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Reactions of sulfur ylides with ketones and aldehydes to form epoxides are by far the most common application of the Johnson – Corey – Chaykovsky reaction . Examples involving complex substrates and ' exotic ' ylides have been reported , as shown below .
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The reaction has been used in a number of notable total syntheses including the Danishefsky Taxol total synthesis , which produces the chemotherapeutic drug taxol , and the Kuehne <unk> total synthesis which produces the pesticide strychnine .
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= = = Synthesis of aziridines = = =
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The synthesis of aziridines from <unk> is another important application of the Johnson – Corey – Chaykovsky reaction and provides an alternative to amine transfer from <unk> . Though less widely applied , the reaction has a similar substrate scope and functional group tolerance to the carbonyl equivalent . The examples shown below are representative ; in the latter , an <unk> forms in situ and is opened via nucleophilic attack to form the corresponding amine .
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= = = Synthesis of <unk> = = =
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For addition of sulfur ylides to enones , higher 1 @,@ 4 @-@ selectivity is typically obtained with sulfoxonium reagents than with sulfonium reagents . Many electron @-@ withdrawing groups have been shown compatible with the reaction including ketones , esters , and amides ( the example below involves a Weinreb amide ) . With further conjugated systems 1 @,@ 6 @-@ addition tends to predominate over 1 @,@ 4 @-@ addition .
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In addition to the reactions originally reported by Johnson , Corey , and Chaykovsky , sulfur ylides have been used for a number of related homologation reactions that tend to be grouped under the same name .
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With epoxides and aziridines the reaction serves as a ring @-@ expansion to produce the corresponding <unk> or <unk> . The long reaction times required for these reactions prevent them from occurring as significant side reactions when synthesizing epoxides and aziridines .
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Several cycloadditions wherein the ylide serves as a " nucleophilic carbenoid equivalent " have been reported .
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Living <unk> using <unk> as the catalyst and ( <unk> ) methanide as the monomer have been reported for the synthesis of various complex polymers .
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The development of an enantioselective ( i.e. yielding an enantiomeric excess , which is labelled as " ee " ) variant of the Johnson – Corey – Chaykovsky reaction remains an active area of academic research . The use of chiral sulfides in a stoichiometric fashion has proved more successful than the corresponding catalytic variants , but the substrate scope is still limited in all cases . The catalytic variants have been developed almost exclusively for enantioselective purposes ; typical <unk> reagents are not prohibitively expensive and the racemic reactions can be carried out with equimolar amounts of ylide without raising costs significantly . Chiral sulfides , on the other hand , are more costly to prepare , spurring the advancement of catalytic enantioselective methods .
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= = = <unk> reagents = = =
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The most successful reagents employed in a stoichiometric fashion are shown below . The first is a bicyclic <unk> that has been employed in the synthesis of the β @-@ adrenergic compound <unk> ( DCI ) but is limited by the availability of only one enantiomer of the reagent . The synthesis of the axial <unk> is rationalized via the 1 @,@ 3 @-@ <unk> effect which reduces the nucleophilicity of the equatorial lone pair . The conformation of the ylide is limited by <unk> strain and approach of the aldehyde is limited to one face of the ylide by steric interactions with the methyl substituents .
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The other major reagent is a camphor @-@ derived reagent developed by <unk> Aggarwal of the University of Bristol . Both enantiomers are easily synthesized , although the yields are lower than for the <unk> reagent . The ylide conformation is determined by interaction with the bridgehead hydrogens and approach of the aldehyde is blocked by the camphor moiety . The reaction employs a <unk> base to promote formation of the ylide .
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= = = Catalytic reagents = = =
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Catalytic reagents have been less successful , with most variations suffering from poor yield , poor <unk> , or both . There are also issues with substrate scope , most having limitations with methylene transfer and aliphatic aldehydes . The trouble stems from the need for a nucleophilic sulfide that efficiently generates the ylide which can also act as a good leaving group to form the epoxide . Since the factors underlying these <unk> are at odds , tuning of the catalyst properties has proven difficult . Shown below are several of the most successful catalysts along with the yields and enantiomeric excess for their use in synthesis of ( E ) <unk> oxide .
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Aggarwal has developed an alternative method employing the same sulfide as above and a novel alkylation involving a rhodium carbenoid formed in situ . The method too has limited substrate scope , failing for any electrophiles possessing basic substituents due to competitive consumption of the carbenoid .
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The Treaty of Ciudad Juárez was a peace treaty signed between the then President of Mexico , Porfirio Díaz , and the revolutionary Francisco Madero on May 21 , 1911 . The treaty put an end to the fighting between forces supporting Madero and those of Díaz and thus concluded the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution .
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The treaty stipulated that Díaz , as well as his vice president Ramón Corral , were to step down by the end of May , and that he was to be replaced by Francisco León de la Barra as interim president and hold presidential elections . Those who had suffered losses due to the revolution would be the indemnified , and there would be a general amnesty . Díaz resigned on May 25 , and interim president Francisco León de la Barra was the new incumbent . Díaz and his family , his vice president Corral , plus José Yves Limantour and Rosendo Pineda left Mexico for exile .
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Significantly , the treaty did not mention or institute any social reforms that Madero had vaguely promised on previous occasions . It also left the <unk> state essentially intact . Additionally , Madero supported the unpopular idea that all land disputes were to be settled through the courts , staffed by the old judges , a decision that led to outbreaks of sporadic violence , particularly in rural areas .
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On June 7 , 1911 , Madero entered Mexico City . In October 1911 he was elected president , under the banner of the Partido <unk> <unk> , along with José María Pino Suárez , his new running mate as vice @-@ president . Madero pushed aside Francisco Vázquez Gómez , the vice presidential candidate for the Anti @-@ <unk> Party in 1910 , as being too moderate .
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= = Military developments leading up to the treaty = =
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The rebellion against the government of Porfirio Díaz broke out in late 1910 , after Díaz had his rival Francisco Madero imprisoned and had announced his own victory in a falsified election . Madero 's earlier vague promises of agrarian reforms had attracted many supporters . He himself escaped from prison and fled to Texas , from where he issued his famous Plan of San Luis Potosí . This manifesto called for an armed uprising against the <unk> and establishment of free and democratic elections . As a response to Madero 's proclamation , violent clashes began throughout Mexico in November 1910 .
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In the Guerrero district of Chihuahua , Pascual Orozco attacked Federal troops and sent dead soldiers ' clothing back to Díaz with the message , " <unk> te van las hojas , <unk> más tamales " ( " Here are the wrappers , send me more tamales . " ) He then began operations which threatened Ciudad Juárez . Additionally , political support for Madero 's rebellion came from Abraham González , who accepted the Plan of San Luis Potosí .
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At roughly the same time , agrarian unrest in the state of Morelos turned into a full blown rebellion under the leadership of the Zapata brothers , Emiliano and <unk> .
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= = = Orozco and Villa take Ciudad Juárez = = =
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Encouraged by the news of the uprisings , Madero crossed the border back into Mexico in February 1911 . He was joined by Pancho Villa and Orozco and in April the army began approaching Ciudad Juárez . Orozco and Villa led the way with 500 men each , while Madero followed up with 1 @,@ 500 riders . The city was besieged by the end of the month , after Madero 's army encountered some resistance in the Chihuahuan countryside . Madero asked the commander of the city 's garrison to surrender but the latter refused , hoping that the fortifications he had constructed would allow him to defend the city until reinforcements arrived . Concerned also with the possibility that a direct attack on the town would cause artillery shells to cross the border into the United States which could provoke an outside intervention , and faced with a series of peace proposals from Díaz , Madero hesitated in attacking the city . He in fact ordered his commanders to lift the siege . Orozco , however disregarded the order and , joined by Villa , attacked . After two days of fighting the city fell to the insurrectionists . Madero intervened personally to spare the life of the city 's commander , Gen. Navarro , whom both Orozco and Villa wanted executed for his previous killing of rebel POWs . This , coupled with the fact that both leaders were ignored by Madero in his political appointments , outraged and estranged them from him .
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= = = Zapata in south and central Mexico = = =
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At about the same time that Villa and Orozco were marching on Ciudad Juárez , the Zapatista revolt gathered strength and spread to the states of Puebla , Tlaxcala , Mexico , Michoacán and Guerrero . On April 14 , Madero had Emiliano Zapata officially designated as his representative in the region . However , Zapata was worried that if he did not fully control all the major towns in Morelos by the time that Madero concluded negotiations with Díaz , the demands of his agrarian movement and the issue of the autonomy of Morelos would be ignored or sidelined . Zapata 's first military action was to take the town of <unk> where he obtained essential supplies . Subsequently Zapata , for political and strategic reasons , decided to attack the city of Cuautla . In order to mislead his opponents however , he initially attacked and captured the towns of <unk> de Matamoros ( which was subsequently retaken by federal forces ) and <unk> . From there he made a wide circle around Cuautla and captured Yautepec and <unk> where he gathered more supplies , munitions and soldiers . By May , out of all the major urban centers in the region , only Cuautla and the capital of Morelos , Cuernavaca , remained outside of his control .
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Zapata began the attack on Cuautla on May 13 with 4000 troops against 400 elite soldiers of the so @-@ called " Golden Fifth " ; the Fifth Cavalry Regiment of the Federal Army . The battle took almost a week and has been described as " six of the most terrible days of battle in the whole Revolution " . It consisted of house to house fighting , hand @-@ to @-@ hand combat , and no quarter given by either side . General Victoriano Huerta arrived in nearby Cuernavaca with 600 reinforcements , but decided not to come to the relief of Cuautla as he was afraid that the capital would revolt in his absence . On May 19 , the remains of the " Golden Fifth " pulled out of the town which was then occupied by Zapata 's soldiers .
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The successful capture of Cuautla made Zapata a hero to ordinary people throughout Mexico and new corridos were written about him . After Zapata 's taking of Cuautla , the federal government controlled only five states and some urban areas . Porfirio Díaz himself later stated that , while he felt that he could defend against Villa and Orozco in Chihuahua , the fall of Cuautla was the event which persuaded him to agree to peace with Madero .
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As early as March 1911 , Madero 's representatives met in New York with Díaz 's finance minister , José Yves Limantour , and the Mexican ambassador to the US in order to discuss the possibility of peace between the two sides . Limantour proposed an end to the hostilities and offered an amnesty for all revolutionaries , the resignation of the then vice president Ramón Corral , the replacement of four Díaz cabinet ministers and ten state governors by ones chosen by Madero , and the establishment of the principle of " no @-@ reelection " which would prevent Díaz from seeking yet another term as president ( which would have been his ninth ) . Madero responded positively although he also stated that any kind of peace deal had to include an immediate resignation by Díaz .
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Faced with the siege of Ciudad Juárez and the outbreak of rebellion in Morelos , Díaz and members of his cabinet became more willing to negotiate and launched a " skillful peace offensive " aimed at Madero . This was largely a result of panic among the large landowners associated with the Díaz regime ( the hacendados ) and the financial elite , which represented a " moderate " wing within the government . Some among the <unk> in fact , expected that Zapata would soon march on Mexico City itself , unless peace was concluded with Madero .
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The moderate view within the Díaz government was represented by Jorge Vera Estañol who in a memo to the minister of foreign affairs wrote that there were two revolutions taking place in Mexico : a political revolution , based mostly in the north , whose aim was mostly to establish free elections and remove Díaz himself from power , and a social revolution whose aim was " anarchy " which was spreading throughout the Mexican countryside . Estañol recommended coming to terms with the first group of revolutionaries , by agreeing to the principle of no re @-@ election and a general amnesty , in order to prevent the second group from succeeding . In addition to his fear of " anarchy " , Estañol was also worried that the social revolution would lead to a military intervention by the United States .
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Estañol 's views represented those of the portion of the upper class which was willing to come to terms with at least a portion of the middle class in order to crush the peasant uprisings , as exemplified by those of Zapata , which were erupting throughout Mexico . Limantour , who broadly agreed with Estañol , had the support of the Mexican financiers , who feared the downgrading of Mexican international credit and a general economic crisis as a result of ongoing social unrest , as well as that of the large landowners who were willing to come to terms with Madero if it would put an end to the agrarian uprisings .
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These social group were in turn opposed by the more reactionary elements within Díaz 's government , mostly concentrated in the federal army , who though that the rebels should be dealt with through brute force . This faction was represented by General Victoriano Huerta , who would later carry out an attempted coup d 'état against Madero . Likewise , the general , and potential successor to Díaz , Bernardo Reyes stated in a letter to Limantour that " the repression ( against the insurrectionists ) should be carried out with the <unk> energy , punishing without any pity anyone participating in the armed struggle " . In the end however , Díaz dismissed the advice from his generals as " Custer @-@ like bluster " and chose to seek peace with the moderate wing of the revolution . Limantour had finally managed to persuade him to resign .
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At the same time there was also disagreement among the rebels . The " left wing " of the revolutionary movement , represented by Zapata and Orozco ( Villa for the time being tended to support Madero ) , warned against any possible compromises with Díaz . In the end their suspicions proved correct as the treaty that was eventually signed neglected issues of social and agrarian land reform that were central to their struggle .
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The most significant point of the treaty was that Porfirio Díaz , and his vice president , Ramón Corral , resign and that de la Barra , acting as interim president organize free elections as soon as possible .
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An amnesty for all revolutionaries be declared , with the option for some of them to apply for membership in the rurales .
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The revolutionary forces were to be demobilized as soon as possible and the federal forces were to be the only army in Mexico . This was in order to appease the army , which had opposed a compromise with Madero .
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Madero and his supporters had the right to name fourteen provisional state governors , and to approve la Barra 's cabinet .
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Pensions were to be established for relatives of the soldiers who had died fighting the rebels .
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Policemen and judges , as well as state legislators , that had been appointed or " elected " under Díaz were to retain their offices .
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The treaty was signed on May 21 . Díaz resigned accordingly on May 25 . Francisco de la Barra became the interim president . Madero entered Mexico City on June 7 .
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Zapata however refused to recognize the interim government of de la Barra , and for the time being the fighting in Morelos continued . Madero met with Zapata on several occasions during June . While initially Zapata trusted Madero , with time he became increasingly concerned that the goals of " his revolution " were not being fulfilled . He was particularly angry that Madero did not plan on carrying out any kind of agrarian reform , or the breakup of large <unk> . Additionally , the press in Mexico City , controlled by the landowners began referring to Zapata as a bandit and federal generals , such as Huerta , continued attacking his troops under the pretext that Zapata failed to demobilize in violation of the treaty . Sporadic fighting in southern Mexico continued . In November 1911 , shortly after Madero 's inauguration , Zapata issued the famous Plan of Ayala , in which the Zapatistas denounced Madero and instead recognized Pascual Orozco as the rightful president and leader of the revolution .
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Madero also earned the great displeasure of other revolutionaries , including , Pascual Orozco . Madero 's first act after the treaty was signed was a gesture of reconciliation with the Díaz regime . As a result of the treaty he was given the right to appoint members of the la Barra cabinet . He chose mostly upper class Maderistas , including his wife for the post in the treasury . He also maintained the existing federal system , by keeping the sitting judges of the Supreme Court , the legislators in federal and state assemblies and the bureaucrats of the various federal agencies . Venustiano Carranza , who was going to become a major revolutionary in his own right and a future president of Mexico , stated that , after the treaty , Madero had " deliver ( ed ) to the reactionaries a dead revolution which will have to be fought over again " . Díaz , after leaving for exile in France , observed that " Madero has unleashed a tiger , let us see if he can control him " .
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Orozco , who saw himself as being instrumental in Madero 's victory over Díaz , was merely appointed as a commander of the rurales in Chihuahua , which increased his resentment . When he tried to run for governor of the state , Madero supported his opponent , Abraham González and eventually pressured Orozco to drop out of the race . When , in the aftermath of the Plan of Ayala , Madero ordered Orozco to lead federal troops to suppress Zapata , Orozco refused . In March 1912 , Orozco issued his Plan of <unk> and formally declared himself in rebellion against Madero .
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The Feast of the Goat ( Spanish : La fiesta del chivo , 2000 ) is a novel by the Peruvian Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa . The book is set in the Dominican Republic and portrays the assassination of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo , and its aftermath , from two distinct standpoints a generation apart : during and immediately after the assassination itself , in May 1961 ; and thirty five years later , in 1996 . Throughout , there is also extensive reflection on the heyday of the dictatorship , in the 1950s , and its significance for the island and its inhabitants .
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The novel follows three interwoven storylines . The first concerns a woman , Urania Cabral , who is back in the Dominican Republic , after a long absence , to visit her ailing father ; she ends up recalling incidents from her youth and recounting a long @-@ held secret to her aunt and cousins . The second story line focuses on the last day in Trujillo 's life from the moment he wakes up onwards , and shows us the regime 's inner circle , to which Urania 's father once belonged . The third strand depicts Trujillo 's assassins , many of whom had previously been government loyalists , as they wait for his car late that night ; after the assassination , this story line shows us the assassins ' persecution . Each aspect of the book 's plot reveals a different viewpoint on the Dominican Republic 's political and social environment , past and present .
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Readers are shown the regime 's downward spiral , Trujillo 's assassination , and its aftermath through the eyes of insiders , conspirators , and a middle @-@ aged woman looking back . The novel is therefore a kaleidoscopic portrait of dictatorial power , including its psychological effects , and its long @-@ term impact . The novel 's themes include the nature of power and corruption , and their relationship to machismo and sexual perversion in a rigidly hierarchical society with strongly gendered roles . Memory , and the process of remembering , is also an important theme , especially in Urania 's narrative as she recalls her youth in the Dominican Republic . Her story ( and the book as a whole ) ends when she recounts the terrible events that led to her leaving the country at the age of 14 . The book itself serves as a reminder of the atrocities of dictatorship , to ensure that the dangers of absolute power will be remembered by a new generation .
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Vargas Llosa interlaces fictional elements and historical events : the book is not a documentary , and the Cabral family , for instance , is completely fictional . On the other hand , the characters of Trujillo and Trujillo 's assassins are drawn from the historical record ; Vargas Llosa weaves real historical incidents of brutality and oppression into these people 's stories , to further illuminate the nature of the regime and the responses it provoked . In Vargas Llosa 's words , " It 's a novel , not a history book , so I took many , many liberties . [ . . . ] I have respected the basic facts , but I have changed and deformed many things in order to make the story more persuasive — and I have not exaggerated . "
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The Feast of the Goat received largely positive reviews , with several reviewers commenting on the book 's depiction of the relationship between sexuality and power , and on the graphic descriptions of violent events .
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A film version of the novel was released in 2005 , starring Isabella Rossellini , Paul Freeman , and Tomas Milian . Jorge Alí Triana and his daughter Veronica Triana wrote a theatrical adaptation in 2003 .
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The Feast of the Goat is only the second of Vargas Llosa 's novels to be set outside Peru ( the first being The War of the End of the World ) . It is also unusual because it is the first to have a female protagonist : as critic Lynn Walford writes of the leading character in The Feast of the Goat , and also Vargas Llosa 's subsequent book The Way to Paradise , " both are utterly unlike any of the other female characters in his previous novels " .
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The novel examines the dictatorial regime of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina in the Dominican Republic . Trujillo was , in historian Eric <unk> 's words , " a towering influence in Dominican and Caribbean history " who presided over " one of the most durable regimes of the twentieth century " during the thirty @-@ one years between his seizure of power in 1930 and his assassination in 1961 . Trujillo had trained with the United States Marine Corps during the United States occupation of the island , and graduated from the <unk> Military Academy in 1921 . After the U.S. departed in 1924 , he became head of the Dominican National Police which , under his command , was transformed into the Dominican National Army and Trujillo 's personal " virtually autonomous power base " .
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Trujillo was officially dictator only from 1930 to 1938 , and from 1942 to 1952 , but remained in effective power throughout the entire period . Though his regime was broadly nationalist , Daniel <unk> comments that he had " no particular ideology " and that his economic and social policies were basically progressive .
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The novel 's title is taken from the popular Dominican merengue <unk> al chivo ( " They Killed the Goat " ) , which refers to Trujillo 's assassination on May 30 , 1961 . Merengue is a style of music created by <unk> Lora in the 1920s and actively promoted by Trujillo himself ; it is now considered the country 's national music . Cultural critics Julie Sellers and Stephen Ropp comment about this particular merengue that , by envisaging the dictator as an animal who could be turned into a stew ( as frequently happened with goats struck down on the Dominican Republic 's highways ) , the song " gave those performing , listening to and dancing to this merengue a sense of control over him and over themselves that they had not experienced for over three decades . " Vargas Llosa quotes the lyrics to <unk> al chivo at the beginning of the novel .
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The novel 's narrative is divided into three distinct strands . One is centred on Urania Cabral , a fictional Dominican character ; another deals with the conspirators involved in Trujillo 's assassination ; and the third focuses on Trujillo himself . The novel alternates between these storylines , and also jumps back and forth from 1961 to 1996 , with frequent flashbacks to periods earlier in Trujillo 's regime .
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The Feast of the Goat begins with the return of Urania to her hometown of Santo Domingo , a city which had been renamed Ciudad Trujillo during Trujillo 's time in power . This storyline is largely introspective and deals with Urania 's memories and her inner turmoil over the events preceding her departure from the Dominican Republic thirty @-@ five years earlier . Urania escaped the crumbling Trujillo regime in 1961 by claiming she planned to study under the tutelage of nuns in Michigan . In the following decades , she becomes a prominent and successful New York lawyer . She finally returns to the Dominican Republic in 1996 , on a whim , and finds herself compelled to confront her father and elements of her past she has long ignored . As Urania speaks to her ailing father , Agustin Cabral , she recalls more and more of the anger and disgust that led to her thirty @-@ five years of silence . Urania retells her father 's descent into political disgrace , and the betrayal that forms the crux of both Urania 's storyline and that of Trujillo himself .
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The second and third storylines are set in 1961 , in the weeks prior to and following Trujillo 's assassination on 30 May . Each assassin has his own background story , explaining his motivation for his involvement in the assassination plot . Each has been wronged by Trujillo and his regime , by torture and brutality , or through assaults on their pride , their religious faith , their morality , or their loved ones . Vargas Llosa weaves the tale of the men as memories recalled on the night of Trujillo 's death , as the conspirators lie in wait for " The Goat " . Interconnected with these stories are the actions of other famous <unk> of the time : Joaquín Balaguer , the puppet president ; Johnny Abbes García , the merciless head of the Military Intelligence Service ( SIM ) ; and various others — some real , some composites of historical figures , and some purely fictional .
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The third storyline is concerned with the thoughts and motives of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina himself . The chapters concerning The Goat recall the major events of his time , including the slaughter of thousands of Dominican Haitians in 1937 . They also deal with the Dominican Republic 's tense international relationships during the Cold War , especially with the United States under the presidency of John F. Kennedy , and Cuba under Castro . Vargas Llosa also speculates upon Trujillo 's innermost thoughts and paints a picture of a man whose physical body is failing him . Trujillo is tormented by incontinence and impotence ; and this storyline intersects with Urania 's narrative when it is revealed that Urania was sexually assaulted by Trujillo . He is unable to achieve an erection with Urania , and in frustration and anger he rapes her with his hands . This event is the core of Urania 's shame , and her hatred towards her father . In addition , it is the cause of Trujillo 's repeated anger over the " anemic little bitch " that witnessed his impotence and emotion , and the reason he is en route to sleep with another girl on the night of his assassination .
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In the novel 's final chapters , the three storylines intersect with increasing frequency . The tone of these chapters is especially dark as they deal primarily with the horrific torture and death of the assassins at the hands of the SIM , the failure of the coup , the rape of Urania , and the concessions made to Trujillo 's most vicious supporters allowing them to enact their horrific revenge on the conspirators and then escape the country . The book ends as Urania prepares to return home , determined this time to keep in touch with her family back on the island .
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Urania Cabral and her father Agustín Cabral appear in both the modern day and historical portions of the novel . In the year 1996 , Urania returns to the Dominican Republic for the first time since her departure at the age of 14 . She is a successful New York lawyer who has spent most of the past 35 years trying to overcome the traumas of her childhood , a goal she pursues through an academic fascination with Trujillo and Dominican history . Urania is deeply troubled by the events of her past , and is compelled to confront her father Agustín about his role in those events . Urania visits her father , finding him weakened by age and a severe stroke , so much so that he is barely able to respond physically to her presence , let alone speak . Agustín listens helplessly as Urania recounts his past as " Egghead Cabral " , a high @-@ ranking member of Trujillo 's inner circle , and his drastic fall from grace . Urania details Agustín 's role in the events that led to her rape by the Dominican leader , and to her subsequent lifetime of celibacy and emotional trauma . Agustín 's character in the modern day portion of the novel serves primarily as a sounding board for Urania 's recollections of the Trujillo era and the events that surrounded both Agustín Cabral 's disgrace and Urania 's escape from the country . His responses are minimal and non @-@ vocal , despite the <unk> of Urania 's accusations and the enormity of his own actions during Trujillo 's reign .
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= = = The Trujillo regime = = =
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Rafael Trujillo , known also as The Goat , The Chief , and The Benefactor , is a fictionalized character based on the real dictator of the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961 and the official President of the Republic from 1930 to 1938 and 1943 to 1952 . In The Feast of the Goat , Vargas Llosa imagines the innermost thoughts of the dictator , and retells The Goat 's last hours from his own perspective . Trujillo 's character struggles with aging and the physical problems of incontinence and impotence . Through fictional events and first person narrative , the reader is given insight into the man who , during his " thirty @-@ one years of horrendous political crimes " , modernized the country 's infrastructure and military , but whose regime 's attacks against its enemies overseas ( particularly the attempted assassination of Rómulo Betancourt , president of Venezuela ) led to the imposition of economic sanctions on the Dominican Republic by the Organization of American States in the 1950s . The resultant economic downturn , in conjunction with other factors , leads to the CIA supported assassination plot that ends Trujillo 's life on May 30 , 1961 .
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Trujillo 's regime is supported by Johnny Abbes García , the head of the Military Intelligence Service ( SIM ) , a brutal man to whom many " disappearances , ... executions , ... sudden falls into disgrace " are attributed . Abbes and his intelligence officers are notorious for their cruelty , particularly their habit of killing dissidents by throwing them into shark @-@ infested waters . Colonel Abbes " may be the devil , but he 's useful to the Chief ; everything bad is attributed to him and only the good to Trujillo " . Trujillo 's son , Ramfis Trujillo , is a loyal supporter of the Chief . After unsuccessful attempts at schooling in the United States , Ramfis returns to the Dominican Republic to serve in his father 's military . He is a well @-@ known womanizer . Upon Trujillo 's death , Ramfis seeks revenge , even going so far as to torture and kill his uncle by marriage , General Jose Roman , for his part in the assassination conspiracy .
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Joaquín Balaguer , Trujillo 's puppet president is also a supporter , and initially his seemingly innocuous character holds no real power . Following Trujillo 's death , the calm and serenity of Balaguer bring about real change in his character , and General Román comments that " this insignificant man whom everyone had always considered a mere clerk , a purely decorative figure in the regime , began to acquire surprising authority " . It is Balaguer who guides much of the action in the last sections of the book .
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= = = Conspirators = = =
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The storyline concerning the assassination primarily follows the four conspirators who directly participate in Trujillo 's death . Antonio Imbert Barrera is one of the few conspirators who survives the violent reprisals that follow Trujillo 's assassination . Imbert is a politician who becomes disillusioned with the deception and cruelty of the Trujillo regime . His first plan to kill Trujillo was foiled by the unsuccessful attempted overthrow of the regime by Cuban paramilitary forces . Now convinced of the difficulty of his task , Imbert joins the other conspirators in plotting Trujillo 's death . Among the others is Antonio de la Maza , one of Trujillo 's personal guards . Antonio 's brother is killed as part of a government cover @-@ up and Antonio swears revenge upon Trujillo . Salvador Estrella <unk> , known as " Turk " , is a devout Catholic who , in indignation at the regime 's many crimes against God , swears an oath against Trujillo . Turk eventually turns himself in for fear that the regime was torturing his family . Both Turk and his innocent brother are then tortured for months . His father remains loyal to Trujillo and disowns Turk to his face . Despite all of this , Turk refuses to commit suicide and does not lose faith in God . He is later executed by Ramfis and other high level government men . Turk 's close friend , Amado García Guerrero , known as Amadito , is a Lieutenant in the army who gave up his beloved as proof of his loyalty to Trujillo , and then later was forced to kill her brother to prove himself to Trujillo . Amadito 's disgust with himself and disillusionment with the regime lead to his decision to help to kill Trujillo . Following the assassination he hides out with de la Maza and dies fighting . In the aftermath of the assassination , Amadito and Antonio de la Maza choose to fight the members of SIM who come to arrest them , opting to die in battle rather than be captured and tortured .
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The Feast of the Goat 's major themes include political corruption , machismo , memory , and writing and power . Olga Lorenzo , reviewer for The Melbourne Age , suggests that overall Vargas Llosa 's aim is to reveal the irrational forces of Latin tradition that give rise to despotism .
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The structure of Dominican society was hierarchical , with strongly gendered roles . Rafael Trujillo , the ruler , was a cruel dictator who haunts the people of Santo Domingo even 35 years after his death . He is a true caudillo , ruling with brutality and corruption . He creates a personality cult in his capitalist society and encourages decadence within his regime . Prior to promotion to a position of responsibility , an officer is required to pass a " test of loyalty " . His people are to remain loyal to him all cost , and are periodically tested by public humiliation and censure even though acts of disloyalty were rare . Trujillo violates women and children as an expression of political and sexual power , and in some cases takes the wife or child of his lieutenants , many of whom still remain blindly loyal . Even the church and military institutions are employed to give women to the tyrant for pleasure .
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Many of the assassins had belonged to the Trujillo regime or had at one point been its staunch supporters , only to find their support for him eroded by the state 's crimes against its people . Imbert , one of the assassins , sums up this realization in a comment prompted by the murder of the Mirabal sisters : " They kill our fathers , our brothers , our friends . And now they 're killing our women . And here we sit , resigned , waiting our turn . " In an interview , Vargas Llosa describes the corruption and brutality of Trujillo 's regime : " He had more or less all the common traits of a Latin American dictator , but pushed to the extreme . In cruelty , I think he went far far away from the rest — and in corruption , too . "
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= = = <unk> = = =
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According to literary scholar Peter Anthony <unk> , the two important components of machismo are aggressive behaviour and hyper @-@ sexuality . Aggressive behaviour is exhibited by displays of power and strength , while hyper @-@ sexuality is revealed through sexual activity with as many partners as possible . These two components shape the portrayal of Trujillo and his regime in The Feast of the Goat . As Lorenzo observes , Vargas Llosa " reveals traditions of machismo , of abusive fathers , and of child @-@ rearing practices that repeat the shaming of children , so that each generation bequeaths a withering of the soul to the subsequent one . "
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In a display of both aspects of machismo , Trujillo demanded of his aides and cabinet that they provide him with sexual access to their wives and daughters . Mario Vargas Llosa wrote of Trujillo 's machismo and treatment of women , " [ h ] e went to bed with his ministers ' wives , not only because he liked these ladies but because it was a way to test his ministers . He wanted to know if they were ready to accept this extreme humiliation . Mainly the ministers were prepared to play this grotesque role — and they remained loyal to Trujillo even after his death . " Trujillo 's sexual conquests and public humiliations of his enemies also serve to affirm his political power and machismo . In <unk> 's words , " The implication is that maximum virility equals political dominance . "
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Trujillo 's attempted sexual conquest of Urania is an example of both political manipulation of Agustín Cabral and sexual power over young women . However , as Trujillo 's penis remains flaccid throughout the encounter and he is humiliated in front of the young girl , the encounter fails to satisfy his requirements for machismo .
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All of the novel 's storylines concern memory in some sense or another . The most apparent confrontation of memory is on the part of Urania Cabral , who has returned to the Dominican Republic for the first time in 30 years , and is forced to confront her father and the traumas that led her to leave the country at 14 . She was the victim of sexual abuse at the hands of the dictator himself , a sacrifice her father made to try to gain favor with the dictator again , a fact to which she alludes throughout the book , but which is only revealed at the very end : the book concludes with her recounting the memory of that night to her aunt and cousins , who never knew the true reason she left the country . When her aunt is surprised that she remembers all these details , she responds that while she forgets many things , " I remember everything about that night . " For Urania , forgetting the atrocities committed by the regime is unacceptable . Her father , on the other hand , is not capable of joining her in this process of remembering , since he has suffered a stroke and is not capable of speaking ; however , Urania is angry that he chose to forget these things while he was still capable of acknowledging them .
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Memory is also important in the sections of the novel that deal with the assassins . Each recalls the events that led him to take part in the assassination of Trujillo . These incidents included the 1956 <unk> kidnapping and murder , the 1960 murder of the Mirabal sisters , and the 1961 split with the Catholic Church . These historical events are used by Vargas Llosa to connect the assassins with specific moments that demonstrate the violence of Trujillo 's regime . Trujillo , too , is shown reflecting on the past , not least his own formation and training at the hands of the US Marines .
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But above all Mario Vargas Llosa uses the fictional Urania to facilitate the novel 's attempt at remembering the regime . The novel opens and closes with Urania 's story , effectively framing the narrative in the terms of remembering the past and understanding its legacy in the present . In addition , because of her academic study of the history of the Trujillo regime , Urania is also confronting the memory of the regime for the country as a whole . This is in keeping with one purpose of the book , which is to ensure that the atrocities of the dictatorship and the dangers of absolute power will be remembered by a new generation .
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In her treatment of the novel , María Regina Ruiz claims that power gives its wielder the ability to make prohibitions ; prohibitions that are reflected in history , the study of which reveals what is and what is not told . The government 's actions in The Feast of the Goat demonstrate the discourse of prohibition : foreign newspapers and magazines were prohibited from entering Trujillo 's country as they were seen as a threat to the government 's ideas . Mario Vargas Llosa takes part in this discourse by recounting what was prohibited .
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Ruiz notes that writing also has the power to transform reality . It brings the reader back to the past , allowing the reader to comprehend myths or distorted stories told by historians . Ruiz contends that knowing the past is crucial to one 's understanding of the present that takes us to postmodernism , and argues that The Feast of the Goat can thus be seen as a postmodern discourse that gives power to history recreation .
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The construction of fictions surrounding the events of Trujillo 's regime allow a degree of freedom from the horrors that took places . Author Julia Alvarez contends that these events can " only finally be understood by fiction , only finally be redeemed by the imagination " , while Richard Patterson claims that Vargas Llosa " <unk> , and to a large degree <unk> " Trujillo and his brutal reign through use of narrative structure . Vargas Llosa 's writing acts as a cathartic force for this period in history .
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The novel is a combination of fact and fiction . Blending together these two elements is important in any historical novel , but especially in The Feast of the Goat because Vargas Llosa chose to narrate an actual event through the minds of both real and fictional characters . Some characters are fictional , and those that are non @-@ fictional still have fictionalized aspects in the book . The general details of the assassination are true , and the assassins are all real people . While they lie in wait for the Dictator to arrive , they recount actual crimes of the regime , such as the murder of the Mirabal sisters . However , other details are invented by Vargas Llosa , such as Amadito 's murder of the brother of the woman he loved .
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Those within the regime are also a mix of fictional characters and real people . President Balaguer is real , but the entire Cabral family is completely fictional . According to Wolff , Vargas Llosa " uses history as a starting point in constructing a fictionalized account of Trujillo 's " spiritual colonization " of the Dominican Republic as experienced by one Dominican family . The fictional Cabral family allows Vargas Llosa to show two sides of the Trujillo regime : through Agustin , the reader sees ultimate dedication and sacrifice to the leader of the nation ; through Urania , the violence of the regime and the legacy of pain it left behind . Vargas Llosa also fictionalized the internal thoughts of the characters who were non @-@ fictional , especially those of the Goat himself . According to literary scholar Richard Patterson , " Vargas Llosa 's expands all the way into the very " dark area " of Trujillo 's consciousness ( as the storyteller dares to conceive it ) . "
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Vargas Llosa also built an image of the regime with the troubled historical events . With regard to the historical accuracy of the book , Vargas Llosa has said " It 's a novel , not a history book , so I took many , many liberties . The only limitation I imposed on myself was that I was not going to invent anything that couldn 't have happened within the framework of life in the Dominican Republic . I have respected the basic facts , but I have changed and deformed many things in order to make the story more persuasive — and I have not exaggerated . "
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The realist style of The Feast of the Goat is recognized by some reviewers as being a break from a more allegorical approach to the dictator novel . The novel received largely positive reviews , most of which were willing to accept sacrifices of historical accuracy in favour of good storytelling .
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A common comment on the novel is the graphic nature of the many acts of torture and murder which are depicted in the novel . Vargas lets the reader see the realities of an oppressive regime with a degree of detail not often used by his compatriots in Latin American literature , as Michael Wood suggests in the London Review of Books : " Vargas Llosa ... tells us far more about the details of day @-@ to @-@ day intrigue , and the sordid , sadistic minutiae of torture and murder . " Walter Kirn of the New York Times suggests that the " grisly scenes of dungeon interrogations and torture sessions " cast other aspects of the novel in a pale light , draining them of their significance and impact . Similarly , Kirn implies that the " narrative machinery " mentioned by Wood as being somewhat unwieldy also produces a largely superfluous storyline . The plot line centered on Urania Cabral is described by Sturrock as being an emotional centre that focuses the novel , and Wood agrees that her confrontations with past demons hold the readers attention . In contrast , Kirn 's review states that Urania 's segments are " talky and atmospheric ... [ and ] seem to be on loan from another sort of book . "
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Most reviews of The Feast of the Goat make either indirect of direct reference to the relationship between sexuality and power . Salon reviewer Laura Miller , writer for The Observer Jonathan Heawood , Walter Kirn , and Michael Wood each detail the connection between Trujillo 's gradual loss of ultimate control , both over his body and his followers . The means by which Trujillo reinforces political power through sexual acts and begins to lose personal conviction as his body fails him are topics of frequent discussion among reviewers .
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In 2011 Bernard Diederich , author of the 1978 non @-@ fiction book Trujillo . The Death of the Goat , accused Vargas @-@ Llosa of plagiarism .
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An English @-@ language film adaptation of the novel was made in 2005 , directed by Luis Llosa , Mario Vargas Llosa 's cousin . It stars Isabella Rossellini as Urania Cabral , Paul Freeman as her father Agustin , Stephanie Leonidas as <unk> and Tomas Milian as Rafael Leonidas Trujillo . It was filmed in both the Dominican Republic and in Spain . Reviewing the film for the trade paper Variety , critic Jonathan Holland called it " less a feast than a somewhat rushed , but thoroughly enjoyable , three @-@ course meal " , commenting that the main difference from the source novel was the sacrifice of psychological nuance .
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The novel has also been adapted for the stage , by Jorge Alí Triana and his daughter Veronica Triana , directed by Jorge Triana : the play was put on ( in Spanish , but with simultaneous translation to English ) at <unk> Español ( <unk> / chivo ) in New York in 2003 ; and the production moved to Lima in 2007 . A feature of the novel 's stage version is that the same actor plays both Agustin Cabral and Rafael Trujillo . For reviewer Bruce Weber , this makes the point " that Trujillo 's control of the nation depended on gutless collaborators " .
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Charles Eaton , OBE , AFC ( 21 December 1895 – 12 November 1979 ) was a senior officer and aviator in the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) , who later served as a diplomat . Born in London , he joined the British Army upon the outbreak of World War I and saw action on the Western Front before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 . Posted as a bomber pilot to No. 206 Squadron , he was twice captured by German forces , and twice escaped . Eaton left the military in 1920 and worked in India until moving to Australia in 1923 . Two years later he joined the RAAF , serving initially as an instructor at No. 1 Flying Training School . Between 1929 and 1931 , he was chosen to lead three expeditions to search for lost aircraft in Central Australia , gaining national attention and earning the Air Force Cross for his " zeal and devotion to duty " .
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In 1939 , on the eve of World War II , Eaton became the inaugural commanding officer of No. 12 ( General Purpose ) Squadron at the newly established RAAF Station Darwin in Northern Australia . Promoted group captain the following year , he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1942 . He took command of No. 79 Wing at Batchelor , Northern Territory , in 1943 , and was mentioned in despatches during operations in the South West Pacific . Retiring from the RAAF in December 1945 , Eaton took up diplomatic posts in the Dutch East Indies , heading a United Nations commission as Consul @-@ General during the Indonesian National Revolution . He returned to Australia in 1950 , and served in Canberra for a further two years . Popularly known as " Moth " Eaton , he was a farmer in later life , and died in 1979 at the age of 83 . He is commemorated by several memorials in the Northern Territory .
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= = Early life and World War I = =
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Charles Eaton was born on 21 December 1895 in Lambeth , London , the son of William Walpole Eaton , a butcher , and his wife Grace . Schooled in Wandsworth , Charles worked in Battersea Town Council from the age of fourteen , before joining the London Regiment upon the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 . Attached to a bicycle company in the 24th Battalion of the 47th Division , he arrived at the Western Front in March 1915 . He took part in trench bombing missions and attacks on enemy lines of communication , seeing action in the Battles of Aubers Ridge , Festubert , Loos , and the Somme .
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On 14 May 1915 , Eaton transferred to the Royal Flying Corps ( RFC ) , undergoing initial pilot training at Oxford . While he was landing his Maurice Farman Shorthorn at the end of his first solo flight , another student collided with him and was killed , but Eaton emerged uninjured . He was commissioned in August and was awarded his wings in October . Ranked lieutenant , he served with No. 110 Squadron , which operated Martinsyde G.100 " Elephant " fighters out of <unk> , defending London against Zeppelin airships . Transferred to the newly formed Royal Air Force ( RAF ) in April 1918 , he was posted the following month to France flying Airco DH.9 single @-@ engined bombers with No. 206 Squadron . On 29 June , he was shot down behind enemy lines and captured in the vicinity of <unk> . Incarcerated in Holzminden prisoner @-@ of @-@ war camp , Germany , Eaton escaped but was recaptured and court @-@ martialled , after which he was kept in solitary confinement . He later effected another escape and succeeded in rejoining his squadron in the final days of the war .
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Eaton remained in the RAF following the cessation of hostilities . He married Beatrice Godfrey in St. Thomas 's church at Shepherd 's Bush , London , on 11 January 1919 . Posted to No. 1 Squadron , he was a pilot on the first regular passenger service between London and Paris , ferrying delegates to and from the Peace Conference at Versailles . Eaton was sent to India in December to undertake aerial survey work , including the first such survey of the Himalayas . He resigned from the RAF in July 1920 , remaining in India to take up employment with the Imperial Forest Service . After successfully applying for a position with the Queensland Forestry Service , he and his family migrated to Australia in 1923 . Moving to South Yarra , Victoria , he enlisted as a flying officer in the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) at Laverton on 14 August 1925 . He was posted to No. 1 Flying Training School at RAAF Point Cook , as a flight instructor , where he became known as a strict disciplinarian who " trained his pilots well " . Here Eaton acquired his nickname of " Moth " , the Air Force 's basic trainer at this time being the De Havilland DH.60 Moth . Promoted flight lieutenant in February 1928 , he flew a Moth in the 1929 East @-@ West Air Race from Sydney to Perth , as part of the celebrations for the Western Australia Centenary ; he was the sixth competitor across the line , after fellow RFC veteran Jerry Pentland .
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Regarded as one of the RAAF 's most skilful cross @-@ country pilots and navigators , Eaton came to public attention as leader of three military expeditions to find lost aircraft in Central Australia between 1929 and 1931 . In April 1929 , he coordinated the Air Force 's part in the search for aviators Keith Anderson and Bob Hitchcock , missing in their aircraft the Kookaburra while themselves looking for Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm , who had force landed the Southern Cross in north Western Australia during a flight from Sydney . Three of the RAAF 's five " ancient " DH.9 biplanes went down in the search — though all crews escaped injury — including Eaton 's , which experienced what he labelled " a good crash " on 21 April near Tennant Creek after the engine 's pistons melted . The same day , Captain Lester Brain , flying a Qantas aircraft , located the wreck of the Kookaburra in the Tanami Desert , approximately 130 kilometres ( 81 mi ) east @-@ south @-@ east of Wave Hill . Setting out from Wave Hill on 23 April , Eaton led a ground party across rough terrain that reached the crash site four days later and buried the crew , who had perished of thirst and exposure . Not a particularly religious man , he recalled that after the burial he saw a perfect cross formed by cirrus cloud in an otherwise clear blue sky above the Kookaburra . The Air Board described the RAAF 's search as taking 240 hours flying time " under the most trying conditions ... where a forced landing meant certain crash " . In November 1930 , Eaton was selected to lead another expedition for a missing aircraft near Ayers Rock , but it was called off soon afterwards when the pilot showed up in Alice Springs . The next month , he was ordered to search for W.L. <unk> and S.J. Hamre , who had disappeared in the biplane Golden Quest 2 while attempting to discover Lasseter 's Reef . Employing a total of four DH.60 Moths , the RAAF team located the missing men near Dashwood Creek on 7 January 1931 , and they were rescued four days later by a ground party accompanied by Eaton . Staying in nearby Alice Springs , he recommended a site for the town 's new airfield , which was approved and has remained in use since its construction .
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Eaton was awarded the Air Force Cross on 10 March 1931 " in recognition of his zeal and devotion to duty in conducting flights to Central Australia in search of missing aviators " . The media called him the " ' Knight Errant ' of the desert skies " . Aside from his crash landing in the desert while searching for the Kookaburra , Eaton had another narrow escape in 1929 when he was test flying the Wackett Warrigal I with Sergeant Eric Douglas . Having purposely put the biplane trainer into a spin and finding no response in the controls when he tried to recover , Eaton called on Douglas to bail out . When Douglas stood up to do so , the spin stopped , apparently due to his torso changing the airflow over the tail plane . Eaton then managed to land the aeroplane , he and his passenger both badly shaken by the experience . In December 1931 , he was posted to No. 1 Aircraft Depot at Laverton , where he continued to fly as well as performing administrative work . Promoted squadron leader in 1936 , he undertook a clandestine mission around the new year to scout for suitable landing grounds in the Dutch East Indies , primarily Timor and Ambon . Wearing civilian clothes , he and his companion were arrested and held for three days by local authorities in Koepang , Dutch Timor . Eaton was appointed commanding officer ( CO ) of No. 21 Squadron in May 1937 , one of his first tasks being to undertake another aerial search in Central Australia , this time for prospector Sir Herbert Gepp , who was subsequently discovered alive and well . Later that year , Eaton presided over the court of inquiry into the crash of a Hawker Demon biplane in Victoria , recommending a gallantry award for Aircraftman William McAloney , who had leapt into the Demon 's burning wreckage in an effort to rescue its pilot ; McAloney subsequently received the Albert Medal for his heroism .
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Following a 1937 decision to establish the first north Australian RAAF base , in April 1938 Eaton , now on the headquarters staff of RAAF Station Laverton , and Wing Commander George Jones , Director of Personnel Services at RAAF Headquarters , began developing plans for the new station , to be commanded by Jones , and a new squadron that would be based there , led by Eaton . The next month they flew an Avro Anson on an inspection tour of Darwin , Northern Territory , site of the proposed base . Delays meant that No. 12 ( General Purpose ) Squadron was not formed until 6 February 1939 at Laverton . Jones had by now moved on to another posting but Eaton took up the squadron 's command as planned . Promoted to wing commander on 1 March , he and his equipment officer , Flying Officer Hocking , were ordered to build up the unit as quickly as possible , and established an initial complement of fourteen officers and 120 airmen , plus four Ansons and four Demons , within a week . An advance party of thirty NCOs and airmen under Hocking began moving to Darwin on 1 July . Staff were initially accommodated in a former <unk> built during World War I , and life at the newly established air base had a " distinctly raw , pioneering feel about it " according to historian Chris Coulthard @-@ Clark . Morale , though , was high . On 31 August , No. 12 Squadron launched its first patrol over the Darwin area , flown by one of seven Ansons that had so far been delivered . These were augmented by a flight of four CAC Wirraways ( replacing the originally planned force of Demons ) that took off from Laverton on 2 September , the day before Australia declared war , and arrived in Darwin four days later . A fifth Wirraway in the flight crashed on landing at Darwin , killing both crewmen .
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