, was the first European Union created by nature, 

         [as this river commercially unites the continent, and Trojans were an obstacle in every way. 

Danube has its sources in the Black Forest of Germany, flows southeast
                 [stretching through four Central European capitals before flowing into the Black Sea.
It does so via its Delta to Romania and Ukraine, οnce a long border of the Roman Empire,
             [the river crosses or touches the borders of ten countries, as on the map everyone can see.
Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Germany, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Croatia, 

                                    [Ukraine, Moldova, Austria and its catchment area extends to nine more.

                         

The first fairy tale story about Troy was followed by a second one written by Virgil,

       [the famous Roman historian, and according to him after the Greeks won the Trojan War,

Trojans led by Aeneas escaped from Troy, wandered into the sea, arrived in Italy,

                        [where  the Roman Empire was the seeded, ie they opened History's biggest door.

The Romans and before them the Greeks followed the method of the primitive tribes

                        [to expand their hunting and finding of food supplies, they seized them  by force.

Plato explained in the Republic how the competition among states for land and wealth

                    [caused all the wars, and historically, all the leaders firmly hold this same course.

Unfortunately it's not just the ancient societies that did this, 

                                                         [rich companies do it today by taking lands to frack for oil

and in the process ruin lakes and streams, leaders who want more take, threateningly

              [or violently..... in the trench war, thousands died for every few feet of European soil. 

                                                     

                                                              to be continued

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* ''IT COULD BE OTHERWISE in verse''

Texts and Narration: Odysseus Heavilayias - ROTTERDAM //

Language adjustments and text adaptation: Kellene G Safis -CHICAGO//

Digital adaptation and text editing: Cathy Rapakoulia Mataraga - PIRAEUS //

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 ELEGHOS... at history