After the Second World War, disabled, tryed to revive, and in spite of the idea of an international solidarity which would go on the remains of tensions, advocated by several governments and institutions ( don't forget that UNO was created in 1945), some political divergences and conflicts grew worse, and progressively split the Old Continent...Fortunately, many texts, speeches, maps...illustrate these Cold War"s beginnings...

                                                  For example, the document one, an extract from the speech pronounced by the British politician , Winston Churchill, on March the 5th in 1946, during a meeting with United States of America's president, Harry Truman, in Fulton, in Missouri, is very famous and emblematical, since it evokes tensions between Western and Eastern Europe, which were abstractedly separated by the " Iron Curtain ", expression that was invented, globalized and became a keyword during the Cold War, thanks to the former British Prime Minister, that day...

                                                The document two, a map extracted from the school book, European Sections, published by Magnard in 2004, also refers to this period, showing us Europe's configuration during the Cold War - which roughly began after the war until the early nineties, it depens on the historians's opinion -. In fact, on the one hand, there is the Western Block, union of NATO members, and on the other hand, we find the Eastern block, composed of the members of the Warsaw pact, separated by an Iron Curton, became a concrete symbol of a deep political and ideological division, which spread out from Berlin to Greece...So, in view of this proof of the deterioration of relationship between European countries soon after the war, we could wonder :

                                                                            how did the Cold War dvide Europe ?

                                             At first, we're going to focus on this part of Churchill's speech. Indeed, it evokes the " Iron Curtain ", very important notion symbolizing the break between "Stettin" and "Trieste", the first city representing Poland, so the Eastern block, and the second, in Italy, the Western one. He insists - what explains the importance of this speech -, on Soviet Russia, one of the sources of this rupture, since in a desire of expansion's name, Moscow controled cities like "Warsaw", "Vienna"...and isolated them from the rest of Europe, and even, of the world ( we think about USA ). So, all an European portion withdrew into itself, because of ideological reasons, advocated by Moscow, proud of its country's victory. These reasons were, for example, the USSR's desire of propagating its doctrines, its longings for a political pre-eminence proudly assumed by Staline, who led a policy for this. Very quickly, national, patriotic interests of some areas, crackes international harmony and provoked the Cold War...

                                         Lastly, and concretely, if we study the map, we realize that it makes clear Churchill's speech. Indeed, we can see on the one hand, the Western Block, and on the other hand, the Eastern one. This one is composed of countries joined by the Warsaw pact. What is the Warsaw pact ? It is a military alliance concluded the 14th of May in 1955 between communist block members ( Hungary, Czechoslovakia...), to make official their friendship and their mutual aid, under the aegis of Khrouchtchev. It was conceived like a counterbalance to NATO, born in 1949, and which is also a politico-military organization of which signatories are, for example, France, Belgium, Deutschland, Canada, anyway, Occidental countries. It ensures Europe's defence and security ; its main rival was the Warsaw pact...

So, to conclude, we can say that the two powers, these two organizations confronted each other, as these documents indicate us, from 1945, the tensions after war continuing to persist and leding to the Cold War, which, unlike the both world wars, was only an ideological war, without gigantic shellings or deaths, between two blocks well separated which didn't understand each other, and didn't manage to win their friendship, blinded by their own patriotic interests...

Barry Lyndon ( 1975)

by Stanley Kubrick (Lolita, A Clockwork Orange, Paths of Glory...)

adapted from a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray

This excellent movie relates the story of Barry Lyndon, a young modest man who climbs grades from the aristocratic life and becomes the biggest English crook in the 18th century.

To me, it's a very interesting and fascinating movie where all the actors are great. As for music, she was written by the highest composers like Mozart, Bach, Schubert, Haendel, Vivaldi... (of course, music was choose by Kubrick).

The film won 4 Oscars, a lot of wins and nominations.

So, I'll give you a piece of advice : Watch this movie, just watch and watch again !

L.P 2nde11

Crystal Castles is my favorite singer. This music is a little bit hard but this is originaly ! I like it more than all others songs. I know that people will don't aggree me because its really nerd. It's a mixture of sounds of games boy with battery and a voice faked to have a sound more hardware. Tell me if you love it or not. And WHY ? This is a GORGEOUS music !

Vocabulary from Brave Heart :

Through: à travers

The crown: la couronne

To fight among themselves: se battre entre eux

To corrupt: corrompre

Lands: terres

To betray: trahir

To be beheaded: être décapité

The throne: le trône

Weak: faible

Common: (dans ce texte) roturier, du peuple

A farm: une ferme

A truce of peace: un traité de paix

To be hung: être pendu

To face: faire face

A loss: la perte

Prima Nocta: (latin) première nuit

To allow: autoriser

To share the bed: partager le lit

Scott=Scottish

A bright: la mariée

To be in love with: être amoureux de

A patriot: un patriote

To avenge: venger

To beat: battre

Several: plusieurs

To be defeated: être vaincu

The daughter-in-law: la belle-fille

Guilty: coupable

The cast: le casting

An advice: un conseil

Brave Heart by Mel Gibson

This film was realised by Mel Gibson which is an Australian actor and film director. It’s talking about the fight between the English and the Scottish during the XIII^th century through the character of William Wallace (played by Mel Gibson).

Historical context:

In 1286, Alexander III, king of Scotland, died without any son so the crown makes the powerful Scottish nobles fight among themselves. That’s why the king of <st1:country-region>England</st1:country-region>, Edward I^st, which was the most cruel English king ever tried to take control of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Scotland</st1:place></st1:country-region>. To manage to do this, he corrupted the nobles offering them more power and lands in <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>. But soon he’s stopped by rebels directed by William Wallace. In the beginning, they won several battles like Stirling and took control of <st1:city><st1:place>York</st1:place></st1:city>. But the corrupt nobles betrayed him during the battle of <st1:place>Falkirk</st1:place> in 1298 where he’s captured. He was beheaded in <st1:city><st1:place>London</st1:place></st1:city> the same year. Edward I^st died in 1307 leaving his throne to his weak son, Edward II.

 Synopsis:

William Wallace is a Scottish common boy when he is first confronted to the cruelty of Edward I^st: he went into a farm where all the nobles were supposed to meet the king to make a truce of peace but they’ve been hung. After this, young William has to face the loss of his father and brother who tried to fight. So it’s his uncle who takes care of him and made his education.

At the same time, <st1:country-region>England</st1:country-region> celebrates the arranged union of the king’s son and the daughter of his worst enemy, the king of <st1:country-region><st1:place>France</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Edward I^st wants to control <st1:country-region><st1:place>Scotland</st1:place></st1:country-region> and he creates a law named Prima Nocta which allowed English soldiers to share the bed the Scott bright on her first night.

A few years later, William who’s now a man comes back to his village and secretly married the woman he was always in love with, Murron. But she is killed by the English soldiers because she refused the right of Prima Nocta.

Desperate and furious, William creates an army composed of Scott patriots which quickly grew more and more important. They avenge Murron and they decide to protect <st1:place><st1:country-region>Scotland</st1:country-region></st1:place> from the English power.

At the beginning, the nobles who are fighting for the <st1:country-region>Scotland</st1:country-region> crown support William and his army especially Robert the Bruce, one of the most powerful nobles of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Scotland</st1:place></st1:country-region>, admires Wallace’s courage. They manage to beat the English army several times and to take control of the town of <st1:city><st1:place>York</st1:place></st1:city>. But soon they betray him because they’ve been corrupt by <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>.

Finally, William is defeated at the battle of <st1:place>Falkirk</st1:place> even with the help of the Irish and the informations of the daughter-in-law of the King of England who fall in love with him. He is captured a bit later. He is tortured in <st1:place><st1:city>London</st1:city></st1:place> before being beheaded cut into pieces. At the same time Edward I^st died from sickness, leaving the throne to his weak son who is already controlled by his wife.

This death made him a hero of <st1:country-region>Scotland</st1:country-region> and Robert the Bruce who feels guilty about the death of this wonderful man, decides to continue the fight against <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>.

My opinion: I think this is one of the best films I ever saw (I watched it two times in less than 2 weeks). Mel Gibson completely respected the real history and it makes it even better. The cast is absolutely great and there is even a French actress, Sophie Marceau!!! This is a very strong story and I can’t help crying every time I watch it. So I only have one advice: go get this film as fast as you can and watch it!!!!!

M.G

2nde13