Little bit of history from Cesis

My favourite attraction in Cesis (Wenden by its old German name) was the old Livonian Order castle from the beginning of the 13-century. Castles like these can be found across Latvia because of the historical heritage from the crusaders of the German Order during the Middle Ages.

Just on the side of the old castle, the "new" castle is placed. 

A plate showing brief information on Latvian and English regarding the siege of the castle. Despite its medieval construction style the castle and its crew resisted the attack performed with artillery.









Meeting with Lenin.

The Lenin statue in Cesis presents one of the many similar cases from the time of the Soviet Union. In Cesis the monument dedicated to the Latvian and Estonian army from 1924 in the centre of the city was destroyed and replaced by the statue of Lenin in 1951. However, in 1990 the Lenin statue removed and the army monument was later reestablished.

Inside the castle 

Some things rarely change.

During the 20's and 30' castle was used as the headquarters for the 8 Infantry Division.

View from the rooftop.

Carl Eberhard von Sievers 1745-1821 was one for the owners of the castle since he bought it in 1777.

Siever's document from tsar Alexander I. 

Artefacts from Cesis during different centuries. 

Cesis has significant importance in the history of Latvia because of the developments that took place during the political struggles for establishing Latvia as an independent state after WWI. In 1919 Cesis was a temporary capital of Latvia, and during the same year, the battle took place between Latvian and Estonian armed forces on one side and the Baltic German forces on the other side. The victory of the Latvian army supported by the Estonian army later led to the establishment of the Victory monument. 

Monument plate for the Cesis company. 

Part of the exhibition about the Latvian flag. The red and white-coloured flag was promoted during the time of national-romantic period at the end of the 19-century. 

Inslag från SVT "Provskjutningar visar kraften i Vasaskeppets kanoner".

Som student i militärhistoria besökte jag under våren 2011 Vasamuseet i samband med en militärhistorisk kurs om krigföring under perioden 1500-1815. Besöket innebar att man fick närmare insyn och kunskap om krigsskeppet Vasa. I sig presenterade skeppet något avancerat för sin tidsperiod. Därmed är det roligt att se att tidigare information från forskningsledaren Fred Hocker har gått till uppfyllelse, nämligen att vidare arbete med skeppet skulle äga rum. 

I inslaget från SVT syns det klart och tydligt vilken typ av eldkraft Vasas kanoner egentligen hade. Hocker minns jag även i samband med en föreläsning om Vasaprojektets framtid där han bland annat berättade om att sjöstrid på denna tid handlade om att åstadkomma skada på motståndarens besättning genom att projektilen skulle orsaka en reaktion som skulle resultera i att träsplitter skulle döda eller skada besättningen. Hans yttrande i samband med provskjutningen var bland annat om att : 

 "Vi tror att Vasaskeppet kunde ha varit en mycket effektivare kanonplattform än vad folk har sagt. Kanonerna i sig själva är mycket mer effektiva än vi trodde." 

Se inslaget här.