Tions of 1917
Oder-Neisse line Border between Poland and eastern Germany, as formed after world war ii in the context of red army control and the deliberations of the Potsdam conference. Running northwards along the Western Neisse river and then the Oder, it permitted the Poles to advance beyond their pre-war frontier with Germany (thus winning some compensation for what they were also losing eastwards to the Soviet Union) and also to strengthen their hold by expelling over 6 million
The Wiley-Blackwell Dictionary of Modern European History Since 1789 Nicholas Atkin, Michael Biddiss and Frank Tallett
© 2011 Nicholas Atkin, Michael Biddiss, Frank Tallett. ISBN: 978-1-405-18922-4
Germans from the new territory. The german DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC conceded de facto recognition of this settlement in 1950, and twenty years later the federal republic of Germany’s new ostpo-LiTiK led it to follow suit. Full international legitimation of the Oder-Neisse line was achieved only in 1990, as part of the negotiations confirming GERMAN REUNIFICATION.
Oil crises Phrase commonly applied to the substantial rises in the price ofcrude oil that occurred in 1973 and 1979 and to their global repercussions. The first shock was triggered by Arab states’ determination to punish Western countries for supporting Israel in the so-called Yom Kippur war against Egypt and Syria, and was then accentuated by a major fall in the US dollar. The second crisis stemmed from the Iranian revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini. For western Europeans the 1973 price rise soon ended the 30-year boom that had helped to support their expectations of constant growth in affluence and public welfare provision (see welfarism). The 1979 inflation reinforced such economic problems, and also accelerated their extension into eastern Europe where not even the indigenous oil production of the Soviet Union and Romania could protect a struggling Soviet bloc from the rising costs of imports. In combination, the two crises served to underline that much of Europe’s prosperity had become unduly dependent on external sources of oil over which this continent now had less direct control than before. To the realization that reserves were finite in the longer run was now added a greater appreciation ofthe fact that, henceforth, the pricing of this commodity would remain highly vulnerable to the economic and political instabilities of a global market. By the early twenty-first century the issues at stake had turned into even more chronic concerns about the sustainability and cost of European energy supplies, with reference to natural gas as well as oil. (See also environmentalism)
Ollivier, Emile (1825-1913), French politician who, having initially opposed napoleon iii, eventually became the emperor’s principal minister. Born of wealthy parents and trained as a lawyer, Ollivier had been a fierce critic of the july monarchy. Following the February revolution of 1848 (see REVOLUTIONS OF 1848-9), he was briefly an elected member of the Constituent Assembly. Thereafter he opposed the revival of Bonapartism, and its conversion of the second republic into the Second Empire. He returned to parliament in 1857, as an opposition deputy. By the early 1860s, however, Ollivier was increasingly minded to argue that the Second Empire should be reformed from within by constitutional means. To this end, he broke with republican colleagues and in 1863 cooperated with the government in a partial programme of supposed liberalization, though the resulting reforms were widely recognized as nothing more than a sham. In December 1869, aware of growing public hostility to his regime, Napoleon III called on Ollivier to form a government. This proposed far-reaching constitutional and social reforms, in the spirit of a “liberal” empire. However, these changes were never properly implemented due to the franco-PRUSSIAN WAR, which Ollivier first opposed and then supported. With the war going badly in August 1870, he was forced to resign and to flee to Italy. Though he returned home four years later, Ollivier never recovered his former political influence. He spent the rest of his long career writing literary and historical studies, attempting to rehabilitate his reputation and that of Napoleon III.
Olmutz agreement Compact of November 29, 1850, between Austria and Prussia to restore the GERMAN CONFEDERATION that had been disbanded
During the revolutions of 1848-9. Amidst those events, Frederick william iv of Prussia had refused the crown of a “little” Germany from popular assemblies. Instead, he had taken the lead in creating the erfurt union, a federation initially comprising 17 states. Having quelled revolution in Hungary and Italy and being now increasingly sure of support from reactionary Russia, the Austrian habsburg empire was not prepared to tolerate this challenge to its ascendancy in German affairs. In September 1849, it reached an “interim agreement” with Prussia on joint administration of Germany. When this arrangement expired in May 1850, Austria was confident enough to revive the old Diet at Frankfurt, something which Prussia refused to join. War threatened, exacerbated by events in schleswig-holstein and, even more critically, in Hesse-Cassel. Here the Elector, at odds with his subjects, appealed to the German Confederation for help in restoring order - a request to which Austria quickly responded. Prussia, however, was not prepared to permit Habsburg troops to occupy a vital area linking the Rhineland with Brandenburg. As war seemed inevitable, Frederick William IV pulled back and accepted a federal resolution to the Hesse-Cassel issue. In the subsequent “Punctuation” of Olmutz, Prussia gave up the Erfurt Union, agreed to stand down its troops (as did Austria), and accepted the restoration of the Confederation, something eventually accomplished in May 1851. In the context of german UNIFICATION, the triumph that Austria enjoyed at Olmutz proved short-lived. Under Bismarck’s leadership, Prussia would prove victorious in the AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN WAR of 1866, and in 1871 it would finally establish a form of german empire centered on Berlin rather than Vienna.
Opus Dei Latin phrase meaning “the work of God.” Originally the Benedictine name for the daily round of monastic services, it currently designates a movement within the Roman Catholic Church (see Catholicism) that encourages members to live out their faith in all areas of their everyday lives. It was founded in 1928 by a Spanish priest, Josemaria Escriva (1902-75). He was initially mistrusted by the church hierarchy, and then forced into hiding during the Spanish CIVIL WAR. Following franco’s victory, which Escriva welcomed, the movement gained both elite and popular support and spread beyond the Iberian peninsula. Opus Dei now claims some 87,000 adherents, mainly lay persons, in over sixty countries - but secrecy over membership lists renders impossible any verification of numbers. In 1982 Pope john paul ii designated the organization as a personal prelature. This unique arrangement meant that all members, while still belonging to their local congregations, came under the jurisdiction of a single prelate rather than the diocesan bishop. In 2002 John Paul fast-tracked Escriva’s canonization. The movement’s main activities have been in the realm of education, as exemplified by the operation since the 1960s of its own university at Pamplona. Opus Dei has incurred criticism for its secrecy, for its alleged tendency to infiltrate influential positions especially within the spheres of education, politics, and commerce, for its wealth (members contribute a substantial proportion of their income), and for its practice of corporal mortification. In 1981 revelations of its activities led Cardinal Basil Hume to restrict recruitment in England to those over 18 years of age. Opus Dei has rejected these criticisms, becoming more open about its activities and even creating a website.
Oradour massacre German war crime committed on June 10, 1944 in the Limousin region of central France, by a battalion attached to the 2nd SS Panzer Division (see schutzstaffel) moving northwards to resist the normandy landings. The 642 civilians killed on market-day came from the farming village of Oradour-sur-Glane and surrounding hamlets. The men were herded into barns and burned to death; the women and children suffered the same fate inside the church. Thereafter the Nazi soldiers, including recruits from the previously French province of Alsace (see ALSACE-LORRAINE), looted and destroyed the rest of Oradour, from which only a handful of villagers escaped. Crumbling ruins, subsequently left untouched, still survive there as memorial (even more eloquent than the new museum nearby) to a massacre that seems to have had no specific rationale. Though similar atrocities were not uncommon on the Eastern Front, the slaughter at Oradour constituted an outstandingly brutal episode of world war ii as conducted in the West. The French trial of 1953 which convicted a small number of the participants from Alsace provoked protests from that region, while the subsequent early release of those jailed caused similar bitterness in the Limousin.
Organization for European Cooperation and Development (OECD) This intergovernmental body was created in April 1948, originally as the OEEC (Organization for European Economic Cooperation) which was intended to oversee administration of the marshall plan and the reconstruction of Europe after world war ii. Originally comprising 18 European countries, all from the non-Soviet bloc, the OEEC sought to remove trade restrictions between members, pool statistical information, and allocate precious raw materials (a topic where there was often dispute over the distribution of US aid). It became the OECD in 1960, when the USA and Canada joined as full members. Participation was subsequently extended to several other industrial states. Often described as “a rich man’s club,” it has essentially served as a sounding board for ideas, promoting the harmonization of economic, social, legal, and environmental policies among member states, as well as assisting less developed countries.
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (see Helsinki conference)
Orlando, Vittorio Emanuele (1860-1952), Prime Minister of Italy (1917-19). Originally an academic lawyer, this Sicilian liberal headed various ministries from 1903 onward. During world war i he was minister of justice (1915-16) and then of the interior (1916-17), before reaching the premiership in october 1917 following the military disaster at caporetto. Thereafter he contributed to a revival of war morale, and in January 1919 began negotiating the Paris peace settlement as the representative of one of the “Big Four” victors. It soon became plain that the other Allies were unwilling to support the full range of Italian claims, particularly to fiume and Dalmatia. After temporarily withdrawing his delegation in protest, Orlando (with his position further weakened by domestic social unrest) was driven to resign the premiership in June 1919. Though he acquiesced in Mussolini’s assumption of power three years later, by 1925 he had publicly dissociated himself from the fascist regime. After that, orlando largely withdrew from politics. He was, however, one of the elder statesmen who advised victor Emmanuel iii on the coup of 1943 that ousted the Duce, and he then presided over the chamber of deputies from 1944 to 1946.
Orleanism A major political movement in nineteenth-century France. Its name derived from the Duke of Orleans, Louis-Philippe, whose july MONARCHY was established in 1830 at the expense of the elder line of the bourbon dynasty (see also legitimism; monarchism). Orleanism was the main vehicle for the expression of what elsewhere would be termed liberalism. As such it advocated equality before the law and equality of opportunity, constitutional restraints upon government, and a broad franchise albeit one limited by property qualifications. Politically progressive but socially conservative, it had a particular appeal to the notables of France. orleanism was especially influential during the early years of the
THIRD REPUBLIC when its adherents sought the return of monarchical government but, tainted by its association with the boulanger affair in the late 1880s, its influence faded in the face of the growing strength of moderate republicanism.
Orsini plot Attempted assassination (January 14, 1858) of NAPOLEON III by Italian revolutionaries, led by Felice orsini, which prompted the Emperor to pursue his ambitions in the peninsula. Angered by the assistance France had given to the crushing of the Roman Republic (see REVOLUTIONS OF 1848-9) and by Napoleon Ill’s persistent failure to fulfil his promise “to do something for Italy,” nationalists had targeted him on several previous occasions. Orsini’s bomb plot killed eight civilians outside the Paris opera house and wounded 152 others, but amazingly missed its intended target. when it was discovered that the explosive materials had been prepared in London, a war scare ensued between Britain and France. It also looked as though the attempt had further damaged the cause of Italian UNIFICATION. However, in the course of his trial Orsini famously appealed to the French emperor to become “the liberator of Italy.” Though this did not save the accused from the guillotine, it spurred Napoleon III towards the largely selfinterested deal that was settled with cavour in July 1858 as part of the plombieres agreement, aimed at removing northern Italy from the control of the habsburg empire.
Orthodox Christianity Body of beliefs, liturgy and practices espoused by a grouping of Christian churches, most in full communion with each other, which adhere to the doctrines expressed by the seven Ecumenical councils, the last of which was held in 787. The Orthodox communion, which developed historically from the church of the Byzantine empire, includes the ancient Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, together with that of constantinople, which is accorded primacy of honor but no universal jurisdiction comparable to that enjoyed by the Pope within the context of Catholicism. Some 15 autocephalous churches (i. e. with each having its own head) are currently encompassed within the Orthodox communion. The Russian one is the largest and historically the most influential, while others include those of Bulgaria,
Belarus, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Romania, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine. Together with a further seven autonomous (i. e. self-governing) institutions, they comprise the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Yet another grouping, the Oriental Orthodox churches, remain separate on account of their differing theological beliefs. Viewed overall, the Orthodox churches have around 200 million adherents worldwide. Emigration from Russia and Greece since the 1920s spread the tradition to western Europe and to North America, where an autocephalous church was established in 1970, but membership remains concentrated in central and eastern Europe. Members of the Orthodox communion were persecuted by the Ottomans (see turkey and Europe) and subsequently under communism. The fall of the latter around 1990 permitted a resurgence of the faith but also heightened jurisdictional disputes, fuelled partly by the previous association between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Soviet regime. Estrangement between Roman Catholicism and the Orthodox churches, over papal claims and issues concerning theology, the liturgy, and the calendar, led to a schism in 1054 which still persists, although there has been some ecumenical dialogue notably under Pope john xxiii. One particular segment of the Orthodox tradition, known as Eastern Catholics or Uniates, is in full communion with Rome. Frequently viewed by the Vatican as a bridge between the two traditions, they are regarded with mistrust by the other Orthodox churches.
Ostpolitik German term for “eastern policy.” In the era of Nazism, it came to denote hitler’s plans for seizure of Slavic territories, including those of the Soviet Union (see also lebensraum; new order). Later, the context shifted so that its meaning now related principally to the policies pursued by the FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY in regard to the GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC. With the rising influence of the Social Democratic politician brandt (foreign minister 1966-9, and chancellor 1969-74), Ostpolitik became associated most specifically with the FRG’s moves towards abandoning previous efforts to secure the complete political, economic, and cultural isolation of its East German neighbour. The early benefits of this shift (to which from 1971 onward the GDR’s new HONECKER administration itself became opportunistically responsive) included mutual de facto recognition of existing borders and of Berlin’s status. Brandt’s initiatives also opened the way for the BASIC TREATY agreed between the two Germanys in December 1972, and for the admittance of each to the united nations in 1973. The FRG’s more conciliatory approach continued during the chancellorship ofhis party colleague schmidt (1974-82), and indeed even after the 1982 election victory of KOHL’s Christian Democrats (see Christian democracy) who had earlier opposed it.
World History
