History
Griesgletscher as well as the many surrounding Swiss Alpine glaciers have played an important role in the cultural and economic development of the Swiss Alps. During the Second World War owing to its proximity to the Swiss/Italian frontier the Swiss Army constructed a series of look-out posts and foxholes to reinforce this relatively undefined border area and as part of Switzerland hydro-electric building programme. A dam was built in front of the glacier, however the resulting dam contributed to the increased retreat of the glacier thanks to the glacier becoming decoupled from the bedrock as water levels in the dam increased.
Read more about this topic: Gries Glacier
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“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
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“The principle that human nature, in its psychological aspects, is nothing more than a product of history and given social relations removes all barriers to coercion and manipulation by the powerful.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)