Just a reminder that the roots of the present conflict in Ukraine go far back into history. It is impossible to understand it without understanding the Holy Roman Empire.
The Holy Roman Empire was a creation of the Catholic Church, intended to unite Europe in order to rein in the eastern Christians that were questioning papal authority. Charlemagne was crowned as it's first emperor, in the year 800. But the Holy Roman Empire was less-than-successful in it's stated mission and the eastern (using the Byzantine Rite) Christians ultimately broke away in what is known as the Great Schism of 1054 to form the Eastern Orthodox Church.
What the Holy Roman Empire did accomplish was to last for a thousand years, before finally being concluded by the conquests of Napoleon. But it must have a great historical impact just from having lasted so long.
The Nazis called themselves "The Third Reich", with the Holy Roman Empire being the First Reich and the time of the kaisers the second. The Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, after gathering Europe together, was an attempt to fulfill the original mission of the Holy Roman Empire.
Six years ago I wrote, "The Far-Reaching Legacy Of The Holy Roman Empire", now you can see what I mean. Here is a link to it:
www.markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-far-reaching-legacy-of-holy-roman.html?m=0
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