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THUNDER

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 899 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THUNDER , the See also:

noise which accompanies or follows a flash of See also:lightning, due to the disturbance of See also:air by a See also:discharge of See also:electricity (see LIGHTNING; ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY and See also:METEOROLOGY). The Old See also:English word is hunor, also the name of the Scandinavian See also:god See also:Thor (q.v.), which is cognate with Dutch donder, See also:German Donner. The See also:root is than,- Indo-See also:European tan-, cf. Latin tonare, tonitru. This root is apparently another See also:form of stan-, as in Skr. Stan, to See also:sound, thunder, Gr. vrively, to groan, Eng. " stun." See also:THUN-See also:HOHENSTEIN. The See also:family of Thun-Hohenstein, one of the wealthiest of the See also:Austrian See also:nobility, which has for more than 200 years settled at See also:Tetschen, in Bohemia, has given several distinguished members to the Austrian public service. Of the three sons of See also:Count See also:Franz, the eldest, See also:FRIEDRICH (1810-1881), entered the See also:diplomatic service; after holding other posts he was in 185o appointed See also:president of the restored German See also:Diet at See also:Frankfort, where he represented the See also:anti-Prussian policy of See also:Schwarzenberg, and often came into conflict with See also:Bismarck, who was Prussian See also:envoy. He was afterwards See also:ambassador at See also:Berlin and St See also:Petersburg. After his retirement from the public service in 1863 he supported in the Bohemian Landtag and the Austrian Reichsrat the federal policy of his See also:brother See also:Leo. In 1879 he was made hereditary member of the Upper See also:House.

In this position he was on his See also:

death, on the 24th of See also:September 1881, succeeded by his eldest son FRANZ ANTON (b. 1847). Like the See also:rest of his family, he belonged to the Federalist party, and his See also:appointment in 1889 as See also:governor of Bohemia was the cause of See also:grave dissatisfaction to the German Austrians. He took a leading See also:part in the negotiation of 1890 for the Bohemian See also:settlement, but the elections of 1891, in which the See also:young Czechs who were opposed to the feudal party gained a decisive victory, made his position a very difficult one. Contrary to expectation, he showed See also:great See also:energy in suppressing disorder; but after the See also:proclamation of a See also:state of See also:siege his position became untenable, and in 1895 he had to resign. On the resignation of Badeni in 1898 he was made See also:minister president, an See also:office which he held for little more than a See also:year, for, though he succeeded in bringing to a conclusion the negotiations with See also:Hungary, the support he gave to the Czechs and Slovenians increased the opposition of the Germans to such a degree that See also:parliamentary See also:government became impossible, and at the end of 1899 he was dismissed. The third son of Count Franz, See also:LEOPOLD Or LEO (1811-1888), was one of the leading Austrian statesmen. After studying at the university of See also:Prague he travelled through See also:Europe, and among other countries he visited See also:England, where he became acquainted with See also:James See also:Hope (afterwards Hope-See also:Scott) and other leaders of the Tractarian party. He was much affected by the romantic See also:movement and the Ultramontane revival, and after his return See also:home interested himself greatly in the revival of See also:Czech See also:language and literature and the growth of the Bohemian See also:national feeling. He formed a See also:personal friendship with Palacky and others of the Czech leaders; he helped in the See also:foundation of See also:schools in which Czech should be taught, and set himself to acquire some knowledge of the language. He was also interested in See also:prison reform, on which he wrote, and other philanthropic See also:work. After serving under See also:Stadion in See also:Galicia, he was in 1848, after the out-break of the revolution, appointed president of the See also:administration and acting Stadthalter in Bohemia.

He had scarcely entered on his duties when the See also:

rebellion of See also:June See also:broke out in Prague. In See also:order to avoid bloodshed, he went down to the insurgents on the See also:barricade, but was seized by them, imprisoned, and for some See also:time his See also:life was in danger. On his See also:release he vigorously supported See also:Windischgratz, who was in command of the troops, in the restoration of order, but thereby lost his popularity and was superseded. He still defended the Bohemian national movement, and in one of his writings laid down the principle that See also:nationality was one of the interests outside the See also:control of the state. Notwithstanding this, in 1849 he accepted the office of minister of See also:religion and See also:education, which he held in 186o under the autocratic and centralizing administration of Schwarzenberg and See also:Bach. At first he threw himself with great energy into the task of See also:building up an adequate See also:system of schools. He summoned experienced teachers, See also:Protestant as well as See also:Catholic, from See also:Germany, established See also:middle and higher schools in all parts of the See also:empire, superseded the antiquated textbooks and methods of instruction, and encouraged the formation of learned See also:societies and the growth of a professional spirit and See also:independence among the teachers. It is noticeable that at this time he insisted on the use of German in all schools of higher education. As minister of religion he was to a certain extent responsible for the See also:concordat which again subjected the schools to the control of the See also:Church: to a certain extent he thereby undid some of his work for the See also:extension of education, and it was of him that Grillparzar said, " I have to announce a See also:suicide. The minister of religion has murdered the minister of education." But during his administration the See also:influence of the church over the schools was really much less than, by the theory of the concordat, it would have appeared to be. The crisis of r86o, by which the office he held was abolished, was the end of his See also:official career; for the rest of his life he was very prominent as the See also:leader of the Federalist party in Bohemia. His high social position, his influence at See also:court, his See also:character, as well as his undoubted abilities and learning, not often in See also:Austria found in a See also:man of his See also:rank, gave him great influence.

He supported the claims of Bohemia to a full See also:

autonomy; he strongly attacked both the See also:February constitution and the Ausgleiclz with Hungary; what he desired was a See also:common See also:parliament for the whole empire based on a settlement with each one of the territories. With the old Czechs he refused to recognise the constitution of 1867; he helped to draft the See also:declaration of 1868 and the fundamental articles of 1871, and took a leading part in the negotiations during the See also:ministry of See also:Potocki and Hohenwart. In order to found a strong Conservative party he established a See also:paper, the Vaterland, which was the See also:organ of the Clerical and Federalist party. It is needless to say that he protested against the ecclesiastical legislation of 1867 and 1873. He married in 1847 the countess Clam-Martinic, but there was no issue of the See also:marriage. He died in See also:Vienna on the 17th of See also:December 1888. See the very full See also:article by Frankfurter in the Allgemeine deutsche Biograpizie, which supersedes his earlier See also:biography. (J. W.

End of Article: THUNDER

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