May 2019 – Page 2 – The-Philatelist

This is a stamp that looks strange to this American. Charlemagne, the French Holy Roman Emperor, repackaged as Kaiser Karl and placed in Aachen at the western edge of modern Germany. Well the past 50 years had Germany facing west. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Germany united around 1870. America in 1781. You will see precious little on American stamps showing history before 1776 but Germany is not afraid to go back much further in this case to 800 AD. Interestingly, the stamp celebrates Charlemagne as one of it’s own, showing the accomplishment of the Cathedral in the Holy Roman capital of Aachen. Charlemagne had conquered and by force Christianized Saxony which was ruled by actual German Widukind and practiced a native religion. Widukind has no stamp, well he lost and no one practices his religion except a few Nazis. Besides the area along the Rhine river is the center of power in Europe again with French and Germans at the lead. So time again to get all holy roman.

Todays stamp is issue A991, a 1.1DM stamp issued by Germany on January 13th, 2000. It was a single stamp issue celebrating the 1200 or so years since the completion of the Cathedral at Aachen. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 80 cents used.

Charlemagne is still the subject of debate as to where and when he has born but somewhere in the general area of Aachen. Of course in modern terms that could place him as Belgian, German, French, or even from Luxembourg. Notice how central that area is to the modern EU. He started out as King of the Franks, but also added over time western Germany, Northern Italy, the Alpine region and the Pope named him Holy Roman Emperor. This was the first time such a great area was under one leader since Rome had fallen 300 years before. Notice the mention of the Pope, as one of the things he was doing was forcing Catholic Christianity on his subjects. This was progressive at the time and spurred advancement of the human condition.

He was not able to put back together the whole of the old Roman Empire. The breaking with the Orthodox Church based in Constantinople was getting more serious. The churches had different positions on the Holy Trinity. The west emphasized more God the Son and the East more God the Father as the originator of the Holy Spirit. That Charlemagne promoted the western view precluded him from being their leader and Eastern Europe to not fall to him. Also he had only limited success with then Muslim, Moorish Spain.

The fact was that for many years after Charlemagne there were Holy Roman Emperors crowned in Aachen the Germans could recognize as one of their own. Frederick Barbarossa, a Swabian later Holy Roman Emperor canonized 300 year earlier Charlemagne sealing the claiming of him as German. Over time the Holy Roman Empire lost territory in Germany and under Hapsburgs the Empire became Austrian. It was left to Prussia to unite Germany, but they were more of the East in modern Poland.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Aachen Cathedral which still stands, though in a country less religious and with plenty of Lutherans. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

This is an impressive picture that shows a then up to date Baleares frigate, an AMX-30 tank, and a F4C Phantom fighter plane. A show of strength while the reality was shrinkage, weapons received second hand by charity, and integration of the power into NATO. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

When the military of any nation is shrinking, and the mission changing, there will be a lot of uncertainty in the ranks. Indeed a year after the stamp there was an attempted coup. The changes also brought an end to the isolation Spain dealt with under Franco. Showing newer weapons was perhaps trying to show a way forward. It was still an iffy time,

Todays stamp is issue A570, an 8 Peseta stamp issued on May 24th, 1980. It was a single stamp issue for Armed Forces Day. There was a similar issue in 1979. There was not one in 1981 after the attempted coup. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

After Franco ended his long rule in 1975, the Monarchy was restored. King Juan Carlos fairly quickly replaced Franco’s people with those from the left. There was also an attempt to bring the military under control by combining the separate Army, Air Force and Navy ministries under a unified defense department. The military was shrinking rapidly with Empire commitments at an end and conscription scaled back. There was a movement toward NATO integration which was achieved in 1982. A rough time but the absence of Franco meant that doors of cooperation around Europe were opening. Those steeped in the long tradition of the Spanish Army may be forgiven if they viewed such changes skeptically.

The F4C Phantom fighter plane was a left over from earlier times. They were ex USA Air Force machines that were given free of charge to Spain in 1971 under the Peace Alfa aid program. At the time the USA Air Force was flying F4Es from a Spanish air base. Spain retired the F4C in 1989.

The Baleares class frigate was a license built copy of the American Knox class frigate. Again a left over from Franco, they were built a little later than the Knox and lasted longer in service, being retired in the early 2000s.

The AMX 30 tank was also still from the Franco period and license made from France. Interestingly Spain had originally chosen the superior Chieftain tank, but Britain had refused to sell to Franco. France has a tradition of selling arms more liberally. They were replaced by second hand Leopard II tanks donated from Germany.

Today the Spanish Army numbers about 85,000, about a third of it’s strength under Franco. There is no longer a draft and less second hand equipment, as Spain participates as a junior partner in many integrated European projects like the Eurofighter and the Airbus tactical transport A400M.

Well my drink is empty and so I will open the discussion in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story to be learned from stamp collecting.