Germans

Germans (German: Deutsche) are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe, who share a common German ancestry, culture and history, and speak the German language as their native language. Alternatively, Germans are those who live or were born in Germany.

The English term Germans has historically referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages. Before the collapse of communism and the reunification of Germany in 1990, Germans constituted the largest divided nation in Europe by far. Ever since the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation within the Holy Roman Empire, German society has been characterized by a Catholic-Protestant divide.

Of approximately 100 million native speakers of German in the world, roughly 80 million consider themselves Germans. There are an additional 80 million people of German ancestry mainly in the United States, Brazil (mainly in the South Region of the country), Argentina, Canada, South Africa, the post-Soviet states (mainly in Russia and Kazakhstan), and France, each accounting for at least 1 million. Thus, the total number of Germans lies somewhere between 100 and more than 150 million, depending on the criteria applied (native speakers, single-ancestry ethnic Germans, partial German ancestry, etc.).

Caucasus

The Caucasus /ˈkɔːkəsəs/ or Caucasia /kɔːˈkeɪʒə/ is a region at the border of Europe and Asia, situated between the Black and the Caspian seas.

It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, which contain Europe's highest mountain, Mount Elbrus, 5,642 metres (18,510 ft). Politically, the Caucasus region is separated between northern and southern parts. The southern parts consist of independent sovereign states, and the northern parts are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.

The region is known for its linguistic diversity: aside from Indo-European and Turkic languages, the Kartvelian, Northwest Caucasian, and Northeast Caucasian families are indigenous to the area.

Name

Pliny the Elder's Natural History (AD 77–79) derives the name of the Caucasus from the Scythian kroy-khasis (“ice-shining, white with snow”).

Throughout Persian history, particularly Sassanid Persia, the Caucasus region was the furthest point of Persian expansion, with areas to the north of Northern Caucasus practically impregnable. Therefore, the mythical mountain of Cafcuh, the highest mountain in the world, was said to be situated in this region, making the Caucasus the limit of the world. Therefore, the Caucasus was the name given to this area for its association with the legendary mountain. The modern name of the region in local languages are all similar to the mountain name, with the main difference being that f has been replaced with a softer w and the last letter being replaced with z.

Caucasus Germans

Caucasus Germans (German: Kaukasiendeutsche) are part of the German minority in Russia and the Soviet Union. They migrated to the Caucasus largely in the first half of the nineteenth century and settled in the North Caucasus, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and in the region of Kars (present-day Turkey). In 1941, the majority of them were subject to deportation to Central Asia and Siberia during Joseph Stalin's population transfer in the Soviet Union.

North Caucasus

The end of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) ensured Russia's expansion into the Caucasus and created a need in populating these lands with Russian subjects in order to hasten its exploration. In the late eighteenth century the government permitted families of Volga Germans to settle in Kuban. However poor infrastructure, lack of organization of the officials responsible for the settlement, and the refusal of the military personnel to have these lands populated by non-Russians were an obstacle to steady and constant migration of the Germans. By the late 1840s there were five German colonies in the North Caucasus. The migration waves (especially to Don Voisko Province) grew beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century with the capitalist influence on farming in Russia. Germans would immigrate not only from the regions adjacent to the Volga River but also from the Black Sea region and Germany. By the time of the October Revolution, there were over 200 German colonies in the North Caucasus; of those over 100 were in Rostov Oblast, 60 in Stavropol Krai and around 20 in Krasnodar Krai. In 1942 more than 160,000 Germans were deported from these entities as well as from elsewhere in the North Caucasus and the Don region (Kabardino-Balkaria, Kalmykia, North Ossetia, Dagestan, and Checheno-Ingushetia).

War Machine

War Machine (James Rupert "Rhodey" Rhodes) is a fictional superhero appearing in comic books set in the Marvel Comics universe. The character of James Rhodes first appeared in Iron Man #118 (January 1979) by David Michelinie, John Byrne, and Bob Layton. The War Machine armor, which became his signature armored battlesuit, was designed by Len Kaminski and Kevin Hopgood.

In 2012, War Machine was ranked 31st in IGN's list of "The Top 50 Avengers". The character has been featured in the Iron Man animated series, the Iron Man: Armored Adventures series, and the animated film The Invincible Iron Man. He has been portrayed by Terrence Howard in the 2008 Iron Man film and by Don Cheadle in Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron and the upcoming Captain America: Civil War.

Publication history

Initially a supporting character in volume one of Iron Man, Rhodes later assumed the mantle of Iron Man after Tony Stark's relapse into alcoholism in issue #170 (May 1983). The character would continue in a supporting role and later resume the role of Iron Man following Stark's purported death in issue #284 (Sept. 1992). After Stark's return to the role of Iron Man, Rhodes continued as the superhero War Machine and made his solo series debut in an eponymous title after being featured as a supporting character in the superhero-team series Avengers West Coast.