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What did the Post Office Group change its name to in March 2001? | Records of the Post office Department [POD] | National Archives
(Enter 3 digits: "064" for RG 64)
Records of the Post office Department [POD]
(Record Group 28)
28.2.2 Records of the Office of the Chief Clerk
28.2.3 Records of the Office of the Disbursing Officer
28.2.4 Records of the Division of Service Relations
28.2.5 Records of the Office of the Solicitor
28.2.6 Records of the Office of the Purchasing Agent
28.2.7 Records of the Special Assistant to the Postmaster General
28.2.8 Records of the Bureau of Finance and Administration
28.2.9 Records of the Bureau of Finance
28.2.10 Records of the Bureau of Facilities
28.2.11 Records of the Bureau of Research and Engineering
28.2.12 Records of the Bureau of Transportation and International Services
28.2.13 Records of the Post Office Changes Branch
28.3 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE FIRST ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL AND SUCCESSORS 1789-1971
28.3.2 Records of the Division of Postmasters
28.3.3 Records of the Division of Post Office Clerical Service
28.3.4 Records of the Division of City Delivery Service
28.3.5 Records of the Division of Rural Delivery Service
28.3.6 Records of the Division of Post Office Service
28.3.7 Records of the Division of Dead Letters
28.4 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE SECOND ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL AND SUCCESSORS 1808-1969
28.4.2 Records of the Domestic Transportation Division
28.4.3 Records of the Division of Railway Mail Service
28.4.4 Records of the Division of Railway Adjustments
28.4.5 Records of the Division of International Postal Service
28.4.6 Records of the Division of Air Mail Service
28.5 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE THIRD ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL AND SUCCESSORS 1775-1968
28.5.2 Records of the Division of Finance
28.5.3 Records of the Postal Savings System
28.5.4 Records of the Division of Money Orders
28.5.5 Records of the Division of Stamps
28.5.6 Records of the Division of Newspaper and Periodical Mail
28.6 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE FOURTH ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL
1837-1970
28.6.2 Records of the Division of Topography
28.6.3 Records of the Division of Motor Vehicle Service
28.6.4 Records of the Pneumatic Tube Service
28.6.5 Records of the Division of Post Office Quarters
28.6.6 Records of the Division of Equipment and Supplies
28.6.7 Records of the Division of Rural Mails
28.7 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF ACCOUNTS 1883-1948
28.8 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE CHIEF INSPECTOR 1829-1970
28.9 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF TRANSPORTANION 1915-66
28.10 RECORD OF REGIONAL POST OFFICES 1954-65
28.10.1 Records of the Atlanta Office
28.10.2 Records of the Chicago Office
28.11 LIBRARY COLLECTION OF POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT RECORDS 1804-1955
28.12 CARTOGRAPHIC RECORDS (GENERAL)
28.14 SOUND RECORDINGS (GENERAL) 1960-70
28.15 STILL PICTURES (GENERAL) 1883-1959
28.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
Established: As an independent agency, by an act of February 20, 1792 (1 Stat. 232).
Predecessor Agencies:
Postmaster General, 2d Continental Congress (1775-81)
Postmaster General, Confederation Congress (1781-89)
Office of the Postmaster General (OPMG, 1789-92)
Functions: Provided mail processing and delivery services to individuals and businesses within the United States.
Abolished: Effective July 1, 1971, by the Postal Reorganization Act (84 Stat. 719), August 12, 1970, and functions transferred to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
Finding Aids: Arthur Hecht et al., comps., and Forrest R. Holdcamper, rev., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Post Office Department, PI 168 (1967); supplement in National Archives microfiche edition of preliminary inventories. Janet Hargett, comp., List of Selected Maps of States and Territories, SL 29 (1971).
Related Records: Record copies of publications of the Post Office Department and its components in RG 287, Publications of the U.S. Government.
28.2 RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL
1773-1971
History: Position of Postmaster General created by 2d Continental Congress, July 26, 1775. Continued under Confederation Congress following ratification of Articles of Confederation, March 1, 1781. Temporary Office of Postmaster General established in Federal Government by the Post Office Act (1 Stat. 70), September 22, 1789. Permanent Post Office Department established by the Post Office Act (1 Stat. 232), February 20, 1792. Postmaster General made Cabinet member, 1829. Post Office Department elevated to Cabinet status by Post Office Act (17 Stat. 283), June 8, 1872. Superseded by USPS, 1971. SEE 28.1.
28.2.1 General records
Textual Records: Journals containing orders of the Postmaster General, 1835-1953. Letters sent, 1789-1952 (with gaps). Letters received, 1837-43. Letters sent by the private secretary, 1867- 1901 (with gaps). Letters sent by the administrative assistant, July-December 1929. Letters sent by the executive assistant, 1930-35. Postage stamp printing contracts, 1850-1906. Correspondence files of Postmaster General William M. Blount, 1969-70. Publications providing details of a wide span of postal activities, 1961-71. Subject files of the Department Planning Committee, 1966-68.
Microfilm Publications: M601.
28.2.2 Records of the Office of the Chief Clerk
History: Established, April 1818, to supervise field and investigative operations. Shared responsibility with Assistant Postmaster General and supervised Office of Mail Contracts after departmental reorganization, 1825. Supervised Division of Special Agents and Mail Depredations, Office of the Topographer, the Superintendent of Buildings, and the Disbursing Clerk, 1836-72. Assigned general administrative and operating functions by Post Office Act (17 Stat. 283), June 8, 1872. Assigned supplementary responsibilities as Superintendent of Buildings, July 1, 1905, and as Director of Personnel, July 1, 1934. Superseded by Bureau of Personnel, 1955.
Textual Records: Fair copy of the journal of Hugh Finlay, Surveyor of Post Roads and Post Offices for the British Post Office Department, 1773-74. Continental Congress post office department dead letters book, 1777-88. Miscellaneous cashbooks, bonds, forms, printed material, and other records relating to U.S. and foreign post offices, 1794-1894. Manuscript annual reports, 1836-40, 1846. Congressional correspondence, 1839-58 (with gaps). Inquiries of the Keep Commission about administrative procedures, 1906-7. Letters sent, 1873-80, 1885- 1910. Records relating to buildings occupied by the POD, 1827-55. Records relating to the experimental telegraph line built in 1843 under the general direction of Samuel F.B. Morse and the Postmaster General, 1837-46. Telegraph rate agreements, 1866- 1913. Correspondence concerning personnel and operation of the Censorship Board, 1917-18. General correspondence and reports relating to personnel, 1904-13. Exhibits to a report on Railway Mail Service printing offices, 1908. Scrapbook of issuances and newspaper clippings relating to postal activities, 1823-71.
Microfilm Publications: T268.
Motion Pictures (124 reels): Post office buildings and the construction and dedication of the New Post Office, Washington, DC, 1931-34 (14 reels). Postal activities, equipment, and facilities, including the Dead Letter Office, mail processing, parcel post, mail bags, stamps, mail robbery and misuse of the mails, postal savings system, and instructions to mail users; and prominent persons, including Presidents Herbert C. Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and various Postmasters General, 1915-68 (36 reels). Scenic film about Mount Rainier National Park, 1923 (1 reel). German propaganda films relating to the conquest (1939- 40) of Belgium, Holland, France, and Poland, 1940-41 (28 reels). Postal Service activities and events including the use of automation to improve mail service, n.d. (8 reels); how postal service operates, n.d. (14 reels); and how zip code works, n.d. (2 reels). Various stamp ceremonies, 1958-71 (43 reels). President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, and Postmaster General Summerfield attending the issuance of the Liberty 8-cent stamp, 1954 (1 reel). Postal equipment tests and demonstrations, and interiors of various U.S. post offices, 1964-65 (11 reels).
SEE ALSO 28.13
28.2.3 Records of the Office of the Disbursing Officer
History: Position of Disbursing Clerk established by a supplementary appropriations act of March 3, 1853 (10 Stat. 211). Title changed to Superintendent of the Post Office Building and Disbursing Officer (or Clerk) by Post Office Act (17 Stat. 283), June 8, 1872. Position transferred to Office of the Third Assistant Postmaster General by appropriations act of June 19, 1878 (20 Stat. 178). Established as independent office by order of August 1, 1891. Redesignated Office of the Disbursing Officer, November 1, 1905. Redesignated Director of Postal Finance, and assigned to Bureau of Third Assistant Postmaster General, November 15, 1943.
Textual Records: Fiscal and other records relating to supplies, property, salaries, and building maintenance, 1862-1913.
28.2.4 Records of the Division of Service Relations
History: Welfare Division established, April 21, 1921, superseding the Postal Employees' Cooperative Store Association, established 1917. Date of Welfare Division redesignation as Division of Service Relations not determined.
Textual Records: General records of the Postal Employees' Cooperative Store Association, Washington, DC, 1917-21. Records relating to postal employee welfare programs developed through national, county, local, and departmental councils and boards, 1921-30.
28.2.5 Records of the Office of the Solicitor
History: Established by act of May 8, 1794 (1 Stat. 354), to provide legal advice to Postmaster General. Assistant Attorney General for the Post Office Department (AAGPOD) authorized by Post Office Act (17 Stat. 283), June 8, 1872, to be paid, pursuant to appropriations act of March 3, 1873 (17 Stat. 508), out of Department of Justice funds. Initial appointment made by Postmaster General, March 20, 1873. Office of Solicitor began providing staff assistance to AAGPOD, 1878. AAGPOD redesignated Solicitor for the Post Office Department by appropriations act of June 6, 1914 (38 Stat. 497), but continued to be funded from Department of Justice appropriations. Postmaster General authorized to appoint and finance a Special Assistant to Attorney General, pursuant to act of July 28, 1916 (39 Stat. 412). Office of the Solicitor absorbed the Office of the Special Assistant to the Attorney General, 1934. Redesignated General Counsel, 1958.
Textual Records: Office files of Solicitor William H. Lamar, 1912-22. Opinions, 1868-74, 1895-97. Letters sent, 1877-79, 1906. Selected case files, 1905-21, concerning use of the mails for fraud, sedition, lotteries, false advertising, transportation of obscene matter, and other violations of postal laws and regulations, with indexes. Case files, registers, transcripts, and dockets relating to fraud cases, 1834-1951. Records relating to nonmailable publications, 1940-47. Records relating to federal operation of telephone, telegraph, and cable companies, 1918-21, with index and card file. Records relating to enforcement of the Espionage Act of 1917, as amended (1940), 1917-21, 1942-45. Correspondence and reports relating to investigations of airmail and ocean mail contracts, 1934-40. Registers of postmasters' claims for reimbursement, 1882-1929. Records relating to bonding of mail route carriers, 1901-2, 1908.
Subject Access Terms: Esquire Magazine case.
28.2.6 Records of the Office of the Purchasing Agent
History: Established by act of April 28, 1904 (33 Stat. 429).
Textual Records: Letters sent relating to supply and equipment purchases, 1904, 1910.
28.2.7 Records of the Special Assistant to the Postmaster General
History: Established in 1959 in response to the Post Office Department's growing responsibilities and increased demands. Textual Records: Nationwide improved mail services publicity file, 1961. Press release books, 1953-62. Press releases, 1962.
28.2.8 Records of the Bureau of Finance and Administration
History: Created in 1964 as a successor to the Bureau of Finance.
Textual Records: Directives and publications case files, 1935-72. Paperwork management studies, 1955-69. Reorganization studies, 1950-68. Subject files, 1957-69.
28.2.9 Records of the Bureau of Finance
History: Established by the 1949 Postal Reorganization Plan.
Textual Records: Records of the Cost Ascertainment Division, consisting of cost ascertainment final reports and appendices, 1923-59; and reports on the cost ascertainment system, 1944-56. Records of the Postal Funds Division, consisting of bank correspondence files, 1908-55. Migratory bird hunting stamp file, 1939-61. Embossed stamped envelope file, 1933-56. Regular, air mail, and commemorative stamp file, 1957-62.
28.2.10 Records of the Bureau of Facilities
History: Established by the 1949 Postal Reorganization Plan.
Textual Records: Organization history files and related records, 1931-60. Subject files, 1944-67.
28.2.11 Records of the Bureau of Research and Engineering
History: Established by PL 89-492, July 5, 1966.
Textual Records; Subject files, 1958-67. Construction and engineering project files, 1965-68.
28.2.12 Records of the Bureau of Transportation and International Services
History: Established in 1964 as the result of a name change from the Bureau of Transportation. Most of the original functions were transferred.
Textual Records: Special project reports and related records, 1966-67. Subject files, 1962-67. Highway post office discontinuation case files, 1961-67. Railroad post office discontinuation case files, 1963-67. Sectional centers facility case files, 1963-66.
28.2.13 Records of the Post Office Changes Branch
History: Established as an unit of the Post Office Changes and Rural Appointment Division by the 1949 Postal Reorganization Plan. This unit by the late 1960's was termed the Postal Changes Branch.
Textual records: Establishment and discontinuation of post offices files, 1959-63.
28.3 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE FIRST ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL AND SUCCESSORS
1789-1971
History: Office of the Assistant Postmaster General established by 2d Continental Congress, July 26, 1775, and retained under Federal Government by Post Office Act (1 Stat. 70), September 22, 1789. Redesignated Office of the First Assistant Postmaster General pursuant to Post Office Act (2 Stat. 593), April 30, 1810, which created Office of the Second Assistant Postmaster. Redesignated Bureau of the First Assistant Postmaster General, 1942. Superseded by Bureau of Post Office Operations, in accordance with Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1949, effective August 20, 1949. Redesignated Bureau of Operations, ca. 1959. Established and managed post offices; selected, nominated, or appointed postmasters; administered delivery service; and handled unmailable and undeliverable mail.
28.3.1 General records
Textual Records: Letters sent, 1793-1800. Orders ("Journals"), 1867-1905. Miscellaneous correspondence, 1911-41. Journal of the First Assistant Postmaster, 1941.
28.3.2 Records of the Division of Postmasters
Textual Records: Record of earliest returns received from postmasters, 1789-1818. Records relating to appointments of postmasters, 1815-1971. Records relating to the opening, closing, redesignation, and relocation of post offices, 1899-1914.
Microfilm Publications: M841, M1131.
28.3.3 Records of the Division of Post Office Clerical Service
Textual Records: Records relating to first- and second-class post offices, 1889-1936, including appointment and salary files (1889- 1907) and operating records (1916-36). Records relating to contract stations and branches, 1916-35. Records relating to Sunday service at post offices, 1911-12.
28.3.4 Records of the Division of City Delivery Service
Textual Records: Records relating to mail carriers employed in first- and second-class post offices, 1888-1907; and to carriers separated from the postal service, 1863-99. Reports of inspections of city delivery service in Baltimore, MD, Kalamazoo, MI, and Pittsburgh, PA, 1929-31. Records relating to the Detroit River Steamboat Service, 1895-1928.
28.3.5 Records of the Division of Rural Delivery Service
Textual Records: Correspondence, 1898-1936. Issuances of the Superintendent of the Free Delivery System, 1901-6. Statistical data, 1896-1910.
28.3.6 Records of the Division of Post Office Service
Textual Records: Correspondence and reports relating to classification of employees and measurement of work in post offices, 1912, 1923-34.
28.3.7 Records of the Division of Dead Letters
Textual Records: Miscellaneous records, 1897-1930.
28.4 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE SECOND ASSISTANT POSTMASTER
GENERAL AND SUCCESSORS
1808-1969
History: Office of the Second Assistant Postmaster General established by the Post Office Act (2 Stat. 593), April 30, 1810 (2 Stat. 593), to provide assistance in the field. Made responsible solely for transportation of the mail, November 15, 1851. Redesignated Bureau of the Second Assistant Postmaster General, 1942. Superseded by Bureau of Transportation (BOT), August 30, 1949. BOT abolished, with functions transferred to Bureau of Operations, 1969.
28.4.1 General records
Textual Records: Letters sent, 1891-1934. Administrative records, 1852-1968. Reports, 1911-31. Memorandums, 1914-29. Correspondence concerning airmail service, 1921-27. Notices to railway companies concerning mail transportation, 1885-1909. Roster of bureau employees, 1893-1912. Railway and Steamship Company mail pay cases, 1912-35. Ocean mail and airmail contract program and policy files, 1928-34. Files of the Deputy Assistant Postmaster General for the Bureau of Transportation (and International Services), 1958-66. Records of the special administrative aide, consisting of budget estimates and appropriations reports, 1920- 33, and reports of personnel changes, 1918-33. Correspondence and related records concerning the establishment of postal routes and air mail service in Alaska, 1934-48. Orders relating to mail route service by "electric cars," 1948-55.
28.4.2 Records of the Domestic Transportation Division
Textual Records: Historical files relating to airmail service, 1935-62; and to inaugural ceremonies for highway post offices, 1953-56. Case files pertaining to the establishment of routes for highway post offices, 1940-59; and to the discontinuation of highway and railway post offices, 1964-67.
28.4.3 Records of the Division of Railway Mail Service
Textual Records: Correspondence, 1902-29. Records relating to mail service to the American Expeditionary Forces, ca. 1917-19. Directives, 1894-1955. Circular letters sent to chief clerks of districts, 1911-17. Joint letter file, 1919-47. "Decision Book" relating to railway mail rules and procedures, 1872-98. Statements of annual travel allowance, 1928-38. Organization and job description sheets, ca. 1921-42. Rosters of clerks and agents, 1855-1915. Divisional newsletters, 1918-51. Registers of railroad and electric car mail route contracts, 1877-1948. Lists of mail service badges, 1905-19. Advertisements for Star Route carriers, 1808-1958. Route registers for screen body motor vehicles, 1934-53. Record of Star Route changes in NJ, NY, and PA, 1946-53. Lists of Star Route mail contractors, 1833-77. Paybooks for Star Route service, 1851-66. Records relating to government-operated Star Route service by motortrucks, 1917-24. Case files pertaining to the operation of panel body vehicles, 1949-53. Star Route mail contracts, 1814-1960 (with gaps), containing information about service to small post offices not on railroad lines. Orders, contracts, and correspondence relating to powerboat and steamboat mail route service, 1859-1963. Records relating to special service contracts, 1920-41. Records relating to construction and maintenance of railway post office cars, 1930-62.
28.4.4 Records of the Division of Railway Adjustments
Textual Records: Correspondence relating to rates paid for mail transportation, 1907-46. Case files and correspondence concerning transportation of mail matter by means other than the postal service in violation of federal statutes, 1896-1933. Reports by public carriers of railway mail service performed, 1916-22. Registers of the employment of mail messengers, 1877-81, 1900-47.
28.4.5 Records of the Division of International Postal Service
Textual Records: Record copies of postal conventions with foreign countries, 1848-1969. Records relating to postal congresses and conventions, 1888-1927. Publications of the Universal Postal Union, 1947-67. Correspondence with the Second Assistant Postmaster General relating to international postal policies and agreements, 1887-1966. Correspondence, reports, and questionnaires relating to vessels and routes employed in the ocean mail service, 1929-39. Correspondence relating to military postal service during the Spanish-American War, 1898-1902. Records relating to the operation of postal services in Cuba, 1896-1908; the Philippine Islands, 1895-1903; and Puerto Rico, 1899-1900. Correspondence, airline schedules, financial statements, surveys, and performance reports relating to the Foreign Airmail Service, 1918-39. Records relating to military mail, 1940-59. Miscellaneous records relating to international mail, 1914-37, and foreign parcel post facilities, 1911-12.
28.4.6 Records of the Division of Air Mail Service
Textual Records: General records of the Airmail Service, 1918-25, and the General Superintendent of the Service, 1926-42. Records of the Second Assistant Postmaster General concerning air transport, 1926-42. Airmail route contracts, 1927-34. Selected personnel records of air mail pilots and supervisors relating to operations of the air mail service, especially unusual flights, accidents, and aircraft testing, 1918-27. Airmail service publicity materials, 1918-37. Records relating to airmail routes and autogiro and helicopter service, 1919-49. Correspondence and reports concerning National Airmail Week, 1938-39. Performance and efficiency reports on domestic airmail service, 1920-41. Records relating to National Air Transport, Inc., 1926.
Maps (120 items): Landing fields and airmail routes, 1918-41 (98 items). Published maps relating to airmail, 1919-55 (22 items). SEE ALSO 28.12.
Architectural and Engineering Plans (1,620 items, in Washington Area): Blueprints and specifications for airplanes, hangars, and equipment, 1918-25. SEE ALSO 28.12.
Motion Pictures (2 reels): The Story of the U.S. Mail, n.d. (1 reel). Growth of airmail delivery, produced for National Airmail Week, 1938 (1 reel). SEE ALSO 28.13.
Photographs (1,350 images): Development of airmail service, including the first transcontinental flight, operation of Pan American Airlines Mail Service, air mail pilots (notably Charles Lindbergh), post office officials, airplane accidents, and safety devices, 1916-60 (MS). SEE ALSO 28.15.
28.5 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE THIRD ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL AND SUCCESSORS
1775-1968
History: Office of the Third Assistant Postmaster established by act of July 2, 1836 (5 Stat. 80), to supervise the settlement of accounts and, with Chief Clerk, to supervise the newly established Inspection Office. Made responsible for all financial operations not legally delegated to the Auditor, 1846, and subsequently acquired responsibility for issuing stamps and related philatelic issuances; and managing money order, parcel post, postal savings, and registered mail systems. Redesignated Bureau of the Third Assistant Postmaster General, 1942. Superseded by Bureau of Finance, in accordance with Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1949, effective August 20, 1949. Redesignated Bureau of Finance and Administration, 1964.
28.5.1 General records
Textual Records: Files of the Deputy Assistant Postmaster General and Controller, 1955-63, and of the Assistant Controller for Field Operations, 1961-65.
28.5.2 Records of the Division of Finance
Textual Records: Accounts, ledgers, and journals of the General Post Office, 1775-1803. General Post Office cashbooks, 1792-95. Post Office cashbooks, 1955-68. Correspondence of the division, 1922-37. Salary journals and receipts of post offices, 1895-1956 (including 2 rolls of microfilm). General ledgers for the whole department, 1947-54.
28.5.3 Records of the Postal Savings System
Textual Records: Records relating to the establishment of the Postal Savings System, 1861-1913. Forms, 1912-13. Daily record of cases received, 1913-51. General records, 1883-1957. Annual reports, 1937-64. Ledgers, 1911-59. Records relating to the discontinuance of the Postal Savings System, 1951-68.
28.5.4 Records of the Division of Money Orders
Textual Records: Correspondence, memorandums, reports, and accounts, 1868- 1936. Copies of international money order conventions, with related correspondence, 1856-1966.
28.5.5 Records of the Division of Stamps
Textual Records: Stamp billbooks, 1870-97. Correspondence relating to envelopes, 1857-1925. Ledger showing quantities and costs of stamps furnished to postal services in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippine Islands, and Guam, 1898-1900. Records of the postal card agent, 1893-1923. Historical file on early postage stamps, 1847-1901.
Related Records: Plate-proof stamp sheets, 1894-1962, in RG 28, are on permanent loan to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
28.5.6 Records of the Division of Newspaper and Periodical Mail
Textual Records: Records relating to an increase in second-class rates, 1917-20.
28.6 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE FOURTH ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL
1837-1970
History: Office of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General established by order of the Postmaster General, August 1, 1891, in accordance with provisions of appropriations act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 944). Office redesignated Bureau of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster, 1942. Superseded by Bureau of Facilities in accordance with Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1949, August 20, 1949. Responsible for maintaining and operating post offices and equipment, for providing supplies, and for producing and distributing route maps.
28.6.1 General records
Textual Records: General records, 1905-32. Correspondence of Fourth Assistant Postmaster General James I. Blakslee, 1914-20.
28.6.2 Records of the Division of Topography
Textual Records: Letters sent, 1901-11. Reports of site locations and completed geographical information forms, 1837-1950.
Maps (2,924 items): Post route atlas of the United States compiled under the direction of David Burr, 1839 (13 items). Regional, state, county, and city maps, and a sampling of rural delivery route maps, showing post offices, mail delivery routes, mail-carrying railroads, navigable waters (1917), Congressional districts (1935-40), frequency of mail service, and distances between post offices, 1867-1970 (2,911 items). SEE ALSO 28.12.
28.6.3 Records of the Division of Motor Vehicle Service
Textual Records: Advertisements, contracts, and correspondence concerning manufacture and operation of mail transportation vehicles, 1858-1939. Correspondence relating to shipment of farm products by postal trucks, 1919-29.
Architectural and Engineering Plans (100 items, in Washington Area): Blueprints and similiar drawings of postal delivery vehicles submitted by vendors for possible procurement by the Post Office, 1967-70. SEE ALSO28.12.
Photographic Prints and Negatives (75 images): Postal delivery trucks and equipment, 1965-67 (TE). SEE ALSO 28.15.
28.6.4 Records of the Pneumatic Tube Service
Textual Records: Records, including interfiled blueprints, relating to the establishment and operation of the service, 1892- 1953. Records of the Commission to Investigate Pneumatic Tube Postal Systems (Pneumatic Tube Commission), 1912-14.
28.6.5 Records of the Division of Post Office Quarters
Textual Records: Correspondence and reports, 1916-42. Records relating to leases of postal quarters, 1916-32. Blueprints, plans, and estimates for construction of postal quarters, and interfiled reports concerning space and conditions in federal buildings, 1911-30. Records relating to dedications of post office buildings, 1933-42.
28.6.6 Records of the Division of Equipment and Supplies
Textual Records: Cost reports on work in mail-equipment shops, 1915-24. Miscellaneous records relating to division operations, 1868-1911.
28.6.7 Records of the Division of Rural Mails
Textual Records: Records relating to the employment of rural mail carriers, 1901-20. General and accounting records concerning the operation of rural mail routes and the administration of the division, 1906-34.
28.7 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF ACCOUNTS
1883-1948
History: Auditing of post office accounts vested in Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury by act of September 2, 1789 ( 1 Stat. 66). Assigned to Fifth Auditor of the Treasury by an act of March 3, 1817 (3 Stat. 366), and to Sixth Auditor of the Treasury by act of July 2, 1836 (5 Stat. 81). Functions transferred to Post Office Department and vested in newly established Bureau of Accounts by the Budget and Accounting Act (42 Stat. 24), June 10, 1921. Bureau terminated, 1953, and functions assigned to the Bureau of Finance.
Textual Records: Correspondence, memorandums, and issuances, 1862-1924. Copies of outgoing letters of George A. Howard, auditor, 1893-97. Letters sent, 1904-18. Accounts relating to postal services between the United States and foreign countries, 1883-1948. Cost ascertainment reports, 1926-47.
28.8 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE CHIEF INSPECTOR
1829-1970
History: Responsibility for investigation of irregularities in the POD vested by June 14, 1790, in Assistant Postmaster General, under supervision of the Office of Instructions, OPMG. Office of Instructions redesignated Office of Instructions and Mail Depredations and assigned to Office of the Second Assistant Postmaster General, 1830. Function transferred to Miscellaneous Division, OPMG, 1835. Thereafter successively vested in Contract Division, Office of the Second Assistant Postmaster General; Office of Mail Depredations, OPMG; Division of Special Agents and Mail Depredations, OPMG; Division of Post Office Inspectors and Mail Depredations, OPMG (and later in Office of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General); and Division of Post Office Inspectors, OPMG. Bureau of the Chief Inspector established, February 2, 1939.
Textual Records: General records of the Postal Inspection Service, 1832-1970. Indexes to mail depredations, 1845-48. Reports and letters sent by the Chief Special Agent, Office of Mail Depredations, 1875-78. Case files of investigations, 1877-1903, including reports of secret internal investigations, 1894-95. Press copies of investigative reports, 1907-18. Statements of arrest for offenses against postal laws, with related registers and indexes, 1864-99. Records relating to an investigation of the Railway Mail Service, 1925. Annual reports, 1905-35. Rosters of inspectors and other employees, 1898-1909. Records of Inspection Offices at St. Louis, 1876-78; Denver, 1879-1907; Philadelphia, 1896-1909; New York, 1907-8; Chicago, 1885-1907; San Francisco, 1884-1909; Atlanta, 1907; and Chattanooga, 1898-1906. Inspection reports on Rural Mail Service, 1904-31. Bimonthly general intelligence press reports of the Justice Department relating to radical publications, 1918-22. Records of the Fraud and Mailability Division, consisting of foreign political propaganda case files, 1958-59; foreign political propaganda in-transist lists, 1958-59; policy and precedent docket case files, 1913-53; transcripts of hearings, 1937-51; and air mail cases, 1943-53. Selected records relating to the John F. Kennedy assassination, 1962-68. Tables of investigation records exchanged between the POD and inspection offices in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chattanooga, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, Kansas City, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, St. Paul, San Francisco, Spokane, and Washington, DC, 1923-25. Press copies of correspondence of inspectors in charge in Kansas City, 1902-8 (in Kansas City) and Boston, 1899-1908 (in Boston).
Photographs (28 images): Chief postal inspectors, 1829-1961 (IP). SEE ALSO 28.15.
28.9 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF TRANSPORTATION 1915-66
History: Established by the 1949 Postal Reorganization Plan. Abolished in 1964, its functions transferred to the newly created Assistant Postal General, Bureau of Transportation and International Services.
Textual Records: Subject files of the Assistant Postmaster General, 1915- 66. Records of the Administration Division, consisting of reorganization files, 1946-62; and administrative manual, 1922-55. Records of the Air Division, consisting of rate orders and related records, 1937-58; and foreign air mail rate case files, 1954-59. Records of the Railway Transportation Division, consisting of postal inspection reports, 1958-63; and railroad operating agreements, 1948-56. Records of the International Service Division, consisting of records relating to the VIIIth Congress of the Postal Union of the Americas and Spain, 1960. Records of the Division of the Transportation Research, including the records of the branch consisting of general research project 10 regional final reports, 1956; report of the departmental committee on expedited first-class mail, 1956; and transportation study reports, 1958-59.
28.10 RECORD OF REGIONAL POST OFFICES
1954-65
28.10.1 Records of the Atlanta Office
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Transportation Planning Branch air and surface transportation studies (Georgia), 1954-60.
Maps (25 items, in Atlanta): Used with Transportation Planning Branch air and surface transportation studies, 1954-60. SEE ALSO 28.12.
28.10.2 Records of the Chicago Office
Textual Records (in Chicago): Records relating to publicity, 1957-65.
28.11 LIBRARY COLLECTION OF POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT RECORDS
1804-1955
Textual Records: Letters received by the Postmaster General, 1836-1910. Letters of the Second Assistant Postmaster General addressed to all Superintendents of the Railway Mail Service, 1948-55. Correspondence of the First and Second Assistant Postmasters General, 1862-69; the Chief Clerk and Director of Personnel, 1912-44; and the U.S. Postal Card Agency, 1856-92. Correspondence relating to postal exhibitions, 1891-93, 1927, 1933-34. Correspondence and other records of the Dead Letter Office, 1830-35, 1862-63, 1898; the Inspection Office, 1863, 1914-52; the U.S. Stamped Envelope Agency, 1869- 1906; the Railway Mail Service, 1877-1939; and the Sea Post Service, 1924- 26, 1942. Records relating to the Money Order Service, 1857-68, 1876-1909, 1929-33; and to the international money order business, 1867-93. Documents relating to the Universal Postal Union, 1862-1929. Opinions of the Attorney General for the Post Office Department, 1909-25.
Maps (61 items): Collected by the Post Office Department Library, consisting chiefly of photostatic copies of maps of North America (1550 and 1700's), and including two printed maps showing U.S. post roads (1804 and ca. 1836), and maps of Prince George's and Montgomery Counties, MD (1878), and NJ (ca. 1882), 1804-1928. SEE ALSO 28.12.
28.12 CARTOGRAPHIC RECORDS (GENERAL)
SEE Maps UNDER 28.4.6, 28.6.2, 28.10.1 and 28.11. SEE Architectural and Engineering Plans UNDER 28.4.6 and 28.6.3.
28.13 MOTION PICTURES (GENERAL)
SEE UNDER 28.2.2 and 28.4.6.
28.14 SOUND RECORDINGS (GENERAL)
1960-70
Speeches, interviews, press conferences, and remarks by various Postmasters General, 1960-68 (32 items). Radio spot announcements, 1965 (2 items). Zip code campaign, featuring Ethel Merman singing the official zip code song, 1966 (1 item). U.S. Navy Band performing the "Post Office March," n.d. (1 item). President Richard M. Nixon signing the Postal Reform Bill, 1970 (2 items).
28.15 STILL PICTURES (GENERAL)
1883-1959
Photographic Prints (3,800 images): Post offices in over 2,000 communities throughout the United States, 1900-40 (PB).
Photographs (10,000 images): Construction of post offices in the District of Columbia, 1931-32; and interiors and exteriors of post offices and hazardous work areas, 1956-59 (F).
Photographic Prints (32 images): Post office buildings, ca. 1930- 59; methods of transporting mail, n.d.; unidentified ceremony, 1934; postal employees at work, ca. 1930-40; portrait of Samuel Osgood, First Postmaster General, n.d.; and a copy of an 1863 portrait of President Abraham Lincoln taken by Alexander Gardner, n.d. (M).
Color Photographic Prints (18 images): Design sketches for post office buildings, n.d.; and "Parade of Postal Progress" exhibit at the U.S. World Trade Fair Show, n.d. (M).
Photomechanical Reproductions (30 images): Post Office five-year building modernization and new equipment program, in pamphlet, n.d. (M).
Drawings (3 images): Federal building, San Diego Exposition, n.d.; Post Office Department Building, Washington, DC, n.d.; post office building, Glen Ridge, NJ, 1883 (M).
Posters (1 image): Air Mail Service advertisement, ca. 1930 (M, 1 image).
Filmstrips (10 items): Mail transport by sea, 1920 (FS, 1 item).Used in training post office employees involved in mail delivery service, including such topics as the acceptance and delivery of domestic registered mail, duties of the transfer clerk, driving the fleetvan safely, and "schemes and schedules," ca. 1957-62 (D, 9 items).
SEE Photographs UNDER 28.4.6 and 28.8.
SEE Photographic Prints and Negatives UNDER 28.6.3.
Bibliographic note: Web version based on
Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
3 volumes, 2428 pages.
| Royal Mail |
Which US pop group starred in the 1968 film 'Head'? | Records of the Post office Department [POD] | National Archives
(Enter 3 digits: "064" for RG 64)
Records of the Post office Department [POD]
(Record Group 28)
28.2.2 Records of the Office of the Chief Clerk
28.2.3 Records of the Office of the Disbursing Officer
28.2.4 Records of the Division of Service Relations
28.2.5 Records of the Office of the Solicitor
28.2.6 Records of the Office of the Purchasing Agent
28.2.7 Records of the Special Assistant to the Postmaster General
28.2.8 Records of the Bureau of Finance and Administration
28.2.9 Records of the Bureau of Finance
28.2.10 Records of the Bureau of Facilities
28.2.11 Records of the Bureau of Research and Engineering
28.2.12 Records of the Bureau of Transportation and International Services
28.2.13 Records of the Post Office Changes Branch
28.3 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE FIRST ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL AND SUCCESSORS 1789-1971
28.3.2 Records of the Division of Postmasters
28.3.3 Records of the Division of Post Office Clerical Service
28.3.4 Records of the Division of City Delivery Service
28.3.5 Records of the Division of Rural Delivery Service
28.3.6 Records of the Division of Post Office Service
28.3.7 Records of the Division of Dead Letters
28.4 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE SECOND ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL AND SUCCESSORS 1808-1969
28.4.2 Records of the Domestic Transportation Division
28.4.3 Records of the Division of Railway Mail Service
28.4.4 Records of the Division of Railway Adjustments
28.4.5 Records of the Division of International Postal Service
28.4.6 Records of the Division of Air Mail Service
28.5 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE THIRD ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL AND SUCCESSORS 1775-1968
28.5.2 Records of the Division of Finance
28.5.3 Records of the Postal Savings System
28.5.4 Records of the Division of Money Orders
28.5.5 Records of the Division of Stamps
28.5.6 Records of the Division of Newspaper and Periodical Mail
28.6 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE FOURTH ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL
1837-1970
28.6.2 Records of the Division of Topography
28.6.3 Records of the Division of Motor Vehicle Service
28.6.4 Records of the Pneumatic Tube Service
28.6.5 Records of the Division of Post Office Quarters
28.6.6 Records of the Division of Equipment and Supplies
28.6.7 Records of the Division of Rural Mails
28.7 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF ACCOUNTS 1883-1948
28.8 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE CHIEF INSPECTOR 1829-1970
28.9 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF TRANSPORTANION 1915-66
28.10 RECORD OF REGIONAL POST OFFICES 1954-65
28.10.1 Records of the Atlanta Office
28.10.2 Records of the Chicago Office
28.11 LIBRARY COLLECTION OF POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT RECORDS 1804-1955
28.12 CARTOGRAPHIC RECORDS (GENERAL)
28.14 SOUND RECORDINGS (GENERAL) 1960-70
28.15 STILL PICTURES (GENERAL) 1883-1959
28.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
Established: As an independent agency, by an act of February 20, 1792 (1 Stat. 232).
Predecessor Agencies:
Postmaster General, 2d Continental Congress (1775-81)
Postmaster General, Confederation Congress (1781-89)
Office of the Postmaster General (OPMG, 1789-92)
Functions: Provided mail processing and delivery services to individuals and businesses within the United States.
Abolished: Effective July 1, 1971, by the Postal Reorganization Act (84 Stat. 719), August 12, 1970, and functions transferred to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
Finding Aids: Arthur Hecht et al., comps., and Forrest R. Holdcamper, rev., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Post Office Department, PI 168 (1967); supplement in National Archives microfiche edition of preliminary inventories. Janet Hargett, comp., List of Selected Maps of States and Territories, SL 29 (1971).
Related Records: Record copies of publications of the Post Office Department and its components in RG 287, Publications of the U.S. Government.
28.2 RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL
1773-1971
History: Position of Postmaster General created by 2d Continental Congress, July 26, 1775. Continued under Confederation Congress following ratification of Articles of Confederation, March 1, 1781. Temporary Office of Postmaster General established in Federal Government by the Post Office Act (1 Stat. 70), September 22, 1789. Permanent Post Office Department established by the Post Office Act (1 Stat. 232), February 20, 1792. Postmaster General made Cabinet member, 1829. Post Office Department elevated to Cabinet status by Post Office Act (17 Stat. 283), June 8, 1872. Superseded by USPS, 1971. SEE 28.1.
28.2.1 General records
Textual Records: Journals containing orders of the Postmaster General, 1835-1953. Letters sent, 1789-1952 (with gaps). Letters received, 1837-43. Letters sent by the private secretary, 1867- 1901 (with gaps). Letters sent by the administrative assistant, July-December 1929. Letters sent by the executive assistant, 1930-35. Postage stamp printing contracts, 1850-1906. Correspondence files of Postmaster General William M. Blount, 1969-70. Publications providing details of a wide span of postal activities, 1961-71. Subject files of the Department Planning Committee, 1966-68.
Microfilm Publications: M601.
28.2.2 Records of the Office of the Chief Clerk
History: Established, April 1818, to supervise field and investigative operations. Shared responsibility with Assistant Postmaster General and supervised Office of Mail Contracts after departmental reorganization, 1825. Supervised Division of Special Agents and Mail Depredations, Office of the Topographer, the Superintendent of Buildings, and the Disbursing Clerk, 1836-72. Assigned general administrative and operating functions by Post Office Act (17 Stat. 283), June 8, 1872. Assigned supplementary responsibilities as Superintendent of Buildings, July 1, 1905, and as Director of Personnel, July 1, 1934. Superseded by Bureau of Personnel, 1955.
Textual Records: Fair copy of the journal of Hugh Finlay, Surveyor of Post Roads and Post Offices for the British Post Office Department, 1773-74. Continental Congress post office department dead letters book, 1777-88. Miscellaneous cashbooks, bonds, forms, printed material, and other records relating to U.S. and foreign post offices, 1794-1894. Manuscript annual reports, 1836-40, 1846. Congressional correspondence, 1839-58 (with gaps). Inquiries of the Keep Commission about administrative procedures, 1906-7. Letters sent, 1873-80, 1885- 1910. Records relating to buildings occupied by the POD, 1827-55. Records relating to the experimental telegraph line built in 1843 under the general direction of Samuel F.B. Morse and the Postmaster General, 1837-46. Telegraph rate agreements, 1866- 1913. Correspondence concerning personnel and operation of the Censorship Board, 1917-18. General correspondence and reports relating to personnel, 1904-13. Exhibits to a report on Railway Mail Service printing offices, 1908. Scrapbook of issuances and newspaper clippings relating to postal activities, 1823-71.
Microfilm Publications: T268.
Motion Pictures (124 reels): Post office buildings and the construction and dedication of the New Post Office, Washington, DC, 1931-34 (14 reels). Postal activities, equipment, and facilities, including the Dead Letter Office, mail processing, parcel post, mail bags, stamps, mail robbery and misuse of the mails, postal savings system, and instructions to mail users; and prominent persons, including Presidents Herbert C. Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and various Postmasters General, 1915-68 (36 reels). Scenic film about Mount Rainier National Park, 1923 (1 reel). German propaganda films relating to the conquest (1939- 40) of Belgium, Holland, France, and Poland, 1940-41 (28 reels). Postal Service activities and events including the use of automation to improve mail service, n.d. (8 reels); how postal service operates, n.d. (14 reels); and how zip code works, n.d. (2 reels). Various stamp ceremonies, 1958-71 (43 reels). President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, and Postmaster General Summerfield attending the issuance of the Liberty 8-cent stamp, 1954 (1 reel). Postal equipment tests and demonstrations, and interiors of various U.S. post offices, 1964-65 (11 reels).
SEE ALSO 28.13
28.2.3 Records of the Office of the Disbursing Officer
History: Position of Disbursing Clerk established by a supplementary appropriations act of March 3, 1853 (10 Stat. 211). Title changed to Superintendent of the Post Office Building and Disbursing Officer (or Clerk) by Post Office Act (17 Stat. 283), June 8, 1872. Position transferred to Office of the Third Assistant Postmaster General by appropriations act of June 19, 1878 (20 Stat. 178). Established as independent office by order of August 1, 1891. Redesignated Office of the Disbursing Officer, November 1, 1905. Redesignated Director of Postal Finance, and assigned to Bureau of Third Assistant Postmaster General, November 15, 1943.
Textual Records: Fiscal and other records relating to supplies, property, salaries, and building maintenance, 1862-1913.
28.2.4 Records of the Division of Service Relations
History: Welfare Division established, April 21, 1921, superseding the Postal Employees' Cooperative Store Association, established 1917. Date of Welfare Division redesignation as Division of Service Relations not determined.
Textual Records: General records of the Postal Employees' Cooperative Store Association, Washington, DC, 1917-21. Records relating to postal employee welfare programs developed through national, county, local, and departmental councils and boards, 1921-30.
28.2.5 Records of the Office of the Solicitor
History: Established by act of May 8, 1794 (1 Stat. 354), to provide legal advice to Postmaster General. Assistant Attorney General for the Post Office Department (AAGPOD) authorized by Post Office Act (17 Stat. 283), June 8, 1872, to be paid, pursuant to appropriations act of March 3, 1873 (17 Stat. 508), out of Department of Justice funds. Initial appointment made by Postmaster General, March 20, 1873. Office of Solicitor began providing staff assistance to AAGPOD, 1878. AAGPOD redesignated Solicitor for the Post Office Department by appropriations act of June 6, 1914 (38 Stat. 497), but continued to be funded from Department of Justice appropriations. Postmaster General authorized to appoint and finance a Special Assistant to Attorney General, pursuant to act of July 28, 1916 (39 Stat. 412). Office of the Solicitor absorbed the Office of the Special Assistant to the Attorney General, 1934. Redesignated General Counsel, 1958.
Textual Records: Office files of Solicitor William H. Lamar, 1912-22. Opinions, 1868-74, 1895-97. Letters sent, 1877-79, 1906. Selected case files, 1905-21, concerning use of the mails for fraud, sedition, lotteries, false advertising, transportation of obscene matter, and other violations of postal laws and regulations, with indexes. Case files, registers, transcripts, and dockets relating to fraud cases, 1834-1951. Records relating to nonmailable publications, 1940-47. Records relating to federal operation of telephone, telegraph, and cable companies, 1918-21, with index and card file. Records relating to enforcement of the Espionage Act of 1917, as amended (1940), 1917-21, 1942-45. Correspondence and reports relating to investigations of airmail and ocean mail contracts, 1934-40. Registers of postmasters' claims for reimbursement, 1882-1929. Records relating to bonding of mail route carriers, 1901-2, 1908.
Subject Access Terms: Esquire Magazine case.
28.2.6 Records of the Office of the Purchasing Agent
History: Established by act of April 28, 1904 (33 Stat. 429).
Textual Records: Letters sent relating to supply and equipment purchases, 1904, 1910.
28.2.7 Records of the Special Assistant to the Postmaster General
History: Established in 1959 in response to the Post Office Department's growing responsibilities and increased demands. Textual Records: Nationwide improved mail services publicity file, 1961. Press release books, 1953-62. Press releases, 1962.
28.2.8 Records of the Bureau of Finance and Administration
History: Created in 1964 as a successor to the Bureau of Finance.
Textual Records: Directives and publications case files, 1935-72. Paperwork management studies, 1955-69. Reorganization studies, 1950-68. Subject files, 1957-69.
28.2.9 Records of the Bureau of Finance
History: Established by the 1949 Postal Reorganization Plan.
Textual Records: Records of the Cost Ascertainment Division, consisting of cost ascertainment final reports and appendices, 1923-59; and reports on the cost ascertainment system, 1944-56. Records of the Postal Funds Division, consisting of bank correspondence files, 1908-55. Migratory bird hunting stamp file, 1939-61. Embossed stamped envelope file, 1933-56. Regular, air mail, and commemorative stamp file, 1957-62.
28.2.10 Records of the Bureau of Facilities
History: Established by the 1949 Postal Reorganization Plan.
Textual Records: Organization history files and related records, 1931-60. Subject files, 1944-67.
28.2.11 Records of the Bureau of Research and Engineering
History: Established by PL 89-492, July 5, 1966.
Textual Records; Subject files, 1958-67. Construction and engineering project files, 1965-68.
28.2.12 Records of the Bureau of Transportation and International Services
History: Established in 1964 as the result of a name change from the Bureau of Transportation. Most of the original functions were transferred.
Textual Records: Special project reports and related records, 1966-67. Subject files, 1962-67. Highway post office discontinuation case files, 1961-67. Railroad post office discontinuation case files, 1963-67. Sectional centers facility case files, 1963-66.
28.2.13 Records of the Post Office Changes Branch
History: Established as an unit of the Post Office Changes and Rural Appointment Division by the 1949 Postal Reorganization Plan. This unit by the late 1960's was termed the Postal Changes Branch.
Textual records: Establishment and discontinuation of post offices files, 1959-63.
28.3 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE FIRST ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL AND SUCCESSORS
1789-1971
History: Office of the Assistant Postmaster General established by 2d Continental Congress, July 26, 1775, and retained under Federal Government by Post Office Act (1 Stat. 70), September 22, 1789. Redesignated Office of the First Assistant Postmaster General pursuant to Post Office Act (2 Stat. 593), April 30, 1810, which created Office of the Second Assistant Postmaster. Redesignated Bureau of the First Assistant Postmaster General, 1942. Superseded by Bureau of Post Office Operations, in accordance with Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1949, effective August 20, 1949. Redesignated Bureau of Operations, ca. 1959. Established and managed post offices; selected, nominated, or appointed postmasters; administered delivery service; and handled unmailable and undeliverable mail.
28.3.1 General records
Textual Records: Letters sent, 1793-1800. Orders ("Journals"), 1867-1905. Miscellaneous correspondence, 1911-41. Journal of the First Assistant Postmaster, 1941.
28.3.2 Records of the Division of Postmasters
Textual Records: Record of earliest returns received from postmasters, 1789-1818. Records relating to appointments of postmasters, 1815-1971. Records relating to the opening, closing, redesignation, and relocation of post offices, 1899-1914.
Microfilm Publications: M841, M1131.
28.3.3 Records of the Division of Post Office Clerical Service
Textual Records: Records relating to first- and second-class post offices, 1889-1936, including appointment and salary files (1889- 1907) and operating records (1916-36). Records relating to contract stations and branches, 1916-35. Records relating to Sunday service at post offices, 1911-12.
28.3.4 Records of the Division of City Delivery Service
Textual Records: Records relating to mail carriers employed in first- and second-class post offices, 1888-1907; and to carriers separated from the postal service, 1863-99. Reports of inspections of city delivery service in Baltimore, MD, Kalamazoo, MI, and Pittsburgh, PA, 1929-31. Records relating to the Detroit River Steamboat Service, 1895-1928.
28.3.5 Records of the Division of Rural Delivery Service
Textual Records: Correspondence, 1898-1936. Issuances of the Superintendent of the Free Delivery System, 1901-6. Statistical data, 1896-1910.
28.3.6 Records of the Division of Post Office Service
Textual Records: Correspondence and reports relating to classification of employees and measurement of work in post offices, 1912, 1923-34.
28.3.7 Records of the Division of Dead Letters
Textual Records: Miscellaneous records, 1897-1930.
28.4 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE SECOND ASSISTANT POSTMASTER
GENERAL AND SUCCESSORS
1808-1969
History: Office of the Second Assistant Postmaster General established by the Post Office Act (2 Stat. 593), April 30, 1810 (2 Stat. 593), to provide assistance in the field. Made responsible solely for transportation of the mail, November 15, 1851. Redesignated Bureau of the Second Assistant Postmaster General, 1942. Superseded by Bureau of Transportation (BOT), August 30, 1949. BOT abolished, with functions transferred to Bureau of Operations, 1969.
28.4.1 General records
Textual Records: Letters sent, 1891-1934. Administrative records, 1852-1968. Reports, 1911-31. Memorandums, 1914-29. Correspondence concerning airmail service, 1921-27. Notices to railway companies concerning mail transportation, 1885-1909. Roster of bureau employees, 1893-1912. Railway and Steamship Company mail pay cases, 1912-35. Ocean mail and airmail contract program and policy files, 1928-34. Files of the Deputy Assistant Postmaster General for the Bureau of Transportation (and International Services), 1958-66. Records of the special administrative aide, consisting of budget estimates and appropriations reports, 1920- 33, and reports of personnel changes, 1918-33. Correspondence and related records concerning the establishment of postal routes and air mail service in Alaska, 1934-48. Orders relating to mail route service by "electric cars," 1948-55.
28.4.2 Records of the Domestic Transportation Division
Textual Records: Historical files relating to airmail service, 1935-62; and to inaugural ceremonies for highway post offices, 1953-56. Case files pertaining to the establishment of routes for highway post offices, 1940-59; and to the discontinuation of highway and railway post offices, 1964-67.
28.4.3 Records of the Division of Railway Mail Service
Textual Records: Correspondence, 1902-29. Records relating to mail service to the American Expeditionary Forces, ca. 1917-19. Directives, 1894-1955. Circular letters sent to chief clerks of districts, 1911-17. Joint letter file, 1919-47. "Decision Book" relating to railway mail rules and procedures, 1872-98. Statements of annual travel allowance, 1928-38. Organization and job description sheets, ca. 1921-42. Rosters of clerks and agents, 1855-1915. Divisional newsletters, 1918-51. Registers of railroad and electric car mail route contracts, 1877-1948. Lists of mail service badges, 1905-19. Advertisements for Star Route carriers, 1808-1958. Route registers for screen body motor vehicles, 1934-53. Record of Star Route changes in NJ, NY, and PA, 1946-53. Lists of Star Route mail contractors, 1833-77. Paybooks for Star Route service, 1851-66. Records relating to government-operated Star Route service by motortrucks, 1917-24. Case files pertaining to the operation of panel body vehicles, 1949-53. Star Route mail contracts, 1814-1960 (with gaps), containing information about service to small post offices not on railroad lines. Orders, contracts, and correspondence relating to powerboat and steamboat mail route service, 1859-1963. Records relating to special service contracts, 1920-41. Records relating to construction and maintenance of railway post office cars, 1930-62.
28.4.4 Records of the Division of Railway Adjustments
Textual Records: Correspondence relating to rates paid for mail transportation, 1907-46. Case files and correspondence concerning transportation of mail matter by means other than the postal service in violation of federal statutes, 1896-1933. Reports by public carriers of railway mail service performed, 1916-22. Registers of the employment of mail messengers, 1877-81, 1900-47.
28.4.5 Records of the Division of International Postal Service
Textual Records: Record copies of postal conventions with foreign countries, 1848-1969. Records relating to postal congresses and conventions, 1888-1927. Publications of the Universal Postal Union, 1947-67. Correspondence with the Second Assistant Postmaster General relating to international postal policies and agreements, 1887-1966. Correspondence, reports, and questionnaires relating to vessels and routes employed in the ocean mail service, 1929-39. Correspondence relating to military postal service during the Spanish-American War, 1898-1902. Records relating to the operation of postal services in Cuba, 1896-1908; the Philippine Islands, 1895-1903; and Puerto Rico, 1899-1900. Correspondence, airline schedules, financial statements, surveys, and performance reports relating to the Foreign Airmail Service, 1918-39. Records relating to military mail, 1940-59. Miscellaneous records relating to international mail, 1914-37, and foreign parcel post facilities, 1911-12.
28.4.6 Records of the Division of Air Mail Service
Textual Records: General records of the Airmail Service, 1918-25, and the General Superintendent of the Service, 1926-42. Records of the Second Assistant Postmaster General concerning air transport, 1926-42. Airmail route contracts, 1927-34. Selected personnel records of air mail pilots and supervisors relating to operations of the air mail service, especially unusual flights, accidents, and aircraft testing, 1918-27. Airmail service publicity materials, 1918-37. Records relating to airmail routes and autogiro and helicopter service, 1919-49. Correspondence and reports concerning National Airmail Week, 1938-39. Performance and efficiency reports on domestic airmail service, 1920-41. Records relating to National Air Transport, Inc., 1926.
Maps (120 items): Landing fields and airmail routes, 1918-41 (98 items). Published maps relating to airmail, 1919-55 (22 items). SEE ALSO 28.12.
Architectural and Engineering Plans (1,620 items, in Washington Area): Blueprints and specifications for airplanes, hangars, and equipment, 1918-25. SEE ALSO 28.12.
Motion Pictures (2 reels): The Story of the U.S. Mail, n.d. (1 reel). Growth of airmail delivery, produced for National Airmail Week, 1938 (1 reel). SEE ALSO 28.13.
Photographs (1,350 images): Development of airmail service, including the first transcontinental flight, operation of Pan American Airlines Mail Service, air mail pilots (notably Charles Lindbergh), post office officials, airplane accidents, and safety devices, 1916-60 (MS). SEE ALSO 28.15.
28.5 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE THIRD ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL AND SUCCESSORS
1775-1968
History: Office of the Third Assistant Postmaster established by act of July 2, 1836 (5 Stat. 80), to supervise the settlement of accounts and, with Chief Clerk, to supervise the newly established Inspection Office. Made responsible for all financial operations not legally delegated to the Auditor, 1846, and subsequently acquired responsibility for issuing stamps and related philatelic issuances; and managing money order, parcel post, postal savings, and registered mail systems. Redesignated Bureau of the Third Assistant Postmaster General, 1942. Superseded by Bureau of Finance, in accordance with Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1949, effective August 20, 1949. Redesignated Bureau of Finance and Administration, 1964.
28.5.1 General records
Textual Records: Files of the Deputy Assistant Postmaster General and Controller, 1955-63, and of the Assistant Controller for Field Operations, 1961-65.
28.5.2 Records of the Division of Finance
Textual Records: Accounts, ledgers, and journals of the General Post Office, 1775-1803. General Post Office cashbooks, 1792-95. Post Office cashbooks, 1955-68. Correspondence of the division, 1922-37. Salary journals and receipts of post offices, 1895-1956 (including 2 rolls of microfilm). General ledgers for the whole department, 1947-54.
28.5.3 Records of the Postal Savings System
Textual Records: Records relating to the establishment of the Postal Savings System, 1861-1913. Forms, 1912-13. Daily record of cases received, 1913-51. General records, 1883-1957. Annual reports, 1937-64. Ledgers, 1911-59. Records relating to the discontinuance of the Postal Savings System, 1951-68.
28.5.4 Records of the Division of Money Orders
Textual Records: Correspondence, memorandums, reports, and accounts, 1868- 1936. Copies of international money order conventions, with related correspondence, 1856-1966.
28.5.5 Records of the Division of Stamps
Textual Records: Stamp billbooks, 1870-97. Correspondence relating to envelopes, 1857-1925. Ledger showing quantities and costs of stamps furnished to postal services in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippine Islands, and Guam, 1898-1900. Records of the postal card agent, 1893-1923. Historical file on early postage stamps, 1847-1901.
Related Records: Plate-proof stamp sheets, 1894-1962, in RG 28, are on permanent loan to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
28.5.6 Records of the Division of Newspaper and Periodical Mail
Textual Records: Records relating to an increase in second-class rates, 1917-20.
28.6 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE FOURTH ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL
1837-1970
History: Office of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General established by order of the Postmaster General, August 1, 1891, in accordance with provisions of appropriations act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 944). Office redesignated Bureau of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster, 1942. Superseded by Bureau of Facilities in accordance with Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1949, August 20, 1949. Responsible for maintaining and operating post offices and equipment, for providing supplies, and for producing and distributing route maps.
28.6.1 General records
Textual Records: General records, 1905-32. Correspondence of Fourth Assistant Postmaster General James I. Blakslee, 1914-20.
28.6.2 Records of the Division of Topography
Textual Records: Letters sent, 1901-11. Reports of site locations and completed geographical information forms, 1837-1950.
Maps (2,924 items): Post route atlas of the United States compiled under the direction of David Burr, 1839 (13 items). Regional, state, county, and city maps, and a sampling of rural delivery route maps, showing post offices, mail delivery routes, mail-carrying railroads, navigable waters (1917), Congressional districts (1935-40), frequency of mail service, and distances between post offices, 1867-1970 (2,911 items). SEE ALSO 28.12.
28.6.3 Records of the Division of Motor Vehicle Service
Textual Records: Advertisements, contracts, and correspondence concerning manufacture and operation of mail transportation vehicles, 1858-1939. Correspondence relating to shipment of farm products by postal trucks, 1919-29.
Architectural and Engineering Plans (100 items, in Washington Area): Blueprints and similiar drawings of postal delivery vehicles submitted by vendors for possible procurement by the Post Office, 1967-70. SEE ALSO28.12.
Photographic Prints and Negatives (75 images): Postal delivery trucks and equipment, 1965-67 (TE). SEE ALSO 28.15.
28.6.4 Records of the Pneumatic Tube Service
Textual Records: Records, including interfiled blueprints, relating to the establishment and operation of the service, 1892- 1953. Records of the Commission to Investigate Pneumatic Tube Postal Systems (Pneumatic Tube Commission), 1912-14.
28.6.5 Records of the Division of Post Office Quarters
Textual Records: Correspondence and reports, 1916-42. Records relating to leases of postal quarters, 1916-32. Blueprints, plans, and estimates for construction of postal quarters, and interfiled reports concerning space and conditions in federal buildings, 1911-30. Records relating to dedications of post office buildings, 1933-42.
28.6.6 Records of the Division of Equipment and Supplies
Textual Records: Cost reports on work in mail-equipment shops, 1915-24. Miscellaneous records relating to division operations, 1868-1911.
28.6.7 Records of the Division of Rural Mails
Textual Records: Records relating to the employment of rural mail carriers, 1901-20. General and accounting records concerning the operation of rural mail routes and the administration of the division, 1906-34.
28.7 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF ACCOUNTS
1883-1948
History: Auditing of post office accounts vested in Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury by act of September 2, 1789 ( 1 Stat. 66). Assigned to Fifth Auditor of the Treasury by an act of March 3, 1817 (3 Stat. 366), and to Sixth Auditor of the Treasury by act of July 2, 1836 (5 Stat. 81). Functions transferred to Post Office Department and vested in newly established Bureau of Accounts by the Budget and Accounting Act (42 Stat. 24), June 10, 1921. Bureau terminated, 1953, and functions assigned to the Bureau of Finance.
Textual Records: Correspondence, memorandums, and issuances, 1862-1924. Copies of outgoing letters of George A. Howard, auditor, 1893-97. Letters sent, 1904-18. Accounts relating to postal services between the United States and foreign countries, 1883-1948. Cost ascertainment reports, 1926-47.
28.8 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF THE CHIEF INSPECTOR
1829-1970
History: Responsibility for investigation of irregularities in the POD vested by June 14, 1790, in Assistant Postmaster General, under supervision of the Office of Instructions, OPMG. Office of Instructions redesignated Office of Instructions and Mail Depredations and assigned to Office of the Second Assistant Postmaster General, 1830. Function transferred to Miscellaneous Division, OPMG, 1835. Thereafter successively vested in Contract Division, Office of the Second Assistant Postmaster General; Office of Mail Depredations, OPMG; Division of Special Agents and Mail Depredations, OPMG; Division of Post Office Inspectors and Mail Depredations, OPMG (and later in Office of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General); and Division of Post Office Inspectors, OPMG. Bureau of the Chief Inspector established, February 2, 1939.
Textual Records: General records of the Postal Inspection Service, 1832-1970. Indexes to mail depredations, 1845-48. Reports and letters sent by the Chief Special Agent, Office of Mail Depredations, 1875-78. Case files of investigations, 1877-1903, including reports of secret internal investigations, 1894-95. Press copies of investigative reports, 1907-18. Statements of arrest for offenses against postal laws, with related registers and indexes, 1864-99. Records relating to an investigation of the Railway Mail Service, 1925. Annual reports, 1905-35. Rosters of inspectors and other employees, 1898-1909. Records of Inspection Offices at St. Louis, 1876-78; Denver, 1879-1907; Philadelphia, 1896-1909; New York, 1907-8; Chicago, 1885-1907; San Francisco, 1884-1909; Atlanta, 1907; and Chattanooga, 1898-1906. Inspection reports on Rural Mail Service, 1904-31. Bimonthly general intelligence press reports of the Justice Department relating to radical publications, 1918-22. Records of the Fraud and Mailability Division, consisting of foreign political propaganda case files, 1958-59; foreign political propaganda in-transist lists, 1958-59; policy and precedent docket case files, 1913-53; transcripts of hearings, 1937-51; and air mail cases, 1943-53. Selected records relating to the John F. Kennedy assassination, 1962-68. Tables of investigation records exchanged between the POD and inspection offices in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chattanooga, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, Kansas City, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, St. Paul, San Francisco, Spokane, and Washington, DC, 1923-25. Press copies of correspondence of inspectors in charge in Kansas City, 1902-8 (in Kansas City) and Boston, 1899-1908 (in Boston).
Photographs (28 images): Chief postal inspectors, 1829-1961 (IP). SEE ALSO 28.15.
28.9 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF TRANSPORTATION 1915-66
History: Established by the 1949 Postal Reorganization Plan. Abolished in 1964, its functions transferred to the newly created Assistant Postal General, Bureau of Transportation and International Services.
Textual Records: Subject files of the Assistant Postmaster General, 1915- 66. Records of the Administration Division, consisting of reorganization files, 1946-62; and administrative manual, 1922-55. Records of the Air Division, consisting of rate orders and related records, 1937-58; and foreign air mail rate case files, 1954-59. Records of the Railway Transportation Division, consisting of postal inspection reports, 1958-63; and railroad operating agreements, 1948-56. Records of the International Service Division, consisting of records relating to the VIIIth Congress of the Postal Union of the Americas and Spain, 1960. Records of the Division of the Transportation Research, including the records of the branch consisting of general research project 10 regional final reports, 1956; report of the departmental committee on expedited first-class mail, 1956; and transportation study reports, 1958-59.
28.10 RECORD OF REGIONAL POST OFFICES
1954-65
28.10.1 Records of the Atlanta Office
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Transportation Planning Branch air and surface transportation studies (Georgia), 1954-60.
Maps (25 items, in Atlanta): Used with Transportation Planning Branch air and surface transportation studies, 1954-60. SEE ALSO 28.12.
28.10.2 Records of the Chicago Office
Textual Records (in Chicago): Records relating to publicity, 1957-65.
28.11 LIBRARY COLLECTION OF POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT RECORDS
1804-1955
Textual Records: Letters received by the Postmaster General, 1836-1910. Letters of the Second Assistant Postmaster General addressed to all Superintendents of the Railway Mail Service, 1948-55. Correspondence of the First and Second Assistant Postmasters General, 1862-69; the Chief Clerk and Director of Personnel, 1912-44; and the U.S. Postal Card Agency, 1856-92. Correspondence relating to postal exhibitions, 1891-93, 1927, 1933-34. Correspondence and other records of the Dead Letter Office, 1830-35, 1862-63, 1898; the Inspection Office, 1863, 1914-52; the U.S. Stamped Envelope Agency, 1869- 1906; the Railway Mail Service, 1877-1939; and the Sea Post Service, 1924- 26, 1942. Records relating to the Money Order Service, 1857-68, 1876-1909, 1929-33; and to the international money order business, 1867-93. Documents relating to the Universal Postal Union, 1862-1929. Opinions of the Attorney General for the Post Office Department, 1909-25.
Maps (61 items): Collected by the Post Office Department Library, consisting chiefly of photostatic copies of maps of North America (1550 and 1700's), and including two printed maps showing U.S. post roads (1804 and ca. 1836), and maps of Prince George's and Montgomery Counties, MD (1878), and NJ (ca. 1882), 1804-1928. SEE ALSO 28.12.
28.12 CARTOGRAPHIC RECORDS (GENERAL)
SEE Maps UNDER 28.4.6, 28.6.2, 28.10.1 and 28.11. SEE Architectural and Engineering Plans UNDER 28.4.6 and 28.6.3.
28.13 MOTION PICTURES (GENERAL)
SEE UNDER 28.2.2 and 28.4.6.
28.14 SOUND RECORDINGS (GENERAL)
1960-70
Speeches, interviews, press conferences, and remarks by various Postmasters General, 1960-68 (32 items). Radio spot announcements, 1965 (2 items). Zip code campaign, featuring Ethel Merman singing the official zip code song, 1966 (1 item). U.S. Navy Band performing the "Post Office March," n.d. (1 item). President Richard M. Nixon signing the Postal Reform Bill, 1970 (2 items).
28.15 STILL PICTURES (GENERAL)
1883-1959
Photographic Prints (3,800 images): Post offices in over 2,000 communities throughout the United States, 1900-40 (PB).
Photographs (10,000 images): Construction of post offices in the District of Columbia, 1931-32; and interiors and exteriors of post offices and hazardous work areas, 1956-59 (F).
Photographic Prints (32 images): Post office buildings, ca. 1930- 59; methods of transporting mail, n.d.; unidentified ceremony, 1934; postal employees at work, ca. 1930-40; portrait of Samuel Osgood, First Postmaster General, n.d.; and a copy of an 1863 portrait of President Abraham Lincoln taken by Alexander Gardner, n.d. (M).
Color Photographic Prints (18 images): Design sketches for post office buildings, n.d.; and "Parade of Postal Progress" exhibit at the U.S. World Trade Fair Show, n.d. (M).
Photomechanical Reproductions (30 images): Post Office five-year building modernization and new equipment program, in pamphlet, n.d. (M).
Drawings (3 images): Federal building, San Diego Exposition, n.d.; Post Office Department Building, Washington, DC, n.d.; post office building, Glen Ridge, NJ, 1883 (M).
Posters (1 image): Air Mail Service advertisement, ca. 1930 (M, 1 image).
Filmstrips (10 items): Mail transport by sea, 1920 (FS, 1 item).Used in training post office employees involved in mail delivery service, including such topics as the acceptance and delivery of domestic registered mail, duties of the transfer clerk, driving the fleetvan safely, and "schemes and schedules," ca. 1957-62 (D, 9 items).
SEE Photographs UNDER 28.4.6 and 28.8.
SEE Photographic Prints and Negatives UNDER 28.6.3.
Bibliographic note: Web version based on
Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
3 volumes, 2428 pages.
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Maria Fitzherbert was mistress to which future British monarch? | The Royal House Of Hanover - British Monarchy Family History
British Monarchy Family History
The Royal House Of Hanover
The Royal House of Hanover was the ruling royal house of Great Britain and Ireland for one hundred and eighty seven years from 1714 - 1901, by way of six monarchs.
King George I came to the throne upon the death of the Royal House of Stuart monarch Queen Anne in 1714 as he was the late queen's closest Protestant relative through his mother Queen Sophie, who was the grand daughter of King James I of England by way of her mother Elisabeth of Bohemia.
GEORGE I
George was born on the 28th of May 1660 in Hanover in Germany, which at that time was part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the oldest child of Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover and his wife Countess Sophie of Rhineland - Palatine. He came to the British throne after the death of his cousin, the last Stuart monarch, Queen Anne.
King George was crowned at Westminster Abbey on the 20th of October 1714 at the age of fifty and was not particularly liked or welcomed by the British people, probably for no other reason than he was a foreigner. It was believed that he did not speak very good English, although records show that he did have a good understanding of the language. However, his lack of English did go on to see a diminishing of the monarchy and more power and control given to the government, which, by the time of his death in 1727, had left full power of the running of the country to Robert Walpole, Great Britain's very first Prime Minister.
King George's reign also brought about the Jacobite Rebellions (1715 - 1746) - a series of uprisings and rebellions aimed at restoring the Royal House of Stuart to the throne of Britain - an act designed to replace him with the former Queen Anne's half brother James Francis Edward Stuart, an act that failed mainly due to the Stuart's Catholicism.
On a personal level George is best remembered for his long running feud with his only son, the future King George II.
King George died whilst on a visit to his native Germany on the 11th of June 1727 at Osnabruck. He is buried at the Herrenhausen in Hanover, Germany.
SOPHIA DOROTHEA OF CELLE
In 1682, by way of an arranged marriage of state, George married Sophia Dorothea of Celle (1666 - 1726) on the 22nd of November 1682 in Celle, Germany.
Sophia Dorothea was born on the 15th of September 1666 in Celle, Germany and was the daughter of George William, Duke of Brunswick - Luneburg and his long term mistress, Eleonore d'Esmier d'Olbreuse.
Sophia Dorothea is best remembered for her affair with Philip Christoph von Konigsmarck, which when found out, resulted in her spending the last thirty years of her life incarcerated in the Castle of Ahlden in her native Celle, where she was denied any contact with her children ever again.
She died from liver failure brought on by gall stones on the 13th of November 1726 and was later interred at the Stadtkirche in Celle, Germany.
Her lover was apparently murdered by order of the King, but this has never been verified.
Before her affair and subsequent divorce and incarceration, their union had produced two heirs one of which would become the King of England and the other would become the Queen of Prussia.
George II of Great Britain - (1683 - 1760) - Married Caroline of Brandenburg - Ansbach, a union which produced nine children, one of which would become the future Queen of Denmark and another would become the future Princess of Orange.
Sophia - (1687 - 1757) - Sophia married Fredrick William I of Prussia, making her Queen of Prussia and Electress of Brandenburg. Their union produced ten children, including the future King Fredrick II of Prussia and the future Queen Louise Ulrika of Sweden.
EHRENGARD MELUSINE VON DER SCHULENBURG
After his divorce in 1694 George began the first of two long term affairs.
His first mistress was Ehrengard Melusine von der Schulenburg, a former lady in waiting to his mother the Electress Sophia.
In 1716 Melusine moved to London to be with George and straight away he created a life peerage for her by way of the titles the Duchess of Munster, Marchioness of Dungannon, Countess of Dungannon and Baroness Dundalk. In 1719 he further created the titles of Duchess of Kendal, Countess of Faversham and Baroness Glastonbury for her. After George's divorce Melusine was considered to be queen in all but name, some even suspect that he had secretly married her sometime in 1716, hence the many titles he had bestowed upon her.
During their thirty three year long affair Melusine bore George three Illegitimate daughters, they were -
Anna Louise - (1692 - 1773). She married Ernst von Busscheippenberg in 1707. There were no children from this union and they divorced in 1714.
Petronella Melusina - (1693 - 1778). She married Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfirld (1694 - 1773) in 1733. This union produced no heirs.
Margarethe Gertrude - (1701 - 1726). She married Albrecht, Count of Schaumburg (1699 - 1748) in 1722 and produced two sons before her death in 1726.They were George (1722 - 1742) and Wilhelm (1724 - 1777).
SOPHIA VON KIELMANSEGG
George's second mistress was courtier Sophia von Kielmansegg, Countess of Darlington (1675 - 1725) with whom he had a very controversial thirty year long affair, as Sophia was actually George’s illegitimate half sister.
They were both the children of Ernest Augustus, the Elector of Hanover, with Sophia's mother being the German noblewoman Clara Elisabeth von Meysenberg, the Baroness of Platen and Hellermund, with whom the Elector had conducted a five year affair with during the 1670s.
Although Sophia’s family have always denied that she was sleeping with George, it was in fact common knowledge at the British court that they were lovers. It is not believed that George and Sophia had any children together although Sophia did have five children with her husband Johan, Baron von Kielmansegg (1668 - 1717), whom she married in 1701, so it's hard to say who the fathers of her children actually were.
GEORGE II
King George II came to the throne upon the death of his father in 1727. He was the eldest and only son of King George I and his wife Sophia Dorothea and was born on the 30th of October 1683 at the Herrenhausen Palace in Hanover.
His coronation at Westminster Abbey on the eleventh of October 1727 made him the last British king to be born on foreign soil and the last king to lead an army into Battle, at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743.
It was during his reign that the national anthems of Great Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand were written and first performed.
On a personal level he is best remembered for his long and bitter feuds both with his father and his son and heir, Fredrick, Prince of Wales.
King George died of an aortic aneurysm on October 25th 1760 at the age of seventy five, and true to his word, he was interred in Westminster Abbey in the same casket as his Queen Consort.
CAROLINE OF BRANDENBURG - ANSBACH
On the 22nd of August 1705 George married Caroline of Brandenburg - Ansbach (1683 - 1737) at the Chapel at Herrenhausen in Hanover, Germany.
Caroline was born at Ansbach in Germany on the 1st of March 1683 and was the daughter of John Fredrick Margrave and his wife Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe - Eisenbach,
Like most things that George did in his life his father was angry with his choice of bride, not through any dislike for her, but because he did not want to see his son in a loveless, arranged marriage such as he had endured. As it was, George and Caroline had a very successful marriage that would produce nine children.
Caroline was an intellectual woman and lover and patron of the arts. She was well liked both by the parliament and the people of Britain, so much so, that Caroline County, Virginia, U.S.A was named in her honour.
She died of a ruptured womb on the 20th of November 1737 aged 54. It is beleived that she pleaded with her husband to remarry, but he promised not to, preferring to take mistresses instead. When she was interred in Westminster Abbey, the king had her coffin fitted with a false side, so that he could be interred along side her when he too died.
George and Caroline's union produced nine children, they were;
Two children who died in infancy, Augustus George born in 1716 and George William born in 1717 who died within one year.
Fredrick, Prince of Wales - (1707 - 1751). Married Augusta of Saxe - Gotha. This union produced nine children, including the future King George III of England and the future Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark and Norway.
Anne, Princess Royal - (1709 - 1759). Anne married William IV Prince of Orange. They had no children.
Amelia - (1711 - 1786). Died unmarried and without issue.
Caroline - (1713 - 1757). Died unmarried and without issue.
William - (1721 - 1765). Died unmarried and without issue.
Mary - (1723 - 1772). Mary married Landgrave of Hesse Kassel and had three children, William - (1743 - 1827). Charles - (1744 - 1836) and Fredrick - (1747 - 1837).
Louise - (1724 - 1751). Louise married King Fredrick V of Denmark and had four children; Sophia Magdalena - (1746 - 1813), the future Queen of Sweden. Caroline - 1747 - 1820, the future Electress of Hesse. Christian - (1749 - 1808), the future King of Denmark and Louise - (1750 - 1831), Princess of Hesse Kassel.
HENRIETTA HOWARD
Despite George and Caroline's amiable marriage the king still took mistresses, the most famous of which was socialite, Henrietta Herbert, Countess of Suffolk (1689 - 1767). Henrietta was Queen Caroline's Mistress of the Robes and, by all accounts, a great friend of her's too. Henrietta was married to politician Charles Howard, Earl of Suffolk, who in 1723, was paid handsomely for his wife's services to the king, when she had to leave court life due to increasing deafness.
AMALIE VON WALLMODEN
George's longest running affair however was with German courtier, Amalie von Wallmoden (1704 - 1764), whose twenty year affair produced him with a recognised, illegitimate son, Johan Ludwig Graf von Wallmoden - Gimborne (1736 - 1811).
After the birth of their son George honoured Amalie with a life peerage, giving her the title of the Countess of Yarmouth. Amalie would be the last mistress of a British monarch to be awarded such an honour.
GEORGE III
George was born in London on the 4th of June 1738, the son of the former Prince of Wales, Prince Fredrick and his wife Princess Augusta of Saxe - Gotha. King George III came to the throne upon the death of his grandfather King George II, as his own father and heir to the throne, the former Prince of Wales, had died nine years previously.
George was crowned king at Westminster Abbey on the 22nd of September 1761.
George III's reign is renowned for two things, the loss of the American colonies that lead to the American War of Independence and subsequent union of the United States of America and the mental illness that dominated the latter years of his life.
George died, blind, deaf and insane on the 29th of January 1820 at the age of 81. It is claimed that the king's mental illness was due to the hereditary condition porphyria. He was later interred at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
CHARLOTTE OF MECKLENBURG - STRELITZ
George married Charlotte of Mecklenburg - Strelitz (1744 - 1818) on the 6th of September 1761, in London. This was to become a successful marriage that bore fifteen children, one of which would become the future King of Britain and another would become the future King of Hanover.
Charlotte was born on the 19th of May 1744 at Mirow in Germany and was the daughter of Duke Charles Louis Fredrick of Mecklenburg - Strelitz and his wife Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe - Hildburghausen,
Charlotte was a lover of music and it is said that she was friends with both the composers Bach and Mozart. Another of her friends was the French Princess Marie Antoinette, with whom she had a long and close relationship, until Marie Antoinette's execution in October 1793.
Charlotte enjoyed her married life and caring for her children, but was not happy with court life due to the interference and controlling manner of her mother - in - law Princess Augusta. This led to the King obtaining Buckingham House as their family home, which is better known today as Buckingham Palace, which still remains to this day the official home of the British monarch.
During her latter years Charlotte became the legal guardian of the King during his long mental illness.
Charlotte died on the 17th of November, 1818 at the age of 74, having been married to the king for fifty nine years, making her the longest serving Queen Consort in the British monarchy and the second longest serving consort after the Duke Of Edinburgh, consort of the present Queen Elisabeth II. She was later interred at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
During their long marriage the royal couple produced fifteen children, they were:
George - Prince of Wales - (1762 - 1830) - Future Prince Regent and future King George IV of Britain. Married Caroline of Brunswick, they had one daughter, Charlotte, Princess of Wales, but she died in 1817 at the age of twenty one.
Fredrick, Duke of York - (1763 - 1827) - He married Princess Charlotte of Prussia, daughter of Fredrick Willem of Prussia and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick - Luneburg. Their union was an unhappy one which produced no heirs.
William, Duke of Clarence (1763 - 1827) - Future King William IV of England.
Charlotte, Princess Royal - (1766 - 1828) - Charlotte married Fredrick of Wurtenberg. Their union produced one stillborn daughter in 1798.
Edward, Duke of Kent - (1767 - 1820) - Edward married Princess Victoria of Saxe Coburg Saalfeld. They produced one child, Victoria – (1819 – 1901) who would go on to become the future Queen of England.
Augusta Sophia - (1768 - 1820) - Died unmarried and without issue.
Elizabeth - (1770 - 1840) - Elizabeth married Fredrick VI of Landgrave Hesse Hanover. They had no issue.
Ernest Augustus, - (1771 - 1851) - Future King of Hanover - He married Fredricka of Mecklenberg Strelitz and produced one child, George – (1819 – 1878), the future King George V of Hanover.
Augustua Fredrick, Duke of Sussex - (1773 - 1843) - He married Lady Augusta Murray and produced two children, Augustus – (1794 – 1848) and Augusta – (1801 – 1866).
His second marriage was to Cecilia Underwood, the Duchess of Inverness. This union produced no issue.
Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge - (1774 - 1850) - He married Augusta of Hesse Cassel. and produced three children, George – (1819 – 1904). Augusta – (1822 – 1916) and Mary Adelaide - (1833 – 1897).
Mary - (1776 - 1857) - Mary married William, Duke of Gloucester, but had no issue.
Sophia - (1777 - 1848) - Died unmarried and without issue.
Octavius - (1779 - 1783) - Died in infancy.
Alfred - (1780 - 1782) - Died in infancy.
Amelia - (1783 - 1810). Died unmarried and without issue.
GEORGE IV
George was born on the 12th of August 1762, at St Jame's Palace in London. He was the first born child of King George III and his wife Queen Charlotte.
King George IV came to the throne upon the death of his mentally ill father after his coronation at Westminster Abbey on the 19th of July 1821, but had actually been the Prince Regent in the king's absence since 1810.
On a personal level George is best remembered for being selfish, unreliable, irresponsible and frivolous and for the extravagant lifestyle which contributed to the British Regency period of fashion and architecture. He was also remembered for his close friendship with architect John Nash, who between them produced the two things which the Prince Regent is most famous for, the Royal Pavillion in Brighton and Regents Park in London.
George became King in 1821. By the time of his accession he was obese, addicted to laudanum and in the first stages of dementia, although this hardly made a difference to his ability to run the country as he would have been inept had he been of sound mind and body.
King George IV died at Windsor Castle on the 26th of June 1830 from the affects of years of over indulgence at the age of sixty nine. He was interred at the castle's St George's Chapel on July the 15th.
CAROLINE OF BRUNSWICK
In 1785, at the age of 23 George had indulged in a sham marriage to one of his long time mistresses, Maria Fitzherbert (1756 - 1837). The marriage was declared null and void as it had not passed the Royal Marriage Act by way of approval by King George III.
Because of this sham marriage he was ordered to marry Caroline of Brunswick - (1768 - 1821) on the 7th of April 1795, a marriage that was ill matched and lasted just over a year.
Caroline was born on the 17th of May 1768 at Braunschweig in Germany and was the daughter of Karl Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick and his wife Princess Augusta of Britain, the sister of King George III.
It has been said that the royal couple had sex just three times, so loathed was George towards his new wife, but three times was enough to produce a daughter,Charlotte (1796 - 1817) who became heir to the throne of Britain.
After the birth of the princess, Caroline left the royal court, and the couple never lived together again. Princess Caroline also remained unmarried, as the royal couple had never divorced, but had indulged in many affairs, and eventually left Britain, only to return upon George's accession to the throne, but he refused to recognise Caroline as his Queen.
On the night of King George's coronation, the 21st of July 1821, Caroline was taken ill in her bedchamber. She was ill for three weeks before dying on the 7th of August from an unspecified illness of which Caroline had been sure was poisoning. After her death her body was taken back to her native Brunswick in Germany for burial.
Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales was born at Carlton House in London on the 7th of January 1796. She was the only legitimate child of George, the Prince Regent and his wife Caroline of Brunswick.
On the second of May 1816 she married Prince Leopold of Saxe - Coburg - Saalfeld, the future king of Belgium, at a ceremony at Carlton House in London. Eighteen months after her marriage she delivered a stillborn son on the 5th of November 1817 and died the next day on the 6th of November at the age of 21.
Charlotte was a well loved princess and her untimely death caused the whole country to go into mourning, especially as her and her son's death had meant the deaths of the next two heirs to the throne.
Charlotte was buried at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle on the 19th of November as vast crowds of the public lined the streets.
MARIA FITZHERBERT
George is believed to have conducted at least seven affairs during his lifetime and fathered at least two, possibly four, illegitimate children.
His mistresses were actress Mary Robinson, socialite Grace Dalrymple Elliot (1754 - 1823), with whom he had one daughter, Georgina Seymour (1782 -1813), political hostess Lady Elisabeth Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne (1750 - 1818), with whom he had one son, George (1784 - 1834), high flier Frances Villers, the Countess of Jersey (1753 - 1821), courtier Lady Isabella Ingram Seymour Conway, the Marchioness of Hertford (1759 - 1834) and courtier Lady Elizabeth Conyngham (1769 - 1861). However his longest and most high profile affair was with the twice widowed, Maria Fitzherbert (1756 - 1837) with whom he possibly had two daughters.
Maria Anne Smythe was born on the 26th of July 1756 at Tong in Shropshire and was the daughter of Walter Smythe and his wife Mary Anne Errington. At the age of 21, in July 1775, Maria married landowner Edward Weld but would be widowed just three months later when Edward was killed after a fall from his horse.
Sometime in 1778 Maria married for a second time, to landowner Thomas Fitzherbert. This union produced one son who died in infancy. Again Maria was soon to be widowed when Thomas died just three years later in May 1781. Maria then moved to London as Thomas had left her a town house in Park Street.
Maria met George the Prince of Wales in London in 1784 and was pursued relentlessly by him. She entered into a secret and illegal marriage with him at a ceremony performed at her home in Park Street on the 15th of December 1785. When George had to formally marry Caroline of Brunswick in 1794 he informed Maria that their affair was over by letter.They were never reconciled as lovers again, despite the fact that George and Caroline's marriage was over within months and Pope Pius VII had declared their marriage valid in 1798.
However it would seem that despite taking many lovers throughout his lifetime, George never forgot Maria, as just before his death he asked to be buried with a miniature of Maria around his neck, old love letters between the couple had also been found in his bedchamber. When the king's brother the Duke of Clarence found out about their obvious love for one another he offered Maria a ducal title, but she refused asking only that she may be allowed to wear widow's weeds.
Maria died on the 27th of March 1837 at Stein House in Brighton. She was later buried at St John the Baptist Church in Kemp Town, Brighton.
It has never been verified if Maria bore George any children during their nine year affair, although there have been rumours that she was seen to be pregnant at least once during that time frame. Some historians are of the belief that she bore him two daughters which were apparantly adopted by two Scottish families, a Mary Ann Stafford - Jerningham and a Mary Georgina Emma Dawson - Damer. This rumour has further been substantiated after papers were found after her death which read - This paper is addressed to my two dear children, whom I have loved with the affection any mother could do, and I have done the utmost in my power for their interests and comfort.
WILLIAM IV
William was the third born child of King George III and his wife Queen Charlotte. He was born at Buckingham House, now known as Buckingham Palace, on the 21st of August, 1765. With the death of King George IV and the tragic death of his daughter Charlotte in childbirth in 1817, there was no heir presumptive to follow him onto the throne. The accession was therefore handed over to his younger brother Prince William, Duke of Clarence, who came to the throne at the age of sixty four after a coronation at Westminster Abbey on the 8th of September 1831.
After a successful naval career his reign is best remembered by his political reforms of the day, of which he took an avid interest, by way of overseeing updates of the poor laws, restrictions on child labour, the abolition of slavery and a reformation of the electoral system. William was also the last British monarch to appoint a British prime minister.
King William IV died at Windsor Castle on the twentieth of June 1837 from heart failure and was buried at the castle's St George's Chapel on the eighth of July 1837.
DOROTHY JORDAN
George's ' real ' family was with his long time mistress, the Irish actress Dorothea Jordan (1761 - 1816), with whom he had ten children, all of whom were recognised and all of whom were titled.
His twenty year relationship with Dorothea lasted from 1791 until they separated in 1811. The Duke took over the care of the boys and Dorothea was given a yearly stipend to look after the girls, provided she did not go back onto the stage, but due to family problems in 1814 Dorothea was forced back onto the stage to pay off a family debt. When the Duke heard of this he took away both her daughters and her stipend.
To avoid the wrath of creditors Dorothea went to Paris, where she died in 1816, apparently living in abject poverty.
Their ten children were all given the surname of FitzClarence. Fitz, which means son or daughter of a royal and Clarence which was the Duke's honorary title from birth.
Their children were: George Fitzclarence - 1794 - 1842. Henry Fitzclarence - 1795 - 1817. Sophia Fitzclarence - 1796 - 1837. Mary Fitzclarence - 1798 - 1864.Fredrick Fitzclarence - 1799 - 1854. Elisabeth Fitzclarence - 1801 - 1856. Adolphus Fitzclarence - 1802 - 1856. Augusta Fitzclarence - 1803 - 1865. Augustus Fitzclarence - 1805 - 1854 and Amelia Fitzclarence - 1807 - 1858.
Several of these children went on to produce some very notable descendants, the most famous of which would be future British, Prime Minister David Cameron.
ADELAIDE OF SAXE - MEINENGEN
William did eventually marry on the eleventh of July 1818, in a double wedding ceremony with his brother Edward the Duke of Kent and his bride Princess Victoria of Leiningen, at a ceremony held at Kew Palace in Surrey.
William married Adelaide of Saxe - Meiningen (1792 - 1849 ). She was born on the 13th of August 1792 in Thuringia, Germany and was the daughter of George I, Duke of Saxe - Meiningen and his wife Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe - Langenburg.
Their marriage, although one of convenience due to the duke's mounting debts, did become a happy and devoted union on both sides. They produced five children during their marriage but non of them would live longer than four months, they were -
Princess Charlotte of Clarence, who was born and died in March of 1819.
A stillborn son delivered in September 1819.
Princess Elisabeth of Clarence who lived between December 1820 and March 1821.
And stillborn twin boys who were delivered in April 1822.
Adelaide was loved by the British people and very well respected both at court and by the British parliament. She was religious, modest and charitable, and the whole nation mourned with her upon the tragic loss of all her babies.
Adelaide was honoured by way of having the South Australian capital city of Adelaide named after her upon it's founding in 1836.
Adelaide died of natural causes on the second of December 1849 at the age of fifty seven and was later interred in St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle, alongside her husband who had died eight years previously in 1837.
VICTORIA
With the death of King William in 1837 the British monarchy was left for a second generation without an heir presumptive. This time the royal accession was bestowed upon the eighteen year old daughter of the fourth son of King George III, the eighteen year old Princess Victoria.
Victoria was born on the 24th of May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London, the only child of Augustus, Duke of Kent and his wife Princess Victoria of Saxe - Coburg - Saalfeld.
Her father the Duke died just a few months after her birth from pneumonia.
After a lonely and closeted childhood at the hands of her dominant, widowed mother Victoria was crowned queen at the age of nineteen at Westminster Abbey on the 28th of June 1838 and went on to reign for sixty three years, seven months and two days. During her reign she oversaw four assassination attempts, the deaths of three of her children, the tenure of twenty prime ministers and witness to more historical, scientific, medical, industrial, political and social reforms than any other British monarch. Her love affair and subsequent marriage to her consort, Prince Albert would become legendary, as would her life's work and historical achievements. No other monarch has had more written about her, more statues dedicated to her, more places named after her or more research done into her life, than Victoria, and she is hailed as the world's most famous ever royal, instantly recognised by all throughout the world.
Victoria was widowed in 1861, and went into mourning for the rest of her life, although it is recorded that she did have several male friendships during that time, but whether any of them were romantic relationships is unclear, all that is known is that she definitely had certain male favourites.
Her death in 1901 saw the end of the Royal Dynasty of the Royal House of Hanover and the end of Britain's most prolific and historical royal era. She died of a stroke at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight on the 22nd of January 1901 at the age of eighty one and was interred alongside her husband Prince Albert at the Frogmore Mausoleum in Home Park situated in Windsor Great Park, near Windsor Castle.
She was succeeded by her son Prince Edward, who was the first and only monarch of the Royal House of Saxe - Coburg and Gotha.
ALBERT OF SAXE - COBURG AND GOTHA
Victoria married her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe - Coburg and Gotha - (1819 – 1861) on the 10th of February 1840 at the Chapel Royal in St James' Palace in London.
Albert was born on the 26th of August 1819 at Rosenau Castle in Coburg, Germany and was the son of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha and his wife Princess Louise of Saxe Gotha and Altenberg.
During his marriage to Victoria Albert was renowned for his many public roles which included helping to make sweeping reforms in education, welfare, royal finances and slavery. Albert was also passionate about the arts and sciences, leading to his presidency of the Royal Commission for the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Crystal Palace (1850 - 1936) pictured below.
He died on the 14th of December 1861 in the Blue Room at Windsor Castle after a recent trip to Cambridge to visit his son Prince Edward the Prince of Wales who had recently been involved in a love scandal with a woman of low repute, which the Queen and Prince Albert feared could have led to financial recriminations.
Prince Albert died from what was thought to be typhoid fever at the time of his death, but further research by modern historians are of the impression, due to his last two years of waning health, that he probably died from a chronic illness or even a type of cancer.
Due to this Queen Victoria for ever blamed her son for the death of her husband, completely banishing him from her life until her final days when she finally spoke to him and hugged him on her death bed at Osbourne House.
Prince Albert was originally interred at St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle, then removed to the mausoleum at Frogmore a year later, after Victoria had had the mausoleum commissioned and built in his honour.
Victoria and Albert's union produced nine children, one of whom would become the King Of Great Britain and another would become the Empress of Germany. Their children were:
Victoria, The Princess Royal - (1840 - 1901) - Who married Fredrick III, Emperor of Germany. They had eight children; Wilhelm – (1859 – 1941). Charlotte – (1860 – 1919). Henry – (1862 – 1929). Sigismund – (1864 – 1866). Viktoria – (1866 – 1929). Waldemar – (1868 – 1879). Sophie – (1870 – 1932) and Margaret – (1872 – 1954).
Albert Edward, The Prince of Wales - (1841 - 1910) - Future King Edward VII of England.Married Alexander, Princess of Denmark and produced nine children.
Alice - (1843 - 1878) - She married Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and had seven children; Victoria – (1863 – 1950). Elizaveta – (1864 – 1918). Irene – (1866 – 1953). Ernest – (1868 – 1937). Friedrick – (1870 – 1873). Alexander – (1872 – 1918) and Marie – (1874 – 1878).
Alfred, Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha - 1844 -1900 - Who married Maria Alexandrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia. They had five children; Alfred – (1874 – 1899). Marie – (1875 – 1938). Victoria Melita – (1876 –1936). Alexandra – (1878 – 1942) and Beatrice (1884 -1966).
Helena - (1846 - 1923) - She married Prince Christian of Schleswig Holstein. and produced four children; Christian – (1867 – 1900). Albert – (1869 – 1931). Helena – (1870 – 1948) and Marie – (1872 – 1956).
Louise - (1848 - 1939) - She married John Campbell, the Duke of Argyll. They had no issue.
Arthur, Duke of Connaught - (1850 - 1942) - He married Princess Loiuse Margaret of Prussia and had three children; Margaret – (1882 – 1920). Arthur – (1883 – 1938) and Patricia – (1886 – 1974).
Leopold, Duke of Albany - (1853 - 1884) - He married Princess Helena of Waldeck & Pyrmont. They had two children; Alice – (1883 – 1981), who when she died at the age of 97 in 1981 became the oldest ever member of the British Royal Family, a record which still stands to this day. Charles Edward – (1884 – 1954).
Beatrice - (1857 - 1944) - She married Prince Henry of Battenberg and had four children; Alexander – (1886 – 1960). Victoria – (1887 – 1969). Leopold – (1889 – 1922) and Maurice – (1891 – 1914).
| George IV of the United Kingdom |
What is the meaning of the French word 'Eglise'? | 1000+ images about King George IV on Pinterest | King george, Mental illness and The throne
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In 1795, George IV was married to Caroline of Brunswick in a purely politically arranged marriage which was doomed from the outset. In 1796, their only child, Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, was born and shortly after that they were living completely separate lives. George had been keeping mistresses since 1779, when he met Mary Robinson while she was performing in a play. He offered her twenty thousand pounds if she would become his mistress. George had tired of her within a year, and…
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How is the painting 'The Militia Company Of Captain Frans Banning Cocq' better known? | The Night Watch – Rembrandthuis
The Night Watch
The Night Watch
The seventeenth century saw an unparalleled output of art in the Republic of the United Provinces. The number of paintings and prints produced during this period is staggering, and very many of them are of outstanding quality. Perhaps the most famous painting is the work by Rembrandt known as The Night Watch. It is a group portrait of a militia company. These were groups of able-bodied men who, if the need arose, could be called upon to defend the city or put down riots. The painting depicts the company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and his lieutenant, Willem van Ruytenburgh, surrounded by sixteen of their men. A shield above the gate bears the names of the eighteen people in the portrait, who paid for the work. The other people who appear in the painting were added by Rembrandt with an eye to enhancing the composition. He must have been given the commission in 1639 or soon afterwards. It is no coincidence that Rembrandt bought an expensive house at precisely this time.
The militiamen met at fixed times in the Kloveniersdoelen. This was the range where they practised. It was decided to commission six large militia pieces and a group portrait of the officers for the main hall of the building. Rembrandt was commissioned to paint one of the six large works. He decided on an audacious composition. The men are in action, busy forming up. The way that Rembrandt has arranged the figures creates immense vitality. This is reinforced by the striking use of light and shade. The men appear to be emerging from a dark gateway into the light. The girl to the captain’s left is in full light. She symbolizes the Kloveniers. The claws of the chicken hanging from her belt refer to the name ‘clauweniers’. She clasps the Kloveniers’ ceremonial drinking horn.
Rembrandt, Officers and Men of the Amsterdam Kloveniers Militia, the Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq, signed and dated ‘Rembrandt f 1642’. Canvas, 363 x 438 cm, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum
Rembrandt did not confine himself to a single technique. Some elements are worked out in minute detail, while in other places he seems to have applied the paint very thickly. Technically it is a masterly piece of work. The captain’s hand, for instance, seems to be coming out of the painting towards the viewer. Contemporaries were very well aware of the quality of this painting. Rembrandt’s former pupil, the art theoretician Samuel van Hoogstraten, wrote about it in terms of great admiration. He pointed out that the composition and unity were more important to Rembrandt than the individual portraits. He described the work as strikingly ‘picturesque in conception’ and ‘elegantly’ and ‘powerfully’ done. This is what sets this painting apart from the other militia pieces that were made at the same time.
Samuel van Hoogstraten also had a criticism. He wished that Rembrandt ‘had put more light into it’. The name Night Watch dates from the eighteenth century, when the painting had already darkened quite considerably. By then, people were no longer sure precisely what it represented. They evidently took it for a night scene.
Today
13-22 January: free workshops in The Rembrandt House Museum
While we are anticipating our new exhibition Glenn Brown – Rembrandt: After Life, that will open on January 27th, there will be workshops held on… Read more »
Etching demonstration
Every day from 10:15 am to 1:15 pm, and from 1:45 pm to 4:45 pm. The demonstrations are free of charge and take place in Rembrandt’s former graphic… Read more »
Paint preparation demonstration
Every day from 10:15 am to 17:10 pm. These demonstrations are free of charge for visitors to the museum. In the master’s reconstructed studio, our demonstrators will show… Read more »
Rembrandt’s First Paintings: The Four Senses
Rembrandt’s earliest known paintings, The Four Senses, a set of four small panels representing sight, hearing, smell and touch, can be seen in the Rembrandt… Read more »
| Night Watch |
What symbol appears on the flag of Barbados? | Rembrandt, The Night Watch – Smarthistory
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Night Watch (Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq), 1642, oil on canvas, 379.5 x 453.5 cm (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
A night watch?
Would it surprise you to find that the title that Rembrandt’s most famous painting is known by is actually incorrect? The so-called Night Watch is not a night scene at all; it actually takes place during the day. This title, which was not given by the artist, was first applied at the end of the 18th century. By that time the painting had darkened considerably through the accumulation of many layers of dirt and varnish, giving the appearance that the event takes place at night.
Rembrandt, Officers and Men of the Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Wilhelm van Ruytenburgh, known as the Night Watch, 1642, oil on canvas, 379.5 x 453.5 cm (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands) A more accurate title, one that is in keeping with the naming of other contemporary portraits of this type is the “Officers and Men of the Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Wilhelm van Ruytenburgh.”
A view to Rembrandt’s Night Watch at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (photo: Henk Bekker , CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The Dutch civic guard
Rembrandt’s Night Watch is an example of a very specific type of painting that was exclusive to the Northern Netherlands, with the majority being commissioned in the city of Amsterdam. It is a group portrait of a company of civic guardsmen. The primary purpose of these guardsmen was to serve as defenders of their cities. As such, they were tasked with guarding gates, policing streets, putting out fires, and generally maintaining order throughout the city. Additionally, they were an important presence at parades held for visiting royalty as well and other festive occasions. Each company had its own guild hall as well as a shooting range where they could practice with the specific weapon associated with their group, either a longbow, a crossbow, or a firearm. According to tradition, these assembly halls were decorated with group portraits of its most distinguished members, which served not only to record the likenesses of these citizens, but more importantly to assert the power and individuality of the city that they defended. In short, these images helped promote a sense of pride and civic duty.
Captain and Lieutenant (detail), Rembrandt, Officers and Men of the Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Wilhelm van Ruytenburgh, known as the Night Watch, 1642, oil on canvas, 379.5 x 453.5 cm (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
Rembrandt was at the height of his career when he received the commission to paint the Night Watch for the Kloveniersdoelen, the guild hall that housed the Amsterdam civic guard company of arquebusiers, or musketeers. This company was under the command of Captain Frans Banning Cocq, who holds a prominent position in the center foreground of the image (above left). He wears the formal black attire and white lace collar of the upper class, accented by a bold red sash across his chest. At his waist is a rapier and in his hand a baton, the latter of which identifies his military rank. Striding forward, he turns his head to the left and emphatically extends his free hand as he addresses his lieutenant, Willem van Ruytenburgh, who turns to acknowledge his orders. He is also fancifully dressed, but in bright yellow, his military role referenced by the steel gorget he wears around his neck and the strongly foreshortened ceremonial partisan that he carries. Sixteen additional portraits of members of this company are also included, with the names of all inscribed on a framed shield in the archway. As was common practice at the time, sitters paid a fee that was based on their prominence within the painting.
Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy, Civic guards from the company of captain Jacob Backer and lieutenant Jacob Rogh, 1632 (Amsterdam Historical Museum)
A unique approach
Drummer (detail), Rembrandt, Officers and Men of the Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Wilhelm van Ruytenburgh, known as the Night Watch, 1642, oil on canvas, 379.5 x 453.5 cm (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
Compared to other civic guard portraits, Rembrandt’s Night Watch stands out significantly in terms of its originality. Rather than replicating the typical arrangement of boring rows of figures (see above), Rembrandt animates his portrait. Sitters perform specific actions that define their roles as militiamen. A great deal of energy is generated as these citizens spring to action in response to their captain’s command. Indeed, the scene has the appearance of an actual historical event taking place although what we are truly witnessing is the creative genius of Rembrandt at work.
Men wearing bits of armor and varied helmets, arm themselves with an array of weapons before a massive, but imaginary archway that acts as a symbol of the city gate to be defended. On the left, the standard bearer raises the troop banner while on the far right a group of men hold their pikes high. In the left foreground, a young boy carrying a powder horn dashes off to collect more powder for the musketeers. Opposite him, a drummer taps out a cadence while a dog barks enthusiastically at his feet.
Rembrandt’s self-portrait—just one eye and a beret? (detail), Rembrandt, Officers and Men of the Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Wilhelm van Ruytenburgh, known as the Night Watch, 1642, oil on canvas, 379.5 x 453.5 cm (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
In addition to the eighteen paid portraits, Rembrandt introduced a number of extras to further animate the scene and allude to the much larger makeup of the company as a whole. Most of these figures are relegated to the background with their faces obscured or only partly visible. One, wearing a beret and peering up from behind the helmeted figure standing next to the standard bearer has even been identified as Rembrandt himself.
Three musketeers
While a number of different weapons are included in the painting, the most prominent weapon is the musket, the official weapon of the Kloveniers. Three of the five musketeers are given a place of significance just behind the captain and lieutenant where they carry out in sequential order the basic steps involved in properly handling a musket. First, on the left, a musketeer dressed all in red, charges his weapon by pouring powder into the muzzle. Next, a rather small figure wearing a helmet adorned with oak leaves fires his weapon to the right. Finally, the man behind the lieutenant clears the pan by blowing off the residual powder (both the figure in a helmet with oak leaves and the man blowing off the powder are visible in the detail of the central figures above). In his rendering of these steps, it seems that Rembrandt was influenced by weapons manuals of the period.
A golden girl
Personification of the Kloveniers (detail), Rembrandt, Officers and Men of the Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Wilhelm van Ruytenburgh, known as the Night Watch, 1642, oil on canvas, 379.5 x 453.5 cm (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
Probably the most unusual feature is the mysterious girl who emerges from the darkness just behind the musketeer in red. With flowing blond hair and a fanciful gold dress, the young girl in all her brilliance draws considerable attention. Her most curious attribute, however, is the large white chicken that hangs upside down from her waistband. The significance of this bird, particularly its claws, lies in its direct reference to the Kloveniers. Each guild had its own emblem and for the Kloveniers it was a golden claw on a blue field. The girl then is not a real person, but acts as a personification of the company.
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Who won the 'Oscar' for Best Actress in the 1950's film 'The Three Falcons'? | Academy Awards® Winners (1950 - 1959)
Actor:
GARY COOPER in
"High Noon" , Marlon Brando in "Viva Zapata!", Kirk Douglas in "The Bad and the Beautiful" , Jose Ferrer in "Moulin Rouge", Alec Guinness in "The Lavender Hill Mob"
Actress:
SHIRLEY BOOTH in "Come Back, Little Sheba", Joan Crawford in "Sudden Fear", Bette Davis in "The Star", Julie Harris in "The Member of the Wedding", Susan Hayward in "With a Song in My Heart"
Supporting Actor:
ANTHONY QUINN in "Viva Zapata!", Richard Burton in "My Cousin Rachel", Arthur Hunnicutt in "The Big Sky", Victor McLaglen in
"The Quiet Man" , Jack Palance in "Sudden Fear"
Supporting Actress:
GLORIA GRAHAME in "The Bad and the Beautiful" , Jean Hagen in
"Singin' In The Rain" , Colette Marchand in "Moulin Rouge", Terry Moore in "Come Back, Little Sheba", Thelma RItter in "With a Song in My Heart"
Director:
JOHN FORD for
"The Quiet Man" , Cecil B. DeMille for "The Greatest Show On Earth", John Huston for "Moulin Rouge", Joseph L. Mankiewicz for "Five Fingers", Fred Zinnemann for
The Rose Tattoo (1955)
Actor:
ERNEST BORGNINE in "Marty" , James Cagney in "Love Me or Leave Me", James Dean in "East of Eden" , Frank Sinatra in "The Man With the Golden Arm", Spencer Tracy in "Bad Day at Black Rock"
Actress:
ANNA MAGNANI in "The Rose Tattoo", Susan Hayward in "I'll Cry Tomorrow", Katharine Hepburn in "Summertime", Jennifer Jones in "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing", Eleanor Parker in "Interrupted Melody"
Supporting Actor:
"Rebel Without a Cause" , Arthur O'Connell in "Picnic"
Supporting Actress:
JO VAN FLEET in "East of Eden" , Betsy Blair in "Marty" , Peggy Lee in "Pete Kelly's Blues", Marisa Pavan in "The Rose Tattoo", Natalie Wood in
"Rebel Without a Cause"
Director:
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Actor:
YUL BRYNNER in "The King and I" , James Dean in "Giant", Kirk Douglas in "Lust for Life", Rock Hudson in "Giant", Laurence Olivier in "Richard III"
Actress:
INGRID BERGMAN in "Anastasia", Carroll Baker in "Baby Doll" , Katharine Hepburn in "The Rainmaker", Nancy Kelly in "The Bad Seed", Deborah Kerr in "The King and I"
Supporting Actor:
ANTHONY QUINN in "Lust for Life", Don Murray in "Bus Stop", Anthony Perkins in "Friendly Persuasion", Mickey Rooney in "The Bold and the Brave", Robert Stack in "Written on the Wind"
Supporting Actress:
DOROTHY MALONE in "Written on the Wind" , Mildred Dunnock in "Baby Doll" , Eileen Heckart in "The Bad Seed", Mercedes McCambridge in "Giant", Patty McCormack in "The Bad Seed"
Director:
GEORGE STEVENS for "Giant", Michael Anderson for "Around the World in 80 Days", Walter Lang for "The King and I" , King Vidor for "War and Peace", William Wyler for "Friendly Persuasion"
Witness For the Prosecution (1957)
Actor:
ALEC GUINNESS in
"The Bridge On The River Kwai" , Marlon Brando in "Sayonara" , Anthony Franciosa in "A Hatful of Rain", Charles Laughton in "Witness for the Prosecution", Anthony Quinn in "Wild Is the Wind"
Actress:
JOANNE WOODWARD in "The Three Faces of Eve", Deborah Kerr in "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison", Anna Magnani in "Wild is the Wind", Elizabeth Taylor in "Raintree County", Lana Turner in "Peyton Place"
Supporting Actor:
RED BUTTONS in "Sayonara" , Vittorio De Sica in "A Farewell to Arms", Sessue Hayakawa in
"The Bridge On The River Kwai" , Arthur Kennedy in "Peyton Place", Russ Tamblyn in "Peyton Place"
Supporting Actress:
MIYOSHI UMEKI in "Sayonara" , Carolyn Jones in "The Bachelor Party", Elsa Lanchester in "Witness for the Prosecution", Hope Lange in "Peyton Place", Diane Varsi in "Peyton Place"
Director:
DAVID LEAN for
Separate Tables (1958)
Actor:
DAVID NIVEN in "Separate Tables", Tony Curtis in "The Defiant Ones" , Paul Newman in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" , Sidney Poitier in "The Defiant Ones" , Spencer Tracy in "The Old Man and the Sea"
Actress:
SUSAN HAYWARD in "I Want to Live", Deborah Kerr in "Separate Tables", Shirley MacLaine in "Some Came Running", Rosalind Russell in "Auntie Mame", Elizabeth Taylor in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
Supporting Actor:
BURL IVES in "The Big Country", Theodore Bikel in "The Defiant Ones" , Lee J. Cobb in "The Brothers Karamazov", Arthur Kennedy in "Some Came Running", Gig Young in "Teacher's Pet"
Supporting Actress:
WENDY HILLER in "Separate Tables", Peggy Cass in "Auntie Mame", Martha Hyer in "Some Came Running", Maureen Stapleton in "Lonelyhearts", Cara Williams in "The Defiant Ones"
Director:
VINCENTE MINNELLI for "Gigi", Richard Brooks for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" , Stanley Kramer for "The Defiant Ones" , Mark Robson for "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness", Robert Wise for "I Want to Live!"
Room at the Top (1959, UK)
Actor:
CHARLTON HESTON in
"Ben-Hur" , Laurence Harvey in "Room at the Top", Jack Lemmon in
"Some Like It Hot" , Paul Muni in "The Last Angry Man", James Stewart in "Anatomy of a Murder"
Actress:
SIMONE SIGNORET in "Room at the Top", Doris Day in "Pillow Talk", Audrey Hepburn in "The Nun's Story", Katharine Hepburn in "Suddenly, Last Summer" , Elizabeth Taylor in "Suddenly, Last Summer"
Supporting Actor:
HUGH GRIFFITH in
"Ben-Hur" , Arthur O'Connell in "Anatomy of a Murder", George C. Scott in "Anatomy of a Murder", Robert Vaughn in "The Young Philadelphians", Ed Wynn in "The Diary of Anne Frank"
Supporting Actress:
SHELLEY WINTERS in "The Diary of Anne Frank", Hermione Baddeley in "Room at the Top", Susan Kohner in "Imitation of Life", Juanita Moore in "Imitation of Life", Thelma Ritter in "Pillow Talk"
Director:
WILLIAM WYLER for
"Ben-Hur" , Jack Clayton for "Room at the Top", George Stevens for "The Diary of Anne Frank", Billy Wilder for
| Joanne Woodward |
Traditionally with what were the seams of wooden sailing ships caulked? | Academy Awards® Winners (1950 - 1959)
Actor:
GARY COOPER in
"High Noon" , Marlon Brando in "Viva Zapata!", Kirk Douglas in "The Bad and the Beautiful" , Jose Ferrer in "Moulin Rouge", Alec Guinness in "The Lavender Hill Mob"
Actress:
SHIRLEY BOOTH in "Come Back, Little Sheba", Joan Crawford in "Sudden Fear", Bette Davis in "The Star", Julie Harris in "The Member of the Wedding", Susan Hayward in "With a Song in My Heart"
Supporting Actor:
ANTHONY QUINN in "Viva Zapata!", Richard Burton in "My Cousin Rachel", Arthur Hunnicutt in "The Big Sky", Victor McLaglen in
"The Quiet Man" , Jack Palance in "Sudden Fear"
Supporting Actress:
GLORIA GRAHAME in "The Bad and the Beautiful" , Jean Hagen in
"Singin' In The Rain" , Colette Marchand in "Moulin Rouge", Terry Moore in "Come Back, Little Sheba", Thelma RItter in "With a Song in My Heart"
Director:
JOHN FORD for
"The Quiet Man" , Cecil B. DeMille for "The Greatest Show On Earth", John Huston for "Moulin Rouge", Joseph L. Mankiewicz for "Five Fingers", Fred Zinnemann for
The Rose Tattoo (1955)
Actor:
ERNEST BORGNINE in "Marty" , James Cagney in "Love Me or Leave Me", James Dean in "East of Eden" , Frank Sinatra in "The Man With the Golden Arm", Spencer Tracy in "Bad Day at Black Rock"
Actress:
ANNA MAGNANI in "The Rose Tattoo", Susan Hayward in "I'll Cry Tomorrow", Katharine Hepburn in "Summertime", Jennifer Jones in "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing", Eleanor Parker in "Interrupted Melody"
Supporting Actor:
"Rebel Without a Cause" , Arthur O'Connell in "Picnic"
Supporting Actress:
JO VAN FLEET in "East of Eden" , Betsy Blair in "Marty" , Peggy Lee in "Pete Kelly's Blues", Marisa Pavan in "The Rose Tattoo", Natalie Wood in
"Rebel Without a Cause"
Director:
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Actor:
YUL BRYNNER in "The King and I" , James Dean in "Giant", Kirk Douglas in "Lust for Life", Rock Hudson in "Giant", Laurence Olivier in "Richard III"
Actress:
INGRID BERGMAN in "Anastasia", Carroll Baker in "Baby Doll" , Katharine Hepburn in "The Rainmaker", Nancy Kelly in "The Bad Seed", Deborah Kerr in "The King and I"
Supporting Actor:
ANTHONY QUINN in "Lust for Life", Don Murray in "Bus Stop", Anthony Perkins in "Friendly Persuasion", Mickey Rooney in "The Bold and the Brave", Robert Stack in "Written on the Wind"
Supporting Actress:
DOROTHY MALONE in "Written on the Wind" , Mildred Dunnock in "Baby Doll" , Eileen Heckart in "The Bad Seed", Mercedes McCambridge in "Giant", Patty McCormack in "The Bad Seed"
Director:
GEORGE STEVENS for "Giant", Michael Anderson for "Around the World in 80 Days", Walter Lang for "The King and I" , King Vidor for "War and Peace", William Wyler for "Friendly Persuasion"
Witness For the Prosecution (1957)
Actor:
ALEC GUINNESS in
"The Bridge On The River Kwai" , Marlon Brando in "Sayonara" , Anthony Franciosa in "A Hatful of Rain", Charles Laughton in "Witness for the Prosecution", Anthony Quinn in "Wild Is the Wind"
Actress:
JOANNE WOODWARD in "The Three Faces of Eve", Deborah Kerr in "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison", Anna Magnani in "Wild is the Wind", Elizabeth Taylor in "Raintree County", Lana Turner in "Peyton Place"
Supporting Actor:
RED BUTTONS in "Sayonara" , Vittorio De Sica in "A Farewell to Arms", Sessue Hayakawa in
"The Bridge On The River Kwai" , Arthur Kennedy in "Peyton Place", Russ Tamblyn in "Peyton Place"
Supporting Actress:
MIYOSHI UMEKI in "Sayonara" , Carolyn Jones in "The Bachelor Party", Elsa Lanchester in "Witness for the Prosecution", Hope Lange in "Peyton Place", Diane Varsi in "Peyton Place"
Director:
DAVID LEAN for
Separate Tables (1958)
Actor:
DAVID NIVEN in "Separate Tables", Tony Curtis in "The Defiant Ones" , Paul Newman in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" , Sidney Poitier in "The Defiant Ones" , Spencer Tracy in "The Old Man and the Sea"
Actress:
SUSAN HAYWARD in "I Want to Live", Deborah Kerr in "Separate Tables", Shirley MacLaine in "Some Came Running", Rosalind Russell in "Auntie Mame", Elizabeth Taylor in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
Supporting Actor:
BURL IVES in "The Big Country", Theodore Bikel in "The Defiant Ones" , Lee J. Cobb in "The Brothers Karamazov", Arthur Kennedy in "Some Came Running", Gig Young in "Teacher's Pet"
Supporting Actress:
WENDY HILLER in "Separate Tables", Peggy Cass in "Auntie Mame", Martha Hyer in "Some Came Running", Maureen Stapleton in "Lonelyhearts", Cara Williams in "The Defiant Ones"
Director:
VINCENTE MINNELLI for "Gigi", Richard Brooks for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" , Stanley Kramer for "The Defiant Ones" , Mark Robson for "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness", Robert Wise for "I Want to Live!"
Room at the Top (1959, UK)
Actor:
CHARLTON HESTON in
"Ben-Hur" , Laurence Harvey in "Room at the Top", Jack Lemmon in
"Some Like It Hot" , Paul Muni in "The Last Angry Man", James Stewart in "Anatomy of a Murder"
Actress:
SIMONE SIGNORET in "Room at the Top", Doris Day in "Pillow Talk", Audrey Hepburn in "The Nun's Story", Katharine Hepburn in "Suddenly, Last Summer" , Elizabeth Taylor in "Suddenly, Last Summer"
Supporting Actor:
HUGH GRIFFITH in
"Ben-Hur" , Arthur O'Connell in "Anatomy of a Murder", George C. Scott in "Anatomy of a Murder", Robert Vaughn in "The Young Philadelphians", Ed Wynn in "The Diary of Anne Frank"
Supporting Actress:
SHELLEY WINTERS in "The Diary of Anne Frank", Hermione Baddeley in "Room at the Top", Susan Kohner in "Imitation of Life", Juanita Moore in "Imitation of Life", Thelma Ritter in "Pillow Talk"
Director:
WILLIAM WYLER for
"Ben-Hur" , Jack Clayton for "Room at the Top", George Stevens for "The Diary of Anne Frank", Billy Wilder for
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Name the most southerly county in the Republic of Ireland? | Ireland's counties and provinces | Ireland.com
Home Discover Ireland
Ireland's counties and provinces
The island of Ireland is made up of four provinces and 32 counties, and they all have their own unique charms and traditions
Glenveagh National Park, County Donegal
Connacht
Connacht is largely made up of counties on Ireland's western coast. Roscommon is the only county landlocked county in the province. Connacht is home to stunning scenery, including Connemara , Achill Island, and Sligo’s world-renowned surfing coast. Many parts of the province retain their very strong Gaelic traditions, in particular the Aran Islands. The Irish language is spoken throughout Connacht's Gaeltacht (Irish speaking) areas.
The five counties of Connacht are Galway , Leitrim , Mayo , Roscommon and Sligo .
Clogher Bay, Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry
Leinster
This eastern province is home to the Republic of Ireland’s capital city Dublin , originally founded by the Vikings. Today, rarely a week goes by without some form of festival happening in the city.
Leinster is now the most populated province on the island, with over half the population of the Republic of Ireland living there. The area was heavily colonized over the centuries and, as a result, it's home to many fine examples of medieval, Norman, Georgian and Neolithic architecture.
Carlow , Dublin , Kildare , Kilkenny , Laois , Longford , Louth , Meath , Offaly , Westmeath , Wexford and Wicklow are the counties that make up the Leinster region.
Munster
Two of Ireland’s largest counties are found in Munster: Cork and Kerry . Both have their own names they like to go by.
In Cork they consider themselves the “People’s Republic of Cork”, because if there is one thing people from Cork love, it’s Cork. It's also affectionately known as the gourmet county, because of its excellent culinary expertise.
“The Kingdom of Kerry” is renowned for its spectacular golf courses and it has won the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championships more times than any other team. Plus it has lush green scenery and a stunning coastline that is coveted by visitors while the town of Dingle boasts its own resident dolphin called Fungi (so popular he even has his own Twitter account .)
The lunar Burren and Cliffs of Moher are in County Clare and several ancient castles populate the counties of Limerick , Tipperary and Waterford . Waterford is renowned for its exquisite hand-cut crystal glass.
Munster’s counties are Clare , Cork , Kerry , Limerick , Tipperary and Waterford .
Ulster
The combined influences of several different cultures – the Ulster Scots, the Gaels, the Normans and the Anglo-Normans – have sculpted and colored the Ulster landscape in a particularly unique manner.
Natural beauties such as Donegal’s Glenveagh National Park, the Mourne Mountains in County Down , Fermanagh’s Lakelands and the Giant’s Causeway in Antrim (seen in all its glory here in Ben Joyner’s competition winning video ) make this part of the island a spectacular place to visit.
Meanwhile, the capital of Northern Ireland, Belfast city , played its part in making maritime history as the birthplace of the world's most famous ship: the Titanic .
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Which musical duo could have been billed as 'Hodges & Peacock'? | The most popular Irish surnames | IrishCentral.com
The most popular Irish surnames
IrishCentral Staff
/
The last names that win in the battle of Irishness - their origins and meanings. iStock
Whether you are Irish or Irish-American , you're probably immensely proud of your surname. Many Irish families declare their roots by displaying the crest of their clan in their homes. But which last names win in the battle of Irishness? IrishCentral took a look at the most common surnames in Ireland in order to come up with a top 10 list.
Smith and Murray are two of the most common, but one is of British origins and the other’s Scottish, so they didn’t make the cut.
Here, then, are the 10 most Irish last names. Many others were featured in our Irish Clans Month series – click through to learn more history and fun facts.
Take a look at the rundown in this video and you can find more info about the names themselves below.
1. Murphy – The Sea Battlers
Murphys – you win the prize for most common and widespread name in Ireland, especially in County Cork.
This surname, which means “sea battler,” translates to Gaelic as MacMurchadh (son of Murchadh) and O'Murchadh (descendent of Murchadh), a derivation of the first name of Murchadh or Murragh.
O'Murchadh families lived in Wexford, Roscommon and Cork, in which county it is now most common, with the MacMurchadhs of the Sligo and Tyrone area responsible for most of the Murphys in Ulster.
The name was first anglicized to MacMurphy and then to Murphy in the early 19th century.
2. Kelly – The Bright-Headed Ones
Kelly comes second to Murphy as the most common surname in Ireland.
The Kellys are all over Ireland; the name originates from around 10 unrelated ancient clans or septs. These include O'Kelly septs from Meath, Derry, Antrim, Laois, Sligo, Wicklow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Galway and Roscommon.
O'Kelly comes from the Gaelic O Ceallaigh, meaning "descended from Ceallach," an Irish chieftan. “Ceallach” means war or contention. It is an ancient first name that is no longer used as a first name in Ireland. However, Kelly is a popular first name for women in the U.S.
3. O'Sullivan – The Hawkeyed Ones
Kellys may have bright heads, but O’Sullivans have hawk-like eyes.
The O'Sullivans or Sullivans are one of the most populous of the Munster families. In Irish, O'Sullivan is O'Suilleabhin, and there is no doubt that origin of the name comes from the word súl (eye), though whether it is to be taken as "one-eyed" or "hawkeyed" is in dispute among scholars.
Originally lords of the territory around Cahir, County Tipperary in the 12th century, they migrated to what is now west Cork and south Kerry, where the name is still very prominent.
4. Walsh – The Welshmen
The meaning of this “Welsh” name is pretty straightforward.
The name Walsh is one of the most common of the Norman associated names found in Ireland. It seems to have been the name used by the many different groups of Welsh people who arrived in Ireland with the Normans during the 12th century.
The name comes from Welsh, which simply means Welshman, and its early Norman form was "Le Waleys." But this became gradually anglicized to Walsh.
5. O'Brien – The Noblemen
O’Briens are pretty lucky – they are descended from one of the greatest and most famous Irish kings.
The name O’Brien, also spelled O'Bryan or O'Brian, translates to Ó Briain in Gaelic, which means "of Brian.”
The name indicates descendance from Brian Boru, the celebrated High King of Ireland. This gives O’Briens leave to call themselves “high” and “noble.”
Most O’Briens can be found in counties Clare, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford.
6. Byrne – The Ravens
Byrnes can be found flying around all over Counties Wicklow and Dublin.
Byrne, originally O’Byrne, comes from the Gaelic O'Broin meaning "descended from Bran,” an 11th century King of Leinster.
The O'Byrnes were chieftains of what is now County Kildare until the Norman invasion when they were driven from their lands and migrated (ha!) into the mountains of County Wicklow.
There, together with their allies the O'Tooles, they successfully resisted Norman and English domination for centuries.
7. Ryan – The Little Kings
The meaning of the Irish name Ryan comes from the old Gaelic word "righ" and the old Irish diminutive of "an," which together form the meaning of "little king."
The name Ryan comes from the Irish name O' Riain – a contraction of the older Irish form O'Mulriain, which is now virtually extinct.
Ryan is also an extremely popular first name, especially in Britain and the U.S.
The Ryan family motto is 'Malo More Quam Foedari,' which, when translated, means 'I would Rather Die than be Disgraced.' And they call them “little” kings…
8. O'Connor – Patrons of Warriors
They might not be warriors themselves, but at least O’Connors descend from them!
The O'Connor name, with its varied spellings, doesn't spring from a common source. The name arose in five areas of Ireland: Connacht, Kerry, Derry, Offaly and Clare and split into six distinct septs.
The most prominent sept is that of the Connacht O'Connors who gave us the last two High-Kings of Ireland: Turlough O'Connor (1088-1156) and Roderick O'Connor (1116-1198). They trace their heritage and name from the Irish "Ua Conchobhair," meaning from Conchobhar, a king of Connacht.
9. O'Neill – From Niall of the Nine Hostages
The O'Neill family traces its history back to 360 A.D. to the legendary warrior king of Ireland, Niall of the Nine Hostages, who is said to have been responsible for bringing St. Patrick to Ireland.
Niall is also said to have been incredibly fertile – he has 3 million descendants worldwide.
“O’Neill” is derived from two separate Gaelic words, "Ua Niall," which means grandson of Niall, and "Neill" meaning "champion."
Ireland’s O'Neills were known by the nickname "Creagh," which comes from the Gaelic word "craobh" meaning branch, because they were known to camouflage themselves to resemble the forest when fighting the Norsemen. Crafty fellows, those O’Neills.
10. O'Reilly – Descendants of Raghaillach
The O'Reillys round out the top 10 most popular names in Ireland.
Their family name is derived from the Gaelic "O'Raghailligh," meaning descendants of Raghaillach.
The O'Reillys were the most powerful sept of the old Gaelic kingdom of Breffny (Cavan and the surrounding counties), and the family is still prominent in the area.
Reilly, often spelled Riley, has become a trendy given name in the U.S., for both baby boys and girls.
* Originally published December 2013.
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Which film actress was the sister of Olivia de Havilland? | Olivia de Havilland - Biography - IMDb
Olivia de Havilland
Biography
Showing all 98 items
Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (2) | Trade Mark (3) | Trivia (58) | Personal Quotes (27) | Salary (3)
Overview (4)
5' 4" (1.63 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Olivia Mary de Havilland was born July 1, 1916, in Tokyo, Japan, to British parents Lilian Augusta (Ruse), a former actress, and Walter Augustus de Havilland, an English professor and patent attorney. Her sister, Joan, later to become famous as Joan Fontaine , was born the following year. Her surname comes from her paternal grandfather, whose family was from Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Her parents divorced when Olivia was just three years old, and she moved with her mother and sister to Saratoga, California. After graduating from high school, where she fell prey to the acting bug, Olivia enrolled in Mills College in Oakland. It was while she was at Mills that she participated in the school play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and was spotted by Max Reinhardt . She so impressed Reinhardt that he picked her up for both his stage version and, later, the Warner Bros. film version in 1935. She again was so impressive that Warner executives signed her to a seven-year contract. No sooner had the ink dried on the contract than Olivia appeared in three more films: The Irish in Us (1935), Alibi Ike (1935) and Captain Blood (1935), the latter with the man with whom her career would be most closely identified, heartthrob Errol Flynn . He and Olivia starred together in eight films during their careers. In 1939 Warner Bros. loaned her to David O. Selznick for the classic Gone with the Wind (1939). Playing the sweet Melanie Hamilton, Olivia received her first nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, only to lose out to one of her co-stars in the film, Hattie McDaniel . After GWTW, Olivia returned to Warner Bros. and continued to churn out films. In 1941 she played Emmy Brown in Hold Back the Dawn (1941), which resulted in her second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actress. Again she lost, this time to her sister Joan for her role in Suspicion (1941). After that strong showing, Olivia now demanded better, more substantial roles than the "sweet young thing" slot into which Warners had been fitting her. The studio responded by placing her on a six-month suspension, all of the studios at the time operating under the policy that players were nothing more than property to do with as they saw fit. As if that weren't bad enough, when her contract with Warners was up, she was told that she would have to make up the time lost because of the suspension. Irate, she sued the studio, and for the length of the court battle she didn't appear in a single film. The result, however, was worth it. In a landmark decision, the court said not only that Olivia did not have to make up the time, but that all performers were to be limited to a seven-year contract that would include any suspensions handed down. This became known as the "de Havilland decision"; no longer could studios treat their performers as mere cattle. Returning to screen in 1946, Olivia made up for lost time by appearing in four films, one of which finally won her the Oscar that had so long eluded her. It was To Each His Own (1946), in which she played Josephine Norris to the delight of critics and audiences alike. Olivia was the strongest performer in Hollywood for the balance of the 1940s. In 1948 she turned in another strong showing in The Snake Pit (1948) as Virginia Cunningham, a woman suffering a mental breakdown. The end result was another Oscar nomination for Best Actress, but she lost to Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda (1948). As in the two previous years, she made only one film in 1949, but she again won a nomination and the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Heiress (1949). After a three-year hiatus, Olivia returned to star in My Cousin Rachel (1952). From that point on, she made few appearances on the screen but was seen on Broadway and in some television shows. Her last screen appearance was in The Fifth Musketeer (1979), and her last career appearance was in the TV movie The Woman He Loved (1988). During the hoopla surrounding the 50th anniversary of GWTW in 1989, she graciously declined requests for all interviews as the only surviving one of the four main stars. Today she enjoys a quiet retirement in Paris, France.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson
Spouse (2)
Emotionally (and sometimes physically) vulnerable characters
Despite her great beauty, was often cast as plain, everyday women
Small, delicate frame
Older sister of actress Joan Fontaine .
Daughter of film and stage actress Lilian Fontaine .
Relations between she and younger sister Joan Fontaine were never strong and worsened in 1941, when both were nominated for 'Best Actress' Oscar awards. Their mutual dislike and jealousy escalated into an all-out feud after Fontaine won for Suspicion (1941). Despite the fact that de Havilland went on to win two Academy Awards of her own, they remained permanently estranged.
After her divorce in 1979 from second husband Pierre Galante , they remained close friends; after he became ill with cancer, she nursed him until his death in 1998.
As of December 15 2014, the 75th anniversary of the premiere of Gone with the Wind (1939), she is the only surviving major cast member. She has been the only survivor of the four principal leads since 1967. The only other surviving cast member who received screen credit is Mickey Kuhn .
Justly famous for her court victory against Warner Brothers in the mid 1940s (many others had sued Warners but failed), which stopped Warners from adding suspension periods to actors' contracts and therefore meant more freedom for actors in Hollywood. It became known as the "de Havilland decision".
Has made Paris her home since the mid 1950s.
Showed flair as a writer when "Every Fenchman Has One," a light-hearted autobiographical account of her attempts at adapting to French life, was published in 1962.
At the age of 82, was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Hertfordshire, England.
Lost her son, Benjamin, to Hodgkin's disease in 1991, shortly before his father, writer Marcus Goodrich , passed away.
In 1965 she became the first female president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.
Turned down the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), reportedly saying that "a lady just doesn't say or do those things on the screen". De Havilland set the record straight in a 2006 interview, saying that she had recently given birth to her son when offered the part and was unable to relate to the material.
Is descended from the Haverlands of Normandy, one of whom (the Lord of Haverland) accompanied William the Conquerer in his invasion of England in 1066.
Her father, Walter Augustus de Havilland (1872-1968), was a patent attorney in Japan and also the author of the 1910 book "The ABC of Go", which provides a detailed and comprehensive description of the Japanese board game.
It was reported in October 2001 that she was among 40 prominent French residents who were victims of hoax anthrax attacks (the attacks were proven to be hoaxes after a woman was arrested in Paris for sending out envelopes containing a powdery substance).
She lives a peaceful retirement at her home on Rue Benouville, in Paris. She spends time teaching Sunday school to children at a local church.
She made a special appearance at the The 75th Annual Academy Awards (2003) and received a standing ovation.
She holds the record for the most people thanked in an Oscar acceptance speech (27), which she set when she accepted the award for Best Actress for To Each His Own (1946).
In 1991 her son Benjamin Briggs Goodrich, a statistical analyst, died of complications from Hodgkin's disease at his mother's home in Paris, France.
Is the 15th cousin twice removed of Errol Flynn , her co-star in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).
She and Joan Fontaine are the first sisters to win Oscars and the first ones to be Oscar-nominated in the same year.
Confessed in later years that she had an intense crush on Errol Flynn during the years of their filming, saying that it was hard to resist his charms.
Her mother named her Olivia after William Shakespeare 's romantic heroine in "Twelfth Night".
The role of Lisolette Mueller in The Towering Inferno (1974) was originally offered to her. It was eventually played by Jennifer Jones .
Was somewhat overweight when she first came to Paramount; Edith Head designed costumes for her with a slimming effect.
Ex-sister-in-law of Collier Young , Brian Aherne and William Dozier .
She has a street named after her in Mexico City. Renowned Mexican actor and director Emilio Fernández lived in Coyoacan Town on a street with no name at all, so he asked the authorities to name this street "Dulce Olivia," Spanish for "Sweet Olivia," after her.
When she was nine years old she made a will in which she stated, "I bequeath all my beauty to my younger sister Joan [ Joan Fontaine ], since she has none".
Was romantically involved with James Stewart , Howard Hughes , John Huston in the late 1930s.
In the 1950s the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum near Tucson, AZ, named one of their female javelinas "Olivia de Javelina" in her honor; Their male was named "Gregory Peckory" to honor actor Gregory Peck .
Is mentioned in Helge Schneider 's book "Die Memoiren des Rodriguez Faszanatas".
In April 1946 she set off a power struggle within the Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (HICCASP) by refusing to deliver two speeches in Seattle as written by her fellow executive council member Dalton Trumbo , later one of the blacklisted Hollywood Ten. She felt Trumbo's text was too left-wing and worried that the organization was becoming "automatically pro-Russian".
In Italy almost all of her films were dubbed by either Dhia Cristiani or Lidia Simoneschi . For the Italian releases of two of her most celebrated and fondly remembered roles, Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Maid Marian in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), she was dubbed, respectively, by Renata Marini and Dina Perbellini . This was the only time that either Italian actresses lent her voice to Olivia.
Attended the funeral of Charlton Heston in April, 2008.
Attended as a surprise guest honoring the late Bette Davis , her long-time friend and co-star at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles on May 1, 2008. The event, "A Centennial Tribute to Bette Davis", was hosted by film historian Robert Osborne and its reception included Davis' son Michael Merrill , her long-time personal assistant Kathryn Sermak and friends Gena Rowlands and Joan Leslie .
She accepted two film roles turned down by Ginger Rogers , To Each His Own (1946) and The Snake Pit (1948). She won an Oscar for "To Each His Own" and was nominated for "The Snake Pit". Rogers later regretted turning down the roles and wrote: "It seemed Olivia knew a good thing when she saw it. Perhaps Olivia should thank me for such poor judgment".
Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6764 Hollywood Blvd.
In 2008 she was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts by President George W. Bush in Washington, DC.
Received the Medal of Arts honor from President George W. Bush at a White House ceremony in the East Room on November 17, 2008, "for her persuasive and compelling skill as an actress in roles from Shakespeare's Hermia to Margaret Mitchell 's Melanie. Her independence, integrity, and grace won creative freedom for herself and her fellow film actors.".
One of her cousins, Capt. Sir Geoffrey de Havilland (1882-1965), was a British aviation pioneer, aircraft designer and owner of the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Its wooden bomber Mosquito has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built. The ill-fated de Havilland Comet was the first commercial jet airliner in 1952.
Was offered the role of Mary Hatch Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) after Jean Arthur turned it down, but she also turned it down.
In a rare act of reconciliation, Olivia and her sister Joan Fontaine celebrated Christmas 1962 together along with their then-husbands and children.
Gave birth to her first child at age 33, son Benjamin Briggs Goodrich, on September 27, 1949. The child's father was her first husband, Marcus Goodrich ; they divorced in 1953, and he died in 1991.
Gave birth to her second child at age 40, daughter Gisèle Galante, on July 18, 1956. The child's father was her second husband, Pierre Galante ; they divorced in 1979, and he died in 1998.
Is a staunch liberal Democrat and anti-communist.
Visited New York in the spring of 2004 to film a special commentary programme for the upcoming DVD of Gone with the Wind (1939), to be released in November that year.
[July 2006] Celebrated her 90th birthday at her daughter's home in Malibu.
Her paternal grandfather, the Rev. Charles Richard de Havilland, was from a family originally from Guernsey, in the Channel Islands. Her other ancestry includes Anglo-Irish and English.
Was considered for the title role in Mildred Pierce (1945).
Was the 28th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Actress Oscar for To Each His Own (1946) at The 19th Academy Awards on March 13, 1947.
When Alicia Rhett , who played India, the daughter of John Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1939), died less than one month before her 99th birthday on January 3, 2014, Olivia became the very last surviving cast member from that movie. This is quite an accomplishment considering the film had over 50 speaking parts.
As of 2016 she is the earliest surviving recipient of a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. She was nominated in 1939 for Gone with the Wind (1939).
As of 2016 she is the earliest surviving recipient of a Best Actress Oscar nomination. She was nominated in 1941 for Hold Back the Dawn (1941),.
In celebration of her 100th birthday, she was honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month for July 2016.
She is only the third Oscar-winning actor to celebrate a 100th birthday. The others are George Burns , who died less than two months after passing the 100-year mark in 1996, and Luise Rainer , who lived to be 104.
Personal Quotes (27)
Famous people feel that they must perpetually be on the crest of the wave, not realizing that it is against all the rules of life. You can't be on top all the time; it isn't natural.
[on Hollywood's reaction to her landmark court victory against Warner Bros.] I was told I would never work again, if I lost or won. When I won, they were impressed and didn't bear a grudge.
The one thing that you simply have to remember all the time that you are there is that Hollywood is an Oriental city. As long as you do that, you might survive. If you try to equate it with anything else, you'll perish.
The TV business is soul-crushing, talent-destroying and human being-destroying. These men in their black towers don't know what they are doing. It's slave labor. There is no elegance left in anybody. They have no taste. Movies are being financed by conglomerates, which take a write-off if they don't work. The only people who fight for what the public deserves are artists.
We were like a stock company at Warners. We didn't know any of the stars from the other studios.
[after winning her second Oscar in 1950] When I won the first award in 1947, I was terribly thrilled. But this time I felt solemn, very serious and . . . shocked. Yes, shocked! It's a great responsibility to win the award twice.
Playing good girls in the '30s was difficult, when the fad was to play bad girls. Actually I think playing bad girls is a bore; I have always had more luck with good girl roles because they require more from an actress.
[speaking in 1997] I have taken a long vacation, but I wouldn't object to a fascinating part in a first-rate project, something I felt I could do well or would understand and interpret in an effective way. Then I would say, "Yes". The offers still come, but not what I'm looking for.
[on the continuing appeal of Gone with the Wind (1939)] It will go on forever, and how thrilling that is. It has this universal life, this continuing life. Every nation has experienced war--and defeat and renaissance. So all people can identify with the characters. Not only that, it's terribly well constructed. Something happens every three minutes, and it keeps you on your toes and the edge of your seat, which is quite a feat, I must say.
[in 2004] There certainly is such a thing as screen chemistry, although I don't believe you find it frequently. There was a definite on-screen chemistry between Errol [ Errol Flynn ] and me. Before us, the most potent example was Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell in the '20s and '30s. People should not be surprised by screen chemistry because, after all, life is chemistry.
[in 2003] I know this is not a popular thing to say at the moment, but I love living among the French. They are very independent, intelligent, well educated and creative. They are a people full of feeling, which they express. They're a vivacious people. Well, they're Celts, you see.
[on Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)]: It was full of traps; it was a delicate tightrope assignment. I found that very interesting. Robert Aldrich gave it a very special style, a kind of dark, glittering style which fascinated me.
[in 2006, asked if she missed acting] Not at all. Life is too full of events of great importance. That is more absorbing and enriching than a fantasy life. I don't need a fantasy life as once I did. That is the life of the imagination that I had a great need for. Films were the perfect means for satisfying that need.
[in June 2006] I'll be 90 on July 1. I can't wait to be 90! Another victory!
The overwhelming majority of people who make up the liberal and progressive groups of this country believe in democracy, and NOT in communism. We believe that the two cannot be reconciled here in the United States, and we believe that every effort should be exerted to make democracy work, and to extend its benefits to every person in every community throughout the land.
[on Errol Flynn ] I had a very big crush on Errol Flynn during [ Captain Blood (1935)]. I thought he was absolutely smashing for three solid years, but he never guessed. Then he had one on me but nothing came of it. I'm not going to regret that; it could have ruined my life.
[on Michael Curtiz ] He was a tyrant, he was abusive, he was cruel. Oh, he was just a villain but I guess he was pretty good. We didn't believe it then, but he clearly was. He knew what he was doing. He knew how to tell a story very clearly and he knew how to keep things going.
[on Bette Davis ] The great lesson I learned from Bette was her absolute dedication to getting everything just right. She used to spend hours studying the character she was going to play, then hours in make-up ensuring that her physical appearance was right for the part. I have always tried to put the same amount of work into everything I've done.
[on Clark Gable ] Clark Gable was highly professional. He was a bigger star than we can create today. I was just a mini-star when we did Gone with the Wind (1939). I was afraid to talk to him. People can't understand it now, but we were in awe. Clark Gable didn't open supermarkets.
[ Clark Gable ] was supposed to cry in the scene after the death of his daughter. It worried him for days before he was to do the scene. He never cried on the screen before, and it became an obsession with him. He didn't think it was masculine for a man to cry. One day he confided in me, "Olivia, I can't do it. I'm just going to have to quit." I talked with him and convinced him that the tears denoted strength of character, not weakness. It turned out to be one of the most memorable scenes in the movie. Clark always underrated himself as an actor. I think his Rhett Butler will live forever as one of the screen's classic performances.
I felt Gone with the Wind (1939) would last five years, and it's lasted over 70, and into a new millennium. There is a special place in my heart for that film and Melanie. She was a remarkable character--a loving person, and because of that she was a happy person. And Scarlett, of course, was not.
[on Bette Davis ] I always thought it would be fun if we could work together. Then I was offered the chance to work with her on the film that became Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) when Joan Crawford withdrew. I knew Bette wanted badly to work, and Jane [ What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)] had been such a success that Bette was quite anxious. They had to find the replacement, and Bette wanted me.
[on Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)] [ Bette Davis ] wanted it so much, so I did it. I can't say I regretted it, because working with her was special, but I can't say it was a picture I am proud to put on my resume. Given the choice, I wouldn't have deprived Joan Crawford of the honor!
[on Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)] The problem was I wasn't as anxious to work as she was. I didn't need to. I wasn't thrilled with the script, and I definitely didn't like my part. I was reverse-typecast, being asked to be an unsympathetic villain. It wasn't what people expected of me. It wasn't really what I wanted to do.
[her favorite word] I am attracted by almost any French word--written or spoken. Before I knew its meaning, I thought "saucisson" so exquisite that it seemed the perfect name to give a child--until I learned it meant "sausage"!
[dedication to Mickey Rooney upon his death, 2014] Mickey, Mickey, Mickey. They say you have died but I find this so hard to believe, for you are so live in my memory. There you are in the big room of the Chamber of Commerce Building on Sunset Boulevard in the summer of 1934, a little boy passing easily as a nine-ear-old when you are really 13. You hand me your work copy of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', climb onto the banquette beside me, place your head upon my lap and ask me to awaken you nine lines before your cue . . . What a memory you have left with me to keep.
I loved France, although I initially thought they were stubborn for always speaking French. When I went to Paris, Hollywood was collapsing because of television. A whole civilization was dying, and you cannot imagine how depressed we all were. That was the real Gone with the Wind (1939) saga. We didn't know what the new world was going to be, but we were sure it wasn't going to be as good. We were right.
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What is the full name, including its sponsor, of the Millenium Wheel, standing on the banks of the River Thames? | 100 Years Of Olivia De Havilland Handling Sexism, Her Sister, And Scarlett O'Hara : NPR
100 Years Of Olivia De Havilland Handling Sexism, Her Sister, And Scarlett O'Hara
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100 Years Of Olivia De Havilland Handling Sexism, Her Sister, And Scarlett O'Hara
100 Years Of Olivia De Havilland Handling Sexism, Her Sister, And Scarlett O'Hara
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Olivia de Havilland — the last surviving cast member from Gone with the Wind — turns 100 on July 1. Thibault Camus/AP hide caption
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Olivia de Havilland — the last surviving cast member from Gone with the Wind — turns 100 on July 1.
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De Havilland's career spanned more than five decades. Thanks to a lawsuit she filed against Warner Bros., she even has a landmark judicial ruling named after her — the de Havilland law limits the terms studios can impose up on actors. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption
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De Havilland's career spanned more than five decades. Thanks to a lawsuit she filed against Warner Bros., she even has a landmark judicial ruling named after her — the de Havilland law limits the terms studios can impose up on actors.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Actress Olivia de Havilland, the last surviving star of the most popular film of all time, retired from showbiz decades ago, apparently feeling that 49 films, two best actress Oscars, and a best-selling memoir were accomplishment enough for one career.
Friday in Paris, she celebrates her 100th birthday, which seems a good moment to reflect on the mix of sparkle and resilience that marked her public life.
She got her start onscreen as a sweet Hermia in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, graduated to being a sweet ingenue in a slew of forgettable comedies, and then someone had the bright idea of casting her opposite Errol Flynn. He was a swashbuckler, and standing opposite him, de Havilland got feisty.
They made eight pictures altogether, including the one that made her a star: The Adventures of Robin Hood, in which she played a sly, spunky Maid Marian. De Havilland looked like she had stepped out of a storybook, but she also gave the character intelligence and dignity. That clicked with audiences but did her no good at all with the brothers Warner, who kept casting her as ditzes.
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Olivia de Havilland shows off her two best actress Oscars in March 1950. She won the first for To Each His Own (1946) and the second for The Heiress (1949). AP hide caption
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Olivia de Havilland shows off her two best actress Oscars in March 1950. She won the first for To Each His Own (1946) and the second for The Heiress (1949).
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Happily, a rival studio asked if it could borrow her as a foil for its ditz — Vivien Leigh, who had just been cast as vain, self-centered Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. Leigh would flutter, they figured, and de Havilland's down-to-earth Melanie would anchor the story. And she did. An angel to Scarlett's hellcat, Melanie believed the best about everyone, and de Havilland made her belief credible by grounding the character with generosity, humility, self-sacrifice — all the qualities Scarlett lacked. No one could have been more saintly.
Off-screen, though, de Havilland was now able to be more assertive. Having proved she could do substantial roles, she started turning down sweet-young-thing parts, and Warner Bros. responded by placing her on a six-month suspension, then refusing to release her from her contract until she had made up the six months. She sued, and not only won but got a landmark judgment — known as the de Havilland decision — that limited the terms studios could impose on actors. The victory came at a price: She didn't make a film for three years. But when she finally did, she won her first Oscar as an unwed mother forced to give up her child in To Each His Own.
Oscar voters seemed to like the suffering de Havilland. She followed up that win with back-to-back best actress nominations for having a mental breakdown in The Snake Pit and a romantic breakdown in The Heiress. She won a second best actress Oscar for the latter.
But by Hollywood standards, she was now an old lady of 33. Roles came less frequently back then to actresses as they approached their 40s. And when de Havilland complicated the equation by moving to France, and turning down the part of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, her star wattage began to dim.
De Havilland smiles as she has her hair and makeup done in 1958.
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Not that she disappeared. Television beckoned with some of those meaty roles she had wanted. And when Joan Crawford fell ill and had to drop out of Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte, de Havilland got to torment Bette Davis in what turned out to be the plummiest of plum old-lady roles.
She and Davis played dueling cousins, but 1960s audiences, primed by gossip columnists, thought they saw glimmers of a real-life relative when de Havilland's eyes flashed daggers. She and her baby sister, Joan Fontaine, had supposedly been feuding since childhood, a notion nurtured by studio publicists. Fontaine won an Oscar first, and married first ... and once quipped, "If I die first, she'll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it."
They both claimed publicly there wasn't an actual feud, though Fontaine kept the pot boiling with anecdotes in her autobiography and with catty replies when interviewers brought up childhood spats — say a physical altercation that resulted in Fontaine's breaking a collarbone.
"I'm sure it wasn't entirely intentional," Fontaine said to interviewers, with a laugh.
De Havilland did not take the bait, then or ever. She smiled sweetly when the subject of her sister came up and took her cues from ... well, from Melanie, more or less. Scarlett, after all, had been just awful to her, and what did she say?
"Oh Scarlett, you've been so good to me. No sister could've been sweeter."
No sister indeed. De Havilland was 22 when she said that line, still learning about life as her character was giving up the ghost.
She was the only star to die in Gone With the Wind, so perhaps it's fitting that she should be the star who gets to shine on in seeming perpetuity, a storied figure from Hollywood's golden age.
Correction July 1, 2016
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The 1966 novel 'Wide Sargasso Sea' by Jean Rhys was written as a prequel to which 19th century novel? | Jean Rhys - Los Angeles Review of Books
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Jean Rhys
Jean Rhys, born Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, was a mid 20th-century novelist from Dominica. She is best known for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), written as a "prequel" to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.
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On the coast of which English county would you find the natural limestone arch known as 'Durdle Door'? | Jean Rhys - Jean Rhys Biography - Poem Hunter
Jean Rhys - Jean Rhys Biography - Poem Hunter
Biography
Biography of Jean Rhys
Jean Rhys (24 August 1890 – 14 May 1979), born Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, was a mid 20th-century novelist from Dominica. Educated from the age of 16 in Great Britain, she is best known for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), written as a "prequel" to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.
Rhys was born in Roseau, Dominica. Her father, William Rees Williams, was a Welsh doctor and her mother, Minna Williams, was a third-generation Dominican Creole of Scots ancestry.
Rhys was educated at the Convent School and moved to England when she was sixteen, sent there to live with her aunt Clarice. She attended the Perse School for Girls in Cambridge, where she was mocked because of her accent and as an outsider. She also spent two terms at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in 1909. The instructors at RADA despaired of Rhys being able to speak what they considered "proper English" and advised her father to take her away. Unable to train as an actress and refusing to return to the Caribbean as her parents wished, she worked with varied success as a chorus girl, adopting the names Vivienne, Emma or Ella Gray.
After her father died in 1910, Rhys drifted into the demimonde. Having fallen in love with a wealthy stockbroker, Lancelot Grey Hugh ("Lancey") Smith (1870–1941), she became his mistress. Although Smith was a bachelor, he did not offer to marry Rhys and their affair ended within two years. He continued to be an occasional source of financial help. Distraught both by the end of the affair and by the experience of a near-fatal abortion (not Smith's child), Rhys began writing an account which became the basis of her novel Voyage In The Dark. In need of money, in 1913 she posed nude for an artist in Britain, probably Dublin-born William Orpen.
During World War I, Rhys served as a volunteer worker in a soldiers' canteen. In 1918 she worked in a pension office.
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What was the name of the Scottish physicist who wrote 'Treatise On Electricity And Magnetisim' in 1873? | James Clerk Maxwell | Article about James Clerk Maxwell by The Free Dictionary
James Clerk Maxwell | Article about James Clerk Maxwell by The Free Dictionary
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Maxwell, James Clerk
(klärk), 1831–79, great Scottish physicist. After a brilliant career at Edinburgh and Cambridge, where he won early recognition with mathematical papers, he was a professor at Marischal College, Aberdeen (1856–60), and at King's College, London (1860–65). In 1871 he was appointed the first professor of experimental physics at Cambridge, where he directed the organization of the Cavendish Laboratory. He is known especially for his work in electricity and magnetism, summarized in A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (1873). Basing his own study and research on that of Faraday Faraday, Michael
, 1791–1867, English scientist. The son of a blacksmith, he was apprenticed to a bookbinder at the age of 14. He had little formal education, but acquired a store of scientific knowledge through reading and by attending educational lectures including, in
..... Click the link for more information. , he developed the theory of the electromagnetic field on a mathematical basis and made possible a much greater understanding of the phenomena in this field. He was led to the conclusion that electric and magnetic energy travel in transverse waves that propagate at a speed equal to that of light; light is thus only one type of electromagnetic radiation electromagnetic radiation,
energy radiated in the form of a wave as a result of the motion of electric charges. A moving charge gives rise to a magnetic field, and if the motion is changing (accelerated), then the magnetic field varies and in turn produces an electric field.
..... Click the link for more information. . Maxwell's electromagnetic theory occupies a position in classical physics comparable to Newton's work on mechanics. One of his early papers, "On the Stability of Motion of Saturn's Rings" (1859), was especially important and foreshadowed his later investigations of heat and the kinetic theory of gases. He is also known for his studies of color (which led to his invention of the color disk named for him) and of color blindness, and wrote a classic elementary text in dynamics, Matter and Motion (1876).
Bibliography
See N. Forbes and B. Mahon, Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field (2014).
Maxwell, James Clerk
Born June 13, 1831, in Edinburgh; died Nov. 5, 1879, in Cambridge. British physicist, founder of classical electrodynamics and one of the founders of statistical physics. Member of the London Royal Society (1860). Son of a Scottish nobleman of the well-known Clerk clan.
Maxwell studied at the universities of Edinburgh (1847-50) and Cambridge (1850-54). From 1856 to 1860 he was a professor at Marischal College in Aberdeen, and from 1860 to 1865 at the University of London. In 1871 he became a professor at Cambridge University, where he founded the first specially equipped physics laboratory in Great Britain—the Cavendish Laboratory—of which he was director from 1871.
Maxwell’s scientific activities encompass numerous fields, including electromagnetism, the kinetic theory of gases, optics, and the theory of elasticity. Maxwell wrote his first work, On the Description of Oval Curves and Those Having a Plurality of Foci, before he was 15 (1846, published 1851). One of his first studies dealt with the physiology and physics of color perception and with colorimetry (1852-72). In 1861 he produced for the first time a color image by simultaneously projecting red, green, and blue diapositives on a screen, thus proving the validity of the three-component theory of color vision and simultaneously outlining the methods later used to develop color photography. He devised one of the first instruments for the quantitative measurement of color, which was called the Maxwell disk. In 1857-59 he conducted theoretical investigations of the stability of Saturn’s rings and showed that they can be stable only if they consist of disconnected solid particles.
Maxwell’s investigations of electricity and magnetism were set forth in the articles “On Faraday’s Lines of Force” (1855-56), “On Physical Lines of Force” (1861-62), and “A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field” (1864) and in the two-volume fundamental work Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (1873). In these works Maxwell mathematically developed the views of M. Faraday regarding the role of an intermediate medium in electric and magnetic interactions. He unsuccessfully attempted (after Faraday) to interpret this medium as a pervasive, universal ether. The subsequent development of physics showed that the electromagnetic field, the theory of which (in classical physics) Maxwell created, is the carrier of electromagnetic interactions. In this theory Maxwell summarized all known facts of macroscopic electrodynamics and introduced for the first time the concept of displacement current, which, like an ordinary current (conduction current or moving electric charges), generates a magnetic field. Maxwell expressed the laws of the electromagnetic field by a system of four partial differential equations. The general and exhaustive nature of these equations was evident from the fact that their analysis made possible the prediction of many then unknown phenomena and principles. For example, the existence of electromagnetic waves, which subsequently were discovered experimentally by H. Hertz, was deduced from the equations. In investigating these equations, Maxwell concluded that light has an electromagnetic nature (1865) and showed that the velocity of any other electromagnetic wave in a vacuum is equal to the velocity of light. He measured (with greater accuracy than W. Weber and F. Kohlrausch in 1856) the ratio of the electrostatic unit charge to the electromagnetic unit charge and confirmed its equality to the velocity of light. It followed from Maxwell’s theory that electromagnetic waves produce pressure. Light pressure was established experimentally in 1899 by P. N. Lebedev.
Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism was eventually experimentally confirmed and has become a generally recognized classical foundation of modern physics. A. Einstein clearly characterized the role of this theory: “Then came the great change, which will be associated for all times with the names Faraday, Maxwell, and Hertz. The lion’s share in this revolution fell to Maxwell. … After Maxwell they [people] conceived physical reality as represented by continuous fields, not mechanically explicable. … This change in the conception of reality is the most profound and fruitful one that has come to physics since Newton” (Sobr. nauch. trudov, vol. 4, Moscow, 1967, p. 138).
In his studies of the molecular kinetic theory of gases—the articles “Illustrations of the Dynamical Theory of Gases” (1860) and “On the Dynamical Theory of Gases” (1866)—Maxwell solved the statistical problem of the velocity distribution of the molecules of an ideal gas. Maxwell calculated the dependence of the viscosity of a gas on the velocity and on the mean free path of the molecules (1860) by calculating the absolute value of this path, and he derived a number of important thermodynamic relations (1860). He experimentally measured the coefficient of viscosity of dry air (1866). In 1873-74 he discovered the phenomenon of double refraction in viscous liquids (the Maxwell effect).
Maxwell also wrote works for the general reader, including a number of articles for the Encyclopaedia Britannica and such popular books as The Theory of Heat (1870), Matter and Motion (1873), and Electricity in an Elementary Presentation (1881), all of which have been translated into Russian. Maxwell’s publication of H. Cavendish’s manuscripts on electricity (1879) with extensive commentary constituted an important contribution to the history of physics.
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| James Clerk Maxwell |
The 'Derwent Valley Mills' is a World Heritage Site, in which English county? | James Clerk Maxwell | Scottish mathematician and physicist | Britannica.com
Scottish mathematician and physicist
Sir Isaac Newton
James Clerk Maxwell, (born June 13, 1831, Edinburgh , Scotland —died November 5, 1879, Cambridge , Cambridgeshire, England), Scottish physicist best known for his formulation of electromagnetic theory. He is regarded by most modern physicists as the scientist of the 19th century who had the greatest influence on 20th-century physics , and he is ranked with Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein for the fundamental nature of his contributions. In 1931, on the 100th anniversary of Maxwell’s birth, Einstein described the change in the conception of reality in physics that resulted from Maxwell’s work as “the most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton.”
The concept of electromagnetic radiation originated with Maxwell, and his field equations, based on Michael Faraday ’s observations of the electric and magnetic lines of force, paved the way for Einstein’s special theory of relativity, which established the equivalence of mass and energy . Maxwell’s ideas also ushered in the other major innovation of 20th-century physics, the quantum theory. His description of electromagnetic radiation led to the development (according to classical theory) of the ultimately unsatisfactory law of heat radiation, which prompted Max Planck’s formulation of the quantum hypothesis—i.e., the theory that radiant-heat energy is emitted only in finite amounts, or quanta . The interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter, integral to Planck’s hypothesis , in turn has played a central role in the development of the theory of the structure of atoms and molecules.
Early life
Maxwell came from a comfortable middle-class background. The original family name was Clerk, the additional surname being added by his father, who was a lawyer, after he had inherited the Middlebie estate from Maxwell ancestors. James was an only child. His parents had married late in life, and his mother was 40 years old at his birth. (See Researcher’s Note: Maxwell’s date of birth .) Shortly afterward the family moved from Edinburgh to Glenlair, the country house on the Middlebie estate.
His mother died in 1839 from abdominal cancer, the very disease to which Maxwell was to succumb at exactly the same age. A dull and uninspired tutor was engaged who claimed that James was slow at learning, though in fact he displayed a lively curiosity at an early age and had a phenomenal memory. Fortunately he was rescued by his aunt Jane Cay and from 1841 was sent to school at the Edinburgh Academy. Among the other pupils were his biographer Lewis Campbell and his friend Peter Guthrie Tait .
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Maxwell’s interests ranged far beyond the school syllabus , and he did not pay particular attention to examination performance. His first scientific paper, published when he was only 14 years old, described a generalized series of oval curves that could be traced with pins and thread by analogy with an ellipse . This fascination with geometry and with mechanical models continued throughout his career and was of great help in his subsequent research.
At age 16 he entered the University of Edinburgh , where he read voraciously on all subjects and published two more scientific papers. In 1850 he went to the University of Cambridge , where his exceptional powers began to be recognized. His mathematics teacher, William Hopkins, was a well-known “wrangler maker” (a wrangler is one who takes first-class honours in the mathematics examinations at Cambridge) whose students included Tait, George Gabriel (later Sir George) Stokes, William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin), Arthur Cayley , and Edward John Routh. Of Maxwell, Hopkins is reported to have said that he was the most extraordinary man he had ever met, that it seemed impossible for him to think wrongly on any physical subject, but that in analysis he was far more deficient. (Other contemporaries also testified to Maxwell’s preference for geometrical over analytical methods.) This shrewd assessment was later borne out by several important formulas advanced by Maxwell that obtained correct results from faulty mathematical arguments.
Physics and Natural Law
In 1854 Maxwell was second wrangler and first Smith’s prizeman (the Smith’s Prize is a prestigious competitive award for an essay that incorporates original research). He was elected to a fellowship at Trinity, but, because his father’s health was deteriorating, he wished to return to Scotland. In 1856 he was appointed to the professorship of natural philosophy at Marischal College, Aberdeen, but before the appointment was announced his father died. This was a great personal loss, for Maxwell had had a close relationship with his father. In June 1858 Maxwell married Katherine Mary Dewar, daughter of the principal of Marischal College. The union was childless and was described by his biographer as a “married life…of unexampled devotion.”
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In 1860 the University of Aberdeen was formed by a merger between King’s College and Marischal College, and Maxwell was declared redundant . He applied for a vacancy at the University of Edinburgh, but he was turned down in favour of his school friend Tait. He then was appointed to the professorship of natural philosophy at King’s College, London.
The next five years were undoubtedly the most fruitful of his career. During this period his two classic papers on the electromagnetic field were published, and his demonstration of colour photography took place. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1861. His theoretical and experimental work on the viscosity of gases also was undertaken during these years and culminated in a lecture to the Royal Society in 1866. He supervised the experimental determination of electrical units for the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and this work in measurement and standardization led to the establishment of the National Physical Laboratory. He also measured the ratio of electromagnetic and electrostatic units of electricity and confirmed that it was in satisfactory agreement with the velocity of light as predicted by his theory.
Later life
In 1865 Maxwell resigned his professorship at King’s College and retired to the family estate in Glenlair. He continued to visit London every spring and served as external examiner for the Mathematical Tripos (exams) at Cambridge. In the spring and early summer of 1867 he toured Italy. But most of his energy during this period was devoted to writing his famous treatise on electricity and magnetism .
It was Maxwell’s research on electromagnetism that established him among the great scientists of history. In the preface to his Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (1873), the best exposition of his theory, Maxwell stated that his major task was to convert Faraday’s physical ideas into mathematical form. In attempting to illustrate Faraday’s law of induction (that a changing magnetic field gives rise to an induced electromagnetic field), Maxwell constructed a mechanical model. He found that the model gave rise to a corresponding “displacement current” in the dielectric medium, which could then be the seat of transverse waves. On calculating the velocity of these waves, he found that they were very close to the velocity of light. Maxwell concluded that he could “scarcely avoid the inference that light consists in the transverse undulations of the same medium which is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena.”
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Maxwell’s theory suggested that electromagnetic waves could be generated in a laboratory, a possibility first demonstrated by Heinrich Hertz in 1887, eight years after Maxwell’s death. The resulting radio industry with its many applications thus has its origin in Maxwell’s publications.
In addition to his electromagnetic theory, Maxwell made major contributions to other areas of physics. While still in his 20s, he demonstrated his mastery of classical physics by writing a prizewinning essay on Saturn’s rings, in which he concluded that the rings must consist of masses of matter not mutually coherent—a conclusion that was corroborated more than 100 years later by the first Voyager space probe to reach Saturn.
The Maxwell relations of equality between different partial derivatives of thermodynamic functions are included in every standard textbook on thermodynamics . Though Maxwell did not originate the modern kinetic theory of gases , he was the first to apply the methods of probability and statistics in describing the properties of an assembly of molecules. Thus he was able to demonstrate that the velocities of molecules in a gas , previously assumed to be equal, must follow a statistical distribution (known subsequently as the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution law). In later papers Maxwell investigated the transport properties of gases—i.e., the effect of changes in temperature and pressure on viscosity, thermal conductivity, and diffusion .
Maxwell was far from being an abstruse theoretician. He was skillful in the design of experimental apparatus, as was shown early in his career during his investigations of colour vision . He devised a colour top with adjustable sectors of tinted paper to test the three-colour hypothesis of Thomas Young and later invented a colour box that made it possible to conduct experiments with spectral colours rather than pigments. His investigations of the colour theory led him to conclude that a colour photograph could be produced by photographing through filters of the three primary colours and then recombining the images. He demonstrated his supposition in a lecture to the Royal Institution of Great Britain in 1861 by projecting through filters a colour photograph of a tartan ribbon that had been taken by this method.
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In addition to these well-known contributions, a number of ideas that Maxwell put forward quite casually have since led to developments of great significance. The hypothetical intelligent being known as Maxwell’s demon was a factor in the development of information theory. Maxwell’s analytic treatment of speed governors is generally regarded as the founding paper on cybernetics, and his “equal areas” construction provided an essential constituent of the theory of fluids developed by Johannes Diederik van der Waals . His work in geometrical optics led to the discovery of the fish-eye lens. From the start of his career to its finish, his papers are filled with novelty and interest. He also was a contributor to the ninth edition of Encyclopædia Britannica.
In 1871 Maxwell was elected to the new Cavendish professorship at Cambridge. He set about designing the Cavendish Laboratory and supervised its construction. Maxwell had few students, but they were of the highest calibre and included William D. Niven, Ambrose (later Sir Ambrose) Fleming, Richard Tetley Glazebrook, John Henry Poynting , and Arthur Schuster.
During the Easter term of 1879 Maxwell took ill on several occasions; he returned to Glenlair in June, but his condition did not improve. He died on November 5, after a short illness. Maxwell received no public honours and was buried quietly in a small churchyard in the village of Parton, in Scotland.
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The 1993 novel 'Mrs. de Winter' by Susan Hill was a sequel towhich classic 20th century novel? | Sequel to Du Maurier's 'Rebecca' Is Shrouded by Secrecy . . . and Hype : Literature: Critics wonder how the heroine could adapt to the '90s after accepting such a marriage proposal--'I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool.' - latimes
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Sequel to Du Maurier's 'Rebecca' Is Shrouded by Secrecy . . . and Hype : Literature: Critics wonder how the heroine could adapt to the '90s after accepting such a marriage proposal--'I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool.'
September 26, 1993 |ROBERT WOODWARD | REUTERS
LONDON — The sequel to "Rebecca," one of the best-loved British novels of the 20th Century, is being prepared for publication in great secrecy and with a fortune riding on its success.
"Mrs. de Winter," written by novelist Susan Hill, has been translated into 19 languages and will be published in more than 20 countries--including China and North Korea--on Oct. 4.
"I can think of no other book in the world to which I would have been remotely tempted to write a sequel but 'Rebecca,' " said Hill, who was paid $1 million for her book.
Rebecca, written shortly before World War II, is the story of a naive young woman's marriage to an older man haunted by the memories of his first wife. It was an immediate best-seller and made writer Daphne du Maurier's reputation.
Hollywood's version of "Rebecca," starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine as the heroine, whose first name is never divulged, mirrored the book's success.
It won an Oscar in 1940, and the opening line of the film and the book--"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again"--became almost as famous as Rhett Butler's "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" in "Gone With the Wind."
Du Maurier's executors hope to avoid the fate that befell the sequel to "Gone With the Wind," called "Scarlett," which critics universally panned. The novelist died in 1989 at age 81.
Executors will spend about $230,000 promoting "Mrs. de Winter." The book will be serialized in a national newspaper and read on radio by actress Harriet Walter.
Hill says she took five months to write "Mrs. de Winter," but few details have been divulged about the book. What little is known is that the heroine will remain anonymous, the book will be told in the first person and the setting has been moved from Cornwall, the far southwest of England where du Maurier lived, north to Gloucestershire.
Publishers Sinclair Stephenson are going to great lengths to keep a lid on the book's contents. Journalists wishing to review it will be allowed to see only the first chapter before Oct. 4 and must sign a letter of confidentiality.
Dire warnings about the consequences of leaking the contents are contained in the document.
A short extract issued by the publishers shows Hill, whose Victorian spine-chiller "The Woman in Black" has been terrifying audiences at a West End theater since 1988, may have decided to try to repeat du Maurier's atmospheric writing.
One example:
I bent down. Touched the cool, delicate, creamy, infinitely beautiful petals, the faintly ribbed, heavy leaves, and a sweet scent came into my nostrils from the flowers, intoxicating and yet faintly alarming, seductive, dangerous.
"Rebecca" ends with the couple returning to Manderley, which has been set afire, apparently by the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers--who serves as the book's wicked witch in contrast to the heroine's Cinderella.
For most of the original, the heroine believes her husband still loves Rebecca. But, in fact, he killed her because of her infidelity and sank her body in a boat. It is found by divers after his second marriage, but he escapes arrest.
Critics have had a field day guessing what the future may hold. Some du Maurier fans wonder if a sequel can work because the original is dominated by cruel Mrs. Danvers, the dead Rebecca and Manderley, leaving the rather vacuous de Winters in the shade.
Will the heroine have "grown up" from the timid, gauche wallflower of the first novel? Will she still be reading the cricket scores to her husband to keep him happy?
One critic wants her to become a raging feminist, another a lesbian--a biography of du Maurier suggested she had lesbian tendencies. Most are agreed that the husband, Maxim, would have to change if the marriage was to succeed.
In "Rebecca," he is portrayed as an upper-class snob addicted to cricket and Manderley, his family home.
What hope is there in the non-sexist 1990s for a man who proposed to his wife with the immortal words: "I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool," they ask.
Novelist Maeve Binchy said the sequel should begin, "Last night I dreamed I went to see my solicitor and began the whole business of getting shot of Max."
One intriguing question is whether Mrs. Danvers will return. In the book, she walks out of Manderley shortly before the fire. In the film, she dies in the blaze.
One thing is certain--Hill does not want her novel turned into a Hollywood blockbuster. Two other du Maurier stories, "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now," were also made into successful films.
"I will always say no. They cannot persuade me," she said. "I hated the film. Laurence Olivier had no more idea about Maxim de Winter than a fly in the air."
MORE:
| Rebecca |
The last surviving example of which bird, once the most common bird in the world, died in Cincinnati Zoo in 1914? | Kate Chopin: The Awakening – KateChopin.org
You can read the novel online at a University of North Carolina site , among other places.
In print you can find the novel in The Complete Works of Kate Chopin and in the Library of America Kate Chopin volume. There are many paperback editions of the novel available today. Several include background readings, critical comments, bibliographies of scholarly articles and books, Chopin short stories, and other materials. For publication information about these books, see the section “For students and scholars” near the bottom of this page.
The Awakening characters
Léonce Pontellier: husband of Edna
Etienne and Raoul Pontellier: children of Edna and Léonce
A quadroon who cares for Etienne and Raoul
Madame Aline Lebrun: owner of a pension on Grand Isle
Robert Lebrun: son of Madame Lebrun
Victor Lebrun: brother of Robert Lebrun
Mariequita: woman of Spanish descent who lives on Grand Isle
Adele Ratignolle: guest at the pension on Grand Isle
Alphonse Ratignolle: pharmacist, husband of Adèle
Mademoiselle Reisz: pianist, guest at the pension on Grand Isle
Others on Grand Isle: two lovers, a lady in black, the Farival twins, old Monsieur Farival, Beaudelet. . . .
Madame Antoine: woman of Chênière Caminada across the bay from Grand Isle
Toni: son of Madame Antoine; he and his mother appear in the Chopin short story “At Chênière Caminada”
Old Celestine, Ellen, Joe, and other servants in the Pontellier’s house in New Orleans
Doctor Mandelet: the Pontelliers’ physician
Edna’s father: former colonel in the Confederate army
Alcée Arobin: young man of fashion in New Orleans
Mrs. Highcamp: friend of Alcée Arobin
James Highcamp: husband of Mrs. Highcamp; the Highcamp’s daughter
Mrs. Merriman and Miss Mayblunt: guests at Edna’s part in Chapter XXX of the novel
Gouvernail: journalist, also a guest at the party. In French his name means a rudder, a tiller, with the implication that he is someone who knows the direction, who understands where things are headed. He plays a central role in the Chopin stories “A Respectable Woman” and “Athénaîse”
Madame Pontellier: mother of Léonce
How to pronounce characters’ names
If you want to pronounce Edna Pontellier—and the French names of other characters—as Kate Chopin herself probably pronounced them, you could check this pronounciation guide .
The Awakening time and place
The Awakening is set in the late nineteenth century on Grand Isle, off the coast of Louisiana; on the island Chênière Caminada across the bay from Grand Isle (the island was destroyed in an 1893 hurricane); and in the city of New Orleans. It begins on Grand Isle, shifts to New Orleans, and concludes on Grand Isle.
The Awakening themes
Readers and scholars have been discussing the novel’s themes for a hundred years, and their views vary widely. Early critics condemned the book for its amoral treatment of adultery, and some readers today share that view. But from the 1960s on, most scholars and readers in the USA and many other nations have come to think of Kate Chopin as “the first woman writer in her country to accept passion as a legitimate subject for serious, outspoken fiction,” to cite the words of Per Seyersted, and they see Chopin as one of America’s essential authors. The closing chapter in the recent Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin describes the full range of ideas people have found in the novel since its publication. You can also read about themes in Kate Chopin’s stories and novels on the Themes page of this site.
When Kate Chopin’s The Awakening was written and published
The novel was begun in 1897 and completed on January 21, 1898. Kate Chopin’s original title was A Solitary Soul. It was published as The Awakening by Herbert S. Stone & Company in Chicago on April 22, 1899. The title page:
You can find complete composition dates and publication dates for Chopin’s works on pages 1003 to 1032 of The Complete Works of Kate Chopin, edited by Per Seyersted (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1969, 2006).
What critics and scholars say about The Awakening.
An enormous amount has been written about the novel for many years. Some representative comments:
Per Seyersted writing in 1969, near the beginning of the literary revival that propelled The Awakening into its present place of importance in American literature, noted that part of what makes the novel feel so modern is Edna Pontellier’s realization that “the physical component of love can stand apart from the spiritual one, that sensuous attraction is impersonal and can be satisfied by a partner she does not love.”
“Chopin’s sense of a complex reality,” Barbara C. Ewell writes, “permits no easy answers to the moral questions raised by [the] conflict between the individual and social restraints. Instead, by withholding the moral of this moralistic tale and leaving the nature and value of Edna’s awakening essentially unresolved, Chopin delineates the difficulty of calibrating the appropriate relationship between the self and society.”
In one of the best-known essays about the novel, Sandra Gilbert argues that “metaphorically speaking, Edna has become Aphrodite [the Greek goddess of love], or at least a devotee of that goddess. But what can be—must be—her fate?” Kate Chopin, Gilbert argues, examines “the difficulty of the struggles for autonomy that she imagines would have engaged any nineteenth-century woman who experienced such a fantastic transformation. If Aphrodite . . . were reborn as a fin de siècle [close of the nineteenth century] New Orleans housewife, says Chopin, Edna Pontellier’s fate would be her fate.”
“A contemporary reader,” Nina Baym writes, “may well be inclined to understand Edna’s sexual emancipation as a feminist issue. But such a reading would be somewhat anachronistic.” Because, Baym adds, of the “relatively crude forms of birth control and the enormous risks of childbearing in those days—every act of sexual intercourse was, for a woman, a literally life-endangering act.” Progressive women in Kate Chopin’s day, she concludes, “were more likely to perceive sexual freedom as being freedom from sex rather than freedom through sex. What they wanted for women was the right to say no, rather than the right to say yes whenever and wherever they pleased.”
Elizabeth Fox-Genovese notes that Chopin weaves two narrative threads together in her novel: the “institutional and personal voices.” These voices, she says, necessarily critique each other. Chopin “was not likely to let a searching critique lead her to conclude that the social order of the bourgeois South required the institutional subordination of women. Nor would she have been comfortable with the view that the freedom of women dictated the substantial reform of the prevailing social institutions.”
The power of The Awakening, Cynthia Griffin Wolff writes in an influential essay, “derives from its ruthless fidelity to the disintegration of Edna’s character. Edna . . . interests us not because she is ‘a woman,’ the implication being that her experience is principally important because it might stand for that of any other woman. Quite the contrary: she interests us because she is human—because she fails in ways which beckon seductively to all of us.” Edna, she adds, “is very little open to sustained emotional relationships.” She thinks of Edna as having a “schizoid personality.”
Donald Pizer , pointing out that Chopin read authors such as Charles Darwin, examines Edna Pontellier’s struggles within the context of nineteenth century naturalist fiction. He argues that the novel, and Edna’s struggle, cannot be separated from their “participation in the naturalistic belief that the human will is often deeply circumscribed by the inseparability of the lives of men and woman from the natural and social worlds they inhabit.”
Drawing on the work of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, John Carlos Rowe contends Kate Chopin recognized that “love in this culture is simply another word for warfare. . . . Certainly Chopin’s redefinition of love, suggested obliquely in Edna’s brief moments of confidence with Mlle. Reisz and Adele, must be understood in terms of Edna’s (or any subject’s) ability to work and thus contribute to social value.”
Hugh Dawson argues that the novel “has been misappreciated,” that “the book does not deserve the high place now accorded it.” Unlike most modern critics, he argues that Edna is not “a truly compelling character,” that she fails on an ethical level due to her extreme self-serving nature. “She seems to be willing to die for herself rather than to live for her children,” he argues. “The choices she makes give no evidence that she appreciates the obligations she has assumed or considers the available alternatives.”
In a recent essay, Bernard Koloski explores questions that puzzle many readers today: “Is Edna Pontellier a wounded victim of her patriarchal society, or is she a triumphant pioneer in her search for freedom? Is she weak and emotionally troubled or strong and insightful? Would she be better off if she were living in our times, or is her struggle universal—true for women everywhere at all times? . . . Should we pity her or admire her?” He looks at what critics have written and then turns to what Chopin herself said about her writing, focusing on her commitment to truth and empathy.
You can search the titles in our extensive databases of books and articles for more information about The Awakening —information in English, German, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Questions and answers about The Awakening
Q: I’m a teacher and would like help with the pronunciation of French names in The Awakening. Can you tell me how to pronounce the more common names?
A: Our pronunciation page explains how to deal with characters’ names.
Q: Why are there so many French expressions in the novel? If I don’t understand French, how do I know what those expressions mean?
A: There are a couple of ways to think about this.
It’s simply a fact that many people with French and Spanish roots lived in Louisiana when Kate Chopin lived there, and some of them spoke more than one language. Several of the characters in The Awakening speak French, Spanish, Creole, or all three, in addition to English. Like Mark Twain and other writers of her time, Chopin was determined to be accurate in the way she recorded the speech of the characters she focused on in her work.
But it may be helpful to recognize that Edna Pontellier herself understands French and French culture imperfectly. She has only, as the novel points out in Chapter 2, “a small infusion of French which seemed to have been lost in dilution.” She is not a Creole. She is not from Louisiana and did not grow up a Roman Catholic. She is out of her Kentucky or Mississippi Presbyterian environment, out of her native element. So to some extent your puzzlement over those French expressions may be similar to hers. There are suggestions in the novel that at times Edna is not fully aware of what’s going on around her.
A few editions of The Awakening include translations of French expressions, and Chopin usually subtly makes clear the meaning of such expressions in the text. Not understanding a French phrase is unlikely to lead to a mistake in understanding the novel.
Q: I’m confused about Kate Chopin’s phrasing in Chapter 27 of the novel. Does Edna Pontellier really have sex with Alcée Arobin?
A: Yes. The language in Chapter 27 reflects literary conventions of the 1890s. Kate Chopin almost certainly would not have found a publisher for the novel if she had included more sexually explicit phrasing. Some readers have wondered about the phrasing in “The Storm,” asking why Chopin was able to describe sex so directly in that short story. The answer is that she did not try to publish the story. There is no record that she sent the manuscript to any publsher. “The Storm” did not appear in print until sixty-five years after her death.
Q: How many times (and where) did Alcée and Edna consummate their love?
A: There was no love involved (explained in Chapter 28). The text shows that Edna and Alcée have sex in the house on Esplanade Street (in Chapter 27) and again after the party when they go to the pigeon-house (in Chapter 31).
Q: In Chapter 30 of the novel a character named Gouvernail mutters two lines of poetry. Do you know where they came from?
A: Yes–and Gouvernail also quotes lines of poetry in Chopin’s short story, “A Respectable Woman.” The lines in this novel are from a sonnet titled “A Cameo” by Algernon Charles Swinburne:
There was a graven image of Desire
Painted with red blood on a ground of gold
Passing between the young men and the old,
And by him Pain, whose body shone like fire,
And Pleasure with gaunt hands that grasped their hire.
Of his left wrist, with fingers clenched and cold,
The insatiable Satiety kept hold,
Walking with feet unshod that pashed the mire.
The senses and the sorrows and the sins,
And the strange loves that suck the breasts of Hate
Till lips and teeth bite in their sharp indenture,
Followed like beasts with flap of wings and fins.
Death stood aloof behind a gaping grate,
Upon whose lock was written Peradventure.
As we explain above, Gouvernail’s name in French means a rudder, a tiller, with the implication that he is someone who knows the direction, who understands where things are headed. His quoting the lines of Swinburne’s sonnet suggests that he senses a figure of death at Edna’s party.
Q: In Chapter 22, what does Dr. Mandelet mean when he asks Léonce Pontellier if Edna has “been associating of late with a circle of pseudo‑intellectual women‑‑super‑spiritual superior beings? My wife has been telling me about them”?
A: He’s most likely referring to the spiritualism movement, which was popular in the United States at the time Kate Chopin was writing the novel. Kathleen Butterly Nigro, an American English professor who teaches a class on 19th century spiritualism, notes that people involved in the movement believed “that through the use of a medium, they would be able to tap into the energy of people who had died.” The rise of spiritualism coincided with the end of the Civil War, which killed more than 750,000 Americans. “Because so many people had died in the war,” Nigro says, “the notion that individuals could possibly stay in contact with people they had lost was very appealing.”
Q: I am sure that when I was in college, my professor told me that in Chapter 13—when Edna is resting at Madame Antoine’s house—she masturbated. I cannot find this anywhere in research about the book. Can you confirm this? Isn’t it true that this was one of the reasons The Awakening was not widely accepted in Chopin’s time? That’s the impression I have.
A: Second question first: So far as we can tell, all comments about The Awakening published in Chopin’s lifetime are widely available, and all have been discussed by scholars, teachers, students, and others for decades. Nothing in any of those comments mentions the possibility of a masturbation incident in the book. It is clear that masturbation was not one of the reasons the book was attacked by critics in the 1890s.
About the first question, here is what two Chopin scholars have to say:
Emily Toth: A lot of people teach as fact that when Edna massages her arms and admires them at Madame Antoine’s, she’s masturbating. I don’t see it that way. I think it’s admiration, maybe narcissism. I’ve never seen anything about it in print, and personally I don’t think it’s a useful interpretation. As Freud allegedly said, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” I’ll add what I say: “Sometimes an arm is just–an arm.”
Thomas Bonner, Jr.: This is a gross misreading by the letter writer’s professor. Even if the professor is using the word “masturbating” metaphorically, it is still a distorted reading. I have run into no articles citing masturbation and Chopin. One of the real problems with many readers today is the imposition of twenty-first century sensibilities on a nineteenth-century author’s work.
Question from Mary Mahoney: Do you know the rest of the words and the melody of “Si tu savais,” the song that appears in Chapters 14 and 19 of the novel and then again in the party scene in Chapter 30? Is it a real song, or did Kate Chopin make it up?
A: We posed this question to Chopin scholars Emily Toth and Thomas Bonner, Jr. Their responses:
Emily Toth: It’s a real song, written by Michael William Balfe, an Irish composer of art songs. It seems the song was written about 1859. There is online a Balfe fan site and the sheet music for the song .
Thomas Bonner, Jr.: Interesting connection, but, except for the refrain, the lyrics are different from those in the novel. Apparently, the phrase “Ah, si tu savais” was and is used widely in lyrics. Is it possible that Chopin heard the Balfe song performed and simply recalled it imperfectly? Or purposely amended the lyrics to reflect her multiple uses of “eyes” in her descriptions? A puzzle.
Jenny Lind and Adelina Patti both sang Balfe songs and arias; the singers visited New Orleans well before Chopin arrived, but they were so popular in the city–and nationally–that the music they sang at the French Opera House was likely picked up by local and other visiting singers. These singers also performed in St. Louis. And so Chopin could have heard the lyrics, remembered the key phrase, and used it.
Emily Toth: This seems most likely to me.
Response from Mary Mahoney: I believe Balfe also wrote “Come into the garden Maude” and “I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls”. Both those were popular in Britain, when I was a child in the ‘thirties. I heard them on the radio in the “Music Hall” (i.e. Variety) broadcasts. A holdover from Victorian days I think. Ah well, that was a long time ago.
Q: Was Kate Chopin involved in the women’s suffrage movement, in the progressive movements for educational reform, health care reform, or sanitation improvement? Was she involved in any other historically significant happenings of her time?
A: Kate Chopin was an artist, a writer of fiction, and like many artists–in the nineteenth century and today–she considered that her primary responsibility to people was showing them the truth about life as she understood it.
If you’re asking if Kate Chopin was involved in social activism as political scientists today would understand that term, the answer is no. She was not a social reformer. Her goal was not to change the world but to describe it accurately, to show people the truth about the lives of women and men in the nineteenth-century America she knew.
If, however, you’re asking if Chopin was involved in “historically significant happenings” as many artists would understand those words, then the answer is yes. She was among the first American authors to write truthfully about women’s hidden lives, about women’s sexuality, and about some of the complexities and contradictions in women’s relationships with their husbands.
As the critic Per Seyersted phrases it, Kate Chopin “broke new ground in American literature. She was the first woman writer in her country to accept passion as a legitimate subject for serious, outspoken fiction. Revolting against tradition and authority; with a daring which we can hardy fathom today; with an uncompromising honesty and no trace of sensationalism, she undertook to give the unsparing truth about woman’s submerged life. She was something of a pioneer in the amoral treatment of sexuality, of divorce, and of woman’s urge for an existential authenticity. She is in many respects a modern writer, particularly in her awareness of the complexities of truth and the complications of freedom.”
Artists like Kate Chopin see the truth and help others to see it. Once people are able to recognize the truth, then they can create social reform movements and set out to correct wrongs and injustices.
Q: I read on a blog that Kate Chopin “was an integral part of the evolution of feminism, providing early 20th century readers with feminist literature that is still highly respected and studied today.” Is that true?
A: No, it’s almost certainly not true, simply because, from everything we can tell, little of what many readers today consider Chopin’s feminist literature was read in the early years of the twentieth century–The Awakening, for example, or “The Story of an Hour,” or, certainly, “The Storm.” You might argue that after the 1960s or 1970s Chopin became “an integral part of the evolution of feminism,” but she probably had little or no influence on early 20th-century feminist readers.
Q: Have other writers focused works on women’s experience, on a woman’s awakening?
A; Yes, many have. Critic Susan Rosowski reminds us that fairy tales like “Snow White,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “Sleeping Beauty” are about female development, as are novels like Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, Willa Cather’s My Mortal Enemy, and Margaret Atwood’s Lady Oracle. Rosowski considers The Awakening a prototype of the novel of awakening.
Q: Do critics ever write about clothing and fashion in The Awakening? It seems to me it’s an important matter.
A: Yes, that subject has often come up. Emily Toth, for one, writes that throughout the novel “Edna sheds more and more veils, physically and spiritually, until at the end, she is naked.” And Katherine Joslin discusses clothing at length in “Kate Chopin on fashion in a Darwinian world,” an essay in the Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin.
Q: Was Chopin’s The Awakening forgotten until her literary revival in the 1970s?
A: Yes, in general it was forgotten, although a few people in Europe and the United States were familiar with the book throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Some of Chopin’s short stories, however, were not forgotten. Several of those stories appeared in an anthology within five years after her death, others were reprinted over the years, and scholars began writing about her fiction a decade or so before it caught fire with the appearance of her Complete Works in 1969.
Q: Was The Awakening really banned from libraries in Chopin’s hometown of St. Louis?
A: Not so far as we can tell. Emily Toth, Chopin’s biographer, tried to verify that claim—one that has been repeated for decades—but could find no evidence to support it. But it is true that The New York Times on July 6, 1902, reported that the Evanston, Illinois, Public Library had removed from its open shelves The Awakening and other books that the library board found objectionable (the article is on p. 9 of the newspaper). And the 2011 Banned or Challenged Books site sponsored by The American Library Association and other groups notes that the novel was “challenged at the Oconee County, Ga. Library (2011) because the cover of the book–a novel about a woman whose desires run against the family structure of the 1890s–shows a painting of a woman’s bare chest and upset the patron.”
Charles Johanningsmeier (University of Nebraska at Omaha) has published an important article showing that trying to understand if The Awakening was banned at other places is very complex.
In his article, Johanningsmeier explains that he has been “investigating how American public libraries, and specifically those who ran them, actually dealt with a wide variety of works by realist and naturalist authors between 1880 and 1914.” He describes how he had examined data (finding lists and catalogs) at eighty American public libraries to see how the library staff had dealt with The Awakening and other fiction at the turn of the twentieth century. His conclusion:
“The new information related here does highlight . . . how important it is to continue examining long-held beliefs about the role libraries played in making texts available—or not available—to American readers in late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the cases of other works of boundary-pushing fictions such as Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Rose of Dutcher’s Coolly, and The Damnation of Theron Ware, I have found that a surprisingly large number of librarians—chiefly from larger towns and cities—courageously purchased them and made them available to patrons, despite the likelihood of encountering community resistance. With The Awakening, unfortunately, there were many more librarians who chose to take the safer option of not adding it to their collections.” Read more.
Q: Do you know why Kate Chopin’s original title for the novel, A Solitary Soul, was changed to The Awakening and how the change affected the success of the book?
A: Sorry, but we know of no explanation for who changed the title or why. A rumor in an 1899 St. Louis newspaper review suggests that the publisher changed it. If that’s true, it may have been for many reasons. And we know of no way that someone could determine how the title change may have affected the novel’s success in 1899 or since.
Q: I haven’t been able to find the number of pages in the Herbert S. Stone and Company first edition of The Awakening in 1899. I would like to know how many pages it has.
A: It has 303 pages. You can verify that by checking the rare book area of some libraries, like the library at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. And on Google Preview you can see a photocopy of the book itself and be able to scroll down to p. 303..
Q: Has The Awakening been translated into other languages?
A: Yes. It appeared in a French translation by Cyrille Arnavon in 1952.
That edition has illustrations by André Hubert. Here’s Edna and Robert:
And here is the first page of the 1952 French translation:
The Awakening has also been translated again into French and into many other languages. You can see which languages and look at some book covers on our Translations page.
Q: Has The Awakening been made into a film? I can’t find such a film anywhere.
A: Yes, there are at least two versions. In 1991, Mary Lambert directed the made-for-cable Grand Isle, with Kelly McGillis playing Edna Pontellier. The film is available on VHS, but not, apparently, on DVD:
Also, earlier, in 1982, director Bob Graham did a feature-length version of the novel called The End of August. It’s apparently no longer easily available, but you may be able to find a VHS copy:
IMDb.com, the Internet Movie Database, includes a filmography of works based on Kate Chopin’s fiction . The listing includes nine films–long and short–made between 1956 and 2014.
There is, in addition, what many critics consider a fine novel by Robert Stone called Children of Light, about a production company making a film of The Awakening using a performer struggling with some of the same issues that Edna struggles with.
Q: Why can’t I find the film version of The Awakening starring Kate Winslet? I remember seeing the trailer, but when I look for the film, it doesn’t show up anywhere.
A: Unfortunately, there is no such film. The trailer you saw is a fake. It was put together by cutting segments of other films and assembling them in a way that makes the imaginary film look almost real.
Q: Is The Awakening available on a CD so I can listen to it as I drive?
A: Yes, there are at least five versions available. You can find them through a library or a bookstore or online. And Reuters and other media outlets are reporting that Audible.com has hired actors to produce “tour de force performances” of new audiobooks. The lineup includes Anne Hathaway reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, Colin Firth reading The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, Kate Winslet reading Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola, Nicole Kidman reading To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, and Kim Basinger reading The Awakening by Kate Chopin.
Mansfield University librarian Sheila Kasperek adds that there are free downloadable audios of The Awakening and some of Chopin’s short stories. They are, she tells us, “done by volunteers, so of varying quality. I’ve listened to others from this site—some great and some just okay. But it’s a cool resource.”
Q: Does anyone have any ideas about how many first editions of The Awakening might be out there?
A (from Chopin scholar Tom Bonner): “I do not think that there is a single source to account for existing first editions of any writer’s work in private and institutional collections. Based on antiquarian book e-sites like ABE, the near $10,000 value of first editions of The Awakening suggests that they are rare. Libraries at major research universities may account for 100–120 books. Private collections are hard to estimate, but they are likely fewer than those in institutional collections. Antiquarian book sites vary, but even these number rarely more than three at any given time. Cyril Arnavon’s translation of it–Edna–is in fewer than ten institutional collections in the United States. At Fault is especially rare as it was a paperback edition. Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie exist in somewhat larger numbers than The Awakening in institutional and private collections as well as at antiquarian book sellers. What I have written here is speculation based on queries that I have made over several years.
“For a better sense of Chopin editions, you might consult Robert Skinner and my essay ‘A Rebel in Life and Fiction: Kate Chopin and Her Writings’ in Firsts: The Book Collector’s Magazine (Vol.23, No.2, 2013). The issue is available by phone order at 520.529.1355, email at [email protected] , and by mail at Firsts, P.O. Box 65166, Tucson, AZ 85728-5166.”
You can read more questions and answers about Kate Chopin and her work, and you can contact us with your questions.
For more information about The Awakening
Kate Chopin, The Awakening by students of Barbara C. Ewell at Loyola University of New Orleans
A New Stage Adaptation of The Awakening in San Francisco
The Breadbox, a theater in residence at the Exit Theatre in San Francisco, California, USA, offered a world-premiere stage adaptation of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening . Written by Oren Stevens and developed with director Ariel Craft, it began a three-week run at the Exit on July 29, 2016.
Edna (Maria Marquis) in The Breadbox’s production of The Awakening. Photo: Ben Calabrese
You can read a review of the production by Lily Janiak , the San Francisco Chronicle’s theater critic, and one by Richard Dodds in the Bay Area Reporter.
Los Angeles Dance Company Premieres Production Based on The Awakening
The Vaughn Dance Company in Los Angeles premiered on November 7, 2008, an original modern dance production, Reaching Out for the Unlimited, based on Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening. It featured the music of Grammy-winning composer/guitarist Andrew York.
According to the announcement, “Vaughn Dance Company’s adaptation of The Awakening traces the heroine’s emotional journey, exploring her relationships with friends, lovers, and the sea. Andrew York’s music brings alive the emotional arc of this story with a score that includes new, unpublished pieces and a live performance by York. Making its mark with sensual shapes and undulating movement, Jennifer Vaughn’s choreography is a palpable embodiment of music that captivates broader audiences and dance aficionados alike.”
Jennifer Vaughn told us in an email message that her production “traces Edna’s emotional journey, focusing on her complex relationships—with friends, lovers, and with the sea. The company’s ten members embody these roles, including different ‘Ednas’ who change as she discovers new parts of herself. The dancers also become the beckoning sea, the entity which both cradles and emboldens Edna but also sweeps her away.”
She continued, “I chose very simple staging and costuming—very plain and timeless. And for logistical reasons, we chose not to address Edna’s relationship with her children. I believe that audience members who know the story will recognize much of it, but I’ve tried to design the production in such a way that those who do not know the story will still be able to get something out of it.”
St. Paul Theatre Company’s Production of The Awakening
A new production of The Awakening was presented by Savage Umbrella and 3AM Productions at Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, from April 2 to 17, 2010. The script is by Laura Leffler-McCabe, who also directed. The production includes music composed by Candy Bilyk and performed by a trio of instrumentalists, with singing by the cast.
From the announcement for the production:
“‘The book is beautiful,’ Leffler-McCabe says when asked why she decided to take on the project as writer and director. ‘It’s this proto-modernist text full of slice-of-life details and conversations, along with these really lyrical expressive passages of a character in turmoil.’
“The show, which boasts a cast of more than a dozen, was company-created, and incorporates music and movement to do justice to a story that begins in a woman’s heart, then radiates with seismic repercussions into the world around her.
“‘We started workshopping with the cast back in September,’ says Leffler-McCabe. ‘We cussed a lot, fought some, danced, experimented, and honed in on something that gets to the heart of what Chopin was trying to do.'”
You can read a review from a local paper .
Laura Leffler-McCabe also sent us a performance excerpt . “We put this together for a grant we’re applying for,” she says, “so it’s short and of a sort of strange moment, but it hopefully gives an idea of the style of the production.”
Reading of a New Screenplay Based on The Awakening
New York area residents and visitors attended a reading of a new screenplay based on Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. The screenplay was written by Jim Sherry, the production directed by Joyce Wu.
Photo: “Girl at Sunrise.” Copyright Steve Puntolillo, 2011
The reading was held on June 12th, 2011, at TheaterLab, 137 W. 14th Street New York, NY 10011.
For students and scholars
Accurate printed texts of The Awakening
The Complete Works of Kate Chopin. Edited by Per Seyersted. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1969, 2006.
Kate Chopin: Complete Novels and Stories. Edited by Sandra Gilbert. New York: Library of America, 2002.
Articles and book chapters about The Awakening
Some of the items listed here may be available online through university or public libraries. For items published before 2000, check these listings:
McConnell, Mikaela. “A Lost Sense Of Self By Ignoring Other In The Awakening By Kate Chopin.” Explicator 72.1 (2014): 41–44.
Articles in Evans, Robert C. Critical Insights: The Awakening. Ipswich, MA: Salem, 2014:
Koloski, Bernard. “On The Awakening.” [How to Understand Edna Pontellier]: 2–15.
Rottgering, Courtney. “Biography of Kate Chopin”: 16–23.
Ulin, Julieann Veronica. “The Awakening and Impressionism”: 24–39.
Bray, Stephen Paul, and Sarah Fredericks, “The Chief Characters in The Awakening”: 40–58.
Evans, Robert C. “Surprises, Complications, Shifts, and Juxtapositions”: 59–73.
—. “Mark Twain, Kate Chopin, Huckleberry Finn”: 74–87.
—. “Was The Awakening Banned or Burned?”: 90–111.
Dyer, Joyce. “A Letter to Students as They Read The Awakening”: 112–29.
Evans, Robert C. “Defending The Awakening”: 130–45.
—. “In Defense of Robert Lebrun”: 146–61.
Melton, Jeffrey. “Tourism and Landscape in The Awakening.” 162–75.
Bonner, Thomas, Jr. “Kate Chopin’s The Awakening as Travel Literature.” 176–89.
Papke, Mary E. “Reading Chopin Reading.” 190–204.
Arner, Robert D. “Gendered Discourse in The Awakening.” 205–16.
Evans, Robert C. “Humor in The Awakening.” 217–31.
Ramos, Peter J. “The Awakening as a Cautionary Tale.” 232–45.
Wehner, David Z. “Reading The Awakening through Kate Chopin.” 246–60.
Beer, Janet, and Helena Goodwyn. “The Awakening: Authenticity and the Artist.” 261–74.
Franklin, Rosemary F. “Chopin’s The Awakening: A Semiotic Novel.” PSYART: 17 August 2011. Web. 26 Sept. 2011.
Davis,William A. Jr. “Female Self–Sacrifice in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening: Conflict and Context.” Notes and Queries 58.4 (2011): 563–67.
Kornasky, Linda. “‘Discovery Of A Treasury’: Orrick Johns and the Influence of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening on Edith Summers Kelley’s Weeds.” Studies In American Naturalism 6.2 (2011): 197–215.
Mou, Xianfeng. “Kate Chopin’s Narrative Techniques and Separate Space in The Awakening.” Southern Literary Journal 44.1 (2011): 103–20.
Tas, Mehmet Recep. “Kate Chopin’s The Awakening in the Light of Freud’s Structural Model of the Psyche.” Uluslararas Sosyal Arastrmalar Dergisi/Journal of International Social Research 4.19 (2011): 413–18.
Wehner, David Z. ” ‘A Lot Up for Grabs’: The Idiosyncratic, Syncretic Religious Temperament of Kate Chopin.” American Literary Realism 43.2 (2011): 154–68.
Mainland, Catherine. “Chopin’s Bildungsroman: Male Role Models in The Awakening.” Mississippi Quarterly 64.1–2 (2011): 75–85.
Witherow, Jean. ” ‘Abysses of Solitude’: Chopin’s Intertextuality with Flaubert.” Mississippi Quarterly 64.1–2 (2011): 87–113.
Ramos, Peter. “Unbearable Realism: Freedom, Ethics and Identity in The Awakening.” College Literature 37.4 (2010): 145–65.
Freeman, Barbara Claire. “The Awakening: Waking Up at the End of the Line.” The Sublime. 1-26. New York, NY: Bloom’s Literary Criticism, 2010.
Kohn, Robert E. “Edna Pontellier Floats into the Twenty-First Century.” Journal of Popular Culture 43.1 (2010): 137-155.
Stuffer, Deidre. “Edna Pontellier’s Strip Tease of Essentiality: An Examination of the Metaphorical Role of Clothing in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” Sigma Tau Delta Review 7. (2010): 116-123.
Brown, Kathleen L., and Peter Lev. Teaching Literary Theory Using Film Adaptations Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009.
Dix, Andrew, and Lorna Piatti. “‘Bonbons in Abundance’: The Politics of Sweetness in Kate Chopin’s Fiction.” Culinary Aesthetics and Practices in Nineteenth-Century American Literature. 53-69. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Evans, Robert C. “Renewal and Rebirth in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” Rebirth and Renewal. 13-24. New York, NY: Bloom’s Literary Criticism, 2009.
Hebert-Leiter, Maria. “The Awakening Awakened.” In Becoming Cajun, Becoming American: The Acadian in American Literature from Longfellow to James Lee Burke, 57–78. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2009.
Miyagawa, Chiori. “A Mystical Place Called Grand Isle: Adapting Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” Feminist Theatrical Revisions of Classic Works: Critical Essays. 204-214. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009.
Pettersson, Bo. “Narratology and Hermeneutics: Forging the Missing Link.” Narratology in the Age of Cross-Disciplinary Narrative Research. 11-34. Berlin, Germany: de Gruyter, 2009.
Batinovich, Garnet Ayers. “Storming the Cathedral: The Antireligious Subtext in Kate Chopin’s Works.” Kate Chopin in the Twenty-First Century: New Critical Essays. 73-90. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Cambridge Scholars, 2008.
Camastra, Nicole. “Venerable Sonority in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” American Literary Realism 40.2 (Winter 2008): 154-166.
Castillo, Susan. “‘Race’ and Ethnicity in Kate Chopin’s Fiction.” The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin. 59-72. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2008.
Chang, Li-Wen. “The Awakening: Chopin’s Reading of Leisure-Class Women in Ourland.” Kate Chopin in the Twenty-First Century: New Critical Essays. 137-157. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Cambridge Scholars, 2008.
Clark, Zoila. “The Bird That Came Out of the Cage: A Foucauldian Feminist Approach to Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” Journal for Cultural Research 12.4 (Oct. 2008): 335-347.
González Groba, Constante. On Their Own Premises: Southern Women Writers and the Homeplace Valencia, Spain: Universitat de València, 2008.
Heilmann, Ann. “The Awakening and New Woman Fiction.” The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin. 87-104. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2008.
Horner, Avril. “Kate Chopin, Choice and Modernism.” The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin. 132-146. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2008.
Joslin, Katherine. “Kate Chopin on Fashion in a Darwinian World.” The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin. 73-86. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2008.
Knights, Pamela. “Kate Chopin and the Subject of Childhood.” The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin. 44-58. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2008.
Koloski, Bernard. “The Awakening: The First 100 Years.” The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin. 161-173. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2008.
Liu, Hongwei. “Lun li huan jing yu xiao shuo Jue xing de ju jue yu jie shou.” Foreign Literature Studies/Wai Guo Wen Xue Yan Jiu 30.6 [134] (2008): 71-75.
Nisetich, Rebecca. “From ‘Shadowy Anguish’ to ‘The Million Lights of the Sun’: Racial Iconography in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” Kate Chopin in the Twenty-First Century: New Critical Essays. 121-136. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Cambridge Scholars, 2008.
Nolan, Elizabeth. “The Awakening as Literary Innovation: Chopin, Maupassant and the Evolution of Genre.” The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin. 118-131. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2008.
Taylor, Helen. “‘The Perfume of the Past’: Kate Chopin and Post-Colonial New Orleans.” The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin. 147-160. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2008.
Thrailkill, Jane F. “Chopin’s Lyrical Anodyne for the Modern Soul.” Kate Chopin in the Twenty-First Century: New Critical Essays. 33-52. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Cambridge Scholars, 2008.
Toth, Emily. “What We Do and Don’t Know About Kate Chopin’s Life.” The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin. 13-26. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2008.
Worton, Michael. “Reading Kate Chopin Through Contemporary French Feminist Theory.” The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin. 105-117. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2008.
Zaugg, Brigitte. “Kate Chopin and Ellen Glasgow: Between Visibility and Oblivion.” Résonances 10 (Oct. 2008): 179-202.
Koloski, Bernard. “Kate Chopin: The Critics, the Librarians, and the Scholars.” Popular Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers and the Literary Marketplace. 451-465. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Cambridge Scholars, 2007.
Streater, Kathleen M. “Adele Ratignolle: Kate Chopin’s Feminist at Home in The Awakening.” Midwest Quarterly 48 (2007): 406-416.
Witherow, Jean Adams. “‘To Love a Little and Then to Die!’: Chopin Awakens Emma Bovary.” Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South 14.2 (2007): 29-48.
Bloom, Lynn Z. “The Dinner Hours.” CEA Critic: An Official Journal of the College English Association 69.1-2 (2006-2007 Fall-Winter 2006): 3-13.
Church, Joseph. “An Abuse of Art in Chopin’s The Awakening.” American Literary Realism 39.1 (Fall 2006): 20-23.
Frye, Katie Berry. “Edna Pontellier, Adèle Ratignolle, and the Unnamed Nurse: A Triptych of Maternity in The Awakening.” Southern Studies 13.3-4 (2006): 45-66.
Gaskill, Nicholas M. “‘The Light Which, Showing the Way, Forbids It’: Reconstructing Aesthetics in The Awakening.” Studies in American Fiction 34.2 (2006): 161-188.
Heuston, Sean. “Chopin’s The Awakening.” Explicator 64 (2006): 220-223.
Johnson, Steven K. “Uncanny Burials: Post-Civil War Memories in Chopin and Bierce.” ABP Journal 2.1 (Fall 2006).
Parmiter, Tara K. “Taking the Waters: The Summer Place and Women’s Health in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” American Literary Realism 39.1 (Fall 2006): 1-19.
Pierse, Mary S. “Paris as ‘Other’: George Moore, Kate Chopin and French Literary Escape Routes.” ABEI Journal: The Brazilian Journal of Irish Studies 8 (June 2006): 79-87.
Wasserstrom, Jeffrey N. “Searching for Emily Hahn on the Streets of St Louis.” History Workshop Journal 61 (Spring 2006): 214-221.
Witherow, Jean. “Kate Chopin’s Dialogic Engagement with W. D. Howells: ‘What Cannot Love Do?’.” Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South 13.3-4 (2006 Fall-Winter 2006): 101-116.
Bradley, Patricia L. “The Birth of a Tragedy and The Awakening: Influences and Intertexualities.” Southern Literary Journal 37 (2005): 40-61.
Despain, Max and Thomas Bonner, Jr. “Shoulder to Wings: The Provenance of Winged Imagery from Kate Chopin’s Juvenilia Through The Awakening.” Xavier Review 25.2 (2005): 49-64.
Felder, Deborah G. A Bookshelf of Our Own: Works That Changed Women’s Lives New York: Citadel, 2005.
Margraf, Erik. “Kate Chopin’s The Awakening as a Naturalistic Novel.” American Literary Realism 37.2 (2005): 93-116.
Parvulescu, Anca. “To Die Laughing and to Laugh at Dying: Revisiting The Awakening.” New Literary History 36 (2005): 477-495.
Richter, Eva, and Bailin Song. “Translating the Concept of ‘Identity’.” Translation and Cultural Change: Studies in History, Norms and Image-Projection. 91-110. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Benjamins, 2005.
White, Roberta. A Studio of One’s Own: Fictional Women Painters and the Art of Fiction Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 2005.
Biggs, Mary. “‘Si tu savais’: The Gay/Transgendered Sensibility of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” Women’s Studies 33 (2004): 145-181.
Davis, Doris. “The Enigma at the Keyboard: Chopin’s Mademoiselle Reisz.” Mississippi Quarterly 58.1-2 (2004): 89-104.
Dunphy, Mark. “New England Transcendental Gumbo: Edna Pontellier’s Awakening to Emersonian Self-Reliance in The Awakenin.” Emerson at 200. 153-160. Rome, Italy: Aracne, 2004.
Martinez, Inez. “Reading for Psyche: Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” Harvest: International Journal for Jungian Studies 50 (2004): 105-119.
Mikolchak, Maria. “Kate Chopin’s The Awakening as Part of the Nineteenth-Century American Literary Tradition.” Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 5 (2004): 29-49.
Sielke, Sabine. “‘Rowing in Eden’ and Related Waterway Adventures: Seaward Visions in American Women’s Writing.” The Sea and the American Imagination. 111-134. Tübingen, Germany: Stauffenburg, 2004.
Singer, Sandra. “Awakening the Solitary Soul: Gendered History in Women’s Fiction and Michael Cunningham’s The Hours.” Doris Lessing Studies 23 (2004): 9-12.
Xue, Mei. “Destiny of ‘the Second Sex’: A Study of the Heroine in The Awakening.” Re-Reading America: Changes and Challenges. 363-371. Cheltenham, England: Reardon, 2004.
Birnbaum, Michele. Race, Work, and Desire in American Literature, 1860-1930 Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2003.
Boynton, Victoria. “Writing Women, Solitary Space and the Ideology of Domesticity.” Herspace: Women, Writing, and Solitude. 147-164. New York: Haworth, 2003.
Elz, A. Elizabeth. “The Awakening and A Lost Lady: Flying with Broken Wings and Raked Feathers.” Southern Literary Journal 35 (2003): 13-27.
Jones, Paul Christian. “A Re-Awakening: Anne Tyler’s Postfeminist Edna Pontellier in Ladder of Years.” Critique 44 (2003): 271-283.
Kinnison, Dana. “Female Resistance to Gender Conformity in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” Women in Literature: Reading through the Lens of Gender. 22-25. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2003.
Rich, Charlotte. “Reconsidering The Awakening: The Literary Sisterhood of Kate Chopin and George Egerton.” Southern Quarterly 41 (2003): 121-136.
Valkeakari, Tuire. “A ‘Cry of the Dying Century’: Kate Chopin, The Awakening, and the Women’s Cause.” NJES: Nordic Journal of English Studies 2 (2003): 193-216.
Varley, Jane, and Aimee Broe Erdman. “Working for Judith Shakespeare: A Study in Feminism.” Midwest Quarterly 44 (2003): 266-281.
Disheroon-Green, Suzanne. “Mr. Pontellier’s Cigar, Robert’s Cigarettes: Opening the Closet of Homosexuality and Phallic Power in The Awakening‘.” Songs of Reconstructing South: Building Literary Louisiana, 1865-1945. 183-195. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002.
——-. “Whither Thou Goest, We Will Go: Lovers and Ladies in The Awakening.” Southern Quarterly 40 (2002): 83-96.
Dyer, Joyce. “Reading The Awakening with Toni Morrison.” Southern Literary Journal 35 (2002): 138-154.
Maguire, Roberta S. “Kate Chopin and Anna Julia Cooper: Critiquing Kentucky and the South.” Southern Literary Journal 35 (2002): 123-137.
Mathews, Carolyn L. “Fashioning the Hybrid Woman in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” Mosaic 35 (2002): 127-149.
Petruzzi, Anthony P. “Two Modes of Disclosure in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory 13 (2002): 287-316.
Strozier, Robert. “Interiority, Identity, Knowledge: Unraveling the Cartesian Cogito.” Thresholds of Western Culture: Identity, Postcoloniality, Transnationalism. 14-31. New York: Continuum, 2002.
Asbee, Sue. “The Awakening: Contexts.” The Nineteenth-Century Novel: Identities. 269-286. London, England: Open UP; Routledge, 2001.
——-. “The Awakening: Identities.” The Nineteenth-Century Novel: Identities. 242-268. London, England: Open UP; Routledge, 2001.
Bunch, Dianne. “Dangerous Spending Habits: The Epistemology of Edna Pontellier’s Extravagant Expenditures in The Awakening.” Mississippi Quarterly 55 (2001): 43-61.
Green, Suzanne Disheroon. “Awakening the ‘Essence of Blue’: The Emerging Southern Women of Kate Chopin and Moira Crone.” Songs of the New South: Writing Contemporary Louisiana. 143-151. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2001.
Pizer, Donald. “A Note on Kate Chopin’s The Awakening as Naturalistic Fiction.” Southern Literary Journal 33 (2001): 5-13.
Walker, Nancy A. Kate Chopin: A Literary Life Basingstoke, England: Palgrave, 2001.
Araújo, Helena. “Marvel Moreno, ¿modernista?.” Literatura y cultura: Narrativa colombiana del siglo XX, I: La nación moderna: Identidad; II: Diseminación, cambios, desplazamientos; III: Hibridez y alteridades. 168. Bogotá, Colombia: Ministerio de Cultura, 2000
Barrish, Phillip. “The Awakening‘s Signifying ‘Mexicanist’ Presence.” Studies in American Fiction 28 (2000): 65-76.
Bartley, William. “Imagining the Future in The Awakening.” College English 62 (2000): 719-746.
Faraudo, Rosario. “El trágico vuelo de Icaro. Entramado mitológico y simbólico que subyace en The Awakening de Kate Chopin.” Anuario de Letras Modernas 10 (2000): 43-50.
Heynitz, Benita von. “Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and Richard Wagner’s Musical Concepts.” English in the Modern World. 57-67. Frankfurt, Germany: Peter Lang, 2000.
Lippincott, Gail. “Thirty-Nine Weeks: Pregnancy and Birth Imagery in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” This Giving Birth: Pregnancy and Childbirth in American Women’s Writing. 55-66. Bowling Green, OH: Popular, 2000.
McGee, Diane. “The Structure of Dinners in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” Proteus 17 (2000): 47-51.
Treu, Robert. “Surviving Edna: A Reading of the Ending of The Awakening.” College Literature 27 (2000): 21-36.
Yoon, Junggil. “[The Significance of Music in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening].” Journal of English Language and Literature/Yongo Yongmunhak 46 (2000): 507-527.
Selected books that discuss The Awakening.
Evans, Robert C. The Awakening. Ipswich, MA: Salem, 2014.
Prenshaw, Peggy Whitman. Composing Selves: Southern Women and Autobiography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2011.
Koloski, Bernard, ed. Awakenings: The Story of the Kate Chopin Revival. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2009, 2012.
Beer, Janet, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2008.
Bloom, Harold, ed. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. New York: Chelsea House, 2008.
Ostman, Heather. Kate Chopin in the Twenty-First Century: New Critical Essays Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Cambridge Scholars, 2008.
Toth, Emily. Unveiling Kate Chopin Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1999.
Petry, Alice Hall (ed.), Critical Essays on Kate Chopin New York: G. K. Hall, 1996.
Elfenbein, Anna Shannon. Women on the Color Line: Evolving Stereotypes and the Writings of George Washington Cable, Grace King, Kate Chopin Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1994.
Keesey Donald, The Awakening: Contexts for Criticism Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, 1994.
Dyer, Joyce. The Awakening: A Novel of Beginnings New York: Twayne, 1993.
Walker, Nancy. Kate Chopin: The Awakening (in the Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism series), New York: St. Martins, 1993.
Boren, Lynda S. and Sara deSaussure Davis (eds.), Kate Chopin Reconsidered: Beyond the Bayou Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1992.
Hoder-Salmon, Marilyn. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening: Screenplay As Interpretation Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1992.
Perspectives on KateChopin: Proceedings from the Kate Chopin International Conference, April 6, 7, 8, 1989 Natchitoches, LA: Northwestern State UP, 1992.
Papke, Mary E. Verging on the Abyss: The Social Fiction of Kate Chopin and Edith Wharton New York: Greenwood, 1990.
Toth, Emily. Kate Chopin. New York: Morrow, 1990.
Elfenbein , Anna Shannon. Women on the Color Line: Evolving Stereotypes and the Writings of George Washington Cable, Grace King, Kate Chopin Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1989.
Taylor, Helen. Gender, Race, and Region in the Writings of Grace King, Ruth McEnery Stuart, and Kate Chopin Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1989.
Bonner, Thomas Jr., The Kate Chopin Companion New York: Greenwood, 1988.
Koloski, Bernard (ed.), Approaches to Teaching Chopin’s The Awakening New York: Modern Language Association, 1988.
Martin, Wendy (ed.), New Essays on The Awakening New York: Cambridge UP, 1988.
Bloom, Harold (ed.), Kate Chopin New York: Chelsea, 1987.
Ewell, Barbara C. Kate Chopin New York: Ungar, 1986.
Skaggs, Peggy. Kate Chopin Boston: Twayne, 1985.
Seyersted, Per. Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1969.
Arnavon, Cyrille (trans.), Edna Paris: Club Bibliophile de France, 1953.
Rankin, Daniel, Kate Chopin and Her Creole Stories Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1932.
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Which almond filling used in cakes, tarts and pastries is thought to be named after the perfumer to King Louis XIII of France? | Seeking Sweetness in Everyday Life - CakeSpy - Sweet Celebrities: A List of Pastries and Desserts Named After People
Sweet Celebrities: A List of Pastries and Desserts Named After People
Friday, November 13, 2009
Having a food named after you seems like the ultimate legacy--until you consider someone like Gustave Doré, a French illustrator of the 19th century for whom the dish Estomacs de dinde à la Gustave Doré was named. (Hint: estomac means stomach, and dinde means turkey. Yeah.) What follows is a much sweeter list of legacies: a collection of desserts named after people (both real, and fictional).
CakeSpy Note: How was this list made? I started by first consulting Wikipedia's list of Foods Named After People , (which also served as the inspiration for this list); then I consulted other various sources and added a number of other desserts named after people which I discovered; then, each entry was expanded to include a description, interesting stories (and in some cases myth-busters!), and where possible, recipes. If you've got one to add, please leave a comment or send me an email!
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Big Hearted Al Candy Bar: Alas you won't find this one in drugstores: it was a short-lived confection named after an early-20th-century presidential candidate Al Smith (1873–1944).
Ali Babas: Alas, it's not the fictional character that this one is named after: per Wikipedia, though, "The original form of the baba was similar to the babka, a tall cylindrical yeast cake. The name means 'old woman' or 'grandmother' in the Slavic languages, and has nothing to do with Ali Baba; babka is a diminutive of the same word."
Alexandertorte: What's for sure is that this treat consists of pastry strips filled with raspberry preserves. Who invented it is a little hazier: Alexander I was gourmet Russian tsar who employed Antonin Carême. Per this site, Finland claims the creation, allegedly by Swiss pastry chefs in Helsinki in 1818, in anticipation of the tsar's visit there. Here's a recipe.
Gâteau Alexandra: Per Wikipedia , like her husband Edward VII, Alexandra of Denmark (1844–1925) was honored by an assortment of foods named after her when she was Princess of Wales and Queen. Besides this chocolate cake, there is consommé Alexandra, soup, sole, chicken quail, and various meat dishes.
Amundsen's Dessert: Roald Amundsen (1872–1928) was a great Norwegian polar explorer who ultimately met his end in an Arctic plane crash--allegedly he was served a was served this dessert before departing on his final flight, but I haven't been able to locate a recipe.
Anadama Bread: There are several legends behind this bread (including a family that claims ownership ), so I'm going to go with my favorite one: "A fisherman, angry with his wife, Anna, for serving him nothing but cornmeal and molasses, one day adds flour and yeast to his porridge and eats the resultant bread, while cursing, 'Anna, damn her.' " Oh Anna, you may have been cursed, but the bread is so sweet, and delicious when liberally buttered. Here's a recipe from the wonderful Melissa Clark.
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Lady Baltimore Cake: Per What's Cooking America, A Southern specialty that in the present day has many recipe variations. A favorite wedding cake, this mountainous cake is a white cake topped with a boiled or "Seven Minute Frosting." What makes the cake so distinctive is the combination of chopped nuts and dried or candied fruits in its frosting. It takes its name from the main character in Owen Wister's Lady Baltimore
. For more lore and a vintage recipe, visit The Old Foodie .
Battenberg cake (also called window cake): Per Wikipedia: This is a sponge cake which, when cut in cross section, displays a distinctive two-by-two check pattern alternately colored pink and yellow. The cake is covered in marzipan and, when sliced, the characteristic checks are exposed to view. These coloured sections are made by dying half of the cake mixture pink, and half yellow, then cutting each resultant sponge into two long, uniform cuboids, and joining them together with apricot jam, to form one cake. Though the origins of the name are not clear, it is rumored that the cake was created in honor of the 1884 marriage of Queen Victoria's grand-daughter to Prince Battenburg, with each of the four squares representing each of the four Battenburg Princes: Louis, Alexander, Henry and Francis Joseph. Here's a recipe.
Sarah Bernhardt Cakes: This sweet seems to waver between cookie and cake, but generally consists of a rich, nutty filling enrobed in chocolate. Either way, they take their name from famous French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923). Here's a recipe.
Betty: A Betty (or frequently, Apple Brown Betty) is a dessert which consists of a baked pudding made with layers of sweetened and spiced fruit (commonly apples) and buttered bread crumbs. It is usually served with a lemon sauce or whipped cream. The thing I can't tell you is who Betty is (do you know?); however, I can share a recipe I found.
Bismarck: Is the filled doughnut named for Otto Von Bismarck? Some say yes, some say no, but I like the explanation on Joe Pastry :
Some claim Bismarcks are called Bismarcks because Otto von Bismarck was fond of them. There's really no proof of this, since the only thing Bismarck was actually known to have an appetite for were small Northern European nation states. My guess is that the Bismarck got its name not because the Iron Chancellor loved to eat them, but because, being fairly plump pieces of pastry, they rather resembled him (he was not a thin man). But who really knows?
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Charlotte Corday: This ice cream dessert, dreamed up by Charles Ranhofer of Delmonico's, is named after Charlotte Corday (1768–1793), the assassin of the radical Jean-Paul Marat. The directions, from Ranhofer's The Epicurean Part Two
are as follows:
Obtain some round crimped paper cases; cover the bottoms and sides with uncooked Andalusian ice cream and fill the centers with biscuit glacé preparation with vanilla, adding a little maraschino to it; also put in some candied orange peel cut in exceedingly thin fillets; powder the tops with pulverized macaroons and cover this with Andalusian ice cream and candied fruits. Lay them in a freezing box for an hour to finish freezing.
Apple Charlotte: Per What's Cooking America , This is a golden-crusted dessert made by baking a thick apple compote in a mold lined with buttered bread. This dessert was originally created as a way to use leftover or stale bread. Some historians think that this sweet dish took its name from Queen Charlotte, known as being a supporter of apple growers.
Charlotte Russe: A cold dessert of Bavarian cream set in a mold lined with ladyfingers; it was invented by the French chef Marie Antoine Carême (1784–1833), who either named it in honor of his Russian employer Czar Alexander I ("Russe" being the French equivalent of the adjective, "Russian") or Queen Charlotte (1744–1818), wife of George III.
Chiboust cream: This heavenly substantce is a crème pâtissière (pastry cream) lightened with whipped cream or stiffly beaten egg whites. It is eponymously titled for the French pastry chef Chiboust who invented it in the 1840s, intending to use it to fill his Gâteau Saint-Honoré. The filling is also sometimes called Saint-Honoré cream, and I have also seen cream filled pastries called simply Chiboust. Check out this recipe which includes vanilla chiboust (along with caramelized bananas and doughnuts? Booyea!).
Peach pudding à la Cleveland: Another dish by Charles Ranhofer, named for Grover Cleveland (1837–1908), 22nd and 24th U.S. president--although Cleveland was reputed to not much like French food.
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Little Debbie Cakes: Oh, to have an entire line of snack cakes named after you! Such is the case of the Little Debbie Brand--the story goes as follows (via the Little Debbie website):
In 1960, McKee Foods founder O.D. McKee was trying to come up with a catchy name for their new family-pack cartons of snack cakes. Packaging supplier Bob Mosher suggested using a family member's name. Thinking of what could be a good fit for the brand, O.D. arrived at the name of his 4-year-old granddaughter Debbie. Inspired by a photo of Debbie in play clothes and her favorite straw hat, he decided to use the name Little Debbie® and the image of her on the logo. Not until the first cartons were being printed did Debbie's parents, Ellsworth and Sharon McKee, discover that their daughter was the namesake of the new brand.
Oh, and if you want more Little Debbie fun, check this out.
Desdemona: Per The International Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries, and Confections: A Comprehensive Guide
This is a pastry composed of two 3-inch round biscuits sandwiched together with vanilla whipped cream, brushed with apricot glaze, and covered in a kirsch-flavored fondant; it is named after the wife of Othello in the Shakespeare play. I only wish I had a recipe!
Dione's Chocolate Roll: This very chocolatey jellyroll style cake was the single dessert served at onetime NYC eatery The Egg Basket, and was named for proprietress Dionne Lucas. A recipe can be found in Maida Heatter's Great Desserts, and a variation can be found here.
Doboschtorte or Dobostorta: Per Wikipedia, It is a five-layer sponge cake, layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with thin caramel slices. The sides of the cake are sometimes coated with ground hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts or almonds but the original cake is without coat, since it was a slice of a big cake. It is named for its creator, Hungarian pastry chef Josef Dobos. Just look at this recipe.
Hello Dolly Bars: I'll be honest. I don't know the story behind the name of these bars, which also go by "Seven Layer Bars"--but I love the taste enough to include them in this roundup. Here's a recipe.
Lorna Doone: This packaged shortbread cookie made by Nabisco takes its name from the character of the same name in the novel Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor ( read more here ). Want to try to make your own at home? Try this recipe.
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Mamie Eisenhower fudge: This rich, creamy fudge (which is also called "Million Dollar Fudge") takes its name from the first lady and the wife of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Mamie D. Eisenhower. It was her contribution to a 1950's collection of recipes published by Women's National Press Club of Washington, D.C. Here's the recipe as it appeared in that book.
Elvis: I am going to go ahead and say that the banana, peanut butter and fluff combination is associated enough with Elvis to make the list. Uses for the flavor combination range from his favorite sandwich to pies and cakes. Here's just one wonderful recipe.
Essie's Cookies: This recipe, which I found in Betty Crocker's Cooky Book
, is a simple rolled cookie with almond extract; as to who Essie is, I haven't the faintest, but here's a recipe.
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Bananas Foster: This dish which beautifully melds bananas, booze, and fire, is named after Richard Foster, regular customer and friend of New Orleans restaurant Brennan's owner, which is where the dish originated. Here's the Brennan's recipe!
Frangipane: This is an almond pastry filling and tart, named for Marquis Muzio Frangipani, a 16th-century Italian of the Frangipane family (also known as Cesar Frangipani) living in Paris. He also invented a well-known bitter-almond scented glove perfume, used by Louis XIII. As for a recipe? How 'bout an apricot, cherry, and frangipane tart?
Joe Frogger: These molasses-rich cookies take their name from "Black Joe", whose partner, Lucretia Brown, invented the recipe. Find a recipe and more lore here.
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Cherry Garcia ice cream: This is a cherry and chocolate flake-flecked ice cream homage to Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead by Ben & Jerry. And, there's actually a recipe to make it yourself at home!
Garibaldi biscuits: These raisin or currant-filled English biscuits were named for Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882), an Italian patriot and leader of the drive to unite Italy, after his wildly popular visit to England in 1864. (Per Wikipedia, There is also a French demi-glâce sauce with mustard and anchovies, and a consommé named after him.)
German chocolate cake: It's named after a good German, but he wasn't actually German. This chocolate and coconut throwback to the 1950's to Sam German, who developed Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate (which falls somewhere between milk and semi-sweet) in 1852. Here's a recipe.
Gianduja: Per Wikipedia , this is a sweet chocolate containing about 30% hazelnut paste, invented in Turin by Caffarel and Prochet in 1852. It takes its name from Gianduja, a Carnival and marionette character who represents the archetypal Piedmontese, the Italian region where hazelnut confectionery is common. Here's a recipe from Dana Treat for gianduja mousse!
Graham crackers: These s'more-mobiles take their name from Graham flour, which in turn takes its name from Sylvester Graham, 19th-century American Presbyterian minister and proponent of a puritan lifestyle based on teetotalling, vegetarianism, and whole wheat, who probably twists uncomfortably in his grave every time a deliciously chocolatey, marshmallowy s'more is devoured. Remember when CakeSpy introduced the world to S'moreos?
Bombe Grimaldi: Per Wikipedia, this kümmel -flavored frozen dessert probably named for a late-19th-century member or relative of Monaco's royal Grimaldi family. There is also an apple flan Grimaldi. However, I don't think either of these are related to the pizza .
Gundel Palacsinta: This is a crêpe-like pancake stuffed with rum-infused raisins and nuts and served with a chocolate-rum sauce, named for (and invented by) Hungarian chef Gundel Károly. Recipe? This one sounds good to me .
Gypsy Bar: Apparently there was a candy bar named after Gypsy Rose Lee (you know, the one that the musical was based on!). What flavor is it? Sorry friends, I am not sure.
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Hamantash (or Hamantashen): A small pastry allegedly named for the hat of the cruel Persian official outwitted by Queen Esther and hanged, Haman, in the Book of Esther. Hamentashen are traditionally eaten at Purim. You can read more here and find a recipe here!
Heath bar: This American "English toffee" bar is named for brothers Bayard and Everett Heath, Illinois confectioners who developed it in the 1920s and eventually turned the local favorite into a nationally popular candy bar. Here's a homemade Heath Bar recipe!
Oh Henry!: This candy bar, introduced by the Williamson Candy Company in Chicago, 1920, was named for a young man who frequented the company store and was often called (or perhaps admonished?) with said phrase.
Hernani Biscuit: Another Charles Ranhofer special, comprised of a Savoy biscuit with marmalade, fondant, chocolate and pastilles; possibly named for the rascal in Victor Hugo's play .
Hershey Bar: To say that Hershey is "just a chocolate bar" would be a vast understatement. It's a company, a product...and a town! And it is all named for the guy who started it all, Milton S. Hershey, who developed the bar in 1900. Read more here.
Hiroko: This raspberry Grand Marnier cream cake tart (cake and tart! at once!) takes its name from pastry chef Hiroko Ogawa; a recipe can be found in Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Pie and Pastry Bible
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Gâteau Saint-Honoré: Per Wikipedia ,
this dessert is a circle of puff pastry at its base with a ring of pâte à choux piped on the outer edge. After the base is baked small cream puffs are dipped in caramelized sugar and attached side by side on top of the circle of the pâte à choux. This base is traditionally filled with crème chiboust and finished with whipped cream using a special St. Honore piping tip. The pastry is named for the French patron saint of bakers, confectioners, and pastry chefs, Saint Honoré or Honorius (d. 653), Bishop of Amiens. The pastry chef Chiboust (see Chiboust cream) is thought to have invented it in his Paris shop in 1846.
Houdini Bar: I am not sure about the origins of this delicious cream cheese, yellow cake, nut and coconut bar cookie, but I discovered it fairly recently; it is said to be named because the bars are so delicious they disappear as quickly as the famous magician. Here's the recipe.
Humboldt pudding: Another Ranhofer special, an elaborate molded pudding named after Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), the famous explorer and influential naturalist.
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Iago: Per The International Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries, and Confections: A Comprehensive Guide
these pastries are composed of two 2-inch round biscuits sandwiched together with coffee-flavored pastry cream, brushed with apricot glaze, and covered in coffee-flavored and colored fondant. They take their name from the villain in Shakespeare's Othello.
It Bar: The connection is perhaps indirect, but this candy bar of yesteryear took its name after "It" girl Clara Bow.
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Cousin Jack Cookies: This name is more symbolic, a "Cousin Jack" being a catchall term to describe the working-class miner immigrants from Cornish who settled in the midwest--but these drop cookies with currants are worth noting. Here's a recipe.
Apricots with rice à la Jefferson: Another Ranhofer delight! At the time of its invention, Ranhofer used a recently developed strain of Texas rice. It was aptly named, as apparently (per Wikipedia) Jefferson was very interested in improving American rice culture.
Johnnycake: These corn cakes were not sweet, but they were some of the earliest pancakes in the USA! However, to do some myth-busting, they aren't actually named for a guy named Johnny. Per What's Cooking America ,
The origin of the name johnnycakes (jonnycakes) is something of a mystery and probably has nothing to do with the name John. They were also called journey cakes because they could be carried on long trips in saddlebags and baked along the way. Some historians think that they were originally called Shawnee cakes and that the colonists slurred the words, pronouncing it as johnnycakes. Historians also think that "janiken," an American Indian word meant "corn cake," could possibly be the origin.
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Kaiserschmarrn: Per Wikipedia, this is a light, caramelized pancake made from a sweet batter with flour, eggs, sugar, salt and milk, baked in butter. But even better than the delicious treat is the story behind it:
It is generally agreed that the dish was first prepared for the Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph I (1830–1916). There are several stories. One apocryphal story involves the Emperor and his wife, Elisabeth of Bavaria, of the House of Wittelsbach. Obsessed with maintaining a minimal waistline, the Empress Elisabeth directed the royal chef to prepare only light desserts for her, much to the consternation and annoyance of her notoriously austere husband. Upon being presented with the chef’s confection, she found it too rich and refused to eat it. The exasperated Francis Joseph quipped, “Now let me see what "Schmarrn" our chef has cooked up”. It apparently met his approval as he finished his and even his wife’s serving. Thereafter, the dessert was called Kaiserschmarrn across the Empire.
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Lafayette Gingerbread: Per Saveur, according to tradition, this gingerbread was named after General Lafayette in the 1780s after George Washington's mother served him a piece, captivating him forever. Saveur also has a recipe.
Lamingtons: Per Joy of Baking , Lamingtons are very popular in Australia and consist of a small square of white cake (sponge, butter, or pound) that is dipped in a sweet chocolate icing and then rolled in desiccated coconut. I suspect Lord Lamington (Governor of Queensland from 1896 - 190l), their namesake, might be surprised at how popular these cakes have become. Joy of Baking also features a recipe.
Lane Cake: Per this site , Lane Cake is a quintessential Southern dessert, with a signature filling of a rich coconut and raisin mix. It has been around at least since the late 1800s, when Emma Rylander Lane, of Clayton, Alabama, won first prize with it at the Alabama State Fair. The Lane cake appeared in her cookbook in 1898, when it was called “Prize Cake.” Here's a recipe.
Leibniz-Keks: This German butter biscuit (similar to petit beurre biscuits) is named for philosopher and mathematician Leibniz, although as Wikipedia informs, ". The only connection between man and biscuit is that Leibniz was one of the more famous residents of Hanover, where the Bahlsen company is based."
Lindy Candy Bar: This candy bar was named for Charles Lindbergh, the famous pilot who was first to fly solo, non-stop, across the Atlantic Ocean. He also had another bar named after him: the "Winning Lindy."
Sally Lunn: Sweet, yeast-risen buns which are considered a British classic. They are traditionally served warm, split in half and spread generously with butter or cream. So who is Sally? Well, some claim that the chef who invented them in Bath, England was named Sally Lunn. Others claim that the name actually comes from the phrase "sol et lune", a French cake. Yet others claim that it is derived from the Alsatian bread solilmeme, a rich type of brioche. Whatever the true story is though, bet you'll enjoy this recipe (which can be translated).
Lussekatter (or, St. Lucia buns): These yeast-and-saffron buns are named for Saint Lucia of Syracuse (283–304), whose name day on December 13 was once considered the longest night of the year. Lucia means "light", and these buns certainly are a ray of shining sweetness on a cold, dark night. Here's a recipe.
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Madeleine: These tres-Frenchie sponge cake cookies are best known for their shape (usually a scalloped shell) and for their famous writeup in Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. Alas, which Madeleine inspired the name is a bit less clear. Per Wikipedia , some sources, including the New Oxford American Dictionary, say madeleines may have been named for a 19th century pastry cook, Madeleine Paulmier, but other sources have it that Madeleine Paulmier was a cook in the 18th century for Stanisław Leszczyński, whose son-in-law, Louis XV of France, named them for her. The Larousse Gastronomique offers two conflicting versions of the Madeleine's history. Want a recipe? How about Orange and Brown Butter madeleines, via Cannelle et Vanille?
Bain-Marie: This isn't a food, but it's a term often seen in sweet recipes: a bain-marie is a double boiler; it was initially developed for the practice of alchemy, but pretty early on it became evident that it's a great asset to baking too. But who is the Marie to whom the name can be attributed? According to Wikipedia , there are a few theories:
According to culinary writer Giuliano Bugialli, the term comes from the Italian bagno maria, named after Maria de'Cleofa, who developed the technique in Florence in the sixteenth century.
Alternatively, the device's invention has been popularly attributed to Mary the Jewess, an ancient alchemist traditionally supposed to have been Miriam, a sister of Moses.[citation needed] The name comes from the medieval-Latin term balneum (or balineum) Mariae—literally, Mary's bath—from which the French bain de Marie, or bain-marie, is derived.
According to The Jewish Alchemists, Maria the Jewess was an ancient alchemist who lived in Alexandria—although this would seem to contradict the tradition that she was Moses' sister: Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 334 BC, while Moses is thought to have lived around 1450-1200 BC.
Martha Washington's Cake: Also called the "Great Cake"--a behemoth which called for 40 eggs, 5 pounds of fruit, and so on, it's named for (duh) the first First Lady of the US, Martha Washington.
Poires Mary Garden: This dessert dish was created by Escoffier (who also created Peach Melba and several other dishes in honor of various famous ladies) for Mary Garden (1874–1967), a popular opera singer in Europe and the U.S. at the turn of the century.
Mary Jane: This peanut butter and molasses candy bar (alas, the one we never ate from our trick or treating bounty) was developed by Charles N. Miller in 1914; it's named after his favorite aunt.
Mars Bar: Think this chocolate bar is cosmically good? Well, you're right, but the name's inspiration isn't planetary: it comes from Frank C. Mars, whose mother taught him how to make candy at an early age and ultimately started the Mars candy company.
Massillon: This is a small French almond pastry is named for Jean-Baptiste Massillon (1663–1742), a famous preacher of his day who was, for a time, favored by Louis XIV (they later had their differences). The pastry originated in the town of Hyères, where Massillon was born, proud of their hometown hero. Alas, I was not able to easily find a recipe!
Peach Melba: A post-dinner dish of peaches and raspberry sauce accompanying vanilla ice cream. This sweet treat was invented by famous chef Chef Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel in the 1890s, after he heard the famous singer Nellie Melba performing at Covent Garden. Should you prefer sweet treats to sweet music, here's a recipe.
Mozart: Per Manna Cafe, "The composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) scored this ball of pistachio and almond marzipan with an outer layer of nougat coated with bitter chocolate in 1890 in Salzburg. Eat your heart out, Salieri!"
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Nadege Tart: This lemon curd tart is unique in that it is devoid of starch; it is named for Nadege Brossllet and a recipe can be found in Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Pie and Pastry Bible
Napoleon: Though few will argue that this treat, composed of cream and flaky pastry layers all topped with a decorative fondant icing, is extremely tasty, there is some argument over the name. Some say that this pastry it is named for the emperor; however, what is more likely is that it is actually named for the city Naples. To that point--in France, they don't even call them Napoleons, they call them mille-feuille. Here's a recipe.
Nesselrode Pudding (and Nesselrode Pie): This chestnut-rich (sometimes secretly supplemented with cauliflower!) confection takes its name from Russian diplomat Count Karl Robert von Nesselrode (1780–1862). As a pie, Nesselrode enjoyed a vogue in the New York area in the 1950s, but has all but disappeared. Read about my relentless search for the pie here.
Marshal Ney: Per Wikipedia , This is an elaborate Ranhofer dessert, comprised of molded tiers of meringue shells, vanilla custard, and marzipan, is named after Napoleon's Marshal Michel Ney (1769–1815), who led the retreat from Moscow and was a commander at Waterloo.
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Bath Oliver biscuits: These digestive biscuits (I know! How appealing!) were dreamed up by Dr. William Oliver (1695–1764) of Bath, England--two guesses as to where the name comes from. These biscuits aren't actually very sweet, but I really wanted something to bulk up (get it?) the "O" section of this list.
, this pastry is composed of two three-inch round biscuits, similar to ladyfingers, sandwiched together with chocolate pastry cream, brushed with apricot glaze, and completely covered with chocolate fondant.
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Pastilles: These flavored candylike tablets were named for and invented by Giovanni Pastilla, Italian confectioner to Marie de Medici.
Pâte à Panterelli: This early version of what would become Choux pastry is named for Panterelli, a chef for Catherine de Medici who was brought to France from Italy. He had a dough recipe which became known as Pâte à Panterelli. This is the dough that was altered and perfected to become what we now know as choux pastry--and anyone who has ever had a cream puff knows what an important service Panterelli provided to all of mankind.
Pavlova: This lovely and light fruit and meringue dessert is named after the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova (1881–1931), famous Russian ballerina; both Australia and New Zealand have claimed to be the places of invention, though it looks good for Australia in my opinion, as it is their national cake and all. One thing is for sure though: the ballerina only shared a "light as air" similarity with the dessert; I've heard it is unlikely she ever partook. Here's a recipe.
Praline: To clarify: we're talking about the French type of praline here, which is a caramelized almond confection-- Per Wikipedia, it takes its name from César de Choiseul, Count du Plessis-Praslin (1598–1675), by his officer of the table Lassagne, presented at the court of Louis XIII. The caramelized almond confection was transformed at some point in Louisiana to a pecan-based one (probably because of availablility?). Though it's not the authentic French version, Paula Deen's Pecan Praline recipe looks mighty good.
Toronchino Procope: Another Ranhofer confection! This ice cream dessert was named after the Sicilian Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli, whose Café Procope, which opened in Paris in 1686, is cited as the first flavored ice joint in the City of Lights!
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Queen Elizabeth Cake (Canada): What's the story behind this rich date-based cake? According to Practically Edible,
Apparently the recipe might have been sold, for 15 cents a copy, as a fund-raiser during the Second World War, and as Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was very popular in Canada and rallied people during the war, it may have been named in her honour there. It definitely appeared in war-time cookbooks during the 1940s. It re-appeared in Canadian cookbooks in 1953, for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and since then, due to its ease, has been a staple at country fairs since then. It is also known in the UK and in the States, though it's not as ubiquitous there as it is in Canada.
Here's a recipe.
Savarin: This is a yeast-raised sweet cake soaked in Kirsch or rum; it is named for the legendary chef Brillat-Savarin . Here's an interesting recipe!
Schillerlocken: These cream-filled pastry rolls are said to have been inspired by the curly hair of German poet Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805). Here's a recipe.
Crepes Suzette: This sweet and boozy crepe confection is undeniably delicious, but who the "Suzette" in question was is a bit of a mystery--as for my favorite story? According to The Old Foodie, "The favoured myth is that she was the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII), although he vehemently denied knowing anyone by that name (surprise! surprise!)." Here's a recipe.
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Talleyrand: This cherry-and-booze dish is named for epicurean French statesman Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838). An influential negotiator at the Congress of Vienna; Antonin Câreme worked for him for a time, and Talleyrand was instrumental in furthering his career; hence the bevy of dishes named after him. Here's a recipe.
Tarte Tatin: This upside-down tart can be made with a variety of different fillings; the style is sometimes called à la Demoiselles Tatin, after the two sisters who are said to have invented it, Stephine Tatin (1838–1917) and Caroline Tatin (1847–1911), who ran the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte Beuvron, France. As lore has it, Stephine allegedly invented the upside-down tart accidentally in the fall of 1898. The pastry in fact may be much older, but they gave it a name. Here's a recipe.
Shirley Temple: Per Wikipedia, A Shirley Temple (also known as a Grenadine Lemonade) is a non-alcoholic mixed drink made with ginger ale or Sprite or 7 Up and grenadine syrup garnished with maraschino cherries. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel at Waikīkī in Honolulu, Hawaii claims to have invented the Shirley Temple cocktail in the 1930s; it was named for the famous child actress Shirley Temple, who often visited the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Here's a recipe.
Alice B Toklas Brownies: The connection is legitimate, if tenuous. Her so-called "autobiography" had actually been largely written by Toklas' lifelong companion, Gertrude Stein, who died before its completion. According to this article , "With the deadline only a few months away, Toklas, then in her mid-70s, found herself half a book shy. So she began soliciting recipes from her artsy friends"--one of which was Brion Gysin's recipe for "Haschich Fudge". While the editors stateside removed the recipe, the British version didn't, and the media blitz began. An in a case of "you can't unring that bell", her name became associated with cannabis foods, most famously "Alice B. Toklas brownies" (or "Alice Toke-less" brownies) forever and ever amen.
Tootsie Rolls: To tell you the truth, I've never been exactly sure what Tootsie Rolls are, but they sure are sweet. They're named for Clara "Tootsie" Hirshfield, the small daughter of Leo Hirshfield, developer of the first paper-wrapped penny candy, in New York in 1896. Hey, if you have any leftover Tootsie Rolls from Halloween, why not try this recipe?
Tortoni or Biscuit Tortoni: This is a type of ice cream made with eggs and heavy cream, often containing chopped cherries or topped with minced almonds or crumbled macaroons. It is named for a gentleman named Tortoni, who is said to have invented the dish while working at the Parisian eatery Café Velloni. Later on he bought the place and renamed it the Café Tortoni. Here's a recipe.
Truman Pudding: Also called Bess Truman's Ozark Pudding, this fruit-and-nut pudding is served warm; it is said to have been one of Harry Truman's favorite recipes from wife Bess Truman's baking repertoire. Here's a recipe.
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Victoria Sponge or Sandwich Cake: This cake, which combines light sponge cake with cream and fruit, is named for Queen Victoria (1819–1901). Apparently, according to Wikipedia, many other dishes are named for the British Queen, including sole, eggs, salad, a garnish, several sauces, a cherry spice cake, a bombe, small tarts, and more. Here's a Victoria Sponge Cake recipe.
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Pears Wanamaker (also called poires Wanamaker): The only reference I could find to this dish was in a 1971 issue of New York Magazine! It is said that the dish was likely named for the Philadelphia merchant family Wanamaker, particularly the son Rodman Wanamaker (1863–1928) seems most likely to be the inspiration for this dish; he went to Paris in 1889 to oversee the Paris branch of their department store. When he returned to the U.S. in 1899, he kept his Paris home and contacts (and pear recipes?).
Washington Pie: A cream pie which takes its name from George Washington--you know, that guy. Here's a recipe!
Wibele: These pastries are made of egg white, vanilla sugar, flour and confectioners' sugar and shaped like figure-eights; they are named after Jakob Christian Carl Wibel, who is said to have invented it in 1763 in Langenburg, Germany. If you happen to be in Germany, it looks like you could probably get some wibele here!
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Which American television drama series, that originally aired between 2001 - 2005, was set in 'Fisher & Sons Funeral Home'? | Seeking Sweetness in Everyday Life - CakeSpy - Sweet Celebrities: A List of Pastries and Desserts Named After People
Sweet Celebrities: A List of Pastries and Desserts Named After People
Friday, November 13, 2009
Having a food named after you seems like the ultimate legacy--until you consider someone like Gustave Doré, a French illustrator of the 19th century for whom the dish Estomacs de dinde à la Gustave Doré was named. (Hint: estomac means stomach, and dinde means turkey. Yeah.) What follows is a much sweeter list of legacies: a collection of desserts named after people (both real, and fictional).
CakeSpy Note: How was this list made? I started by first consulting Wikipedia's list of Foods Named After People , (which also served as the inspiration for this list); then I consulted other various sources and added a number of other desserts named after people which I discovered; then, each entry was expanded to include a description, interesting stories (and in some cases myth-busters!), and where possible, recipes. If you've got one to add, please leave a comment or send me an email!
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Big Hearted Al Candy Bar: Alas you won't find this one in drugstores: it was a short-lived confection named after an early-20th-century presidential candidate Al Smith (1873–1944).
Ali Babas: Alas, it's not the fictional character that this one is named after: per Wikipedia, though, "The original form of the baba was similar to the babka, a tall cylindrical yeast cake. The name means 'old woman' or 'grandmother' in the Slavic languages, and has nothing to do with Ali Baba; babka is a diminutive of the same word."
Alexandertorte: What's for sure is that this treat consists of pastry strips filled with raspberry preserves. Who invented it is a little hazier: Alexander I was gourmet Russian tsar who employed Antonin Carême. Per this site, Finland claims the creation, allegedly by Swiss pastry chefs in Helsinki in 1818, in anticipation of the tsar's visit there. Here's a recipe.
Gâteau Alexandra: Per Wikipedia , like her husband Edward VII, Alexandra of Denmark (1844–1925) was honored by an assortment of foods named after her when she was Princess of Wales and Queen. Besides this chocolate cake, there is consommé Alexandra, soup, sole, chicken quail, and various meat dishes.
Amundsen's Dessert: Roald Amundsen (1872–1928) was a great Norwegian polar explorer who ultimately met his end in an Arctic plane crash--allegedly he was served a was served this dessert before departing on his final flight, but I haven't been able to locate a recipe.
Anadama Bread: There are several legends behind this bread (including a family that claims ownership ), so I'm going to go with my favorite one: "A fisherman, angry with his wife, Anna, for serving him nothing but cornmeal and molasses, one day adds flour and yeast to his porridge and eats the resultant bread, while cursing, 'Anna, damn her.' " Oh Anna, you may have been cursed, but the bread is so sweet, and delicious when liberally buttered. Here's a recipe from the wonderful Melissa Clark.
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Lady Baltimore Cake: Per What's Cooking America, A Southern specialty that in the present day has many recipe variations. A favorite wedding cake, this mountainous cake is a white cake topped with a boiled or "Seven Minute Frosting." What makes the cake so distinctive is the combination of chopped nuts and dried or candied fruits in its frosting. It takes its name from the main character in Owen Wister's Lady Baltimore
. For more lore and a vintage recipe, visit The Old Foodie .
Battenberg cake (also called window cake): Per Wikipedia: This is a sponge cake which, when cut in cross section, displays a distinctive two-by-two check pattern alternately colored pink and yellow. The cake is covered in marzipan and, when sliced, the characteristic checks are exposed to view. These coloured sections are made by dying half of the cake mixture pink, and half yellow, then cutting each resultant sponge into two long, uniform cuboids, and joining them together with apricot jam, to form one cake. Though the origins of the name are not clear, it is rumored that the cake was created in honor of the 1884 marriage of Queen Victoria's grand-daughter to Prince Battenburg, with each of the four squares representing each of the four Battenburg Princes: Louis, Alexander, Henry and Francis Joseph. Here's a recipe.
Sarah Bernhardt Cakes: This sweet seems to waver between cookie and cake, but generally consists of a rich, nutty filling enrobed in chocolate. Either way, they take their name from famous French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923). Here's a recipe.
Betty: A Betty (or frequently, Apple Brown Betty) is a dessert which consists of a baked pudding made with layers of sweetened and spiced fruit (commonly apples) and buttered bread crumbs. It is usually served with a lemon sauce or whipped cream. The thing I can't tell you is who Betty is (do you know?); however, I can share a recipe I found.
Bismarck: Is the filled doughnut named for Otto Von Bismarck? Some say yes, some say no, but I like the explanation on Joe Pastry :
Some claim Bismarcks are called Bismarcks because Otto von Bismarck was fond of them. There's really no proof of this, since the only thing Bismarck was actually known to have an appetite for were small Northern European nation states. My guess is that the Bismarck got its name not because the Iron Chancellor loved to eat them, but because, being fairly plump pieces of pastry, they rather resembled him (he was not a thin man). But who really knows?
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Charlotte Corday: This ice cream dessert, dreamed up by Charles Ranhofer of Delmonico's, is named after Charlotte Corday (1768–1793), the assassin of the radical Jean-Paul Marat. The directions, from Ranhofer's The Epicurean Part Two
are as follows:
Obtain some round crimped paper cases; cover the bottoms and sides with uncooked Andalusian ice cream and fill the centers with biscuit glacé preparation with vanilla, adding a little maraschino to it; also put in some candied orange peel cut in exceedingly thin fillets; powder the tops with pulverized macaroons and cover this with Andalusian ice cream and candied fruits. Lay them in a freezing box for an hour to finish freezing.
Apple Charlotte: Per What's Cooking America , This is a golden-crusted dessert made by baking a thick apple compote in a mold lined with buttered bread. This dessert was originally created as a way to use leftover or stale bread. Some historians think that this sweet dish took its name from Queen Charlotte, known as being a supporter of apple growers.
Charlotte Russe: A cold dessert of Bavarian cream set in a mold lined with ladyfingers; it was invented by the French chef Marie Antoine Carême (1784–1833), who either named it in honor of his Russian employer Czar Alexander I ("Russe" being the French equivalent of the adjective, "Russian") or Queen Charlotte (1744–1818), wife of George III.
Chiboust cream: This heavenly substantce is a crème pâtissière (pastry cream) lightened with whipped cream or stiffly beaten egg whites. It is eponymously titled for the French pastry chef Chiboust who invented it in the 1840s, intending to use it to fill his Gâteau Saint-Honoré. The filling is also sometimes called Saint-Honoré cream, and I have also seen cream filled pastries called simply Chiboust. Check out this recipe which includes vanilla chiboust (along with caramelized bananas and doughnuts? Booyea!).
Peach pudding à la Cleveland: Another dish by Charles Ranhofer, named for Grover Cleveland (1837–1908), 22nd and 24th U.S. president--although Cleveland was reputed to not much like French food.
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Little Debbie Cakes: Oh, to have an entire line of snack cakes named after you! Such is the case of the Little Debbie Brand--the story goes as follows (via the Little Debbie website):
In 1960, McKee Foods founder O.D. McKee was trying to come up with a catchy name for their new family-pack cartons of snack cakes. Packaging supplier Bob Mosher suggested using a family member's name. Thinking of what could be a good fit for the brand, O.D. arrived at the name of his 4-year-old granddaughter Debbie. Inspired by a photo of Debbie in play clothes and her favorite straw hat, he decided to use the name Little Debbie® and the image of her on the logo. Not until the first cartons were being printed did Debbie's parents, Ellsworth and Sharon McKee, discover that their daughter was the namesake of the new brand.
Oh, and if you want more Little Debbie fun, check this out.
Desdemona: Per The International Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries, and Confections: A Comprehensive Guide
This is a pastry composed of two 3-inch round biscuits sandwiched together with vanilla whipped cream, brushed with apricot glaze, and covered in a kirsch-flavored fondant; it is named after the wife of Othello in the Shakespeare play. I only wish I had a recipe!
Dione's Chocolate Roll: This very chocolatey jellyroll style cake was the single dessert served at onetime NYC eatery The Egg Basket, and was named for proprietress Dionne Lucas. A recipe can be found in Maida Heatter's Great Desserts, and a variation can be found here.
Doboschtorte or Dobostorta: Per Wikipedia, It is a five-layer sponge cake, layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with thin caramel slices. The sides of the cake are sometimes coated with ground hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts or almonds but the original cake is without coat, since it was a slice of a big cake. It is named for its creator, Hungarian pastry chef Josef Dobos. Just look at this recipe.
Hello Dolly Bars: I'll be honest. I don't know the story behind the name of these bars, which also go by "Seven Layer Bars"--but I love the taste enough to include them in this roundup. Here's a recipe.
Lorna Doone: This packaged shortbread cookie made by Nabisco takes its name from the character of the same name in the novel Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor ( read more here ). Want to try to make your own at home? Try this recipe.
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Mamie Eisenhower fudge: This rich, creamy fudge (which is also called "Million Dollar Fudge") takes its name from the first lady and the wife of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Mamie D. Eisenhower. It was her contribution to a 1950's collection of recipes published by Women's National Press Club of Washington, D.C. Here's the recipe as it appeared in that book.
Elvis: I am going to go ahead and say that the banana, peanut butter and fluff combination is associated enough with Elvis to make the list. Uses for the flavor combination range from his favorite sandwich to pies and cakes. Here's just one wonderful recipe.
Essie's Cookies: This recipe, which I found in Betty Crocker's Cooky Book
, is a simple rolled cookie with almond extract; as to who Essie is, I haven't the faintest, but here's a recipe.
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Bananas Foster: This dish which beautifully melds bananas, booze, and fire, is named after Richard Foster, regular customer and friend of New Orleans restaurant Brennan's owner, which is where the dish originated. Here's the Brennan's recipe!
Frangipane: This is an almond pastry filling and tart, named for Marquis Muzio Frangipani, a 16th-century Italian of the Frangipane family (also known as Cesar Frangipani) living in Paris. He also invented a well-known bitter-almond scented glove perfume, used by Louis XIII. As for a recipe? How 'bout an apricot, cherry, and frangipane tart?
Joe Frogger: These molasses-rich cookies take their name from "Black Joe", whose partner, Lucretia Brown, invented the recipe. Find a recipe and more lore here.
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Cherry Garcia ice cream: This is a cherry and chocolate flake-flecked ice cream homage to Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead by Ben & Jerry. And, there's actually a recipe to make it yourself at home!
Garibaldi biscuits: These raisin or currant-filled English biscuits were named for Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882), an Italian patriot and leader of the drive to unite Italy, after his wildly popular visit to England in 1864. (Per Wikipedia, There is also a French demi-glâce sauce with mustard and anchovies, and a consommé named after him.)
German chocolate cake: It's named after a good German, but he wasn't actually German. This chocolate and coconut throwback to the 1950's to Sam German, who developed Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate (which falls somewhere between milk and semi-sweet) in 1852. Here's a recipe.
Gianduja: Per Wikipedia , this is a sweet chocolate containing about 30% hazelnut paste, invented in Turin by Caffarel and Prochet in 1852. It takes its name from Gianduja, a Carnival and marionette character who represents the archetypal Piedmontese, the Italian region where hazelnut confectionery is common. Here's a recipe from Dana Treat for gianduja mousse!
Graham crackers: These s'more-mobiles take their name from Graham flour, which in turn takes its name from Sylvester Graham, 19th-century American Presbyterian minister and proponent of a puritan lifestyle based on teetotalling, vegetarianism, and whole wheat, who probably twists uncomfortably in his grave every time a deliciously chocolatey, marshmallowy s'more is devoured. Remember when CakeSpy introduced the world to S'moreos?
Bombe Grimaldi: Per Wikipedia, this kümmel -flavored frozen dessert probably named for a late-19th-century member or relative of Monaco's royal Grimaldi family. There is also an apple flan Grimaldi. However, I don't think either of these are related to the pizza .
Gundel Palacsinta: This is a crêpe-like pancake stuffed with rum-infused raisins and nuts and served with a chocolate-rum sauce, named for (and invented by) Hungarian chef Gundel Károly. Recipe? This one sounds good to me .
Gypsy Bar: Apparently there was a candy bar named after Gypsy Rose Lee (you know, the one that the musical was based on!). What flavor is it? Sorry friends, I am not sure.
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Hamantash (or Hamantashen): A small pastry allegedly named for the hat of the cruel Persian official outwitted by Queen Esther and hanged, Haman, in the Book of Esther. Hamentashen are traditionally eaten at Purim. You can read more here and find a recipe here!
Heath bar: This American "English toffee" bar is named for brothers Bayard and Everett Heath, Illinois confectioners who developed it in the 1920s and eventually turned the local favorite into a nationally popular candy bar. Here's a homemade Heath Bar recipe!
Oh Henry!: This candy bar, introduced by the Williamson Candy Company in Chicago, 1920, was named for a young man who frequented the company store and was often called (or perhaps admonished?) with said phrase.
Hernani Biscuit: Another Charles Ranhofer special, comprised of a Savoy biscuit with marmalade, fondant, chocolate and pastilles; possibly named for the rascal in Victor Hugo's play .
Hershey Bar: To say that Hershey is "just a chocolate bar" would be a vast understatement. It's a company, a product...and a town! And it is all named for the guy who started it all, Milton S. Hershey, who developed the bar in 1900. Read more here.
Hiroko: This raspberry Grand Marnier cream cake tart (cake and tart! at once!) takes its name from pastry chef Hiroko Ogawa; a recipe can be found in Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Pie and Pastry Bible
.
Gâteau Saint-Honoré: Per Wikipedia ,
this dessert is a circle of puff pastry at its base with a ring of pâte à choux piped on the outer edge. After the base is baked small cream puffs are dipped in caramelized sugar and attached side by side on top of the circle of the pâte à choux. This base is traditionally filled with crème chiboust and finished with whipped cream using a special St. Honore piping tip. The pastry is named for the French patron saint of bakers, confectioners, and pastry chefs, Saint Honoré or Honorius (d. 653), Bishop of Amiens. The pastry chef Chiboust (see Chiboust cream) is thought to have invented it in his Paris shop in 1846.
Houdini Bar: I am not sure about the origins of this delicious cream cheese, yellow cake, nut and coconut bar cookie, but I discovered it fairly recently; it is said to be named because the bars are so delicious they disappear as quickly as the famous magician. Here's the recipe.
Humboldt pudding: Another Ranhofer special, an elaborate molded pudding named after Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), the famous explorer and influential naturalist.
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Iago: Per The International Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries, and Confections: A Comprehensive Guide
these pastries are composed of two 2-inch round biscuits sandwiched together with coffee-flavored pastry cream, brushed with apricot glaze, and covered in coffee-flavored and colored fondant. They take their name from the villain in Shakespeare's Othello.
It Bar: The connection is perhaps indirect, but this candy bar of yesteryear took its name after "It" girl Clara Bow.
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Cousin Jack Cookies: This name is more symbolic, a "Cousin Jack" being a catchall term to describe the working-class miner immigrants from Cornish who settled in the midwest--but these drop cookies with currants are worth noting. Here's a recipe.
Apricots with rice à la Jefferson: Another Ranhofer delight! At the time of its invention, Ranhofer used a recently developed strain of Texas rice. It was aptly named, as apparently (per Wikipedia) Jefferson was very interested in improving American rice culture.
Johnnycake: These corn cakes were not sweet, but they were some of the earliest pancakes in the USA! However, to do some myth-busting, they aren't actually named for a guy named Johnny. Per What's Cooking America ,
The origin of the name johnnycakes (jonnycakes) is something of a mystery and probably has nothing to do with the name John. They were also called journey cakes because they could be carried on long trips in saddlebags and baked along the way. Some historians think that they were originally called Shawnee cakes and that the colonists slurred the words, pronouncing it as johnnycakes. Historians also think that "janiken," an American Indian word meant "corn cake," could possibly be the origin.
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Kaiserschmarrn: Per Wikipedia, this is a light, caramelized pancake made from a sweet batter with flour, eggs, sugar, salt and milk, baked in butter. But even better than the delicious treat is the story behind it:
It is generally agreed that the dish was first prepared for the Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph I (1830–1916). There are several stories. One apocryphal story involves the Emperor and his wife, Elisabeth of Bavaria, of the House of Wittelsbach. Obsessed with maintaining a minimal waistline, the Empress Elisabeth directed the royal chef to prepare only light desserts for her, much to the consternation and annoyance of her notoriously austere husband. Upon being presented with the chef’s confection, she found it too rich and refused to eat it. The exasperated Francis Joseph quipped, “Now let me see what "Schmarrn" our chef has cooked up”. It apparently met his approval as he finished his and even his wife’s serving. Thereafter, the dessert was called Kaiserschmarrn across the Empire.
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Lafayette Gingerbread: Per Saveur, according to tradition, this gingerbread was named after General Lafayette in the 1780s after George Washington's mother served him a piece, captivating him forever. Saveur also has a recipe.
Lamingtons: Per Joy of Baking , Lamingtons are very popular in Australia and consist of a small square of white cake (sponge, butter, or pound) that is dipped in a sweet chocolate icing and then rolled in desiccated coconut. I suspect Lord Lamington (Governor of Queensland from 1896 - 190l), their namesake, might be surprised at how popular these cakes have become. Joy of Baking also features a recipe.
Lane Cake: Per this site , Lane Cake is a quintessential Southern dessert, with a signature filling of a rich coconut and raisin mix. It has been around at least since the late 1800s, when Emma Rylander Lane, of Clayton, Alabama, won first prize with it at the Alabama State Fair. The Lane cake appeared in her cookbook in 1898, when it was called “Prize Cake.” Here's a recipe.
Leibniz-Keks: This German butter biscuit (similar to petit beurre biscuits) is named for philosopher and mathematician Leibniz, although as Wikipedia informs, ". The only connection between man and biscuit is that Leibniz was one of the more famous residents of Hanover, where the Bahlsen company is based."
Lindy Candy Bar: This candy bar was named for Charles Lindbergh, the famous pilot who was first to fly solo, non-stop, across the Atlantic Ocean. He also had another bar named after him: the "Winning Lindy."
Sally Lunn: Sweet, yeast-risen buns which are considered a British classic. They are traditionally served warm, split in half and spread generously with butter or cream. So who is Sally? Well, some claim that the chef who invented them in Bath, England was named Sally Lunn. Others claim that the name actually comes from the phrase "sol et lune", a French cake. Yet others claim that it is derived from the Alsatian bread solilmeme, a rich type of brioche. Whatever the true story is though, bet you'll enjoy this recipe (which can be translated).
Lussekatter (or, St. Lucia buns): These yeast-and-saffron buns are named for Saint Lucia of Syracuse (283–304), whose name day on December 13 was once considered the longest night of the year. Lucia means "light", and these buns certainly are a ray of shining sweetness on a cold, dark night. Here's a recipe.
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Madeleine: These tres-Frenchie sponge cake cookies are best known for their shape (usually a scalloped shell) and for their famous writeup in Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. Alas, which Madeleine inspired the name is a bit less clear. Per Wikipedia , some sources, including the New Oxford American Dictionary, say madeleines may have been named for a 19th century pastry cook, Madeleine Paulmier, but other sources have it that Madeleine Paulmier was a cook in the 18th century for Stanisław Leszczyński, whose son-in-law, Louis XV of France, named them for her. The Larousse Gastronomique offers two conflicting versions of the Madeleine's history. Want a recipe? How about Orange and Brown Butter madeleines, via Cannelle et Vanille?
Bain-Marie: This isn't a food, but it's a term often seen in sweet recipes: a bain-marie is a double boiler; it was initially developed for the practice of alchemy, but pretty early on it became evident that it's a great asset to baking too. But who is the Marie to whom the name can be attributed? According to Wikipedia , there are a few theories:
According to culinary writer Giuliano Bugialli, the term comes from the Italian bagno maria, named after Maria de'Cleofa, who developed the technique in Florence in the sixteenth century.
Alternatively, the device's invention has been popularly attributed to Mary the Jewess, an ancient alchemist traditionally supposed to have been Miriam, a sister of Moses.[citation needed] The name comes from the medieval-Latin term balneum (or balineum) Mariae—literally, Mary's bath—from which the French bain de Marie, or bain-marie, is derived.
According to The Jewish Alchemists, Maria the Jewess was an ancient alchemist who lived in Alexandria—although this would seem to contradict the tradition that she was Moses' sister: Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 334 BC, while Moses is thought to have lived around 1450-1200 BC.
Martha Washington's Cake: Also called the "Great Cake"--a behemoth which called for 40 eggs, 5 pounds of fruit, and so on, it's named for (duh) the first First Lady of the US, Martha Washington.
Poires Mary Garden: This dessert dish was created by Escoffier (who also created Peach Melba and several other dishes in honor of various famous ladies) for Mary Garden (1874–1967), a popular opera singer in Europe and the U.S. at the turn of the century.
Mary Jane: This peanut butter and molasses candy bar (alas, the one we never ate from our trick or treating bounty) was developed by Charles N. Miller in 1914; it's named after his favorite aunt.
Mars Bar: Think this chocolate bar is cosmically good? Well, you're right, but the name's inspiration isn't planetary: it comes from Frank C. Mars, whose mother taught him how to make candy at an early age and ultimately started the Mars candy company.
Massillon: This is a small French almond pastry is named for Jean-Baptiste Massillon (1663–1742), a famous preacher of his day who was, for a time, favored by Louis XIV (they later had their differences). The pastry originated in the town of Hyères, where Massillon was born, proud of their hometown hero. Alas, I was not able to easily find a recipe!
Peach Melba: A post-dinner dish of peaches and raspberry sauce accompanying vanilla ice cream. This sweet treat was invented by famous chef Chef Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel in the 1890s, after he heard the famous singer Nellie Melba performing at Covent Garden. Should you prefer sweet treats to sweet music, here's a recipe.
Mozart: Per Manna Cafe, "The composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) scored this ball of pistachio and almond marzipan with an outer layer of nougat coated with bitter chocolate in 1890 in Salzburg. Eat your heart out, Salieri!"
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Nadege Tart: This lemon curd tart is unique in that it is devoid of starch; it is named for Nadege Brossllet and a recipe can be found in Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Pie and Pastry Bible
Napoleon: Though few will argue that this treat, composed of cream and flaky pastry layers all topped with a decorative fondant icing, is extremely tasty, there is some argument over the name. Some say that this pastry it is named for the emperor; however, what is more likely is that it is actually named for the city Naples. To that point--in France, they don't even call them Napoleons, they call them mille-feuille. Here's a recipe.
Nesselrode Pudding (and Nesselrode Pie): This chestnut-rich (sometimes secretly supplemented with cauliflower!) confection takes its name from Russian diplomat Count Karl Robert von Nesselrode (1780–1862). As a pie, Nesselrode enjoyed a vogue in the New York area in the 1950s, but has all but disappeared. Read about my relentless search for the pie here.
Marshal Ney: Per Wikipedia , This is an elaborate Ranhofer dessert, comprised of molded tiers of meringue shells, vanilla custard, and marzipan, is named after Napoleon's Marshal Michel Ney (1769–1815), who led the retreat from Moscow and was a commander at Waterloo.
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Bath Oliver biscuits: These digestive biscuits (I know! How appealing!) were dreamed up by Dr. William Oliver (1695–1764) of Bath, England--two guesses as to where the name comes from. These biscuits aren't actually very sweet, but I really wanted something to bulk up (get it?) the "O" section of this list.
, this pastry is composed of two three-inch round biscuits, similar to ladyfingers, sandwiched together with chocolate pastry cream, brushed with apricot glaze, and completely covered with chocolate fondant.
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Pastilles: These flavored candylike tablets were named for and invented by Giovanni Pastilla, Italian confectioner to Marie de Medici.
Pâte à Panterelli: This early version of what would become Choux pastry is named for Panterelli, a chef for Catherine de Medici who was brought to France from Italy. He had a dough recipe which became known as Pâte à Panterelli. This is the dough that was altered and perfected to become what we now know as choux pastry--and anyone who has ever had a cream puff knows what an important service Panterelli provided to all of mankind.
Pavlova: This lovely and light fruit and meringue dessert is named after the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova (1881–1931), famous Russian ballerina; both Australia and New Zealand have claimed to be the places of invention, though it looks good for Australia in my opinion, as it is their national cake and all. One thing is for sure though: the ballerina only shared a "light as air" similarity with the dessert; I've heard it is unlikely she ever partook. Here's a recipe.
Praline: To clarify: we're talking about the French type of praline here, which is a caramelized almond confection-- Per Wikipedia, it takes its name from César de Choiseul, Count du Plessis-Praslin (1598–1675), by his officer of the table Lassagne, presented at the court of Louis XIII. The caramelized almond confection was transformed at some point in Louisiana to a pecan-based one (probably because of availablility?). Though it's not the authentic French version, Paula Deen's Pecan Praline recipe looks mighty good.
Toronchino Procope: Another Ranhofer confection! This ice cream dessert was named after the Sicilian Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli, whose Café Procope, which opened in Paris in 1686, is cited as the first flavored ice joint in the City of Lights!
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Queen Elizabeth Cake (Canada): What's the story behind this rich date-based cake? According to Practically Edible,
Apparently the recipe might have been sold, for 15 cents a copy, as a fund-raiser during the Second World War, and as Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was very popular in Canada and rallied people during the war, it may have been named in her honour there. It definitely appeared in war-time cookbooks during the 1940s. It re-appeared in Canadian cookbooks in 1953, for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and since then, due to its ease, has been a staple at country fairs since then. It is also known in the UK and in the States, though it's not as ubiquitous there as it is in Canada.
Here's a recipe.
Savarin: This is a yeast-raised sweet cake soaked in Kirsch or rum; it is named for the legendary chef Brillat-Savarin . Here's an interesting recipe!
Schillerlocken: These cream-filled pastry rolls are said to have been inspired by the curly hair of German poet Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805). Here's a recipe.
Crepes Suzette: This sweet and boozy crepe confection is undeniably delicious, but who the "Suzette" in question was is a bit of a mystery--as for my favorite story? According to The Old Foodie, "The favoured myth is that she was the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII), although he vehemently denied knowing anyone by that name (surprise! surprise!)." Here's a recipe.
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Talleyrand: This cherry-and-booze dish is named for epicurean French statesman Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838). An influential negotiator at the Congress of Vienna; Antonin Câreme worked for him for a time, and Talleyrand was instrumental in furthering his career; hence the bevy of dishes named after him. Here's a recipe.
Tarte Tatin: This upside-down tart can be made with a variety of different fillings; the style is sometimes called à la Demoiselles Tatin, after the two sisters who are said to have invented it, Stephine Tatin (1838–1917) and Caroline Tatin (1847–1911), who ran the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte Beuvron, France. As lore has it, Stephine allegedly invented the upside-down tart accidentally in the fall of 1898. The pastry in fact may be much older, but they gave it a name. Here's a recipe.
Shirley Temple: Per Wikipedia, A Shirley Temple (also known as a Grenadine Lemonade) is a non-alcoholic mixed drink made with ginger ale or Sprite or 7 Up and grenadine syrup garnished with maraschino cherries. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel at Waikīkī in Honolulu, Hawaii claims to have invented the Shirley Temple cocktail in the 1930s; it was named for the famous child actress Shirley Temple, who often visited the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Here's a recipe.
Alice B Toklas Brownies: The connection is legitimate, if tenuous. Her so-called "autobiography" had actually been largely written by Toklas' lifelong companion, Gertrude Stein, who died before its completion. According to this article , "With the deadline only a few months away, Toklas, then in her mid-70s, found herself half a book shy. So she began soliciting recipes from her artsy friends"--one of which was Brion Gysin's recipe for "Haschich Fudge". While the editors stateside removed the recipe, the British version didn't, and the media blitz began. An in a case of "you can't unring that bell", her name became associated with cannabis foods, most famously "Alice B. Toklas brownies" (or "Alice Toke-less" brownies) forever and ever amen.
Tootsie Rolls: To tell you the truth, I've never been exactly sure what Tootsie Rolls are, but they sure are sweet. They're named for Clara "Tootsie" Hirshfield, the small daughter of Leo Hirshfield, developer of the first paper-wrapped penny candy, in New York in 1896. Hey, if you have any leftover Tootsie Rolls from Halloween, why not try this recipe?
Tortoni or Biscuit Tortoni: This is a type of ice cream made with eggs and heavy cream, often containing chopped cherries or topped with minced almonds or crumbled macaroons. It is named for a gentleman named Tortoni, who is said to have invented the dish while working at the Parisian eatery Café Velloni. Later on he bought the place and renamed it the Café Tortoni. Here's a recipe.
Truman Pudding: Also called Bess Truman's Ozark Pudding, this fruit-and-nut pudding is served warm; it is said to have been one of Harry Truman's favorite recipes from wife Bess Truman's baking repertoire. Here's a recipe.
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Victoria Sponge or Sandwich Cake: This cake, which combines light sponge cake with cream and fruit, is named for Queen Victoria (1819–1901). Apparently, according to Wikipedia, many other dishes are named for the British Queen, including sole, eggs, salad, a garnish, several sauces, a cherry spice cake, a bombe, small tarts, and more. Here's a Victoria Sponge Cake recipe.
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Pears Wanamaker (also called poires Wanamaker): The only reference I could find to this dish was in a 1971 issue of New York Magazine! It is said that the dish was likely named for the Philadelphia merchant family Wanamaker, particularly the son Rodman Wanamaker (1863–1928) seems most likely to be the inspiration for this dish; he went to Paris in 1889 to oversee the Paris branch of their department store. When he returned to the U.S. in 1899, he kept his Paris home and contacts (and pear recipes?).
Washington Pie: A cream pie which takes its name from George Washington--you know, that guy. Here's a recipe!
Wibele: These pastries are made of egg white, vanilla sugar, flour and confectioners' sugar and shaped like figure-eights; they are named after Jakob Christian Carl Wibel, who is said to have invented it in 1763 in Langenburg, Germany. If you happen to be in Germany, it looks like you could probably get some wibele here!
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Which rich sauce made fromegg yolks, butter, shallots, herbs and spices, is named after a region of south-west France? | History of Sauces, Whats Cooking America
There are Five Foundation Sauces or Basic Sauces
Grandes Sauces or Sayces Meres
Two of them have a record of two hundred years behind them; they are the “bechamelle” and the “mayonnaise”. They have lasted so long, not only because they are very good, but also because they are so adaptable and provide a fine basis for a considerable number of other sauces.
The other three, which also date back to the 18th century, are the “veloute,” the “brune,” and the “blonde.” These five sauces still provide the basis for making of many modern sauces, but no longer of most of them.
Modern sauces may be divided into two classes: the “Careme” and “Escoffier” classes. Among the faithful, in the great kitchen of the world, Escoffier is to Careme what the New Testament is to the Old. See “Mother Sauces” for descriptions of the five basic sauces.
Aioli (eye-YO-lee) – Aioli is a thick garlic sauce used in the cooking of Provence, France, and of Catalonia in Spain. It is often compared to mayonnaise in its texture, but it is not actual mayonnaise. It is though by culinary historians that Aioli is a Roman sauce, the one the Romans called “aleatum” made of garlic and oil.
History: The first apparent written mention of a sauce resembling aioli was by Pliny the Elder (23-79 A.D.), the Roman procurator in Tarragona (a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain.) He writes about garlic (Latin term: aleatum) in his first century book Naturalis Historia. Information below by Peter Hertzmann from his la carte website :
Natural History (Naturalis Historia) is an encyclopedia published around AD 77–79 by Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD). It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day and purports to cover all ancient knowledge.
Whether garlic was introduced to France by the Romans, brought back to France during the crusades, or a native of French soil is not known for certain. (I think it was introduced by the Romans.) Pliny the Elder discusses garlic at some length in his work Naturalis Historia, published in the year 77. He states that it “is generally supposed, in the country more particularly, to be a good specific for numerous maladies.”
Later, in a chapter entitled “Garlic: Sixty-One Remedies,” Pliny writes, “Garlic has very powerful properties, and is of great utility to persons on changes of water or locality. The very smell of it drives away serpents and scorpions, and, according to what some persons say, it is a cure for wounds made by every kind of wild beast, whether taken with the drink or food, or applied topically…. Pliny does not discuss the use of garlic as food, he does comment extensively, however, on how to best grow garlic.
Bearnaise sauce (bair-naz) – It is a variation of hollandaise sauce. White wine or vinegar, diced shallots, tarragon, and peppercorns are cooked together and reduced and sieved and then added to hollandaise sauce. The spice tarragon is what gives it a distinctive taste. The sauce is served with beef and some shellfish.
History: Chef Jules Colette at the Paris restaurant called Le Pavillon Henri IV in the 19th century invented Brnaise sauce in Paris, France. It was named Brnaise in Henry’s honor as he was born in Bearn, France (a region in the Pyreness mountain range in southwest France). It is said that every chef at the restaurant tried to claim the recipe as his own.
Bechamel Sauce (bay-shah-mel) – As the housewife in the 17th Century did not have the luxury of modern refrigeration, they were wary of using milk in their recipes. Peddlers were known to sell watered down or rancid produce. Basically, only the rich or royalty could use milk in their sauces.
In France, it is one of the four basic sauces called “meres” or “mother sauces” from which all other sauces derive. It is also know as “white sauce.” It is a smooth, white sauce made from a roux made with flour, boiled milk, and butter. It is usually served with white meats, eggs, and vegetables. It forms the basis of many other sauces.
History: There are four theories on the origin of Bhamel Sauce:
The Italian version of who created this sauce is that it was created in the 14th century and was introduced by the Italian chefs of Catherine de Medici (1519-1589), the Italian-born Queen of France. In 1533, as part of an Italian-French dynastic alliance, Catherine was married to Henri, Duke of Orleans (the future King Henri II of France. It is because of the Italian cooks and pastry makers who followed her to France that the French came to know the taste of Italian cooking that they introduced to the French court. Antonin Careme (1784-1833), celebrated chef and author, wrote in 1822: “The cooks of the second half of the 1700’s came to know the taste of Italian cooking that Catherine de’Medici introduced to the French court.”
Bechamel Sauce was invented by Duke Philippe De Mornay (1549-1623), Governor of Saumur, and Lord of the Plessis Marly in the 1600s. Bechamel Sauce is a variation of the basic white sauce of Mornay. He is also credited with being the creator of Mornay Sauce, Sauce Chasseur, Sauce Lyonnaise, and Sauce Porto.
Marquis Louis de Bechamel (1603–1703), a 17th century financier who held the honorary post of chief steward of King Louis XIV’s (1643-1715) household, is also said to have invented Bechamel Sauce when trying to come up with a new way of serving and eating dried cod. There are no historical records to verify that he was a gourmet, a cook, or the inventor of Bechamel Sauce. The 17th century Duke d’Escars supposedly is credited with stating: “That fellow Bechameil has all the luck! I was serving breast of chicken a la creme more than 20 years before he was born, but I have never had the chance of giving my name to even the most modest sauce.”
It is more likely that Chef Francois Pierre de la Varenne (1615-1678) created Bechamel Sauce. He was a court chef during King Louis XIV’s (1643-1715) reign, during the same time that Bechamel was there. He is often cited as being the founder of haute cuisine (which would define classic French cuisine). La Varenne wrote Le Cuisinier Francois (The True French Cook), which included Bechamel Sauce. It is thought that he dedicated it to Bechamel as a compliment. La Varenne recipes used roux made from flour and butter (or other animal fat) instead of using bread as a thickener for sauces.
Chasseur Sauce – Chasseur is French for hunter. It is a hunter-style brown sauce consisting of mushrooms, shallots, and white wine (sometimes tomatoes and parsley). It is most often served with game and other meats. Chasseur, or “Hunter Style” was meant for badly shot game or tough old birds. The birds were always cut up to remove lead shot or torn parts, and often cooked all day on the back of the range if they were old or tough. Originally the veggies used were ones hunters would find while they hunted. This can be scaled up.
History: It is thought that Chasseur sauce was invented by Duke Philippe De Mornay (1549-1623), Governor of Saumur, and Lord of the Plessis Marly in the 1600s. He was a great protestant writer and called the protestant pope. It is said that he also invented Mornay Sauce, Sauce Bechamel, Sauce Lyonnaise, and Sauce Porto.
Coulis (koo-LEE) –
(1) A French culinary term. It is a type of a sauce, usually a thick one, which derives it body (either entirely or in part), from pureed fruits or vegetables. A sauce of cooked down tomatoes can be a tomato coulis as can a puree of strained blackberries.
(2) Today coulis also means a thick soup made with crayfish, lobster, prawns, and other crustaceans – the word being used where bisque has formerly been used.
History: In old English cookbooks, the world “cullis” is found but this has fallen into disuse and “coulis” has taken its place. At one time, coulis were sauces and also the juices which flowed from roasting meat. Some cooks called liquids purees coulis, but only those prepared with chicken, game, fish, crustaceans, and some vegetables.
Hollandaise Sauce (HOL-uhn-dayz) – Hollandaise mean Holland-style or from Holland. Uses butter and egg yolks as binding. It is served hot with vegetables, fish, and eggs (like egg benedict). It will be a pale lemon color, opaque, but with a luster not appearing oily. The basic sauce and its variations should have a buttery-smooth texture, almost frothy, and an aroma of good butter. Making this emulsified sauce requires a good deal of practice — it is not for the faint of heart. Bearnaise sauce, which is “related” to hollandaise sauce, is most often served with steak.
History – Most historians agree that it was originally called Sauce Isigny after a town in Normandy, Isigny-sur-Mer, known for its butter. Today, Normandy is called the cream capital of France. During World War I, butter production came to a halt in France and had to be imported from Holland. The name was changed to hollandaise to indicate the source of the butter and was never changed back.
17th Century – Sauce Hollandaise, as we now know it, is the modern descendant of earlier forms of a sauce believed to have been brought to France by the Heugenots. It appears to have actually been a Flemish or Dutch sauce thickened with eggs, like a savory custard, with a little butter beaten in to smooth the texture.
1651 – Francois Pierre de La Varenne (1618-1678), in his cookbook, Le cuisine franis (The True French Cook) has a recipe for a similar sauce in his recipe for Asparagus in Fragrant Sauce:
“Choose the largest, scrape the bottoms and wash, then cook in water, salt well, and don’t let them cook too much. When cooked, put them to drain, make a sauce with good fresh butter, a little vinegar, salt, and nutmeg, and an egg yolk to bind the sauce; take care that it doesn’t curdle; and serve the asparagus garnished as you like.”
Marinara (mah-ree-NAH-rah) – Means “sailor” in Italian (sailor style of tomato sauce). A spicy, quickly cooked pasta sauce of Italian origins but far more popular in American restaurants featuring southern Italian cuisines than in most of Italy.
Mayonnaise (MAY-uh-nayz) – Mayonnaise is an emulsion consisting of oil, egg, vinegar, condiments, and spices.
History: When first invented, it was called Mahonnaise. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the sauce got its present name of mayonnaise purely by accident through a printing error in an early 1841 cookbook. There are many conflicting stories on the origin of mayonnaise:
Most authorities believe the first batch of this mixture of egg yolks, oil and seasonings was whipped up to celebrate the 1756 French capture of Mahon, a city on the Spanish Isle of Minorca, by forces under Louis-Francois-Armad de Vignerot du Plessis, duc de Richelieu (1696-1788). The Duke, or more likely, his personal chef, is credited with inventing mayonnaise, as his chef created a victory feast that was to include a sauce made of cream and eggs. Realizing that there was no cream in the kitchen, the chef substituted olive oil for the cream and a new culinary creation was born. Supposedly the chef named the new sauce “Mahonnaise” in honor of the Duc’s victory. Besides enjoying a reputation as a skillful military leader, the Duke was also widely known as a bon vivant with the odd habit of inviting his guests to dine in the nude.
Early French immigrant cooks that originally lived in Fort Mahon brought the original recipe to Minnesota. An old superstition is that a woman should not attempt to make mayonnaise during menstruation time, as the mayonnaise will simply not blend together as well.
Some historians state that Marie Antoine Careme (1784-1833), celebrated French chef and author, proclaimed that mayonnaise was derived from the word magnonaise (magner means “made by hand” or “stir”). Due to the time period of when Careme was a chef, this theory doesn’t make sense, as he would surely have know the history of the name, had mayonnaise been created as recently as 1756.
The French cities Bayonne and Les Mayons also claim to be the place of birth of mayonnaise.
Les Mayons, capital of Minorque in the Balearic Islands, occupied by English and conquered by the French admiral Louis-Franis-Louis-Franis-Armand of Plessis de Richelieu. He brought back a local sauce based on lemon juice key and egg yolk, olive oil, raised of a little black pepper and marine salt, garlic or fresh grass.
Bayonne, a resort town on the Aquitaine/Basque coast in southwest France. It is thought that mayonnaise could be an alteration and corruption of bayonnaise sauce. Nowdays, bayonnaise refers to a mayonnaise flavored with the Espelette chiles.
The sauce may have remained unnamed until after the Battle of Arques in 1589. It may then have been christened “Mayennaise” in ‘honor’ of Charles de Lorraine, duc de Mayenne (1554-1611), supposedly because he took the time to finish his meal of chicken with cold sauce before being defeated in battle by Henri IV (1553-1610).
Other historians claim it received its name from the Old French words “moyeunaise” or “moyeu,” meaning, “egg yok.”
1910 – Nina Hellman, a German immigrant from New York City, made a dressing that her husband, Richard Hellman, used on the sandwiches and salads he served in his New York delicatessen. He started selling the spread in “wooden boats” that were used for weighing butter. Initially he sold two versions of the recipe, and to differentiate between the two, he put a blue ribbon around one. In 1912, there was such a great demand for the “ribbon” version, that Hellmann designed a “Blue Ribbon” label, which he placed on larger glass jars. He did so well that he started a distribution business, purchased a fleet of trucks, and in 1912 built a manufacturing plant. Also Best Foods, Inc. in California did the same. Hellman and Best Foods later merged and account for about 45% of all bottled mayonnaise sole in the United States.
Newburg Sauce – An American sauce that was created at the famous Delmonico Restaurant in New York City by their French chef, M. Pascal. This elegant sauce is composed of butter, cream, egg yolks, sherry, and seasonings. It is usually served over buttered toast points. The sauce is also used with other foods, in which case the dish is usually given the name “Newburg.”
History: The sauce was originally named after a Mr. Wenburg, a frequent guest at the Delmonico restaurant. Mr. Wenburg and the boss of the Delmoico had an argument, thus causing Wenburg to insist that the sauce be renamed. The first three letters were changed to “New” instead of “Wen” to create the name “Newberg.”
Mother Sauces – Also called Grand Sauces. These are the five most basic sauces that every cook should master. Antonin Careme, founding father of French “grande cuisine,” came up with the methodology in the early 1800’s by which hundreds of sauces would be categorized under five Mother Sauces, and there are infinite possibilities for variations, since the sauces are all based on a few basic formulas. Sauces are one of the fundamentals of cooking. Know the basics and you’ll be able to prepare a multitude of recipes like a professional. Learn how to make the basic five sauces and their most common derivatives. The five Mother Sauces are:
Bechamel Sauce (white)
Brown (demi-glace) or Espagnole Sauce
Hollandaise Sauce (butter)
Tomato Sauce (red)
Remoulade (ray-muh-LAHD) – A chilled flavored mayonnaise used in French cuisine. It includes mayonnaise, anchovies or anchovy paste, mustard, capers, and chopped pickles that are served as a dressing for cold meats, poultry or seafood.
Veloute Sauce (veh-loo-TAY) – Also called sauce blanche grasse or fat white sauce, rich white sauce. One of the five “mother sauces.” It is a stock-based white sauce that can be made from chicken, veal, or fish stock thickened with white roux. ee Mother Sauces for more information.
Allemande Sauce – Veal veloute with egg yolk and cream liaison.
Supreme Sauce – Chicken veloute reduced with heavy cream
Vin Blanc Sauce – Fish veloute with shallots, butter, and fines herbs.
| Béarnaise sauce |
What name is given to the wall of a Mosque that faces Mecca? | Jargon - Live in Taste
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A la Niçoise
Various dishes typical of the cuisine of the region around Nice, in which the most common ingredients are garlic, olives, anchovies, tomatoes and French beans
Aaba ghannouj
A mezze or vegetable side dish eaten throughout the Middle East
Aagel
A small Jewish roll-with-a-hole, firm, moist and slightly "chewy"
Aalsamic vinegar
A vinegar originating from Italy made from a reduction of cooked white Trebbiano grape juice, and used as a condiment
Aamboo shoots
Ivory white in colour from the base of a bamboo tree cut into 7 cm slices. Usually found dried or canned in water
Abaisse
A term used in French cookery for a sheet of rolled-out pastry
Abalone
A common name for any of a group of small to very large edible sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the Haliotidae family
Abondance cheese
an Alpine cheese from Savoie made from unpasteurized cow's milk
Achar
An Indian term for a pickle
Achiote paste
A thick, deep-red seasoning also known as recado colorado, from the Yucatán region of Mexico. It is best rubbed on chicken, pork, fish, or seafood with a deep-red colour and warm, mild flavour
Acra
A savoury fritter made by mixing a spiced puree of vegetables or fish with fritter batter (also known as akra)
Agraz
A sorbet made from almonds, verjuice and sugar
Aïoli
A sauce of garlic and olive oil best known in its mayonnaise form with egg yolks
Ajwan seed
A pungent, bitter fruit-pod from the Bishops Weed plant with a strong thyme taste used in Asian dishes
Akadashi
A mega red miso soup consisting of mushroom and miso
Akra
A savoury fritter made by mixing a spiced puree of vegetables or fish with fritter batter (also known as acra)
Al dente
An Italian expression (meaning literally "to the tooth") indicating the correct degree of cooking for pasta
Allspice
A spice, also known as Jamaican pepper that is ground from the unripe berries of a tree in the Caribbean, Honduras and Mexico
Almond
The fruit of an almond tree
Almond milk
Almond milk is lower in fat than vitamin D milk and can be used as a substitute in almost all cooking
Amourette
French for the delicately flavoured spinal bone marrow of beef, mutton or veal
Amuse Bouche
A French term which means a little bit of food which is served before the meal to stimulate the appetite
Anchovy
A small sea fish very abundant in the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They taste fishy and extremely salty
Angus cattle
Known as Aberdeen Angus in most parts of the world, are a breed of cattle commonly used in beef production
Anise
The seeds of an annual plant related to cumin and fennel with a mild, liquorice flavour used in Middle Eastern cooking (also called aniseed)
Aniseed
The seeds of an annual plant related to cumin and fennel with a mild, liquorice flavour used in Middle Eastern cooking (also called anise)
Annatto seed
A lentil shaped seed brick-red in colour and used to provide a yellow/orange colour to Latin American or Spanish cooking. It can be used in the place of saffron
Aperitif
An alcoholic drink taken before a meal to stimulate the appetite
Arborio rice
A short-grain, pearl-like Italian white rice which is high in starch and forms the foundation of risotto
Artichoke
A perennial vegetable related to the thistle, whose edible immature flower head is formed of a fleshy base and heart surrounded by scaly leaves
Asparagus
A perennial plant with an underground stem that produces edible shoot, with a nascent bud of different colours which are regarded as a delicacy
Aubergine
A rounded or elongated vegetable with a firm shiny skin covering pale, creamy white or greenish flesh, familiar as a purple vegetable
Avocado
A pear-shaped or round fruit with dark green or purplish brown skin colour a hard round pit surrounded with pale-green buttery flesh
Azuki bean
A tiny, dull-red bean very squat in shape and sweetish in flavour. After soy, it is the most-used bean in Japanese cookery
Basil
A herb which leaves have a strong, pungent taste that compliments fish and meat dishes, particularly those containing tomatoes. Basil is widely used in Mediterranean and Arabic Cuisines
Battonage
A French term for lees stirring or stirring the wine in a barrel with a stick so as to disallows the fine lees deposited on the bottom
Bay leaves
The aromatic leaf from the bay laurel tree, it is an essential component of the classic bouquet garni: parsley, thyme and a bay leaf
Bean sprouts
Bean sprouts are a common ingredient, especially in Eastern Asian cuisine, made from sprouting beans. The typical bean sprout is made from the greenish-capped mung beans
Béarnaise sauce
A classic hot creamy French sauce made from egg yolks and reduced vinegar, whisked together over a low heat and mixed with butter
Beef
The meat of all large domestic cattle, including heifer, cow, ox, bullock and bull
Beef bourguignon
A well-known, traditional French stew prepared with beef braised in red wine (originally Burgundy wine) and beef broth, flavoured with garlic, onions, carrots, a bouquet garni and garnished with mushrooms
Beurre blanc
A classic French sauce made with reduced vinegar and shallots to which butter is added
Beurre noisette
A warm butter sauce that can be used to accompany many foods, such as winter vegetables, pasta, fish, omelettes, and chicken. The sauce is also frequently used in French pastry production
Bincho-tan
A Japanese Style traditional high quality charcoal, also known as white charcoal or bincho-zumi
Black garlic
A type of caramelised garlic first used as a food ingredient in Asian cuisine. It is made by heating whole bulbs of garlic over the course of several weeks, a process that results in black cloves
Black pudding
A savoury sausage consisting largely of seasoned pig's blood and fat contained in a length of intestine, which forms the skin
Blanc de blancs
White wine made solely from white grapes
Blanc de cuisson
The French term for a liquor used for cooking white offal and certain vegetables
Blanc de noirs
White wine made from black grapes, the juice being run off before the skin pigments can tint it
Bockwurst
A generic German name for all sausages that are very finely ground like frankfurters, wieners and knackwurst
Bok choy
A type of Chinese cabbage which can refer to two groups of Chinese leaf vegetables often used in Chinese cuisine: the Pekinensis Group and the Chinensis Group
Bolognaise
The French term for several dishes inspired by Italian cookery, especially Bologna, served with a thick sauce based on beef and vegetables, tomato and associated with pasta
Bone marrow
A soft fatty substance in the cavities of long bones. Usually used in osso bucco, or a filling and flavouring of dishes. May also be bought in jelly form. Amourette is the French name for spinal marrow
Bordelaise
The name given to a wide range of dishes (eggs, fish, shellfish, kidneys and steak) which use such ingredients as bone marrow, shallots and wine
Borsch
Also known as borscht, a beetroot soup eaten hot or cold
Bouguet garni
A selection of aromatic plants used to flavour a sauce or stock, usually tied together in a small bundle to prevent them from dispersing in the liquid and are removed before serving
Bouillabaisse
A dish comprising of fish boiled with herbs, which is traditionally associated with the Provence region
Bouquet
The aroma produced by the evaporation of the volatile products evident in wine. It is one of the main elements, together with fruitiness and vinosity, that may enable the origin of a wine and for the experienced, also its area and vintage to be identified
Brioche
A soft loaf or roll made from a yeast dough enriched with butter and eggs
Bruschetta
A slice of bread, grilled on both sides and eaten with olive oil and a garnish
Buffalo mozzarella
Made from the milk of the domestic Italian water buffalo. It is a product traditionally produced in Campania, especially in the provinces of Caserta and Salerno
Buffet
A buffet in a restaurant is a large table on which dishes are arranged in a decorative manner, which is a show of choice edibles. Normally a fixed price for eat as much as you can
Chantilly
A fresh cream beaten to the consistency of a mousse, sweetened and flavoured with vanilla ot other flavours used as an accompaniment to desserts
Charcuterie
Products based on pork meat or offal. Preperation include cured meats, fresh and smoked sausages, pates, black puddings and hams which is salted and smoked
Chardonnay
One of the finest white grape varieties originally from Burgundy
Chateaubriand
A slice of very tender fillet steak grilled or fried and often served with a sauce (traditionaly Bernaise)
Chayote
A green pear-shaped tropical fruit that resembles cucumber in flavour
Cheek
Either side of the lower jaw of an animal including the muscles
Chenin blanc
A grape variety originaly from Anjou. It has fairly compact bunches of grapes with crisp grapes of average size, golden yellow, with dense flesh and sweet juice
Chianti
An Italian DOCG red wine from Tuscany, produces in the hills between Florence and Siena
Chilli
Related to the pepper this is a hot fruit of the capsicum family, generally referred to as a spice but depending on the type, also a vegetable
Chilli powder
A hot spice prepared from ground dried red chillies and varying in intensity
Chipotle
A smoked hot chili pepper used especially in Mexican cooking
Cilantro
Another term for coriander
Cinnamon
An aromatic spice made from the peeled, dried, and rolled bark of a Southeast Asian tree
Cockles
A bivalve mollusc which is found near the sea-bed. They may be eaten raw, but are generally cooked, like mussels
Compote
A preparation of fresh or dried fruit, cooked either whole or in pieces in a sugar syrup
Confit
confit of goose and duck are usually prepared from the legs of the bird which is salted and seasoned with herbs, and slowly cooked submerged in its own rendered fat, then preserved by allowing it to cool and storing it in the fat
Cotija cheese
Cotija is a versatile Mexican cheese that has a strong salty taste
Coulis
A liquid puree of cooked seasonal vegetables or shellfish. Fruit coulis are made of raw or cooked fruit
Courgette
Also known as Zucchini, a variety of marrow usually eaten when young and immature. There are many types varying in shape, colour and size
Crawfish
A freshwater crustacean resembling a small lobster
Crème anglaise
A light pouring custard used as a dessert cream or sauce
Crème brulee
A dessert consisting of a rich custard of egg yolks, sugar and cream, often flavoured, which is set by cooking in the oven. The chilled custard is covered with brown sugar and caramelized with a blowtorch
Crêpe suzette
A thin dessert pancake with a brandy and citrus sauce, usually set aflame when served
Croutons
A small piece of bread which is toasted, lightly browned in butter, fried in oil or simply dried in the oven
Cured meats
Curing refers to various preservation and flavouring processes, especially of meat or fish, by the addition of a combination of salt, sugar and either nitrate or nitrite. Many curing processes also involve smoking
Cuttlefish
A mollusc related to squid and lives on weedy coastal sea beds. They are cooked like squid, but the flesh is quite tough and has to be beaten vigorously
Dashi
The Japanese name for stock. Stocks in Japanese cooking are very light, made by soaking dried konbu seaweed and other ingredients in water
Dauphine potatoes
Potatoes reduced to a puree, added to choux paste, shaped into balls and fried in very hot fat
Demi-glace
A rich brown sauce made by boiling and skimming espagnole sauce and adding white stock
Dessert
Usually the last course of a meal
Digestive
The French digestive, a liqueur or spirit that may be taken after a meal, served plain with ice
Dijon mustard
A medium-hot mustard, typically prepared with white wine and originally made in Dijon, France
Dill
An aromatic annual herb of the parsley family, with fine blue-green leaves and yellow flowers. The leaves and seeds of dill are used for flavouring and for medicinal purposes
Dim Sum
of a collection of steamed and deep-fried snacks, usually served from mid-morning right through the afternoon
Duchess potatoes
Potatoes pureed with butter and egg yolk, piped into decorative shapes and baked
Dumpling
A ball of dough, originally savoury and served as an accompaniment to meat or as a dessert
Edamame
Edamame are little green soybeans still in the shell. They're rich in lean protein and calcium in addition to healthy fats
Eel
A snakelike fish with a smooth slippery skin
Eggs benedict
Served on an English muffin, a poached egg laid on a slice of ham sautéed in butter coated with hollandaise sauce and garnished with truffle
Endive
A plant with leaves that may be eaten raw in salads or cooked as a vegetable. Most varieties have bitter leaves. Commonly used is the curly endive
Entrée
The entrée is usually the main course of a meal, but in full French menu it is the third course
Espelette pepper
Also known as piment d?Espelette, this chili is a common spice of the Basque region of France, and while not a scorcher, it has a delicious subtle heat, slightly smoky and slightly citrusy
Fennel
Fennel is a plant that can be used as a vegetable and whose seeds are also used as a spice. The leaves, stalk and bulb are aromatic and flavourful
Fillet
The undercut of the sirloin of beef, also used for the same cut in pork, veal and lamb
Fillet Mignon
Piece of a small section of beef, positioned within the thoracic cage, along the first dorsal vertebrae
Filo Pastry
Also known as phyllo, is a paper-thin pastry made from flour and water
Fish Sauce
A Thai and Vietnamese sauce used as a flavouring or condiment, prepared from fermented anchovies and salt
Five Spice Salt
A seasoning used especially in Chinese cooking, consisting of ground cinnamon, cloves, star anise, fennel seed, and Szechuan peppercorns
Flan
An open tart filled with fruit, a cream or a savoury mixture. It may be served hot as an entrée or as a dessert
Focaccia
A large, round, flat Italian bread, sprinkled before baking with olive oil, salt, and often herbs
Foie Gras
Goose or duck liver that is grossly enlarged by methodically fattening the bird considered a rare delicacy but the way in which it is served has changed according to culinary fashion
Fondant
A thick paste made of sugar and water and often flavoured or coloured, used in the making of candy and the icing and decoration of cakes
Fondue
A dish in which small pieces of food are dipped into a hot sauce or a hot cooking medium such as oil or broth
Fortified Wine
Wine to which a certain quantity of spirit is added in the course of production
Four Spice Salt
A mixture of spices, usually consisting of ground pepper, grated nutmeg, powdered cloves and ground ginger or cinnamon
Fritter
A preparation consisting of a piece of cooked or raw food coated in butter and fried in deep fat or oil
Frog legs
Frog legs are one of the better-known delicacies of French and Chinese cuisine. The legs of edible frogs are also consumed in other parts of the world, including Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, the Alentejo region of Portugal, Spain, Albania, Slovenia, the northwest Greece and the Southern regions of the United States
Ganache
A flavoured cream made with chocolate and fresh cream, sometimes with butter added, used to decorate desserts
Garam Masala
A spice mixture used in Indian cookery, typically cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, cumin and black pepper
Garnish
A single item or combination of items accompanying a dish
Gastronomy
The art of good eating
Gazpacho
A Spanish soup made with bread and vegetables, including cucumber, tomato, onion and red pepper seasoned with olive oil, garlic and vinegar and served cold
Giblets
The edible inner parts of poultry, including the gizzard, heart, liver and kidney's
Gnocchi
Small dumplings made of flour, semolin and potato pastry ` normally poached then cooked au gratin in the oven
Gochujang
A staple in Korean cooking - bright red paste found in everything from bibimbap to dukbokki (stir-fried glutinous rice cakes)
Goujon
Small strips of fish, typically sole, coated and fried.
Goulash
A Hungarian beef soup
Gramolate
Also known as gramolata. A type of sorbet made from a granita mixture - served between main courses
Grappa
A marc brandy made in Italy from the residue of grapes left after pressing
Gratin
The golden crust that forms on the surface of a dish when it is browned in the oven
Gremolata
A flavouring mixture used in Italian cooking consisting of chopped parsley, grated lemon rind and finely chopped garlic
Grits
First produced by Native Americans centuries ago. Grits are small broken grains of corn boiled with water or milk and served as a breakfast food or side dish
Guacamole
A dip originating in Mexico consisting of avocado, tomato, onion, lemon juice and spices
Gulf Shrimp
The flesh of Gulf shrimp have a subtle, sweet and briny taste
Hamachi
The young of the Japanese amberjack or yellowtail, which is fished and bred in Japan as a food fish and normally used in sushi
Haricot verts
A very small and slender green bean
Harissa
A paste from North Africa made from chillies, oil, garlic and coriander, pounded with cumin or coriander or sometimes with dried mint or verbena leaves
Heirloom tomatoes
An heirloom tomato is an open-pollinated (non-hybrid) heirloom cultivar of tomato. Heirloom tomatoes have become increasingly popular in cooking
Himalayan sea salt block
The crystal lattice of our Himalayan salt blocks has a high specific energy, so they hold any temperature you bring it to for a while (both hot and cold)
Hollandaise sauce
A hot emulsified sauce based on egg yolks and clarified butter. It is the foundation of several other sauces
Horseradish
European plant of the cabbage family, with long dock-like leaves, grown for its pungent edible root, scraped or grated as a condiment and often made into a sauce
Hummus
An Arabic and Greek dish made from cooked chick peas crushed with sesame paste, garlic and lemon
Infusion
The process of steeping an aromatic substance in a boiling liquid until the liquid has absorbed the flavour
Irish stew
A stew of mutton and potatoes
Jabugo ham
A type of cured ham produced in Spain and Portugal
Jalapeno
A hot green or orange-red pepper, the fruit of a variety of Capsicum annuum, used especially in Mexican cooking
Jambalaya
A speciality of New Orleans, inspired by Spanish paella made of spiced rice, chick and ham. Sausage, peppers, tomatoes, prawns or oysters can be added
John Dory
An oval deep-sided fish found along rocky coasts. Its firm white flesh comes of the bone easily and can be used in several dishes
Julienne
Vegetables that are cut into thin slices, cooked in a butter in a covered pan until soft and then used for various garnishes
Juniper berries
The dark berries of the Juniper tree used in cooking and making of wines and spirits because of their pungent flavour
Jus
The French word roughly the same as juice. Made by diluting the pan juices with water, clear stock then boiling it until all the goodness has been absorbed in the pan
Kale
Member of the cabbage family - dark green with large coarse leaves with flavour that resembles strong cabbage
Kebab
Small pieces of meat threaded on to skewers and grilled or roasted. Can be made with peppers, tomatoes, onion and other vegetables
Kidneys
A type of red offal
Knackwurst
A fresh German sausage similar to frankfurter but shorter and thicker. The name comes from German knacken which is the cracking sound it makes when bitten into
Knuckle
Also the shin, the part of the leg of an animal carcass lying below the thigh or the shoulder
Kobe beef
A grade of beef from cattle raised in Kobe, Japan, which is extremely tender and full-flavoured as a result of the cattle being massaged with sake and fed a special diet including large quantities of beer - Also called Wagyu
Kohlrabi
A cabbage of a variety with an edible turnip-like swollen stem
Kuzu root starch
Also called kudzu or kuzuko, is a traditional starch widely used in Japan for its superior thickening properties. Kuzu root starch is natural and unprocessed unlike corn and potato starch. Kudzu is far superior in jelling strength, taste, and texture
Lamb
The male or female young of the sheep
Langouste
A crustacean also known as spiny lobster, thorny lobster and crawfish. It differs from true lobster in having no claws
Langoustine
The French name for the Dublin Bay prawn or Norway lobster. It has a yellowish-pink shell which does not change colour when cooked and are sweeter in taste
Lard
A cooking fat obtained by melting down pork fat. It is a fine white fat which is not used much anymore because of its high animal-fat content
Lasagne
Italian pasta cut into wide flat sheets. Green lasagne is flavoured with spinach whereas pink lasagne is made from tomato
Leek
A vegetable believed to have originated from a Near Eastern variety of garlic. Normally eaten cooked, either hot or cold, though they can be finely shredded in a salad
Lemongrass
Found in South-East Asia it has a strong lemon-like flavour and is popular in Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian and Vietnamese cooking
Liver
Offal (organ meat) from the carcasses of animals, poultry and game
Lobster
A marine crustacean related to crayfish, crawfish and crab found in cold seas. It is the largest and most sought-after shellfish
Macaroni
Tubes of pasta originated from Naples cooked in boiling water and may be served with grated cheese, tomato sauce, butter, cream or au gratin
Macaroon
A small, round biscuit crunchy outside and soft inside made with ground almonds, sugar and egg whites
Maki
A Japanese dish consisting of sushi and raw vegetables wrapped in seaweed
Mange-tout
Also known as snow peas or sugar pea. They are brilliant green in colour and taste best when used raw in salads or cooked only briefly
Marinade
A flavoured liquid, cooked or uncooked in which savoury ingredients like meat, offal, game, fish or vegetables are steeped for varying lengths of time. The principle purpose is to flavour food
Mascarpone
Italian speciality made by mixing cream with lemon juice or citric acid. It has a smooth creamy texture and taste served on a cheese board or to make Italian desserts
Meat
The flesh of animals and birds used as food since ancient times
Medallion
An item of food cut into a round or oval shape
Meringue
A very light sweet mixture made from stiffly whisked egg whites and sugar that when baked becomes crisp and firm
Mi-cuit
A rough translation of the French phrase mi-cuit is ?half-cooked?
Mignardises
A bite-sized dessert, and its name is used interchangeably with the French term petit four
Mignonette
Coarsely ground pepper particularly from the more flavoursome white peppercorns
Mint
A very fragrant aromatic plant used in infusions, to flavour liqueurs, sweets and syrups and as a culinary herb
Mirin
A Japanese spirit-based liquid made from rice, usually referred to a rice wine
Miso
A Japanese condiment consisting of a red or white paste or fermented soya, made from cooked soya beans mixed with rice, barley or wheat grains and salt
Molasses
The thick brown uncrystallised residue obtained from cane or beer sugar during refining
Mollusc
A soft-bodied animal, usually with a shell
Morel
A very tasty but rare mushroom which is found in the spring. Morels may be preserved in oil or by drying
Morney
A béchamel sauce enriched with egg yolks and flavoured with grated Gruyère cheese
Mushrooms chanterelle
A mushroom having a bright yellow-to-orange funnel-shaped cap, a favourite edible species in France with a slight apricot-like aroma
Mushrooms hen of the woods
A delicious edible mushroom. In Asia, it has been used medicinally for centuries. Called ?maitake? in Japan, a name that means ?dancing mushroom? ? because people dance for joy when they find it
Mushrooms oyster
The most commonly cultivated edible mushrooms in the world
Mushrooms trumpet
A fragrant, dark brown or black, edible mushroom related to the chanterelle found especially in temperate forests of the northern hemisphere, and has a hollow, trumpet or funnel-shaped fruiting body
Mutton
The meat from sheep over a year old. The criteria of quality are firm, compact, dark-red flesh and hard fat, pearly white in colour and plentiful around the kidneys
Nasi Goreng
An Indonesian rice dish with finely chopped onion, garlic and chilli fried in oil then added to diced cooked pork, chicken and peeled prawns
Noodles
Long pasta and is believed to originate from the German nudeln a general name for pasta
Nori
Japanese name for edible seafood used in Japanese cooking for centuries
Nouvelle Cuisine
A movement in cookery started by two food critics encouraging a simpler and more natural preparation of food
Octopus
A fairly large mollusc measuring up to 80cm with a head and 8 equal-sized tentacles each having two rows of suckers. Can be prepared like lobster
Offal
The edible internal parts and some extremities of an animal removed before the carcass is cut up
Okra
A tropical plant widely cultivated as a vegetable. It is used before it is ripe, when it is green and pulpy and the seeds are not completely formed
Olive
The small oval fruit of the olive tree, widely cultivated in Mediterranean regions. The fruit ripens from green to black
Onion
A plant grown in many countries, whose bulb is probably the most common vegetable used in cooking. The white fleshy leaves are covered with several layers of skin - red, brown, yellow or white
Oregano
Also known as wild marjoram, this is a herb with a pungent flavour
Osso Bucco
An Italian dish meaning "bone with a hole" consisting of a stew of pieces of veal shin braised in white wine with onion and tomato
Ostrich
A large African bird whose flesh and eggs have long been eaten. Its flesh which is lean and tender tastes like a mixture between beef and game
Ostrich eggs
The ostrich is the largest living species of bird and lays the largest eggs of any living bird. The eggs are equivalent to 2 dozen chicken eggs
Oxtail
The culinary name for the tail of cattle used to make many delicious dishes, notably oxtail soup
Oyster
Saltwater molluscs with rough irregular shells. Several kinds are eaten (especially raw) as a delicacy and may be farmed for food or pearls
Oyster crab
A tiny, soft-shell crab that lives in oysters and is considered to be a delicacy
Paella
A traditional Spanish rice dish garnished with vegetables, chicken and shellfish. Paella may be a rustic dish cooked in open air eaten straight from the paellera
Palate cleanser
Generally a neutral flavoured element in food that enables to clear the palate from one flavour to another
Palm sugar
Palm sugar is a natural sweetener made by boiling the sap from sugar or palymyra palm flowers until it is reduced to sugar crystals
Panacotta
A cold Italian dessert made with double cream, often served with caramel syrup
Pancetta
An Italian speciality, this spiced, cured belly of pork is similar to high quality streaky bacon. It may be eaten raw in thin slices
Pandanus leaves
Also known as screw pine or palm pine a tropical plant. In Chinese it is known as 'fragrant plant' because of its unique, sweet aroma.
Parfait
An iced dessert made with double cream, gives it smoothness, prevents it from melting too quickly and enables it to be cut into slices
Parma ham
A strongly flavoured Italian cured ham, eaten uncooked and thinly sliced
Parmesan
A hard, dry variety of Italian cheese made from skim milk, usually grated and sprinkled over pasta dishes and soups
Peperoni
A spicy Italian sausage or salami of pork and beef which may be eaten raw and is a popular pizza topping
Pepper cubeb
Tailed pepper is a plant cultivated for its fruit and essential oil. It is mostly grown in Java and Sumatra. The fruits are gathered before they are ripe, and carefully dried
Pepper tellicherry
Whole black peppercorns are left on the vine longer so they develop a deep, rich flavour. Considered the finest pepper in the world, these extra-large berries come from the Malabar coast of India. The berries for black peppercorns are picked from the vine just before they ripen and turn red.
Peppers piquillo
A variety of chilli, capsicum annuum, a sweet taste with no heat - Its name is derived from the Spanish for "little beak"
Peppers shishito
The Japanese cousin to Spain's famed Padrón peppers. Delicately sweet and usually mild, they are an easy snack to throw on the grill
Pesto
A cold Italian sauce with large quantities of basil are ground with garlic, pine nuts, parmesan cheese and olive oil
Petit Fours
A small fancy biscuit, cake or item of confectionary - also known as mignardises
Pistou
A paste or sauce from Provençe made of basil, garlic, olive oil, and sometimes Parmesan cheese and tomato paste
Poultry
Generic term for farmyard birds, notably chicken, turkey, duck, goose and guinea fowl
Prawns
A marine crustacean which resembles a large shrimp
Prosciutto
Raw cured Italian ham, eaten especially in thin slices as an hors d'oeuvre
Purée
A creamy preparation obtained by pressing and sieving cooked food or using a blender or food processor
Quail
A small migratory game bird found in Europe. It is plump and full of flavour and can be roasted, grilled, sautéed, braised or stuffed. Quail eggs are also used in cooking
Quinoa
An annual herb of the goosefoot family that is native to the Andean highlands and is cultivated for its starchy seeds which are used as food and ground into flour
Rabotte
Also known as rabote - an apple or pear enclosed in pastry, cooked in the oven and served warm or cold
Raclette
A cheese fondue from Switzerland prepared by holding a half-round of the local cheese close to the fire, as it melts the softened part is scraped off and eaten
Ragout
A stew made from meat, poultry, game, fish or vegetables cut into pieces and cooked
Ramps
Also called wild leek, wild garlic, and spring onion, ramp is a wild onion with a garlic-like smell and strong onion flavour
Ratatouille
A vegetable stew typical of Provençal cookery made from onions, courgettes, aubergines, sweet peppers and tomatoes in olive oil and herbs
Ravioli
An Italian dish consisting of small square envelopes of pasta dough enclosing meat or vegetable stuffing, cooked in boiling water and served wit tomato sauce and grated cheese
Razor clams
Also known as razor-shell a sand-burrowing mollusc with an elongated tubular shell. It may be eaten raw or cooked
Reggiano
An Italian cheese, short for formaggio parmigiano-reggiano - high quality Parmesan cheese that is usually aged for several years before use
Relish
A highly flavoured condiment which resembles chutney, usually with a hot or piquant flavour
Rémoulade
A cold sauce made by adding mustard, gherkins, capers and chopped herbs to mayonnaise, sometimes finished with little anchovy essence and chopped hard-boiled egg
Rhubarb
A hardy perennial plant whose fleshy stalks are used to make cooked desserts such as pies, jams or compotes often flavoured with lemon zest or ginger
Ricotta
An Italian curd cheese made from the whey produced as a by-product in the making of various cow's and eve's milk cheeses. It is soft, rindless with a granular crumbly texture and mild flavour
Risotto
An Italian rich dish which is gently sautéed in butter often with chopped onion then a stock is added, a ladleful at a time resulting in a rice that is al dente
Rocket
A Mediterranean plant with a pungent taste and smell whose young leaves are eaten as a salad. Also grow wild in Asia
Roe
The reproductive glands of male or female fish, containing the sperm and eggs respectively. Traditionally preserved and served as a luxury both for their texture and flavour. The larger eggs pop in your mouth
Roulade
Any of various savoury or sweet preparations which are stuffed or filled and then rolled. The term is used for both savoury and sweet dishes
Rump steak
A cut of beef taken from between the buttock and the sirloin. Less tender than fillet but with better flavour
Saffron
A spice consisting of the dried stigmas of the saffron crocus which is an orange-yellow powder or trands or threads with a pungent smell and bitter flavour. Saffron is very expensive and has a privileged place in cookery
Sake
Also known as saki, a Japanese alcoholic drink brewed from rice. A clear to pale straw in colour and styles range from dry, light and crisp to fuller and lightly sweet
Salami
A charcuterie product of Italian origin. A sausage usually made from finely minced pork interspiced with pieces of fat. Beef, goose and veal may also be used - often served thinly as a cold appetizer
Salsa
Spanish for sauce, either hot or cold. The term is usually applied in Spain and Mexico to spicy sauces often hot with chillies and particularly to uncooked sauces and dips
Sangria
The Spanish version of a cup, a mixed drink based on red or white wine with added fruit and mineral water, sometimes with a spirit as well. Served chilled. Named after sangre , Spanish for "blood"
Sashimi
A Japanese dish of raw fish, shellfish and molluscs. The fish is trimmed, boned and cut with a long thin knife. Precise cutting techniques are followed
Satay
Name of a small kebab of shin, poultry or meat on short bamboo skewers. The ingredients are marinated before being skewered and cooked over charcoal and served with a dipping sauce
Sauerkraut
White cabbage that has been finely sliced, dry-salted and fermented. It requires cooking before eating
Sauté
To cook meat, fish or vegetables in fat until brown, using a frying pan. Small pieces are cooked uncovered but thicker pieces sometimes need covering after browning
Sauvignon blanc
White grape variety widely grown with small bunches of golden yellow grapes and flavours of gooseberries, green bell peppers, grass and tropical fruits
Scallops
A bivalve mollusc generally eaten cooked, but require very little cooking or they will toughen. Scallops are found in a shell and must be removed
Scampi
Italian name widely used for shellfish usually applied to the tails only
Sea urchin
A spiny, marine invertebrate with a shell. In the shell is the five yellow or orange genital glands which is the edible portion also called the coral. It can be eaten raw or warm
Shallot
A small bulb vegetable related to the onion family
Shiraz
Also Syrah a red grape variety producing blush-black grapes with a soft juicy flesh making powerful, heady tannic, rich fruity wines which can improve with age
Shiro Dashi
Shiro dashi is a concentrated broth made from seaweed, bonito fish and mushrooms
Shishito peppers
Th Japanese cousin to Spain's famed Padrón peppers. Delicately sweet and usually mild, they are an easy snack to throw on the grill. Simply toss with olive oil, cook on a hot grill, and sprinkle with a Japanese spice mix and coarse salt
Shrimp
Shellfish that live in fresh and salt water and range from tiny to giant varieties. They require brief cooking or will be overcooked used in salads, curries and seafood dishes
Snail
A terrestrial gastropod mollusc known by a spiral shell. Some species are highly prized especially in France where they are called escargot
Sommelier
The specialist wine waiter a job that requires extensive knowledge of the subject and the ability to choose the appropriate wine for a dish
Sorbet
A type of water ice that is softer and more granular than ice cream and it does not contain any fat or egg yolk
Sorrel
A culinary plant with edible green leaves with a slightly bitter taste
Soy sauce
A basic condiment from China, South-East Asia and Japan made from a fermented mixture of soya bean, wheat, water and salt. There are light and dark varieties
Spaetzle
A dish consisting of lumps or threads made from a batter of flour, milk, eggs, and salt, usually poured through a coarse colander into boiling water, and then either drained and mixed in butter, lightly pan-fried, or added to sauces and stews
Spaghetti
Long solid threads of pasta and one of the most popular of Italian pasta's. Cooked al dente normally served with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese
Sriracha sauce
Sriracha sauce is a potent chili sauce you can use to give your meals a bit of zing and heat
Sweetbreads
The culinary term for the thymus gland and the pancreas in calves, lambs and pigs. They need to be blanched, refreshed and cooked before use with a light taste, a suspicion of iodine and not the strong flavour of offal
Swiss chart
A variety of beet whose leaves and stalks are eaten as a vegetable with a slightly less pronounced flavour than spinach and prepared the same way. Also known as spinach beet
Tapenade
A condiment from Provence made with capers, desalted anchovies and stoned black olives pounded in a mortar, seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice, aromatics and a little brandy
Tartare
A raw meat dish made with minced beef, raw egg yolk and seasoning. Can also add anchovies, horseradish, paprika and onions
Tasting menu
A type of meal offered in certain restaurants, consisting of sample portions of many different dishes served in several courses for a set price
Tataki
In Japanese cookery it is a dish consisting of meat or fish steak, served either raw or lightly seared
Tempura
A Japanese dish of fish, shellfish, or vegetables, fried in batter
Teriyaki
Japanese dish of grilled food glazed with a sauce of soy sauce, mirin or sake and sugar to give an excellent flavour and rich colour
Teriyaki sauce
A mixture of soy sauce, sake, ginger, and other flavourings, used in Japanese cookery as a marinade or glaze for fish or meat dishes
Tofu
A soft, bland, white cheese like food, high in protein content, made from curdled soybean milk: used originally in Oriental cookery but now in a wide variety of soups and other dishes
Tomatillo
A small round yellow, purplish, and especially pale green edible sticky fruit of a Mexican ground-cherry. Tomatillos can by very inconsistent in flavour, with some being sour and others tasting mild and sweet
Tortellini
Italian pasta made with small pieces of thinly rolled dough, filled with a stuffing, folded and shaped into rings
Tortilla
A thin pancake made of cornmeal. In Spanish cooking a tortilla is a flat omelette filled with salt cod or potatoes. The word has the same origin as torta, a tart
Truffle
A strong-smelling underground fungus that resembles an irregular, rough-skinned potato, growing chiefly in broadleaved woodland on calcareous soils. It is considered a culinary delicacy and found, especially in France, with the aid of trained dogs or pigs
Tuna
A fish with good source of Omega-3 oils with five species now fished: albacore, yellowfin, bluefin, blackfin and skipjack which represents the third grade of canned tuna
Umami
A category of taste in food (besides sweet, sour, salt, and bitter), corresponding to the flavour of glutamates, especially monosodium glutamate. Also known as the fifth sense
Unagi
The Japanese word for freshwater eel, especially the Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica. Unagi is a common ingredient in Japanese cooking. It is not to be confused with saltwater eel, which is known as anago in Japanese.
Vacherin
A cold dessert, made of a ring of meringue or almond paste filled with ice cream or whipped cream. The names comes from the shape and colour which resembles the cheese of the name
Veal
The meat of a calf up to one year with white, tender and delicate meat highly prized in cooking
Venison
The meat of any kind of deer. In French the term is also used for any large game animal such as hare and wild rabbit
Verjuice
The acid juice extracted from large unripen grapes or crab-apples used as a sauce ingredient, a condiment and in deglazing
Vichyssoise
A leek and potato soup thickened with fresh cream and served cold, garnished with chopped chives
Vin Gris
A very pale rosé wine made only in small quantities from black grapesA very pale rosé wine made only in small quantities from black grapes
Vinaigrette
A cold sauce or dressing made from a mixture of vinegar, oil, pepper and salt to which flavourings may be added like shallots, onions, herbs, capers, garlic, gherkins and anchovies
Vintage
The harvesting of grapes when they are at an optimum balance - when the grape sugar and acidity are in balance. A vintage wine is made from the produce of a single harvest
Volnay
An AOC red Burgundy wine from the Côte de Beaune famous for its elegance, quality and charming bouquetAn AOC red Burgundy wine from the Côte de Beaune famous for its elegance, quality and charming bouquet
Wagyu beef
Wagyu ("Japanese cow") is any of several breeds of cattle, the most desired of which is genetically predisposed to intense marbling and to producing a high percentage of oleaginous unsaturated fat. The meat from such wagyu cattle is known for its quality, and commands a high price
Waldorf
A mixed salad consisting of diced apple and celery and walnuts, dressed with a thin mayonnaise
Wasabi
A Japanese plant growing wild on river banks related to watercress similar to horseradish used mostly in sushi or mixed with say sauce and served with sashimi
Wheat
A cereal used to produce flour and semolina that can also be eaten cooked or crushed
Whitebait
The young of herrings which are common along coasts and in river estuaries usually fried and eaten whole
Wine
A drink made from the juice of the grape, the sugar in the fruit being converted into alcohol by the action of yeasts in the process of fermentation
Wine cellar
A cellar is the best place to store wines, being dark, airy and quite with a constant temperature and protected from unpleasant smells
Yuzu
A citrus fruit about the size of a golf ball, a hybrid of a primitive citrus called Ichang papeda and a mandarin, which grows on tall trees in Japan and has a strong sour flavour
Zest
The coloured and perfumed outer rind of an orange, lemon or other citrus fruit
Zucchini
A variety of summer squash that is shaped like a cucumber and that has a smooth, dark-green skin - also known as courgettes
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Which large flightless bird, of the genus Pinguinis, was hunted to extinction in 1844? | 10 Tragic Stories of Extinct Animals | Mental Floss
10 Tragic Stories of Extinct Animals
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The tale of the dodo is one of the most famous stories of extinction in all natural history. Native only to the tiny island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, the birds had never learned any reason to be fearful of humans, so when European explorers first began to visit the island in the 17th century, the dodos were apparently so unsuspecting they could be picked up by hand straight from the wild and killed. Although the dodo was never a particularly numerous species (the fact that it was flightless made it susceptible to floods and forest fires, which apparently kept its population naturally low), within less than a century of its discovery interference by humans had led to its extinction. But it’s by no means alone—the stories behind the disappearance of 10 other creatures are listed here.
1. ATLAS BEAR
The Atlas bear was the only species of bear native to Africa, and once inhabited the area around the Atlas Mountains in the far northwest of the continent. The bear’s lengthy demise can be traced all the way back to the time of the Roman Empire, when the animals were not only hunted for sport but captured, brought back to Rome, and made to battle gladiators and execute criminals in a gruesome spectacle known as damnatio ad bestias . Numbers continued to fall throughout the Middle Ages, when great swaths of forest in northern Africa were felled for timber, until finally the last surviving wild Atlas bear was shot and killed in the mid-1800s.
2. CAROLINA PARAKEET
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The Carolina parakeet was once the only species of parrot native to the United States, found across a vast expanse of the country from New York in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south and the Rocky Mountains in the west. Excessive hunting and trapping meant that the birds had already become rare by the 19th century, but large, isolated flocks were still being recorded until as recently as the early 1900s. Sadly the birds were known for their altruistic habit of flocking to attend to dead or dying members of the same flock—so if only a few birds were felled by hunters, many of the rest of the flock would remain nearby, making themselves easy targets. The last known specimen died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918, and the species was finally declared extinct in 1939.
3. DUSKY SEASIDE SPARROW
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In 1963, a decision was made by NASA to flood a vast area of marshland on Merritt Island in eastern Florida as a means of controlling the mosquito population around the Kennedy Space Center. Sadly, Merritt Island was also one of the last strongholds of the dusky seaside sparrow, a small dark-colored songbird, and when the land was flooded, so too was the sparrows’ main breeding ground. Drainage of the marshes around the St. Johns River for a highway project also contributed to habitat loss. The birds’ population collapsed, and in the years that followed, the species struggled to regain its numbers. By 1979, only five birds—all males—remained in the wild, and the sparrow was finally declared extinct in 1990.
4. GRAVENCHE
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The gravenche was a species of freshwater fish native only to Lake Geneva, one of the Alpine lakes that straddle the border between France and Switzerland. The fish were apparently once so common in the lake that it alone accounted for two-thirds of all of the fish caught in Lake Geneva. Due to overfishing, the population of gravenche began to decrease rapidly in the early 20th century; the last known sighting was in 1950, and the species is now considered extinct.
5. GREAT AUK
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The penguin-like great auk was a large, flightless seabird once native to the entire North Atlantic Ocean, from Greenland and eastern Canada to the British Isles and the westernmost coasts of Europe. The birds were highly prized for their light and fluffy down, which was used as a stuffing for pillows and mattresses. And like the dodo, the fact that the birds were flightless made hunting and capturing them easy. The European population was almost entirely eradicated by the late 1600s, leading to one of the earliest environmental protection laws in history, passed by the British Parliament in 1770s, that prohibited killing the auks in Great Britain. Sadly, it was too late. As the birds became scarcer, demand for their feathers, meat and pelts increased, and the last two breeding birds were unceremoniously strangled to death on their nest by a pair of Icelandic hunters in 1844, while a third man stamped on the single egg that the female had been incubating.
6. HEATH HEN
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Like the great auk, the North American heath hen was also the subject of an early protective bill, introduced to New York State legislature in 1791, but it too failed to save the species from extinction. Heath hens were once native to much of the northeast United States, and were so plentiful that their meat eventually gained a reputation for being “poor man’s food.” Nonetheless they continued to be hunted in such vast numbers that by the mid-1800s there were no hens at all left on the entire American mainland. The bird’s final stronghold was Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, but illegal poaching, diseases carried by domestic poultry, and predation from feral cats caused numbers on the island to fall to less than 100 by the mid-1890s. A hunting ban and a specialized Heath Hen Reserve was introduced in 1908, and in response the population swelled to over 2000 in the years that followed. But a fire during the 1916 breeding season undid all of the reserve’s hard work, and by 1927 there were only 12 birds—including just two females—left alive. The last lone male, nicknamed “Booming Ben” by the locals, died in 1932.
7. JAPANESE SEA LION
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The 8-foot-long Japanese sea lion—an even larger cousin of the Californian sea lion—was once native to the Sea of Japan and bred in vast numbers along the beaches of the Japanese islands and the Korean mainland. Sadly, the animals were hunted in enormous numbers, but not for the reason you might think: their meat was poor quality and bad-tasting, so they weren’t hunted for food, but rather for their skins (which were used to make leather), their bones (which were used in traditional medicines), their fat (which was rendered to make oil for oil lamps), and even their whiskers (which were used to make brushes and pipe cleaners). As recently as the early 1900s, more than 3000 sea lions were being killed every year in Japan, until the population collapsed to less than 50 individuals in 1915. Numbers remained low until the 1940s, when the maritime battles of the Second World War destroyed the last remaining colonies and much of their natural habitat. The last recorded (but unconfirmed) sighting was in 1974.
8. PASSENGER PIGEON
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Until as recently as the early 1800s, the passenger pigeon was still considered the most numerous bird in all of North America. Individual flocks could contain in excess of a billion individual birds, and would take more than an hour to fly overhead. But as a hugely plentiful source of cheap meat, the birds were hunted in unprecedented numbers: at one nesting site in Michigan in 1878, as many as 50,000 birds were killed every day for nearly five months, and the last surviving flock of 250,000 birds was killed in its entirety by one group of hunters in a single day in 1896. The final individual bird—a female named Martha, who was being held in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo —died in 1914.
9. STEPHENS ISLAND WREN
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Stephens Island is a tiny half-mile islet lying in the seas between the two main islands of New Zealand. After a lighthouse was built there in 1892, the local lighthouse keeper’s cat, Tibbles, caught a bird that the keeper didn’t recognise. He sent the specimen to a renowned New Zealand ornithologist named Walter Buller , and the bird was soon declared a new species—the Stephens Island wren—and identified as one of only a handful of flightless perching birds known to science. Sadly, within just three years of its discovery, the entire species was extinct. According to popular history, Tibbles the cat was singlehandedly responsible for killing off the entire population of the wrens (in which case, Tibbles would be the only individual creature in history responsible for the extinction of an entire species) but in reality, by the late 1890s, Stephens Island was so overrun with feral cats that it is impossible to say that Tibbles alone was responsible: In February 1895, the lighthouse keeper wrote in a letter that “the cats have become wild and are making sad havoc among all the birds.”
10. WARRAH
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The warrah, or Falkland Islands wolf, was a unique species of wolf that was once the only mammal species native to the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It’s thought that the species became trapped on the islands during the last Ice Age, when the Falklands were connected to the South American mainland by an ice bridge that left the animals isolated when it melted. After the Falkland Islands were first settled by humans in the 1760s, the wolves were seen as a threat to livestock and were quickly hunted into extinction. The warrah was already rare by the time Charles Darwin visited the Falklands in 1833, and he ominously predicted that , “within a very few years … this fox will be classed with the dodo as an animal which has perished from the face of the earth.” Like the dodo, the warrah had never had to learn to be fearful of humans, and with no trees or forests on the island in which to hide, the wolves proved easy targets. The last individual was killed in 1876.
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Who was the leader of the 'Gunpowder Plot', whose conspirators included Guy Fawkes? | 15 Extinct Bird Species & Possible Reasons for Their Extinction | Owlcation
15 Extinct Bird Species & Possible Reasons for Their Extinction
15 Extinct Bird Species & Possible Reasons for Their Extinction
Updated on September 01, 2016
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1. Dodo
The dodo was a flightless bird that uniquely inhabited the island of Mauritius found in the Indian Ocean. The dodo was said to be related to pigeons and doves and was described as being around 3.3 feet tall and weighing about 20 kg. In 1598, Dutch sailors came across these flightless birds on the island and immediately saw its potential for meat, as they were starving by the time they reached land. It was hunted to extinction for its meat that wasn’t that great in terms of taste. Nevertheless by 1681, the hungry Dutch sailors had contributed a big portion in its disappearance, barely leaving a single sign of the dodos existence. Because of lack of any clue that may suggest its existence, it was left forgotten as a mythical creature. This remained as such until the 19th century, when research was conducted on some of the last surviving specimens that had been taken to Europe. From then on, some remains and fossils of dodos were discovered in Mauritius.
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2. Tasmanian Emu
The Tasmanian Emu is one of the subspecies of the flightless emu. They were distinguished from the other emu species by their whitish and featherless throats. Although the Tasmanian Emu was reportedly smaller than the mainland emus, the external features and height of the birds were said to have been found in traces of the other emu species. It was found in Tasmania where it gradually separated from the mainland Emu during the Pleistocene (126,000 to 5,000 years ago when much of the world was dominated by glaciations). In contrast to most extinct species, the Tasmanian Emu was not threatened by an already small population size, in fact these animals existed in fairly sizeable numbers. The emus were mostly hunted down and killed as pests. Aside from that, grassland fires also contributed in wiping out this subspecies of emus. Even though it is said that a few of these birds survived in captivity until late 1873, by the 1850s there were no sightings of the Tasmanian Emu recorded.
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3. Carolina Parakeet
The Carolina Parakeet was a colorful bird and the only parrot species found in North America. Specifically, it was found in the coastal plains of Alabama and often migrated in large flocks to Ohio, Iowa, Illinois and the areas of the eastern United States. It is described as weighing only about 280 grams and standing at about 12 inches. The Carolina Parakeet was posed to various threats, the biggest one being deforestation that destroyed their natural habitats, making them homeless. Soon when the forests were completely cleared out to create space for agriculture, some farmers shot these birds, considering them as pests that may attack their crops. They were very noisy and often moved in flocks. The Carolina Parakeets had a habit of immediately going to the rescue of wounded ones whose cries could be heard over a mile away. This unfortunately led into the shooting of numerous flocks by farmers and hunters, also leading to gradual extinction. It was also famous for its colorful feathers that were used for many decorative purposes. In the 1930s several unrecorded sightings of the Carolina Parakeet were reported in places like Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina. Although how the last of them came to be extinct is still unknown, credit still goes to the numerous shootings and killings which severely reduced the numbers of this bird.
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4. Arabian Ostrich
Suggested by its name, this species of ostriches were found in the desert plains of Arabia around the Syrian Desert, regions of todays Jordan, Israel, and Kuwait. Also known as the Middle Eastern Ostrich, this species is said to have been related to the North African or Red Necked ostrich by recent DNA studies. However, the Arabian Ostrich is said to differ from the North African Ostrich by its relatively smaller size and the females have lighter colored bodies. It was popular in ancient Mesopotamia, where it was used for sacrifices and it is shown in various paintings and artwork. Since it was a symbol of wealth, rich Arabian nobles popularly hunted this bird as a sort of sport and it was famous for its meat, eggs, and feathers that were used for making crafts. The Arabian Ostrich became endangered in the period of World War 1. In this period, the use of rifles and automobiles made it easier to hunt the ostriches, sometimes just for entertainment. The population rapidly began to shrink and by the Second World War in the late 19th century, there were no recorded sightings of the Arabian Ostriches. Some of the last recorded sightings of the Arabian Ostrich where in 1928, where it was seen around the borders of Jordan and Iraq, in 1941, where an ostrich was shot for its meat by some pipeline workers in Bahrain, and finally in 1966 where a dying female ostrich was spotted in Jordan at a mouth of Wadi el-Hasa, probably washed away by the flooding of River Jordan.
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5. Bachman's Warbler
The Bachman’s Warbler was first discovered by John Bachman, as early as 1832, in South Carolina. This migratory bird was described as being the smallest of any other known warbler. It was identified by its distinct appearance; gray colored wings and tail, yellow belly, and the backside and head are a bright olive color. The males were a shade darker than the females.
Man's influence played a major role in the extinction of the Bachman’s Warbler. Since it built its nests in small edges of bamboo canebrakes in wetlands, it was easily destroyed by swamp reclamation and destruction of forestland. Other causes were ravaging hurricanes and gathering of specimens for museums.
Although the extinction of the Bachman’s Warbler has not yet been announced officially, none have been spotted since the 1960s. The last sighting of this animal was in the western region of Cuba, in 1981.
6. Great Auk
The Great Auk was a large flightless species of penguins living in the North Atlantic's rocky coasts and islands and was believed to be in large numbers in the cold regions of Iceland, Greenland, Norway, and Great Britain. It is depicted by the white fur on its belly, its black back, and a thick hooked beak. The Great Auk was about 31 inches tall and weighing around 5 kg. Although the Great Auk was the only said member of the genus Pinguinus to survive till recent times, it eventually became extinct in the middle of the 19th century due to excessive hunting. It was a source of food and also had a symbolic value to the Native Americans who buried the Great Auks bones together with the dead. Even the early Europeans who came to America hunted the Auks for food and used them as bait in fishing.
7. Laysan Rail
The Laysan rail was named after the Laysan Island, a small Hawaiian island that this particular type of rail was native to. Discovered in 1828 by sailors, the Laysan Rail was a flightless bird that preyed on a wide range of food—from succulent leaves to moths and other invertebrates.
The Laysan Rail was well-known for being rather small sized—only 15 cm from beak to tail tip. It had a relatively lighter brown shade of coloration compared to the Baillon’s Crake, which is closely related to the Laysan Rail.
The extinction of the Laysan Rail could have easily been forgone as the oceanic island was filled with a lot of fauna that flourished in the lush vegetation. But extinction was inevitable due to the introduction of domestic rabbits. These rabbits had no predators and so they thrived on the island, feeding on the vegetation and grasses.
In 1891, the already endangered Laysan Rail was supported with conservation efforts when a colony of rails was imported. They prospered for awhile on the island before ultimately dying out due to a rat invasion and human influence. After this, numerous other efforts to save the bird had been set up but all to no avail as the rails expired either due to storms or competition for food.
The last sighted Laysan Rail was seen on Eastern Island in June of 1944.
8. Seychelles Parakeet
The Seychelles Parakeet inhabited a colony of islands in the Indian Ocean. Though it is named after Seychelles, which is the smallest island of Africa, it thrived in the abundant forests of the islands of Mahe and Silhoutte.
It was depicted by its general green plumage, with patches and stripes of blue on the wings, cheeks, and legs. The abdomen was a yellow green and the head was an emerald color. It is often described to resemble the Alexandrine Parakeet, though smaller and without the pink colored stripe found in the collar.
Possibly thought to be a pest, the now extinct species were completely annihilated by severe killings by coconut plantation farmers.
Around the 1880s, the last of the Seychelles Parakeet were sighted and recorded. By the early 1900s, none of the birds were sighted and the Seychelles Parakeet was officially considered extinct.
9. Passenger Pigeon
The story of the now extinct Passenger Pigeon is one of the saddest stories. This abundant bird was wonderfully social and lived in great flocks. It largely inhabited the lush forests of North America before was wiped off the face of this earth in the early 20th century.
The Passenger Pigeon was principally hunted down as a source of food especially when its meat was capitalized in the 19th century as food for the poor slaves brought in from Africa. Due to man’s intrusion of the forests in order to create space for industrialization, the friendly Passenger Pigeons were annihilated and their forests were burned down.
The last actual Passenger Pigeon, named Martha, died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. A song entitled “Martha; the Last of the Passenger Pigeons,” is dedicated to Martha. She must have lived an extremely lonely life with all her relatives forever gone.
10. Mauritius Blue Pigeon
The Mauritius Blue Pigeon, endemic to Mauritius Island, is a striking bird with a pearly white elongated neck, a vivid red tail, and a velvety blue body. Possibly being an omnivore, it was said to feed on fresh water mollusks and fruit.
It was first described in 1602 and the Dutch sailors who landed in Mauritius were glad to have a change in diet from eating the unappetizing dodo meat. Thus, it was largely hunted and eaten, thereby greatly diminishing the numbers of these pigeons.
Other reasons for extinction include the pigeons being hunted as a source of food by refugee slaves, introduction of predators like the Crab-eating Macaques, and destruction of the pigeons natural habitat.
By the 1830s it was easy to conclude that the Mauritius Blue Pigeon had forever disappeared and would never be seen again.
11. Stephen Island’s Wren
The Stephen Island’s Wren was a flightless and nocturnal bird that roved the shrubbery and forestland of Stephen Island. Although this animal was found only on Stephen Island, it was believed to have been prehistorically widespread throughout New Zealand.
The Stephen’s Wren has quite an unbelievable story that tells of its extinction being contributed by one single living thing - the lighthouse keeper’s cat, also known as Tibbles. Even though this particular cat did feed off the flesh of the Stephen Island’s Wren, it could not have annihilated the entire species alone as there were other feral cats on the island. For this reason, the cause of extinction of the Stephen Island's Wren may be credited to the introduction of the feral cat population to the island.
12. Labrador Duck
Already a rare species, the Labrador Duck was a migratory bird that was possibly native to Coastal Labrador in Canada, which was supposedly its breeding ground. It frequently travelled to the southern regions of Long Island and New Jersey in winter. The Labrador Duck was described by its vivid black and white feathered body. For this reason it was also known as the Skunk Duck.
By the 1850s, the already few numbers of the Labrador Duck were deteriorating and the last of them were found in Long Island, New York in 1875 and the specimen was taken to the United States National Museum. The reasons for the extinction of the Labrador Duck are somewhat a mystery. Although it was hunted for food, the meat was rather unappetizing and wasn’t profitable.
The possible cause might have been the encroaching of man on the coastal ecology of North America. Man’s influence might have added harmful changes to the environment through water pollution or dumping of toxic wastes. These changes may have affected the snails and other mollusks that are food for the Labrador Duck, thereby proving hazardous to the species as well.
13. Ivory Billed Woodpecker
The Ivory Billed Woodpecker was a huge bird—said to be the third largest in the world—that was resident to the forest regions of the Southeastern United States.
Nearly at twenty inches in length and thirty inches of wingspan, this bird was said to be the largest one in the United States. The ivory billed woodpecker is generally described as having a shiny blue coat, white markings on the neck and wings, and a triangular red marking on the head. Its ivory colored bill is straight, long, flattened, and hard-tipped.
The numbers of the Ivory Billed Woodpeckers began dropping severely in the 1800s due to habitat destruction. By the 20th century only a few countable numbers of this obscure bird remained. No sightings had been recorded in the mid-20th century and the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was thought to have gone extinct. However, it appeared that the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was not totally gone as it was rediscovered in 2005 in eastern Arkansas.
Up to now, it is still vague whether the Ivory Billed Woodpecker continues to exist or has been completely wiped out.
14. New Zealand Quail
Said to be extinct since 1835, the New Zealand Quail thrived in temperate grasslands and open fern lands. This species was brought into the area as a game bird and was wide spread in the south and north islands but they existed in abundance in the south where there were ideal conditions.
The New Zealand Quail became endangered and the population rapidly started decreasing until complete extinction in the 1870s. Causes range from large fires, predation by wild dogs, and also some sources speculate that they may have been affected by the diseases brought in by the introduction of other game birds, possibly other quail species. The Australian Brown Quail was brought in to replace the extinct New Zealand Quail.
15. Laughing Owl
The Laughing Owl was a species of owl of the genus Sceloglaux, which means scoundrel owl, possibly referring to its malicious way of hooting.It was identified by its reddish brown plumage with a white face and deep orange eyes. The Laughing Owl was about 36 cm tall, weighing 600 grams, with the males being of a relatively smaller size than the females.
Originating from New Zealand, the Laughing Owl was said to be plentiful by the time European settlers landed on the island in 1840. Thereafter, it was hunted to gather specimens that were later sent to the British Museum. The exact reasons for extinction of the Laughing Owl are rather mysterious. But the invasion of weasels and stouts might have brought in direct competition for food and thereby wiped out the bird.
The Laughing Owl was popularly known for its crazy maniacal calls that echoed through the forests particularly on dark, rainy nights.
The last sighting of the Laughing Owl was a dead specimen believed to have been found in Canterbury in 1914. But more and more unconfirmed sightings of the Laughing Owl have been reported; in the 1940s a Laughing Owl was spotted in Pakahi near Opotiki, a town found in the North Island of New Zealand.
Another sighting was described in a book about a few American tourists camping out in the forests, when suddenly they’re shaken out of sleep and definitely scared beyond their wits by “a sound of a madman laughing” in the middle of the night. This may have been the last of the Laughing Owls lurking in the forests—we will never know for certain.
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After being held captive in an Afghan cave, billionaire engineer Tony Stark creates a unique weaponized suit of armor to fight evil.
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With the world now aware of his identity as Iron Man, Tony Stark must contend with both his declining health and a vengeful mad man with ties to his father's legacy.
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Storyline
Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Son of legendary inventor and weapons contractor Howard Stark. When Tony Stark is assigned to give a weapons presentation to an Iraqi unit led by Lt. Col. James Rhodes, he's given a ride on enemy lines. That ride ends badly when Stark's Humvee that he's riding in is attacked by enemy combatants. He survives - barely - with a chest full of shrapnel and a car battery attached to his heart. In order to survive he comes up with a way to miniaturize the battery and figures out that the battery can power something else. Thus Iron Man is born. He uses the primitive device to escape from the cave in Iraq. Once back home, he then begins work on perfecting the Iron Man suit. But the man who was put in charge of Stark Industries has plans of his own to take over Tony's technology for other matters. Written by halo1k
Get ready for a different breed of heavy metal hero. See more »
Genres:
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi
Motion Picture Rating ( MPAA )
Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content | See all certifications »
Parents Guide:
2 May 2008 (USA) See more »
Also Known As:
£5,465,103 (UK) (2 May 2008)
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Trivia
First film released in 2008 to pass the $300 million mark at the domestic box office. See more »
Goofs
The lead F-22 Raptor pursuing Iron Man is firing a 30mm GSh-30-1 cannon. The rate of fire is insufficiently fast for a Raptor's actual cannon armament, the 20mm M61A2 Vulcan. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Tony Stark : I feel like you're driving me to court martial. This is crazy. What did I do? I feel like you're gonna pull over and snuff me. What, you're not allowed to talk? Hey, Forrest!
Jimmy : We can talk, sir.
Tony Stark : Oh, I see. So it's personal.
Ramirez : No, you intimidate them.
Tony Stark : Good God, you're a woman! I honestly, I couldn't have called that. I mean, I would apologize, but isn't that what we're going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first.
Ramirez : I'm an airman.
Tony Stark : Well, you have actually excellent bone structure ...
[...]
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Crazy Credits
This is Marvel Studio's first self-produced film (and the first film to set up the Marvel Cinematic Universe), so the Marvel logo is slightly adjusted: it fully appears, and then is accompanied by the title "Marvel Studios." See more »
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Move Over Superheroes, Iron Man Is Here
9 May 2008 | by Chrysanthepop
(Fraggle Rock) – See all my reviews
Until May 2008, the few releases this year that I've seen ranged from below average to downright rubbish with the exception of two movies. One being 'Iron Man'. This is the movie we have been waiting for this year. So does it match up to expectations? Hell yes! On the surface, 'Iron Man' isn't very different from other superhero films but on the other hand it isn't like any other superhero movie. This one has rich characters, it perfectly blends humour, drama, action and it has heart, all of which are presented on screen in a wonderful way that keeps the viewer staring at the screen right till the end.
The writing is great as 'Iron Man' sticks to the main story all the way. I liked how Downey Jr's Tony Stark grows from this carefree business-minded tech-tycoon who's only concern is Stark Industries to a man with a mission to save the world and in the process he still stays the same person as he maintains his sense of humour, his courage and his integrity. The dialogues, especially Starks's one-liners are sharp, witty and funny. This movie is an introduction to the famous title character thus those expecting only action from start to end (like 'Transformers') may be disappointed to an extent. But for me there was enough action along with substance to make it a hugely enjoyable experience.
Jon Favreau is proving to be a more versatile director and his impressive filmography, both as actor and director, prove that he's experimented with different kinds of cinema. 'Iron Man' wouldn't have been an easy film to direct but Favreau does a magnificent job. The CGI is excellent as I loved how much attention was given to detail and how the viewer is shown every step of the making of Iron Man. Of course, there's some humour added to lighten up the mood instead of technologically overloading the viewers.
'Iron Man' is just the movie that Robert Downey Jr. needed and it couldn't have come at a better time. At a time, when this talented actor's performances were hardly getting enough notice, 'Iron Man' brings him back to recognition. After seeing him, one would conclude that the part was made only for Downey Jr. His dialogue delivery seems so natural that it would be hard to tell whether he was acting, if the scenes were taken out of context. I don't think Gwyneth Paltrow has ever looked better. Though the role does not allow her to really stretch her acting, Potts isn't just a typical superhero's dame. She is Tony's confidant and the one who supports him through thick and thin. Paltrow provides the necessary charisma, sex appeal and soul that makes Pepper Potts shine and she shares a sizzling chemistry with her male lead. Terrence Howard has a smaller role as Tony's good friend but there's a hint that he might have a more prominent role if a sequel is made. Finally, there's Jeff Bridges as the villain. An odd yet brilliant choice as the actor is refreshing and like his costar, he too needed an 'Iron Man' to give his career a boost.
I noticed that some people were complaining that Muslims/Middle Easterners were portrayed as bad guys just like in any other American movie but I would like to state that this is no 'Vantage Point'. Here, these people weren't portrayed as terrorists working on their own but as men hired for a specific reason (I won't say more to give away spoilers). So I just thought to briefly clarify that this is no anti-Islamic or anti-anything (except, well okay, anti-weaponry) movie. It's a movie for everyone.
Perhaps the story itself isn't anything novel which is what makes it somewhat similar to other superhero movies, but the treatment of it and its execution is quite unique. Add to that a fine cast and dazzling special effects among many things, this is the summer movie experience I've been waiting for in 2008. I wonder what else this summer has to offer as I doubt that it would succeed in providing anything close to the sheer entertainment of 'Iron Man'.
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Which cartoonist who worked for the satirical magazine 'Punch', is best remembered for illustrating Lewis Carroll's 'Alice In Wonderland'? | Avengers: Age of Ultron | Iron Man Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
Avengers: Age of Ultron
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Avengers: Infinity War Part 1
Avengers: Age of Ultron, also known as The Avengers 2, is a movie set for release on May 1, 2015 and is based on the superhero team of the same name in the comics.
The sequel to The Avengers , the film is to be directed by Joss Whedon , with the Falcon rumoured to appear in the film, along with the original cast. [1]
It was intially believed that Thanos would be the main antagonist as seen in The Avengers post-credits scene, but was later confirmed at the San Diego Comic-Con 2013 that Ultron would be the main antagonist.
Statues of the film were made, including a two-storey sculpture of Iron Man's Mark 42
02:42
Largest Iron Man Statue in the World (Two Stories Tall)
Edit
With S.H.I.E.L.D. destroyed and the Avengers needing a hiatus from stopping threats, Tony Stark attempts to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program with Ultron , a self-aware, self-teaching, artificial intelligence.
However, his plan backfires when Ultron decides that humans are the main enemy and sets out to eradicate them from Earth, and it is up to Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, along with support from Nick Fury and Maria Hill, to stop him from enacting his plans. Along the way, the Avengers encounter the powerful twins, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, as well as the familiar Vision.
Full Plot
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In Sokovia, the Avengers – Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, and Clint Barton – raid a Hydraoutpost led by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, who has been experimenting on humans using the scepter previously wielded by Loki. They encounter two of Strucker's experiments – twins Pietro, who has superhuman speed, and Wanda Maximoff, who can manipulate minds and throw energy blasts – and apprehend Strucker, while Stark retrieves Loki's scepter.
Stark and Banner discover an artificial intelligence within the scepter's gem, and secretly use it to complete Stark's "Ultron" global defense program. The unexpectedly sentient Ultron, believing he must eradicate humanity to save Earth, eliminates Stark's A.I.J.A.R.V.I.S. and attacks the Avengers during a victory party at their headquarters. Escaping with the scepter, Ultron uses the resources in Strucker's Sokovia base to upgrade his rudimentary body and build an army of robot drones. He recruits the Maximoff twins, who harbor a grudge against Stark for weapons responsible for their parents' deaths, and together, they visit the South African shipyard base of arms dealer Ulysses Klaue to obtain vibranium. The Avengers battle them, but Wanda subdues the heroes with haunting visions, causing the Hulk to run amok and forcing Stark to use his powerful "Veronica" armor to stop him.
A worldwide backlash and the doubts and fears Wanda's hallucinations have caused send the team into hiding at Barton's safehouse farm, where they meet Barton's wife, Laura, and children. Thor departs to consult with Dr. Erik Selvig on the meaning of the apocalyptic future he saw in his hallucination. Realizing an attraction between them, Romanoff and Banner plan to flee together after fighting Ultron. Nick Fury arrives and encourages the team to form a plan to stop Ultron. In Seoul, South Korea, Ultron forces Banner's friend Dr. Helen Cho to use her synthetic tissue technology together with the scepter's gem to create the perfect body for him. When Ultron begins uploading himself into the body, Wanda is able to read his mind; discovering his plan for human extinction, the Maximoffs turn on Ultron. Rogers, Romanoff and Barton hunt Ultron and retrieve the synthetic body, but Ultron captures Romanoff.
The Avengers fight amongst themselves when Stark secretly uploads J.A.R.V.I.S.— who is still operational after hiding inside Ultron on the internet—into the synthetic body. Thor returns to help activate the body with lightning, explaining that it was part of his "vision" and that the gem is one of the six Infinity Stones, the most powerful objects in existence. Together with this "Vision" and the Maximoffs, the Avengers head for Sokovia, where Ultron has used the vibranium to build a machine to lift a large part of the city skyward, intending to crash it into the ground to cause global extinction. As the city begins to lift, Banner rescues Romanoff, who awakens the Hulk for the battle. The Avengers fight Ultron's army while delaying Ultron from activating his plan's final procedure. Fury arrives in a Helicarrier with Maria Hill, James Rhodes and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to assist in evacuating civilians, but Pietro dies when he shields Barton from a barrage of fire. A grieving Wanda abandons her post to destroy Ultron's primary body in revenge, inadvertently allowing one of his drones to activate his machine. The landmass plummets, but Stark and Thor overload the machine and shatter the city into pieces. In the aftermath, the Hulk, unwilling to endanger Romanoff by being with her, departs in a Quinjet, while the Vision confronts Ultron's last remaining body and destroys it.
Later, the Avengers have established a new base in upstate New York, run by Fury, Hill, Cho, and Selvig. Fury assures Romanoff that Banner likely escaped the crashed Quinjet. Believing the Mind Stone is safe with the Vision, Thor returns to Asgard to learn more about the forces he suspects have manipulated recent events. Stark and Barton retire from the team, and Rogers and Romanoff prepare to train new Avengers: Rhodes, Wanda Maximoff, the Vision, and Sam Wilson.
In a mid-credits scene, Thanos retrieves the Infinity Gauntlet and, dissatisfied by the failures of his pawns, vows to hunt for the Infinity Stones personally.
Appearances
Paul Bettany as
Vision : A robot created by Ultron to serve him, but later on turns against his master and joins The Avengers.
J.A.R.V.I.S. : A super advanced and high level A.I. created by Tony Stark, and is one of his main helpers, as well as a friend.
Don Cheadle has reported to reprise his role as James Rhodes / War Machine Mark II and will make an appearance in the film. Cobie Smulders and Hayley Atwell will reprise their roles as Maria Hill , and Peggy Carter respectively. Claudia Kim has been cast as Dr. Cho, a friend of Tony Stark. Andy Serkis was confirmed to be Ulysees Klaw. Avengers co-creator Stan Lee will make a cameo appearance.
Production
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In October 2011, Feige said during the New York Comic Con, "Iron Man 3 will be the first of what we sort of refer to as phase two of this saga that will culminate, God willing, in Avengers 2". In March 2012, Joss Whedon, director of the first film, stated that he would want a sequel to be "smaller. More personal. More painful. By being the next thing that should happen to these characters, and not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time. By having a theme that is completely fresh and organic to itself."
At the premiere of The Avengers, Feige said the studio had an option for Whedon to return as director. In May 2012, after the successful release of the first film, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced a sequel was in development. Most of the film's cast members were under contract to potentially appear in the sequel; however, Robert Downey, Jr. was not, as his four picture deal with Marvel would expire after Iron Man 3.
At the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International, Joss Whedon said he was undecided about directing, stating, "I have not come to a decision on directing Avengers 2. I am having too much fun with this Firefly reunion now." However in August 2012, Iger announced that Whedon would return to write and direct the sequel and develop the Marvel television series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., for ABC. Later in the month, Disney set a May 1, 2015 release date.
Asked about his decision to return, Whedon said "Avengers 2, it wasn’t a tough decision. For a long time I thought, 'Well, it’s just not going to happen.' Then when I actually started to consider it, it became so clear that I desperately wanted to say more about these characters, it wouldn’t’ve been an easy no and it was a spectacularly easy yes. There was no wrestling." Whedon said that they intended for the film's production to not be as rushed as the first one. In a December 2012 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Whedon stated that he had completed an outline for the film.
In February 2013 at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, Whedon said that death would play a theme in the sequel. In March, Whedon said that he looked to The Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather Part II as inspirations. Also in March, Mark Ruffalo, who played the Hulk in The Avengers, tweeted that he will reprise the role in the sequel.
Pre-Production
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In April 2013, it was reported that filming was scheduled to begin in early 2014 at Shepperton Studios in England. At the Hollywood premiere of Iron Man 3, Whedon said that he completed a draft of the script, and had started the storyboard process and to meet with actors. Whedon also mentioned that he wrote with Downey in mind and included a "brother/sister act" from the comic books.
Entertainment Weekly reported that Whedon was referring to Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, which Whedon confirmed. During an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Whedon explained his rationale for including the characters in the film: "Besides the fact that I grew up reading them, their powers are very visually interesting," said Whedon. "One of the problems I had on the first one was everybody basically had punchy powers... [Quicksilver]’s got super speed. [Scarlet Witch] can weave spells and a little telekinesis, get inside your head. There’s good stuff that they can do that will help sort of keep it fresh."
In May 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Downey was in negotiations to extend his contract with Marvel Studios and reprise his role as Iron Man in the film, as well as a third Avengers film. Also in May, the chairman of Cape Town Film Studios said that Marvel Studios was interested in shooting the film in Cape Town, South Africa. In June 2013, Variety reported that Aaron Taylor-Johnson had entered talks to play Quicksilver, which Taylor-Johnson confirmed in a July 2013 Collider interview. Later in the same month, Downey signed on to return as Iron Man for the film and The Avengers 3. Marvel also announced that filming was expected to begin in March 2014.
At the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con International, Whedon announced the film would be subtitled Age of Ultron. Despite the subtitle, the film is not based on the 2013 comic book miniseries Age of Ultron. Feige explained, "We came up with a few titles, but every month a new comic book appeared, and that's a great title. Age Of Ultron is a great title. We had a few other 'Of Ultrons', but that was the best one. So we're borrowing that title, but taking storylines from decades of Avengers storylines." Whedon added, "We're doing our own version of the origin story of Ultron....We were crafting our own version of it where [Ultron's] own origin comes more directly from the Avengers we already know about. The other thing is in the origin story there was Hank Pym, so a lot of people assumed he was going to be in the mix, but he's not. We're basically taking the things from the comics for the movies that we need and can use.
A lot of stuff has to fall by the wayside." Whedon also said the film would have a darker tone due to Ultron's involvement, and confirmed that Hawkeye and Black Widow would return. The title of the film came as a surprise to many fans who were expecting Thanos, the mastermind behind the events of the first film, to be the main villain in the sequel. When asked about Thanos' involvement, Whedon responded, "We have to stay grounded. It's part of what makes the Marvel universe click - their relationship to the real world. It's science fiction, and Thanos is not out of the mix, but Thanos was never meant to be the next villain. He's always been the overlord of villainy and darkness."
In August 2013, Deadline reported that Chris Evans would return to play Captain America in the sequel after making his directorial debut on 1:30 Train. Later in the month, USA Today reported that Samuel L. Jackson would reprise the role of Nick Fury. Also in August, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Marvel Studios was in negotiations with Elizabeth Olsen to play the Scarlet Witch. At the end of the month, Marvel announced that James Spader would play Ultron.
In September 2013, Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson confirmed they would be returning as Thor and Black Widow respectively, with Johansson mentioning that filming would begin in January. Also in September, extensive scans were taken of Spader's head and body in preparation for the role. In October 2013, Samuel L. Jackson confirmed that Elizabeth Olsen had been cast as the Scarlet Witch, while The Wrap reported that Taylor-Johnson closed the deal to play Quicksilver after working out scheduling conflicts in promoting his appearance in the 2014 Godzilla reboot. Marvel later officially confirmed Olsen and Taylor-Johnson in November 2013.
In November 2013, Cobie Smulders confirmed in an interview that she is reprising her role as Maria Hill. Also in November, Feige commented on finding the right balance between technology and fantasy based heroes in Avengers: Age of Ultron saying, "Iron Man is a very technological hero his movies are always technologically based. The first Thor was all about introducing Asgard and Thor in that more fantastical realm into the more reality-based MCU, and explain that obviously it might look like magic, but it's another form of science and technology.
As we go into Ultron clearly he does come out of technology, but we're using all of our tools at our disposal that we've established so far as part of the MCU to build the storyline of Age of Ultron. At the end of the month, Screen Rant reported that portions of the film would also be shot in the United States. In December 2013, USA Today reported that Don Cheadle will have a part in the film.
Filming
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Production started on February 12, 2014 and filming officially began. Principal Photography began on March 2014 and would last around three to four months. By the end of May, Josh Brolin joined the cast to play Thanos. On June 1, Joss Whedon tweeted that that they were halfway through shooting. In mid-June, scenes were shot at the University of East Anglia in Norwich and at Dover Castle in Kent. On August 6, Whedon announced on social media that he has completed principal photography on the film. On August 8, Jeremy Renner also announced on his Twitter account that they finished filming for Avengers: Age of Ultron.
This section is under development. Information will be placed here soon.
Post-Production
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In February 2014, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) announced plans to open a facility in London, citing Avengers: Age of Ultron as a catalyst for the expansion. ILM developed a new motion capture system for the film called Muse, which can better capture the actor's performance and combine different takes. In June 2014, the IMAX Corporation announced that the IMAX release of the film will be converted to IMAX 3D. In August 2014, Stellan Skarsgard revealed he would reprise his role as Erik Selvig .
Marketing
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During the San-Diego Comic-Con in 2013, Joss Whedon released a Teaser Trailer of the film as well as it's Official Logo. A Sneak Peek for the creation of the film was also released in the Iron Man 3 Blu-Ray companion application, called JARVIS: A Second Screen Experience .
On early March, art concepts for the film was released, together with other teaser images for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Guardians of the Galaxy, and Ant-Man.
Music
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Brian Tyler, composer for various known MCU films.
The film's score will be composed by Brian Tyler , who previously scored the soundtracks for Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World . Tyler stated that the score pays homage to John Williams' scores for Star Wars, Superman, and Raiders of the Lost Ark and references the scores from Iron Man, Thor and Captain America films in order to create a similar musical universe, saying, "That’s the goal for sure. You have to build in nostalgia and do it upfront so you can relate to it."
Notes
The film is to be released on the May 1, 2015.
This movie will be Tony Stark's sixth appearance in the Marvel Cinematics Universe.
Trivia
This will be the first Avengers film to feature James Rhodes / Iron Patriot in it.
Gallery
| i don't know |
Since 2004, 'The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands' has fought for independence from which country? | Gay & Lesbian Kingdom
On the 13th of September 2004, the Gay Kingdom declared war on Australia. This also means that the Kingdom sees itself as an independent country. The independence is based on the fact that Australia is guilty of “unjust enrichment,” because of the government’s plan to amendment the marriage act so as to prevent homosexual couples who were married overseas to have their relationship recognised. The law of “Unjust Enrichment” states: “If something is unjustly taken compensation must be made.”
The Gay activist are of the opinion that the change in the marriage law has taken from homosexual people the right to be treated equally, “wether it be marriage, superannuation, hospital visits, adoption or IVF treatments.” Instead of financial compensation the activists have chosen “territorial compensation” by establishing an independent gay state on a scattering of tropical islands in the Coral Sea, with the capitol of Heaven on Cato Island.
The initiative for the founding of a gay kingdom was taken during the Brisbane Gay and Lesbian Pride festival and the Coral Sea Islands seemed a perfect location because of a twist in international law that states “Oppressed people of overseas territories have a right to self government and self determination”. For a long time these islands were administered as an overseas territory of England, but from the sixties they were administered from Australia by the Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories as an overseas external territory of the Commonwealth of Australia.
Under the Untied Nations and International Law external overseas territories of all governments have the legal right to self government and self determination. The Coral Sea Island are international recognised by the government of Australia and by all nations and by the United Nations as an external overseas territory of Australia and as Australia has passed into legislation homophobic laws that clearly discriminate against its homosexual people the gay and lesbian activists presumes that the full force of International Law applies to the Kingdoms Independence.
The activists also presume that neither England nor Australia has any rights to the Coral Sea Islands, because both governments are unable to provide to the gay government any recording of anyone formally proclaiming the Coral Sea Islands as part of the British/Australian Crown.
The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom formally raised the gay rainbow pride flag on Cato Island on the 14th of June 2004 and declared the territory an independent gay and lesbian state, a memorial plaque on the north eastern tip of Cato Island commemorates this historic event and reads:
On the 14th day of June 2004, at this highest point in the Coral Sea, Emperor Dale Parker Anderson raised the gay rainbow flag and claimed the islands of the Coral Sea in his name as homeland for the gay and lesbian peoples of the world. God Save our King!
Declaration of Independence
The kingdom’s Declaration of Independence, signed by the sovereign Dale R and sent to the Prime Minister and Governor General of Australia starts with a clear statement: “Homosexual people have honestly endeavoured everywhere to merge ourselves in the social life of surrounding communities and to be treated equally. We are not permitted to do so. In vain we are loyal patriots, our loyalty in some places running to extremes; in vain do we make the same sacrifices of life and property as our fellow citizens; in vain do we strive to increase the fame of our native land in science and art, or her wealth by trade and commerce. In countries where we have lived for centuries, we are still cried down as strangers... In the world as it is now and for an indefinite period... I think we shall not be left in peace.”
The gay & lesbian government think this analysis sufficient reason for an independent gay and lesbian homeland, since - the sovereigns words resemble the American Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The Sovereign Dale
The sovereign of the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom is Dale Parker Anderson, who is directly descendant from the murdered gay King of England, Edward II (1284-1327) this makes the Sovereign distantly related to all the major royal houses of Europe.
Interesting, is the fact that one of Dale’s more recent forefathers was William Purcell of the HMAV Bounty, who was the first to visit and stay in the Coral Sea Islands in 1789, thereby giving some kind of legitimacy to the claims of the gay and lesbian government.
For many other things the founding fathers of the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom have made use of many treasures from our (sub) cultural heritage. They’ve chosen the rainbow flag as the official flag, the pink triangle as the coat of arms, and Gloria Gaynor’s “I am what I am” as the national anthem. This song was written by Jerry Herman, “a long time public gay male,” who was made a Lord of the Gay Kingdom because “the gay and lesbian government is most honoured to have this song as the Kingdoms official national anthem.”
Why a Kingdom and not a Republic?
Dale was originally voted in as the administrator of the gay and lesbian government. Upon legal advice his title was changed to that of Sovereign on the grounds that under Australian law (Australia is a Kingdom) a defacto prince trying to claim his crown cannot be charged with treason, this law goes further and states in fact that anyone hindering a defacto prince or his supporters from obtaining his crown can themselves be charged with treason. To date this law has protected the Gay Sovereign and members of his government from Australian law and its legal system and courts. Had a republic model of government been chosen all the gay and lesbian activists could have been charged with treason and been bought before the Australian courts.
| Australia |
Which actress is reprising her role as 'M' in the upcoming Bond film 'Quantum Of Solace'? | Slap Upside The Head: Guest Slap
Slap Upside The Head
Dr. Flamingo Jones And The Sacred Band Of Thebes
September 29th, 2010
I’m very happy to present today’s Guest Slap. The author, Dr. Flamingo Jones, is a world-renowned archaeologist and researcher at the University of Oxbridgeshire. While I know little about his reclusive past and current whereabouts, he has kindly agreed to share with us, occasionally, his knowledge, discoveries, and insights.
Good day to you, ladies, gentlemen, and those who do not wish to confine yourselves to such limiting terminology. I apologize for my long absence in contributing to this esteemed publication, but I do so without regret. In the intervening year since my last article, I have been on sabbatical from my position as head of the Department of Queer Anthropology at the University of Oxbridgeshire to travel around the world in my ongoing quest for both modern and ancient truths.
With all the controversy in the last few years over the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in the U.S. military, I thought it would be rather illuminating to share with you an example of one of the greatest military teams from antiquity, one which had rather the opposite belief when it came to the sexual orientation of soldiers: the Sacred Band of Thebes.
2388 years ago, in 378 BC, a Theban military commander by the name of Gorgidas had an interesting idea for forming a novel type of elite military unit that would be more loyal than any other. He decided to put to use the homosexuality that has always been quite commonplace in military units throughout the ages. From the regular Theban army, Gorgidas hand-picked 150 pairs of skilled soldiers who were lovers with other soldiers. The logic behind this was that a soldier would fight with utmost ferocity and loyalty if he were fighting alongside his lover, defending him at all costs. The Theban commander himself would often fight among the Sacred Band with his own special companion.
Different commanders would use the Sacred Band of Thebes as a special forces team in different ways, scattered through the front ranks as a morale booster for the other troops, or solidified in one ferocious fighting unit. During the years of the Sacred Band’s existence Thebes gained greater and greater power in their region, even breaking free from Sparta’s dominance when the Sacred Band helped to defeat an army three times their own size.
Unfortunately, in 338BC the Sacred Band was annihilated by Philip II of Macedon (father of Alexander the Great). According to Plutarch, most of the Theban soldiers fled in the face of Philip II’s superior military technology, but not the Sacred Band. They stood, fought, and died as one that day, and are even buried together on that same spot, marked today by a statue known as the Lion of Chaironeia. Plato, in his Symposium, best describes the love and determination found of the Sacred Band of Thebes, in which he wrote:
And if there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; and when fighting at each other’s side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this.
Ask, Tell
April 12th, 2010
I’m super happy to introduce today’s special guest author / illustrator! Premee is not only exceptionally talented, but also living proof that not everyone living in Calgary is necessarily a gun-toting, cowboy hat-wearing, cattle-prodding, grit-eating, hay-growing, gay-hoeing, well, you get the idea…
The US military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy has always been a tough one for gay activists. The proposed changes may make it a little easier to be a uniformed gay, inasmuch as an anonymous outing is no longer cause for immediate discharge (there’s an investigation now!), but the fact remains that the military culture is generally homophobic and feels that homophobia is a valid excuse to exclude, ostracize, threaten, and whine about undue exposure to gay folks. “But it’ll ruin unit cohesion!” “I’m scared I’ll be poked awake one morning!” “I can’t focus on my job with all that gay around!” “No man’s foxhole is safe!”
The rational response, of course, would be education and desegregation; unfortunately, it looks like the official response is ghettoization.
Marine Commandant General J. Conway has been interviewed saying “I would not ask our Marines to live with someone that’s homosexual if we can possibly avoid it,” and has gone on to outline his plans to completely segregate gay from straight troops. This uninformed and frankly nasty attitude promotes a culture of otherness and, so far from progressing gay troops from inferiors to equals, will probably make them targets by setting them apart from the rest of their units.
On the other hand, since single housing is now proposed for those gay servicemen, it might actually end up being a little nicer than life in the closet!
Christmas Christ-myth
December 9th, 2009
I’m very pleased to introduce today’s guest author. Matthew David is a gay Christian and talented singer/songwriter with an aptness for challenging popular conceptions. In his second Guest Slap , Matthew questions whether Christianity’s appropriation of Christmas was wise, and whether it’s possible to integrate one’s faith with knowledge that the Nativity is rooted in pagan mythology.
Christmas is a write-off for a lot of people who have happily fallen deaf to the pagan reconstruction’s attempt at Christian symbolism. Adding to that the corporate cash-grab which brings about greed-gone-wild in our children (and our adults too), the heart of the season seems to have been lost. And ever a blog post, article, or television preacher crying foul about this very tragic loss every December.
I’ll join the chorus, but as an oddball—a gay Christian. Sure, many an “unsaved” soul has seen the Christmas tree, the holly, the stockings, and the virgin/manger nativity, and has observed that this is nothing more than a rebranding of Rome’s then-ancient pagan myth. Some have even seen the story behind the celebration as “same script, different cast,” referring to some Egyptian, Greek, or Hindu god-story, to list only a few. To be sure, the similarities are exact, and become frightening to the faithful.
Others have gone further, writing off everything the church believes as false, as they’ve seen how the institution’s dogma has mistreated the human race in ages past, and yes, continues to do the very same burning at the stake (well, as much as the law allows, the bastards). Many readers have experienced the unChristian manifestation of this dogma personally, and have in turn, turned their back on the people of this dogma, and even the dogma itself. Granted, if a belief prescribes atrocity, why believe?
But here’s a thought in a different vein: don’t let a people’s obviously-false doctrine rule out the pursuit of a correct interpretation of said doctrine. Siding with naysayers is the easy button for a person who has been hurt or has seen others hurt; likewise, news that demeans the character of an enemy is easily believed, and is rarely given fair and responsible thought.
Generally, looking at things with an open mind and a different angle is wisdom. Believe immediately the premise that Christmas is a man-made myth meant to help us sleep at night, or hear the criticism and ask a question. Perhaps this: Is Christmas veiled paganism, or is it the final manifestation of the persistent collective human psyche’s prophecy of a god-man coming? Have ancient sages, prophets, and star-gazers from every part of the world and from every age seen the same story in their rituals, apparitions, and star-charts, and deducted the same story to pass on to the masses? Or is this population control for a new era? Perhaps something even more sinister? There are many things to ask before a fair judgment is made, if we’re willing to be fair.
This holiday season, take the time to entertain the thought that there may be something good within the traditions to believe. When we have preconceived notions about anything, we miss the true notions when they come. And believe me, if you will, a pauper’s baby in a back-country manger is easy to miss… Still, strange so many have believed all this time.
Thanks again to today’s guest author! If you’d like to hear more from Matthew, including his brand new album, Masquerade, head on over to the official Matthew David website .
Gays And The Good Book
July 15th, 2009
I’m über stoked about today’s special guest author. Matthew David is a talented singer/songwriter whose strong message of acceptance in traditionally unaccommodating communities has already crossed borders, earning airtime in both Canada and the United States. In today’s Guest Slap , Matthew shares his personal insights and experiences on what it means to be gay and Christian, challenging the widely-held perception that the two are mutually exclusive.
A lot of people blame the slow-relenting cultural phobia of homosexuality on the effect of our roots in a long-lasting Judeo-Christian tradition, and I tend to agree. After all, homosexuality certainly wasn’t feared or hated on a cultural level prior to the rise of Christianity—in fact, it seems secular culture now is catching up, as it were, to the thoughts of Greeks and Romans on the matter. Odd, eh? When you think about it, modern society is adopting more traditional values than those we currently label traditional (i.e. the religious folk).
As we observe the gradual movement of Western society away from Christianity and any form of institutional dogma, we also see secular culture slowly warming up to the former fringers, further polarizing the communities of faith. I say warming up about Western secular society, but generally it is quite warm, excepting the odd news item of discrimination and violence. In general, it is religiously-motivated groups taking political action against equality and protesting anything helping the gays.
This brings me to the struggle between homosexuality and the culture of faith. A growing group of modern Christians has been surprised to discover that the Good Book doesn’t actually condemn GLBTQ people to hell. And this group includes me, with a foot in both the gay and the Christian worlds. I grew up in an entirely Christian world-slash-bubble, and with the early-teen realization that I was gay, I went into impenetrable denial, dark depression, stark seclusion, and a twitching toward taking my own life. I finally came to the same understanding that God not only “loves the sinner,” but he also doesn’t “hate the sin,” contrary to the doctrine of many of his people. Why did I waste so many years in turmoil? Was all that pain over a silly misread of holy writ?
From age 13 to age 26 I wrestled with the straight-jacket and gag I so lovingly cherished—my faith. I did everything I could to be rid of my “demons,” to cure the supposed psychology that had perverted me, and to pray away the gay, but nothing came of it. Finally, I was told by some brave soul that God loved me, and he didn’t love me “anyway” as many Christians had told me. He loves me fully and completely as I am—gay. He loves me gay, and the only abomination I could be guilty of would be to try to live straight. Doing so would desecrate his holy temple.
However, the struggle continues, as it is transferred from one with the faith to one with the faithful. I am now separated as disingenuous, or worse, fallen. On top of the many questions from the happily-naive like, “did somebody touch you?”, or “have you tried eHarmony?”, there are sucker-punching questions like, “but aren’t you supposed to be a Christian?”
One of the principles I live my daily life by is found in the Book that, on other pages, is used to condemn me and justify my persecution. It tells me “in all things God works for the good of those who love him,” and in the next breath that I am “more than a conqueror” just being his child. I trust it fully. It gives purpose to the struggle, and strength to withstand all the judgement and even the attacks.
What an odd Book. One man reads it with hate in his eyes and sets up a pile of wood to burn the witch; and the witch reads it in her time of desperate need only to find the strength and courage she needs to endure the injustice. One day, I have faith that injustice will be inconceivable in every culture and sub-culture, and the Book won’t be needed for purposes like this at all.
Thanks again to today’s guest author! If you’d like to hear more from Matthew, including his latest single, Masquerade, head on over to the official Matthew David MySpace page .
Dr. Flamingo Jones And The Great Hairpin Drop
March 2nd, 2009
I’m exceptionally pleased to present today’s Guest Slap. The author, Dr. Flamingo Jones, is a world-renowned archaeologist and researcher at the University of Oxbridgeshire. While I know little about his reclusive past and current whereabouts, he has kindly agreed to share with us, occasionally, his knowledge, discoveries, and insights.
Good day to you, ladies, gentlemen, and those who do not wish to confine yourselves to such limiting terminology. Given all the recent hubbub about Harvey Milk and Sean Penn’s portrayal of him in the Oscar-winning historical film , I decided that this would be an ideal opportunity to talk about the modern gay rights movement.
While Milk was undoubtedly an important and influential early figure in the gay civil rights movement, gay people largely owe their rights to a moment several years before his first foray into the world of Californian politics. It’s a night that many people perhaps know the name of, but do not know much about, which is why it will be the topic of today’s article: The Stonewall Riots .
The Stonewall Riots took place in The United State’s other gay homeland, Christopher Street, in Greenwich Village, New York, 1969. At that time, America’s policies toward gays and lesbians was comparable to that of most Iron Curtain, communist-controlled nations. Most states had laws criminalizing homosexuality, as did most other developed countries around the world.
However, in New York, there were a few bars that would serve openly gay customers, drag queens, and lesbians. Police raids at these establishments were common; they would come in with both plainclothes and uniformed officers, claiming to be searching for liquor sale infractions. They would then arrest patrons of the bars providing little or no charges. Drag queens, butch lesbians, Blacks, and Hispanics would be arrested more often than white men. Men dressed as women would automatically be arrested, and women had to be wearing at least three pieces of feminine clothing, or else they would be arrested as lesbians. Adding insult to injury, the day after the arrests, the names of all arrested would be printed in the newspaper, often resulting in them being fired from their jobs. The bar would be allowed to re-open, sometimes that same night, after paying a bribe to the police. Indeed, most gay-friendly establishments were owned by the mafia, including the Stonewall .
On the morning on Saturday, June 28, 1969 at 1:20am there was a raid on the Stonewall that certainly did not go as the police had planned. They started off as usual, turning off the music, turning on the lights, lining everyone up, and inspecting genders. The bar was quite full that night—approximately 200 customers—but the patrons who had valid identification and were released didn’t just leave; they congregated outside the bar’s entrance, attracting a larger and larger crowd of onlookers who jeered and shouted at the police.
This was the second raid on the Stonewall in a week, and would become the straw that broke the camel’s back. There are differing reports as to who actually threw the first punch. Some say it was a drag queen, some say it was one of the bar’s African-American patrons, but several accounts exist of a woman, one of the bar’s lesbian regulars, who fought police for several minutes. As the stories go, when she finally was subdued and thrown into the back of a police wagon, she yelled out in desperation “Why don’t you guys do something?”
They did.
The crowd went berserk, freeing those in custody, smashing and burning the police vehicles, and pelting the officers with coins, beer cans, and bricks from a nearby construction site. With mafia help, the police barricaded themselves within the Stonewall, trapped until reinforcements could come rescue them. Rioters used parking meters as battering rams to break into the bar, at which point police had to use the threat of firearms to make the protesters back off. The riots were spontaneous, an eruption of pent-up frustration that had built up in the repressed gay community, the flames of which were fanned by homeless gay youths who slept in a nearby park, as well as other anti-war, anti-police, individuals who weren’t gay, but found like-mindedness in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Sissies aren’t supposed to fight back. At least that’s what New York’s police believed. But those beliefs were rapidly overturned by the persistent escalation of violence that occurred that night, and continued the following night. On Sunday, thousands of demonstrators took to Christopher Street to riot again in an even larger protest that halted on Monday and Tuesday only because of rain, and erupted once more on Wednesday, when 500-1000 demonstrators took to the streets calling for changes in treatment by police, and calling for a boycott of the Stonewall and other mafia-run bars so that gays could control their own establishments.
The riots that night were the stepping stone for gay pride movements internationally, and are now known as the “ hairpin drop heard round the world .” (The term “hairpin drop” was gay slang that meant dropping hints about one’s sexual orientation.) In fact, the riots were so unifying that in some parts of the world, such as many parts of Europe, gay pride parades are called CSD, or Christopher Street Day, named after the street where the Stonewall Bar once stood and which gave birth to the modern gay rights movement.
Dr. Flamingo Jones And The Wholly Inaccurate Film
January 28th, 2009
I’m exceptionally pleased to present today’s Guest Slap. The author, Dr. Flamingo Jones, is a world-renowned archaeologist and researcher at the University of Oxbridgeshire. While I know little about his reclusive past and current whereabouts, he has kindly agreed to share with us, occasionally, his knowledge, discoveries, and insights.
Good day to you, ladies, gentlemen, and those who do not wish to confine yourselves to such limiting terminology. Normally I, Dr. Flamingo Jones, intrepid explorer and researcher extraordinaire, use this space to answer one of the numerous intriguing questions that I have come across in my work as the Department Head of Queer Archaeology at the University of Oxbridgeshire. This time, however, I am going to doll out one of these “metaphorical slaps” for which this electronic compendium is so highly acclaimed for. In particular, a Slap shall be delivered to Mr. Frank Miller, Zack Snyder, Gerard Butler and everyone else who worked with the script of the film 300 .
300 recounts the Battle of Thermopylae , where a small army of 300 Spartans and 4000 other Greek allies attempted to defend their homeland against the Persian army (estimated between 200,000 and 2.5 million soldiers) during the 480BC invasion of the independent Greek city-states.
Most anyone who has seen the film generally agrees on one point: It is extraordinarily gay. 300’s somewhat pronounced homo-eroticism, depicting muscular, manly warriors wearing the classical era’s male equivalent of bikinis, made it an enjoyable viewing experience for me and every other gay man (closeted or otherwise). However, there was one remark made in the movie that just boiled my blood, and probably that of every other gay historian. Specifically, King Leonidas of the Spartans announces that it would be cowardly to surrender because the Athenians have decided to fight, and they are a nation of “ philosophers and boy-lovers .”
Now, perhaps we could ignore that many of western civilization’s roots come from Athenian “philosophers and boy-lovers” such as Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates. Perhaps we could also ignore that these “philosophers and boy-lovers” succeeded where the Spartans failed by proving their military superiority in that same war, as their navy of approximately 300 ships defeated the massive Persian fleet of 800 ships during the Battle of Salamis . We may even ignore Hollywood’s recurring anti-gay themes. There is, however, an unignorable inaccuracy with King Leonidas’ comment. Bluntly, the Spartans were some of the biggest queers in history.
The Spartans were gay—and fabulously so—to the extent that they were one of the few ancient societies that actually had institutions of mandatory homosexuality embedded within their culture. All Spartan males were taken from their families as children, to be trained as warriors though endless tests of self-reliance and endurance that Plato himself described as harsh and violent. Then at the age of 20, they joined military organizations called syssitia (those sissies), in which they lived their entire lives surrounded by men in which all were equal regardless of birth, wealth, or age. Homosexuality would have been the only option for the men, as they were not allowed to have wives, or even to leave their syssitia on their own.
An interesting aspect of Spartan homosexuality involved the traditions surrounding their weddings: They were finally allowed to take wives once they turned 30. The ceremony were like a reverse drag show, with the bride starting off the ceremony wearing a man’s clothing, changing into a woman’s clothing, signifying the husband’s transition from having sex with men to sex with his wife.
Makes you think of the Spartans in a whole new light doesn’t it? Perhaps they should name a condom line after them too.
Update: Slap reader Murray writes in with Frank Miller’s official stance on this issue:
The issue […] was discussed in the letters page of the original 300 comic mini-series. Frank Miller’s position was that the Spartans only had sex with men who were their equals in age and status—in the Spartan army, it was believed that full intimacy with the man standing next to you in the phalanx would increase your will to fight and protect him. Therefore he had Leonidas deride the Athenians for being ‘boy-lovers’ rather than men-who-have-sex-with-men.
Thanks, Murray. I think Dr. Jones will be relieved to hear this, though I can’t imagine why this wasn’t mentioned in the series itself…
Dr. Flamingo Jones And The Search For The Two Adams
August 27th, 2008
I’m exceptionally pleased to present today’s Guest Slap. The author, Dr. Flamingo Jones, is a world-renowned archaeologist and researcher at the University of Oxbridgeshire. While I know little about his reclusive past and current whereabouts, he has kindly agreed to share with us, occasionally, his knowledge, discoveries, and insights.
Good day to you, ladies, gentlemen, and those who do not wish to confine yourselves to such limiting terminology. Today, I, Dr. Flamingo Jones, will be answering a question I received from one of my many fans about homosexuality in ancient times.
For those few of you out there who are unfamiliar with my work, I am an intrepid explorer, researcher extraordinaire, head of the Department of Queer Archaeology at the University of Oxbridgeshire, and part of the team of researchers that made international headlines when we discovered the world’s longest, 16th century gay club inside the Great Wall of China.
As my work deals with queer archaeology, I am often asked about how far back into antiquity evidence of homosexuality can be found. Of course, as long as there have been human beings, there have been Adams who find themselves oriented toward another Adam over an Eve (as has been demonstrated in classical legends of kings, gods and heroes in many ancient works, such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey); however, finding actual archaeological proof of it is a much more difficult matter.
The oldest known evidence of homosexuality would have to go to the ancient Egyptians—specifically to two men whose remains were found in Ahmed Moussa’s 1968 excavation of the necropolis at Saqqara, Egypt.
Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum were two male manicurists serving Pharaoh Niuserre around the time of the fifth dynasty, which was about 2400BC. They were buried in the same tomb, much in the same manner as a wealthy husband and wife would have been. At first, theories were proposed that the two were brothers, even twins, or maybe just good friends. In fact, the tomb has become known as the Tomb of the Brothers. Modern interpretation by more open-minded archaeologists, however, has allowed for a more sensible consensus to be reached: that Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum were a same-sex couple, wealthy enough and favoured by the Pharaoh, to have their own elaborate tomb built for them.
Covering the walls of the tomb are various pieces of artwork depicting the couple together—one image depicting them embracing, with their noses touching. Some of the hieroglyphs of the names Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum form a play on words, and can be translated as “joined in life and joined in death.”
I visited the tomb of Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum seven years ago, hoping to find even more conclusive evidence of their sexual orientation. I scoured the tomb looking for hidden chambers or artifacts overlooked by previous researchers; however, I came up empty-handed as I realized that feather boas are probably too fragile to be well-preserved even in the dry Egyptian climate, and Madonna’s first album would have still been another four and a half millennia in the making.
I’d love to explain more about those queer Egyptians, but now I’ve got to go off to some ancient ruins to fight some mummies, avoid some very complicated traps, recover some lost treasure, fight aliens, Russians & Nazis, and then rescue a handsome single prince while I’m at it. You know, just an average day in the life of your typical archaeologist.
Dr. Flamingo Jones And The Lost Kingdom Of The Coral Sea Islands
August 8th, 2008
I’m exceptionally pleased to present today’s Guest Slap. The author, Dr. Flamingo Jones, is a world-renowned archaeologist and researcher at the University of Oxbridgeshire. While I know little about his reclusive past and current whereabouts, he has kindly agreed to share with us, occasionally, his knowledge, discoveries, and insights.
Good day to you, ladies, gentlemen, and those who do not wish to confine yourselves to such limiting terminology. It is with great pleasure that, today, in my guest post, I will be presenting to you my discovery of a lost civilization!
First, let me introduce myself for those of you unfamiliar to my work. I, Dr. Flamingo Jones, intrepid explorer and researcher extraordinaire, am the head of the Department of Queer Archaeology at the University of Oxbridgeshire. You may have heard of me from my groundbreaking paper on the discovery of a cache of phalli that had been chiseled off the nude male statues in the Vatican by order of the pope back in the 14th or 15th century.
To get right to the point, I recently stumbled across scarce but conclusive evidence of a civilization composed exclusively of homosexuals! Although homosexuality has been existent in one form or another in every human society, this nation, known as the Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands is the first one discovered in which all members were exclusively homosexual.
This unique realm was not found through usual methods such as carbon dating wooden tools, metallurgical inspection of coinage, or genetic analysis of indigenous peoples. No, this unique civilization was found through… their Myspace page .
You see, the Gay & Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands (GLK) was established in modern times (on June 14, 2004, to be precise) as a protest by a group of gay activists who were upset with the Australian parliament’s 2004 revision of the Marriage Act to officially ban same-sex marriages. A pioneer by the name of Dale Parker Anderson and a group of followers sailed out (their ship was named The Gayflower) to the chain of uninhabited islands off the coast of Australia and annexed the area for themselves, proclaiming Emperor Dale I as their ruler. Their main exports are fishing, tourism, and postage stamps. They don’t seem to have gotten around to actually building settlements on the islands yet, but Rome wasn’t built in a day… or 4 years.
The population of the GLK has to be commended on taking every possible legal action defend their sovereignty. Here are just a few of the bases they have covered:
There is an archaic British (and hence Australian) law of Unjust Enrichment, which states that if something is unjustly taken away, compensation must be made. As their right to marry was taken away, the GLK argue that the land they have ceded is their just compensation.
A Kingdom, not a Republic, was chosen because the GLK website claims that Australia has another archaic law stating “A defacto Prince trying to claim his crown and his supporters can not be charged with treason.”
The GLK declared a state of war against Australia for a period of about one week in 2004. There were no hostilities, but since the Australian government was notified through all the proper diplomatic channels and didn’t defend their claim to the islands, the GLK states that Australia effectively lost any rights to that territory.
Emperor Dale I has genetics on his side to help him bolster his royal legitimacy. First, he claims to be of royal blood, as he is a descendant of England’s King Edward II (who was also gay, but did produce heirs). Secondly, Dale I’s great grandfather was one of the sailors loyal to Captain William Bligh of the HMAV Bounty (the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty). When Bligh and his loyal men were left for dead by the mutineers, guess where they were abandoned? Why, the Coral Reef Islands, of course. As a descendant of British (and Australian) royalty, and a descendant of the first and only humans to ever settle on the islands, I’d say he actually has a credible case.
Emperor Dale I seems to have started a trend, as there are actually several other self-proclaimed gay nations out there as well, such as the Gay Homeland Foundation established in 2005 in Cologne, Germany, and two American groups: The Unified Gay Tribe, and the Gay and Lesbian Commonwealth Kingdom .
While none of the above countries is actually recognized by the United Nations, The Gay & Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands has a Wikipedia entry, which makes it legitimate. In fact, I think it’s time for an expedition there! Wish me luck, loyal fans, as I brave the fury of the dingoes! I’ll bring you back some t-shirts or stamps or fish.
Dr. Flamingo Jones and the Quest for the Artifact of Many Colours
July 28th, 2008
I’m exceptionally pleased to present today’s Guest Slap. The author, Dr. Flamingo Jones, is a world-renowned archaeologist and researcher at the University of Oxbridgeshire. While I know little about his reclusive past and current whereabouts, he has kindly agreed to share with us, occasionally, his knowledge, discoveries, and insights.
Good day to you, ladies, gentlemen, and those who do not wish to confine yourselves to such limiting terminology. Today, I, Dr. Flamingo Jones, intrepid explorer, researcher extraordinaire, and head of the Department of Queer Archaeology at the University of Oxbridgeshire, am most humbly honoured to be writing a guest post for Slap Upside The Head. You may have heard of me from my previous work, such as my unearthing of the famous trove of phalli found in the great pyramid of Khufu.
Today I am here to discuss a much more recent artifact: The rainbow flag. As a researcher of Queer Archaeology, I am often asked about how the rainbow flag came into being. Some assume that the rainbow flag has always been a symbol for homosexuality, because, really, what could possibly be gayer? However, the truth is that the origins of this important gay pride symbol are much more recent than many folks suspect.
The creation of the rainbow flag is attributed to one Mr. Gilbert Baker ( video interview ) of San Francisco, who created it in 1978 to serve as a symbol for the gay community there. The original flag was influenced by a striped, multi-coloured—but not rainbow-coloured—flag to promote racial harmony, and has undergone myriad transformations over the years with revisions and vexillological offspring involving stars, hearts, triangles, paws, changes in the colours and number of stripes. In fact, Baker’s original flag had eight colours, as opposed to the current standard of six. These eight colours were pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, indigo, and violet, which, according to Baker, represented respectively: sexuality, life, healing, sun, nature, art, harmony, and spirit. However, the first flags were dyed and sewed by Baker himself along with volunteers, so supply was limited and most of the public had to just go ahead and use whatever rainbow-ish flags they could find, regardless of what those flags actually represented. These flags came from all sorts of different origins, such as the Italian Peace Flag against war and nuclear weapons, India’s Meher Baba spirituality flag, or the Wiphala flag of the ancient Incan civilization.
Later that same year, San Francisco’s mayor, George Moscone, was assassinated along with Harvey Milk, the city’s first openly gay supervisor. In the wake of this tragedy, the gay community made the decision to rally around Baker’s flag as a source of strength and solidarity for the 1979 gay pride parade. However, when Baker went to mass produce his flags, he found that hot pink fabric was not as easily available as he had expected. That colour was removed from the flag. The decision was then made to change the indigo stripe to blue, and eliminate the turquoise stripe altogether, bringing it down to just six stripes, so that the flag could be displayed evenly along the parade route, with three colours on either side of the street’s lamp posts.
A fascinating history for a fascinating piece of our cultural tapestry, don’t you think? I shall be back in the future with more important issues in the field of queer archaeology, but for now I must be off. Those ancient Egyptian phalli won’t unearth themselves!
The Existence of Gaydar
June 16th, 2008
I’m super-happy to introduce today’s guest author / illustrator! Premee is an environmental specialist currently living in Calgary. She says her degree in molecular genetics has given her no noticeable edge in telling whether or not she’s hitting on a hot gay waiter, but it does make for interesting party conversation.
Gaydar exists, apparently, which is a bit of a shock to someone who’s spent years arguing that it doesn’t. (My arguments were based on the fact that I don’t have it. I just don’t. Elton John and his husband could come sit on my lap wearing WE’RE GAY t-shirts and I still wouldn’t know.)
Secondly, I had always thought it was an innate thing, like… well, like gayness itself. It turns out new research is showing that it can be traced to some very specific and definable physical characteristics—and I don’t mean the tired old stereotypes of mesh shirts or an iPod full of showtunes. This kind of basic research really provides more weapons in the arsenal against people who continue to insist that homosexuality is either learned or a choice. It’s becoming more and more obvious that it is innate, biological, and immutable.
So, without further ado, I summarize Lippa et al’s research as follows:
A gay man’s index finger will tend to be about as long as his ring finger, similar to straight women; lesbians tend to have shorter index than ring fingers, similar to straight men.
There exists a recognizable ‘accent’ in about 75% of gay men (sidenote: Rufus Wainwright is gay? I didn’t know th… now, see, this is what I was talking about.)
More gay men than straight men have counterclockwise hair whorls.
Gay men tend to have bigger… good heavens. You’ll have to read the article for that one.
The gay man’s hypothalamus cell cluster INAH3 is similar to the size of a straight woman’s.
There you have it! Now go forth in comfort, dear readers, secure in the knowledge that talented scientists are working night and day to decode the signals behind what most of you do without even thinking twice.
On Being A Gay Teacher
May 9th, 2008
I’m extremely pleased to present today’s Guest Slap . The author, who prefers to remain anonymous, is a gay high school science teacher here in Canada. Today, he shares his thoughts and experiences on what it means to be gay in a complex learning environment.
To be out or not to be out: That is the question; whether it is better to suffer the slurs and taunts of outrageous cowards, or take care with every word you say, and keep your true self guarded. This choice is faced by many in my school and every other school. The purpose of high school is all about learning who you are, more than about learning Archimedes’ Principle, conic sections, or how to play the flute. But because of the highly judgmental nature that exists in a milieu of teenagers, the decision of whether or not to come out of the closet is difficult for anyone in a high school, especially someone like me, a teacher.
I bet that many students who read this had never even considered the prospect that the person standing in front of you on Monday morning droning on and on about some dead poet could possibly be gay. After all, everyone knows that teachers live in the school, never take off their work clothes, and disappear in a puff of chalk dust on the weekends, only to re-materialize the following Monday in the teacher’s lounge. They certainly don’t have emotions, parents, friends, social lives, or sex. My students couldn’t believe that I went out for karaoke with my co-workers, and when I told them that—even though I don’t have kids—I bought a Nintendo Wii, they asked “What do you use it for?” So I’m pretty sure that if I were to tell them that I am gay, their brains would implode; it would be that difficult for them to comprehend.
When I was student teaching just a few years ago, I realized that it wouldn’t be long before I would have to make that decision about how out I would be at school. Every school has a different atmosphere when it comes to how well minorities are accepted, and thankfully, at mine both the administration and general student body are relatively open-minded and accepting. For example, on one of the first days of the year, I saw a group of kids surrounding two boys who were scuffling around. Immediately I thought “Oh God, I’m going to have to break up a fight.” But it turned out that they were having a dance-off to a Pokémon song they had invented. Still, no group of teenagers is free of bigotry. Everyone who has gone through high school knows that picking on the minority is an effective way to increase one’s social standing among the majority. So because of that, some gay teachers try to live a completely closeted professional life, and don’t open up their true selves to anyone at school. Others are completely fine with being out and proud to everyone, and even wear their leather outfits to school on Halloween (yeah, I’m not kidding there).
So I made the decision to make no decision; just to be myself. To any colleagues who I consider my friends, I am completely out. I’ve gone out for drinks with them, played Scrabble with them, taken them to see drag shows, and invited them over for dinner to meet my same-sex fiancé. With anyone who I know strictly on a professional level, like the principal of my school, or my students, I haven’t shared that side of my life. But if they find out, or if it comes up in conversation, I’m not going to hide anything; I’ll just be honest about who I am. After all, my students aren’t my friends; we can be friendly, but we can’t be friends. The rare teachers that do treat their students like actual friends, telling them about their night out at the bar… well, they’re just creepy to the exponent creep.
Sometimes I wonder if I would be a better role model for those students who are questioning their sexuality if I were more open about my homosexuality, even though it would mean opening myself up to personal attacks from homophobes. When I was in grade 12, would it have helped me to know that my Canadian History teacher was gay? Would it have helped me to come to terms with my sexuality easier? Would it have hindered my understanding of Wolfe & Montcalme?
Eventually, I just realized that being out doesn’t have to involve being out to everyone—just everyone you care about. So I choose simply to be who I am. After all, isn’t that what coming out of the closet is all about?
Thanks again to today’s special guest author!
Family-Friendly Means Different Things For Different People
September 21st, 2007
deBeauxOs, a mother and regular contributer over at BirthPangs , has written an excellent article about the hijacking of the phrase “Family-friendly” by special interest groups. As someone who often feels clubbed over the head with this phrase, I’m extremely pleased that deBeauxOs has agreed to share her post with us today. Her article is reproduced here in its entirety.
Family-friendly. Who would have ever thought that the juxtaposition of these two words could be so contentious? That an expression could encompass so many contradictary meanings. That it could be exclusively claimed by some and denied to others.
If you google “family-friendly,” you discover that the expression was coined by feminists who attempted to reconcile paid and unpaid work, to validate both women and men’s parenting roles and to secure employment conditions that are not discriminatory towards workers who have children. And as family responsibilities shifted, the notion also grew to include caring for ageing parents.
“Family-friendly” is often used by commercial establishments who are willing to accomodate the combined needs of adults and children as clients, when offering services and goods such as housing, travel, entertainment, home furnishings, convenience foods and dining.
Now it’s become a weapon appropriated by those who consider themselves to be in absolute possession of the right to attack any other definition of family that is unacceptable to their standards. And they also use it to shield themselves against criticism.
In case you were wondering who are these people, let’s refresh your memory.
According to them, DisneyLand™ and DisneyWorld™ are NOT family-friendly because same-sex spousal benefits are provided to their gay and lesbian employees.
Planned Parenthood is NOT family-friendly because it respects: women and men’s choice to forego breeding, women’s choice to limit the number of children they want to bear, and women’s choice to end an unwanted pregnancy.
For Better or For Worse is NOT family-friendly because its creator Lynn Johnston included a sympathetic gay character inspired by her brother-in-law, in her family-oriented comic strip.
Moms who breast-feed in public places are NOT family-friendly because… because some people say so.
Affordable daycare is NOT family-friendly because such people don’t use it and won’t support it.
What they consider to be family-friendly on one of their websites though, are hateful screeds that incite violence against the sons and daughters of parents who love them very much exactly as they are. Gay men and lesbians have families too—mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, daughters and sons.
But I digress. At this feminist board , parenting discussions include advice about baby poo. There have been long, heartfelt and supportive threads about sometimes difficult pregnancies, by women who choose to give life, and those who support their decision. In the last year, five babies were born; many vicariously shared the joys of the new parents. This is what family-friendly looks like.
If you would like to hear more from deBeauxOs, head on over to Birth Pangs .
Gay Refugee Speaks
September 17th, 2007
Edward Lee is a student of social work at McGill university, focusing on gay refugee and imigration issues. In Part II of his two-part series , Ed has asked Alvaro Orozco to share his story in his own words, and outlines what we can do to help.
Alvaro Orozco is a young gay man who fled Nicaragua and is seeking refugee status in Canada. For numerous reasons it is unsafe for him to be in Nicaragua, including recent media attention in his country of origin, and the fact that it is a punishable crime to be gay there.
After months of advocacy and community action, Alvaro received his latest Pre Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) decision on Friday, September 14th. While the application was, again, rejected, Alvaro and his supporters were, fortunately, able to convince the immigration officials that he was not a flight risk and so he was allowed to go back to Toronto (versus getting arrested or deported immediately). The reasons behind the rejection included that the letters of support are “hearsay” and do not provide solid proof that Alvaro is in fact gay, and that Nicaragua is a safeplace because there are many cruising spaces, like parks and ruins where people can have gay sex.
Alvaro now is under a new deportation order for October 4th. Please read Alvaro’s thoughts on what is happening in this article and help him stay in Canada.
I asked Alvaro to write—from his own perspective—about what happened to him and the decision from the IRB. Here is what he had to say:
The Canadian immigration re-sent the letter from the old PRRA decision
of 2005 as my new decision for 2007 (9th august). In 2005, I used to have a different lawyer and I had lost my case. My new lawyer is El-farouk Khaki, who sent 3 months ago 2 new applications, the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) and the Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds application for a stay. Immigration told my lawyer that they had no record of him sending anything. so then immigration called my lawyer and told him that they want to give me one more time until the august 28. but on the 26th (2 days before the deadline), immigration called my lawyer telling him that they have the new application decision of the PRRA of 2007,
but I have to show up in Niagara falls on august 28 to pick up the
decision. And as i am not feeling well and my stress levels and anxiety are affecting my health, my doctor advised me not to go, so I didn’t show up.
one week after that, immigration called my lawyer and told him that
they issued a new date for me to show up to pick up the decision and that is on september 14, this is the 3rd time that immigration are dealing with this application, is clear what they are willing to do with me. to take me away from Canada.
my message:
Before I filed my case, I was hoping that I can be granted status in this country because this country is a model for human rights for many countries around the globe. But with the way things have happend, I feel disapointed and am struggling to get over it. This has affected me physically and emotionally. It is not fair the amount of struggles I had since I was a kid and that I never really had a normal life, and I escaped from many countries hoping to find freedom and respect in Canada. But now I am facing this situation where I am being judged on my physical appearance by canadian immigration autorities, and they believe that my life is just a joke and I never been through this kind of life, but I’m a honest person and I always keep what I say and I always work for my dreams. I keep my self positive that better things will happen and I can get over this.
the most important:
the most important for me is not only win my case, it is that other
people who feel scared to speak out can have a voice and someone who can speak for them but not only people who just speak about immigration issues, but people who care about human rights, about peoples future and equal respect.
There is still something that you can do to help raise awareness about what is happening and help Alvaro to stay in Canada. Here is what you can do:
Check out his website and read the latest press release
E-mail and/or send a letter to Federal Immigration Minister Diane Finley at [email protected] . Let the MP in your riding know what is going on and ask them how they will help Alvaro.
Keep talking about Alvaro with friends, family, media, join his facebook group, etc.
E-mail Alvaro and help keep his spirits up!
If you want to do more please contact Suhail at SOY Toronto
Thanks again to Ed for sharing his thoughts on this story, and his communications with Alvaro. If you would like to see more of Ed, check out his short film, Invisible Son, included as a special feature on the Margaret Cho Assassin DVD.
Related Update: Bruce at Canuck Attitude has dug up a story about a convicted criminal in Canada whose deportation ruling was reversed because he is in the midst of a “religious conversion.” In the meantime, Alvaro’s safety is in danger because he can’t prove he’s gay. Outrageous.
Gay Refugee Needs Urgent Support
September 14th, 2007
Edward Lee is a student of social work at McGill university, focusing on gay refugee and imigration issues. In Part I of his two-part series , Ed has agreed to share his stories and insights on Alvaro Orozco, a gay refugee from Nicaragua, who faces immediate deportation from Canada and urgently needs our support.
Alvaro Orozco will be going to the immigration office, today, Friday, September the 14th, to pick up his rejection letter from IRB. That is the only way he can fight the rejection, but at the same time, in going to pick up the letter, he very much risks being put in jail, or worse, deported on the spot to the USA (and eventually Nicaragua). Your support and well wishes are needed now more than ever.
First of all, I would like to thank Mark for allowing me some space on his funky, yet timely website to talk about this important current event. I love your cartoons and your intellectual wit! [Aw, shucks. Thanks, Ed!]
I first met Alvaro when he arrived for the first ever North American Outgames in Calgary (April, 2007). We held a youth welcome event at Quickdraw Animation Society, as we invited all the youth that had been granted a bursary to attend the week long festivities—including Alvaro. He was so personable, gentle in a way, with eyes that spoke of a life of hardship and hope. Very clearly gay, he was excited to meet the other queer youth gathered at this event, happy to be among his peers. There was no doubt to Alvaro’s gayness. No doubt at all.
I got to know him as he attended the OutRights conference, OutFest cultural activities (PRIDE dance) and finally winning a medal at the OutGames, in the running event. By the time he flew back to Toronto, Alvaro become someone that I had come to admire and respect, someone who is so hopeful and optimistic about the world, even though the world has been so cruel to him.
The memory that will never leave me was hearing Alvaro speak at the Youth Roundtable that we held at the North American OutRights conference (held in Calgary prior to the OutGames). Some 40 youth leaders (and those involved with youth issues) were sitting around the table; teachers, lawyers, activists. Then there was Alvaro, with his limited english and shy demeanor, as he was introduced and began to speak of his experience as a gay refugee, traversing 4 different countries to end up in Canada, speaking at this conference to help save his life and be granted refugee status.
All of us sat there, intently listening as he very bravely told his story. He began his story with growing up in Nicaragua, being seen as gay, and the abuse inflicted upon him by his parents. As he spoke about this abuse, he broke down, and wept. Even though I was co-facilitating, I couldn’t help but weep with Alvaro. After what felt like a lifetime, he regained himself, and continued his story. As his right hand moved in a rolling, circular motion, as if to comfort and help him to continue, he spoke of escaping Nicaragua, then being in hiding in the US, sometimes with homophobic churches, and then coming to Canada. His face began to light up as he spoke of Canada, where he finally began to feel a sense of hope of being able to live in a country where it wasn’t illegal to be gay (it’s illegal to be gay in Nicaragua—meaning you can go to jail).
Sometimes, there are moments in your life that stick with you, that are burned in your memory, an emotional scar, for better or worse, will always be felt when you close your eyes and take yourself back to that memory. All of us at the roundtable were shell shocked as Alvaro took us on a virtual ride of his unimaginable, powerful life. This was one of those moments for me, one of the most powerful moments I have ever been a part of.
How sad it is that Calgary Immigration and Refugee Board adjudicator Deborah Lamont was so clearly lacking in sound and equitable judgement when back in February, at his first hearing, didn’t believe Alvaro’s story (read the Globe and Mail article for actual quotes of what she said). How utterly insane and incomprehensible it is that 6 months later, after articles various news media, press conferences, rallies, and Alvaro’s participation at the Outgames/fest/rights, the IRB (Immigration and Refugee Board) came back with the same negative response—re-inforcing Deborah Lamont’s heterosexist and unfair judgement. Alvaro’s last recourse is to be granted a stay from Immigration Minister Diane Finley based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
I can’t tell you how sad and upset this makes me. I only knew Alvaro for a week, but I saw someone who was so vulnerable, who had so many incredibly challenging life experiences, and yet, even with these hardships, he is someone who is so kind, so extremely open to others and hopeful about living life in this country, safe from persecution, safe from harm. As we speak, because of the IRB negative response, Alvaro is in fear of being deported, unable to work, relying on the generosity of others, not wanting to be deported to the US and eventually to Nicaragua.
As I write about this, there is still something that you can do to help raise awareness about what is happening and help Alvaro to stay in Canada. Here is what you can do:
Check out his website and read the latest press release
E-mail and/or send a letter to Federal Immigration Minister Diane Finley at [email protected] . Let the MP in your riding know what is going on and ask them how they will help Alvaro.
It’s All About Maps
September 10th, 2007
I’m extremely pleased to host Slap’s first guest post today. Arthur is a gay American who moved to New Zealand in 1995 to be with his partner, Nigel (who is a Kiwi). Arthur’s blog and podcast, AmeriNZ , regularly offers an international perspective on culture and politics. Today, he shares his insights on the perceived disconnectedness of the United States and how that relates to their attitudes, both domestically and multinationally.
We all laughed when South Carolina teen beauty contestant Caitlin Upton recently said the reason that twenty percent of Americans can’t find the US on a world map is that “some people out there in our nation don’t have maps.” You know what? She’s right.
The National Geographic Society has long championed geography education in schools, and points out how badly taught American students are. In their National Geographic-Roper Public Affairs 2006 Geographic Literacy Study, the most recent in a series, they found an appalling lack of geographic knowledge among 18-24 year olds in the US.
It’s not all just finding countries on a map, though it’s shocking that 63% couldn’t find Iraq on a map (or even some states within the US, for that matter). The study found some of the underlying reasons for the lack of world knowledge among young Americans.
Among other findings, 62% couldn’t speak a language other than their native tongue. While one in ten young Americans corresponded regularly with somone outside the US, most had no contact at all. 70% had not been outside the US in the previous three years, though most apparently couldn’t leave, anyway: Only about 22% had a passport.
The survey found that geographic knowledge was highest among those who travelled internationally, were university educated and who obtained their news from two or more sources. They were also more likely to own world maps.
As an American, I’ve often been embarrassed by lack of world knowledge among my fellow citizens. When I moved to New Zealand, a university-educated, internationally travelled person told me with great certainty that New Zealand was west of Australia. I showed him a map. He still couldn’t believe it.
Another, even better educated American asked me if we have the Fourth of July in New Zealand. “Yes,” I said, “It’s between the third and the fifth.” He meant the holiday, he told me, not the day.
So if Americans are so ill informed about the world, is it any surprise that they don’t understand other countries or that they may expect other countries to be like the US? I couldn’t possibly count the number of times that I heard of an American not realising that Canada is a country, or even sometimes that New Zealand isn’t one of its provinces.
I grew up with maps, had good geographic education in school, I’ve travelled, and now I live in another country, so maybe my perspective is skewed. But I can’t help thinking that if the folks in my homeland knew a little more about the world, we’d all be better off. They might realise that those of us who live in another country aren’t automatically any less free. They might be more respectful of people who are different from them in some way. They might come to realise that there are other countries that treat their gay citizens as, well, citizens. Heck, they might even finally adopt the metric system.
Too much to hope for? Maybe. But whoever sets up a “Maps for Americans” charity can count on a donation from me. After all, how can you find your destination without a map?
If you would like to hear more from Arthur, check out AmeriNZ .
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What was the name of the castle lying on Tremadog Bay, within the Snowdonia National Park, that was built by Edward I in 1283? | Harlech - Accommodation Snowdonia
Accommodation Snowdonia
Harlech
Harlech
Harlech is a town and seaside resort in Gwynedd, within the historical boundaries of Meirionnydd in northwest Wales. Lying on Tremadog Bay and within the Snowdonia National Park, it has a population of 1,447, of whom 51% speak Welsh. The town is located in the unitary authority of Gwynedd which was formed in 1996, from 1974 to 1996 it was in the Meirionydd District of the 1974 County of Gwynedd, and before 1974 it was in the historic county of Merionethshire.
The town is best known for the landmark Harlech Castle, begun in 1283 by Edward I of England, captured by Owain Glyndŵr, and later the stronghold of Henry Tudor. The castle was originally built next to the sea, but geological processes have changed the shape of the coastline, and the castle now lies on a cliff face, about half a mile (800 m) inland.
Present Day
Theatr Harlech located on the Coleg Harlech campus and stages a varied selection of plays, music, and films throughout the year.
Other attractions in Harlech include its beach backed with sand dunes and the famous Royal Saint David’s Golf Club, a top course in Britain which hosted its fifth British Ladies Amateur in 2009.
Harlech’s impressive backdrop is the Rhinog mountain range, some of the most rugged and remote terrain to be found in Wales. Two main valleys penetrate the range: one, Cwm Bychan, with its tranquil lake, leads to the Roman Steps, a Roman paved pack-horse way; from the second, Cwm Nantcol, rise the peaks of Rhinog Fawr and Rhinog Fach. The area affords a multitude of walks from stiff climbs for the experienced mountaineer to more gentle rambles and woodland trails.
A World War II-era fighter aircraft was found on Harlech beach in 2007. The discovery of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning has been described as “one of the most important WWII finds in recent history.” The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) are not divulging the precise location of the U.S. Army Air Forces aeroplane, known as the Maid of Harlech, but are hoping to eventually salvage the wreck.
| Harlech Castle |
Between 1932 and 1990, the Russian city Nizhny Novgorod was named after which author? | Local Schools in Harlech, Gwynedd, UK
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About Harlech
The town is best known for the landmark Harlech Castle, begun in 1283 by Edward I of England, captured by Owain Glyndŵr, and later the stronghold of Henry Tudor. The castle was built next to the sea, but geological processes have changed the shape of the coastline, and the castle now lies on a cliff face, about half a mile (800 m) inland. The town has since developed, with housing estates on the flat low town area and hillside properties in the high town around the shopping street, church, and castle. The two areas are linked by a steep and winding road called "Twtil".
The above introduction to Harlech uses material from the Wikipedia article ' Harlech '
and is used under licence.
BBC News - Education and Family
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The civil rights group Liberty is urging parents in England to boycott Thursday's school census.
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What was the name of the British battlecruiser that was sunk by the German ship 'Bismark' at the Battle of the Denmark Strait? | Bismarck - The History - The Battle of the Denmark Strait
The Battle of the Denmark Strait
24 May 1941 / Saturday morning
The morning was clear and cold, seas moderate. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen had passed the narrowest part of the Denmark Strait. Bismarck was 1,750 yards astern of Prinz Eugen and both ships were making 28 knots.
24 May 1941 / 0203
Hood and Prince of Wales change course to 200°. The destroyers are detached to conduct a search to the north.
24 May 1941 / 0340
Hood and Prince of Wales change course to 240° and increased speed to 28 knots.
24 May 1941 / 0521
The German ships change course to 170°.
24 May 1941 / 0525
Oberleutnant zur See Karlotto Flindt, one of Prinz Eugen’s hydrophone operators, notified the bridge: ‘Noise of two fast moving turbine ships at 280° relative bearing! Range 20 miles.’ Kapitänleutnant Paul Schmalenbach, Prinz Eugen’s second gunnery officer, could see nothing from the bridge. Bismarck’s aft radar was still not working.
24 May 1941 / 0527
Schmalenbach spots two targets on the distant horizon. Two minutes later the forward fire control station confirmed two smoke plumes. Schmalenbach sounds the alarm.
24 May 1941 / 0532
The German force steered for course 220°, speed 28 knots, with Prinz Eugen leading Bismarck by 2,700 yards (2,500 m).
24 May 1941 / 0535
The first gunnery officer, Kapitänleutnant Paulus Jasper, confirmed the sightings and judged the targets to be cruisers. Brinkmann informed Lütjens of the presence of hostile craft: ‘Presumably light cruisers, 20° off the port bow.’
At around the same time, Prince of Wales made visual contact at a range of 38,000 yards (34,750 m). The distance was too great to determine which ship was in the lead, but they assumed it was the Bismarck. The German warships were on course 220°, Holland’s force on course 240°, slightly ahead of the Germans and on a gradually converging course. Unless the British changed course, they would soon be broadside to broadside with the Germans.
24 May 1941 / 0537
Holland altered course 40° to starboard to course 280°, speed 28 knots. This was the maximum angle of approach that allowed Hood and Prince of Wales to utilise their main guns.
24 May 1941 / 0541
Norfolk and Suffolk are some 30,000 yards (27,430 m) behind the Germans, too far to participate in the battle.
24 May 1941 / 0547
Brinkmann again reported: ‘Smoke plumes on the horizon to port.’ The Germans were still in doubt about the identity of the enemy ships. Brinkmann and Jasper maintained that they were dealing with cruisers; however, Schmalenbach disagreed. He was convinced that they are facing a battleship.
Lütjens ordered ‘General quarters!’
24 May 1941 / 0549
Holland ordered a turn of 20° to starboard to course 300°. Hood remained in the lead. This move prevented the British the use of their rear turrets, but Holland still had ten heavy guns to Bismarck’s eight.
Holland signalled Leach to stay close and follow his every move. Almost immediately, Holland gave another order: ‘Stand by to open fire. Target left-hand ship!’ The left-hand ship was Prinz Eugen that was no threat to the British ships due to its smaller guns and shorter range. However, Leach on Prince of Wales correctly identified the right-hand ship and disobeyed the order. He shifted his guns and targets the right-hand ship: Bismarck.
24 May 1941 / 0552½
Hood opened fire with her four forward 15” (38.1 cm) guns at Prinz Eugen from a distance of 25,000 yards (22,860 m). Holland finally realised that Bismarck was behind Prinz Eugen and ordered a shift of target to the right-hand ship. However, this order was never executed and Hood continued to fire at Prinz Eugen.
24 May 1941 / 0553
Prince of Wales opened fire at a distance of 26,500 yards (24,300 m) with her six forward 14” (35.6 cm) guns. Bismarck was about a mile astern of Prinz Eugen. The first salvo from Prince of Wales fell wide about 1,640 yards (1,500 m) astern of Bismarck. Suddenly, the No. 1 gun in A turret on Prince of Wales failed to operate leaving her with only five guns available forward. Her second, third and fourth salvos were also wide. Hood’s first two salvos fell short of Prinz Eugen. Puzzled, Brinkmann and Lindemann wondered why the British targeted the smaller ship. The German guns remained silent.
From the Bismarck’s fire control station in the foretop, First Gunnery Officer Adalbert Schneider requested permission to open fire. He received no reply. He telephoned the bridge: ‘Enemy has opened fire.’ Again, no reply. The enemy fired his third and fourth salvo. ‘Enemy’s salvos well grouped.’ Still no answer from Lütjens. Schneider asked ‘Request permission to fire’, but not a word from Lütjens. Bismarck remained steady on course 220°, making 28 knots.
24 May 1941 / 0555
Holland now changed tactics in the middle of the fight. He turned his ships broadside to broadside. This manoeuvre revealed the silhouettes of both ships to the Germans and was steaming on a diagonal course. This exposed his ships to the greatest probability of being hit. The Germans now identified the British ships as the battlecruiser Hood and battleship King George V. (The Germans were unaware that Prince of Wales had been completed.)
Lütjens hoisted the signal ‘JD’ (Jot-Dora) allowing Prinz Eugen to open fire on the lead ship. Brinkmann responded at once: ‘Commander to artillery. Heavy; clearance to fire!’ Prinz Eugen opened fire against Hood from a distance of 22,100 yards (20,200 m), but no hits were scored.
The sight of two British capital ships must have disturbed Lütjens as German intelligence reported both to be still in port. Their appearance in the Denmark Strait could mean only one thing – the operation had long been discovered.
Immediately after Prinz Eugen opened fire, Bismarck’s 14.96” (38 cm) guns roared into action. Lütjens returned fire on Hood at a distance of 24,100 yards (22,000 m), the shells fell short ahead of the target.
Hood fired her fourth salvo at Prinz Eugen, again with no hits. Prince of Wales fired her fifth salvo against the Bismarck from a distance of 22,100 yards (20,200 m). After this action, another gun in the quadruple A turret on Prince of Wales failed.
Photo: The Bismarck firing against the Prince of Wales.
24 May 1941 / 0556
Prince of Wales fired her sixth salvo at a distance of 21,150 yards (19,340 m), scoring the first hit on Bismarck. The shell tore through her port side bow in compartments XXI and XX, penetrating the ship and exiting through the starboard bow. The damage caused an oil leak and flooding of the forward compartments.
Bismarck fired her second salvo at Hood from 21,870 yards (20,000 m) with no hits.
At the same time, Prinz Eugen scored the first hit on HMS Hood. The shot fell between the second funnel and the mainmast near where ammunition for the 4” (102 mm) anti-aircraft guns and several UP anti-aircraft rockets were stored starting a fire.
Hood fired her fifth and sixth salvos against Prinz Eugen. No hits were obtained. Prince of Wales fired her seventh and eighth salvos against the Bismarck with no hits.
Prinz Eugen fired her third salvo from 19,700 yards (18,000 m) against Hood, missing the target.
Norfolk closed in at a distance of 25,150 yards (23,000 m). Suffolk was further behind at 31,700 yards (29,000 m). Both ships are out of range.
24 May 1941 / 0557
Prinz Eugen fired her fourth and fifth salvos from 18,600 yards (17,000 m). Bismarck fired her third salvo from 20,230 yards (18,500 m) against Hood and hit the fire control tower killing most of the men inside. The British ship was now without central fire control. A shell from Prinz Eugen’s sixth salvo hit near the base of the forward superstructure causing a fire in the forward part of the ship.
The distance between the German and British ships was now down to 19,700 yards (18,000 m). This allows Bismarck’s three port 5.9” (15 cm) twin secondary guns and the four starboard 5.25” (13.3 cm) twin secondary guns of Prince of Wales to join the battle.
Hood fired her seventh salvo against Prinz Eugen. Prince of Wales fired her ninth salvo from 18,250 yards (16,690 m) and scored another hit on the Bismarck. The shell exploded against the 45-mm armoured bulkhead amidships below the waterline and main belt in section XIV. This causes flooding in the No. 4 port electric plant and the adjacent No. 2 boiler room. Further oil leaks were also seen.
24 May 1941 / 0558
Lütjens ordered Prinz Eugen to change target to Prince of Wales. Bismarck fired her fourth salvo against Hood from a distance of 18,600 yards (17,000 m). Prinz Eugen fired her sixth and last salvo against Hood before redirecting fire against Prince of Wales. None of the shells hit Hood. The distance between Prinz Eugen and Bismarck on her starboard side astern at this point was around 2,200 yards (2,000 m).
Prinz Eugen fired her seventh salvo, the first against Prince of Wales, without a hit.
Prince of Wales fired her tenth salvo at a distance of 17,150 yards (15,680 m) and her 11th salvo from 17,100 yards (15,640 m) both against the Bismarck. Both fell short. Prince of Wales could now use her Y turret, but one of the guns malfunctioned.
A Short Sunderland reconnaissance flying boat (RAF Z/201) from Iceland, piloted by Flight Lieutenant R. J. Vaughn, arrived at the battle scene. He observed two fires on Hood, one at the base of the bridge structure and another further aft.
Hood fired her eighth and ninth salvos against Prinz Eugen at a distance of 17,500 yards (16,000 m). No hits were obtained.
24 May 1941 / 0559
Prinz Eugen fired her eighth and ninth salvos against Prince of Wales at a distance of 17,500 yards (16,000 m). Again, no hits were scored.
Prince of Wales fired her 12th salvo against Bismarck from a distance of 17,100 yards (15,640 m). It fell short. Shortly thereafter, she fired her 13th salvo from 16,150 yards (14,770 m) and scored a third hit on Bismarck. Damage is light as the shell failed to explode. Only a service boat was hit.
Hood fired her tenth salvo against Prinz Eugen, the distance now down to 15,300 yards (14,000 m). The British battlecruiser failed to score a hit. Holland ordered another 20° turn to port to course 260°.
Photo: The Hood blows up.
24 May 1941 / 0600
Bismarck fired her fifth salvo from 17,200 yards (15,700 m) against Hood. The British warship received a direct hit, apparently in one of her after magazines.
24 May 1941 / 0601
In a terrible scene reminiscent of the Battle of Jutland in the previous war, what had been, until the Bismarck, the world’s largest warship, suffered a massive explosion aft and broke in two. Shortly after this the area in front of A turret exploded and the centre and fore part of the ship also broke in two. Hood sank in three minutes around 63°22’N, 32°17’W, and all but three of her 1,418 men went down with the ship. The three survivors were Midshipman William John Dundas, Able Seaman Robert Edward Tilburn and Ordinary Signalman Albert Edward Pryke ‘Ted’ Briggs, all three were later Mentioned in Despatches.
The wreck of Hood was discovered on 19 July 2001 by David Mearns and his team. The wreck rests at a depth of approximately 9,200 feet (2,804 m).
Vaughn in the Short Sunderland withdrew into the clouds, the subject of heavy anti-aircraft fire.
Prinz Eugen fired her tenth and 11th salvos against Prince of Wales from a distance of 15,300 yards (14,000 m). No hits were scored.
Prince of Wales, now alone, fired her 14th salvo against Bismarck at a distance of 16,300 yards (14,900 m). The 15th salvo was fired from 15,000 yards (13,700 m) and salvo 16 from 15,100 yards (13,800 m). All fell short of the Bismarck. Due to the rapid and unexpected sinking of Hood, Bismarck’s sixth salvo was still aimed at the doomed battlecruiser. The distance was now 16,400 yards (15,000 m).
Prince of Wales had been steaming about 1,000 yards (900 m) behind Hood when the battlecruiser sank. To avoid plowing into debris, Leach immediately put his wheel hard a-starboard, and in doing so, Prince of Wales' after turrets could not bear on the enemy. Brinkmann contemplated a torpedo attack from the Prinz Eugen. However, the distance between them was close to the maximum range of his torpedoes (13,120 yards / 12,000 m). Birkmann ordered his Torpedo Officer, Kapitänleutnant Ernst Reimann, to be prepared if the opportunity presented itself.
Photo: Bismarck continue to fire against Prince of Wales.
Bismarck changed target to Prince of Wales. The seventh salvo was fired from 16,400 yards (15,000 m). Prinz Eugen, some 1,640-1,970 yards (1,500-1,800 m) ahead of the Bismarck, fired her 12th and 13th salvos from a distance of 15,850 yards (14,500 m). None of the shells found their mark.
Prince of Wales fired her 17th salvo from 14,100 yards (12,900 m) and 18th from 14,500 yards (13,250 m) against the Bismarck. Both salvos fell short.
24 May 1941 / 0602
Bismarck fired her eighth salvo from 15,300 yards (14,000 m) and hit Prince of Wales on the command tower (compass platform). Although the shell did not explode, its impact killed most of the crew inside. With immediate effect, Prince of Wales ceased fire, disengaged from combat with evasive manoeuvres and turned to port.
Prinz Eugen fired her 14th salvo against Prince of Wales from some 15,300 yards (14,000 m). Norfolk opened fire against Bismarck from a distance of 21,800 yards (20,000 m). The shells fell short.
24 May 1941 / 0603
Prince of Wales turned 160° to port and laid a smokescreen. Bismarck fired her ninth salvo from around 15,300 yards (14,000 m) hitting Prince of Wales twice. One shell hit below the waterline without exploding. The other hit the starboard 5.25” (13.3 mm) secondary fire control station putting it out of action.
Prinz Eugen fired her 16th and 17th salvos from a distance of 14,200 yards (13,000 m). Again, Prince of Wales was hit in the stern below the waterline. Suddenly, a crewman reported a trail of torpedoes approaching Prinz Eugen. Bismarck was warned. Both vessels made a 50° turn to starboard on a course of 270°.
Prince of Wales fired her 19th salvo, but it fell short of the Bismarck.
Bismarck fired her tenth salvo from 16,950 yards (15,500 m) and scored another hit on Prince of Wales. She was hit amidships destroying the port-side crane and damaging service boats. A shell punctured the second funnel and damaged the Walrus aircraft.
Prinz Eugen fired her 18th salvo from 15,850 yards (14,500 m), scoring two more hits on Prince of Wales. One hit the stern below the waterline. Another shell hit the fourth 5.25” (13.3 mm) turret ammunition storage on the port side. Luckily for the British, the shell failed to explode.
Prince of Wales fired her 20th salvo from Y turret at 16,400 (15,000 m). Three of four guns were out of action and only one shell was fired. The shot fell short of Bismarck’s stern.
Balance of Forces
| HMS Hood (51) |
What was the name of the Welsh village designed by Clough Williams-Ellis, that was used in the fiming of the television series 'The Prisoner'? | Bell of Sunken WWII Battlecruiser HMS Hood Recovered From Ocean Floor - USNI News
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Home » News & Analysis » Bell of Sunken WWII Battlecruiser HMS Hood Recovered From Ocean Floor
Bell of Sunken WWII Battlecruiser HMS Hood Recovered From Ocean Floor
By: Megan Eckstein
August 10, 2015 4:15 PM
Screen grab of the ship’s bell of HMS Hood plucked from the ocean floor on Aug 7, 2015.
In May 1941, the British battlecruiser HMS Hood chased down the German battleship Bismarck in an attempt to protect the flow of American supplies to Great Britain. Within 15 minutes of firing its first shot, Hood was hit, exploded and sank to the bottom of the Denmark Strait, taking with it 1,415 of its 1,418 crew members.
On Friday, after sitting on the ocean floor for 74 years, Hood’s bell was recovered by a research team led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
The team retrieved the bell on Aug. 7 using a remotely operated vehicle from Allen’s yacht, M/Y Octopus, giving the Ministry of Defence and Royal Navy the gift of a memorial for the fallen sailors’ families.
“There is no headstone among the flowers for those who perish at sea. For the 1,415 officers and men who lost their lives in HMS Hood on 24 May 1941, the recovery of her bell and its subsequent place of honour in the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth will mean that future generations will be able to gaze upon her bell and remember with gratitude and thanks the heroism, courage and personal sacrifice of Hood’s ship’s company who died in the service of their country,” Rear Admiral Philip Wilcocks, who serves as president of the the HMS Hood Association and whose uncle died on the ship, said in a statement.
The bell was first discovered and photographed in 2001, lying away from the rest of the ship’s hull. Allen led an expedition to recover it in 2012 but was hindered by weather and technical difficulties. The ship wreckage is protected under the Military Remains Act of 1986, but the bell was allowed to be salvaged to serve as a memorial ashore and to protect it from being taken illegally.
The bell is in good condition, according to those involved in the operation, but will undergo about a year of restoration work due to the decades it spent in seawater. Once the restoration is complete, the bell will be put on display as a centerpiece of the National Museum of the Royal Navy’s new exhibit on 20th and 21st Century Navy.
HMS Hood in May 1941, just before it was sunk by German battleship Bismarck. Photo via HMS Hood Association.
HMS Hood was the largest British ship to be sunk and caused the largest loss of life suffered by any single ship. Only three crew members survived the explosion and sinking. The last remaining survivor died in 2008 and requested that the bell be made into a memorial for his shipmates.
“I am extremely pleased that we have been able to fulfil one of the last wishes of Ted Briggs, one of only three survivors of Hood’s crew of 1,418 men, to recover the ship’s bell as a memorial to his shipmates,” Blue Water Recoveries director David Mearns said in the statement. Blue Water Recoveries assisted Allen’s team in the 2012 attempt and again last week.
“Despite 74 years of immersion in the hostile depths of Denmark Strait the bell is in very good condition. The inscriptions decorating its surface clearly indicate that the bell was preserved for use on the battle-cruiser Hood after first being used as the bell of the Battleship Hood from 1891 to 1914. This bell has therefore seen action in two capital ships of the Royal Navy spanning a period of 50 years. … The bell we recovered is a unique historical artifact, which shows just how important Hood was as flagship of the British Battlecruiser Squadron.”
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About Megan Eckstein
Megan Eckstein is a staff writer for USNI News. She previously covered Congress for Defense Daily and the U.S. surface navy and U.S. amphibious operations as an associate editor for Inside the Navy.
| i don't know |
In May 2008, which country voted in favour of abolishing its 240-year old monarchy? | Security Council votes to end UN mission in Nepal in January
Further Reading
Security Council votes to end UN mission in Nepal in January
15 September 2010 – The Security Council today voted to wind up the United Nations mission supporting Nepal’s peace process in January next year after the country’s opposing political groups reached agreement earlier this week on completing the final tasks of the stalled process by that date.
The UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) was set up in 2007, one year after the end of a bloody decade-long civil war pitting Government forces against the Maoists.
After conducting Constituent Assembly elections in May 2008, the South Asian country abolished its 240-year-old monarchy and declared itself a republic. But the peace process has slowed since then, threatened by tensions and mistrust.
On Monday, Nepal’s caretaker Government and political parties reached an agreement to complete the remaining tasks of the peace process by 14 January 2011.
In response, the Security Council decided unanimously to extend UNMIN’s mandate – set to have expired today – until 15 January 2011, after which the mission is to leave Nepal.
In his latest report to the Council on the mission, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon indicated that he is not in favour of repeated extensions of UNMIN’s mandate in an atmosphere of persistent and unfounded criticism that complicates its ability to function.
“As I have stated before, the United Nations interest is to see UNMIN complete its mandated tasks and bring closure to its work in Nepal,” he wrote.
Mr. Ban pointed to resolving the future of the two armies – that of Nepal and the Maoists – and completing the drafting of the constitution as some of the main outstanding tasks in the peace process.
The deadline for finishing the constitution has been extended by one year until 28 May 2011.
The report also noted that Nepal’s major parties are “preoccupied by profound internal fissures and the question of power-sharing,” adding that “over three months have passed without notable headway in the peace process.”
Today’s Council resolution called on the Government and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M) to set up an action plan with clear targets for the rehabilitation and integration of Maoist army personnel.
It also called upon “all political parties in Nepal to expedite the peace process, and to work together in a spirit of cooperation, consensus and compromise in order to continue the transition to a durable long-term solution to enable the country to move to a peaceful, democratic and more prosperous future.”
Last week, Karin Landgren, Mr. Ban’s Representative for Nepal, appealed to all parties to urgently tackle the existing climate of mistrust and the problems in forming a government, stressing that the stalled peace process must be brought back on track as soon as possible.
“Nepal’s peace process has not failed, even though it has moved far more slowly and unevenly than anticipated by either the parties or the Council,” she told the Security Council.
“The process can be brought back on track if the political leadership is ready to reassess priorities and place this process at the front and centre of their political activity, recognizing that only through continued and persistent negotiation can it move forward.”
NEWSLETTER
| Nepal |
Which American group has had hit albums in the 21st. century with 'Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia' and 'Werlcome To The Monkey House'? | The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | International | Nepal abolishes monarchy
THE TELEGRAPH
J. HEMANTH
People cheer outside the parliament house in Kathmandu on Wednesday. (Reuters)
Kathmandu, May 28: Nepals political parties voted at a special assembly on Wednesday to abolish the 239-year-old monarchy and declare the country a republic.
Delegates voted 560 to 4 in favour of abolishing the monarchy.
As the Constituent Assembly gathered late in the evening at the International Convention Centre here for its historic first meeting, a blast outside the southern gate injured at least six persons.
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist chairman Prachanda were inside the centre when the bomb went off.
Police said the blast was triggered by the little-known militant group Ranbir Sena, which supports the monarchy.
The government has told the unpopular King Gyanendra to vacate his pink pagoda-roofed Narayanhity palace in Kathmandu within a fortnight, or be forced out. He has made few comments on his future plans, except to say he wanted to remain in Nepal.
Koiralas address � he briefed members on political decisions taken earlier in the day on the structure of the new government as well as the agenda for the constituent assembly � kicked off the session.
The meeting began nearly 10 hours behind schedule as parties struggled to arrive at a consensus on the structure of the new republican government, which is to be sworn in next week. Koirala and Prachanda participated in the discussions that carried on at the Prime Ministers official residence through the day.
The disagreement was on the powers of the President and the Prime Minister.
CPN (ML) general secretary C.P. Mainali, who participated in the meeting, said agreement was finally reached late in the evening. All the parties agreed that the ceremonial President would function as head of the state while the Prime Minister would have executive powers. At the same time, the President will be guided by the decisions of the cabinet, he said.
The parties could not decide on the nomination of 26 members to the Constituent Assembly.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of people � most of them Maoists and some from the Nepali Congress � thronged the streets of Kathmandu chanting slogans in favour of a republic and denouncing Gyanendra who will cease to be king of Nepal by dawn tomorrow.
Palace sources said Gyanendra spent his last day as monarch holding discussions with a cross-section of people, mainly royalists and members of the erstwhile royalist regime. The discussions appeared to centre around future strategies for himself and his family.
Thousands of Maoists, now members of the assemblys biggest political party after joining the political mainstream, marched in the capital carrying hammer and sickle flags and pumping their fists in the air as they shouted Down with the monarchy!
It has been a dramatic decline and fall for a king once waited upon by thousands of retainers. Many Nepalis revered the monarch in majority-Hindu Nepal as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the god of protection.
Now, his portrait has been wiped off bank notes and his name has disappeared from the national anthem. He has been asked to pay his own electricity bills.
The king will be given 15 days to leave and the palace will be turned into a historical museum, peace and reconstruction minister Ram Chandra Poudel said.
This is the peoples victory, said Kamal Dahal, a 22-year-old former Maoist guerrilla. With todays declaration of a republic, we have achieved what we fought for.
Copyright © 2017 The Telegraph. All rights reserved.
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'Sam's Town' was the critically acclaimed album released by which American rock group in 2008? | The 10 Best Killers Songs - Stereogum
The 10 Best Killers Songs
Elliah Heifetz | January 14, 2014 - 11:37 am
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CREDIT:
The Killers
2004 was, more or less, the Year Of The Pretty Boy. Or, if not that, the Year Of The Not That Masculine Dude. The Guy Who Has Lots Of Feelings And Dresses Well. Think about it: Kanye put out his high-fashion, post-gangsta The College Dropout; Arcade Fire got emotional on their cathartic Funeral; Usher sang really high and slow on Confessions; Franz Ferdinand released their oily dance-rock self-titled debut. It was a continuation of the movement away from the brawn and distortion and tough-guy manhood of the past — a sidestep toward dudes who pondered the world and looked fresh and shook their skinny hips.
It’s fitting, then, that 2004 was the year that the Killers dropped their debut LP, Hot Fuss, and rocketed into the limelight. On that sleek, sticky, and all-around stellar first record, the young band of Vegas natives couldn’t get their minds off sex: They suppressed one urge to let the next one loose, sending gender and sexuality into free-float limbo. The tunes were dark and iridescent and painfully fun; Mormon frontman Brandon Flowers careened in guyliner and neon suits; the album put songs about late-night murders and high-school crushes back to back. It was strange, and it was not cool at all, and it was so, so cool.
Then things took a turn. The drummer grew a mustache, Brandon Flowers remembered he was from the Great Wild American West, and suddenly the Killers’ sophomore album, Sam’s Town, came out kicking. It was a frantic attempt to reach Bruce Springsteen highs, a pretty bigheaded and ultimately insubstantial effort no matter how you frame it. For the most part, the weird, anxious, serpentine dance itches were gone — the Killers had left the pretty boys in the dust with a largely empty swing at going masculine.
This origin story provides some important context: The Killers took that turn, and have never really turned back. In their often awesome third record, 2008’s Day & Age , even the candy-wrapped dance-pop production of Stuart Price (Madonna, Kylie Minogue) couldn’t bring those nervous grooves back. Flowers’ lyrics were stuck in the Sierra, waxing rhapsodic about the American dream, casino high-life, and, at their worst, “ The World We Live In .” Their latest studio album, 2012’s Battle Born, is (despite what other Stereogum writers have argued) so offensively corny and not-catchy and just a complete dud that I couldn’t find a single song on it to include in this Top 10 list. And the 2007 B-sides and rarities collection Sawdust only served to highlight what was once so great about the Killers, and what still appears, though less and less, in the music they continue to release.
Last year the Killers released a “greatest hits” record called Direct Hits which, when you exclude the new songs, the Battle Born cuts, and the M83 collab , is made up of ten tracks –- their own Top 10, you might say. There’s a bit of overlap with the list you’ll see below, but the differences are telling: The songs on their list that are not on mine represent that grand American visionary thing that they seem to think is their optimal sound.
But it’s just not. The Killers gave the new millennium that perfect, glowing blend of dance-floor sleaze and road-trip splendor. Flowers and co. have had the unique ability to combine the shadowy grooves of guitar-heavy peer acts like Franz Ferdinand with the anthemic stylings of their ’80s forefathers: Their biggest and baddest cuts have let us shout out into the winds while sweating into our shorts. The list below, at least I’d like to think, recognizes the ten songs in which the Killers strike the perfect balance with they want to do and what they’re so inherently good at doing — the tracks where, even when they go big, they can still embrace their goofiness, their strangeness, and their inescapable youth. This list is a showcase of times when the Killers, whether they knew it or not, were doing exactly what they do best.
10. “Andy, You’re A Star” (from Hot Fuss, 2004)
In a record of rapid cityscapes, “Andy, You’re A Star” is a necessary detour: a slow-grinding, blues-nodding, hypertense synth romp. Ostensibly a closeted love-letter to the high school football team captain (from Flowers?), the track captures some of the band’s most jerky, hormonal grasps at teenaged sexuality. Flowers moans, “On the field, I remember, you were incredible/ Hey, shut up/ Hey, shut up,” at his catty and angsty best -– until the song opens up into its massive ballad-like release, male chorus and all.
9. “All These Thing That I’ve Done” (from Hot Fuss, 2004)
Yeah, you’ve heard this one: from the Olympics to the mouths of Bono and Chris Martin , you’ve been chanting along to those notoriously nonsensical words for years now. “I got soul, but I’m not a soldier” — what the hell does that mean? But more importantly, who cares? Clocking in at five minutes, it was a first glimpse at the Killers’ epic side: a seething track full of guitar chugs and gospel vocals, with a yearning balladeer opening, an explosive center, and a drum-roll ending. Steeped in boyish afterglow, this song rocks hard.
8. “Under The Gun” (from Sawdust, 2007)
If you’re one of the many singing along to the likes of “Mr. Brightside” and “When You Were Young,” you probably aren’t familiar with this little treat, but trust me: It’s worth every second of its brisk two and a half minutes. A tongue-in-cheek, fantastical pop-punk melodrama about a young man with a hot (and murderous) date, “Under The Gun” finds the Killers at their absolute catchiest. Hot and full of youthful energy, this rarity from the Hot Fuss sessions is as sweet as it is seriously sharp.
7. “Spaceman” (from Day & Age, 2008)
A welcome return to the synth-heavy narrative style of Hot Fuss, “Spaceman” highlights some of the best things the Killers did with Day & Age: a playful, wonky story about being abducted by aliens; immaculate dance anthem production; “oh-ohs” that cry for a full arena. Flowers is a marvel here with his lyrics, perplexingly endearing as he shouts, “Oh, what a lonely night” about the evening he was stolen from his bed by extraterrestrials. Though its chorus doesn’t fulfill the promise of the huge hooks in its other sections, those four-on-the-floors and that urgent verse are enough to launch the track high in the Killers’ canon.
6. “When You Were Young” (from Sam’s Town, 2006)
As sort-of-awful as these lyrics are, as cheeseball as the Springsteen-esque, wall-of-sound guitar production sounds, there is something inescapably awesome about “When You Were Young.” This is maybe the only one of a few times that the Killers’ experiment in rugged Americana has actually come out exactly as they’d planned: a thundering, colossal track meant for screaming along with out of rolled-down windows in a speeding car down a road in the heartland. I tried to hate it, I read lines like “Burning down the highway skyline on the back of a hurricane” on paper over and over to see how stupid they were, and you know what? I fought the Killers, and the Killers won. “Can we climb this mountain?” Flowers asks in a trembling Boss impersonation. Yes, you sure can.
5. “Human” (from Day & Age, 2008)
In another instance of catchy lyrics that don’t make much sense, the Killers use “Human” to ask the ever-pressing question: “Are we human, or are dancer?” I don’t know if anyone will really be able to answer that, but if producer Stuart Price has his way, “Human” can make a dancer out of all of us. With a Dr. Luke-esque synth-pop beat that’s both mammoth and sweet, and with a yearning chorus as expansive as they come, this ear-worm of a track is nearly unstoppable. Vastly underrated at the time of its release and over-criticized for self-importance, “Human” is a later-career track that in a different context (say, on Hot Fuss) I’m convinced would have come across as gleefully silly. It’s a Top 40 confection on the caliber of some of Katy Perry’s best.
4. “Bones” (from Sam’s Town, 2006)
Finally: a moment on Sam’s Town as creepy, kooky, lusty, slimy, and unequivocally fun as the best of the Killers’ canon. “Bones” is the kind of track these mustachioed dance-rockers were born to write: a grossly sexual and irresistibly catchy hook; hilariously melodramatic background vocals and Bruce Springsteen instrumentation that can only be self-parody (and a great one at that); and the dumbest, hottest horns on the market. Flowers is sharp here, juxtaposing corny American gothic lyrics with odd punches at some poor woman, to whom he sings, “I don’t really like you” — which, of course, makes the grimy hook “Don’t you wanna feel my bones on your bones?/ It’s only natural” all the more witty, immature, and desperate. If the Killers had to head in a Western direction, this was the right way to go.
3. “Read My Mind” (from Sam’s Town, 2006)
The biggest irony of having “Read My Mind” so high up is that it maybe has the worst lyrics of any track on this list: Flowers goes on about “main street” and “breakin’ out of this two-star town” and “the honest man” ad nauseum. But that’s just about the only irony. “Read My Mind” is a real stunner — a chilly, washed out mid-tempo track with hot blood in its veins. It’s a song that places just the right smoldering synth pads over just the right jangling guitars (a slowed-down spillover from “Mr. Brightside,” maybe), one that locks you into a special place in your head you might not normally have access to, where you are calm and collected and bursting with spirit all at once. It’s easily one of the most carefully produced songs the Killers have ever put out, and its qualities are undeniable: a surprisingly melodic and impressive guitar solo, a fragile and volcanic chorus, and a sonic palate that for me has always come closest to the aesthetics of the incredible Hot Fuss album cover.
2. “Mr. Brightside” (from Hot Fuss, 2004)
When I was in tenth grade, the day after we’d talked on the bus ride to a math class field trip, I found out that my crush had a boyfriend who was a huge jerk. As soon as I got home, I went to my bedroom and turned on the Killers. “…CHOKING ON YOUR ALIBIS,” I screamed into my pillow, barely sobbing out “BUT IT’S JUST THE PRICE I PAY” before my mom came in and asked me what was wrong. And I was not alone, not by a long shot: “Mr. Brightside” was the dark, dangerous power anthem for all romantically mistreated teens in the mid-2000s — a drone of a track that’s just as good to cry along with and bite your nails to in the car by yourself as it is to shout from the pit of a packed concert hall while the boys play it live. Though it’s not the best example of the Killers’ melodic brand of synthy eccentricity (which is why it’s not No. 1 on this list), it’s a brilliant case of tying internal angst with expressive, open-air rage; a semi-tragic but gloriously triumphant guitar-heavy song that got the emo kids jumping up and down.
1. “Somebody Told Me” (from Hot Fuss, 2004)
From its very beginning, which crashes and crescendos like a whole club waking up after doing a line, it’s obvious that “Somebody Told Me” is a bona fide hit. This is the Killers playing to the very best of their theatrical instincts, gravely chugging through the verse, yelping and whining through the bridge. It’s melodic, too: Flowers’ voice nimbly works through a classically disco chord progression in a pop vocal line smart enough to compete with his Top 40 influences. Nothing is missing, not a synth line or a fuzzy guitar lick — and damn, damn that chorus. “Somebody told me/ You had a boyfriend/ Who looked like a girlfriend/ That I had in February of last year,” Flowers croons. Connect the dots with me: He’s singing about i.) A jealous rumor; ii.). about an ex; iii.) dating somebody androgynous; iv.) that brings back memories of a lover; v.) in an arbitrary and pretty goofily-worded past time. It’s everything and more, the hushed secrecy, the cheap accusations, the sexual curiosity — the band at its most essential. With one hook, the Killers defined a sound, guns blazing. And, as far as that goes, I don’t know if I’ll ever get enough.
Listen to our playlist via Spotify .
| The Killers |
Which General and commander-in-chief led the 'New Model Army' at the Battle of Naseby in 1645? | The 10 Best Killers Songs - Stereogum
The 10 Best Killers Songs
Elliah Heifetz | January 14, 2014 - 11:37 am
Share < br />this article:
CREDIT:
The Killers
2004 was, more or less, the Year Of The Pretty Boy. Or, if not that, the Year Of The Not That Masculine Dude. The Guy Who Has Lots Of Feelings And Dresses Well. Think about it: Kanye put out his high-fashion, post-gangsta The College Dropout; Arcade Fire got emotional on their cathartic Funeral; Usher sang really high and slow on Confessions; Franz Ferdinand released their oily dance-rock self-titled debut. It was a continuation of the movement away from the brawn and distortion and tough-guy manhood of the past — a sidestep toward dudes who pondered the world and looked fresh and shook their skinny hips.
It’s fitting, then, that 2004 was the year that the Killers dropped their debut LP, Hot Fuss, and rocketed into the limelight. On that sleek, sticky, and all-around stellar first record, the young band of Vegas natives couldn’t get their minds off sex: They suppressed one urge to let the next one loose, sending gender and sexuality into free-float limbo. The tunes were dark and iridescent and painfully fun; Mormon frontman Brandon Flowers careened in guyliner and neon suits; the album put songs about late-night murders and high-school crushes back to back. It was strange, and it was not cool at all, and it was so, so cool.
Then things took a turn. The drummer grew a mustache, Brandon Flowers remembered he was from the Great Wild American West, and suddenly the Killers’ sophomore album, Sam’s Town, came out kicking. It was a frantic attempt to reach Bruce Springsteen highs, a pretty bigheaded and ultimately insubstantial effort no matter how you frame it. For the most part, the weird, anxious, serpentine dance itches were gone — the Killers had left the pretty boys in the dust with a largely empty swing at going masculine.
This origin story provides some important context: The Killers took that turn, and have never really turned back. In their often awesome third record, 2008’s Day & Age , even the candy-wrapped dance-pop production of Stuart Price (Madonna, Kylie Minogue) couldn’t bring those nervous grooves back. Flowers’ lyrics were stuck in the Sierra, waxing rhapsodic about the American dream, casino high-life, and, at their worst, “ The World We Live In .” Their latest studio album, 2012’s Battle Born, is (despite what other Stereogum writers have argued) so offensively corny and not-catchy and just a complete dud that I couldn’t find a single song on it to include in this Top 10 list. And the 2007 B-sides and rarities collection Sawdust only served to highlight what was once so great about the Killers, and what still appears, though less and less, in the music they continue to release.
Last year the Killers released a “greatest hits” record called Direct Hits which, when you exclude the new songs, the Battle Born cuts, and the M83 collab , is made up of ten tracks –- their own Top 10, you might say. There’s a bit of overlap with the list you’ll see below, but the differences are telling: The songs on their list that are not on mine represent that grand American visionary thing that they seem to think is their optimal sound.
But it’s just not. The Killers gave the new millennium that perfect, glowing blend of dance-floor sleaze and road-trip splendor. Flowers and co. have had the unique ability to combine the shadowy grooves of guitar-heavy peer acts like Franz Ferdinand with the anthemic stylings of their ’80s forefathers: Their biggest and baddest cuts have let us shout out into the winds while sweating into our shorts. The list below, at least I’d like to think, recognizes the ten songs in which the Killers strike the perfect balance with they want to do and what they’re so inherently good at doing — the tracks where, even when they go big, they can still embrace their goofiness, their strangeness, and their inescapable youth. This list is a showcase of times when the Killers, whether they knew it or not, were doing exactly what they do best.
10. “Andy, You’re A Star” (from Hot Fuss, 2004)
In a record of rapid cityscapes, “Andy, You’re A Star” is a necessary detour: a slow-grinding, blues-nodding, hypertense synth romp. Ostensibly a closeted love-letter to the high school football team captain (from Flowers?), the track captures some of the band’s most jerky, hormonal grasps at teenaged sexuality. Flowers moans, “On the field, I remember, you were incredible/ Hey, shut up/ Hey, shut up,” at his catty and angsty best -– until the song opens up into its massive ballad-like release, male chorus and all.
9. “All These Thing That I’ve Done” (from Hot Fuss, 2004)
Yeah, you’ve heard this one: from the Olympics to the mouths of Bono and Chris Martin , you’ve been chanting along to those notoriously nonsensical words for years now. “I got soul, but I’m not a soldier” — what the hell does that mean? But more importantly, who cares? Clocking in at five minutes, it was a first glimpse at the Killers’ epic side: a seething track full of guitar chugs and gospel vocals, with a yearning balladeer opening, an explosive center, and a drum-roll ending. Steeped in boyish afterglow, this song rocks hard.
8. “Under The Gun” (from Sawdust, 2007)
If you’re one of the many singing along to the likes of “Mr. Brightside” and “When You Were Young,” you probably aren’t familiar with this little treat, but trust me: It’s worth every second of its brisk two and a half minutes. A tongue-in-cheek, fantastical pop-punk melodrama about a young man with a hot (and murderous) date, “Under The Gun” finds the Killers at their absolute catchiest. Hot and full of youthful energy, this rarity from the Hot Fuss sessions is as sweet as it is seriously sharp.
7. “Spaceman” (from Day & Age, 2008)
A welcome return to the synth-heavy narrative style of Hot Fuss, “Spaceman” highlights some of the best things the Killers did with Day & Age: a playful, wonky story about being abducted by aliens; immaculate dance anthem production; “oh-ohs” that cry for a full arena. Flowers is a marvel here with his lyrics, perplexingly endearing as he shouts, “Oh, what a lonely night” about the evening he was stolen from his bed by extraterrestrials. Though its chorus doesn’t fulfill the promise of the huge hooks in its other sections, those four-on-the-floors and that urgent verse are enough to launch the track high in the Killers’ canon.
6. “When You Were Young” (from Sam’s Town, 2006)
As sort-of-awful as these lyrics are, as cheeseball as the Springsteen-esque, wall-of-sound guitar production sounds, there is something inescapably awesome about “When You Were Young.” This is maybe the only one of a few times that the Killers’ experiment in rugged Americana has actually come out exactly as they’d planned: a thundering, colossal track meant for screaming along with out of rolled-down windows in a speeding car down a road in the heartland. I tried to hate it, I read lines like “Burning down the highway skyline on the back of a hurricane” on paper over and over to see how stupid they were, and you know what? I fought the Killers, and the Killers won. “Can we climb this mountain?” Flowers asks in a trembling Boss impersonation. Yes, you sure can.
5. “Human” (from Day & Age, 2008)
In another instance of catchy lyrics that don’t make much sense, the Killers use “Human” to ask the ever-pressing question: “Are we human, or are dancer?” I don’t know if anyone will really be able to answer that, but if producer Stuart Price has his way, “Human” can make a dancer out of all of us. With a Dr. Luke-esque synth-pop beat that’s both mammoth and sweet, and with a yearning chorus as expansive as they come, this ear-worm of a track is nearly unstoppable. Vastly underrated at the time of its release and over-criticized for self-importance, “Human” is a later-career track that in a different context (say, on Hot Fuss) I’m convinced would have come across as gleefully silly. It’s a Top 40 confection on the caliber of some of Katy Perry’s best.
4. “Bones” (from Sam’s Town, 2006)
Finally: a moment on Sam’s Town as creepy, kooky, lusty, slimy, and unequivocally fun as the best of the Killers’ canon. “Bones” is the kind of track these mustachioed dance-rockers were born to write: a grossly sexual and irresistibly catchy hook; hilariously melodramatic background vocals and Bruce Springsteen instrumentation that can only be self-parody (and a great one at that); and the dumbest, hottest horns on the market. Flowers is sharp here, juxtaposing corny American gothic lyrics with odd punches at some poor woman, to whom he sings, “I don’t really like you” — which, of course, makes the grimy hook “Don’t you wanna feel my bones on your bones?/ It’s only natural” all the more witty, immature, and desperate. If the Killers had to head in a Western direction, this was the right way to go.
3. “Read My Mind” (from Sam’s Town, 2006)
The biggest irony of having “Read My Mind” so high up is that it maybe has the worst lyrics of any track on this list: Flowers goes on about “main street” and “breakin’ out of this two-star town” and “the honest man” ad nauseum. But that’s just about the only irony. “Read My Mind” is a real stunner — a chilly, washed out mid-tempo track with hot blood in its veins. It’s a song that places just the right smoldering synth pads over just the right jangling guitars (a slowed-down spillover from “Mr. Brightside,” maybe), one that locks you into a special place in your head you might not normally have access to, where you are calm and collected and bursting with spirit all at once. It’s easily one of the most carefully produced songs the Killers have ever put out, and its qualities are undeniable: a surprisingly melodic and impressive guitar solo, a fragile and volcanic chorus, and a sonic palate that for me has always come closest to the aesthetics of the incredible Hot Fuss album cover.
2. “Mr. Brightside” (from Hot Fuss, 2004)
When I was in tenth grade, the day after we’d talked on the bus ride to a math class field trip, I found out that my crush had a boyfriend who was a huge jerk. As soon as I got home, I went to my bedroom and turned on the Killers. “…CHOKING ON YOUR ALIBIS,” I screamed into my pillow, barely sobbing out “BUT IT’S JUST THE PRICE I PAY” before my mom came in and asked me what was wrong. And I was not alone, not by a long shot: “Mr. Brightside” was the dark, dangerous power anthem for all romantically mistreated teens in the mid-2000s — a drone of a track that’s just as good to cry along with and bite your nails to in the car by yourself as it is to shout from the pit of a packed concert hall while the boys play it live. Though it’s not the best example of the Killers’ melodic brand of synthy eccentricity (which is why it’s not No. 1 on this list), it’s a brilliant case of tying internal angst with expressive, open-air rage; a semi-tragic but gloriously triumphant guitar-heavy song that got the emo kids jumping up and down.
1. “Somebody Told Me” (from Hot Fuss, 2004)
From its very beginning, which crashes and crescendos like a whole club waking up after doing a line, it’s obvious that “Somebody Told Me” is a bona fide hit. This is the Killers playing to the very best of their theatrical instincts, gravely chugging through the verse, yelping and whining through the bridge. It’s melodic, too: Flowers’ voice nimbly works through a classically disco chord progression in a pop vocal line smart enough to compete with his Top 40 influences. Nothing is missing, not a synth line or a fuzzy guitar lick — and damn, damn that chorus. “Somebody told me/ You had a boyfriend/ Who looked like a girlfriend/ That I had in February of last year,” Flowers croons. Connect the dots with me: He’s singing about i.) A jealous rumor; ii.). about an ex; iii.) dating somebody androgynous; iv.) that brings back memories of a lover; v.) in an arbitrary and pretty goofily-worded past time. It’s everything and more, the hushed secrecy, the cheap accusations, the sexual curiosity — the band at its most essential. With one hook, the Killers defined a sound, guns blazing. And, as far as that goes, I don’t know if I’ll ever get enough.
Listen to our playlist via Spotify .
| i don't know |
Because of Hull City's promotion, from next season (2009) which will be the largest city in England never to have had a top-flight football team? | Hull City: 20 surprising facts about Premier League new boys - Mirror Online
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4 While we're on the subject of something that's So Macho... 80s pop star and celebrity City fan Sinitta, has promised/threatened (delete according to your musical tastes) to sing on the pitch when the club returns to the Premier League.
5 An even more random set of celebrity Tigers fans are American indie heroes Pavement, who also once owned a racehorse called Hull City Tiger, which itself had a song dedicated to it by Hull based band Salako.
6 A film about Hull City has won an OSCAR. Well, kind of. See You At Wembley Frankie Walsh, a comedy about a fan choosing between a wedding and a cup final, was awarded best foreign film at the 1987 Student Academy Awards.
Celebration time: In a few months Sinitta may be on this pitch too (Photo: PA)
7 The film's director, Mark Herman, has smuggled references to his beloved Tigers in most of his films since. In Little Voice, for instance, Ewan McGregor character's pigeon was called Duane after then star striker Duane Darby, while in Brassed Off the celebratory balloons were in black and amber.
8 If Arsenal fans think they've had it bad, they should take a look at Hull City's dust-lined trophy cabinet. The Tigers have never even reached the final of the FA or League cup. They have lifted the Division 3 champions trophy three times, though.
9 The club's highest ever league position is 17th in their first ever Premier League campaign in 2009, with the achievement celebrated by flamboyant manager Phil Brown grabbing the microphone and singing on the pitch.
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10 The Tigers' most famous moment of their last two-year spell in the top flight also involved Phil Brown on the pitch. His angry team talk in the centre circle when 4-0 down at Manchester City was hilariously parodied by midfielder Jimmy Bullard back at Eastlands the next season in a 1-1 draw.
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11 London 0 Hull 4 wasn't just the title of The Housemartins' 1986 album, it proved to be a football prophecy. In October 2008 Hull City beat West Ham to take a fourth win out of four against London clubs having previously beaten Fulham, Arsenal and Spurs.
12 Hullensians can get confused when you call the football team 'Hull' without the 'City' bit at the end. That's because it's the name of the rugby league club which is also based at the same KC Stadium.
13 Nearly all rundowns of terrible football kits feature Hull City's tiger-stripe shirt from 1992/3, with a completely random pattern which meant no two were the same. But the mockery didn't stop the shirt breaking the club's shirt sales records - and they sell for up to £100 each now on eBay.
Tiger style: The legendary stripes worn by Hull City in 1993
14 When Hull City fans protested against then owner David Lloyd, the former Davis Cup captain, they threw hundreds of tennis balls on the pitch during a cup game in 1998 at Bolton Wanderers. If the love-in with current owner Assam Allam were to sour, a similar symbolic gesture would be tricky since he made his fortune through industrial generators.
15 Hungarian side Vasas, perhaps the world's greatest of their era, toured the UK in the mid-1950s just after their national team had humiliated England at Wembley 6-3. Vasas put a total of 13 goals past the country's top two teams, Spurs and Sheffield Wednesday - and the national press wanted the match with Hull City, then bottom of the second division, called off to avoid any further embarrassment. Amazingly, City won 3-1.
16 Up to the early 1960s, when league games were often played on Christmas Day, Hull City and Grimsby Town were the only two teams exempt from playing because fans in the fishing industry needed to be at work.
17 Hull City player Arthur Childs was the first and last player ever to be sent off for wearing inappropriate boots. Shortly after the incident, in 1928, the laws of the game were changed so that players with incorrect attire are allowed to return to the pitch once the problem is corrected.
18 It was claimed gypsies evicted to make way for the club’s old Boothferry Park ground after the Second World War placed a curse on the club that they would never reach the top division. If such a spell existed, it lasted for over 60 years but was finally broken in the 2008 play-off finals by a goal from Dean Windass - a hometown hero who spookily grew up in the nearby area called… Gipsyville.
19 Until that moment, Hull was the answer to perennial pub quiz question: “Which is the largest city with a Football League team never to have been represented in the top division of English football?” The answer now is Plymouth.
20 And finally... Hull City is the only team in the Football League which hasn't got a single letter that you can colour in.
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Which real-life confidence trickster and forger was playedby Leonardo di caprio in the 2002 film 'Catch Me If You Can'? | Hull City in the Noughties: The Best Trip I've Ever Been On | Bleacher Report
Hull City in the Noughties: The Best Trip I've Ever Been On
By Brian Rhodes , Senior Analyst
Dec 16, 2009
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With the decade quickly drawing to a close, it is a good time to look back at what a glorious decade it has been for Hull City promotion through all the divisions. We have seen top flight football for the first time in the clubs history and a successful first ever visit to Wembley Stadium. However, as the end of the last millennium rolled around, it looked like the Tigers might well have been going out of business, not ending the decade fighting it out in the best league in the world. This decade in Hull City's history truly is a rags to riches story.
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1999-Warren Joyce
As the end of the 20th Century rolled around, the Tigers were in turmoil. After some memorable moments in the clubs history, such as the first penalty shoot out in history (that's another story) and 96-years of existence, the famous old Yorkshire club was struggling to survive in every way possible. The club were struggling to survive after the disastrous reign of a motley crew of bad chairman that were simply out to make a quick buck, and managers there were clearly out of their depth. This was how the Tigers found themselves in 1999. Warren Joyce, the club captain, had taken over as player manager after the dismal performance of Mark Hateley, the incumbent player manager. Hateley the ex-England International had been appointed by British tennis legend and gym guru David Lloyd the then club owner and Chairman, in his ill fated "Tiger-Shark" enterprise. Lloyd had tried to tie together both Hull City and Rugby League club Hull FC to maximize the profit to be made from sports fans in Kingston Upon Hull. The Hull City fans would show their displeasure with Lloyd and his antics at the club they loved, with a fantastically inventive display, as mass sections of fans threw tennis balls on the field during a game against Bolton Wanderers . The humiliated Lloyd would re-think his ownership of the club. It was soon after the "tennis ball" incident, and with the clubs position in the table looking decidedly precarious, that Lloyd sold the club in 1998 to Nick Buchanan (who would ultimately end up going to prison for his nefarious dealings) and Stephen Hinchliffe (later disqualified from being a company director by the DTI and convicted of fraud and jailed for two years) with Tim Belton as the chairman. Belton appointed Warren Joyce as the club's player manager with former European Cup winner John McGovern as his assistant. Joyce was tasked with saving the club, but things were tough with the Tigers glued to the foot of the old third division table and on the verge of relegation to the football league all together. After some lackluster displays, Joyce added some steal with the signing of Lincoln duo Jon Whitney and Jason Perry to Justin Whittle and Gary Brabin, and the Tigers were a different proposition. It wasn't long before the timid Tigers, became tenacious Tigers. Joyce managed the remarkable feat with a number of games to spare, and managed what has become affectionately known as "the Great Escape" by Tigers' fans ever since.
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2000/2001-Locked Out
With the new Millennium came some major changes to Hull City. David Lloyd, who still owned the crumbling Boothferry Park Stadium, locked out the players and staff in February for unpaid rent of approximately £45,000. Bootferry Park affectionately known as "Fer Ark" or the "Ark" by fans because of the only letters lit up of the old ground's name outside were, "FER ARK". The ground would remain locked for some time as the clubs administrators and Lloyd tried to come to an agreeement. In April, the club replaced the talismanic Joyce, despite his exploits and brought in the more experienced Brian Little. Little was successful in his first season, taking the Tigers to the Division Three playoffs. But the Tigers failed to get past the semifinals, losing to Leyton Orient . By the end of the season, Adam Pearson the former financial director of Leeds United Football Club, had bought the club and relieved all chance of closure for the Tigers.
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2001/2002-Adam Pearson
With the arrival of Adam Pearson at Boothferry Park, the Tigers got some much needed stability in the backroom. Since the stewardship of the Harold Needler when we moved to Boothferry Park in 1946, the Tigers had lurched from one disaster to another. The heady days of Whitehurst, Chilton, and Wagstaff were long gone, but Pearson was determined to not let the Tigers continue in the same vein. Pearson was a breath of fresh air at the club, plunging money into building a team. But he was not the most forgiving of his managers. With the start of the 2001/2002 season, the Tigers were under-performing yet again, despite Brian Little taking the club to the playoffs the season before. His new signings were struggling to gel. The club was sitting in 11th place with two months left in the season when Pearson wielded the axe on the manager. Pearson brought in Jan Molby, the ex- Liverpool and Denmark player who had brought Kidderminster Harriers into the football league on a a shoestring. Person thought that Molby would be the one to take the Tigers to the next level.
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2002/2003-The Kingston Communications Stadium
Molby was unable to make the Tigers a force to be reckoned with, which saw the Tigers languishing five places off the bottom of the division. Pearson sacked him within three months of the start of the season, and appointed the experienced Peter Taylor. However, one of Molby's signings would become a legend in amber and black in the shape of club captain Ian Ashbee. Hull City's last game at Boothferry Park, after 56-inglorious years, saw the Tigers beaten by Darlington in a lackluster display that typified the majority of the club's time at the "Ark." In December of the 2002/2003 season, the Tigers relocated to the a 25,400 seater stadium and a revolution took place. While the club had an average attendance of 9,504 for the 2001/2002 season, the club's attendance increased to 12,843 for the 2002/2003 season with only half of the season at the KC Stadium. Unfortunately, the club ended a disappointing 13th despite making solid ground as a whole.
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2003/2004-Peter Taylor and Promotion
In the 2003/2004 season, Peter Taylor's first full season in charge, the club would go from strength to strength.
The season was one of fantastic achievements, with the Tigers winning promotion to the Football League Division Two for the first time in nine years as runners up.
The team was starting to play some fine football and the 6-1 demolition of the Kidderminster Harriers was the first true signs that the club could be a force to be reckoned with.
The Tigers would suffer from a drop in form in November but would get back on track with some tenacious play that would leave the club sitting in forth place at Christmas after a 2-0 victory on Boxing Day against York City.
When the Tigers met the Minstermen again in early February, they would be sitting in first place in the division. Yet again a run of poor form meant that the Tigers would drop down the table, but the club had done enough to win an automatic promotion.
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2004/2005-Stuart Elliott and Back to Back Promotion
When Ian Asbee, the club captain, scored a wonder goal in the 2-1 victory away at Yeovil Town in the 2003/2004 season, he set a train in motion. Little did any Hull City fan realize just what was happening.
The club, under the partnership of Pearson and Taylor, would gain promotion for the second season in a row. The Tigers would have some highs and lows but with the exception of the the opening week of the campaign, the Tigers would be in the playoff places or higher for the whole season.
It was only the fine start from Luton Town that gave them the winners trophy at the end of the season. So the Tigers returned to the second tier of English football for the first time since 1991.
It was wonderful to get the 19-year old monkey off our backs, but the best was yet to come. The idea that the Tigers were a sleeping giant was one that had been talked about for generations. Kingston upon Hull is the tenth largest City in England, and for a club from a city of Hull's size to be in the football dull drums for so long is an awful cross for their fans to bear.
The 2004/2005 season saw Hull native Nick Barmby return to his hometown club and sign with the Tigers. His performances in the promotion campaign were an inspiration and his partnership with Stuart Elliott were key to the Tigers rise.
Barmby would go on to break a Hull City record when he scored for the Tigers against Walsall in only seven seconds.
Stuart Elliott, the Northern Ireland International, scored 12 goals in the Tigers first promotion campaign of 2003/2004, but in 2004/2005 he was on fire, scoring a massive 27 goals in the league alone.
He won the Golden Boot that season, but what makes his feat even more remarkable is the fact that he was out with an injury for six weeks, and wasn't a striker, but a left winger.
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2005/2006-The Championship
The Tigers first season is the Championship was one of consolidation, according to Peter Taylor. Taylor felt that the Tigers had advanced too fast and needed to build a better team to compete effectively in the Championship.
When the the Club played the Queens Park Rangers in their first match, five of the first team and two of the substitutes had been with the Tigers in the last match in the Third Division against Bristol Rovers.
Much was hoped for Stuart Elliott, who had been so devastating in front of goal for the Tigers the previous season. Elliott's wonderful form was not to continue.
Despite him ending the season as the club's top scorer again, with seven goals, his career was to go through a huge change. He was diagnosed with activity related asthma, which meant he couldn't play a full 90-minutes of football.
Despite Elliott's problems, the club managed to perform well enough to survive the season, ending in a creditable 18th place.
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2006/2007-Relegation Dogfight
After a relatively conservative but effective 2005/2006 season, the Tigers reverted to form and had a dreadful season in 2006/2007. In the summer build up to the season, Peter Taylor who had successfully lead the team to two promotions and retained the club's Championship place, left the club to join his old club, Crystal Palace .
Taylor had the option to talk to clubs in the London area and when Premiership club Charlton started sniffing around, Taylor was interested. Unfortunately for Taylor, this was seen as an open display of disloyalty by Adam Pearson, and a fractious dynamic was growing. So when Crystal Palace showed interest, Pearson was happy for him to leave.
This left the Tigers without a manager in mid-June 2006. Pearson turned his attention to Colchester United 's Phil Parkinson.
Parkinson was seen as a rising star of the management game after leading the U's to the promotion to the Championship. The deal to get him out of his contract with Colchester was not an easy one and for some time he was not allowed to talk to anyone at the club.
When he did arrive, his style on the training field was allegedly not taken too well by some of the senior players. Whilst managing the U's, Parkinson had got the team playing good, solid attacking football and tried to get the Tigers to play the same way.
Parkinson's start with the club was less than auspicious, with the Tigers only gaining one point from a possible 18 points in the first month of the season. The Tigers sat soundly at the bottom of the division.
With results and performances becoming more negative, Pearson appointed Phil Brown as Parkinson's assistant to try and help the young manager. But with results not improving on the field Pearson decided to sever ties to Parkinson and he appointed Brown as Hull City's caretaker manager on December 4, 2006.
In the next six games, Brown managed to get the Tigers firing in all cylinders again and the team managed to earn ten points and take the club out of the relegation zone for the first time in the season. With the strong performance, Brown won the managers position on a permanent basis.
The rest of the season would see the club yo-yo in and out of the relegation zone but in a master stroke, Brown signed Hull City legend Dean Windass on loan from Bradford City.
Windass contributed with eight goals, becoming the club's top scorer and saving the club to fight again in the Championship in process.
Windass had the singular distinction of being the top goal scorer for Bradford City with 11 goals for the season and top goal scorer for Hull City in the same season with his all important eight goals, during his loan spell.
However, for many Hull City fans, his goal against Cardiff City in the penultimate Saturday of the season was the icing on the cake. Windass' goal gave the Tigers a three point lead in the table over Leeds United, which guaranteed the club's survival and ensured that longstanding rivals Leeds would be relegated.
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2007/2008-Wembley and Promotion
In the second half of the the 2006/2007 season, Adam Pearson had come to terms with the fact that financially he couldn't take the club forward without major investment.
He had hoped to keep his hands on the Hull City helm but when Russell Bartlett and his consortium decided to buy the Tigers, he installed Paul Duffen as his Chairman.
So, despite all the hard work Pearson had done to help the Tigers get to the Championship, it would be Paul Duffen who would see the Tigers on the next leg of their journey.
The close season saw Duffen sign Henrik Pedersen, who played for Bolton with Brown and the Nigerian international maestro Jay Jay Okocha for the Tigers. Okocha said on signing for the Tigers that, "God had told him to do so."
His contribution was small due to injuries and fitness, but the lift it gave the team and the spark that he created were immense.
The season started slow whilst the new players gelled, but once the team got some momentum, the Tigers started to roar on. The team was sitting in 18th place when a young player was signed on loan from Manchester United. He was an instant sensation scoring two goals in the evening game against Barnsley at the KC Stadium. Frazier Campbell had arrived.
With Campbell's pace and energy, and Windass' guile and experience up front, the Tigers were a threat to anybody in the division. At the back, Michael Turner and Wayne Brown were nullifying all comers with their impenetrable defending. The Tigers were a tough team to score against.
By January 1st, Hull City was sitting in ninth place, only one point off the playoff places. From the end of January the Tigers only lost two games out of 16, taking them to second in the table.
However, with with only three regular season games left, the Tigers lost two to promotion rivals but with a playoff berth already secured, they would look forward to a double header against Watford.
In the first leg at Watford's Vicerage Road, Hull City took the lead from a Nick Barmby header and fellow Hull native Windass doubled the lead to make the second leg of the tie very tricky for the Hornets.
In the second leg, Watford took an early lead but when Barmby scored just before half time the tie looked dead for Watford.
However, as the match started to drift away from Watford and they pushed more men forward to get back in the tie, the Tigers pounced again with three goals that destroyed the Hornets and booked the Tigers their first ever visit to Wembley Stadium for the playoff final.
On May 24, 2008, Hull City walked out onto the Wembley turf to take on Bristol City to try and rid themselves of one of the oldest Pub quiz question answers.
"What is the the largest city, never to have played football in the top flight?"
For 104 years the Tigers have been shackled with that tag line but after 90 minutes it was all just history and the baton was passed to Plymouth Argyle.
At 38 minutes, Fraizer Campbell received a wonderfully threaded pass through the Bristol City midfield from Nick Barmby, and weaved his way through the Bristol defence, taking the ball to the edge of the six yard box.
But instead of taking a shot on goal, the on-loan Manchester United striker saw the old war horse Dean Windass running to the edge of the box, and cleverly chipped the ball to the free Windass—who hit the ball sweetly on the volley into the top corner of the net, despite the despairing dive of the the Bristol City goalkeeper.
The Tigers were in the Premiership.
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2008/2009-The Premiership
Conventional wisdom has it that the team winning promotion from the playoffs is at a disadvantage by being three weeks behind everyone else in preparing for the new season.
Phil Brown and Paul Duffen the Hull City Chairman didn't agree with this. They held the belief that we were ahead of the rest of the Premiership teams as we were fitter than the rest because we hadn't had the lay off that other clubs had had.
The battle plans were drawn up and new recruits were brought in. Geovanni from Manchester City on a free transfer, Anthony Gardner from Tottenham Hotspur, Marlon King on loan from Wigan, Kamil Zayette from Young Boys of Berne on loan, Bernard Mendy from Paris St Germain, Peter Halmosi from Plymouth Argyle, and George Boateng from Middlesbrough.
After an indifferent preseason, the opener against Fulham would be at at the KC stadium in front of a sell out crowd or Tigers fans, and they wouldn't be disappointed.
As Ian Ashbee lead out the Tigers on that warm August day with fellow Hull City players Boaz Myhill and Andy Dawson, it is worth remembering that these three special players have been with the Tigers all the way from the Coca Cola League Two through to the Premiership.
Indeed Ian Ashbee has the distinction of being the only player to have captained his club through all four professional English divisions.
After going behind to an early goal from Fulham's Seol Ki-Hyeon in the eighth minute, a sublime strike from Geovanni at 22 minutes saw the Tigers go in at halftime all square.
In a game where the established Premiership side were supposed to be in control, it was hardly the case and at 81 minutes, Hull City sub Caleb Folan popped up and grabbed a late winner after some tenacious play from Craig Fagan, who stole the ball off of a Fulham defender on the edge of their box.
The season would carry on in this vein with Brown's Tigers gaining confidence with every match. Even after the 0-5 thrashing to Wigan, the Tigers resolutely stuck to their principles and played fast paced counter attacking football built on solid, hard working team performances.
The highlight of the season was a four game winning streak which included wins against Arsenal (this at the Emirates on the second time they had lost there since moving to the Emirates), Tottenham, and West Ham.
There were also some other notable games in this debut season. Against Everton, the East Yorkshire club out played them for 75 minutes only to let them back into it in the last 15 minutes. After losing easily to Chelsea the Tigers traveled to Manchester United at Old Trafford and gave them the scare of their life in a gritty 4-3 loss.
Liverpool were lucky to scrap a 2-2 draw with the help of some dubious refereeing. The 2-1 victory against Newcastle United when they were in financial turmoil helped to give the Tigers belief that they could compete in the Premiership.
The early part of the season had it's ups and downs, more ups to be sure, but the second half of the season ended on a low for the Tigers.
The first half against Manchester City was one of the best displays of attacking football that the Tigers had faced, and added to the fact that Hull City had one of their most lackluster performances for that first half display added to the team's misery.
Brown gave the Hull City players some home truths on the pitch at Eastlands at halftime in the match and the players showed that they still had some steel in them as they matched the Manchester City attacking machine.
Ultimately though the Premiership had found Hull City out. The adrenaline of promotion had worn off and with injuries and suspensions, the wheels started to come off.
From riding high third in the table, the Tigers slowly slid down the table to the point that with two week left in the season, the club sat in the bottom three, staring relegation in the face.
However, a battling draw against Bolton Wanderers was enough to take the club out of the drop zone. There was one last weekend to decide which two clubs out of Hull City, Newcastle United, and Middlesborough would go down with West Bromwich Albion.
With all three teams having tough a fixtures, it was a toss up as to who would be able to salvage a victory or a much needed draw to survive. As it happened, the Tigers lost against a Manchester United team that had already been crown Premier League Champions, but despite this they still managed to beat the Tigers one nil.
Fortunately for the Tigers, both Middlesborough and Newcastle United couldn't do any better, with both of them getting beaten. By the skin of a Tigers tooth, Hull City survived to fight another day in the Premiership.
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2009/?-Jimmy Bullard
During the January transfer window of the 2008/2009 season, Phil Brown was trying to give the Tiger's their spark back. Thy club had gone from heroes to zeros. Brown and Duffen had put a heavy amount of faith in thievery talented and slightly crazy Jimmy Bullard.
Bullard was a player that had been on the verge of playing for England but had suffered a cruciate ligament injury that had sidelined him for 18 months whilst with Fulham. When Fulham didn't offer him the contract he wanted Duffen did, breaking Hull City's transfer record in the process.
Unfortunately Bullard only survived 37 minutes on his debut and re-injured his ACL and needed it rebuilt. A return to fitness was expected to be in late October of 2009.
The Tigers started the 2009/2010 season poorly, which wasn't helped with the loss of stalwart defender Turner for a what was a bargain price to Sunderland, and his replacement was a poor loan signing of a Stoke City reserve. The Tigers season looked to be going to the dogs before it had really started.
However, the signings that Brown had made started to gel. Seyi Olofinjana from Stoke City grew in confidence with every game, as did the talented American international Jozy Altidore. The late signing of free agent Jan Vanegoor of Hesselink was a very good late signing as he held the forward line well for the Tigers.
Despite the signings, it was the return to Hull City of Adam Pearson as the Club Chairman that would be the catalyst for a revival in the teams fortunes.
With the team sitting in 18th place with a meager eight points from 11 games, he took over for Duffen, who resigned due to the poor financial state of the club. The return of Pearson coincided with the return to fitness of Jimmy Bullard and the Tigers climbed away from the relegation zone.
Bullard was showing the Premiership just how good he really was with a master class in how to play the midfield general. In his home debut against Stoke City, the Tigers ran out as a well deserved two to one winners as Bullard ran the show.
In the month of November, Hull City would get eight points from a possible 12 points and Bullard would win the Barclays Premiership Player of the Month award. Unfortunately, he would sustain an injury in the next game that will see him out until late January of 2010.
So where does this leave the Tigers for the 2009/2010 season? The team as a whole is much stronger than in the our debut season. Financially, funds are tight and there isn't expected to be any major signings unless the club can get any loanees in, but this is ultimately dependent on off loading players to free up wages.
Despite this, if the management team can get players fit, then Hull City can have enough to survive for another season in the top flight.
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What a Decade
From bankruptcy to the Premiership in ten glorious years. If as I stood in the South Stand at Boothferry Park in the late Nineties, and was asked, "where I thought the Tigers would be in ten years time," I probably wouldn't have said in the Premier League, I would have hoped that we could have survived and maybe got to the Second Division as it was then known.
I know other clubs have won League titles and European Cups in the past decade and some clubs have become giants of English football because of huge amounts of Russian oil money.
Some have started legacies that will be the base for future success but I wouldn't trade what my team has done for any of the Arsenals, Liverpools, Manchester Uniteds, or Chelseas.
As the chant goes, "silverware we don't care, we'll follow City anywhere".
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According to the Book of Revelations, which city in modern-day Israel will be the site of 'Armageddon'? | Bible Prophecy The Apocalypse and Armageddon
Introduction . . .
As God looks down upon the Earth He sees the violence. He sees the gross and rampant immorality and how casually we accept it. He feels the rebellion. He hears each lie. He hears the blasphemies spoken in earnest and in jest against His name and the name of His Son, who stepped forth from Eternity ... "from of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2). He knows what is about to happen. Yet, as He looks upon us, it is with a heart filled with love and compassion. A heart willing to forgive and forget. A heart that yearns for His children to come to repentance (to turn away from their sins) and return to Him. He sent forth His prophets to reason with and to warn the people. But His prophets were brutally beaten, imprisoned, and murdered. Then He sent forth His Son ... not to judge the sinner, but to save the sinner. And through His Son He extends an offer. An offer to save each of us from the second death (which the Bible warns is the eternal darkness, aloneness, and torment of Hell) and to hide and shelter those who are waiting in faith from the great and awesome "Day of the Lord" ... the coming Apocalypse. Jesus (Yeshua) came to show us "the way" into the Kingdom of Heaven. But, as with Jeremiah, Elijah, Zechariah, Isaiah, and other prophets sent before Him who were imprisoned, beaten, and killed, the unbelieving political and religious rulers of the day once again treated a prophet of God with arrogance, malice, and evil intent. Only this time it was different. Not just a prophet, but He Himself who stepped forth from Eternity to place His Spirit into the form of man, as the "son of Man" ... the "Son of God." This time, a living sacrifice for all of mankind, once and for all. Willingly and lovingly He took upon Himself the punishment and penalty due to each of us for our sins. The only burden He asks us to carry is simply the burden of turning away from our sins and believing (trusting) in Him to save us (from Hell), while loving Him as He loved us. We choose our eternal destiny by accepting or rejecting His offer. "The foolishness of the Cross." We are told He hated it and despised the shame. Yet, He endured it as He hung there in pain and agony, nailed to that cross of wood, out of love. His love for you and for me ... just as the prophets said He would!
Today He waits patiently seated on His throne in Heaven. Waiting while His offer of grace is extended to all peoples and nations on Earth. There is a day, we are told, when God's patience ("long-suffering") with a world filled with sin, violence, and arrogant unbelief will end, and the door of escape will be closed . . .
These events which are about to be unleashed upon this world, even though global in nature, will focus on one thing - the nation of Israel. One tiny piece of land. A speck of land when compared to the powerful enemies that surround her on all sides (look at a map). A land God calls His own. God says He owns it and the sons and daughters of Israel are His . . .
"Thus says the LORD of Hosts (armies):
Behold, disaster shall go forth
from nation to nation ...
And at that Day the slain of the LORD
shall be from one end of the Earth
even to the other end of the Earth ..."
(Jeremiah 25:27-38)
America will be "neutralized". . . Israel must stand alone - with God
(The U.S. will one day be unable or unwilling to defend Israel ... Israel must stand alone ... with God.)
Around the time of the "Apocalypse" ALL nations will turn against Israel . . .
"Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming, (the coming "Apocalypse")
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
For I (God) will gather ALL the nations to battle
against Jerusalem"
in those days and at that time,
When I (God) bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, (sometime after 1948)
I will also gather ALL nations,
And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; (just outside Jerusalem)
And I will enter into judgment with them there
On account of My people, My heritage ISRAEL,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
They have also DIVIDED up My Land." (Israel)
(Joel 3:1-2)
The coming Antichrist will rise and conquer . . .
"Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals;
and I heard one of the four living creatures
saying with a voice like thunder, �Come and see.�
And I looked, and behold, a white horse.
And he who sat on it had a bow;
and a crown was given to him,
and he went out conquering and to conquer."
(Revelation 6:1-2)
The Antichrist will be Satan�s counterfeit Messiah.
A Great War will ignite the world . . .
"When He opened the second seal,
I heard the second living creature saying,
�Come and see.�
Another horse, fiery red, went out.
And it was granted to the one who sat on it
to take peace from the Earth,
and that people should kill one another;
and there was given to him a great sword."
(Revelation 6:3-4)
The weapons will be used . . . cities and nations will disappear.
Global famine, severe food shortages will soon follow . . .
"When He opened the third seal,
I heard the third living creature say,
�Come and see.�
One-fourth of all people will be quickly destroyed at the start . . .
"When He opened the fourth seal,
I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying,
�Come and see.�
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse.
And the name of him who sat on it was Death,
and Hades followed with him.
And power was given to them over a fourth of the Earth,
to kill with sword, with hunger, with death,
and by the beasts of the Earth." (These "beasts" may be military, political, and religious rulers.)
(Revelation 6:7-8)
The Earth will convulse under a massive asteroid or nuclear missile strike . . .
It is interesting to note that those nations which are now armed with large arsenals of nuclear weapons have already built and are continuing to build massive "emergency command centers" into and under mountains to hide their leaders in case of all out nuclear war.
and they were thrown to the Earth.
And a third of the trees were burned up,
and all green grass was burned up."
(Revelation 8:7)
One-third of all sea-life will be destroyed by nuclear missiles or large asteroid ...
"Then the second angel sounded:
And something like a great mountain burning with fire
was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
And a third of the living creatures in the sea died,
and a third of the ships were destroyed."
(Revelation 8:8-9)
One-third of all fresh water will be poisoned
by a massive nuclear warhead or an asteroid strike . . .
In old Russian Bibles the word "Wormwood" was translated 'Chernobyl'!
"Then the third angel sounded:
And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch,
and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water;
And the name of the star is Wormwood (bitter).
a third of the waters became wormwood,
and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter."
(Revelation 8:10-11)
One-third of the light from the sun/moon/stars will be blocked by smoke
and ash covering the Earth . . .
"Then the fourth angel sounded:
And a third of the sun was struck,
a third of the moon, and a third of the stars,
so that a third of them were darkened;
And a third of the day did not shine,
and likewise the night.
And I looked, and I heard an angel
flying through the midst of heaven,
saying with a loud voice,
"Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the Earth,
because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet
of the three angels who are about to sound!"
(Revelation 8:12-13)
Then, another one-third of the remaining population on Earth
will be quickly destroyed . . .
The Bible tells us only a small remnant of the population on Earth will survive the Apocalypse. Although, here, we find angels being released, much of the global terror will come from mankind destroying mankind, nation destroying nation, deadly wave after deadly wave. The Holy Spirit goes out of his way to let us know that the day and the hour is real and has already been set. Remember, our future is already history . . .
"Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice
from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet,
"Release the four angels who are bound
at the great river Euphrates."
So the four angels, who had been prepared
for the hour and day and month and year,
were released to kill a third of mankind."
(Revelation 9:13-15)
A "200,000,000" man army will rise and unleash their weapons of mass destruction killing one-third of the remaining world population . . .
This prophecy says the "army of the horsemen was two hundred million." These "horsemen" may be a small division or group within that army, such as a strategic nuclear weapons division, or they may be brightly painted missiles sitting upon missile launchers. The "two hundred million" is to help identify the nation or area they will rise out of. Later called "the kings of the East," it appears the Chinese military is someday going to use the secret missile and weapons technologies Clinton-Gore secretly gave (and sold) them - against us! One-third of all mankind left on Earth will be killed . . .
"Now the number of the army of the horsemen
was two hundred million;
(For the first time ever such an army could be raised in China)
I heard the number of them.
And thus I saw the horses in the vision:
those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red,
hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses
were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire,
smoke, and brimstone (sulfur, or a kind of poisoned air)
By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed
by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone
which came out of their mouths.
For their power is in their mouth and in their tails;
for their tails are like serpents, having heads;
and with them they do harm."
(Revelation 9:16-19)
Every living creature remaining in the sea will die . . .
All rivers and springs will turn to blood . . .
And God tells us why they will turn to blood.
"Then the third angel poured out his bowl
on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.
And I heard the angel of the waters saying:
"You are righteous, O Lord,
the One who is and who was and who is to be,
because You have judged these things.
For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
and You have given them blood to drink.
For it is their just due."
(Revelation 16:4-7)
The Bible warns of great atmospheric and weather upheaval during the coming "Apocalypse." Both global cooling and global warming lie ahead for all those who are left on Earth after the coming "Rapture" ...
There will be a great plague of snow and hail coming upon the Earth ...
"Have you entered the treasury of snow,
Or have you seen the treasury of hail,
Which I (God) have reserved for the time of trouble,
For the Day of battle and war?" (the coming "Apocalypse")
(Job 38:22-23)
"And great hail from heaven fell upon men, ("Mankind".. men and women)
each hailstone about the weight of a talent.
(A "talent" = 85 - 114 pounds!!)
Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail,
since that plague was exceedingly great."
(Revelation 16:21)
And, there will be a great heat from the Sun which will scorch the people on Earth ...
The people left on Earth will continue to hate and curse God.
"Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the Sun,
and power was given to him to scorch men with fire.
And men (mankind ... men and women)
were scorched with great heat,
and they blasphemed the Name of God
who has power over these plagues;
and they did not repent and give Him glory."
(Revelation 16:8-9)
And, there will be unimaginable and exceedingly great storms and hurricanes ...
"And there will be signs in the Sun, in the Moon, and in the Stars;
and on the Earth distress of nations, with perplexity,
the sea and the waves roaring"
(Luke 21:25)
The "Mark of the Beast" . . .
"He (the coming Antichrist) causes all,
both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave,
to receive a mark
A "thick darkness" will cover all the Earth and people will "gnaw their tongues" in pain ...
People on Earth will continue to curse God ...
"Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl
on the throne of the Beast, (the Antichrist)
and his kingdom became full of darkness;
and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain.
They blasphemed the God of heaven
because of their pains and their sores,
and did not repent of their deeds."
(Revelation 16:10-11) (This plague will come upon all who will take the "mark of the Beast")
Millions more who come to the Lord will be executed.
Blessings in Heaven are promised to them ...
God will take the sting out of death for the millions who will die in faith, and wants them to know they will be blessed in Heaven . . .
Then I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me,
"Write: �Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.�"
"Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors,
and their works follow them."
(Revelation 14:13)
"Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God,
who had not worshiped the Beast (see "the Antichrist")
or his image, and had not received his mark
on their foreheads or on their hands."
(Revelation 20:4)
There are millions of Christians today in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Indonesia, Algeria, Egypt, India, and around the world, including women and children, who are being imprisoned, murdered, tortured, raped, beaten, kidnapped, beheaded, burned alive, and sold into slavery simply for their faith in Jesus Christ, while we, our churches, the leaders of our nation, and the news networks simply watch and do nothing . . .
"I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain
for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held.
And they cried with a loud voice, saying,
"How long, O Lord, holy and true,
until You judge and avenge our blood
on those who dwell on the Earth?"
Then a white robe was given to each of them;
and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer,
until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren,
who would be killed as they were, was completed."
(Revelation 6:9-11)
"Now brother will betray brother to death,
and a father his child;
and children will rise up against parents
and cause them to be put to death.
"And you will be hated by all men for My Name's (Jesus�) sake.
But he who endures to the end shall be saved."
(Mark 13:12-13)
"Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl
on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up,
so that the way of the kings from the East (China and allies)
might be prepared.
And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs
coming out of the mouth of the Dragon, (Satan)
out of the mouth of the Beast, (the Antichrist)
and out of the mouth of the False Prophet. (a Religious Ruler ... Revelation 13:11-12)
For they are spirits of demons,
performing signs, (miracles will be performed at this time)
which go out to the kings of the Earth
and of THE WHOLE WORLD,
to gather them to the battle of that great Day of God Almighty.
"Behold, I am coming as a thief. (the coming "Rapture")
Blessed is he who watches,
and keeps his garments,
lest he walk naked and they see his shame."
And they gathered them together (all the armies of the nations)
to the place called in Hebrew, ARMAGEDDON."
(Revelation 16:13-16)
The weapons will be used. Much of the world will be destroyed. Cities will disappear. Armageddon means the "Hill of Megiddo." Megiddo is part of the Plain of Esdraelon which is located in central Israel. Napoleon came through there and declared it to be the finest battlefield in the world. The whole world will be drawn into this war over Israel and Jerusalem. No nation will be spared. The Bible warns there will be several deadly waves associated with this conflict, including: An attack from the "south," an attack from the "north," a massive Chinese led invasion of the Middle East from the "east", which will then be "joined" as the armies of the Antichrist march out of Europe and around the world to the place called "Armageddon." Jesus will return to engage this final battle Himself. He alone will destroy the enemies of Israel. We don�t know the time between these wars/battles/events. We do know that God has set aside seven years to complete His plan with Israel, and this Age.
From the apparent absence of America in prophecy, the U.S. will be "neutralized" sometime before this Middle-East conflict begins. The United States will be unwilling or unable to defend Israel against her enemies. For the Bible warns Israel must stand alone . . . with God!
"Thus says the LORD of hosts:
�Behold, disaster shall go forth from nation to nation,
and a great whirlwind shall be raised up
from the farthest parts of the Earth.
And at that day the slain of the LORD
shall be from one end of the Earth
even to the other end of the Earth.
They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried;
they shall become refuse on the ground.
Wail, shepherds, and cry! (Jewish leaders)
Roll about in the ashes, you leaders of the flock! (Israel)
For the days of your slaughter
and your dispersions are fulfilled;
you shall fall like a precious vessel.
And the shepherds will have no way to flee,
nor the leaders of the flock to escape.
A voice of the cry of the shepherds,
and a wailing of the leaders to the flock will be heard.
For the LORD has plundered their pasture,
And the peaceful dwellings are cut down
because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
He has left His lair like the lion; for their land is desolate
because of the fierceness of the Oppressor,
and because of His (God�s) fierce anger.�"
(Jeremiah 25:15-17, 27-38)
At that time, the Messiah (Jesus Christ) will return to save "His brethren," the remnant of Israel ...
God leaves us with an ominous warning . . .
"Search from the book of the LORD, and read:
not one of these (prophecies) shall fail;
not one shall lack her mate.
For My mouth has commanded it,
and His Spirit has gathered them."
(Isaiah 34:16)
"Indeed I have spoken it;
I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it;
I will also do it.
Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted,
who are far from righteousness . . ."
(Isaiah 46:11-12)
"And unless those days were shortened,
no flesh [people on Earth] would be saved;"
(Matthew 24:22)
How long will the coming 'Apocalypse' last?
The coming Apocalypse will last exactly 7 years (360 day years) ... which includes exactly 3� years (1,260 days) of false peace in Israel starting the day a coming "peace plan" will be enforced upon nation Israel by the coming Antichrist ... and then exactly 3� years (1,260 days) of unspeakable global terror and destruction starting the day the coming Antichrist will stand in a new Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and demand to be worshiped "as God." As noted, the coming "Apocalypse" (the "Great Tribulation") will be the irreversible result of a 'Peace Plan' which will one-day be enforced upon the nation and people of Israel by a very popular coming world leader, a false "man of peace"... a counterfeit "Messiah"... the coming "Antichrist"... "the Prince (Ruler) who is to come" (Daniel 9:26-27).
As the Day of the Lord draws near ... what does God expect of us?
"But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,
in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise,
and the elements will melt with fervent heat;
both the Earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved,
what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
looking for and hastening the coming of the Day of God,
because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire,
and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless we, according to His promise,
look for new heavens and a new Earth in which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things,
be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot, and blameless"
(2 Peter 3:10-14)
God will provide hope and shelter to all who will heed His warnings before it is too late ...
that you may be counted worthy to escape
all these things that will come to pass . . ." (through Jesus Christ's worthiness ... not ours)
(Luke 21:36)
"Before the decree is issued,
before the day passes like chaff,
before the LORD'S fierce anger comes upon you,
before the day of the LORD'S anger comes upon you!
Seek the LORD, all you meek of the Earth, who have upheld His justice.
Seek righteousness,
It may be that you will be hidden
in the day of the LORD'S anger."
(Zephaniah 2:2-3)
Have a hard time believing in God? The above verses are clear . . .
Why? God is warning us ...
Please Remember . . .
The Kingdom of Heaven is available to every man, woman, boy, and girl in this world, no matter who they are, where they live, or what they have done. It is freely offered to any and all who will receive it. Simply learn of Jesus (Yeshua), the promised Messiah, invite Him into your life as Lord, believe He died on the Cross for all of your sins and rose from the grave (proving there is a Kingdom of Heaven ... and a Hell). Learn of Him and believe in Him . . . for He was the only one who has ever loved you enough to substitute Himself for you on the Cross. He shed His blood, suffered, and died on the Cross to save you from your sins and from the utter darkness and torment of Hell, if you will accept it, believe it, and trust in it. That is why Jesus is called Savior. He now lovingly and graciously offers you life in Heaven (and we are warned it is a "take it or leave it" proposition.) We have to consciously receive it and accept it in faith. If you sincerely admit you have sinned (which means you will need a Savior to get into Heaven) and ask Jesus to come into your life and honestly try to stop doing (and saying) those things God says are wrong, you will go to Heaven ... and with open arms and tears of joy He will receive all who will come to Him in faith and in love ... It's God's Promise!!!
The only unpardonable sin is to reject God's love and His free offer of life in the Kingdom of Heaven by rejecting Jesus (Yeshua), the Messiah, who stepped forth from Heaven (as promised) ... not to condemn the sinner, but to save the sinner (from the torment of Hell) and who willingly and lovingly shed His blood on the Cross so we can be washed clean of all our sins. The Bible warns there will be no peace in our lives until we make peace with God through His Son, Jesus (Yeshua), the promised Messiah. The Bible also says there will be no peace in Israel or on Earth until Jesus (Yeshua), the Messiah returns . . .
"For God so loved the world
that He GAVE His only begotten Son, (see Psalm 2 ...)
that whoever BELIEVES in Him
should NOT perish (in Hell)
but have everlasting life (in Heaven).
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through Him might be saved (into Heaven).
He who believes in Him is NOT condemned (to Hell);
but he who does NOT believe (in Jesus Christ)
IS condemned (to Hell) ALREADY" (There is no second chance for any who reject Jesus.)
(John 3:16-18)
Jesus greatly LOVED us to save us from Hell ...
all God asks is we love Him for all He did for us.
| Megiddo |
Which branch of mathematics takes its name from the Latin for 'pebble'? | About the Battle of Armageddon
The Baha'i Faith and the Kingdom of God
Armageddon - what is Armageddon?
For most people the word Armageddon is thought to mean a great destructive battle between good and evil which will bring about the end of time or the end of the world.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary: defines Armageddon as "a final conclusive battle between the forces of good and evil; also: the site or time of this."
Young's Compact Bible Dictionary: p. 62 also defines ARMAGEDDON as: "The location of the battle on the great day of God Almighty" (Rev. 16:16).
And it goes on to define more exactly where this location is:
"The word translated means "Mount Megiddo." In the great valley below the ancient city of Megiddo many famous battles of antiquity were fought and hence many consider the word "Armageddon" to refer to an eschatological battle that will be fought in that valley, the valley of Jezreel."
So to begin with, we can agree that when we're talking about Armageddon we are talking about "a final conclusive battle between the forces of good and evil" as well as the location of this great battle.
Now, in this article, we are going to explain some very key elements of this battle to show not only what the battle of Armageddon is, or where this battle is going to take place, but who the key players in this battle are, how it will affect the whole world -including you and me- and how we are at the brink of this great battle taking place right now, even as you read these words.
Bible: the word "Armageddon" is found in only one place:
"And they assembled them at the place which is called in Hebrew Armageddon." REVELATION 16:16 RSV
Young's Compact Bible Dictionary: Armageddon = Mount Megiddo.
The Christian author, Hal Lindsey in his best seller book The Late Great Planet Earth agrees with this translation. He also gives us more insight as to the exact location:
"Harmageddon (Armageddon) means the Mount of Megiddo, which has also given it's name to the great plain of Jezreel which belts across the middle of the Holy Land, from the Mediterranean to the Jordon." The Late Great Planet Earth, Hal Lindsey p. 152; The Apocalypse, J.A. Seiss.
As the map shows, the Plain of Jezreel is a flat valley which extends all the way from Haifa on the Mediterranean Sea, past Megiddo to Jezreel, where it slopes downward to Beth Shan below sea level in the Jordon Valley. This valley separates the mountainous area of Galilee to the North from the central hill country of Samaria to the South. This gives us a clear picture of the location of Armageddon.
Historically, this place has been the site of "many famous battles".
Defining Armageddon Hal Lindsey states:
The name is from a Hebrew root which means to cut off, to slay; and a place of slaughter has Megiddo ever been." The Late Great Planet Earth, Hal Lindsey p. 152; The Apocalypse, JA Seiss.
More about the history of this area:
"[The town of Megiddo, was probably the most famous junction town of all]...controlling the most strategic [passes in the area]...."
According to Young's Compact Bible Dictionary, p. 235
"Megiddo has been destroyed and rebuilt over twenty times. Today this one time grand chariot city of King Solomon (I Kings 9:15) and of King Ahab lies in ruins and by it's name, Armageddon (Rev. 16:16), testifies to a final reckoning by God with the mighty and the proud of this world. "
The New Compact Bible Dictionary, p. 55 also describes this area as the scene of many decisive battles in the history of Israel.
"The town of Megiddo guarded the pass which formed the easiest caravan route between the Plain of Sharon and the Valley of Jezreel, and the low mountains around were silent witnesses of perhaps more bloody encounters than any other spot on earth, continuing down to recent times.
"Hence, the appropriateness of this place for the vast conflict pictured in Revelation [chapter] 16."
Hal Lindsey The Late Great Planet Earth, p. 152, 153 has said:
"in Biblical history countless bloody battles were fought in this area. ...Napolean is reported to have stood upon the hill of Megiddo looking over the valley and recalled this prophecy "...all the armies of the world could maneuver for battle here.'
"All the armies of the world." Is that what Armageddon will be? In these pages so far, we have clearly defined the site of Armageddon. The location of the great battle itself. But now let us consider the battle. Will the prophecy that Napolean reflected upon be fulfilled? Will all the armies of the world gather at this spot to "maneuver for battle"? Will this be the battle that brings about the end of the world as people have long imagined?
To answer these questions, and many more, we refer again to the Bible.
Let's re-read Revelation 16:16, but the 13, 14 verses along with it:
"And I saw, issuing from the mouth of the dragon and from the mouth of the beast and from the mouth of the false prophet, three foul spirits like frogs; for they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty...and they assembled them at the place which is called in Hebrew Armageddon." Rev. 16:13,14 & 16 RSV
THREE FOUL SPIRITS LIKE FROGS
From these verses we read that "three foul spirits like frogs" are seen "issuing from the mouth[s]" of a "dragon," a "beast," and a "false prophet."
We also read that these "three foul spirits" go to the "kings of the whole world" "to assemble them for battle" "at the place which is called ...Armageddon".
So the obvious questions to ask ourselves are:
who are the "three foul spirits like frogs which come from the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet;"
who or what are the "dragon," the "beast" and the "false prophet;"
how will they be able to assemble the kings of the whole world "for battle;"
and when and where will this great battle occur? Will it actually take place and be confined to that small area on the map that we defined earlier as Armageddon?
And finally,
what does this mean for the people of the world, for you and for me?
To answer these questions, we will first explain what the dragon, the beast and the false prophet are. Then it will be easy to see exactly who the three foul spirits are and how these come "issuing from" the mouths of these three. We will also tell you why the kings of the earth will go to battle and you will hopefully understand that Armageddon is about to happen so that you can prepare yourselves and those you love for this event.
Let's begin by determining who the dragon is.
THE DRAGON
In both the Book of Revelation and the book of Daniel we find a description of the dragon that is being referred to. Daniel describes this dragon as a beast in chapter 7, verse 7:
"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrible and dreadful and exceeding strong; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns." Daniel 7:7 RSV
In the 12th chapter of Revelation, verse 3, John describes the same dragon:
"And another portent [sign] appeared in heaven; behold a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads." Revelation 12:3 RSV
Both John and Daniel see this dragon as having ten horns. John explains further that it has seven heads. This dragon started with the Bani-Umayyad which was the dynasty that took over and corrupted Islam after the death of Muhammad.
The seven heads of this dragon were the seven countries or dominions that the Bani-Umayyad had power over. These were: Persia, the dominion of Turkestan and Trans-ox-ania, the Middle East, Arabia, Egypt, North Africa, and Spain. John says that the seven heads have diadems upon them. A diadem is a crown so this refers to the kings or rulers of these countries or dominions.
The ten horns are symbolic of the ten Bani-Umayyad rulers beginning with Abu Sufian and ending with Marwan that ruled over these seven countries. It was these ten Ummayad rulers who ascended from the bottomless pit [bottomless pit being the pit of error] to corrupt and destroy the Revelation that Muhammad had brought to the world. Thus fulfilling yet another prophecy which is found in the 11th chapter, verse 7 of the Book of Revelation as:
"...the beast that ascends from the bottomless pit [which] shall make war upon them and conquer them and kill them," Revelation 11:7 RSV
The history of this corruption began in 616 A.D. when Abu Sufian, who was Muhammad's and Islam's chief persecutor, became the Emir of Mecca - chief of the Korish tribe and of the Clan of Umayyad.
The city of Mecca, even before Muhammad, had been a place of pilgrimage due to the fact that in this city was the Kaaba, a very ancient sanctuary, to which great numbers of people came to worship. The Meccans profited greatly from these visitors.
Many of these visitors came to know of Muhammad's Message. As Muhammad's Teachings spread and grew in strength the leaders of Mecca became concerned. The Teachings of Muhammad opposed idol worship and the idea of three Gods in one God and as the people converted to Muhammad's Teachings this greatly affected the pockets of the Meccans.
In the summer of the year 622 Muhammad was forced to flee Mecca and go to Medina. This of course was the year of the Hegira which became the first year of the Muslim Calendar.
In Medina there was already a large group of believers in Muhammad. In addition several hundred of Muhammad's followers from Mecca fled with Him. Therefore, in Medina, Muhammad was well received. Muhammad was a great leader and the people became united. Muhammad became the Head of State. His Teachings spread rapidly.
The leaders of Mecca realized that with Medina being on the main caravan route to Syria it was not in their best interest to have Muhammad in such a position. Abu Sufian pursued Muhammad and made war on Him. Finally, in 628 Muhammad led 10,000 followers into Mecca, capturing the city and destroying the idols. Mecca then became the center of Islam. In 630 AD Abu Sufian was obliged to become Muslim. From that time on, however, Abu Sufian plotted to take over Islam.
The Bani Umayyed also knew of the prophecies for One Who was prophesied to Appear, after Muhammad, Who would be of the lineage of Muhammad. [The Bab] They also knew that when this Person came, the Law of God would be renewed and re-established and that their reign would come to an end. Therefore, they intended to kill any of Muhammad's descendants who might be the fulfillment of that Promised One.
This was the plot of Abu Sufian which was finally accomplished when his son, Mu'awia, killed Ali, who was Muhammad's son-in-law and His chosen successor. Mu'awia then set himself up as Caliph in place of Ali in 661 AD.
The year, 616, when Abu Sufian became the Emir of Mecca, is very important. It is yet another way for us to recognize this beast that both Daniel and John have described as a dragon.
Number of the Beast
In Revelation, chapter 13, verse 18, John tells us that this beast has a number:
"This calls for wisdom; let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, [dragon] for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six." Revelation 13:18 RSV
In the RSV of the bible, in the 13th chapter of Revelation, on the page where you would find this verse, you will most likely find a footnote at the bottom of the page which will read "other ancient authorities read 616". The correct number is not 666; but rather 616. This number is the year that this dragon began.
The dragon described is the corrupt Islamic Faith which began with the corruption of the Bani-Ummayad dynasty in the year 616 and still exists in the world today. This Islamic Faith is not the pure Religion of God that was Revealed by Muhammad. It is the corrupt and apostate religion created by the Bani-Ummayed dynasty.
Who then is the beast that is talked about? The beast is also clearly described and prophesied in both the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation.
THE BEAST
Daniel describes this beast, Daniel 7:3-6:
And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand upon two feet like a man; and the mind of a man was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side; it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, 'Arise, devour much flesh.' After this I looked, and lo, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back; and the beast had four heads; and dominion was given to it." Daniel 7:3-6 RSV
"Four great beasts came up out of the sea..." The fourth beast, which Daniel describes in verse 7, is the dragon which I have just explained is the corrupt Islamic Faith. Daniel is describing three other beasts. One like a lion with eagle's wings, another is like a bear, and the third like a leopard.
People have wild imaginations. There are people who really do believe that at the time of the end there is going to be a beast rise up out of the sea that will actually look -or be- exactly like what Daniel describes here from his vision. But then there are a lot of people out there that believe there really is a Santa Claus, and a boogey-man.
My point is that just because people have a wild enough imagination to believe something doesn't make that something true. These people are living in a fantasy world.
These animals that Daniel is describing are symbolic. They symbolize countries. Not some mutant monster created in Hollywood. Daniel is in fact, describing the four world powers that exist today!
The lion with eagles wings is England.
At one time England had been ruled by the Saxons, who had the lion as their symbol. In the 16th century, England, led by Henry VIII broke away from the Holy Roman Empire. At that time the lion became the symbol of England and has remained so even to this day.
The eagles wings represent the United States who has the Eagle as its symbol.
We all know that the United States was at one time a colony of England and that with the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War that followed, the United States became separated from England. So you see the Eagles wings were "plucked off" just as Daniel describes and the United States became a separate power; that is, it stood on two feet like a man and had it's own mind.
The bear symbolizes Russia.
Russia has had the bear as it's symbol since the 11th century when the Russian Orthodox Church broke away from the Holy Roman Empire.
The leopard which Daniel sees in his vision symbolizes France.
The leopard became the symbol of France when the Saxons and Franks were forced to become part of the Holy Roman Empire. Before the Saxons became united with the Franks their symbol had been the lion and the symbol of the Franks was the panther. In French the word for lion is leo and panther is pard. The word leopard is a contraction of the words Leo and pard.
THE FOUR SUPER POWERS THAT RULE THE WORLD TODAY
--England, Russia, France and the United States are the beasts that Daniel sees in his vision!
This beast of Daniel is the same beast that the apostle John describes in the Book of Revelation, verses 1 and two of the 13th chapter:
"And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads and ten diadems upon its horns and a blasphemous name upon its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority." Revelations 13:1 & 2 RSV
John uses the same descriptive words as Daniel - leopard, lion, bear. John sees this beast, however, not as four separate beasts but as one beast.
The reason that John sees the Beast as one is that these four world powers became united into a single beast in 1945 under the United Nations Charter when they formed the United Nations. These four world powers, along with the UN General Assembly which gives the Beast it's direction, rule the world. This is prophesied in Revelation 13:7.
"... it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation." Revelations 13: 7 RSV
Together, these four world powers and the UN General Assembly is composed of nations of the world whose people are all followers of the world's seven alive, revealed, apostate religions. These apostate religions are: Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Zoroastrian, and Baha'i. These seven apostate religions are the seven heads which John describes in verse one as having a "blasphemous name."
This means that these seven religions are no longer the Pure Revelation of God as they were revealed to mankind through the mouth of His Holy Prophets -or Manifestations. Each of these religions have fallen into the hands of a clergy class who has changed the religion so that all that is left is a religion that was created from their own vain imaginings and their own corrupt inclinations. And these man-made religions become veils that prevent the people from knowing what the true religion of God is.
John also refers to these heads in the 17th Chapter of Revelation, verse 10:
"they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other is yet to come, and when he comes he must remain only a little while." Revelation 17:10 RSV
Specifically, these kings are the dynasties, or those that took over and corrupted these seven religions.
The "five of whom have fallen" are those that took over and corrupted the Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Zoroastrian, and Islamic religions.
These dynasties are no longer in existence. For example, the dynasty that took over and corrupted Islam, was the Bani-Umayyad, and even though the Islamic faith remains today in it's corrupted form, the Bani-Ummayyad dynasty itself does not exist.
The "one is" that is revealed to John is the dynasty that took over and corrupted the Christian Faith. It started in the day of the Apostles. At the time when Jesus is Revealing His Revelation to John, which was approximately 96 AD, this dynasty was in the world already. This dynasty still exists in the world today and it will continue to exist until it is destroyed by fire. It is the only Christian religion that claims the chair of St. Peter. I am, of course, talking about the Roman Catholic church with its papacy. The papacy is the false prophet.
We have now established that the dragon, is the corrupt Islamic Faith that has replaced the True Religion of Muhammad. The "beast" is the Four World Powers of England, the United States, France and Russia which combined is the United Nations. The "false prophet" is the papacy of the Roman Catholic Church.
THE FALSE PROPHET
Let's talk a little more about the false prophet.
It was the pope who was the head of the Holy Roman Empire that created the incarnate god lie. This incarnate god lie is what established the anti-christ in the world.
ANTICHRIST
We are going to explain who the antichrist are because the people of the world are just as confused about this as they are about the dragon, the beast and false prophet. Understanding who the antichrist are is very important - especially if you are one of those who call themselves Christians.
In the 17th Chapter of Revelation, verse 3, John tells us about a woman who sits on the beast -remember the beast is the United Nations:
"And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns." Revelation 17:3 RSV
From the Revelation of Jesus we understand that the pure, revealed religion of God is like a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:2). In the 16th chapter of Ezekiel it is made clear that when the pure, revealed religion of God becomes apostate it is then a whore.
Each of the religions of God in it's inception was like a pure and beautiful woman, but when these religions fell into the hands of the dynasty that corrupted it, it became a whore.
The false trinity doctrine and the incarnate god lie turned the beautiful woman - which was the religion of Jesus - into that awful whore who brought the beast into existence. This is the "woman" that John sees "sitting" on the beast. This woman is the religion of Jesus after it fell into the hands of the dynasty which corrupted it, that is Christianity as it is established in the world today in it's apostate form.
This corruption is the weed that Jesus said is to grow so close to the grain that to pull it out, you would pull out the grain itself. In fact, this lie is growing so close to the truth and has become so intertwined with it, that if anyone would have pulled it out at any time from the days of the Apostles until the present time, there would have been no Christianity left in the world.
The apostle Paul said in 2 Thessalonians:
"And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: "That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
Jesus, at his first coming explained that the one who planted this weed is Satan. (Matt. 13:24-30 and 37-42) "Satan", who is also referred to as "the man of sin," is another name for the false prophet. Again, the false prophet IS the papacy.
With the false trinity doctrine and the incarnate god lie, the pure religion of Jesus became apostate. The papacy corrupted the beautiful woman and made a whore out of her. In the name of Christ this false prophet comes and deceives many.
Now, as we have already stated, Satan began his evil doings in the days of the Apostles. The apostle Paul explains this:
"For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; [meaning at the time when Paul is alive] only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming." 2 Thess. 2:7,8
Jesus has returned just as Paul says. Through his explanations this "lawless one" which is Satan, the false prophet, is now being revealed just as Paul said that he would be. This false prophet will be slain and destroyed as Paul states. He is to be thrown alive into the lake of fire along with the beast which as I have explained is the United Nations. This is the destiny of these two which has been prophesied in Revelation, Chapter 19, verse 20:
"And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." Revelation 19:20
The "lake of fire" prophesied here represents the thermonuclear war which is soon to fall upon the people of the world.
Now let us explain how the false prophet established the antichrist and who the antichrist is.
THE ANTICHRIST
It was the papacy that declared that Jesus the Messiah of the Jews was a god. Then he joined him to God, making him the second person of a trinity, saying that Jesus IS God, and that when he was born of Mary he was God incarnate. In doing this he denies that Jesus was the Messiah.
It is important to understand what Messiah means. Christians do not know this. They think of Jesus Christ as though the word "Christ" is the last name of Jesus. You know, like Jesus Christ, Mary Christ, Joseph Christ Christ was not the last name of Jesus. It was a title.
The word Christ comes from the Greek word "Christos" which means "Anointed One." The Hebrew form of "Christos" is "Messiah" or in it's more complete form "Messiah ben David." "Messiah Ben David" means a male-sperm descendant of King David who is anointed. The correct meaning of Christ, therefore, is "anointed male-sperm descendant of King David." By making Jesus a god, this false prophet -the papacy- denies the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph back to King David.
The Bible makes it clear in several places that Jesus was the son of Joseph. In both Matthew and Luke the complete lineage of Jesus is given and it is clear that Jesus is a male sperm descendent of King David through His father, Joseph. It is by this fact, the fact of Jesus' lineage through Joseph, that Jesus can be declared to be the Christ In other words, if Joseph was not the father of Jesus, Jesus would not fulfill the prophecy of being the Christ
When Satan, the "false prophet," created the incarnate god lie and the false trinity doctrine, claiming that Jesus the Christ was the son of God this completely corrupted the pure religion of Jesus.
God is not a descendent of King David. If Jesus was the son of God He could not be a descendent of King David and therefore, Jesus could not fulfill prophecy. He could not claim to be the Christ
It is imperative that we understand that Christ means "anointed male-sperm descendent of King David." Jesus the first Christ was not god incarnate. And if you believe the lie that Jesus is God incarnate, then you are the antichrist And it won't matter how devotedly you take Him into your heart as your personal Savior, you're still going to burn in hell along with the false prophet and the beast because you loved the lie and not the truth.
The Christians and all who believe that Jesus is God and not an anointed male-sperm descendent of King David through Joseph are the antichrist .
The false prophet, the Papacy, corrupted the woman, which was the religion of Jesus, and then by foisting this harlot on the Christians, brought the Beast into existence. This took place in the first part of the 8th century, about 100 years after the advent of Islam.
At this time the whole eastern half of the Roman Empire had fallen to the Muslims. Christians were converting rapidly to the religion that Muhammad had Revealed. There were three main reasons why this was happening.
The first reason was that people in the Middle East still possessed the bible in the original tongue of Jesus. Jesus had prophesied that Muhammad would come after Him and Jesus had called Him by His name -Muhammad. It wasn't until many years later when the bible was translated into Greek that the name "Muhammad" became "Paraclete" and when it was transferred into English, the KJV gave the name as the "comforter" and the RSV translated the name as "counselor." The early converts, however, could read the words that Jesus actually spoke and saw that in the words of Jesus, Himself, Muhammad was named to be the One who would come after Him. Many Christians rapidly converted to Islam for this reason alone.
The second reason for the rapid conversion was due to the fact that the Christians of Egypt and North Africa were not Trinitarian in belief. However, the Trinitarian doctrine as well as the incarnate god lie was being forced on them by the catholic church. Of course, Islam did not hold to either of these doctrines. So the Christians of these countries readily accepted the Islamic faith rather than the apostate Trinitarian religion of the catholic church.
The third reason that the early Christians were rapidly converting to Islam was the incessant charge of idolater which was hurled against the Christians by the Jews and the Muslims. Both Jews and Muslims had derived from the law of Moses and the Koran an immortal hatred of graven images and idol worship. As the worship of idols and images among the Christians increased, the Jews and Muslims found this to be deplorable. The early Christians could not escape their protests.
So, with the rapid conversion of the people from Christianity to Islam, the whole Roman Empire of the east was gone. The capital, Constantinople, was surrounded by the great Islamic Empire and it too was ready to fall.
The Emperor, Leo III, realized that in order to save what was left of the empire, something had to be done. He called a synod of the bishops of the church and senators and together they decided that idol worship in the Christian church should be abolished.
In other words, these people awoke to the fact that under the mask of Christianity they had returned to the idol worship of their fathers. By abolishing this idol worship they believed that perhaps they could stop the Christians from continuing to convert to Islam and the empire could be saved.
In 726, Leo the III issued two edicts against idol worship. The second edict went so far as to prohibit the existence of all idols. This edict included pictures as well as statues. All the churches in Constantinople and throughout the provinces were cleansed from from idolatry as a result of this edict.
All that is, except Rome.
At that time, the roman pontiff, or false prophet as prophecy states, was Gregory II. Gregory II summoned a council of Western bishops, and this council cursed the Iconoclasts -without naming the Emperor.
Gregory II then wrote a letter to Leo III condemning him for his attack on idol worship and defending the images. This letter which was written in 727 AD still exists. It was this letter to the Emperor which was the founder of the papal monarchy. This was a letter of revolt of the roman pontiff and the province of Italy, to the Roman Empire and the rest of Christendom.
After the cleavage and the setting up of the Holy Roman Empire had taken place, the debates and decrees of many provincial synods introduced the summons of a general council of the Christian religion.
This council was said to be the seventh and it was convened during the time of Constantine V who was the son and successor to Emperor Leo III. Three hundred and thirty eight bishops of Europe, after serious deliberation which lasted six months, pronounced and subscribed a unanimous decree that all visible symbols of Christ were either blasphemous or heretical; that image worship was a corruption of Christianity and a renewal of paganism; that all such monuments of idolatry should be broken or erased.
The Roman Catholics, who had separated themselves from the Roman Empire and the rest of Christendom, did not attend or participate in this council.
The papacy then vested itself in the purple of the Roman Emperor and declared itself the temporal ruler, as well as the spiritual head of Christianity
This false prophet deified Jesus, creating a mythical Jesus to worship as the Vicar of Christ "Vicar" means substitute Christ or God. Thus, the papacy fulfilled the prophecy of being the one:
"who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God." 2 Thess. 2:4
As already stated, the Holy Roman Empire began with the letter of revolt from Pope Gregory II to Leo III in 727 AD In the year 731 AD the Roman Pontiff, Gregory III, taking his place as the false prophet, convened a synod of 93 bishops in Rome. It was at this time that Leo III and the entire Greek Orthodox Church were declared by Gregory III to be excommunicated from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Papacy then crowned Pepin, the King of France. Pepin was the first Frankish King to be anointed, or blessed with holy oil by the Pope. In return for the churches support, Pepin led an army into Italy and defeated a group of Germans known as the Lombards who held a section of land in central Italy. Pepin then gave this land to the Pope. This gift made the Pope the political ruler of much of the Italian peninsula. After Pepin died, his son Charlemagne became King of the Franks. In 800 AD on Christmas day the Pope crowned Charlemagne and named him the new emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Charlemagne waged a series of wars, first defeating for a second time the Lombards who had tried to take their land back from the Pope. After this defeat, Charlemagne turned his attention to a Germanic tribe called the Saxons.
When Charlegmagne had conquered the Saxons and set up his throne in Germany, France and Germany were then united into the Holy Roman Empire. Thus the body of the beast which now rules the world was born. This body has been described by both Daniel and John as a leopard which as explained earlier is the symbol of France. The sword of Charlemagne brought Western Europe under the influence of the Holy Roman Empire.
The false prophet, the dragon, and the beast are all key players in the great battle of Armageddon that is soon to take place. Understanding now that the dragon is the corrupt Islamic Faith, the beast is the United Nations and the false prophet is the papacy and Christian clergy who are the antichrist , we can now answer the question of who the three foul spirits are that issue from the mouths of these three beasts.
The mouth of the dragon is Saddam Hussein, the mouth of the beast is the president of the United States, who at this time is "W", George Bush Jr., and the mouth of the false prophet is the Pope.
The "three foul spirits like frogs" are the corrupt and apostate teachings or work of these three powers. They are said to be "demonic spirits" meaning that they are evil. They have no likeness of God. The are compared to frogs because frogs live in slimy marshes along with slithering reptiles to show how undesirable these spirits really are.
According to the prophecy of Jesus, Revelation 16:13-16, it is these three foul spirits, Saddam Hussein, "W", and the Pope, that are going to assemble the kings of the world to the great battle at Armageddon.
Why is it that these three world leaders would want to gather the kings of the world for such a battle? The answer is simple. The Battle of Armageddon will be a religious war between the Israelites, the Christians, and the Muslims.
The events which have taken place in the world, especially since 1991, have set the stage for the battle of Armageddon. The affairs of the world today clearly indicate that this great battle of Armageddon is going to happen very soon.
In 1991 with the start of the Gulf War the United Nations imposed sanctions on the country of Iraq. These sanctions have caused a great deal of difficulties and hardships for the people of that country. In particularly, the poor people whom the sanctions are suppose to help. These sanctions have forced Iraq to defend itself and it's people. Therefore, Iraq has placed a siege against the seat of the beast, that is the city of New York, where the UN building itself is located.
The United Nations - the Beast of Revelation
The United Nations, which supposedly was formed for the purpose of keeping peace throughout the world has done exactly the opposite of establishing peace. Instead, they have been the perpetrators of international conflict and warfare. And in no worldly affairs have their double standards been more blatant than in those situations dealing with the Muslims and the Jews.
The West would readily rid the world of Islam. And the reason is that they have been corrupted by the lie which was invented by the papacy. This lie is the incarnate god lie which the Christians have built their Trinitarian doctrine on.
These people listen to and they believe what the foul spirit issuing from the mouth of the false prophet, the papacy, has said. Because they do this they will not accept that Muhammad was a prophet of God. And the reason they refuse to accept Muhammad as a Prophet is that Muhammad completely debunked the Trinitarian doctrine. Muhammad taught that there is not three gods in one god. Therefore, in order for these followers of the false prophet to protect and preserve the trinity, they have to get rid of Muhammad. They need to rid the world of Islam. And their hatred of Muhammad, is because Muhammad when He debunked the Trinitarian doctrine, interfered with their business. The business of selling Jesus Christ on the cross for the dollar.
The Muslims on the other hand have a strong disdain for the west. Up until World War I the Muslims were very powerful. During that war, however, the Muslims lost their empire. It was broken into a number of states and placed under the authority of either France or England. After World War II these states gained their independence but rather than re-forming their empire they remained as independent countries and became members of the United Nations. Thus, fulfilling prophecy of being the ten horns of the beast described in the Book of Revelation [12:3]. These ten countries are Syria, Jordon, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Arabia.
Being Muslim, these countries all have an aversion to idols and to anyone who joins gods to God. Therefore, these ten horns hate the beast for accepting and promoting the invention of the papacy which is the incarnate god lie that created the Trinitarian religion (Rev.17:16, KJV). It is these Muslim countries that is being referred to in the 13th chapter of Revelation as those that have the mark who "make fire come down from heaven". What this means is that it will be the Muslims who are first to drop the bomb.
The people of Iraq have suffered severely under the sanctions imposed upon that country by the United Nations since 1991. The United Nations are unrelenting in applying these sanctions. Saddam Hussein will soon retaliate against the beast. The UN Building, which is the seat of the beast, will be the target of this retaliation. Saddam Hussein will destroy the seat of this beast with a nuclear bomb. The whole city of NY will be destroyed. The bombing of New York, however, is NOT the Battle of Armageddon. It is the prelude to Armageddon.
Once New York is bombed, the United States will want to retaliate. Russia will most likely intervene to prevent this. The United Nations might then attempt to use the same type of tactics on Russia that they have used and are still using on Iraq.
Russia is prophesied in the Bible to play a major role in the Battle of Armageddon. Both the 38th and 39th Chapters of Ezekiel explain how Israel is going to be invaded and attacked by a great army consisting of many people who will come upon them from the "uttermost parts of the north." The geographical location of Russia certainly fits the vision of Ezekiel. We can see that to the extreme or uttermost north of Israel is Russia
A careful reading of the first six verses of the 38th Chapter of Ezekiel more clearly identifies Russia as the great army that is being prophesied to invade Israel. The names that are given by Ezekiel are the names of the people and their tribes who were established in that area.
"The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, "Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; "and I will turn you about, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords; "Persia, Cush and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; "Gomer and all his hordes; Bethtogarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes--many peoples are with you." Ezekiel 38:1-6
Gog, Magog and Meshech
The names which will help us to identify this army are: Gog, Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Cush, Put, Gomer and Bethtogarmah.
Gog, whom Ezekiel addresses, represents the name of the nation's leader and Magog is his land. Gog is the prince of the ancient people who were called Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. In Genesis 10:1,2 we find that Magog, Meshech and Tubal are the grandsons of Noah through his son Japheth. Japheth was the son of Noah who went to the north country. He is the ancestor of the Indo-european peoples from the southern coasts of Europe to Persia. Archaeological and historical documents clearly establish that this north country was settled by the Scythians whose roots are established in Japheth and that this north country is the area now known as Russia.
Ezekiel clearly states that the army from "the north with all his hordes" will "come from the uttermost parts of the north." When Gog, or Russia as we've established Gog to be, invades Israel it will be supported by a number of Allies. These are referred to as "the hordes" or "many people" in Ezekiel's vision. These are the countries who align themselves with Russia in it's attack on Israel.
Russia's three main allies are Persia, Cush and Put who represent the countries that are today known as Iran, Ethiopia and Libya. Persia is today modern Iran. To mount the large-scale invasion predicted by Ezekiel, Russia would need Iran. It would be much easier to move a large land army across the Elburz Mountains that border Iran than the Caucasus Mountains that border Turkey.
Iran's general terrain is also much easier to cross than Turkey's. Iran is an enemy of the United States and with the United States having imposed sanctions against that country there is no doubt who Iran will support.
Ethiopia is a translation of the Hebrew word, Cush. Cush was the first son of Ham, one of the sons of Noah. Moses mentions "the land of Cush" as originally being adjacent to an area near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (Gen. 2:13). The Cushites were black men who migrated first to the Arabian peninsula and then across the Red Sea to the area south of Egypt. The ancient Ethiopians (modern Abyssinia) are made up of Cushites, but they do not represent all of them. In addition to Ethiopia, many of the African nations will be united and allied with the Russians in the invasion of Israel. Ethiopia, like Iran is an enemy of the United States.
The Ethiopians hate the Western world because the West allowed the Italian Premier Mussolini in 1935 to launch a war of conquest against Ethiopia. Mussolini was a fascist who along with Hitler had set out to conquer and establish fascism throughout the world. In his conquest against Ethiopia, Mussolini's intention was to kill the King of Ethiopia, Hali Solossy, and to reduce the African kingdom and then colonize it. Hali Solossy was a descendent of the Queen of Sheba who had been one of King Solomon's concubines. Hali Solossy, claimed to be the Messiah and had a very large and powerful group of followers. Mussolini was successful in his conquest against Ethiopia and Hali Solossy was killed.
The name Libya is the translation of the original Hebrew word Put. Put was the third son of Ham (Genesis 10:6). The descendants of Put migrated to the land west of Egypt and became the source of the North African Arab Nations, such as Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. The first settlement of Put was called Libya by ancient historians and undoubtedly included more than what is now called Libya. Libya is another enemy of the United States.
Gomer and all it's Hordes symbolizes what were the former Iron Curtain Countries. Gomer was the eldest son of Japheth, and the father of Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. These people make up an extremely important part of the future Russian invasion force. They include Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany to the banks of the Danube river.
Northern Africa is destined to join the southern sphere of power which will also attack Israel along with the "King of the North."
In the book of Revelation we read:
"And out came another horse, bright red; it's rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that men should slay one another; and he was given a great sword." Revelation 6:4
This red horse symbolizes Russia. Russia will "take peace from the earth" by invading Israel. This act will be the start of the great battle of Armageddon. Russia's interest is to rule the world. To conquer the West. The oil in the Middle East provides the means by which Russia might accomplish it's objective.
Russia itself does not need the oil that is supplied by the Middle East. The country of Russia has huge oil supplies, in fact they have more oil than anyone else in the world. The United States, however, has some oil but not enough to supply our country with all that it needs to keep our country running. The United States is dependent upon the Middle East for 50% of the oil that it needs.
One way that Russia could bring the western world to its knees would be to get control over the oil of the Middle East. If Russia were to take sides or act on behalf of the Muslims at a time when the Muslims were in need of their support, such as when the United States is wanting to retaliate for the bombing of New York city, this would place Russia in a very good position with the Middle Eastern countries and the Islamic people.
Another objective for Russia is the acquisition of a land route from Russia to the Indian Ocean. At the present time Ethiopia gives Russia it's only sea base in the Indian Ocean. Winning the trust and support of the other Muslim countries would also most likely assure Russia of finally having access to such a land route.
And "the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates" are released (Rev.9:14). These four angels are the same four angels spoken of in the 7th Chapter of Revelation who are "standing at the four corners of the earth holding back the four winds of the earth". These four winds are the four winds of destruction. They will come as four great waves, one after the other, soon after New York is bombed. When Russia invades Israel, the first wind of destruction will begin. This will be the nuclear war. The Battle of Armageddon.
Reading from the book of Revelation:
"...and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, which fell on the earth; and a third of the earth was burnt up, and a third of the trees were burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up...and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea;And a third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed...and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the fountains of water...The name of the star is Wormwood. "A third of the waters became Wormwood, and many men died of the water, because it was made bitter....and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light was darkened; a third of the day was kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night." Revelation 8:7-12
When this wind of destruction is let loose, one third of the world's population will be killed. The exchange of nuclear bombs will be between Russia and the United States. Therefore Europe, the Middle East and America will be the primary targets. When it is done, only one sixth of Russia will remain.
The "third" that is referred to are the Muslims, Christians and Jews who the nuclear war will take place between. The nuclear war will be fought between the four beast nations -- England, France, Russia and the United States. The white race will be decimated in the destruction that takes place. Only 10% will survive.
The seas will also be targets because of the submarines which have nuclear war heads that are located there.
The great star which fell from heaven and is named wormwood is the radioactive fallout that comes from the nuclear missiles. It will contaminate the waters of this area of the earth where the war takes place, the seas as well as the rivers, and even the snowcapped mountains which provide drinking water to the populated areas. Whoever drinks the water will die or become sick.
When the bombs hit the earth they will cause great amounts of material matter to be thrown into the atmosphere. This will cause the sun, moon, and stars to be obscured from view over the third part of the earth where the nuclear war is concentrated.
Reading again from the book of Revelation, chapter 9, verses 17 through 19:
"And this is how I saw the horses in my vision: the riders wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur issued from their mouths. "By these three plagues a third of all mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur issuing from their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; their tails are like serpents, with heads, and by means of them they wound." Revelation 9:17-19
The horses are the ballistic missiles with their thermonuclear warhead and the riders are the nuclear warheads themselves. Their breastplates "which are the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur" represent the results of the explosions of the missiles and their colors are the colors of the mushroom clouds and represent the radiation, heat and percussion of the explosions. These are the three plaques by which a third of mankind was killed. Death by any one of these three things is instantaneous.
The horses are likened to a serpent in that by it's tail a serpent propels itself and with its head it wounds. The missiles are propelled by their tail and the warheads are the heads which wound.
The thermonuclear war will last one hour.
Reading verses 20 and 21 of that same chapter, Nine, we see that:
"The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plaques, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which can not either see or hear or walk; nor did they repent of their murders or their sorcery's or their immorality or their thefts." Revelation 9:20-21
What this means is that in the parts of the world that are not directly involved in the nuclear war, such as China, India and Africa, the people will continue living as they are today. South America, too, where most of the people are Catholic and being such hold fast to their idols. Because they will not be directly involved in the nuclear destruction these people's belief in their false religions will be intensified and their interest in their idols renewed. The people of these parts of the world will believe that their idols are true gods and that these "true gods" saved them from the horrible destruction that the rest of the world will undergo. Their salvation; however, will be short lived.
Immediately after the nuclear destruction takes place, the second wind of destruction will be let loose. This will be a meteor hitting the earth. The effect of such an impact may cause the third wind of destruction to take place immediately. This third wind of destruction will be an earthquake, probably around twelve on the Richter scale. The whole world will feel it and experience the effects of it.
The fourth and final wind of destruction will be the earth's shifting crust. This wind of destruction is prophesied in Rev. 6:12-14.
The crust of the earth which is approximately fifty miles thick and composed of solid rock, covers a layer of molten lava referred to as magma. This magma is soft and slippery which allows the earth's crust to slide over it. What causes the crust to slide is the uneven deposit of ice which is found in a polar region.
Albert Einstein, in his foreword to the book Earth's Shifting Crust by Charles H. Hapgood explains how this can occur:
"In a polar region there is a continual deposition of ice, which is not symmetrically distributed about the pole. The earth's rotation acts on these unsymmetrically deposited masses, and produces centrifugal momentum that is transmitted to the rigid crust of the earth. The constantly increasing centrifugal momentum produced in this way will, when it has reached a certain point, produce a movement of the earth's crust over the rest of the earth's body, and this will displace the polar regions toward the equator."
The last great crustal shift of the earth's crust was about eleven thousand years ago. Since that time the continent of Antarctica has accumulated a deposit of ice that is from one to two miles high. This layer of ice is unsymmetrically located.
Because this mass of ice is unsymmetrically located this exerts a centrifugal pressure on the earth's crust due to the force of the earth's rotation on it's axis.
This action is causing the earth's crust in the eastern hemisphere to be slowly pushed northward. In the western hemisphere the earth's crust is being pushed southward due to the deposition of ice found at the Greenland ice cap. As this movement continues, the friction causes the magma to become hotter and thus more slippery. The earth's crust begins to slide more easily. As the center of Antarctica moves further away from the South Pole, the centrifugal force becomes greater.
When the fourth wind of destruction is let loose, there will be a rapid slipping of the earth's crust. The north pole will move into the Lake Baikal area of Siberia. The United states will move southward about four thousand miles toward the equator. Because of the equatorial bulge which raises the sea level a mile at the equator, most of the areas of the United States that are less than a mile above sea level will be under water.
There will be volcanic eruptions which will cause enormous amounts of ash to be thrown into the earth's atmosphere. Looking at the sun and the moon through the volcanic ash will cause the sun to be obscured from view as though it became black. The moon will appear to be red like blood as it does when it sets on the horizon. When the volcanoes erupt, molten rock and lava will be thrown into the atmosphere. When they fall back to earth it will seem as though "the stars of the sky fell to the earth". As the earth's crust shifts thousands of miles, the sky will be misplaced. Much of the land will be inundated. Mountains and islands will disappear or rise from ocean or sea bottoms and they will be moved to different places.
With the second, third and fourth winds of destruction another one third of the world's population will be killed. When the four winds of destruction are finished, only one third of the world's population will be left alive.
In the 13th chapter of Zechariah, verses 8 & 9 we read:
"In the whole land, says the Lord, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, `They are my people'; and they will say, `The Lord is my God.'" Zechariah 13:8,9
In the Book of Revelation, chapter 7, verses 1-4 we read:
"After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. "Then I saw another angel ascend from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, `"Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads. "And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed," Revelation 7:1-4
The meaning of these verses is this:
The servants who have been "sealed upon their foreheads" are those individuals, or followers of God who have used their intellect to discern the proofs and know the Truth of God's Revelation as taught by the Manifestation of Himself and of His Promised One for the day in which these people live.
Prior to the Battle of Armageddon there will be 144,000 people who become firm in their knowledge of God and in their understanding of His Covenant. These 144,000 servants will come out from the group of Covenant breaking Baha'is who in 1957 violated God's Plan and threw out His Covenant, by setting up a so-called "UHJ" without the Executive Branch, of the lineage of King David. As they have no Executive Branch, they are the Covenant-breakers (Will and Testament, p. 15).
"This House of Justice enacteth the laws and the government enforceth them. The legislative body must reinforce the executive, the executive must aid and assist the legislative body so that through the union and harmony of these TWO FORCES, the foundation of fairness and justice may become firm and strong, that all the regions of the world may become even as Paradise itself." (W&T, p. 15)
These people will overcome the lie which they have believed and will come under the Provisions of the Covenant. These 144,000 believers will be gathered after New York is bombed. Then the great battle of Armageddon will begin. When it is finished, two thirds of the people of the world will have been destroyed as we have stated.
In the 9th verse of the 7th chapter of Revelation we are told what to expect when it is done:
"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, "standing before the throne and before the Lamb, "clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands," Revelation 7:9
How many is a great multitude? "A great multitude" is more than 144,000 but less than a third of the world's population today.
"A great multitude" is referring to those who will be believers after the four winds of destruction are over. These believers will be people of all nationalities and kindred. They will be united in the knowledge of the Truth of God's Revelation through the explanations of the one sent by God with this specific Mission.
This one sent by God is not a Manifestation of God, as Jesus the Christ was on His first Coming, or Baha'u'llah Who fulfilled the prophesies of being the Return of Christ But like the Manifestations he has a mandate from God. He has been prophesied in numerous scriptures and Holy Books by many names and many titles. And like the Manifestations of God He has been prophesied in the greater Covenant of God by Name, Address, Date and Mission. He is the return of Jesus, not as the Christ, but as the High Priest after the order of Melchizedec. High Priest means great educator. He is Jesus "the Lamb" who the great multitude stands before.
Reading from Revelations 5:6-10:
"And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain with seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. "And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which the prayers of the saints; and they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals for thou was slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation and hast made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on earth." Revelation 5:6-10
This one sent by God is the return of the sacrificial Lamb described in Revelation who appears slain to show that this prophesy is for Jesus on His return.
He is described as having seven horns and seven eyes. These seven horns represent the seven Manifestations whose Revelations are still practiced in the world today but have become apostate. These are Moses, Krishna, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and Baha'u'llah. The seven eyes symbolize his insights into these Revelations which enable him to prove their validity and interpret the prophecies contained within them.
The person who is seated on the throne represents the living Davidic King, the current President of the UHJ, the Executive Branch in the Baha'i Faith and the scroll which the Lamb removes from the right hand of the Davidic King is the Covenant of Baha'u'llah and the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Baha.
The Lamb is the only person in the world who is worthy to break the seals. This is because he is the only person in the world who fulfills the prophecies for the establisher of the Baha'i Faith.
The "new song" that the people sing is the explanations and commentaries of the Lamb. It is the "new song" which seals the 144,000 on their forehead. That is, they understand through their intellect what the truth is.
Again, "The throne" that is referred to here is the Davidic throne which represents the Davidic Kingship. This throne is to endure forever. This was a promise made to David from God.
From Psalms 89 we read about this promise:
"I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations." Psalms 89:3-4
"His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven" Psalms 89:29
"My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips. Once I have sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven." Psalms 89: 34-37
"For thus says the Lord, David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel;" Jeremiah 33:17 RSV
As I explained earlier, the word Christ means anointed male sperm descendant of King David. Jesus through His father Joseph was a descendant of King David. This is clearly stated in the bible in both Matthew and Luke where the genealogy of Jesus is given. Also the Apostle Paul tells us:
"Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed [the word seed is translated from the Greek word sperma] of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God according to the spirit" Romans 1:3
Jesus was a male sperm descendant of King David through David's son Nathan. Jesus was not a descendant of King David through the Throne Line of David's son Solomon. Therefore Jesus did not sit upon the throne of King David.
Baha'u'llah WAS a descendant of King David through Solomon. His ancestors sat upon the throne of King David in an unbroken chain all the way back to King David.
Jesus had no son. When He was crucified the lineage of King David through his son Nathan came to an end. The only lineage which remained that could last forever was the lineage of David's son Solomon which was the Throne Line of Kings.
Baha'u'llah being the second Christ and seated on the throne of David passed this lineage of David to His son, the Most Great Branch, `Abdu'l-Baha and conferred upon him infallibility.
This successorship was to be passed on to Baha'u'llah's other son, Muhammad Ali, the Lesser Branch, after `Abdu'l-Baha died. However, Muhammad Ali violated the Covenant and was removed from the Faith. `Abdu'l-Baha then designated his grandson Shoghi Effendi to be the one that everybody should turn to and obey after his death. He conferred upon Shoghi Effendi the infallibility of Muhammad Ali and appointed Shoghi Effendi to be the Guardian and center of the Cause.
Shoghi Effendi, however, was not a male line descendant of King David (his descent was through his mother, `Abdu'l-Baha's daughter) and therefore could not sit upon the throne of David. If Shoghi Effendi were to have had a son, this son could not sit upon the throne of David either for the same reason -- the one to inherit the throne must be descended through the father, that is it must be a male-line inheritance only. So at the same time that `Abdu'l-Baha appointed Shoghi Effendi to inherit the conferred infallibility, 'Abdu'l-Baha also passed this lineage of the Davidic throne on to his son, that he appointed to succeed him to the throne. 'Abdu'l-Baha had both natural and adopted sons. An adopted son has all the rights and privileges of a natural son, including kingship.
The successorship of the Davidic throne is a hereditary position known as the guardianship. The guardian is the head or president of the Universal House of Justice. In his Will and Testament `Abdu'l-Baha establishes the Charter for this Universal House of Justice. This Universal House of Justice has two parts--the executive head and the legislative body. These parts are inseparable.
In 1957 at the death of Shoghi Effendi the majority of the Baha'is in the world violated the Covenant of God going against the Provisions of `Abdu'l-Baha's Will and Testament. These individuals were led down the shaft to the bottomless pit of error by a group of people known as the "Hands" which included Shoghi Effendi's own wife, the designated leader of the pack. These people refused to turn to the successor that Shoghi Effendi had established prior to his death. These violators put aside the Plan of God and established their own plan. They are covenant-breakers.
God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise however, can not be outfoxed. God knew at the beginning what these evil doers would do. So, God's real Plan was not usurped at all. He sent His Establisher, the Return of Jesus after the Order of Melchizedec to put things back on track. Jesus on His first coming told us to pray for the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. This Kingdom is not a mystical place.
This Kingdom is the Plan of God. It is the World Order of Baha'u'llah, the return of Christ The purpose of the return of Jesus is to explain the true meaning of the Word of God which has been revealed through His Divine Manifestations and as Jesus the High Priest after the Order of Melchizedek to establish his Father's Kingdom. That is the World Order of Baha'u'llah.
His Mission was accomplished with the establishment of the Universal House of Justice, it its appointed stage as the second International Baha'i Council on January 9, 1991. On this date, exactly forty years after Shoghi Effendi set up his successor the first International Baha'i Council, this one sent by God for this Mission, the return of Jesus, reassembled that International Baha'i Council that was on its death bed, bringing it back from near death, having it born into this world as the Second International Baha'i Council with the descendant of King David as its president, the true Universal House of Justice of Baha'u'llah.
This Council of the Universal House of Justice of Baha'u'llah, will evolve through four stages. 1) the first stage, the second International Baha'i Council; 2) the second stage, the Baha'i World Court; 3) the third stage, the International or Supreme Tribunal; and finally 4) the fourth stage, the fully elected body of the Universal House of Justice when all the nations of the world have become Baha'i.
As the first stage of the Universal House of Justice is appointed, this body is composed of the twelve apostles of Jesus. These apostles are the foundation for the establishment of the true Universal House of Justice. These twelve apostles are the twelve gates which all the people of the world must pass through to enter the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem being the city of God, which is the law of God.
"And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." Revelation 21:14
Right after the battle of Armageddon has taken place this council will move into the stage of being the Baha'i World Court. At that time the four beast nations, England, France, Russia and the United States will become the first Baha'i States. When the majority of the people of other nations become Baha'i they will come under the provisions of the Covenant and under the World Court.
When a significant few become Baha'is under the World Court then these nations, under the World Court will elect the body, having the Executive Branch, the descendant of 'David which is hereditary, as it's president. This organizations will be called the Supreme Tribunal and it will bring peace to the world.
"For example, the question of Universal Peace, about which His Holiness Baha'u'llah says that the Supreme Tribunal must be established: although the League of Nations [and the United Nations Organization] has been brought into existence, yet it is incapable of establishing Universal Peace. But the Supreme Tribunal which His Holiness Baha'u'llah has described will fulfill this sacred task with the utmost might and power. And His Plan is this: that the national assemblies of each country and nation -- that is to say parliaments -- should elect two or three persons who are the choicest men [rijal] of that nation, and are well informed concerning international laws and the relations between governments and aware of the essential needs of the world of humanity in this day. The number of these representatives should be in proportion to the number of inhabitants of that country. The election of these souls who are chosen by the national assembly, that is, the parliament, must be confirmed by the upper house, the congress and the cabinet and also by the president or monarch so these person may be the elected ones of all the nation and government. From among these people the members of the Supreme Tribunal will be elected, and all mankind will thus have a share therein, for every one of these delegates is fully representative of his nation. When the Supreme Tribunal gives a ruling on any international question, either unanimously or by majority-rule, there will no longer be any pretext for the plaintiff or ground of objection for the defendant. In case any of the governments or nations in the execution of the irrefutable decision of the Supreme Tribunal, be negligent or dilatory, the rest of the nations will rise up against it, because all the governments and nations of the world are the supporters of this Supreme Tribunal. Consider what a firm foundation this is! But by a limited and restricted League [like the United Nations or headless "UHJ"] the purpose will not be realized as it ought and should. This is the truth about the situation, which has been stated." ('Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith, pp. 291-292)
When all nations become Baha'i then the secondary Houses of Justice will elect the members of the Universal House of Justice and thus the Kingdom of God will be born into this world.
Through the explanations of the Lamb, they will be confirmed in the Covenant of Baha'u'llah and faithful to the living President of the Universal House of Justice, who sits upon the throne and represents the Davidic Kingship.
"Clothed in white robes" symbolizes the spiritual body of these people or their auras. They are white because these people have been purged. They have been purified like silver and gold in going through the four winds of destruction.
"The Palm branches" symbolize submission. The people will be submissive to God.
Only then can we truly say that the Kingdom of God is established on earth as it is in heaven.
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According to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, who was compelled by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus as he was taken to his crucifixion? | 27. The Crucifixion of Jesus | Bible.org
27. The Crucifixion of Jesus
Article contributed by www.walvoord.com
Jesus Delivered to Pilate, 27:1-2
No doubt realizing that the trials before Annas and Caiaphas in the night were illegal both in the way they were conducted and in their outcome, the chief priests and elders reviewed their case against Jesus at a meeting held the next morning. Mention of this is made in the other gospels (Mk 15:1; Lk 23:1; Jn 18:28). The problem was not only the illegality of the trial, but the fact that the Jews did not have the authority to put Jesus to death. This could only be done by an order from a Roman ruler. Accordingly, at the close of this third trial before a Jewish authority, Jesus was bound and led away to be delivered to Pontius Pilate, the governor, for the first of the three trials before Roman rulers. Before proceeding with the account of the trial of Christ, Matthew records the remorse of Judas.
Judas Repents Too Late, 27:3-10
The sad end of Judas Iscariot, recorded only in Matthew in the gospels, is mentioned by Luke in Acts 1:16-19 in connection with the election of Matthias as his successor. According to Matthew’s account, when Judas found that Jesus had been condemned to die, he repented of his act and attempted to return the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. Apparently, Judas had not believed that the arrest of Jesus would lead to His condemnation, or perhaps he was confronted now with his wicked betrayal of Jesus. In his conversations with the chief priests he said, “I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood” (27:4). While his feelings concerning the claim of Jesus to be the Messiah may still have been mixed with unbelief, he knew that Jesus was not worthy of death. The priests, however, were quite unconcerned and threw the problem back at him. This encounter with the chief priests and elders may have been before Caiaphas’ palace, as Lenski suggests. 156
Upon being spurned by them, however, Judas went to the temple and hurled the silver into the sanctuary (Gr. naos), meaning the entrance to the holy place. He then went out and hanged himself. Acts 1:18-19 describes the horrible deed in detail. The chief priests, confronted with what to do with this blood money, decided it could not be put in the treasury but could be used to buy a potter’s field in which to bury strangers. This they did; and according to Matthew, the field became known as “The field of blood,” or, as Acts 1:19 calls it, “Aceldama.” The whole transaction reflected on the one hand the casuistry of the Pharisees and their indifference to their crime, and on the other hand, the despair of Judas, for whom there seems to have been no road to forgiveness, even though he had remorse.
Matthew notes that this was a fulfillment of “that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me” (27:9-10). The reference to this as a quotation from Jeremiah has caused difficulty to expositors, as it is actually a quotation of Zechariah 11:12-13. How can this apparent discrepancy be explained?
Probably the best explanation is that the third section of the Old Testament began with the book of Jeremiah and included all that followed. Just as the first section was called the law, after the first five books, and the second section was called the psalms, although other books were included, so the third part began with Jeremiah, and the reference is related to this section of the Old Testament rather than to the book of Jeremiah. The references sometimes cited in Jeremiah, such as 18:2-12 and 19:1-15, do not correspond sufficiently to justify the quotation. 157
In Zechariah 11:12-13, the thirty pieces of silver are paid to dispose of Israel’s shepherd. In Matthew, the actual fulfillment is found in that the price was paid to dispose of Jesus, the true Shepherd of Israel. Obviously, Matthew is referring to the idea in Zechariah rather than to the precise wording.
Trial Before Pilate, 27:11-26
The other gospels, in their description of the trial before Pilate, include some details not given by Matthew (cf. Mk 15:2-15; Lk 23:2-25; Jn 18:28-19:16). As Luke 23:6-12 indicates, Pilate, after a preliminary hearing of the case and on learning that Jesus was of Galilee, as a friendly gesture, sent Him to Herod, who was in Jerusalem at the time. Herod, after encountering complete silence from Jesus, sent Him back to Pilate to be judged. Jesus had three Roman trials, first before Pilate, then before Herod, and then again before Pilate. Matthew, Mark, and John combine the two trials before Pilate.
According to Luke 23:1-2, the trial began with various accusations being leveled against Jesus, including that He perverted the nation, forbade to give tribute to Caesar, and claimed that He was a king. It is at this point that Matthew begins his record because of the special interest in the gospel of Matthew in Jesus Christ as King.
Pilate asked Jesus, according to Matthew 27:11, “Art thou the King of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “Thou sayest,” in other words, affirming that it was true. The full conversation between Jesus and Pilate is recorded in John 18:33-38. From John’s account, it is evident that Pilate explored fully the possibility that Jesus was a king who might threaten his rule and satisfied his mind that there was nothing to the charge. His conversation with Jesus ended up with the philosophical question, “What is truth?” According to John 18:38, Pilate at this time declared Jesus innocent in the words, “I find in him no fault at all.”
After Jesus was pronounced innocent, the chief priests and scribes renewed their vehement accusations, in reply to which Jesus was completely silent. As Lenski points out, this is the second important silence of Christ, the first being in Matthew 26:63 and the third in John 19:9. 158 Pilate marveled that Christ could keep silent under the circumstances. The fact is that after Pilate pronounced Him innocent, Jesus was under no obligation to answer the Jews further; and, if more investigation was required, it was up to Pilate to reverse his former judgment and continue the examination. It was in the course of further accusation by the chief priests and the scribes that Pilate learned that Jesus was from Galilee and used this as an occasion to refer the whole matter to Herod.
When Jesus was later sent by Herod back to Pilate, a plan occurred to Pilate to get out of his problem. According to Matthew 27:15, it had been the custom for many years to release a prisoner whom the people would choose on the occasion of the feast. Pilate picked the worst possible prisoner, Barabbas, who, according to Mark 15:7, was guilty of insurrection and murder. (There is an interesting play on words here, as Barabbas means “son of the father.” Barabbas was released instead of Jesus who was the true Son of the Father.) Pilate, assured that Jesus was popular with the people and that the plot against Him was connived by the Jewish leaders, thought the people would choose Jesus rather than Barabbas and thus relieve him of the problem of making a final judgment. Matthew 27:18 notes that Pilate knew that the chief priests had delivered Jesus to him because of envy.
While in the process of discussing this, the wife of Pilate sent him a message which said, “Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him” (v. 19). There has been much speculation as to who Pilate’s wife was and what the background of this incident could have been. The simplest explanation is that she had such a dramatic dream that she felt compelled to share it with her husband, with whom, no doubt, she had discussed Jesus on previous occasions. As Tasker points out, Pilate’s wife was concerned at the possibility of an innocent man of prophetic character being killed unjustly. 159
Meanwhile, however, the chief priests and elders had been busy persuading the people to ask for Barabbas and to request that Jesus be killed. To Pilate’s amazement, when the question was posed to the people, they asked for Barabbas to be released. In his astonishment, he asked, “What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” He hoped for a punishment short of death. They replied, “Let him be crucified” (v. 22).
Pilate was now occupied not only with the justice in the case but how he could reasonably sentence a man who had not been convicted of any real crime. Accordingly, he asked again, “Why, what evil hath he done?” But the people cried all the more, “Let him be crucified.” Unquestionably, they were influenced by the chief priests and elders.
Pilate, then, under great pressure lest there be an insurrection against him which would be damaging to his reputation, publicly took water and washed his hands before the multitude saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.” Remarkably, in the same chapter, Jesus is pronounced innocent both by Judas and by Pilate (vv. 4, 24). The people recklessly responded, “His blood be on us, and on our children.” How tragically these words seem to have been fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem and the slaughter of several hundred thousand Israelites on that occasion.
Having reversed his earlier judgment that Jesus was innocent, Pilate now released Barabbas, scourged Jesus, and delivered Him to be crucified.
Jesus Mocked and Scourged, 27:27-32
According to Matthew and Mark, Jesus was taken by the soldiers into the common hall, the praetorium, which was thronged with Roman soldiers. There, they stripped Him and mocked Him by putting on Him a purple robe and a crown of thorns. The indignities included being spit upon and being repeatedly beaten on the head. A parallel account is given in Mark 15:16-20, but Luke says only that Pilate delivered Jesus “to their will” (Lk 23:25). The fullest account is found in John 19:1-16, where the actual order of events which took place is given.
Putting the accounts together, it seems that Pilate himself observed and supervised this abuse of Jesus. His motivation was to degrade Him and to make His claim as a King of the Jews to be ridiculous. It is probable that Pilate hoped by this means to get off without actually having to order the crucifixion of Jesus. While Matthew introduces this idea of crucifixion in 27:26, John 19:16 makes clear that the order for crucifixion came at the end of the mockery rather than at the beginning. Matthew is simply recording the facts without necessarily giving the order of events.
That Jesus was submissive to this entire procedure is the measure of His total submission to the will of God. Here, the Lord of glory, capable of destroying anyone who put a hand upon Him, allowed Himself to be abused in this painful and humiliating way. Although the Scriptures are graphic, even they state only the essentials. The prophet Isaiah anticipated this when he stated in Isaiah 52:14, “His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.” Jesus was beaten about the head and the body until He was almost unrecognizable.
Few incidents in history more clearly illustrate the brutality in the desperately wicked heart of man than that which was inflicted on Jesus the Son of God. The mockery of the crown of thorns, painful as well as humiliating, His being stripped naked in front of the large crowd; the mockery of the purple robe, intended to represent a kingly garment; His being spit upon and beaten over the head repeatedly as well as the mocking worship testified to the unbelief and sordidness of the actors in this situation. It was only after enduring all of this in complete silence, except for the conversation between Christ and Pilate recorded in John 19:8-11, that Jesus was finally led away to the crucifixion.
As the custom was, the accused had to bear His own cross. Luke 23:26-32 records some of the incidents that occurred on the way to Golgotha. Because of Christ’s suffering, He was too weak to carry the cross Himself; and Simon of Cyrene, who is identified in Mark 15:21 as the father of Alexander and Rufus, was forced to carry the cross for Jesus. Some believe he was black, not of Jewish background. The hour had come for the Lamb of God to die for the sins of the whole world.
Jesus Crucified, 27:33-44
The account of Matthew and the parallel accounts in the other gospels (Mk 15:22-32; Lk 23:33-43; Jn 19:17-24) need to be combined to give the full account of the incidents that occurred at the crucifixion leading up to His death. The order of events seems to be as follows:
1. The arrival at Golgotha (Mt 27:33; Mk 15:22; Lk 23:33; Jn 19:17)
2. The offer of the wine mingled with gall (Mt 27:34; Mk 15:23)
3. The act of crucifixion between the two thieves (Mt 27:35-38; Mk 15:24-28; Lk 23:33-38; 19:18)
4. The first cry from the cross, “Father, forgive them” (Lk 23:34)
5. The soldiers taking the garments of Jesus, leaving Him naked on the cross (Mt 27:35; Mk 15:24; Lk 23:34; Jn 19:23)
6. The Jews mocking Jesus (Mt 27:39-43; Mk 15:29-32; Lk 23:35-37)
7. The conversation with the thieves (Mt 27:44; Mk 15:32; Lk 23:39-43)
8. The second cry from the cross with the words, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:43)
9. The third cry, “Woman, behold thy son!” (Jn 19:26-27)
10. The darkness which overtakes the scene on Calvary (Mt 27:45; Mk 15:33; Lk 23:44)
11. The fourth cry, beginning, “My God, my God” (Mt 27:46-47; Mk 15:34-36)
12. The fifth cry, “I thirst” (Jn 19:28)
13. The sixth cry, “It is finished” (Jn 19:30)
14. The seventh cry, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Lk 23:46)
15. The Lord dismissing His spirit by an act of His own will (Mt 27:50; Mk 15:37; Lk 23:46; Jn 19:30)
Matthew notes that Golgotha is “a place of a skull,” which is what Golgotha means, apparently from the idea that the hill Calvary looked something like a human skull. The hill above the garden tomb discovered by Gordon has a skull-like appearance from the side. The top of the hill is now a Muslim cemetery, and there is a convenient tomb which is identified as the tomb of Jesus at the foot of the hill in the garden. Positive identification of this site, of course, is impossible today. 160
Matthew records Christ’s refusal to drink the sour wine mingled with a drug, which would have tended to dull His senses and make the cross easier to bear. Matthew simply records His crucifixion ‘without going into details, as the crude spikes were driven through His hands and His feet, and the entire cross was set up by being placed in a hole in the ground.
The soldiers took His garments, tearing them in four pieces so that each soldier could have a part, but they cast lots for the coat, which was a woven garment, as John 19:23-24 explains. Matthew regards this as a fulfillment of the prophecy of Psalm 22:18. Textual evidence seems to indicate that this was added to Matthew’s gospel, but that in John 19:24, it is properly included. 161 In any case, the prophecy was fulfilled.
The event of His crucifixion, as stated in Mark 15:25, reckoned according to Jewish time, was the third hour, or 9:00 a.m., or, as mentioned in John 19:14, the sixth hour, according to Roman time, actually meaning after 6:00 a.m., or early in the morning.
According to John 19:19, Pilate himself had ordered that the accusation made against Jesus should be nailed to His cross; and Matthew records this as, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS” (27:37). The wording in each gospel varies, and the title itself was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin (Jn 19:20). Putting the accounts together, the full inscription was, “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” All the accounts contain the phrase, “The King of the Jews,” which was the substance of the accusation. Pilate intended this as a rebuke to the Jews, but at the same time it was a testimony to the person of Christ.
Mention is also made of the two thieves who were crucified on either side of Jesus. Only Luke 23:39-43 describes the conversion of one of the thieves. Matthew records the mocking of the crowd and the chief priests and scribes and elders, as they challenged Christ to come down from the cross, if He were indeed the Son of God who had said that He could destroy the temple and build it in three days.
How tragically true it was, as recorded in Matthew 27:42, “He saved others; himself he cannot save.” It was not that He lacked power; it was because it was the will of the Father that He should die. The mockery accurately fulfilled the anticipation of Psalm 22:6-13. Tasker notes there were three classes of mockers: (1) “Ignorant sinners”; (2) “religious sinners”; (3) “condemned sinners.” 162 The tragedy was not that one was dying on the cross, but that the people beheld Him in hardness of heart and wickedness of unbelief.
Jesus Dies on the Cross, 27:45-56
The closing events of the life of Jesus as He died on the cross are recorded in all gospels (Mk 15:33-41; Lk 23:44-49; Jn 19:30-37). Matthew records that from the sixth hour, or noon in Jewish reckoning, there was darkness over the land until the ninth hour, or 3:00 p.m. This darkness seems to have begun after the third cry of Christ on the cross in which He put His mother, Mary, under the care of John (Jn 19:26-27). It was in this period of darkness that Jesus became the sin offering and, as such, was forsaken by God the Father. Matthew records the fourth cry of Jesus on the cross as being spoken in a loud voice: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (27:46). Matthew’s account uses the Hebrew for “My God,” eli, but “lama sabachthani” is Aramaic, the spoken language of the Jews. Mark changes the Hebrew eli to eloi, which is Aramaic. The petition of Jesus is, of course, the quotation of Psalm 22:1, although the gospels do not mention it as a fulfillment.
The cry of Jesus has been variously interpreted, but it seems clear that God had judicially forsaken Jesus on the cross in contrast to the fact that He had strengthened Him in the garden of Gethsemane. Here Jesus was bearing the sins of the whole world, and even God the Father had to turn away as Jesus bore the curse and identified Himself with the sins of the whole world. When Jesus actually died, He commended Himself back into the Father’s hands.
Those who heard Jesus utter this cry mistook the word eli for Elias, and thought that He was calling for Elijah. Matthew records that one of them took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed, in order to bring it to the lips of Jesus, to enable Him to speak more clearly. The rest of the observers, however, said that he should let Jesus alone to see whether Elijah actually came to save Him. While they observed, according to Matthew, “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost” (27:50). Luke 23:46 records that Jesus said: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” John records simply that Jesus said, “It is finished” (Jn 19:30). Jesus had lived as no man has ever lived, and He died as no man ever died. Having completed His act of sacrifice, He dismissed His spirit by an act of His will. As He had stated earlier, in John 10:18, in regard to His life, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.”
At the moment of His death, a number of awesome things took place. An earthquake occurred, and the heaving ground brought fear to those who observed. According to Matthew 27:51, the heavy veil of the temple, which separated the holy of holies from the holy place, was torn in two from the top to the bottom. As the divine commentary in Hebrews 10:19-22 signifies, the death of Jesus opened the way for ordinary believers to go into the holy of holies, where formerly only the Jewish high priests could go.
Although not immediately known to those who witnessed the scene of Christ’s death, Matthew also records an event not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible: “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared to many” (27:53). As a careful reading of this account reveals, the raising of the bodies of the saints, although mentioned here, actually occurred after the resurrection of Jesus. This event is nowhere explained in the Scriptures but seems to be a fulfillment of the feast of the first fruits of harvest mentioned in Leviticus 23:10-14. On that occasion, as a token of the coming harvest, the people would bring a handful of grain to the priest. The resurrection of these saints, occurring after Jesus Himself was raised, is a token of the coming harvest when all the saints will be raised.
The centurion, impressed by the darkness and the earthquake, although he probably was not informed of the tearing of the veil of the temple, according to the Scriptures, feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God” (27:54). Although he had witnessed many executions, there never before had been one like this.
Matthew comments that many of the women who had followed Christ were beholding this from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children. No doubt, with the coming of evening and the knowledge that Christ had died, they went sorrowfully to their homes.
Burial of Jesus, 27:57-61
Ordinarily, there was little ceremony in connection with those crucified, and their bodies would be thrown into a shallow grave or even on a refuse heap. The problem of what to do with the body of Christ was quickly solved, however, by the intervention of Joseph of Arimathaea. The account given in all four gospels (Mk 15:42-47; Lk 23:50-56; Jn 19:38-42) indicates that he was a wealthy and influential man, a member of the Sanhedrin (Lk 23:51), and one who had been secretly a disciple of Jesus (Jn 19:38). He went boldly in to Pilate, although this involved ceremonial defilement for a Jew during the feast, and requested the body of Jesus. Mark 15:44-45 records Pilate’s surprise that Jesus was already dead, his inquiry from the centurion to verify the fact, and his permission to Joseph.
Matthew and the other gospels record the details of His burial. In the custom of the Jews, He was wrapped in clean linen cloth, and His body was placed in a new tomb hewn out of the rock. The stone door was rolled before the opening of the tomb, as they completed the act of burial. Matthew records that the two women, Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary,” identified in Mark 15:47 as “mother of Joses,” watched the burial. John 19:39-40 adds that Nicodemus, who first encountered Jesus in the incident recorded in John 3, participated in the burial, bringing myrrh and aloes of about one hundred pounds, the spices being used to saturate the linen cloths in which the body of Jesus was bound. John also records that the place of burial was in a garden.
The entire burial operation was done with some haste, because the Sabbath, which began at sundown, was already beginning (Mk 15:42; Lk 23:54; Jn 19:42). The Sabbath following the Passover had a special meaning, leading as it did to the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Sealing of the Tomb, 27:62-66
Only Matthew records the incident of the chief priests and Pharisees coming to Pilate the next day, which was Saturday, and requesting that the tomb be sealed to keep the disciples from stealing the body of Jesus and then claiming that He was risen from the dead. It is most interesting that the chief priests and Pharisees, who were unbelievers, remembered the prediction of Jesus that He would rise again after three days, while this truth does not seem to have penetrated the consciousness of the disciples in their sorrow. With Pilate’s permission, the Jews sealed the stone, which had closed the tomb’s door, and set a watch of soldiers to be sure there was no interference with the tomb.
The temple soldiers were not used for this purpose, as their jurisdiction was only the temple area. A regular detachment of Roman soldiers was sent to watch the tomb. Pilate had said to them, “Make it as sure as ye can,” and so they did. Stealing the body of Jesus was an impossibility, but chief priests, and Pharisees, and all the power of the Roman government could not prevent Jesus rising from the grave. Their care in thus guarding the tomb only added to the certainty of the evidence when the resurrection took place.
156 R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel, p. 1078.
157 Ibid., pp. 1082-83.
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For which county did the cricketer garfield Sobers score his famous six sixes in one over? | Simon of Cyrene at Calvary: Compelled to Carry the Cross
Simon of Cyrene at Calvary: Compelled to Carry the Cross
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Simon of Cyrene inhabits a mere sentence in each Gospel, but for Catholics in Holy Week his importance as a witness to Christ is immense.
“And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.” (Mark 15:2).
“And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus.” (Luke 23:26).
“As they went out, they came upon a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; this man they compelled to carry his cross.” (Matthew 27:32)
My friend, Leo Demers had a brilliant career in television broadcasting. Having reached many industry milestones, he has published extensively in his area of expertise: broadcast engineering. Leo is retired now, but still sought out globally for consulting and writing projects in digital television, a field in which he’s a recognized pioneer.
Leo and I have been friends for 33 years. He and his wife, Penny, have stood by me through everything: seminary, priesthood, trial, prison. Leo leaves an occasional comment on These Stone Walls, his latest after “ Forty Days and Forty Nights .” Leo also helps out with TSW in a pinch when needed.
Ten years ago, Leo and Penny took a long-planned trip to Rome and the Holy Land. I had been in prison for five years then, and was grateful when they invited me to write a prayer which they promised to leave in a crevasse at the famous Western Wall of the Jerusalem Temple known in Hebrew as ha-Kotel ha-Maaravi, the Wailing Wall. In Biblical history, the Wall was all that remained of the Jerusalem Temple after its destruction by the Romans in 70 A.D.
The Wailing Wall is now a place of pilgrimage and the holiest site in Judaism. According to the Midrash, a collection of rabbinic scholarship dating from ancient times, the Wall survived the destruction of the Temple because the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence, rests there.
I was very deeply moved to know that my prayer was placed there by my dear friends. Pope John Paul II visited there just after Leo and Penny, and left his own prayer at ha-Kotel ha-Maaravi. Global news outlets covered the historic moment when the Holy Father inserted his prayer in a crevasse in the Wall. I remember hoping that his wasn’t blocking mine!
Just outside the walls of Jerusalem, Leo came across a tourist area where a man with a camera was offering, for a fee, to photograph pilgrims carrying a cross. It was a slow day for the tourist trade, so the photographer tried to coax Leo to pick up a cross and buy a photo. Leo stopped cold, stunned at what he was being asked to do.
He pondered the scene for a moment, struck by the difference between what really happened at Calvary that day two millennia ago and the scene unfolding before him. He would have no part of it. Leo refused to pick up the cross feeling that the scene was making light of the central salvific event of human history.
Reflecting on the scene later, Leo thought of Simon of Cyrene compelled by Roman soldiers – some less aggressive than that photographer – to pick up the Cross of Christ. Leo became intrigued by the scant Gospel passages about Simon’s role. Upon returning from the Holy Land, Leo wrote me a letter. “What can you tell me about Simon of Cyrene?” So, you can blame Leo Demers for yet another excursion into history. Go ahead! Let him have it!!
THE PASSION OF SIMON OF CYRENE
Saint Mark is the first of the Evangelists whose Gospel came into written form. Simon of Cyrene is identified there as “the father of Rufus and Alexander” as though the writer expects readers to know them. Saint Mark directed his Gospel to the early Jewish-Christian community, so Rufus and Alexander were likely known to Saint Mark and to those who first read, or heard, his Gospel. There would be no other reason to include their names.
At the end of the Letter to the Romans (Romans 16:13) Saint Paul wrote: “Greet Rufus, eminent in the Lord, and also his mother who is a mother to me as well.” Since some Scripture scholars associate the Gospel of Mark with Rome, there’s a link with Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans where Rufus is known as a devout Christian and leader.
If this Rufus is the son of Simon of Cyrene, and they were a Jewish family, then it’s likely that the act of being compelled to carry the Cross of Christ had a profound impact. The impact was not only upon Simon, but upon his wife and sons who then became known to Saint Paul.
That Simon was a Jew is clear in all three Gospel passages. He would have no other reason to have been “coming in from the country” to Jerusalem at the time of the Passover. Simon is clearly a historical figure, but the inclusion of his city or origin in the Gospels is both historical and symbolic. Cyrene, an ancient Greek city in Northern Africa, represents the limits of the known world for both Judaism and the Roman Empire. Cyrene had a large Jewish Diaspora, a term that refers to the dispersement – or exile – of Jews beyond Jerusalem beginning six to eight centuries before Christ.
Saint Luke emphasized the coercion of Simon, citing that he was seized, the Cross of Christ laid upon him, and forced to carry it behind Jesus. It’s unclear here what the motivation of the Roman soldiers was. They may have feared that Jesus, thoroughly beaten by the Romans, may not survive carrying the Cross long enough to be crucified.
They could also have forced Simon, a Jew, to carry the Cross behind Jesus as a further Roman mockery of Him as “King of the Jews.” Saint Matthew’s account emphasizes simply that Simon was compelled to carry the Cross.
Simon of Cyrene is conspicuously absent from the Gospel of John, the latest of the Gospels and the one most imbued with highly developed theological reflection. Simon’s absence there also tells us something. Saint John’s Gospel presents a well defined Christology seeing Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Covenant – what we call the Old Testament.
Saint John’s Gospel proclaims a theological truth in his depiction of the Cross. Christ carries the wood for His own sacrifice mirroring the near sacrifice of Abraham’s son, Isaac:
“And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father… ‘but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’ Abraham said, God Himself will provide the lamb for sacrifice.’ ” (Genesis 22:6-8).
In the theology of Saint John’s Gospel, Isaac was the heir to the Old Covenant. When Abraham, in obedience, was about to sacrifice him, God stayed his hand. In Christ, God will do for us what He spared Abraham from doing for Him. He will sacrifice His Son, and no one will stay God’s hand.
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
In my post, “ A Corner of the Veil ” in December, I wrote of how much I was in awe of Mel Gibson’s masterpiece of a film, The Passion of the Christ . I wrote about the moving scenes of Mary suffering a crucifixion of her own – the wound of being unable to touch her son while she witnessed His path to Calvary and His Crucifixion. In “ February Tales ” I cited the Feast of the Purification of Mary, the origin of which was her ritual presentation in the Temple before Simeon when he blessed Mary and Joseph and their newly born Son:
“Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”
In The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson depicted the moment of Mary’s soul being pierced on the path to Calvary with such power and beauty that it was overwhelming.
The film’s depiction of Simon of Cyrene was equally masterful, and profoundly inspiring. I remember Penny Demers, a convert to Catholicism, telling me in the prison visiting room one day, “Mel Gibson has given us a wonderful gift.” It would be another year before I could view the film.
It was in The Passion of the Christ that both Leo Demers and I first realized that Simon of Cyrene is the person in the Gospel with whom we can most relate. I can’t speak for Leo, but I know I haven’t picked up my cross willingly – at least not at first. I was compelled to carry it, and I didn’t see it as a share of Christ’s burden at first. None of us ever do. We’re dragged into it kicking and screaming at first.
The Passion of the Christ portrayed with power and grace how Simon was compelled to carry the Cross, but then became a part of it, sharing Christ’s mission. Mel Gibson depicted something that stirred within Simon compelling him to remain there, to set his own journey aside entirely, and finally to fully share the weight of Christ’s burden seeing Him – and His Cross – in the light of Truth. The lights went on in Simon’s soul, and he became compelled not just from Roman force, but from deep within himself. A few weeks ago, I wondered if such a change might be what compelled Saint Patrick to return to Ireland after his escape from slavery. There are many other examples.
I believe Simon of Cyrene’s example compelled Suzanne Sadler to establish the “ Priests in Crisis ” site, and to assist me in a journey “ From Crisis to Hope .”
Monsignor Michael Palud also helped me with my own burden from his post in Jamaica in “ The Passion of Father Gordon MacRae .”
Being compelled to carry the Cross of Christ was behind a recent blog post by Charlene Du1ine, “ Pornchai Moontri is Worth Saving .”
Father Joe Coffey heroically carries the Cross in a war zone in Afghanistan as described recently in “ Going My Way .” Simon of Cyrene lives in these witnesses of faith and sacrifice.
DR. JAMES GUZEK: COMPELLED TO BRING SIGHT TO THE BLIND
I received a letter from Simon of Cyrene last month. No, not the original one but one of the many people I have come to equate with him. Dr. James P. Guzek, M.D ., an ophthalmologist and surgeon in Washington State, is a devout Catholic and author. I have been privileged to proofread and comment on some of his upcoming book on the Early Church transition from the Jewish Sabbath to a Sunday celebration of The Lord’s Day.
What could be dry historical theology became fascinating in Dr. Guzek’s hands. I’ll write of it when it’s published. I am proud to say that Dr. Guzek is a subscriber and occasional commenter on These Stone Walls.
Dr. Jim Guzek has also fulfilled the example of Simon of Cyrene in profound ways, and I have come to admire him as a true model of faith and witness. He is a modest man, and will be the last to tell you that he has accomplished a Corporal Work of Mercy of Biblical proportion. Dr. Guzek has restored sight to the blind at home, and, more recently, in Ghana and Ethiopia.
In his recent letter, Dr. Guzek wrote of having read my post “ In the Land of Nod, East of Eden ” just after his return from Ethiopia where he performed surgery for ten hours a day. He restored sight to sixty-two blind children and adults, stopping only because he exhausted the supplies brought to Ethiopia for this mission.
There were many obstacles. First, Ethiopian customs officers would not allow the operating microscope into the country, then its fuses were blown twice, then a set screw broke on its ocular mount. Each obstacle was somehow overcome.
Miraculously, not a single post-operative infection occurred despite conditions in the makeshift operating room. Each surgical procedure was a great success. Here is an especially moving paragraph from Dr. Guzek’s letter:
“We could only operate on those who were gropingly blind … One 9-year-old girl was memorable. Her left eye was completely spoiled with scarring of the whole cornea from unknown reasons from a very early age. Her seeing eye had become completely clouded by cataract by age 8. She had to be led into the clinic. When I saw her, I asked her if she wanted to see normally again. Of course, she did. I asked her if she could lay perfectly still while I poked a needle below the eye which would hurt her a lot. At first, she said no. After some thought, she allowed me to do the surgery on her. I injected anesthetic below the eye to numb it, and she did not move at all during the surgery. The next morning she was seeing 20/40! However, she still looked anxious. We asked if she was happy, and she said, “Can I move my eyes now?” She was afraid she would again lose her vision if she moved her eyes!”
Dr. Guzek brought along his 13-year-old son, James, who helped to sterilize equipment between operations. “I plan to go back, with God’s help,” wrote Dr. Guzek, “and James wants to go back as well. ”
In my post, “ A Ghost of Christmas Past ” last Advent, I wrote that Christ brought about a light shining in the darkness, and the darkness can never overcome it. There is a little girl in Ethiopia who can see the light of hope in the faces of others today because a man and his son have learned a lesson from Simon of Cyrene, compelled from deep within to carry the Cross of Christ.
“Suffering and rejection sum up the whole cross of Jesus. To die on
the cross means to die despised and rejected of men. Suffering and
rejection are laid upon Jesus as a divine necessity, and every attempt to prevent it is the work of the devil, especially when it comes from his own disciples; for it is in fact an attempt to prevent Christ from being Christ.
Just as Christ is Christ only in virtue of his suffering and rejection,
so the disciple is a disciple only in so far as he shares his Lord’s
suffering and rejection and crucifixion.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945). The Cost of Discipleship, (Ch.4, “Discipleship and the Cross,” p. 87)
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The Costa Smeralda (or Emerald Coast) is a feature of which Mediterranean island? | Costa Smeralda - Emerald Coast in Sardinia - Costa Smeralda Beaches
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The Costa Smeralda, (or Emerald Coast), is a 35-mile stretch of some of the most breathtaking beaches and luxury destinations in the Mediterranean. The development of the Emerald Coast in Sardinia began in the early 1960s when a conglomerate of companies backed by a wealthy Middle Eastern prince introduced an elaborate plan for urban development including villages, beaches, and resorts . Nearly a half-century later Costa Smeralda is one of the most enviable destinations for affluent travelers around the world. The luxury accommodations, dining , shopping, pristine beaches, and nightlife make the Emerald Coast in Sardinia the “playground of the rich.”
Other destinations in the Mediterranean, Ibiza for instance, have become increasingly popular in the last few decades largely because of the fact that much of the island is geared toward catering to travelers who are seeking out luxury accommodations, boutiques, spas, and more. This is true for many of the posh destinations around the world, but it is doubtful that any have been developed with the same level of exacting detail with which Costa Smeralda was constructed.
The Costa Smeralda beaches provide the perfect natural venue for some of the most expensive and elaborate resorts in the Mediterranean. It is known as the Emerald Coast in Sardinia largely because of the awe-inspiring water that, throughout the course of one day on the island, displays brilliant shades of blue that reflect the sun like an ever-changing gem stone. Visitors to the Costa Smeralda beaches enjoy fine white sand and a stunning natural landscape of bays and inlets that are accentuated by unique foliage and vegetation, as well as rocky promontories and high-reaching coast lines. There is full-time security on the beaches and access to plenty of water sports and other activities. The luxury hotels and resorts on the Emerald Coast in Sardinia provide you with access to lush and exclusive areas of the long stretch of beach where you can enjoy your vacation in relative privacy. It's also a good idea to check into vacation packages that include one of the resorts in Costa Smeralda.
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Staying in one of the hotels in Costa Smeralda is expensive, especially during peak season. You can expect to pay between $2000 and $3000 for one night at a luxury accommodation on the exclusive Emerald Coast. The Cala di Volpe, Cervo Hotel, Hotel Romazzino, Hotel Pitrizza comprise the main luxury resorts on this coastal area of the island of Sardinia. Each of these hotels is fantastically well appointed, offering guests nearly every imaginable amenity to ensure an ideal stay on the island. Many of the affluent guests charter boats from the marina in Porto Cervo or enjoy a round of golf at the Pervero Golf Club. There is also private jet access in nearby Olbia as well as helicopter transport.
The Costa Smeralda beaches are already majestic on their own. When you add the benefits of luxury resorts and world-class dining, shopping, and entertainment, you have an Emerald Coast experience. It is the most exclusive part of Sardinia and an area that grows in popularity every year. Even though its tradition is one of extreme affluence and exclusivity, the resort destination is even growing in popularity among savvy travelers who have figured out how to travel there cheaply, take in all of the impressive sights, but stay in a nearby and more reasonably priced accommodation.
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For which county cricket team was Brian Lara playing when he scored his world record 501 not out? | Costa Smeralda Golf Resort - Sassari, Sardinia, Costa Smeralda, Italy
Costa Smeralda Golf Resort
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On the northern tip of Sardinia, the trendy Costa Smeralda has become over the years the favourite playground of the rich and famous. Preserved from massive real estate operations, it has nevertheless retained its exclusiveness and pristine natural beauty in a stunning natural setting. Starwood Hotels & Resorts operates five property on the Costa Smeralda: a Sheraton hotel, three hotels from The Luxury Collection and the Pevero Golf Club.
Costa Smeralda's golf course at Pevero Golf Club is a Robert Trent Jones Senior masterpiece. This championship course, host to various italian Open, stretches between the bays of Pevero and Cala di Volpe. Situated in a magnificent setting between pink granite boulders and scented Mediterranean shrub, the fairways offer stunning views over the emerald waters of the aptly named Costa Smeralda - or "emerald coast". All inclusive golf packages are available at any property and a complimentary shuttle runs between the four hotels and the Golf Club.
There is another R.T. Jones' masterpiece at Sperone GC, just across the Bonifacia Strait on the neighbouring French island of Corsica - A perfect one day excursion including a short and scenic ferry crossing. The views from Sperone course to the strait and Sardinia are stunning!
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Costa Smeralda Resort
At the heart of Porto Cervo Marina
Starwood Hotels / Sheraton Hotels & Resorts
At the heart of Costa Smeralda Resort, Cervo Hotel overlooks Porto Cervo famous marina. Built as a traditional Mediterranean village around a shady courtyard, this five star hotel also includes the Cervo Tennis Club and the Cervo Conference Centre. Accommodation is distributed between the hotel's main building, with 90 rooms, and the Tennis Club, open all yera and featuring 16 rooms.
5 Stars Leisure & Business Hotel
106 Rooms & Suites
On Pevero Golf Course
Starwood Hotels / A Luxury Collection Hotel
Perched above a scenic bay, Hotel Cala di Volpe is a picturesque hamlet style hotel. The buildings mix indigenous materials and handicraft to recreate a timeless Mediterranean atmosphere. A perfect retreat for golfers, Cala di Volpe has its own putting green and lies adjacent to Pevero Golf Club.
5 Star DeLuxe
Costa Smeralda Resort
Dining
Large selection of à la carte, table d'hôte and buffet restaurants, as well as pool, cocktail and piano bars at all properties.
According to season and property, gests on full board have the possibility to have meals at any hotel or restaurant of the resort at no extra charge
Leisure
Swimming pools, Fitness facilities and private beaches at all properties • Porto Cervo Marina + Marinasarda sailing and motor boat fleet • Cervo Tennis Club • Free shuttle service to private beaches, Porto Cervo Marina and Pevero Golf Club
Cervo Conference Centre
9 Meeting room accommodating up to 1.000 people (largest meeting room: 600 m2) • Full meeting and event facilities + All supporting services • Conference Centre close to Cervo Hotel
Pevero Golf Club
Robert Trent Jones, Sr. (1972) 18 holes - 6,681 yds - Par 72
Venue of the Italian Open
The course is nestled in between the glittering emerald waters of the bay of Cala di Volpe and the Gulf of Pevero, at the very heart of the Costa Smeralda. Its sweeping fairways and lush greens are maintained in top notch condition by near perfect greenkeeping.
The layout is highly strategic and distance is a matter of relative importance here. A good score at Pevero calls for virtuosity and technique rather than power or length off the tees. The course is extremely difficult from the championship tees, but more accessible from the front tees. This is an ideal course for match-play and an extremely stimulating challenge for low and high handicappers alike.
According to golf insiders, the Pevero Golf Club - with its unforgettable panorama - is heralded as one of the most stunning golf courses in the world. Opened in 1972 under the direction of legendary golf course and landscape architect Robert Trent Jones, the course gained international acclaim so rapidly that it was elected to host the 1978 Italian Golf Open. To this day, the Pevero Golf Club attracts a loyal clientele of the most experienced and passionate golf players from across the globe.
• Practice Facilities
In addition to the spectacular course, the Pevero Golf Club features an expert putting and pitching green, a bunker and chipping green, and a driving range with 20 outdoor and four indoor spaces perfect for instruction and practice. A golf pro is available for private lessons. The club requires that soft spike shoes are worn during play. Children over the age of six are welcome under the supervision of an adult.
Golf in Sardinia & Corsica
Golf in Sardinia & Corsica
Both other golf clubs on the island are over 200 km. away, so your best alternative in the region for a day golfing excursion is Sperone (Bonifacio), on the neighbouring french island of Corsica and a 30 min. ferry crossing away.
• Sperone Golf Club (Corsica)
Robert Trent Jones, Sr. (1990)
Sperone is located on a breathtaking site at the southern tip of Corsica, overlooking the Mediterranean, the tiny islands of Cavallo and Lavezzi, and Sardinia across the Bonifacio strait. Set over a 135 hectare estate on a peninsula jutting into the sea and covered with Mediterranean heathland. On this privileged piece of land, Robert Trent Jones has designed a masterpiece and surely one of its best course ever, as he himself admits. Many holes on the sea shore may perfectly be compared to the sequences of oceanside holes at Pebble Beach.
• Is Arenas Golf & Country Club
Robert von Hagge (2000)
Halfway down the west coast, this majestic golf course extends over 2500 acres of dunes and woodlands, amidst an unspoilt pine forest extending all the way down to the mile long sandy beach. In these beautiful natural surroundings, the fairways wind their ways through pines, eucalyptus, myrtle trees and mimosas, the natural habitat for jays, weasels and foxes. The several and often dangerous water hazards are naturally part of the course and also provide a refreshing touch, at least visually !
• Is Molas Golf Club
Henry Cotton & Frank Pennink + Piero Mancinelli (1975)
On the sourthern tip of the island, Is Molas has hosted the Italian Open on three occasions and it is a regular stop of the European PGA Challenge Tour. Although a classic Mediterranean course, most of the tees afford panoramic view of the emerald sea, Is Molas light, wind and surroundings are somewhat reminiscent of Scotland and California.
Costa Smeralda & Sardinia
Costa Smeralda & Sardinia
The Resort sits on a spectacular 55-kilometer stretch of Sardinian coastline known as Costa Smeralda—or “Emerald Coast”, due to the deep green colour of the Mediterranean sea. Dramatic rock formations, windswept into sculptural reliefs by the Mistral wind - are as characteristic of the area’s astonishing beauty as the fragrance of laurel, oleander, and juniper carried by the ocean breeze. The meandering coast forms hidden inlets of aqua blue water perfect for swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving. Open from April through October of each year, the resort enjoys endless sunshine and balmy temperatures from 20 to 27º C, while the ocean warms up to an ideal 23º C.
Sightseeing
La Maddalena Islands - Take a motor boat to this famed archipelago, with its enchanting coves of “Manto della Vergine”, crystal clear water and pristine white sand beaches. Explore the lovely islands of Caprera, Budelli, Spargi, La Maddalena, and Santa Maria along the way.
San Pantaleo—Visit the open-air market, held every Thursday in the charming church square of this traditional Sardinian village. Musicians play in the shade of pink and red oleander trees, while local artisans and farmers offer a colourful display of crafts and produce.
Nuraghi Stone Structures—Appealing to history enthusiasts, these massive Bronze Age shelters of symmetrically laid stones offer a fascinating glimpse into the legacy of the Nuraghi—Sardinia’s ancient indigenous people. Tours may be arranged to the most prominent structures scattered across the island.
Porto Cervo—Truly Mediterranean in spirit, this idyllic port town of graceful archways, pastel-hued homes and flowering cascades of bougainvillea is a shopper’s dream, where international designers easily mix with locally crafted ceramics, textiles, and jewellery. At night, Europe’s glitterati mingles in the chic outdoor cafés or dances into the early morning hours at one of the many glamorous nightclubs.
Address & Contact
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Runa Islam, Mark Leckey, Goshka Macuga and Cathy Wilkes are this year's nominees for which prize? | Turner prize shortlist unveiled: Cathy Wilkes, Goshka Macuga, Mark Leckey, and Runa Islam - Telegraph
Turner prize shortlist unveiled: Cathy Wilkes, Goshka Macuga, Mark Leckey, and Runa Islam
By Billy Kenber
12:01AM BST 29 Sep 2008
By Billy Kenber
Richard Dorment: who cares who wins?
Cathy Wilkes, Goshka Macuga, Mark Leckey, and Runa Islam have all been nominated for prestigious award, given to the best exhibition by an artist born or based in Britain under the age of 50.
It is the first time in a decade that three of the four nominees for the £25,000 award have been women. The contemporary art prize has a long history of controversy, often showcasing unusual or even shocking works.
Previous winners have included Martin Reed who exhibited an empty room with the lights going on and off, Chris Ofili who attached balls of elephant dung to canvas, and Damien Hirst who displayed a cow and calf cut in half and preserved in formaldehyde.
This year's work includes Runa Islam's 'Be The First To see What You see As You see It,' a film in which a well-dressed woman throws pieces of crockery to the floor. Belfast-born Cathy Wilkes is exhibiting a new sculpture made using items from her home.
It depicts a supermarket checkout adorned with empty breakfast bowls alongside a mannequin sitting on a toilet. Works by the third female nominee include glass, steel and fabric sculptures exploring two relationships where the woman is the lesser-known partner.
Goshka Macuga describes herself as a "cultural anthropologist" and her work featured in the 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art.
The sole man one the shortlist, 44-year-old Mark Leckey, is showing a film featuring Homer Simpson. A forty minute art lecture by Leckey, who is currently a film studies professor in Germany, has been recorded for 'Cinema-in the- Round.'
The winner of the prize will be announced on 1 December live on Channel 4. The exhibition is open to the public from tomorrow and runs until January 18.
| Turner Prize |
Which African capital city is the highest above sea level? | The Simpsons become art for this year's Turner Prize - Telegraph
The Simpsons become art for this year's Turner Prize
Resident Poster by Mark Leckey
Selective Memory by Cathy Wilkes
By Polly Corrigan and agencies
10:45AM BST 13 May 2008
Telegraph TV: Turner Prize nominees
Runa Islam, Mark Leckey, Goshka Macuga and Cathy Wilkes are the artists on this year's Turner Prize shortlist. The traditional image of the prize as a procession of the provocative and bizarre will not be changed by this year's candidates, whose work features characters from The Simpsons and a shop mannequin sitting on the loo.
Birkenhead-born Mark Leckey, who lives and works in London is an artist who makes films and describes himself as 'slightly obsessed with Felix the Cat'. Cartoons such as The Simpsons also feature in his recent work.
Runa Islam is another artist who makes films and Goshka Macuga creates carefully staged installations, described as 'cultural archaeology'.
Glasgow artist Cathy Wilkes uses shop mannequins in her installations, including a mannequin sitting on the toilet and one pushing a pram. We Are Pro-Choice (2008) features a mannequin on a toilet with a bowl with left-over bits of dried porridge at her feet.
The Turner Prize was set up in 1984 to recognise developments in contemporary art and was last year won by Mark Wallinger for his installation State Britain, a detailed recreation of the Brian Haw's Parliament Square protest. Past winners include Gilbert and George, Anish Kapoor, Damien Hirst, Grayson Perry and Chris Ofili.
The winner will be announced on December 1.
Work by the artists on the Turner Prize will be on show at Tate Britain from Oct 7, for more information see www.tate.org.uk/britain/ .
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What was the name of the cross-dressing potter who won the Turner Prize in 2003? | Grayson Perry wears 'mother of bride' outfit to receive CBE from Prince Charles | Daily Mail Online
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Buckingham Palace has played host to some flamboyant characters over the years.
So perhaps it was unsurprising that barely a courtly eyebrow was raised when transvestite potter Grayson Perry collected his CBE from Prince Charles yesterday in a midnight blue dress and jacket, heels, and fabulously over-the-top black hat.
Indeed, when asked about what Perry joyfully described as his ‘Italian mother of the bride outfit’, the Queen’s official spokesman replied with only the merest hint of a smile: ‘His attire was entirely appropriate.’
My husband and I: Grayson Perry (left) and his wife Phillipa (right) outside Buckingham Palace. Perry wore a midnight blue dress to collect his CBE
Investiture: Mr Perry shakes hand with the Prince of Wales as he receives the CBE
The Turner Prize winner became the first male cross-dresser to collect a gong wearing a dress.
Charles got a fit of the giggles as Perry, in heavy make-up and a sweep of fuschia-pink lipstick, was introduced but the two were quickly chatting like old friends.
The prince couldn’t place Perry’s medal for services to contemporary art over his head because of the size of his hat, so handed it to him instead.
Perry, 54, who bowed rather than curtseyed, said he designed his outfit specially for the event, but first wore the hat ‘when I went away on a Transvestite Bridal Weekend’.
The artist, accompanied by his wife Philippa, 56, and daughter Flo, 21, said his outfit had been agreed in advance with the palace, adding: ‘They are pretty cool here.’
Or, as one royal source put it: ‘People would have been more upset if he had turned up in jeans.’
Close encounter: The artist shook hands with Prince Charles as he picked up the gong at Buckingham Palace
Chat: Mr Perry and Prince Charles have a brief conversation during the investiture ceremony
Speaking after the ceremony Perry said: 'Receiving this was great, it's not just for me it's for all the artists - no really it's just for me, for 30 years of hard graft.'
Mr Perry, 53, once described Claire as 'a cross between Katie Boyle and Camilla Parker-Bowles' but when reminded of this he laughed and said: 'This is my Italian mother of the bride outfit.'
He added: 'When I got the call my first thought was, "What am I going to wear?" It's a serious thing, I'm not going to compromise my identity as Britain's pre-eminent transvestite.
'I Googled to see what people wore and went for the sexier end. I always do like the older woman who makes an effort.'
Other people who received honours from Prince Charles today included darts champion Catrina Gulliver, awarded an MBE, and comedy producer Gareth Gwenland, who was given an OBE.
Former newsreader Julia Somerville was also recognised, receiving an OBE for her work supporting the arts as a former chairman of the Government Art Collection's advisory committee.
Mr Perry, who grew up in Essex, made his name with hand-crafted pottery which is often illustrated with disturbing scenes of sex and child abuse.
Royal occasion: Mr Perry posing with a pair of Beefeaters outside the Palace today
Family: Mr Perry with his wife Philippa and their 21-year-old daughter Flo after the ceremony
He achieved widespread public fame in 2003 when he was awarded the Turner Prize - the first potter ever to receive Britain's most prestigious arts prize.
At the time, the judges praised him for 'subverting the craft form of ceramics'.
Born in 1960 in Chelmsford, he began his career at Braintree College of Further Education and then at Portsmouth Polytechnic, where he studied fine art.
Mr Perry says he realised he was a transvestite when he was teenager, and was thrown out of his father's home by his stepmother.
Eminent: Mr Perry with GQ editor Dylan Jones, who was awarded an OBE today
Outfit: Grayson Perry dressed as an 'Italian mother of the bride' to receive the CBE at Buckingham Palace
Later when he moved to London in the early 1980s he began attending evening pottery classes and developed a strong connection with the medium.
He has said that he loves using clay because 'it is held in such low esteem in the art world'.
His pots are covered with subject matter such as child abuse, autobiographical images of himself, Claire and his family, as well as examinations of cultural stereotypes.
Alter ego: Mr Perry regularly dresses as a woman called 'Claire' and is known for his graphic pots
Victory: Mr and Mrs Perry with Flo after he won the Turner Prize in 2003
OUTCAST TO NATIONAL TREASURE
Grayson Perry, 53, is known for being both a celebrated potter and arguably Britain's highest-profile transvestite.
He was kicked out of his home as a teenager after he admitted that he wanted to wear women's clothes, but after going to art school in Portsmouth he moved to London and began his celebrated career.
Working in the unfashionable medium of pottery, Mr Perry struggled to win acceptance in the art world, but after being awarded the Turner Prize in 2003 he became a national celebrity.
In the past few years he has curated an exhibition at the British Museum and presented a series on Channel 4, cementing his status as one of the country's leading artists.
Despite his outlandish image, Mr Perry has a highly conventional home life - he has been married to Philippa, a psychotherapist and author, for more than two decades. The couple have one child, 21-year-old Flo.
Mr Perry, who grew up in Essex, made his name with hand-crafted pottery which is often illustrated with disturbing scenes of sex and child abuse.
In recent years he has produced a set of six huge tapestries to accompany a Channel 4 series he presented on British taste, as well as curating a British Museum exhibition in 2011.
Perry toured the country for the programmes, starting with Sunderland, where he made two textile pieces based on places and characters he found in the city.
Speaking at the palace, Perry said: 'I'm grateful I'm not one of these people who has sky-rocketed to fame.
'Some people say I've become a member of the establishment but I've been that for years. I'm an RA [Royal Academician].
'The idea that rebellion is at the margins of society - that's false, it's far more interesting to be mischievous from the centre.'
He lives in London with his wife Philippa, a psychotherapist and author, and their 21-year-old daughter Flo.
Couple: The Perrys, who live in London, pictured at an awards show party last month
Well-known: Mr Perry's works in both ceramics and textiles have been highly praised in the art world
The newsreader, the darts champion and the Gurkha: The deserving recipients honoured alongside Perry
Among the other figures who were honoured for their contributions to society at Buckingham Palace were newsreader Julia Somerville and a heroic Gurkha who fought off a Taleban fighter with his kukri knife.
Ms Somerville received an OBE for her work supporting the arts after serving for 10 years as chairman of the Government Art Collection's advisory committee.
She began her career in broadcasting in 1972 when she joined the BBC and went on to present the Nine O'Clock News, before working for ITN for 14 years presenting all the main news programmes and later returned to the BBC.
Newsreader: Julia Somerville was honoured for her contribution to the Government's art collection
Ms Somerville, whose role as advisory committee chairman came to an end last year, described art as 'one of the passions' in her life.
Speaking about the artworks that grace the walls of government buildings she said: 'It's a very comprehensive collection that's been going since the 1850s.
'It comprises everything from famous classical portraits like Lord Byron... to works by Grayson Perry who was here today.'
Lance Corporal Tuljung Gurung, from The Royal Gurkha Rifles, was awarded the Military Cross for his gallantry and courage in Afghanistan.
The Gurkha was shot in the helmet by an Afghan insurgent, avoided being blown up by a grenade, then took the insurgent on in hand-to-hand combat armed with his kukri, the traditional Nepalese knife.
Medals: Gurkha Tuljung Gurung, left, was awarded the Military Cross, while Mark Millar, right, received an MBE for his work as a leading comic book artist
The incident happened when insurgents mounted an attack on the patrol base he was stationed in near Lashkar Gah last March.
He said: 'Everything happened so quickly but because we've trained so hard, that training takes over and you defend yourself. My rifle was not working so I could not use that, so I had to defend myslef with the kukri.'
Nine-time women's world professional darts champion Catrina Gulliver was awarded an MBE for services to her sport and charitable fundraising.
The sportswoman began playing aged just two and went on to dominate the game for more than a decade winning her world titles from 2001 to 2011.
She revealed: 'Prince Charles said to me, "Are you planning to retire?" and I said, "No, not yet."
'He also said, "Do you have to practice a lot?" and I said yes, and he said "At home?" and I said "At the pub."'
Champion: Darts player Catrina Gulliver was handed an MBE by the Prince of Wales
Television producer Gareth Gwenlan, who worked on a string of hit comedy shows from Only Fools and Horses to The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin featuring Leonard Rossiter, was presented with an OBE.
Other shows he helped bring to the nation's television screens included To the Manor Born, Waiting for God, and Butterflies.
Comic book writer Mark Millar, whose Kick-Ass creation became a hit movie starring Nicolas Cage, received an MBE for services to literature.
Another of his publications, Wanted, was also made into a movie featuring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy.
Mr Millar said: 'This is what everyone says but this is very unexpected, I do the job because I love it and any kind of award I just see as a lovely extra.'
| Grayson Perry |
By what name was the Spanish nobleman Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar better known? | Cross-dressing potter joins the BBC's Reith lecture greats - Telegraph
BBC
Cross-dressing potter joins the BBC's Reith lecture greats
The Reith Lectures have provided a platform for some of the most luminary figures in modern culture, from Bertrand Russell, the philosopher, to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese Nobel Prize-winner and political leader.
Grayson Perry Photo: Rex Features
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Now the BBC has extended the honour to Grayson Perry, the cross-dressing artist noted for his ceramic works and television documentaries on class attitudes to culture.
Perry, who was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003, will be the first visual artist to deliver the BBC Reith Lectures.
Gwyneth Williams, Radio 4’s controller, said Perry was chosen as part of her ambition to “throw some fireworks” into the station’s schedule.
Perry, who also works with printmaking, drawing, sculpture and tapestry, will use the four lectures to explore where art is heading in the globalised, digital 21st century.
The lecture series, entitled Grayson Perry: Playing to the Gallery, will be broadcast on Radio 4 in October and November.
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In the talks, he will reflect on the idea of quality and art, and how to judge quality in an age when “anything goes”.
He will also consider what art from the 21st century looks like when examined in detail, and its role in society.
Perry said: “I want to celebrate an emotional relationship with visual art, the innocent drive to make it, to look at it, feast on it, to love it. I feel now is a good time to reflect on the idea of quality and how we might, in an age where we are told anything can be art, appreciate which art is any good.
“The words and the money associated with contemporary art also need examining. I want to talk about my ambivalent relationship with the art world, how I am profoundly grateful to it yet struggle not to be a curmudgeon or a cynic.
"In short, I want to talk about what it is like to be an artist, here, now.”
John Reith, the BBC’s first director-general, maintained that broadcasting should be a public service that enriches the nation's intellectual and cultural life.
He was the first general manager of the then British Broadcasting Company, before being appointed director-general of the corporation in 1927.
His concept of broadcasting as embodying impartiality, probity, quality entertainment and education became known as Reithianism, and shaped all public-service broadcasting.
Others who have delivered the Reith Lectures have included John K Galbraith, the economist, in 1966; Richard Hoggart, the literary critic, in 1971; John Keegan, the military historian and former Daily Telegraph defence editor, in 1998; and Daniel Barenboim, the Israeli conductor, in 2006.
In the opening lecture, Perry will explore whether it is possible for artists to maintain their integrity when they become acclaimed.
Subsequent lectures will build on the theme and examine who and what defines what we see and value as art.
Perry says he will try to shine a light on how the art world and market works, and consider how contemporary art is perceived by the press, the public and artists in today’s Britain.
He will also examine the language that has developed to describe art and what he has identified as people’s need to over-intellectualise their response to art.
Ms Williams said Perry had been chosen because she wanted to make Radio 4 a “playground for creative minds” and to get artists involved “to create some colourful, unpredictable and original programming”.
She said: “When I met Perry, I was inspired by his insight into the creative process and by the deep humanity evident in his work.
“Radio 4 should be a home for artists and a place of creativity, and who better to make this happen than Grayson?”
Perry will deliver his lectures to live audiences. The first will be recorded at Tate Modern in London; the others will be at St George’s Hall in Liverpool, the Guildhall in Londonderry and Central Saint Martins in London.
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Which sportsman married Erin Nordegren in 2004? | Elin Nordegren biography | birthday, trivia | Swedish Celebrity Relative | Who2
Celebrity Relative
Elin Nordegren became world-famous in 2009, when her husband, superstar golfer Tiger Woods , admitted cheating on her. Nordegren first became a public figure in 2002 when she began dating Woods, one of the world’s most famous sports figures. A striking, blonde, blue-eyed Swede and part-time model, Nordegren was working as a nanny for Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik when she met Woods. Reportedly Parnevik introduced the two at the 2001 British Open. Their romance became more widely known during the Masters golf tournament in April of 2002, and they became engaged in November of 2003. They were married in Barbados on 5 October 2004. Their first daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, was born on 18 June 2007; Woods told reporters that “Sam” was a nickname his father called him as a child. A son, Charlie Axel, was born on 8 February 2009.
On November 27 of 2009, police were called to the Woods home near Orlando, Florida, after Tiger crashed a Cadillac Escalade near their driveway at 2:30 in the morning. It was soon revealed that the Woods and Nordegren had been arguing, after she discovered his relationship with club hostess Rachel Uchitel . Other women then came forward to claim they had slept with Woods before and during his marriage. Two weeks later, Woods released a statement admitting “infidelity” and said he would take an indefinite break from golf. On 23 August 2010, the couple announced that they had divorced.
Extra credit
Elin Nordegren went by the name Elin Woods during her marriage to Tiger Woods; in the divorce announcement at the end of their marriage, she was identified again simply as Elin Nordegren… Elin Nordegren has never posed for nude photos; online photos with titles like “Elin Nordegren nude” or “Elin Woods naked” are fakes. One particularly popular series featured a model named Kim Hiott… Elin Nordegren has a twin sister named Josefin; she is a lawyer in London, with the married name of Josefin Lonnborg. According to People magazine, the twins also have an older brother named Axel… Nordegren’s mother, Barbro Holmberg, has served as Sweden’s migration minister. Their father is a radio journalist.
| Tiger Woods |
The Potola Palace is a famous landmark in which Asian city? | Elin Nordegren Breaks Her 4-Year Silence on Tiger Woods
Elin Nordegren Breaks Her 4-Year Silence on Tiger Woods
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Ever since their August 2010 divorce was announced, Elin Nordegren has had nothing to say publicly about Tiger Woods – until now.
In an at-home interview marking her May 10 graduation with top honors from Rollins College, Nordegren tells PEOPLE that things are “really good” between her and her ex, who live just a 25-minute drive apart in southern Florida and see each other regularly as they share custody of daughter Sam, 6, and son Charlie, 5.
“I have moved on and I am in a good place,” Nordegren says. “My relationship with Tiger is centered around our children and we are doing really good – we really are – and I am so happy that is the case. He is a great father.”
Though devastated when Woods’s double life as a serial cheater – with at least a dozen women – unspooled in late 2009, Nordegren says that as a child of divorced parents herself, she never doubted that she and Woods would eventually find equilibrium. A psychology student, she went through intensive therapy at the time of the split and still checks in with her therapist every week to keep “working on myself.”
Elin Nordegren and Tiger Woods, in their married days
David Cannon/Getty
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How many theses were nailed to the door of Wittenburg | 95 Theses Martin Luther nailed to the Wittenburg church door
The 95 Theses Martin Luther nailed to the Wittenburg church door
1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, "Repent" (Mt 4:17), he willed
the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
2. This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance,
that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.
3. Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is
worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh.
4. The penalty of sin remains as long as the hatred of self (that is, true
inner repentance), namely till our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
5. The pope neither desires nor is able to remit any penalties except those
imposed by his own authority or that of the canons.
6. The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring and showing that it
has been remitted by God; or, to be sure, by remitting guilt in cases reserved to
his judgment. If his right to grant remission in these cases were disregarded,
the guilt would certainly remain unforgiven.
7. God remits guilt to no one unless at the same time he humbles him in all
things and makes him submissive to the vicar, the priest.
8. The penitential canons are imposed only on the living, and, according to
the canons themselves, nothing should be imposed on the dying.
9. Therefore the Holy Spirit through the pope is kind to us insofar as the
pope in his decrees always makes exception of the article of death and of
necessity.
10. Those priests act ignorantly and wickedly who, in the case of the dying,
reserve canonical penalties for purgatory.
11. Those tares of changing the canonical penalty to the penalty of
purgatory were evidently sown while the bishops slept (Mt 13:25).
12. In former times canonical penalties were imposed, not after, but before
absolution, as tests of true contrition.
13. The dying are freed by death from all penalties, are already dead as far
as the canon laws are concerned, and have a right to be released from them.
14. Imperfect piety or love on the part of the dying person necessarily
brings with it great fear; and the smaller the love, the greater the fear.
15. This fear or horror is sufficient in itself, to say nothing of other
things, to constitute the penalty of purgatory, since it is very near to the
horror of despair.
16. Hell, purgatory, and heaven seem to differ the same as despair, fear,
and assurance of salvation.
17. It seems as though for the souls in purgatory fear should necessarily
decrease and love increase.
18. Furthermore, it does not seem proved, either by reason or by Scripture,
that souls in purgatory are outside the state of merit, that is, unable to grow
in love.
19. Nor does it seem proved that souls in purgatory, at least not all of
them, are certain and assured of their own salvation, even if we ourselves may be
entirely certain of it.
20. Therefore the pope, when he uses the words "plenary remission of all
penalties," does not actually mean "all penalties," but only those imposed by
himself.
21. Thus those indulgence preachers are in error who say that a man is
absolved from every penalty and saved by papal indulgences.
22. As a matter of fact, the pope remits to souls in purgatory no penalty
which, according to canon law, they should have paid in this life.
23. If remission of all penalties whatsoever could be granted to anyone at
all, certainly it would be granted only to the most perfect, that is, to very
few.
24. For this reason most people are necessarily deceived by that
indiscriminate and high-sounding promise of release from penalty.
25. That power which the pope has in general over purgatory corresponds to
the power which any bishop or curate has in a particular way in his own diocese
and parish.
26. The pope does very well when he grants remission to souls in purgatory,
not by the power of the keys, which he does not have, but by way of intercession
for them.
27. They preach only human doctrines who say that as soon as the money
clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory.
28. It is certain that when money clinks in the money chest, greed and
avarice can be increased; but when the church intercedes, the result is in the
hands of God alone.
29. Who knows whether all souls in purgatory wish to be redeemed, since we
have exceptions in St. Severinus and St. Paschal, as related in a legend.
30. No one is sure of the integrity of his own contrition, much less of
having received plenary remission.
31. The man who actually buys indulgences is as rare as he who is really
penitent; indeed, he is exceedingly rare.
32. Those who believe that they can be certain of their salvation because
they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned, together with their
teachers.
33. Men must especially be on guard against those who say that the pope's
pardons are that inestimable gift of God by which man is reconciled to him.
34. For the graces of indulgences are concerned only with the penalties of
sacramental satisfaction established by man.
35. They who teach that contrition is not necessary on the part of those who
intend to buy souls out of purgatory or to buy confessional privileges preach
unchristian doctrine.
36. Any truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty
and guilt, even without indulgence letters.
37. Any true Christian, whether living or dead, participates in all the
blessings of Christ and the church; and this is granted him by God, even without
indulgence letters.
38. Nevertheless, papal remission and blessing are by no means to be
disregarded, for they are, as I have said (Thesis 6), the proclamation of the
divine remission.
39. It is very difficult, even for the most learned theologians, at one and
the same time to commend to the people the bounty of indulgences and the need of
true contrition.
40. A Christian who is truly contrite seeks and loves to pay penalties for
his sins; the bounty of indulgences, however, relaxes penalties and causes men to
hate them -- at least it furnishes occasion for hating them.
41. Papal indulgences must be preached with caution, lest people erroneously
think that they are preferable to other good works of love.
42. Christians are to be taught that the pope does not intend that the
buying of indulgences should in any way be compared with works of mercy.
43. Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to
the needy does a better deed than he who buys indulgences.
44. Because love grows by works of love, man thereby becomes better. Man
does not, however, become better by means of indulgences but is merely freed from
penalties.
45. Christians are to be taught that he who sees a needy man and passes him
by, yet gives his money for indulgences, does not buy papal indulgences but God's
wrath.
46. Christians are to be taught that, unless they have more than they need,
they must reserve enough for their family needs and by no means squander it on
indulgences.
47. Christians are to be taught that they buying of indulgences is a matter
of free choice, not commanded.
48. Christians are to be taught that the pope, in granting indulgences,
needs and thus desires their devout prayer more than their money.
49. Christians are to be taught that papal indulgences are useful only if
they do not put their trust in them, but very harmful if they lose their fear of
God because of them.
50. Christians are to be taught that if the pope knew the exactions of the
indulgence preachers, he would rather that the basilica of St. Peter were burned
to ashes than built up with the skin, flesh, and bones of his sheep.
51. Christians are to be taught that the pope would and should wish to give
of his own money, even though he had to sell the basilica of St. Peter, to many
of those from whom certain hawkers of indulgences cajole money.
52. It is vain to trust in salvation by indulgence letters, even though the
indulgence commissary, or even the pope, were to offer his soul as security.
53. They are the enemies of Christ and the pope who forbid altogether the
preaching of the Word of God in some churches in order that indulgences may be
preached in others.
54. Injury is done to the Word of God when, in the same sermon, an equal or
larger amount of time is devoted to indulgences than to the Word.
55. It is certainly the pope's sentiment that if indulgences, which are a
very insignificant thing, are celebrated with one bell, one procession, and one
ceremony, then the gospel, which is the very greatest thing, should be preached
with a hundred bells, a hundred processions, a hundred ceremonies.
56. The true treasures of the church, out of which the pope distributes
indulgences, are not sufficiently discussed or known among the people of Christ.
57. That indulgences are not temporal treasures is certainly clear, for many
indulgence sellers do not distribute them freely but only gather them.
58. Nor are they the merits of Christ and the saints, for, even without the
pope, the latter always work grace for the inner man, and the cross, death, and
hell for the outer man.
59. St. Lawrence said that the poor of the church were the treasures of the
church, but he spoke according to the usage of the word in his own time.
60. Without want of consideration we say that the keys of the church, given
by the merits of Christ, are that treasure.
61. For it is clear that the pope's power is of itself sufficient for the
remission of penalties and cases reserved by himself.
62. The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and
grace of God.
63. But this treasure is naturally most odious, for it makes the first to be
last (Mt. 20:16).
64. On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is naturally most
acceptable, for it makes the last to be first.
65. Therefore the treasures of the gospel are nets with which one formerly
fished for men of wealth.
66. The treasures of indulgences are nets with which one now fishes for the
wealth of men.
67. The indulgences which the demagogues acclaim as the greatest graces are
actually understood to be such only insofar as they promote gain.
68. They are nevertheless in truth the most insignificant graces when
compared with the grace of God and the piety of the cross.
69. Bishops and curates are bound to admit the commissaries of papal
indulgences with all reverence.
70. But they are much more bound to strain their eyes and ears lest these
men preach their own dreams instead of what the pope has commissioned.
71. Let him who speaks against the truth concerning papal indulgences be
anathema and accursed.
72. But let him who guards against the lust and license of the indulgence
preachers be blessed.
73. Just as the pope justly thunders against those who by any means whatever
contrive harm to the sale of indulgences.
74. Much more does he intend to thunder against those who use indulgences as
a pretext to contrive harm to holy love and truth.
75. To consider papal indulgences so great that they could absolve a man
even if he had done the impossible and had violated the mother of God is madness.
76. We say on the contrary that papal indulgences cannot remove the very
least of venial sins as far as guilt is concerned.
77. To say that even St. Peter if he were now pope, could not grant greater
graces is blasphemy against St. Peter and the pope.
78. We say on the contrary that even the present pope, or any pope
whatsoever, has greater graces at his disposal, that is, the gospel, spiritual
powers, gifts of healing, etc., as it is written, 1 Co 12[:28].
79. To say that the cross emblazoned with the papal coat of arms, and set up
by the indulgence preachers is equal in worth to the cross of Christ is
blasphemy.
80. The bishops, curates, and theologians who permit such talk to be spread
among the people will have to answer for this.
81. This unbridled preaching of indulgences makes it difficult even for
learned men to rescue the reverence which is due the pope from slander or from
the shrewd questions of the laity.
82. Such as: "Why does not the pope empty purgatory for the sake of holy
love and the dire need of the souls that are there if he redeems an infinite
number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a church?
The former reason would be most just; the latter is most trivial.
83. Again, "Why are funeral and anniversary masses for the dead continued
and why does he not return or permit the withdrawal of the endowments founded for
them, since it is wrong to pray for the redeemed?"
84. Again, "What is this new piety of God and the pope that for a
consideration of money they permit a man who is impious and their enemy to buy
out of purgatory the pious soul of a friend of God and do not rather, because of
the need of that pious and beloved soul, free it for pure love's sake?"
85. Again, "Why are the penitential canons, long since abrogated and dead in
actual fact and through disuse, now satisfied by the granting of indulgences as
though they were still alive and in force?"
86. Again, "Why does not the pope, whose wealth is today greater than the
wealth of the richest Crassus, build this one basilica of St. Peter with his own
money rather than with the money of poor believers?"
87. Again, "What does the pope remit or grant to those who by perfect
contrition already have a right to full remission and blessings?"
88. Again, "What greater blessing could come to the church than if the pope
were to bestow these remissions and blessings on every believer a hundred times a
day, as he now does but once?"
89. "Since the pope seeks the salvation of souls rather than money by his
indulgences, why does he suspend the indulgences and pardons previously granted
when they have equal efficacy?"
90. To repress these very sharp arguments of the laity by force alone, and
not to resolve them by giving reasons, is to expose the church and the pope to
the ridicule of their enemies and to make Christians unhappy.
91. If, therefore, indulgences were preached according to the spirit and
intention of the pope, all these doubts would be readily resolved. Indeed, they
would not exist.
92. Away, then, with all those prophets who say to the people of Christ,
"Peace, peace," and there is no peace! (Jer 6:14)
93. Blessed be all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, "Cross,
cross," and there is no cross!
94. Christians should be exhorted to be diligent in following Christ, their
Head, through penalties, death and hell.
95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven through many tribulations
rather than through the false security of peace (Acts 14:22).
| ninety five |
What was the name of the robot in the 1951 film, 'The Day The Earth Stood Still'? | 1517: Martin Luther Posts Theses - Alte Canzley Hotel Lutherstadt Wittenberg, accomodation, wake up next to the theses door
Martin Luther Posts His Theses
on Castle Church Door Opposite to our Building
At the beginning of the 16th century, nothing had really changed, compared to the centuries before. Europe was ruled by the aristocracy and the Catholic Church and most of the simple people still were poor, working hard to get their families through the days. Millions of peasants died under those hardships. In fact, they were so extreme that the common people could only survive with the consoling message from the medieval church that this hardship was god’s will and that – if they endured it quietly – they would be rewarded in heaven, a land of abundance where all hardship is forgotten and “milk and honey” flows freely.
The nobility and the church, to the contrary, lived luxurious lives in impressive castles. The churches were the highest buildings in almost all towns. The most impressive one, St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, was about to be rebuilt. To raise money, the pope sent out papal commissioners to sell so-called indulgences. These were letters, promising forgiveness of sins and access to heaven for everyone, under one condition – cash. Johann Tetzel was the most notorious commissioner. He forced millions of poor peasants to spend their last pennies, not on feeding their children but instead on buying the “key to heaven” for themselves. The key, of course, was an illusion – not so the millions of thaler (precursor of the dollar) that were flowing back to the Vatican and were used for the embellishment of its buildings and for cementing its power.
Martin Luther , a simple monk that studied theology in Wittenberg, had visited Rome as a young monk and had seen the corruption there. In early November 1517, indulgence seller Tetzel had announced his “indulgence road show” would come to Wittenberg. On the eve of All Saints Day, October 31, 1517, Martin Luther protested against this fraud operation organized by the Catholic Church. On this day, he published his 95 Theses against the fraudulent indulgence sales and, reportedly, also nailed them on the “white board” of Wittenberg’s public life, the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.
Martin Luther’s 95 Theses had one core message: There is no key to heaven for sale. You either have this “key” within yourself – or not.
What happened on that day changed the world forever. For members of the Protestant Church, this day was the birth hour of their confession that later became known as “Reformation Day”. And even Catholic believers today look back – not unhappy about the fact that the fraudulent nature of the multi-billion indulgence fraud had been exposed.
All of that happened right outside our hotel, just across at the door of the Castle Church on October 31, 1517 – almost 500 years ago. When you open the window of your hotel room – you can still breathe history. We promise you!
The invention of the printing press helped to spread Luther’s theses all over the country within weeks.
Luther later went one step further and translated the entire bible from unintelligible Latin to spoken German. For the nobility, the Vatican and the Church potentates this was heresy, because they deduced their power to rule from the fact that they were the “chosen” ones able to speak the “language of God” – Latin – and were privileged to talk to him.
The translation of the bible into German and later into English, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and many other European languages triggered the largest literacy campaign in history: In the few decades following Luther’s translation, the illiteracy rate across Europe dropped from 80% to 20% - for Protestants, Catholics and members of all other religions.
Luther taught as a professor of theology, preached and lived for many more years in Wittenberg, often visiting the house that is now our hotel.
His tomb, the place where he burned the “papal bull” threatening his excommunication, the house where he lived, the “Lutherhaus”, and many other historical places related to Luther are preserved and are located within walking distance from our hotel...
Experience the fourth dimension – history – in our hotel. We would like to welcome you as our guest !
| i don't know |
Which series of books were illustrated by E.M. Shepherd? | Pooh Corner
Pooh Corner
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Information on the Audio Recordings of Peter Dennis
The Complete Works of Winnie-the-Pooh
The Enchanted Places
USA: 1 818 HUM POOH (818 486 7664 )
International: +1 818 486 7664
Contents of this site Copyright � 1999 - 2017 Pooh Corner. All rights reserved worldwide. This website is officially sanctioned by the Trustees of the Pooh Properties Trust, the owners of the copyright in the four books therein described. Reproduction and/or retransmission of all or any part of Winnie-the-Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner, When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six is prohibited under international copyright law. Users desiring to reproduce or retransmit all or any part of the foregoing titles must first secure the appropriate copyright and other authorization in writing from Curtis Brown Ltd., 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4S8. Illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard. Illustrations are copyright protected and used by permission of the Executor of E.H. Shepard and the E.H. Shepard
| Winnie-the-Pooh |
Who was Clive Ponting accused of leaking information to during his 1985 secrets trial? | Pooh Corner
Pooh Corner
Warning: Parameter 3 to showItem() expected to be a reference, value given in /home/poohcorn/public_html/includes/Cache/Lite/Function.php on line 100
Information on the Audio Recordings of Peter Dennis
The Complete Works of Winnie-the-Pooh
The Enchanted Places
USA: 1 818 HUM POOH (818 486 7664 )
International: +1 818 486 7664
Contents of this site Copyright � 1999 - 2017 Pooh Corner. All rights reserved worldwide. This website is officially sanctioned by the Trustees of the Pooh Properties Trust, the owners of the copyright in the four books therein described. Reproduction and/or retransmission of all or any part of Winnie-the-Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner, When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six is prohibited under international copyright law. Users desiring to reproduce or retransmit all or any part of the foregoing titles must first secure the appropriate copyright and other authorization in writing from Curtis Brown Ltd., 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4S8. Illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard. Illustrations are copyright protected and used by permission of the Executor of E.H. Shepard and the E.H. Shepard
| i don't know |
Who was John McCain's running partner in the 2008 American Presidential election? | Presidential Election of 2008
<< 2004
The 56th quadrennial United States presidential election was held on November 4, 2008. Outgoing Republican President George W. Bush's policies and actions and the American public's desire for change were key issues throughout the campaign. During the presidential election campaign, the major-party candidates ran on a platform of change and reform in Washington. Domestic policy and the economy eventually emerged as the main themes in the last few months of the election campaign after the onset of the 2008 economic crisis.
Democrat Barack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain. Nine states changed allegiance from the 2004 election. Each had voted for the Republican nominee in 2004 and contributed to Obama's sizable Electoral College victory. The selected electors from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia voted for President and Vice President of the United States on December 15, 2008. Those votes were tallied before a joint session of Congress on January 8, 2009. Obama received 365 electoral votes, and McCain 173.
There were several unique aspects of the 2008 election. The election was the first in which an African American was elected President. It was also the first time two sitting senators ran against each other. The 2008 election was the first in 56 years in which neither an incumbent president nor a vice president ran — Bush was constitutionally limited from seeking a third term by the Twenty-second Amendment; Vice President Dick Cheney chose not to seek the presidency. It was also the first time the Republican Party nominated a woman for Vice President (Sarah Palin, then-Governor of Alaska). Additionally, it was the first election in which both major parties nominated candidates who were born outside of the contiguous United States. Voter turnout for the 2008 election was the highest in at least 40 years.
| Sarah Palin |
The song 'When You Wish Upon A Star' featured in which film? | McCain Chooses Palin as Running Mate - The New York Times
The New York Times
Politics |McCain Chooses Palin as Running Mate
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Senator John McCain introduced Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his choice for vice president at a rally Friday in Dayton, Ohio. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times
DAYTON, Ohio — Senator John McCain astonished the political world on Friday by naming Sarah Palin , a little-known governor of Alaska and self-described “hockey mom” with almost no foreign policy experience, as his running mate on the Republican presidential ticket.
Ms. Palin, 44, a social conservative, former union member and mother of five who has been governor for two years, was on none of the widely discussed McCain campaign short lists for vice president. In selecting her, Mr. McCain reached far outside the Washington Beltway in an election year in which the Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, is running on a platform of change.
“She’s not from these parts, and she’s not from Washington, but when you get to know her, you’re going to be as impressed as I am,” Mr. McCain told a midday rally of 15,000 people in a basketball arena here shortly before Ms. Palin, with her husband and four of her children, strode out onto the stage.
Within moments, Ms. Palin made an explicit appeal to the disappointed supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton by praising not only Mrs. Clinton but also another woman who has been on a major presidential ticket, Geraldine A. Ferraro, Walter F. Mondale’s Democratic running mate in 1984.
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“Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America, but it turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all,” Ms. Palin said to huge applause.
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Ms. Palin and Mr. McCain then embarked on a bus tour across Ohio and north into western Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh, a route that took in a wide swath of the central battleground in this year’s presidential campaign.
Mr. McCain’s pick, Ms. Palin, who opposes abortion, played especially well among evangelicals and other social conservatives, who have always viewed Mr. McCain warily and who have been jittery in recent weeks because of reports that Mr. McCain was considering naming a running mate who favors abortion rights.
The McCain campaign sees Ms. Palin as a kindred spirit to Mr. McCain, particularly in her history of taking heat from fellow Republicans for bucking them on issues and spotlighting their ethical failings. Like Mr. McCain’s, her political profile is built in part on her opposition to questionable government spending projects.
But they differ on a number of policies. Ms. Palin opposed Mr. McCain on one of the most prominent Alaskan issues: She supports drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Mr. McCain opposes it, much to the consternation of some Republicans. Mr. McCain’s environmental policy accepts that global warming is driven by pollution; Ms. Palin has said she is not convinced. A spokeswoman for Ms. Palin, Maria Comella, said, “Governor Palin not only stands with John McCain in his belief that global warming is a critical issue that must be addressed, but she has been a leader in addressing climate change.”
Ms. Palin, a former mayor of the small town of Wasilla, an Anchorage suburb, rose to prominence as a whistle-blower uncovering ethical misconduct in state government. Her selection amounted to a gamble that an infusion of new leadership — and the novelty of the Republican Party ’s first female candidate for vice president — would more than compensate for the risk that Ms. Palin could undercut one of the McCain campaign’s central arguments, that Mr. Obama is too inexperienced to be president.
Democrats and at least some shocked Republicans questioned the judgment of Mr. McCain, who has said repeatedly on the campaign trail that his running mate should have the qualifications to immediately step into the role of commander in chief.
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Gov. Sarah Palin, Cindy McCain and Senator John McCain in Ohio after Mr. McCain introduced Ms. Palin as his running mate. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Mr. McCain’s words on the matter have had more than usual resonance this year because of his age — he turned 72 on Friday, and hopes to be the oldest person ever elected to a first term — and his history with skin cancer.
Ms. Palin appears to have traveled very little outside the United States. In July 2007, she had to get a passport before she visited members of the Alaska National Guard stationed in Kuwait, according to her deputy communications director, Sharon Leighow. She also visited wounded troops in Germany during that trip.
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Mr. McCain’s announcement of Ms. Palin came in the immediate afterglow that Democrats were enjoying from their nomination of Mr. Obama, and for one news cycle at least, as Republicans intended, Ms. Palin effectively muffled the news coverage of Mr. Obama’s acceptance speech to 80,000 people at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Thursday night.
Mr. Obama wished her well in a call from his campaign bus.
“He also wished her good luck, but not too much luck,” said Robert Gibbs, a senior strategist to Mr. Obama.
Mr. Obama’s fellow Democrats were considerably less welcoming, and most said they were flabbergasted by what they characterized as a desperate, cynical or dangerous choice, given Ms. Palin’s lack of any experience in national security.
“On his 72nd birthday, this is the guy’s judgment of who he wants one heartbeat from the presidency?” said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, who said the selection smacked of political panic. “Please.”
Mr. McCain’s advisers said Friday that Mr. McCain was well aware that Ms. Palin would be criticized for her lack of foreign policy experience, but that he viewed her as exceptionally talented and intelligent and that he felt she would be able to be educated quickly.
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“She’s going to learn national security at the foot of the master for the next four years, and most doctors think that he’ll be around at least that long,” said Charlie Black, one of Mr. McCain’s top advisers, making light of concerns about Mr. McCain’s health, which Mr. McCain’s doctors reported as excellent in May.
Many conservatives said that the choice would energize them, giving Mr. McCain the support of a highly active group of voters and volunteers whose support was crucial to both of President Bush’s victories.
“They’re beyond ecstatic,” said Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition.
Ms. Palin is known to conservatives for opting not to have an abortion after learning that the child she was carrying, her youngest, had Down syndrome. “It is almost impossible to exaggerate how important that is to the conservative faith community,” Mr. Reed said.
The choice of Ms. Palin was reminiscent of former President George Bush’s selection of Dan Quayle, then a barely known senator from Indiana as his running mate in 1988.
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Gov. Sarah Palin at the rally at a Dayton, Ohio, arena on Friday. Ms. Palin made an appeal to female supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times
It was far from clear Friday whether adding a woman to the ticket would persuade Clinton supporters to come over to the Republicans, given Ms. Palin’s differences with Mrs. Clinton on issues from abortion rights to her positions on health care and climate change. Some women said that the pick could be seen as patronizing, a suggestion that women would vote based on a candidate’s sex rather than on positions. But others saw the choice of Ms. Palin as a welcome step.
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“I think it’s absolutely fantastic,” said Kimberly Myers, a retired transit worker in Pittsburgh who had originally supported Mrs. Clinton but who said that Mr. McCain’s choice would win him her vote. “She’s actually broken the glass ceiling.”
As they began gathering in Minneapolis-St. Paul for the start of their convention on Monday, some Republican delegates said they were concerned that Ms. Palin did not have the experience in foreign policy or national security to be commander in chief.
“We’re in a global war, we’re in a global economy, so it’s less than honest if someone says that this woman is qualified to lead America right now,” said Todd Burkhalter, a Republican delegate from Mobile, Ala..
Her selection was kept secret until Friday morning, after the two men who had been rumored to be on Mr. McCain’s short list, former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, let it be known they were out of the running.
The McCain campaign said that Mr. McCain first met Ms. Palin in February this year at the National Governors Association meeting in Washington and came away “extraordinarily impressed.” But Mr. McCain apparently has spent little time with her.
Ms. Palin flew to Flagstaff, Ariz., on Wednesday evening to meet with two of Mr. McCain’s senior campaign aides, Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter, said Jill Hazelbaker, a campaign spokeswoman. The group met at the Flagstaff home of Bob Delgado, the chief executive officer of the Hensley Corporation, the family business of Cindy McCain, Mr. McCain’s wife.
After meeting with Mrs. McCain there the next morning, Ms. Palin was taken to the McCain vacation compound near Sedona, where Mr. McCain offered her a spot on the ticket at 11 a.m.
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She flew to Ohio later that day with Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Salter, and checked into a hotel as the Upton family. Ms. Palin’s children, who had been told they were going to Ohio to celebrate their parents’ 20th wedding anniversary on Friday, were informed there that their mother would be the Republican vice-presidential nominee.
Thursday evening she had a final meeting with Mr. McCain. One adviser suggested that although Mr. McCain was sure about his choice, he wanted to sit down with Ms. Palin one last time before he made what he knew would be an astonishing announcement the next morning.
As recently as last month, Ms. Palin appeared to dismiss the importance of the vice presidency in an interview with Larry Kudlow of CNBC, who asked her about her prospects for the job.
“I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me, what is it exactly that the V.P. does every day?” Ms. Palin told Mr. Kudlow. “I’m used to being very productive and working real hard.”
Correction: September 3, 2008
An article on Saturday about Senator John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate misstated the historical precedence of her candidacy and that of Geraldine Ferraro. Numerous women over the years have run for president and vice president on minor party tickets. Ms. Palin and Ms. Ferraro are not the only women who have been on presidential tickets.
Michael Cooper reported from Dayton and New Concord, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, and Elisabeth Bumiller from Washington. Reporting was contributed by John Harwood, Patrick Healy, Carl Hulse, Michael Luo, Adam Nagourney, Larry Rohter and Jeff Zeleny.
A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: ALASKAN IS McCAIN’S CHOICE; FIRST WOMAN ON G.O.P. TICKET. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe
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"Which American said ""Nothing is certain except death and taxes""?" | Quotes Uncovered: Death and Taxes - Freakonomics Freakonomics
Quotes Uncovered: Death and Taxes
February 17, 2011 @ 1:30pm
I’m back to inviting readers to submit quotations whose origins they want me to try to trace, using my book, The Yale Book of Quotations , and my more recent research.
Ewout asked:
Who was the first to say these famous words: “Nothing is certain except for death and taxes.” Some sources mention Ben Franklin, others say Mark Twain or Daniel Defoe. Thanks!
This is usually attributed to Benjamin Franklin, who wrote in a 1789 letter that “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” However, The Yale Book of Quotations quotes “‘Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes,” from Christopher Bullock, The Cobler of Preston (1716). The YBQ also quotes “Death and Taxes, they are certain,” from Edward Ward, The Dancing Devils (1724).
Do any readers have any other quotations whose origins they would like me to attempt to trace?
Ben Ramsey
February 17, 2011 @ 6:47pm
Where does the quote "A coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero but only one" come from?
Sam Adams
sounds like Tennyson to me, we'll see how the expert responds...
Don Rodriguez
"Death and Taxes", or, in other words, "Freud and Marx".
=
"The only two certainties in life are Freud and Marx."
Leland G
February 17, 2011 @ 7:54pm
The internets seem to attribute the following quote to Einstein: "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."
But I can't find ANY specific citation for it - not from Einstein's writings or a lecture/appearance, etc. It seems to have appeared out of thin air sometime in the late 90s. Any idea whence it comes?
Joshua Northey
February 17, 2011 @ 7:57pm
What is with the strange fixation with written citations? I realize that allows you to have a point of reference, which is nice, but isn't it clear from the historical record that a huge number of these famous quips were already circulating before pen was put to paper?
JimFive
February 17, 2011 @ 8:47pm
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 2: "Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once."
--
Drew
February 18, 2011 @ 12:07am
Was "Statistics are like ladies of the night...Once laid out you can do anything with them." really Mark Twain?
Eric M. Jones
February 18, 2011 @ 12:55am
@4- Leland G
I'll bet Albert Einstein never said such a thing. Furthermore until the year 2000 (and beyond) Google Books says he never said it either.
Marcus Bruté
February 18, 2011 @ 1:26am
How about "the _____ from Hell" (e.g. "the mother-in-law from Hell")? Was Richard Lewis really the first to use the expression?
John Torrey
February 18, 2011 @ 4:34am
A review of a movie or play: "When it wasn't putting me to sleep it was keeping me awake."
Cañada Kid
February 18, 2011 @ 7:12am
"Home is where the heart is."
I've not put much research into this one, but ever since you located my quote's origin (If at first you don't succeed...) I have been hearing this one bounce around, from books and novels to friends and family members. Thanks!
Casey
February 18, 2011 @ 1:38pm
I agree with the quote "Nothing is certain except for death and taxes." Everyone one dies, but not everyone lives. No matter what, you will always have to pay taxes. There will never be a time where this won't occur.
Eric M. Jones
February 18, 2011 @ 2:00pm
@11- Cañada Kid: "Home is where the heart is" seems to have arisen almost spontaneously in 1847. But my guess is it could be found as latin engraved on some Roman doorway or such. It would be easy to believe that this kind of motto is a translation from Latin or Spanish or Yiddish. One also has to wonder about the hearth-heart similarity.
Duncan Miller
February 18, 2011 @ 4:56pm
"Let's blow this popsicle stand"
I had heard something about it pertaining to a Jamaican man in the 40s storing radioactive material in a popsicle stand that later exploded, though I have doubts about this source's credibility.
rel
February 18, 2011 @ 5:03pm
I propose that we add "shipping & handling" to the list of life's inevitabilities in our modern age.
Adams Volker
"American Dream is the largest Ponzi scheme in human history"
Gary
Any idea who coined "He who swims against the current finds the source?"
Emily
February 21, 2011 @ 10:06pm
Is this really Albert Einstein? He supposedly was quoted in the NYT saying, "If I had my life to live over again, I would elect to be a trader of goods rather than a student of science. I think barter is a noble thing."
G Wolf
February 23, 2011 @ 5:43pm
Who are Christopher Bullock and Edward Ward? I can't seem to find any info about either of them.
Brian S
| Benjamin Franklin |
What movement was founded by Charles Taze Russell in 1881? | 130 Inspirational Quotes About Taxes | Inc.com
130 Inspirational Quotes About Taxes
In this world, nothing is certain except death, taxes and "inspirational quote" posts on Inc.com
CREDIT: Getty Images
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Taxes got you feeling blue? Don't despair! Here are a slew of famous (and not so famous) quotes to make your tax season a bit less taxing. Enjoy!
Adam Smith: "Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things."
Al Capone: "They can't collect legal taxes from illegal money."
Albert Bushnell Hart: "Taxation is the price which civilized communities pay for the opportunity of remaining civilized."
Albert Camus: Note, besides, that it is no more immoral to directly rob citizens than to slip indirect taxes into the price of goods that they cannot do without."
Albert Einstein: "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."
Alfred E. Neuman: "Today, it takes more brains and effort to make out the income-tax form than it does to make the income."
Andrew Cuomo: "New York State is upside down and backwards; high taxes and low performance."
Anonymous: "A fine is a tax for doing something wrong. A tax is a fine for doing something right."
Anonymous: "A person doesn't know how much he has to be thankful for until he has to pay taxes on it."
Anonymous: "Of life's two certainties, the only one for which you can get an automatic extension."
Anonymous: "People who complain about taxes can be divided into two classes: men and women."
Anonymous: "The best things in life are free, but sooner or later the government will find a way to tax them."
Arthur C. Clarke: "The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale."
Arthur Godfrey: "I'm proud to pay taxes in the United States; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money."
Arthur Vanderbilt: "Taxes are the lifeblood of government and no taxpayer should be permitted to escape the payment of his just share of the burden of contributing thereto."
Austin O'Malley: "In levying taxes and in shearing sheep it is well to stop when you get down to the skin."
Barack Obama: "We've got a tax code that is encouraging flight of jobs and outsourcing. And that's why we've specifically recommended ... that Congress change our tax code so that we stop giving tax breaks to companies that are moving to Mexico and China and other places, and start putting those tax breaks into companies that are investing here in the United States."
Barry Goldwater: "The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government."
Bauvard: "Every culture has some ritual for joining two people together and making them stay that way, and ours is giving tax breaks."
Benjamin Franklin: "Friends and neighbors complain that taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might the more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly."
Benjamin Franklin: "Our new Constitution is now established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes."
Benjamin Tucker: "To force a man to pay for the violation of his own liberty is indeed an addition of insult to injury."
Bill Archer: "We must care for each other more, and tax each other less."
Bob Dole: "The purpose of a tax cut is to leave more money where it belongs: in the hands of the working men and working women who earned it in the first place."
Bob Thaves: "I don't know if I can live on my income or not--the government won't let me try it."
Bonnie Raitt: Solar power is the last energy resource that isn't owned yet--nobody taxes the sun yet."
Boris I. Bittker: "The layman is far more inclined than the expert to trust paperwork as a shield against tax liability. Tax lawyers are bombarded at cocktail parties with tax schemes, offered as proof positive of the speaker's astute sophistication, that would not convince the most inexperienced revenue agent or that teeter on the brink of fraud."
Calvin Coolidge: "Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery."
Chris Rock: "You don't pay taxes--they take taxes."
Dan Bennett: "There's nothing wrong with the younger generation that becoming taxpayers won't cure."
Dave Barry: "Congresspersons are too busy raising campaign money to read the laws they pass. The laws are written by staff tax nerds who can put pretty much any wording they want in there. I bet that if you actually read the entire vastness of the U.S. Tax Code, you'd find at least one sex scene."
Dave Barry: "It's income tax time again, Americans: time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta."
David Frum: "The big winners under the American fiscal system are the rich, who pay some of the lowest taxes anywhere in the world; the old, who are the main beneficiaries of the American social service state; farmers, rural people. These are Republican constituencies."
David Mazzucchelli: "Yes: here's to the founding fathers--slave-owning British citizens who didn't want to pay taxes..."
Edmund Burke: "To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men."
Erving Goffman: "Man is not like other animals in the ways that are really significant: animals have instincts, we have taxes."
Evan Esar: "Some taxpayers close their eyes, some stop their ears, some shut their mouths, but all pay through the nose."
F.J. Raymond: "Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying as an income tax refund."
Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Taxes are paid in the sweat of every man who labors."
Franklin P. Adams: "Count the day won when, turning on its axis, this earth imposes no additional taxes."
Franklin Roosevelt: "Taxation according to income is the most effective instrument yet devised to obtain just contribution from those best able to bear it and to avoid placing onerous burdens upon the mass of our people."
Frederick the Great: "No government can exist without taxation. This money must necessarily be levied on the people; and the grand art consists of levying so as not to oppress."
George H.W. Bush: "Read my lips: no new taxes."
George Sutherland: "The legal right of a taxpayer to decrease the amount of what otherwise would be his taxes, or altogether to avoid them, by means which the law permits, cannot be doubted."
Gerald Barzan: "Taxation with representation ain't so hot either."
Grover Cleveland: "When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of government and expenses of its economical administration, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of free government."
H.L. Mencken: "Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages."
Ha-Joon Chang: "Once you realize that trickle-down economics does not work, you will see the excessive tax cuts for the rich as what they are--a simple upward redistribution of income, rather than a way to make all of us richer, as we were told."
Herman Wouk: "Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today."
Holly Sklar: "Taxes are how we pool our money for public health and safety, infrastructure, research, and services--from the development of vaccines and the Internet to public schools and universities, transportation, courts, police, parks, and safe drinking water."
Hugo Black: "The United States has a system of taxation by confession."
J.C. Watts: "Death and taxes may be inevitable, but they shouldn't be related."
Jack Canfield: "I have lived by one crucial principle since I was 24 years old. I don't blame or complain about things like the economy, the government, taxes, employees, gas prices, or any of the external things that I don't have control over. The only thing I have control over is my response to these things."
James M. Wayne: "The payment of taxes gives a right to protection."
James Madison: "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."
Jean Baptist Colbert: "The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to get the most feathers with the least hissing."
Jeff Foxworthy: "If your biggest tax deduction was bail money, you might be a redneck."
John Andrew Holmes: "If the Lord loveth a cheerful giver, how he must hate the taxpayer!"
John Marshall: "The power to tax is the power to destroy."
John Maynard Keynes: "The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward."
John S. Coleman: "What the government gives it must first take away."
John Sherman: "We are told that this is an odious and unpopular tax. I never knew a tax that was not odious and unpopular with the people who paid it."
Joseph Bonkowski: "The best things in life are tax free."
Joyce Marcel: "For patriots like me, paying taxes gives a feeling of responsibility, of being part of the fabric of our country, of contributing to the common good."
Judith Martin: "The invention of the teenager was a mistake. Once you identify a period of life in which people get to stay out late but don't have to pay taxes--naturally, no one wants to live any other way."
Lao Tzu: "The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes."
Laurence J. Peter: "America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation."
Laurence J. Peter: "Few of us ever test our powers of deduction, except when filling out an income tax form."
Leon Panetta: "If we don't do something to simplify the tax system, we're going to end up with a national police force of internal revenue agents."
Leona Helmsley: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."
Lord Bramwell: "Like mothers, taxes are often misunderstood, but seldom forgotten."
Marco Rubio: "We don't need new taxes. We need new taxpayers, people that are gainfully employed, making money and paying into the tax system."
Margaret Mitchell: "Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them."
Mark Cuban: "While some people might find it distasteful to pay taxes, I don't. I find it patriotic."
Mark Twain: "I shall never use profanity except in discussing house rent and taxes."
Mark Twain: "What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin."
Martin A. Sullivan: "There may be liberty and justice for all, but there are tax breaks only for some."
Martin D. Ginsburg: "There is an ancient belief that the gods love the obscure and hate the obvious. Without benefit of divinity, modern men of similar persuasion draft provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 341 is their triumph."
Max Baucus: "Tax complexity itself is a kind of tax."
Mignon McLaughlin: "Philosophy teaches a man that he can't take it with him; taxes teach him he can't leave it behind either."
Milton Friedman: "Congress can raise taxes because it can persuade a sizable fraction of the populace that somebody else will pay."
Milton Friedman: "We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes nonwork."
Morgan Stanley: "You must pay taxes. But there's no law that says you gotta leave a tip."
Nancie J. Carmody: "I am thankful for the taxes I pay because it means that I'm employed."
Oliver Wendell Holmes: "Any tax is a discouragement and therefore a regulation so far as it goes."
P. J. O'Rourke: In theory, taxes should be like shopping. What I buy is government services. What I pay are my taxes.:
Paul Leroy_Beaulieu: "Taxes are simply contributions demanded of citizens as their share of the expenses of government."
Paula Poundstone: "The wages of sin are death, but after they take the taxes out, it's more like a tired feeling, really."
Peg Bracken: "Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents?"
Plato: "When there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income."
Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Of all debts, men are least willing to pay their taxes; what a satire this is on government."
Randolph Paul: "Above all things, a tax attorney must be an indefatigable skeptic; he must discount everything he hears and reads. The market place abounds with unsound avoidance schemes which will not stand the test of objective analysis and litigation."
Richard Carlson: "At tax time, it helps to remember that if your tax obligation has increased from the previous year, it's usually because you're enjoying more income. That's a situation to which most of us aspire. Higher taxes are a price that we pay for greater success."
Richard Carlson: "Many people believe that where taxes are concerned, they are victims, held hostage by an inevitable process that allows them no input, no control. This passive approach becomes something of a self-fulfilling prophecy; where people believe that they lack control, they seldom try to assert control."
Rob Knauerhase: "Isn't it appropriate that the month of the tax begins with April Fool's Day and ends with cries of 'May Day!'?"
Robert A. Heinlein: "There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him."
Robert Brault: "The IRS is an agency modeled after the revenue raising concepts of the 19th century economist, Jesse James."
Robert Half: "People try to live within their income so they can afford to pay taxes to a government that can't live within its income."
Robert Heinlein: "Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss."
Robert Quillen: "Another difference between death and taxes is that you don't have to work like fury to pay for the dying you did last year."
Roger Jones: "I guess I think of lotteries as a tax on the mathematically challenged."
Ron Paul: "One thing is clear: The Founding Fathers never intended a nation where citizens would pay nearly half of everything they earn to the government."
Ron Paul: Income taxes are responsible for the transformation of the Federal government from one of limited powers into a vast leviathan whose tentacles reach into almost every aspect of American life."
Ronald Reagan: "The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
Ronald Reagan: "The taxpayer--that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination."
Ronald Reagan: "You can't tax business. Business doesn't pay taxes. It collects taxes."
Russell B. Long: "A tax loophole is something that benefits the other guy. If it benefits you, it is tax reform."
Snoopy: "Dear IRS, I am writing to you to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list."
Stephen King: "The rope by which the great blocks of taxes are attached to any citizenry is simple loyalty--loyalty to King, to country, to government."
Steve Forbes: "The flat tax would be so simple, you could fill it out on a post card. A post card that would say, in effect, having a wonderful time; glad most of my money is here."
Steve Forbes: "The politicians say 'we' can't afford a tax cut. Maybe we can't afford the politicians."
Steven LaTourette: "Our tax code is so long it makes War and Peace seem breezy."
Terri Guillemets: "I can give you 1040 good reasons we should improve our government."
Thomas Jefferson: "To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
Thomas Paine: "Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute."
Thomas Paine: "What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue."
Thomas Paine: War involves in its progress such a train of unforeseen circumstances that no human wisdom can calculate the end; it has but one thing certain, and that is to increase taxes."
Thomas Sowell: "Elections should be held on April 16th- the day after we pay our income taxes. That is one of the few things that might discourage politicians from being big spenders."
Vanya Cohen: "When there's a single thief, it's robbery. When there are a thousand thieves, it's taxation."
Walter B. Wriston: "All the Congress, all the accountants and tax lawyers, all the judges, and a convention of wizards all cannot tell for sure what the income tax law says."
Warren Buffett: "If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further. But I think that people at the high end--people like myself--should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we've ever had it."
Will Rogers: "Alexander Hamilton started the U.S. Treasury with nothing and that was the closest our country has ever been to being even."
Will Rogers: "Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for."
Will Rogers: "If you make any money, the government shoves you in the creek once a year with it in your pockets, and all that don't get wet you can keep."
Will Rogers: "The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has."
Will Rogers: "The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets."
William Cobbett: "Nothing is so well calculated to produce a death-like torpor in the country as an extended system of taxation and a great national debt."
William Simon: "The nation should have a tax system that looks like someone designed it on purpose."
Winston Churchill: "There is no such thing as a good tax."
Winston S. Churchill: "We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."
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The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
Published on: Apr 13, 2015
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Which sea area is south of South Utsire, north of German Bight, and eat of Forties? | Sea Areas of the Shipping Forecast - Part 1 | TheYachtMarket
Sea Areas Of The Shipping Forecast - Part 1
Sea Areas of the Shipping Forecast - Part 1
Post by: TheYachtMarket News
The hows, whys and wheres behind the names
Part 1. The Eastern Area – Viking to Thames
"Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight" – such evocative sounds, but where do they come from and why?
A bit of history
Gale warnings for the British Isles were first broadcast to ships approaching these shores as far back as 1911 but with the outbreak of war in 1914 they ceased and the service was not resumed until 1921.
In June of that year a specially prepared weather bulletin for shipping was broadcast twice daily from the wireless transmission station at Poldhu in Cornwall.
Then from 1st January 1942 a weather bulletin called Weather Shipping was broadcast twice daily from the Air Ministry Station GFA in London. The Sea Areas and Stations originally used were subdivided into districts named after islands, rivers or banks within them. (The same principle is still used) These names identify themselves immediately to the mariner.
Sea Areas were amended in 1932 but bulletins ceased at the outbreak of hostilities in 1939. They were resumed in 1945 in much the same form but by 1948 the need was felt for forecasts to cover a wider area and considerable extensions were agreed upon. Since then certain names have been changed and areas subdivided until today we have the present form known and loved by all those who travel at sea. Although areas are frequently grouped together for the forecast they always appear in the same order.
The areas – where are they and why are they so named?
Viking – an area covering the open sea between Norway and the Shetland Islands. It originally included N & S Utsire. The word comes from old Norse vikingr used to refer to Norse explorers, warriors and pirates from the late 8th to mid 11th century. Viking is actually the name of a sandbank in the North Sea. This area is stormy, heavily tidal and also shallow.
North Utsire and South Utsire – Utsire is a tiny, windy island of 4 square miles off the west coast of Norway with a population of approximately 240. The origin of the name is uncertain but may mean “strong stream”. It is located in the North Sea and is an area where the weather is extremely harsh. However it seems to suit the birdlife, which is very rich, there being over three hundred species of birds on it, more species than the total population. It does boast a local football team which apparently used to win most of their matches due to the sea-sickness of the visiting teams. After complaints from the defeated teams, the league pronounced that Utsire should play all its fixtures on the mainland resulting in hardly any wins.
Forties - an area in the North Sea named after a sandbank and also an area called the “Long Forties” which is fairly consistently 40 fathoms deep (73m). The area is the home to much of the North Sea’s oil and gas fields and it is approximately 100 miles from Aberdeen. Originally the area was larger but in 1955 the northern half was named Viking. It has no land boundaries at all.
Cromarty – is named after both a river estuary and a place, Cromarty, in the Burgh of Ross and Cromarty in the North Eastern tip of Scotland. The name originates from the Gaelic words crom (crooked) and bati (bay), or from ard (height). So it means either Crooked Bay or The Bend Between The Heights, referring to the high rocks or Sutors that guard the entrance to the Firth. They are said to be the sleeping forms of two giant shoemakers who protected the harbour from Vikings and pirates in past centuries. Now the estuary is home to more oil platforms.
Forth – named after a river estuary the Firth of Forth. The name originated from Gaelic and means Black River. The river itself is 29 miles long and is the major river draining the eastern part of Central Scotland. Seafarers will be familiar with the famous Bell Rock lighthouse, the oldest working lighthouse in the world and the legend of the Inchcape Rock. Fear of striking the rock was sometimes so great that vessels were wrecked on neighbouring shores while trying to avoid it.
Tyne - named after the river estuary of the River Tyne. Little is known about the origins of the name although it is thought that tin was a word meaning river in the local Celtic language. The river is a confluence of the North and the South Tyne which converge near Hexham in Northumberland. Included in the area is the town of Whitby in Yorkshire which was home to Captain Cook for three years. It was here that he studied and learned from the waters of the east coast how to charter through unknown seas.
Dogger – a sandbank in the North Sea. It is about 160 miles long and 60 miles wide and is approximately 20m shallower than the surrounding area. It is a productive fishing ground for cod and has been the site of several naval battles. The most bizarre of these was “The Dogger Bank Incident” of 1904 when the Russian Baltic fleet, instructed by the Tsar to sail for Japan and participate in the Russo-Japanese War, mistook a Swedish trawler for a Japanese ship and a fleet of British trawlers for Japanese torpedo boats. They opened fire and inflicted carnage on the fishing boats, not once wondering why they were not retaliating. The incident caused outrage and brought Britain and Russia to the brink of war. The tragedy was commemorated by a statue which stands in Hull. The area used to be larger but was subdivided, the north eastern half being renamed Fisher.
Fisher – named after a sandbank off the west coast of Denmark. It has a landfall on the west coast of Denmark which is part of Jutland and includes some of the area called Skagerrak. The Battle of Jutland in World War 1 was one of the largest naval battles in history. The British Royal Navy attacked the German Navy leading to heavy casualties on both sides. Initially it was regarded as a German victory but Britain remained in control of the North Sea.
German Bight – an area between the 2 headlands of the Netherlands and Denmark. In 1955 the name was changed from the original Heligoland, possibly because we did not like to be reminded of the failed raid against German surface ships by RAF bomber squadrons. We received more damage than the German ships and as a result daylight bombing was abandoned in favour of night missions.
Humber – the area around the estuary of the River Humber on the east coast of Northern England. Although it is now just an estuary, during the Ice Age, when sea level was lower, the river had a long freshwater course across the dried up North Sea. The area of sea off the Norfolk coast is notoriously treacherous for shipping and the stretch off Cromer is well named as the Devil’s Throat. It was here that one particularly stormy night in 1693 two hundred ships were lost and over a thousand lives. Thirteen miles out to sea from Cromer are the notorious Haisborough sands which together with their strong currents have produced a historic graveyard for ships travelling between Thames and Tyne.
Thames – named after the estuary of the River Thames, the longest river entirely in England and the 2nd longest in the UK. It includes the Principality of Sealand. Originally built for guarding the sea, the Maunsell Sea Forts were abandoned after the Second World War but in 1967 a British man Paddy Roy Bates occupied one of the towers and declared sovereignty. Now forty years later his son continues the legacy. After the disastrous North Sea flood of 1953 when 307 people in England lost their lives and there were further casualties on boats along North European coasts and in deeper waters of the North Sea, new flood control measures were put into place which culminated in the construction of the Thames Barrier in the 1970’s.
| Fisher |
Which German composer, born in 1776, wrote the opera 'Undine'. he shares his name with an American 'Oscar' winning actor born in 1937? | List of British Sea Areas
as listed in the weather report for shipping on BBC Radio4
Here's a nice but big (162K) map
I scanned it from the Radio Times, they managed to forget Bailey so I had to edit it in, which is why the lines and font are a bit dodgy there.
Here's one from the Met Office , a lot smaller but not as pretty, but it DOES have Trafalgar on it, and it makes the Lat and Longs more obvious.
South East Iceland: 64N18W..65N14W..63N7W..62N11W (roughly)
Faeroes: 63N7W..62N3W..59N7W..62N11W (roughly)
Fair Isle: 62N3W..61N00..58N00..58N5W..59N7W (roughly)
The above 3 form a diagonal band from the coast of Iceland down to the Greenwich Meridian at the Shetlands on the northern edge, and the Scottish coast on the southern edge. Fair Isle is 5 sided to get back into the normal squarish grid.
Bailey: Between 10W and 15W from South East Iceland down to about 58N
Rockall: Between 10W and 15W from Bailey (58N) down to 53N
Shannon: Between 10W and 15W, from Rockall down to 50N, and including the bits off the Irish coast.
Hebrides: The bit between Faeroes and Fair Isle, the Scottish coast, 10W, and 57N
Malin: Below Hebrides, between Rockall and the coasts, down to the narrowest point between England and Ireland
Irish Sea: The Irish Sea from Malin down to the narrowest point between Wales and Ireland
Lundy: Bounded by the south Welsh and north Cornish coasts, out to about 6.5W
Fastnet: Between Lundy and Shannon, with the south Irish coast above and 50N below
Sole: 6.5W..15W and 50N..48.27N, below Shannon and Fastnet
Finisterre, now renamed Fitzroy: Below Sole
Biscay: From Finisterre to the French coast
Plymouth: The mouth of the Channel to about 8W, Biscay below, Sole to the left
Portland: Up the channel from Plymouth to about 2W
Wight: From Portland to a line from about 50N2E(France) to 51N1E(England)
Dover: From Wight to a line matching the latitude 51N, near enough
Thames: Moving out towards the North Sea, as far as about 52.5N
Humber: Up to 54N, but loses a degree of its eastern extent halfway up
Tyne: A tiny bit about a degree wide along the coast from Humber up to about 56N
Dogger: Tyne to the left, Humber below, 4E at the right, up to about 56N
German Bight: From Humber and Dogger on the left to the continental coast
Forties: Directly above Dogger, ie about 56N..58.5N and 1W..4E
Forth: Between Forties and the Scottish coast, stopping at 57N
Cromarty: Between Forties and the Scottish coast, from Forth up to 58.5N or so, where it meets Fair Isle
Viking: Above Forties with Fair Isle to the west
Fisher: East of Forties and north of German Bight, but only as far as about 57.5N
North Utsire, South Utsire: The last bit between Viking and Forties and the Scandinavian coast
I appear to have listed them in the reverse order to that used by the weather forecasters. Never mind!
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Who was the last boxer defeated by Muhammad Ali? | Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Updated 1549 GMT (2349 HKT) June 6, 2016
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Since winning a gold medal in the 1960 Olympics, Muhammad Ali has never been far from the public eye. Take a look at the life and career of Ali, the three-time heavyweight boxing champion who called himself "The Greatest."
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, poses in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, prior to his amateur boxing debut in 1954. He was 12 years old and 85 pounds. As an amateur, he won 100 out of 108 fights.
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Ali rose to prominence at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, where he claimed a gold medal in the light-heavyweight division.
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Ali boldly predicted it would take him five rounds to knock out British boxer Henry Cooper ahead of their bout in London in 1963. The fight was stopped in the fifth round as Cooper was bleeding heavily from a cut around his eye.
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Patrick Power, 6, takes on Ali in the ring in 1963. Patrick was taking boxing lessons after getting bullied.
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Ali poses for a picture with The Beatles in Miami, during the run-up to his heavyweight title fight against Sonny Liston in 1964.
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Ali celebrates after defeating Liston in Miami on February 25, 1964. Upon becoming world heavyweight champion for the first time, Ali proclaimed, "I am the greatest!"
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Ali relaxes after his win over Liston in 1964. At 22, he became the youngest boxer to take the heavyweight title from a reigning champion.
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Civil rights activist Malcolm X, left, takes a picture of a tuxedo-clad Ali surrounded by jubilant fans in March 1964. Shortly after the Liston fight, Ali announced that he had joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name from Cassius Clay.
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Known for being as quick with his mouth as he was with his hands, Ali often taunted his opponents. He famously said he could "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Ali prepares to defend his heavyweight title in 1965.
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Ali stands over Liston during their rematch in Lewiston, Maine, on May 25, 1965.
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Ali eats at a restaurant in 1965.
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The referee pushes Ali to a neutral corner as Floyd Patterson slumps to the canvas in November 1965. The fight was stopped at the end of the 12th round and Ali was declared the winner.
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Ali signs an autograph for a fan in 1966.
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Ali visits a children's home in London in May 1966.
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Ali trains for his second fight against British champion Henry Cooper in May 1966.
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British talk-show host Eamonn Andrews shares a laugh with Ali in May 1966.
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Ali lands a right to the head of Brian London during their bout in London on August 6, 1966. Ali won by a knockout in the third round.
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Ali looks in his hotel-room mirror in February 1967.
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The referee counts as Ali looks down at Zora Folley during a championship fight in New York on March 23, 1967. Ali won by a knockout in the seventh round.
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As a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, Ali refused induction into the U.S. Army in April 1967. Here, top athletes from various sports gather to support Ali as he gives his reasons for rejecting the draft. Seated in the front row, from left to right, are Bill Russell, Ali, Jim Brown and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Ali walks through the streets of New York with members of the Black Panther Party in September 1970. Ali was sentenced to five years in prison for his refusal to enter the draft, and he was also stripped of his boxing title. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Ali's conviction in 1971, but by that time Ali had already become a figurehead of resistance and a hero to many. Related: Photographer fondly recalls his three days with Ali
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On November 2, 1970, Ali returned to the ring for his first professional fight in three years. He defeated Jerry Quarry in the third round.
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Known as the "Fight of the Century," Ali and Joe Frazier split a $5 million purse to fight for Frazier's title on March 8, 1971, in New York. Frazier won by unanimous decision, handing Ali his first professional loss.
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Ali toys with the finely combed hair of television sports commentator Howard Cosell before the start of the Olympic boxing trials in August 1972.
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Ali and Frazier appear on "The Dick Cavett Show" in January 1974. The two got into a brawl in ABC's New York studio and were fined $5,000 each.
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Ali passes a cheering crowd in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), on September 28, 1974. Ali was in the country to fight George Foreman, who had recently defeated Frazier to win the title.
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Ali and Foreman fight October 30, 1974, in what was billed as "The Rumble in the Jungle." Ali, a huge underdog, knocked out Foreman in the eighth round to regain the title that was stripped from him in 1967.
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Ali addresses a Nation of Islam meeting in London in December 1974. The following year, Ali left the Nation and embraced a more mainstream Islamic faith.
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Ali offers advice to future opponent Richard Dunn in March 1976. Ali defeated Dunn in the fifth round two months later. It was his last knockout win.
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Ali and his third wife, Veronica, second from right, visit the Kremlin in Moscow in June 1978. The two were married from 1977 to 1986. Ali was married four times.
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Ali takes his daily run along a Pennsylvania country road, shrouded in early morning fog, in 1978.
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Ali takes a hit from Leon Spinks during their title fight in New Orleans on September 15, 1978. Ali won by unanimous decision, regaining the title he lost to Spinks earlier that year.
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Ali sits with his daughters Laila and Hana at the Grosvenor House in London in December 1978. He briefly retired from professional boxing the following year.
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Ali came out of retirement on October 2, 1980, for a title fight with Larry Holmes and a guaranteed purse of $8 million. Holmes won easily, beating up Ali until the fight was stopped after the 10th round.
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Ali and Trevor Berbick weigh in for their fight in the Bahamas in December 1981. Berbick won by unanimous decision. It was Ali's last professional fight.
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Ali prays at a mosque in Cairo in October 1986. Two years prior, he revealed that he had Parkinson's syndrome, a disorder of the central nervous system.
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In 1990, Ali met with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to negotiate the release of 15 American hostages in Iraq and Kuwait. Here, Ali leaves Iraq with the hostages on December 2, 1990.
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Photos: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Ali lights the Olympic torch at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
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Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, gives Ali a replacement gold medal in 1996. Ali had thrown his 1960 gold medal into the Ohio River after he was criticized for not fighting in Vietnam.
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Ali and his fourth wife, Lonnie, unveil his special-edition Wheaties box in February 1999. The box marked the cereal's 75th anniversary, and it was the first time a boxer appeared on the cover.
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Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger raises Ali's hand during the Celebrity Fight Night charity event in Phoenix in March 2002. Schwarzenegger was presented with the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for his work with the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Research Foundation, the Inner-City Games Foundation and the Special Olympics. The award was presented by former CNN host Larry King, left.
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Ali arrives in Kabul, Afghanistan, in November 2002 for a three-day goodwill mission as a special guest of the United Nations. He was appointed as a U.N. Messenger of Peace in 2000.
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U.S. President George W. Bush presents Ali with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, on November 9, 2005.
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Members of the media watch a video of Ali before the grand opening of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky, in November 2005.
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Ali's wife, Lonnie, watches as actress Alfre Woodard presents him with the President's Award during the 2009 NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles.
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On May 24, 2011, Ali appears at the National Press Club in Washington to publicly appeal to Iranian officials for the release of captive hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. The hikers were released in September 2011, more than two years after their detention.
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Ali poses during a photo shoot outside his home in Paradise Valley, Arizona, in January 2012.
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Ali poses for a picture with, from left, Greg Fischer, Len Amato, daughter Laila Ali and Donald Lassere during the U.S. premiere of the HBO film "Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight" in October 2013.
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A boxing robe worn by Ali, which belonged to the late country singer Waylon Jennings, went up for auction in 2014.
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| Leon Spinks |
For what are the 'Hugo' awards given? | Muhammad Ali - boxing Topics - ESPN
Personal
Muhammad Ali is a former heavyweight champion boxer. A three-time heavyweight champion, Ali is widely considered one of the greatest boxers of all time. Before turning professional, Ali won a gold medal as a light heavyweight at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.
Born Cassius Clay, Ali changed his name after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964. Because of religious beliefs, Ali refused to serve for the U.S. military and was arrested and put on trial. Along with his legal woes, Ali was stripped of his heavyweight championship and had his boxing license suspended. The Supreme Court would eventually rule in Ali's favor in Clay v. United States in 1971.
During his prime, Ali was involved in two of the greatest fights in boxing history, taking part in "The Thrilla in Manila" against Joe Frazier and "The Rumble in the Jungle" against George Foreman.
After his retirement from boxing, Ali was diagnosed in 1984 with Parkinson's disease, which has severely affected his speech and mobility.
Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born on Jan. 17, 1942, in Louisville, Ky. to Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr. and Odessa Grady Clay. He was the younger of two children, as Clay had an older brother, Rahman, who was born as Rudolph Valentino Clay.
Clay started boxing at the age of 12 after his bike was stolen. Clay told Joe Martin, a police officer, that he wanted to beat up the thief. Along with being a police officer, Martin also trained boxers and persuaded Clay to work out at the local gym. His boxing career was born, and Clay had his first amateur fight in 1954, winning by split decision.
In 1956, Clay won the Golden Gloves Championship in the light heavyweight division. Three years later Clay won the Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions and the Amateur Athletic Union light heavyweight national title.
After graduating high school, Clay competed for the United States Olympic boxing team in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Clay took home the gold medal in the light heavyweight division after defeating Zbigniew Pietryzkowski from Poland. Clay finished with an amateur record of 100-5 before turning professional after the Olympics.
Cassius Clay made his professional debut on Oct. 29, 1960, in a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker at the Freedom Hall State Fairground in Louisville, Ky. Clay steamrolled through the competition during the first three years of his professional career. He was so dominant that he was able to correctly predict in what round he would knock out his opponents. In June 1963, Clay traveled to London to take on British heavyweight champion Henry Cooper. In front of a pro-Cooper crowd at Wembley Stadium, Clay won by technical knockout in the fifth round.
Despite his victory over Cooper, Clay was the underdog before stepping in the ring against Sonny Liston in 1964. Of 46 writers, 43 picked Liston to defeat Clay. The two squared off on Feb. 25, 1964, in Miami Beach, Fla. Clay was a 7-to-1 underdog but scored the upset victory over Liston after he didn't come out for the seventh round thanks to a shoulder injury. Clay won the heavyweight championship for the first time in his young career. After the fight, Clay celebrated with a dance in the ring and yelled, "I'm the greatest" and "I shook up the world!" It would go down as one of the most historic moments in Clay's career.
The day after the fight, Clay changed his name from Cassius Clay to Cassius X after joining the Nation of Islam. Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad eventually settled on the name of Muhammad Ali for Clay. "Muhammad" means worthy of praise, and "Ali" was the name of a cousin of the prophets.
Ali and Liston would step in the ring a year later in a rematch. The fight didn't make it past the first round after a so-called "phantom punch" from Ali knocked out Liston before only 2,434 fans in Maine.
Ali also had little trouble with Floyd Patterson in 1965, going 12 rounds with the former champion before the fight was stopped.
On Mar. 22, 1967, Ali defeated Zora Folley at Madison Square Garden, in what turned out to be his last fight for quite some time.
Vietnam War
Ali's victory over Folley would be his last fight for more than three years. Since the country was in the middle of the Vietnam War, the United States Armed Forces drafted Ali to serve for his country. In 1964, Ali failed the qualifying test because of his subpar writing and spelling skills. However, Ali was later reclassified in 1966 as 1A, making him eligible for induction into the U.S. Army.
Ali was outspoken about serving in the war and publicly said he wouldn't go to Vietnam if he was drafted. He said that the war went against the teachings in the Quran and famously said, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong ... they never called me n-----."
Ali appeared at his scheduled induction into the U.S. Army on Apr. 28, 1967, in Houston. An officer called Ali's name three times, and he refused to step forward. After an officer warned him of the consequences, Ali was arrested for committing a felony that was punishable by five years in prison and a fine of $10,000.
As a result of his arrest and induction refusal, Ali was stripped of the heavyweight title and had his boxing license suspended by the New York State Athletic Commission. Other boxing commissions followed suit and did the same.
Ali's case went to trail on June 20, 1967. After just 21 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Ali guilty, and the judge imposed he maximum sentence. A court of appeals upheld Ali's conviction, and the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court. While Ali was waiting for the Supreme Court to hear his case, he was gaining more public support for his views on the war.
Ali returned to the ring while waiting for the Supreme Court ruling, fighting in Georgia, which didn't have a boxing commission. On Oct. 26, 1970, Ali needed just three rounds to defeat Jerry Quarry.
On June 28, 1971, the Supreme Court ruled in Ali's favor and reversed his conviction by unanimous decision in Clay v. United States.
Return to the ring
With his legal issues resolved, Muhammad Ali moved forward full-time with his boxing career. While waiting for the Supreme Court to rule, the New York State Supreme Court had denied Ali a boxing license unjustly. After he was granted a license to fight in New York, Ali defeated Oscar Bonavena at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 7, 1970. Ali's victory over Bonavena paved the way for a showdown between the undefeated Joe Frazier.
The bout was dubbed "The Fight of the Century," and Ali and Frazier were undefeated headed into their March 8, 1971, fight at Madison Square Garden. Ali started off strong, holding the advantage over Frazier during the first three rounds. Frazier was able to keep things close before taking the advantage in the 11th round. Ali managed to escape from serious trouble until Round 15, when Frazier knocked him down for just the third time in his career. A shaken Ali got up and finished the final round, but the damage had been done. Ali had suffered his first professional loss as Frazier won by unanimous decision, retaining his heavyweight championship.
Ali rebounded with six victories in 1972, notching wins over Floyd Patterson and Jerry Quarry. He then defended the NABF heavyweight title against Ken Norton on March 31, 1973. Norton managed to break Ali's jaw in the fight and won by split decision. Ali was able to seek redemption against Norton by winning back his NABF championship in a split-decision rematch that didn't live up to the hype.
Ali got his rematch with Frazier in 1974 at Madison Square Garden. The winner of the fight would be in line to challenge George Foreman for the heavyweight title. Before the fight, Ali and Frazier got into a fight on the set of ABC's "Wide World of Sports" in New York. The fighters were reviewing their first fight when Ali called Frazier ignorant.
In the actual fight, Ali won a unanimous 12-round decision over Frazier.
"The Rumble in the Jungle"
With the win over Frazier, Ali finally had the opportunity to regain the heavyweight title he was stripped of in 1967. Rising star Foreman held the heavyweight championship after knocking down Frazier six times in a span of two rounds.
New boxing promoter Don King talked Ali and Foreman into signing separate contracts with the impression that he would be able to get $5 million for both fighters. Since King didn't have the money, he accepted an offer from Zaire president Mobutu Sese Seko to host the fight at Mai 20 Stadium in Kinshasa.
The fight was dubbed "The Rumble in the Jungle," and Ali and Foreman spent the summer of 1974 training in Zaire. Originally scheduled for September, the fight was pushed back until Oct. 30 after Foreman was injured during training. The young Foreman was a 7-to-1 favorite over Ali heading into the bout, which was fought in the early morning in Zaire.
Ali had a secret plan for Foreman, and the boxing world got its first glance at the "rope-a-dope" in the second round. Ali leaned on the ropes while covering up his body as Foreman threw punches that were deflected and didn't land squarely.
After several rounds of this strategy, Foreman started to tire in the ring while Ali's trademark taunting was in full effect. In the eighth round, Ali knocked Foreman down after a series of combinations. Foreman just made it up before the standing 10 count, but referee Zack Clayton stopped the fight. Ali handed Foreman his first loss and became the second heavyweight to regain his championship.
Ali successfully defended his heavyweight championship against Chuck Wepner on March 24, 1975, despite getting knocked down in the ninth round.
A documentary titled "When We Were Kings" was released in 1996 that focused on the buildup to the fight. The documentary won the Academy Award for best documentary feature.
The Thrilla in Manila
Ali and Frazier met for the third and final time on Oct. 1, 1975 in the Philippines. Less than a year after King scheduled a fight in Zaire, Ali and Frazier traveled to Quezon City in Metro Manila. The rivalry between the two fighters reached a boiling point after Frazier felt Ali betrayed him after being such a vocal supporter for him during his three-plus years away from the ring. Ali stuck to what he knew best, trash-talking. He taunted Frazier by referring to him as a gorilla.
The two men slugged it out in what would go down as one of the greatest fights in the 20th century. With Frazier's eye swelling shut, Ali took advantage in Round 14. Frazier practically couldn't see out of one eye, and that forced trainer Eddie Futch to step in and throw in the towel before the start of the 15th and final round. After the win, Ali said that this was the closest to dying he had ever come, as both fighters battled 100-degree temperatures.
Back in the states, Ali easily defeated Jean-Pierre Coopman, Jimmy Young and Richard Dunn. Ali scheduled an exhibition match with Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki in Tokyo. Inoki also studied mixed martial arts, and there were several stipulations and rules added in the match. Because of Inoki's strategy, Ali was able to land only six punches while suffering repeated kicks to his legs. The fight ended in a draw as Ali suffered an infection and two blood clots in his legs.
After Ali recovered from his injury, he successfully defended his heavyweight championship against Ken Norton at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 28, 1976, in a unanimous decision.
Ali lost his heavyweight title to 1976 Olympic gold medalist Leon Spinks on Feb. 15, 1978 in a split decision. After underestimating Spinks, Ali got revenge in a rematch seven months later.
Following the victory, Ali retired on June 27, 1979. He returned to the ring on Oct. 2, 1980, against Larry Holmes in an attempt to win the heavyweight championship for the fourth time. Holmes was too much for the 38-year-old Ali, and trainer Angelo Dundee refused to let him finish the fight. Ali was trailing on all three scorecards when the fight was stopped before the 11th round.
Ali's last fight was a unanimous decision loss to Trevor Berbick in 1981. Retiring for good, Ali finished his career with a 56-5 professional record.
The day after his loss to Trevor Berbick, Muhammad Ali announced his retirement from boxing in 1981. In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which was a result of the severe head trauma suffered during his time in the ring. The neurological syndrome affects his movement and speech to this day.
In 1996, Ali was given the honor of lighting the Olympic cauldron in Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Olympics. A noticeably shaky Ali was the first boxer to light the cauldron. Later during the Olympics, Ali received a replacement medal for his 1960 gold medal, which he said he had thrown into the Ohio River after being refused service at a whites-only restaurant.
In 1997, Ali was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award as part of the ESPY Awards. The BBC voted Ali as its sports personality of the century in 1999.
In 2001, a biographical film on Ali's career was made. Entitled "Ali," the film starred Will Smith as Muhammad Ali and was directed by Michael Mann. Smith and Jon Voight earned Academy Award nominations.
President George W. Bush awarded Ali the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.
The Muhammad Ali Center opened on Nov. 19, 2005 in his hometown of Louisville, Ky. The $80 million, six-story museum and cultural center was built as a tribute to Ali.
There have been a series of books released on Ali, but his autobiography, "The Greatest: My Own Story," was published in 1975 and written with Richard Durham. His autobiography was eventually adapted into a film, "The Greatest," released in 1977 and starring Ali as himself.
Nicknamed "The Greatest," Muhammad Ali is regarded as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. During his 21-year professional career, Ali defeated every top heavyweight during the era. Ali was named Fighter of the Year by Ring Magazine five times and was involved in its Fight of the Year five times as well. In 1998, Ali was named the greatest heavyweight in all eras by Ring Magazine. According to an ESPN.com poll, Ali was voted as the second greatest fighter of all time behind Sugar Ray Robinson.
Ali has appeared on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" 37 times, second among all athletes behind Michael Jordan.
Along with his skills in the ring, Ali was also known for his showmanship. Never shy, Ali often boasted as being the prettiest fighter along with being the best. Ali had so many memorable quotes that a book written by George Lois, "Ali Rap: Muhammad Ali, the first Heavyweight Champion of Rap," featured a collection of Ali's best lines during his career.
Muhammad Ali is currently married to Yolanda Ali. The two married in 1986 and have one adopted son, Asaad. Before his marriage to Yolanda, Ali was married three times. In 1964, Ali married Sonji Roi, and they were married for two years. In 1967, a 25-year-old Ali married 17-year-old Belinda Boyd. The couple had four children together (Maryum, Jamillah, Liban, Muhammad Ali Jr.). Ali and Boyd ended their marriage after he began an affair with Veronica Porsche. Ali and Porsche married in 1977 and had two daughters, Hana and Laila. The two divorced in 1986.
Laila followed in her father's footsteps and pursued a career as a professional boxer. She went 24-0 before retiring.
Ali resides in Scottsdale, Ariz.
VIDEO RESULTS FOR MUHAMMAD ALI
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Henri Donat Mathieu was better known as whom? | Yves Saint Laurent | Croco Magazine
Yves Saint Laurent
THE FILMIC LIFE OF YSL
Category
Papers
Written by Boris Ponton – Translated by Sylwia Grzegórzko
Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, better known as Yves Saint Laurent, was born in Algeria in 1936 and is regarded as one of the greatest couturiers of French haute couture and pret-a-porter in fashion history.
His influence was pivotal in the fashion world of the seventies and early eighties with his innovative styling of cloth and structuring of the female costume where he merged the classic and masculine with the fantastic.
Yves was born into a middle class family. He liked to create intricate paper dolls, and by his early teen years he was designing dresses for his mother and sisters. In 1953, aged eighteen, he won a contest for young fashion designers, organized by the International Wool Secretariat and was invited to attend the awards ceremony in Paris. After graduating in Foreign Languages at University in Algeria, he moved to Paris and enrolled at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, where he quickly emerged as the star pupil. He entered the International Wool Secretariat competition again and won, beating the young German student Karl Lagerfeld. His designs impressed Michel de Brunhoff, editor-in-chief of the French edition of Vogue magazine. Brunhoff went on to introduce Yves to the fashion giant, Christian Dior, who after a fifteen-minute interview, offered him a job at the House of Dior which was the most prestigious House in the world of fashion at that time. Dior died aged 52, from a massive heart attack in 1957. Twenty one years old Saint-Laurent, took over management of the brand, and the following year he launched his famous “trapeze dress”, catapulting him to international stardom. Unfortunately, he had to interrupt this work to fulfil his military duties in the Algerian war, but this only lasted two and a half months as he was soon declared unfit for the army on mental health grounds.
Yves Saint Laurent holds a drawing of the design that won a contest in Paris en1953. His success in the contest drew the attention of the team of designers at Christian Dior
Around the same time, he found out that he had been fired by House of Dior and replaced by Marc Bohan. Saint Laurent went on to sue Dior in 1961 for breach of contract and with his lover and partner, industrialist Pierre Bergé and a team of collaborators who came from Dior, he started his own fashion house – Yves Saint Laurent YSL.
Saint Laurent with his two friends, Betty Catroux and Loulou de la Falaise outside the YSL Rive Gauche boutique in London, 1969
He was the first French couturier to come out with a full prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear) line. He popularized trends such as the beatnik look – safari jackets, tight trousers, thigh-high boots and and and pantsuits with the first form of transparency ever – revolutionary for the time. Many of his collections were received rapturously by both his fans and the press, such as the famous classic tuxedo suit for women in 1966, Le Smoking. Still on full blast with the miniskirt, Saint-Laurent, inspired by the colourful paintings of Mondrian, incorporated it into his collection in 1965 with remarkable success.
Yves Saint Laurent poses next to a portrait of himself at his Paris boutique in 1966. Speaking on French radio, Pierre Berge, the designer’s former business and personal partner, said he’d empowered women. “In this sense he was a libertarian, an anarchist and he threw bombs at the legs of society.”
In 1966 he opened his first boutique, Rive Gauche, where his first customer was Catherine Deneuve. Rive Gauche quickly developed into a worldwide chain of 150 stores with a staff of ten thousand. In 1974, he introduced a series of haute couture with menswear pants, blazers and shirts, which were characteristics of the female wardrobe from the seventies. Equally, his formal attire was sumptuous, fantastic, colourful, romantic and often inspired by exotic outfits in Cossack style. In 1978, he launched his children’s line of pret-a-porter, exclusively for the United States.
Warhol forged personal relationships
with many fashion designers like Yves Saint Laurent, for whom he created a paneled portrait in 1972 based off a series of Polaroids to be sold in the Christie’s auction (pictured)
Of Saint-Lauren’s perfumes, ‘Y’ was released in 1964, ‘Rive Gauche’ in 1977, ‘Opium’ in 1981 and ‘Paris’ in 1989. He also made perfumes for men, and famously posed naked in 1971 to advertise their release, causing much consternation. Yves’s innovations in the world of fashion, especially in terms of colour and pattern design, and the incredible number of prototypes made for his collections, were increasingly, globally acclaimed. He also designed costumes for both ballet and theatre, and in 1983 Diana Vreeland organized a retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum Of Art – Saint Laurent was the first living designer to receive such an accolade.
Over time however, Saint Laurent’s health began to deteriorate under the pressure of designing two haute couture and two prêt-à-porter collections every year and he turned more and more to alcohol and drugs. The company ran in to several economic problems, and had to merge with the the French public oil-holding company, Elf Sanofi, specifically its Sanofi-Beauté division, which controlled other well-known brands in the fashion world. Saint Laurent and Bergé separated, creating even more havoc to the blighted House and in 1998, the firm was acquired by LVMH. The great couturier died in Paris in 2008, his death a great loss to the world of fashion.
The first is a conventional biopic, made for not bothering anyone, that recreates the figure of the character, meteoric me off in the fashion world and his tortured relationship
with drugs and Pierre Bergé, partner, lover and protector private life of the great couturier. From the point of view of the critics, this vision of Yves Saint Laurent, has not curdled far the categorized as classical, monotonous and made to please …
The second, Saint Laurent, directed by Bertrand Bonello, director best considered Jalil Lespert , has better creative team is histrionic, lyrical, sometimes macabre and considered by critics as “fascinating from beginning to end.” Bonello has made a more impressionistic work, a portrait showing the life of Saint Laurent during the years 1965-1976 and at some points in his last days of his life. It should be mentioned, that in this film, which premiered at the Cannes festival not to overly convinced that they saw there. In her lovers, excess alcohol and drugs and all mixed with a lot of sleaze and sadness appear. Your search for that most anything in life designer, not finished either own or convince strangers.
In both cases, the directors focussed more on the personality of the man rather than his magnificent talent and his artistic universe. In the end, it is the public who has the last word – the public who will make their own judgment on the intense and exciting life of the great character that was Yves Saint Laurent.
| Yves Saint Laurent |
Ray Barneveld in 2005, Jelle Klaasen in 2006, and Martin Adams in 2007 were all World Champions in which field? | 10 FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT YVES SAINT LAURENT
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10 FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT YVES SAINT LAURENT
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10 Fascinating facts about Yves Saint Laurent
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The French fashion designer Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, who is better known worldwide as Yves Saint Laurent, was born on 1 August 1936 and died June 1, 2008. He has been called the most consistently celebrated and influential designer ever and is regarded as one of the greatest names in fashion design. You know the name and you know the label, but how much do you know about the man himself? Here are ten facts about Yves Saint Laurent that you may not have known:
1. He started in fashion as a boy
Yves Saint Laurent had an eye for fashion from a very young age and he started his career by designing dresses for his two sisters and his mother. The world of fashion design was opened up to him, when his mother took him to Paris, at the age of seventeen, to meet the editor of French Vogue, Michael DeBrunhoff.
2. He was bullied when he was a child
The designers’ interest in fashion and clothes lead him to being bullied at school for appearing to be gay. Sadly, his childhood was a pretty cloudy one and he was known to be a nervous child who frequently took time off from school.
3. He was born in Algiers
Yves Saint Laurent was born in French occupied Algeria and didn’t move to France until he was in his late teens. He first came to prominence when he won a design contest organised by the International Wool Secretariat. It was then that he came to the attention of Christian Dior, who hired the young designer on the spot.
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4. He served briefly in the army
He was called up to serve in the army in his native Algeria, but he only served for about twenty days. The army wasn’t the place for the young designer and he suffered a nervous breakdown and was transferred to a French Mental hospital, suffering from stress.
5. Cristian Dior sacked him
When Yves Saint Laurent returned from his ill-fated brief spell in the army, he found that his job with Cristian Dior was no more. The news came as a big shock to the designer, but he went on to set up his own designer label and eventually collected £48,000 in compensation from Dior.
6. He once posed naked
The designer shocked the fashion world when he posed naked in 1971 in an advertisement for his own cologne for men, Pour Homme. The picture wasn’t especially targeted at gay men, but it is said to have had a strong resonance within the gay community.
7. He was the first living designer honoured by the Metropolitan Museum of Art
In 1983, YSL was honoured by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York city, with his own, solo, exhibition, the first living person to be given such an honour.
8. He suffered from mental disorders and addictions
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His childhood and army experiences had a marked impact on his life and Yves Saint Laurent had a lifelong battle with bi-polar disorder, alcoholism and drug abuse. According to his lover, Pierre Bergé, Yves Saint Laurent was crazy with happiness one day and black with depression the next.
9. He feminised male fashion
Famous for the “Le Smoking” tuxedo jacket and for his see-through blouses, Yves Saint Laurent has also been credited for feminising the entire male wardrobe. He was one of the first designers to bring cutting and shape to the male wardrobe.
10. He is credited with empowering women and ethnic minorities
Yves Saint Laurent has been credited as the person who democratised fashion and making it available to more people. He was the first designer to use models from ethnic minorities and his designs brought looks to women that had only previously available to men.
Do you want to share some other facts about Yves Saint Laurent?
Feel free to share them in the comment section below.
Stay happy!
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What is the capital of Lesotho? | What is the Capital of Lesotho? - Capital-of.com
Dates of religious and Civil
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Capital of Lesotho
The Capital City of Lesotho (officially named Kingdom of Lesotho) is the city of Maseru. The population of Maseru in the year 2006 was 227,880.
Lesotho, formerly known as Basutoland, is an English speaking country that does not border with any sea.
Additional Information
| Maseru |
'Myosotis' is better known as what? | Maseru
Weather Maseru
MASERU
Maseru — whose name is a Sesotho word meaning “place of the sandstone” — is the capital city of Lesotho and also the capital of the Maseru District. It is situated on the Caledon River, which separates Lesotho from South Africa, and is Lesotho’s only sizeable city, with a population of approximately 227,880 (according to a 2006 census).
At the end of the Free State-Basotho Wars in 1869, Maseru was established as a small police camp by the British when Basutoland became a British protectorate. It was not long before it grew into a busy market town.
It is located at the edge of the “conquered territories” relinquished to the Orange Free State (now the Free State province of South Africa) as part of the peace terms at the conclusion of the war. It is 24 kilometres (15 mi) west of King Moshoeshoe I’s stronghold, Thaba Bosiu, the previous de facto capital. Maseru was the state’s administrative capital between 1869 and 1871, before administration of Basutoland was transferred to the Cape Colony.
Between 1871 and 1884, and much to the chagrin of the Basotho people, Basutoland was treated in the same way as territories that had been forcefully annexed. This led to the Gun War in 1881 during which many buildings in Maseru were burned. In 1884, Basutoland’s status as a Crown Colony was restored, and Maseru was again made the capital.
When Basutoland gained its independence and became the Kingdom of Lesotho in 1966, Maseru remained the country’s capital. Prior to Lesotho’s independence, Maseru had remained relatively small; it was contained within well-defined colonial boundaries and, as the British had little interest in developing the city, there was little growth.
After 1966 Maseru expanded rapidly from a mere 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi) to the current area of 138 square kilometres (53 sq mi), mainly thanks to the incorporation of nearby peri-urban villages to the city proper. The annual population growth rate remained around 7% for several decades, before tapering off to around 3.5% between 1986 and 1996.
Suspicions of widespread vote-rigging during Lesotho’s 1998 parliamentary elections led to military intervention by South Africa, and much of the city was damaged by riots and pillaging. The cost of repairing the damage was estimated at around two billion rand (350 million $US), and a decade later the effects of the riots could still be seen within the city.
Basotho Hat Info Office
S 29º 18' 47.0 E 027º 28' 41.2
S 29º 18' 59.7 E 027º 29' 38.4
S 29º 18' 57.1 E 027º 29' 09.0
S 29º 19' 23.0 E 027º 29' 56.1
S 29º 17' 52.2 E 027º 27' 07.4
S 29º 17' 59.8 E 027º 28' 14.9
S 29º 18' 56.2 E 027º 28' 55.5
S 29º 27' 06.5 E 027º 33' 42.2
S 29º 18' 50.4 E 027º 29' 11.6
S 29º 20' 07.7 E 027º 28' 41.4
S 29º 19' 25.6 E 027º 30' 09.7
S 29º 18' 47.6 E 027º 28' 56.6
S 29º 22' 43.0 E 027º 33' 28.0
S 29º 24' 11.0 E 027º 33' 45.1
SEMONKONG
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Which actor provided the television voice for 'Captain Scarlet'? | Captain Scarlet voice actor Francis Matthews dies - BBC News
BBC News
Captain Scarlet voice actor Francis Matthews dies
15 June 2014
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Image caption Francis Matthews starred in numerous dramas and comedies as well as lending his voice to Captain Scarlet
Actor Francis Matthews, who was the voice of Captain Scarlet in Gerry Anderson's 1960s TV show, has died at the age of 86.
Matthews lent his voice to the indestructible puppet hero, who defended the Earth in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, in 1967 and '68.
The actor also played private detective Paul Temple in the BBC series of the same name from 1969.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Captain Scarlet was created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson after their success with Thunderbirds
"We are very sorry to report that Francis Matthews, best known to Gerry Anderson fans as the voice of the indestructible puppet hero Captain Scarlet, has died aged 86," it said.
The statement recounted how they chose Matthews for the role of Captain Scarlet because he sounded like Cary Grant.
Matthews also appeared in Hammer horror films including The Revenge of Frankenstein and Dracula: Prince of Darkness plus the Morecambe and Wise movies The Intelligence Men and That Riviera Touch.
Other TV roles included one opposite George Cole in the 1970s BBC sitcom Don't Forget to Write!
But it was Captain Scarlet that continued to inspire devotion among its fans, to Matthews' bemusement.
"They really are anoraks," he told The Independent in 2006. "They dress up and stare at you when you're signing the autograph as if you're some kind of extraordinary God."
Image caption Matthews appeared with Morecambe and Wise in a string of films and TV specials
Image caption He starred with George Cole in the BBC comedy Don't Forget to Write!
| Francis Matthews |
'Economo's Disease', or 'Trypanosomiasis' is better known as what? | Cast of Characters: Captain Blue
CAST OF CHARACTERS
CAPTAIN SCARLET and the MYSTERONS UNOFFICIAL WEBSITE
by Chris Bishop
UPDATES: June 22, 2014; New information added
"Gentlemen, I cannot elaborate. Captain Scarlet will live... He will continue the fight against the Mysterons. Perhaps sooner than you think."
Captain Blue (voice by Ed Bishop) in the episode "Point 783".
SPECTRUM PERSONNEL: CLOUDBASE STAFF OFFICERS
Sources: TV Century 21 material (Annuals, books and magazines), Engale Marketing's Century 21 magazine, Issue 15, Winter 1995, Fleetway Magazines, Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons book by Chris Drake & Graham Bassett, Complete Book of Captain Scarlet by Chris Bentley� all related to TV Century 21 material - Photo-montages provided by dedicated fans.) * Gerry Anderson the authorised biography, by Simon Archer and Stan Nicholls, Legend books, 1996
- ** UFO and Space 1999, by Chris Drake, Boxtree, 1994 - *** text taken from Sci Fi Online interview by Keri Allen).
Senior staff officer, colour-coded Captain. The usual partner of Captain Scarlet.
Real name :
Blond
Puppet specifications:
Captain Blue�s facial characteristics were generally thought to be based on Ed Bishop. In �The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet�, by Chris Bentley (Carlton Books, 2001), Terry Curtis, the sculptor who made the puppet, revealed that Captain Blue was �a kind of version of myself�, although Sylvia Anderson had told him to base the puppet�s features on a likeness of the actor who provided the voice - Ed Bishop.
Adam Svenson was born a year after the Atomic War of Europe, which lasted from 2028 to 2034. The eldest son of a wealthy family from Boston, his father was a successful financier. The family fortune ensured he had a first-rate education and Adam was very successful at school; winning a full scholarship to the renown Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the early age of 16. Here he gained first-class honours degrees in economics, technology, applied mathematics, aerodynamics and computer control. It seemed as if Adam was destined for a successful career in the family business, but he disappointed his father by choosing a very different career that appealed more to his yearning for an exciting, action-packed lifestyle.
Adam enrolled in the World Aeronautic Society in 2055, at the age of 20, and whilst serving there received training in military-based strategy and piloting skills, in order to become an aircraft test pilot. Possessing courage and drive, Adam was acclaimed as a fearless pilot. In 2057 his superiors at the WAS, observing his energy and courage, believed that his inherent qualities could be put to better use and transferred him from the job of test pilot to that of an active field agent in the security department. At first dismayed by this change in his career, Adam soon realised the challenges this new job provided. The WAS�s security was persistently being compromised by the infiltration of enemy agents, and saboteurs, so with the help of twenty hand-picked officers, it was his job to take care of the problem. He did so with enthusiasm, determination and ruthlessness.
Hampered by unseen forces, and always unsure if the people working alongside him were double or triple agents working for the enemy, Adam suffered many setbacks on the way to achieving his target. In his first six months of joining the WAS security department, three assassination attempts were made on his life by Bereznian agents, but he finally succeeded in bringing the reign of sabotage and spy infiltration to an end, proving his ability to get results despite the odds against him.
Adam Svenson�s success at the WAS, as well as his strong personality and vitality, brought him to the attention of the Spectrum selection committee in 2065, and he was amongst the first men to be approached with the offer of the rank and colour code of Captain Blue � a new challenge that Adam accepted.
Trustworthy, perseverant and loyal to a fault, Captain Blue is the ideal Spectrum officer. He demonstrates an ability to work for Spectrum in many capacities and has, when the situation demanded it, replaced Colonel White as the commander of Cloudbase (�White as Snow�) and Lieutenant Green as Communication Officer (�Avalanche�). It is Blue who is given the task of driving the eccentric lunar vehicles when Spectrum investigates Mysteron threats on the Moon.
Blue is the ideal field partner for Captain Scarlet and is also his best friend. Although very self-disciplined, Blue does sometimes display wilfulness, especially in support of his friend (�Special Assignment�, �Renegade Rocket�). On duty, he inspires those working alongside him; off duty, he retains his forceful, sceptical, possibly over-confident personality (�White as Snow�), but has developed a seemingly endless patience with his fellow officers.
Blue loves outdoors activities, taking every opportunity to travel down to the east-coast of Australia, where he enjoys water-skiing, surfing and deep-sea fishing.
Captain Blue appears to have romantic feelings for Karen Wainwright (Symphony Angel), which he sometimes allows to cloud his judgment. These feelings are obviously reciprocated by Symphony.
If there could be said to be �evidence� of a relationship between any of the major characters in the TV series, it would be between Captain Blue and Symphony Angel (And it is certainly the most common relationship described by fanfic writers within the fandom).
In the early episode �Manhunt�, Blue admits to having given Symphony �a medallion� for her birthday and Captain Scarlet encourages him not to worry as �Symphony will be all right� when the Angel goes missing, and is believed to have been captured by the Mysterons� Agent, Captain Black. But even this reassurance does not stop Blue urging his colleagues to storm into the Culver Atomic Station in search of her; threatening to go in alone when Scarlet points out their orders are �to wait�. Finally, during the colonel�s debriefing session back on Cloudbase, Blue is shown as being somewhat over-protective of the Angel pilot by answering the colonel�s question �How are you feeling, Symphony?� before she can get a word in.
The penultimate episode �Attack on Cloudbase� could also be used as evidence that there is a relationship between the two Americans, as Blue apparently confesses his feelings to Colonel White when the latter asks him, �What�s wrong with you, man? Are you in love with the girl?� after Blue has burst into Cloudbase�s Control Room, once more demanding to be allowed to rescue Symphony � this time after her plane has crashed in a desert. However, the evidence of �Attack on Cloudbase� is not as clear-cut as it might at first seem, given that the incident turns out to be a dream of the dehydrated and obviously concussed Symphony Angel.
What is evident is that Symphony has feelings for Captain Blue, because when he and Captain Scarlet arrive to save her, she is repeatedly calling his real name and in the closing scene, when she explains to Colonel White and her friends just how frightening the dream had been; she tells everyone �You were all different somehow��� everyone it seems, except Captain Blue, who asks, �How was I in your dream, Symphony?� only to be told, �You were just� Adam.� - at which point the puppets are seen gazing at each other until Captain Scarlet breaks the spell with his comment, �Sounds to me as if it wasn�t so bad.�
Blue's uncle facing a killer bird ('Redbills Island')
Official TV21 sources describe Adam Svenson as �the eldest son of a wealthy financier�. From this it is usually deduced that he has at least one younger brother. As Blue is said to have been born in Boston, Massachusetts, it is assumed the family lives there. Beyond that nothing is known.
The TV/Century 21 magazine introduced an uncle named Matthew (no last name divulged) in one comic strip, 'Redbills Island'. In this story, Uncle Matthew is an ornithologist, writing a story on birds nesting in a remote island - birds that the Mysterons, coincidentally enough, decide to Mysteronise to use as weapons. However, as it is the case for any relatives presented in comic strips, some fans might not view these characters as part of the official background, as they do not consider comic strips as �canon�.
The names of Captain Blue's parents, as most commonly used in fan fiction, are pure �fanon�. Chris Bishop created the characters of John and Sarah Svenson and gave Captain Blue three siblings � two brothers (Peter and David) and a younger sister (Katherine) for her story �A Symphony in Blue�.
All these Svenson family characters have been used by other authors, notably by Marion Woods, who gives them prominence in a number of stories (especially: �The Passengers�, �Seasonal Adjustments� and 'Masquerade').
John Svenson, as seen by Marion Woods for 'Masquerade'
Chris Bishop also created Blue�s maternal uncle, Michael Ellis, a lieutenant in the Boston police department for 'A Symphony in Blue'.
Marion Woods created the character of Blue�s paternal grandfather (Stefan) whose close relationship with his grandson is one of great importance to Adam, (Sojourn) and a cousin, Eric Svenson.
These are not the only characters that appear in the fan fiction and other authors (for example, Sage Harper, 'Relative Troubles') have created alternative versions of the Svenson family.
The CGI series gives Blue an entirely different parentage and background: an un-named three-star General for a father who is a military advisor to the U.S. President and a family history of military service. His mother Julia (n�e Jacobsen), is a nurse and he has two younger brothers � Luke and Benjamin � who are both in the U.S. Army. He is said to have been born in Fort Hood, Texas and to have attended West Point Military Academy. He was awarded the Purple Heart for bravery, during the Global Terrorist Conflict.
Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue
The relationship between Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue is pivotal to the original TV series; with the strong impression being that they are great friends and excellent working partners. This has been used in almost all fan fiction; although sometimes it is taken as meaning they have a homosexual relationship. There is no evidence to support that, and Blue�s relationship with Symphony could be said to make it unlikely.
The CGI Captain Blue is described in supporting literature as Scarlet�s �gung-ho battle-hungry friend�.
In the early episodes of the New Captain Scarlet CGI series (1-13), Captain Blue plays a much less prominent role than he did in the original series. Destiny Angel has become Captain Scarlet�s �unofficial� partner. In the first episodes, the friendship between Blue and Scarlet appears to be far less trusting � with Blue expressing doubts that Scarlet is free from Mysteron control in �Instrument of Destruction � part 2�.
In the second half of the series (episodes 14-26), Blue does feature more regularly and there are indications that he and Scarlet are friends � particularly in the episode �Storm at the end of the World� where Scarlet shows great concern for his injured partner.
Other Interesting facts
It was the Captain Scarlet Annual (1967) that gave details of Adam Svenson�s full �career background� (Winning a full scholarship to at Harvard University at 16, disappointing his father by joining the World Aeronautic Society, and so on�) The book also stated that he was transferred to the Security Department with the task of weeding out �enemy agents� from the service.
The later 1993 �Official Captain Scarlet Annual� states that Adam Svenson:
��won a transfer [from the WAS] to the U.S. Security Department to become an active secret agent. With a force of 20 hand picked agents, he set about revolutionising his command in Eastern Europe � with such success that Bereznik, the breakaway dictatorship opposed to the World Government took exception to the improvements and on three separate occasions attempted to kill him. Each time Svenson managed, by ingenuity and quick thinking, to save himself.�
There is no explanation of why this background information was changed.
The 1967 annual states that Blue enjoys an outdoor life and that his hobbies are: water-skiing, surfing and deep-sea harpoon fishing. The 1969 TV21 Annual contains an interview with �Captain Blue� about his hobby of �surf-riding� which states he is the �current world record holder for the longest ride�: 5,000 feet set at Waikiki Beach, Oahu in 2064. (This would surely have lead to a breach of security as anyone could look up the world record holder and thus identify Captain Blue of Spectrum.)
One source ('Thunderbirds calendar is Go', 1987) states that he was awarded the World Government�s highest military medal (the Valour Star) by the World President. The only other recipient is named as Captain Troy Tempest of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol.
The headline �Hero Award for Captain Blue� does appear on a later edition of the TV21 comic. The story line includes the information that Blue is on his way to Unity City to receive the Medal of Honour for Bravery.
The man who was Captain Blue
Ed Bishop
As mentioned above, Captain Blue�s facial characteristics were generally thought to be based on Ed Bishop. However, in �The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet�, by Chris Bentley (Carlton Books, 2001), Terry Curtis, the sculptor who made the puppet, revealed that he made Captain Blue as a version of himself, (although Sylvia Anderson had asked that the puppet�s features be based on Ed Bishop.) The controversy will probably rumble on for years to come.
The actor who provided the voice, Ed Bishop, was born George Victor Bishop, in Brooklyn, New York on 11th June 1932. He changed his name to Edward (Ed) Bishop on becoming a professional actor, to avoid confusion with another actor called George Bishop.
Educated in Peekskill, New York State, he graduated from High School in 1950 and after a short spell at Teacher Training College; he went into the United States Army in 1952 to do his National Service. He worked in the Armed Forces Radio Services and first started acting in a local amateur theatre group.
Once discharged from the Army, he started a course in Business Administration at Boston University, but in 1956 he enrolled in a two-year drama course instead, and graduated in 1959 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in the Theatre.
He was able to continue his studies at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) after winning a United States Fulbright Grant. He stayed on in England, working on television and in the theatre, as well as in feature films, including parts in Stanley Kubrick�s �Lolita� (1961) and �2001: a space odyssey� (1968) � although most of his scenes in that Sci-Fi classic ended up on the cutting room floor as the film was over-running.
In 1967, came the first of his collaborations with Gerry Anderson, when he was cast as the voice of Captain Blue, in the Supermarionation program, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. He appeared in all 32 episodes of the series, as well as in the audio adventures released on record. In his authorised biography, Gerry Anderson says: �I was intentionally listening out of sight of the artists, as seeing them as they do the voices can throw you. Ed has a wonderful voice, which he often refers to as his �wall to wall corporate voice�, and he was instantly taken on board to play the role of the smooth talking co-star Captain Blue.�*
Captain Blue and Commander Straker
In 1969 he worked with Gerry Anderson again, on the film Doppleg�nger (Also known as �Journey to the far side of the Sun�) and was cast as Commander Ed Straker in Anderson�s first live-action production UFO.
He appeared in all 26 episodes of the series, which was broadcast in the UK in 1970-71.
Gerry Anderson explained his choice for the role by saying: �I wanted to get somebody who was a good actor, who would turn up on time, who was very workmanlike and who understood the British people � that guy was Ed Bishop. I cannot say enough in support of the man; he is everything, I think, that a good artist should be.�**
Reviews of UFO were mixed; people associated Anderson�s shows with children�s adventure series and the storylines in the new show were far more mature. This lead to many regional Independent TV companies scheduling it in irregular time slots; however the series did generate a positive response and plans were well underway for a second series, especially as, when it was syndicated in the US, it led the ratings in New York and Los Angeles for seventeen consecutive weeks.
However, for various reasons, the second series was never made and Gerry Anderson went on to make Space 1999 instead.
Bishop went back to America in 1972 and landed a vocal role in the animated Star Trek series, and a role in the movie Pets (1972). He then returned to England and continued to work in films and in roles in many TV series, most notably as the motor-mouth TV anchorman, Jay Garrick, in all six episodes of the cult LWT sitcom Whoops Apocalypse! He was also busy with radio productions for BBC Radio 4. He starred as Detective Elijah Bailey in an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel, portrayed Philip Marlowe in a series of six adaptations of Raymond Chandler's detective novels, and had a role as the American tourist, Al Clancy, in The Archers. In October 2002, he starred as John F Kennedy in the programme Kennedy's Secret Tapes on the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
First version of the CGI Blue
He worked on numerous voiceovers for television advertising campaigns.
In 2000, Ed Bishop was called on by Gerry Anderson to once again voice Captain Blue, for a 4 minutes short movie reel to help promote a possible new series of Captain Scarlet � to be done in CGI animation. Francis Matthews was also called back to do the voice of Captain Scarlet. This movie was very popular at the fan conventions when it was shown, but people had to wait a few more years (until 2005) before actually being able to view the new CGI series called Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet. Sadly, however, neither Ed Bishop nor Francis Matthews were to be part of the voice cast � the producers feeling that their voices sounded too old for the characters.
Politically active, Ed Bishop participated in the British protest against the Iraq war , in March 2004.
Ed Bishop was a frequent guest at many Sci-Fi conventions, and remained a firm favourite with the fans of the Anderson shows. Asked in an interview if he had an interest in Sci-Fi, Bishop replied: �No, not really. I don�t have an overwhelming interest in the subject. It was an acting job� actors have to do this. I keep going to conventions and getting fan mail from all over the world, it�s extraordinary. It�s partially to do with sci-fi, as it does stretch the imagination. Westerns and the cop genre come and go, but I think sci-fi sticks around.� ***
Ed Bishop died on the morning of Wednesday, June 8th, 2005, aged 72. He was married twice and had four children, one of whom, his son Daniel, predeceased him.
The many faces of Captain Blue�
Graham (left) and Joe (right) in 'Secret Service')
CGI Captain Blue
The character of Captain Blue, created for the New Captain Scarlet CGI series, is not to be confused with the original Supermarionation character. Very different physically, and with a different background, although they share the same real name, the CGI Blue also has a very different attitude. There is really little resemblance between the CGI Blue � a gung-ho, Rambo-like character � and its smooth-spoken, much less impetuous predecessor; although both characters share a similar kind of friendship with their own Captain Scarlet, and have the same heroic approach to facing danger in order to do their duty and save their friends� life. In that example, a close comparison can be made between the original Blue and the CGI character in the classic series episode, �Manhunt� and the CGI episode, �Homecoming�.
With the character of Symphony Angel taking a very minor role in the new series, the odds for any kind of romance for Captain Blue are in favour of the female Lieutenant Green (Serena Lewis). In the episode �Swarm� it is hinted that Captain Blue might have feelings for her � and that she might very well return them � when Blue demands permission to rescue the young woman from danger. He shows a similar concern when Green is kidnapped by her Mysteronised father in �Homecoming�.
At the end of the episode �Duel�, Blue and Green are shown chatting companionably together over a friendly drink, while Scarlet dances with Destiny Angel.
Casting call!
Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Snow-White and the Huntsman, Rush) would just be the perfect choice for Captain Blue, should a live-action Captain Scarlet movie be done these days! He's very tall, handsome, has just about the right height, eyes are blue and hair can be made blonder if needed be. And he can act!
At least, this is this webmaster's personal opinion. What's yours?
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In which year did John Charles, Princess Juliana, Peter Ustinov and Yasser Arafat die? | Team selections for Derby Dead Pool 2004
Team selections for Derby Dead Pool 2004
Key to symbols
unique pick (+1 point in the event of a hit)
joker (double points in the event of a hit)
Jump directly to a team:
Alison The Assassin
First year in DDP.
A late entrant and refugee from a now-defunct rival deadpool. A younger-than-average selection of celebs, with a definite leaning towards the music and entertainment industry.
Years in DDP: 9
Best position: 3rd= (2000)
DDP organiser 1996-2002, now taking a back seat but still entering a strong (or weak, depending how you look at it) team.
Years in DDP: 2
Best position: 40th (2002)
A warm welcome back to the Zimbabwean tyrant and his backing group. Must surely improve on his previous performance of finishing 40th, as we've barely got that many teams this year.
Years in DDP: 5
Best position: 17th (2003)
One of two teams captained by a cat, but Cefor, with just 5 hits in the last 4 years, has been unable to match the success of his feline rival, Whitaker.
Dave's Dead, Aye Dead Drunk
First year in DDP.
Initially tried to pick Sammy Davis Jr, who's only been dead for 13 years, but after that false start, has fielded a respectable team.
Dead As A Dodo
First year in DDP.
Newcomer with no fewer than 16 unique picks in the team. A risky strategy, which could pay dividends, but could also mean bottom-of-the-table obscurity.
Deathlist.net
First year in DDP.
An entry from the organisers of another celeb death-related website, so we're expecting great things of them. Check out their site at (you guessed it) www.deathlist.net .
Best position: 1st (1998 & 1999)
The boozy Glaswegian and twice DDP champion is always one to watch.
Eat My Dust
First year in DDP.
A fighting choice of team name from this newcomer. Will their line-up of mainly elderly celebs leave the rest of us for dead?
Years in DDP: 6
Best position: 2nd= (2001)
Was the bookies' choice last year, but a disappointing 14th place has led the ever-helpful Ed to make several changes to his team for 2004.
Ferret's Foragers
First year in DDP.
Another younger-than-average team, with a few unique picks, but only 19 players, due to the inadvisable selection of Jimmy Stewart, who died in 1997. 'Mad' Frankie will be sending the boys round in retribution for picking him...
I'm Feeling Better...
First year in DDP.
The jovial Brummie new boy has gone for some populist choices; massively overweight '80s popster Buster Bloodvessel could certainly net him a few points.
Years in DDP: 2
Best position: 12th= (2002)
Returning after a year's absence from the DDP, the automotive types have gone for a fairly conservative selection of mainly aged celebs.
Years in DDP: 9
Best position: 2nd (1996)
Other than Big Iain himself, the only competitor to have taken part in DDP every year since the start. Has finished 2nd, 3rd (twice) & 4th - could this be the year for JJ to take top spot?
Years in DDP: 4
Best position: 1st (2002)
Runner-up in 2001 and winner in 2002, Joe had (by his standards) a disappointing year last year, finishing 9th equal, but he's still one to watch.
Years in DDP: 7
Best position: 7th= (1998)
A DDP regular since 1998, but has always languished in mid-table obscurity. It remains to be seen how this year's mixed team of nobility, entertainers and politicians will fare.
Lyn's Down and Under
First year in DDP.
Another team weighted towards popular culture, and their choice of cult hero Rolf Harris is nothing short of sacrilegious!
Years in DDP: 6
Best position: 2nd (1999)
One of the most experienced DDP competitors. Put in a strong performance last year, finishing equal 3rd, and has replaced the 7 members of his team who popped off with some fairly obscure choices this time round.
| 2004 |
Who is missing from this list - 'Dancer', 'Dasher', 'Donner' ,Blitzen', 'Vixen', 'Prancer' and 'Comet'? | Colonel Neville Always Dresses For Dinner. : Colonel Neville the Political and Cultural Bower Bird Attempts a Clear Out of Hell.
Colonel Neville Always Dresses For Dinner.
Le Colonel Neville s’habille Tojours Pour le Diner. Semper Fi. Thomas Sowell: "There are three questions that I think would destroy most of the arguments on the left. The first is compared to what? The second is at what cost and the third is what hard evidence do you have?” Live free or die or both. Satirical empirical conservative. No, really.
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Colonel Neville the Political and Cultural Bower Bird Attempts a Clear Out of Hell.
Colonel Neville: Iraqi Christian Assyrian children murdered by Muslims. Via Islam Monitor org. These are two photos that always haunt me, literally. Are they not beyond the super desolate and despair? It's the end. I note the ordinary domestic scene and why the boy was on the coffee table, with his sister on the floor etc. And the terrible, terrible damage that so bubbles up my rage...
And what I know is that I will never see these photographs or their like in the MSM, nor the backstory ever referred to. We mustn't be rude to the false volcano God of multicultism whatever the cost, eh?
The entire free Western Canon is being relentlessly sacrificed to it.
Yep, authentic Muslims are doing this kinda thang 24/7 all over the world to every religious, ethnic and any other group, including in the Muslim world to other Muslims, and have been for around gee, about 1300 years. Go figure. That's Mohammad, the Koran and Islam for ya.
It's the nihilist totalitarian political project from the screaming abyss.
Well dear sports, I won't have much time to devote to blogging for a few weeks or who knows how long. Yep, things are a real riot. So I've decided to post the enormous backlog of articles I've collected over the last months. Each day I'll put up a Himalaya or two. These are the oldest and I'll work forward to the latest. All the best from Colonel Nevile.
“Baghdad, Iraq - Two Assyrian Christian children have been killed in Baghdad. Raneed Raad 16 and her sister Raphid 6 were slaughtered in their home.
The family who are well known Assyrian Christians had been threatened. While the family was out terrorists entered and shot the two Children at point blank range.
We are doing our best to get out to the world the simple message that the Assyrian Christians who are the indigenous people of Iraq are being intimidated, threatened and killed simply because they are Christians. The world must not stand by and watch. The last time this happened during the Assyrian Genocide nearly 2/3rds of our population were killed` says Amir George from Baghdad.
We appeal to the world to help us at this critical time so that we can attain autonomy in our homeland as guaranteed in article 53 of the new Iraqi Constitution as the only way to for us to survive. We urgently need help in moving back to our villages from where we were forcibly uprooted by Saddam.` he continues.
The European Union in a recent report concluded that aid and infrastructure assistance was not getting to the Assyrian Christian community in Iraq in spite of massive amounts of support being distributed throughout the country.
MEP Albert Jan Maat believes elements of `religious favoritism` as the reason for help not getting to the Assyrian community in Iraq. `International. aid is mainly distributed through regional and therefore moslem leaders and seldom or never reaches the Assyrians.` he said."
Jewish World Review: Protect your friends know your enemies.
Via Israeli Policy Forum:
"The terrorist was able to surprise the children who were then playing in the settlement's center. He arrived suddenly and struck them with an axe. Shlomo Nativ (13) sustained a critical blow to the neck. [...] he was able to make it home bleeding. There he collapsed and died. Yair (7) sustained a blow to the head.
After this the terrorist ran into Avinoam Maimon, a resident of the community. "I turned towards the terrorist and then he jumped me.
I didn't get that he was a terrorist until he swung the axe. Then I realized this was a life threatening situation. He tried to strike me, but I caught his arm and we struggled for a few moments. At a certain point I brought him to the ground and was able to get the axe out of his hand. I prayed to god and cried out for people to call for help.
The terrorist escaped Maimon, who then began attending the injured Yair. He then realized that Shlomo had sustained greater injuries and attended him until the medical team arrived. But by the time this happened, it was too late. After a few minutes of resuscitation, he was declared dead."
Via Frontpagemag: Phyllis Chessler on the bullshit of Most Wanted regards the true Islamic face of the murder of the Said sisters by their gee, Muslim Father and Muslim family of co-conspirators to murder.
Via Timesonline:
"Our armchair jihadists. After being shot, Sami Yousafzai fled Pakistan for London, thinking he was escaping Islamic extremism. He was shocked by the menacing support for the Taliban he found here. Many immigrants were blatant, vocal and unquestioning in their support for what they imagined to be “jihad”.
Few seemed troubled by the brutality that had characterised the reign of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader, or by his banning of music or of education for girls.
Indeed, many looked back on Omar’s rule as a kind of Islamic utopia and eagerly snapped up the Islamist leaflets handed out after Friday prayers at various mosques.
...His vehemence surprised me. Now 23 years old, Jan had been born in eastern Afghanistan and attended a madrasah in Pakistan. The Taliban were still ruling Afghanistan when his parents paid a people-smuggler to sneak him to England at 14.
There he applied for political asylum, claiming the Taliban had persecuted him and his family. Now, of course, he’s a legal resident yet openly cheers for his supposed oppressors to defeat troops from his adopted homeland. The irony seems lost on him.
In London he prowls the streets as a one-man, self-appointed morality patrol. He castigates any young Muslim couples whom he sees holding hands in public and he criticises acquaintances for shaping their beards into what he disapprovingly calls a “French cut” that frames the mouth.
His diatribes can be frightening. Several young men told me they were afraid Jan had friends who could create problems for them or their relatives in Afghanistan or Pakistan. Some feared they might be disowned if Jan got word to their families about their “immoral” lives in London.
At a neighbourhood restaurant one day, I noticed that my waiter looked miserable. Khalil, a clean-shaven, broad-shouldered young Afghan who wears a gold ring in one earlobe, told me that he’d been dumped a few days earlier by his girlfriend, a beautiful young Englishwoman.
They’d been out walking when Talib Jan marched up and began denouncing Khalil, threatening to let his family back in Afghanistan know that their son was having a forbidden affair.
The girl was frightened by Jan, but more than that, she was furious at Khalil for lying to her: he had told her he was Turkish. She told him they were through.
...The shop’s 35-year-old owner, a Pakistani from Peshawar, loves to show them the latest Taliban videos on his mobile phone, featuring beheadings of alleged anti-Taliban “spies” and ambushes of US forces.
The shopkeeper disturbed me: he is relatively well educated and a former banker, yet makes no secret of his Islamist leanings. Giving change, he avoids touching a woman’s hand.
He also claims that in his days as a radical religious student in Peshawar in the mid1990s, he and a group of friends murdered several prostitutes in what he calls a “moral cleansing drive”. (This may or may not be true.) He warned me about speaking against the Taliban, even in London: people’s loved ones at home could get hurt, he said darkly.
...One 50-year-old engineer told me he worries constantly about his four children – particularly his two sons, aged 19 and 20. They seem addicted to internet porn, he says, but what scares him even more is the amount of time they spend on jihadist websites. He worries as well about extremist operatives who hang out at local mosques, trying to recruit young people to the Taliban cause.
...In Britain he applied for political asylum, thinking he had finally escaped the Taliban’s wrath. Then the phone woke him one night at 3am. “Death angels will soon clutch at your throat,” an Afghan voice warned. “Remember, we have Islamic brothers in the UK. Your family should not rest easy in Kandahar, either.”
He says he could only listen to the voice, too scared to say anything himself.
Now Alokozai worries all the time. Too many Afghans in London sympathise with the Taliban, he says. He thinks many recent asylum seekers, especially those from southern Afghanistan, have ties to the Taliban and remain under the sway of extremist ideas. “They will create trouble for Britain in the near future,” he predicts.
...”These people are as narrow-minded and have as much hate in their eyes as the Taliban do in Afghanistan,” he says. “I cannot understand how these Afghans and Pakistanis can wear western clothes, dance and drink and then condemn me and see the Taliban as their heroes.”
Neither can I. On a train one day I met Owais, a 27-year-old Pakistani from Kashmir, who began praising the Taliban and talking seriously of going to live in Afghanistan after Mullah Omar returned to power.
“My fervent wish is that, next winter, we may be able to breathe freely in the restored Islamic state of Afghanistan,” he declared in Urdu. Here you can breathe freely, too, I told him.
At this point his travelling companion butted in. “No, only in a true Islamic state can we be free,” said Ishaq, a 25-year-old Afghan immigrant who was wearing a long white tunic over his jeans. “The West is destroying the spirit, soul and values of Islam. Muslims should avoid contact with the West.”
As I go home to my family, I too wonder and worry about such men. There is too much of Peshawar in them – and in London.”
Pajamasmedia:
"Media spin isn’t matching Muslim reality. “The ruling politically correct narratives about pirates and American empire and about Islam and women will doom western civilization and all those who share its values if we refuse to understand the difference between civilization and barbarism; if we continue to falsely accuse Israel of “apartheid” and fail to condemn Islam for its gender and religious apartheid.
Finally, the concept of a “narrative” is an armchair philosophy. When the brave Navy Seals rescued Capt Phillips they were acting in the real and very dangerous world, they were not safely narrating a tale.”
Anne Coulter on the beyond belief MSM treatment of the one-legged terrorist shitbag.
"After being captured fighting with Taliban forces against Americans in 2001, Abdullah Massoud was sent to Guantanamo, where the one-legged terrorist was fitted with a special prosthetic leg, at a cost of $50,000-$75,000 to the U.S. taxpayer. Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, Massoud would now be able to park his car bomb in a handicapped parking space!
No, you didn't read that wrong, because the VA won't pay for your new glasses. I said $75,000. I would have gone with hanging at sunrise, but what do I know?
Upon his release in March 2004, Massoud hippity-hopped back to Afghanistan and quickly resumed his war against the U.S. Aided by his new artificial leg, just months later, in October 2004, Massoud masterminded the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers in Pakistan working on the Gomal Zam Dam project.
This proved, to me at least, that people with disabilities can do anything they put their minds to. Way to go, you plucky extremist!”
The Spectator: Obama's war against Christians:
“The more illiberal a religion, the more liberals tend to like it. Western liberals who propose no place for God in the public square can usually be counted on to excuse non-western religions that impose a false and dangerous one upon it.
The explanation for this apparent contradiction goes beyond the childish and self-hating affinity of western liberals for all things non-western. The deeper reason is western liberalism's attachment to irrationality. Having ruptured a once-harmonious relationship between reason and religion in their own culture, western liberals can't seem to stop themselves from championing similar ruptures in alien ones.
By different routes of irrationality, western liberals and militant Muslims arrive at the same spot. Western liberals reach it by a distorted "reason" without faith, militant Muslims by a distorted "faith" without reason, with each imbalance producing its own culture of death: abortion and euthanasia in the west, jihad in the east.
An old-style liberal like Oriana Fallaci found it amazing that Enlightenment liberals could defend so enthusiastically the gross illiberal tendencies of militant Muslims and puzzled over how two seemingly different groups could turn up on the same side in debates. But it is not surprising if one considers their shared rejection of reason properly understood and the common enemy that rouses them -- a lingering Christianity in the west.
But, says the day-to-day watcher of politics, who cares? What does any of this have to do with Barack Obama's speech in Turkey earlier in the week? A lot, actually.
Behind the speech is the above-mentioned phenomenon; it contained a deep sympathy for Islam that Obama would never extend to traditional Christianity.
As Obama gears up to abolish the conscience rights of Christian pro-lifers at American hospitals, as he uses executive orders to force Christians to finance abortions at home and abroad, as he places Christian opponents of gay marriage in the moral category of racists, he tells Turkey that "America is not and never will be at war with Islam" and accepts the moderation of Muslims without question.
Never mind that self-proclaimed moderate Muslims in Turkey, Sufi-Shia Muslims, have been persecuted by the Turkish government; never mind that Turkish Christians have been persecuted too, banned from opening churches or running seminaries and thrown into jail for insulting "Turkishness" after giving open witness to Jesus Christ.
No, none of this is worrisome to Obama. His enemy is not Islam abroad, but Christianity at home. Indeed, if he treated Muslims the way he treats believing Christians in America, Muslims would call it a holy war.
As far as Obama is concerned, the only religion to be "reformed" -- which is to say destroyed -- is not the west's historic adversary but its progenitor. Islam is peaceful, he pronounces, while traditional Christianity is bigoted and dangerous.
Islam is a friend to America, while traditional Christians are, as Obama supporter Tom Hanks described Proposition 8 supporters, "un-American."
Obama has in effect declared to Christians in America: either bring your understanding of Christianity into line with my liberalism or don't bother entering the public square. You want federal money? Well, then perform abortions, distribute condoms, hire homosexual activists, etc., etc. He would never dare talk to Muslims in those terms. He will give back ancestral swords to freed Muslims from Guantanamo Bay and hand forceps to Christian doctors.
If Muslims had to endure patronizing and lying secularist drivel from him like "Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values," they would riot. Cowed and secularized Christians just nod and offer him an honorary degree.”
Via Hotair:
“Two European companies — a major contractor to the U.S. government and a top cell-phone equipment maker — last year installed an electronic surveillance system for Iran that human rights advocates and intelligence experts say can help Iran target dissidents.
Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a joint venture between the Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia and German powerhouse Siemens, delivered what is known as a monitoring center to Irantelecom, Iran’s state-owned telephone company.”
Mark Steyn on how Kofi Annan got his kickbacks from rooting Saddam for six.
Five Years Ago Monday, 13 April 2009:
"Judging both from the President's Apology Tour of Europe and from some of his judicial appointments, America seems to be moving in a more transnational and multilateral direction. Nothing wrong with that, as long as we're talking about real allies with shared interests. But if, instead, we mean simply deferring to corrupt transnational agencies it's as well to understand where that leads. This piece on the disgusting Kofi Annan's "supervision" of the corrupt UN Oil-for-Food program comes from The Sunday Telegraph:
"War without the UN is unthinkable," huffed The Guardian's Polly Toynbee a year ago, just before it happened. For a certain type of person, any action on the international scene without the UN is unthinkable. And, conversely, anything that happens under the UN imprimatur is mostly for the unthinking.
No matter how corrupt and depraved it is in practice, the organisation's sunny utopian image endures. Say the initials "UN" to your average member of Ms Toynbee's legions of the unthinking and they conjure up not UN participation in the sex-slave trade in Bosnia, nor the UN refugee extortion racket in Kenya, nor the UN cover-up of the sex-for-food scandal in West Africa, nor UN complicity in massacres, but some misty Unesco cultural event compered by the late Sir Peter Ustinov featuring photogenic children of many lands.
So the question now is whether the UN Oil-for-Food programme is just another of those things that slip down the memory hole, and we all go back to parroting the lullaby that "only the UN can bring legitimacy to Iraq/Afghanistan/[Your Basket Case Here]". Legitimacy seems to be the one thing the UN doesn't bring, and I'm not just talking about the progeny of UN-enriched Balkan hookers in Kosovo...
Where did all the other billions go? According to Kofi Annan himself, some $31 billion went on other "humanitarian" spending for Iraq. Such as? Well, in 2002, the Secretary-General expanded the programme to cover other "humanitarian" categories such as "sport", "information", "justice" and "labour and social affairs".
In Saddam's Iraq, "sport" meant Uday's rape rooms, and "justice" meant a mass grave out in the desert, but that's not to say there weren't attendant expenses involved.
So Kofi himself directly approved such "humanitarian" items as $20 million for an "Olympic sport city" (state-of-the-art rape rooms) and $50 million for Iraq's Ministry of Information.
As the US Defence Contract Management Agency's report put it after the liberation, "Some items of questionable utility for the Iraqi people (eg, Mercedes-Benz touring sedans) were identified". The Jordanian supplier of school furniture had to be let go on the grounds that he didn't exist. At the UN they were taken aback by this impertinent auditing by US government agencies.
True, he approved some scrutiny. All Oil-for-Food shipments into Iraq had to be inspected - initially by Lloyd's Register of London, but in 1998 they were let go and replaced by a Swiss company, who had on the payroll a consultant by the name of Kojo Annan, son of Kofi. Hmm. In other words, Oil-for-Fraud is everything the Left said the war was: it was all about oil - for Benon Sevan, for the UN, for France, Russia and the others who had every incentive to maintain Saddam in power.
Every Halliburton invoice to the Pentagon is audited, but Saddam can use Kofi Annan's office as a front for a multi-billion dollar global kickback scheme, and, until it was brought to public attention by the tireless Claudia Rosett of The Wall Street Journal and a few other persistent types, the Secretary-General apparently never noticed.
Mr Sevan has now returned to New York from Australia. The lethargic Aussie press had made little effort to run him to ground because the notion that lifelong UN bureaucrats could be at the centre of a web of massive fraud at the expense of starving Iraqi urchins is just too, too "unthinkable" for much of the media.”
How jihadists get mountains of MSM support via the last almost a newspaper standing in Oz, The Australian:
“IN July 2005, al-Qa'ida's chief strategist Ayman al-Zawahiri outlined a critical element of his organisation's war against the West.
"We are in a battle and more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media. We are in a media battle for the hearts and minds of our umma (community)."
.. Al-Qa'ida used the Qatar-based AlJazeera television network as a regular forum. Senior al-Qa'ida strategist Mustafa Hamid, also known as Abu Walid al Masri, who was married to Australian woman Rabiah Hutchinson, was a correspondent for Al Jazeera in Kandahar at the same time that he was a serving member of bin Laden's advisory Shura Council.
...Richardson cites an article by an al-Qa'ida operative, Abu Ubeid al-Qurashi, which was published in the group's online magazine al-Ansar, which described the Palestinian massacre of the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Munich Olympics as
"the greatest media victory".
"Four thousand journalists and radio personnel and 2000 commentators and television technicians were there to cover the Olympic Games," al-Qurashi wrote. "Suddenly they were broadcasting the suffering of the Palestinian people. Thus 900 million people in 100 countries were witness to the operation by means of television screens."
Al-Qurashi went on to observe: "The September 11 (operation) was an even greater propaganda coup. It may be said that it broke a record in propaganda dissemination. It is accepted wisdom that the jihadists' aggressive media offensive is a key reason their movement continues to flourish and why the terrorists' freedom-fighter narrative has proven so enduringly potent for millions of Muslims.
Yet the intelligence and security agencies with the task of countering terrorism remain stubbornly reluctant to join the media battle, typically refusing to answer media questions, engage in public debate or explain and justify their actions and policies."
UK = soft totalitarianism. Or not so soft...
"Hal G. P. Colebatch says Britain is "evolving into the first modern soft totalitarian state":
“...there are thought police with unprecedented powers to dictate ways of thinking and sniff out heresy, and there can be harsh punishments for dissent.
Nikolai Bukharin claimed one of the Bolshevik Revolution's principal tasks was "to alter people's actual psychology". Britain is not Bolshevik, but a campaign to alter people's psychology and create a new Homo britannicus is under way without even a fig leaf of disguise.
The Government is pushing ahead with legislation that will criminalise politically incorrect jokes, with a maximum punishment of up to seven years' prison.
A 14-year-old schoolgirl, Codie Stott, asked a teacher if she could sit with another group to do a science project as all the girls with her spoke only Urdu. The teacher's first response, according to Stott, was to scream at her:
"It's racist, you're going to get done by the police!"
Upset and terrified, the schoolgirl went outside to calm down. The teacher called the police and a few days later, presumably after officialdom had thought the matter over, she was arrested and taken to a police station, where she was fingerprinted and photographed. According to her mother, she was placed in a bare cell for 3 1/2 hours.
She was questioned on suspicion of committing a racial public order offence and then released without charge. The school was said to be investigating what further action to take, not against the teacher, but against Stott.
Headmaster Anthony Edkins reportedly said: "An allegation of a serious nature was made concerning a racially motivated remark. We aim to ensure a caring and tolerant attitude towards pupils of all ethnic backgrounds and will not stand for racism in any form..."
Hate-crime police investigated Basil Brush, a puppet fox on children's television, who had made a joke about Gypsies. The BBC confessed that Brush had behaved inappropriately and assured police that the episode would be banned.
A bishop was warned by the police for not having done enough to "celebrate diversity", the enforcing of which is now apparently a police function. A Christian home for retired clergy and religious workers lost a grant because it would not reveal to official snoopers how many of the residents were homosexual. That they had never been asked was taken as evidence of homophobia.
This is why the U.N.'s "group defamation" protection for Islam will have a real impact in the "free world." In important ways, the OIC and the advanced western social democratic state already the same lingo.”
Forthardknox: Phyllis Chessler on a Palestininan Feminist state of mind.
"I am perpetually stunned by how successfully the propaganda about Palestine-the-occupied-country has swept through the minds of educated western people and left nothing else in its wake but false images of Palestine besieged by Israeli “Nazis.” The “humiliation at the checkpoints” and the faux “murder of Mohammed al-Dura” burn brightly as eternal mental images while the relentless barrage of Kassam rockets against the civilians of Sderot remain non-existent images."
Phillis on Muslim charity front group. Is there another kind? No.
"Dallas “Palestinian” terrorists/funders of Holy Land front charity found guilty.
According to M. Zuhdi Jasser, founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, prosecutors triumphed because they were able to “connect the ideology of political Islam and the overriding mission of Islamist organizations like the Holy Land Foundation to their desire to contribute to the efforts of terror groups, like Hamas. When this connection is made we will see the return of a guilty verdict. In future [terrorism financing] cases DOJ will not only have to connect the financial dots but [will have] to demonstrate an overarching common Islamist mission.”
The conspiracy is grand, great, and deep and involves both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. All called for a “jihad to destroy Western civilization from within.”
Andrew McCarthy, who prosecuted the blind cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and others for conspiring to blow up a series of New York landmarks, including the World Trade Center, had this to say about the decision in Dallas:
“This is one of the most significant victories the Justice Department has won in the war on terror. Financing is the life-blood of jihadist organizations like Hamas.
With the assistance of willing co-conspirators, they conceal their activities and use the Muslim obligation of charitable giving to mask support that is actually channeled to their murderous agenda. Today’s verdicts say, loudly and clearly, that Americans aren’t fooled and won’t tolerate it. As a former federal prosecutor, I am especially proud of the assistant U.S. attorneys who persevered through some real travails in securing justice for the American people.”
For those who are open to facts, there are many floating out there in the universe. You can choose among American, European, and Middle Eastern sources. I’ve chosen one article and have summarized it. And yes, it is from a Zionist source which means that it can be trusted. The Israelis neither exaggerate nor lie, they don’t doctor photographs, sacrifice and hide behind children in battle, seek to dominate the entire world—and project their own criminal intentions onto another group.
Islamic terrorists, and those who support them with money, do that."
Pajamasmedia on the Muslim thugocracy of Gaza:
"The Palestinians living inside the Palestinian Authority have been given far greater international financial support than most other suffering peoples. Since the signing of the Oslo Accord in 1993, the U.S. government has committed more than $1.3 billion in economic assistance to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Since the end of 2000, Arab states have transferred to the PA monthly financial aid of $45 million (since April 2002 this sum was increased to $55 million). The EU transfers to the PA approximately $9 million monthly. By the end of 2001, the Palestinians had received $4 billion (the figure is now closer to $5.5 billion) since the 1993 Oslo agreements. This is the equivalent of $1,330 per Palestinian.
By comparison, the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II provided $272 per European (in today’s dollars). These PA revenues do not include the $8-14 billion in assets the Palestine Liberation Organization is believed to have accumulated over the years through drug trafficking, illegal arms dealing, money laundering, fraud, extortion, and legal investments.
In 1996, $326 million disappeared from the PA and the Palestinian Legislative Council established a commission to investigate the loss. The subsequent report concluded that nearly 40 percent of the PA’s $800 million budget had been lost through corruption and mismanagement. The PA’s comptroller wrote: “The overall picture is one of a Mafia-style government, where the main point of being in public office is to get rich quick.”
Dailygut com: "Punch Chavez in the face:
“I now see Obama regularly engaging in dialogue with bullies - who for years have been crapping all over America. I hope Obama knows that "dialogue," and friendly handshakes mean nothing to them. Because if there`s one thing I`ve learned: you can`t rehab a bully. Bullies cannot afford to change, because their power exists only through fear, not through competence, confidence or popularity. I mean, things are so bad for Chavez at home, that shaking a fist at America is all he can do to keep the spotlight off his own corruptive incompetence.
But what`s even worse: Chavez is a turd-shaped bully we could destroy in our sleep – which is precisely why he keeps bullying. He knows that being the David to our Goliath guarantees victimhood if we decide to shut him up.”
Anne Coulter on Obama the non-genius, Bush the non-partisan to death."
A classic from February 2008 and all of it has rung entirely true:
Beatifying Barack at noleftturnz com.
"Beatifying Barack:
·
Many years ago, William James said that all you need is the will to believe. Today’s liberals are agog and thoroughly marinated in the hollow symbolism that is being offered up as political palaver, to be forever known as the vacant rhetoric of the next deity in the liberal pantheon, Barack Hussein Obama.
It is still humorous when the liberals recoil in terror at the thought of religious belief. They snicker at the image of an amassed congregation listening in rapt silence to the ruminations of a preacher. The left, when they assemble for a flag burning or other such convulsions of liberal patriotism, portray themselves as atheists when it comes to the topic of belief. Once they skulk back to their hovels, the hunger pains of “belief” begin to rumble within the vacuum that is their conscience. Today they quench their thirst for “belief” by listening raptly to the breezy sermons of Pastor Obama who is being billed as the next “JFK” by the wrinkly old Democratic vanguard, assorted apparatchiks and a bevy of bloated Bolsheviks.
The progressives are far too intelligent to worship God so they worship themselves. When they become introspective, they understand that their individual weaknesses, and the impulse to believe/follow, inevitably consumes them. The left has an overwhelming desire and proclivity towards devouring and digesting the fictitious and the empty. Their need to be seduced is an addiction. Therefore, with that as the rococo backdrop, the stage has been perfectly set for the Socialist Svengali, Barack Hussein Obama.
What is important at this point in the charade is for Obama to continue saying absolutely nothing. Details are of no consequence to those so hypnotized. Those who are mesmerized ignore the details but those same details are systematically disassembled and their nonsensical nomenclature is grist for any political opponent’s mill. Therefore, the idea of “details” is a Democratic political minefield that the Senator should avoid at all costs. Having listened to a number of his homilies to this point in the campaign, he is doing a masterful job of rerouting his rhetoric to the dead end streets of the specious and the obtuse.
Imagery is what is of the utmost importance. Form over function. The less the Senator says, content wise, the higher his popularity keeps going. The left doesn’t want details, they just want to believe. They HAVE to believe. Specificity applied to the liberal mind gets in the way of the excitement of the “movement.” Tomorrow’s eventual direction, the results of that “movement”, (most often backward with the left.) are irrelevant. It is all about “change” today. Tomorrow is about “hope.” The liberals need to go to church, so they “believe” and worship at the altar of the corny carny sideshow of Barack Hussein Obama.
The “freak show” qualities of Democratic politics helped to create this campaign of ether. When the liberals actually say what it is they aspire to do, they end up with another McGovern or Mondale.. It is imperative to remember that the liberal political animal’s “intentions” are always “good”. If the practical application of their “intentions” ends up afoul (The Carter Presidency, for example.) the blame is always laid at the feet of some other, usually uninvolved, source. Their virtuous designs fail only due to the foibles and weaknesses of others. The Obama team has concluded that the most expeditious way for the Socialists to reacquire the throne of power is through this campaign of elusory and oily lullabies."
Unbelievable as per usual, Human Events piece on Obama’s New Fairness Doctrine , “localism”, Wright connection & how Obama digs it all. On September 20, 2007, Obama submitted a pro-localism written statement to an FCC hearing at the Chicago headquarters of Rev. Jess Jackson Sr.’s Operation Push. One month later, an insistent Obama sent a public letter to Chairman Martin stating, “The Commission has failed to further the goals of diversity in the media and promote localism.”
Question: What organization first used “localism” at the FCC in this fashion?
Answer: The United Church of Christ, Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s highly-politicized denomination. UCC has an entity called the Office of Communication, Inc., which successfully took a broadcast license away from a Southern station it felt was not covering the civil rights movement fairly.”
Via Hotair: Coming soon to a city near you. I copied this from a Commentor at Lucianne:
1990. I watched in helpless horror as a Saudi muslim man beat the living hell out of his wife...in public, and in front of his children. Her crime? Her crime was this:
She glanced over at me and the several Marines with me. This happened in a Safeway store...yes, even Saudi Arabia. We were shopping on-the-sly for anything other than MREs, when a fully shrouded Saudi woman glanced over her shoulder at us. Her husband saw her,and immediately back-handed her so hard that she fell onto her children and knocked over rows of canned goods.
As she was foundering on the ground, her veil pulled away from her face. The husband went into a purple rage and started kicking her and beating her with closed fists.
As an American, I was stunned beyond reason and filled with a shaking, violent indignation. As an instinctual action, I unlatched my pistol holster,and was in the act of drawing it out when the other Marines grabbed my arm and ushered me out of the store. As we moved away, I glanced back to ensure that he would see what was in my eyes.
As I did so, I saw the unforgettable look in his wife’s eyes. Heavy with tears, her eyes held the resignation of a life spent as a punching-bag. As I turned my head back, a man and his wife were standing at the end of the row. He was standing with arms crossed, and a smug expression on his face. She bore the same helpless and hollow look of a beaten dog."
Tony737 on November 26, 2008 at 9:48 AM.
"Or did they come here to learn how to disappear into the US?
Having been among Somali men at MCTC during my college days, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case. I found the majority of them to be very unwilling to assimilate, and treated women like dirt. They were angry and suspicious of anyone not Muslim, and were the first ones to make a lot of noise if the college didn’t bend to their wishes for separate facilities for Muslims/Non-Muslims. MCTC built an area for them to pray in, but there was no such facility built for Chrisitans, Jews, Buddhists, etc.
The women, on the other hand, wanted to improve themselves and earn their part of the American Dream. They were generally very approachable and friendly, especially the younger women.
Yeah, I’m not very happy to see this happen, but surprised? No.
Blue-eyed Infidel on November 26, 2008 at 9:03 AM.
I’m wondering who or what that man blew up, besides himself. Is there anything left worth attacking in Somalia?"
juliesa.
Shaidle on CHRC and Steyn, Horowitz Hate America Left/Left Illusions.
One time head of the Indianapolis Human Rights Commission was mass murderer Jim Jones!
All about Emirates, the Sheik, child slavery and local asshat venal celebrities and journos.
What we won't read:
“Andrew Sullivan, one of the most prolific news junkies in the blogosphere, made that point last week. He expressed dismay at [the] missing the news of the beheading of Buffalo resident Aasiya Hassan Feb 12.
Muzzammil Hassan, founder of Bridges Television – a cable network created to enhance the image of Muslims - is charged with killing his wife.
"I learned of the case for the first time on Bill Maher, which means the MSM [mainstream media] must have been doing a very good job suppressing it," he wrote.”
"2 year-old Muslim girl beaten to death last week in Chicago...Where is the outrage?
“On the night of April 5, Orland Park police arrested Nour Hadid, 26 after paramedics rushed her 2 year-old niece Bhia to Palos Community Hospital. The little girl was unconscious and died from severe injuries to her brain and kidneys, which she sustained during four days of beatings.
Emergency room doctors said that her tiny body was covered with at least 55 bruises. Assistant State's Attorney Debra Lawler told reporters that Bhia had been beaten over and over with wooden spoons by Hadid.
The Jordanian national, who was apparently enraged because her husband accused her of stealing money from him. Hadid has confessed to the murder.
Orland Park Police Chief Tim McCarthy said: “She outlined in detail how the child was abused.” Of course, Hadid has been charged with the murder of Bhia Hadid and is being held without bail. Her next court hearing is scheduled for April 30.
While the cable and network news outlets have been filled with coverage of the tragic disappearance and murder of Sandra Cantu, along with the ongoing saga of the Caylee Anthony murder, and Haleigh Cummings abduction, not one minute of coverage has been given to the murder Bhia Hadid.
Volumes both in print and online have been written about the little Cantu, Cummings, and Anthony girls, but I have yet to see one article devoted to Hadid except for very brief statements on the case from Chicago-area media outlets (Orland Park is just outside Chicago).
In fact, the only outrage that has been expressed in this case is from the Muslim community, who are outraged not over the little girl’s brutal murder, but over the fact that Nour Hadid was not allowed to wear her headscarf for her mugshot.
Dr. Mohammed Sahloul, chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Chicago, expressed his outrage to the Southtown Star by saying: "they should respect the modesty of the accused."
Hadid’s husband Alaeddin said the mugshot was an "insult against our religion." He has promised to sue the Orland Park Police Department for the photo. He has expressed no similar outrage over his wife beating to death their 2 year-old niece.
Why has the national media chosen to ignore the horrific murder of 2 year-old Bhia Hadid?
This poor little girl had no one to defend her during her short life, that sad fact has changed very little in death.”
Via gaypatriot: US gays and lesbians forced to move out of area by gee, practicing Muslims.
Posted by
| i don't know |
Which sea area is south-east of Faroes, west of Viking, north-east of Hebrides and north-west of Forties? | List of British Sea Areas
as listed in the weather report for shipping on BBC Radio4
Here's a nice but big (162K) map
I scanned it from the Radio Times, they managed to forget Bailey so I had to edit it in, which is why the lines and font are a bit dodgy there.
Here's one from the Met Office , a lot smaller but not as pretty, but it DOES have Trafalgar on it, and it makes the Lat and Longs more obvious.
South East Iceland: 64N18W..65N14W..63N7W..62N11W (roughly)
Faeroes: 63N7W..62N3W..59N7W..62N11W (roughly)
Fair Isle: 62N3W..61N00..58N00..58N5W..59N7W (roughly)
The above 3 form a diagonal band from the coast of Iceland down to the Greenwich Meridian at the Shetlands on the northern edge, and the Scottish coast on the southern edge. Fair Isle is 5 sided to get back into the normal squarish grid.
Bailey: Between 10W and 15W from South East Iceland down to about 58N
Rockall: Between 10W and 15W from Bailey (58N) down to 53N
Shannon: Between 10W and 15W, from Rockall down to 50N, and including the bits off the Irish coast.
Hebrides: The bit between Faeroes and Fair Isle, the Scottish coast, 10W, and 57N
Malin: Below Hebrides, between Rockall and the coasts, down to the narrowest point between England and Ireland
Irish Sea: The Irish Sea from Malin down to the narrowest point between Wales and Ireland
Lundy: Bounded by the south Welsh and north Cornish coasts, out to about 6.5W
Fastnet: Between Lundy and Shannon, with the south Irish coast above and 50N below
Sole: 6.5W..15W and 50N..48.27N, below Shannon and Fastnet
Finisterre, now renamed Fitzroy: Below Sole
Biscay: From Finisterre to the French coast
Plymouth: The mouth of the Channel to about 8W, Biscay below, Sole to the left
Portland: Up the channel from Plymouth to about 2W
Wight: From Portland to a line from about 50N2E(France) to 51N1E(England)
Dover: From Wight to a line matching the latitude 51N, near enough
Thames: Moving out towards the North Sea, as far as about 52.5N
Humber: Up to 54N, but loses a degree of its eastern extent halfway up
Tyne: A tiny bit about a degree wide along the coast from Humber up to about 56N
Dogger: Tyne to the left, Humber below, 4E at the right, up to about 56N
German Bight: From Humber and Dogger on the left to the continental coast
Forties: Directly above Dogger, ie about 56N..58.5N and 1W..4E
Forth: Between Forties and the Scottish coast, stopping at 57N
Cromarty: Between Forties and the Scottish coast, from Forth up to 58.5N or so, where it meets Fair Isle
Viking: Above Forties with Fair Isle to the west
Fisher: East of Forties and north of German Bight, but only as far as about 57.5N
North Utsire, South Utsire: The last bit between Viking and Forties and the Scandinavian coast
I appear to have listed them in the reverse order to that used by the weather forecasters. Never mind!
| Fair Isle |
What was Britney Spears' first number one, in 1999? | mudcat.org: Lyr Req: Shipping Forecast (Les Barker)
Date: 13 Apr 03 - 07:27 AM
Here is the shipping forecast as at 0700 G M T. this morning
Cow in sea area shannon moving slowly eastward and filling
sorry that should read low in sea area Shannon
and now the area reports
Viking, north Utsirra, south Utsirra,East Utsirra, west utsirra, South West
Utsirra and North East Utsirra wind south west rain at times good
Forties Fifties Sixties, Tyne Dogger, German bight, French kiss, and Swiss roll, westerly becoming cyclonic good.
Wight, portland, plymouth Ginger Rogers and finistere; light flatulence, some rain, very good.
Luny, fundy sundy, and mundy; wind south-west becoming cyclonic bloody marvellous.
Rockall; sod all wind heavy showers, absolutely incredible
Malin, Hebrides, Bailey Fair Isle, Cardigan, Pullover and South est Iceland
wind south east, rain at times, slightly disappointing
and now the reports for the coastal stations
Tiree, wind north west 7 miles one thousand and four rising slowly
Butt of lewis: north, 5 miles one thousand and six falling
Wolverhampton: north west as far as the ring-road nine nine eight rising
slowly
| i don't know |
Who was kidnapped and assassinated by the left-wing movement 'Brigate Rosse' in 1978? | Red Brigades | Mapping Militant Organizations
Mapping Militant Organizations
1984
First Attack
September 17, 1970: The Red Brigades set fire to the car of a factory manager in Milan. (0 killed) [1]
Last Attack
April 16, 1988: The Red Brigades kidnapped a chemical engineer in Mestre. (No reported casualties) [2]
Updated
June 27, 2012
Narrative Summary
The Red Brigades was Italy's largest, longest lasting, and most broadly diffused left-wing terrorist group. At its peak the organization had thousands of active members and supporters, with its strongest presence in the industrial cities of Northern Italy. [3] It sought to overthrow the democratic Italian state and replace it with a dictatorship of the proletariat. Its primary targets were symbols of capitalism and the Italian state. These included politicians, especially those of the center-right Christian Democratic party, law enforcement, and factories. The organization cast its armed activities as acts of self-defense, undertaken on behalf of workers facing repression from factory bosses and police. [4]
The first pamphlet signed by the Red Brigades – then using the singular "Red Brigade," or "Brigata Rossa" – appeared at a Sit-Siemens plant in Milan in 1970 [5] , but the roots of the organization extend back to the late 1960s, as student and worker demonstrations spread throughout Italy and protestors increasingly clashed violently with the police. The fall of 1968, known as the "autunno caldo" or "hot autumn," marked a high point in such violence as well as an organizational turning point as workers began to form collectives as alternatives to existing trade unions. The Red Brigades' founders are believed to have decided to take up arms during a November 28, 1969 meeting of the Metropolitan Political Collective (Collettivo Politico Metropolitano), a coordinating group of leftist student and worker movements, in Chiavari in the province of Genoa. [6]
Some two weeks later, a bomb exploded in Milan's Piazza Fontana, killing 16 and wounding 87. At roughly the same time, two other bombs exploded in Rome, wounding 16. Suspicion for the day's carnage initially fell on the far left, members of which insisted that right-wing groups, likely aided by elements of state intelligence, had planned the attack as a provocation. [7] What later came to be known as the "Piazza Fontana Massacre" was seen on the left as the inauguration of a "strategy of tension" pursued by the right in cooperation with the state. [8]
Members of the Red Brigades attacked property rather than people until 1972; arson against factory managers' cars was particularly common, as were raids against the offices of right-wing organizations. [9] Beginning with the 1974 kidnapping of a Genoa magistrate, the Red Brigades expanded their attacks to include politicians and employees of the state. An April 1975 BR document outlining the organization's "Strategic Direction" identified Italy's long-dominant Christian Democratic party "the principal enemy." [10] The number of BR-directed attacks, including kidnappings and shootings, spiked between 1977 and 1979. The organization's best-known attack of the period was the kidnapping and killing of Christian Democratic leader and former prime minister Aldo Moro in 1978.
The Red Brigades' activities began to decline in 1980. Members began being arrested at higher rates, and those arrested began increasingly to cooperate with authorities, leading to the capture of more members. The group split numerous times over the period.
The Red Brigades ceased to exist as a unified organization around 1981. Its core successor, the Red Brigades Fighting Communist Party (BR-PCC) continued to stage high-profile attacks throughout the decade. The Red Brigades' original leaders, many of them in jail, continued to guide the BR-PCC until formally declaring the armed struggle finished in 1988. [11]
Attacks have been carried out in Italy under the name "Red Brigades" as late as 2002, though the attackers are likely not formally connected to the original organization. [12]
Leadership
Antonio Savasta (Unknown to 1982): Savasta was the leader of the Venice branch of the Red Brigades. He was arrested in 1982. [13]
Margherita Cagol (1970 to 1975): One of the founders of the Red Brigades, Cagol was Curcio's wife. She was killed in a shootout with police in June 1975. [14]
Mario Moretti (1970 to 1981): Moretti was a founding member of the Red Brigades and confessed to having personally fired the shots that killed Christian Democratic Leader Aldo Moro. He was arrested in 1981 and freed in 1998. [15]
Renato Curcio (1970 to 1984): Police arrested Curcio, along with co-founder Franceschini, with the help of an informant in September 1974. Curcio remained in prison for about four months until a BR squad directed by his wife and co-founder Margherita Cagol freed him and several others from prison in February 1975. Following his release, Curcio was among the authors of an April 1975 document outlining the BR's "Strategic Direction" and identifying Italy's long-dominant Christian Democratic party "the principal enemy" and "the political and organizational center of reaction and terrorism." Curcio was recaptured in Milan in January 1976. He is believed to have continued to guide the organization from prison. [16]
Alberto Franceschini (1970 to 1984): Franceschini was arrested along with Curcio in 1974. He is believed to have continued to guide the organization from prison.
Ideology & Goals
Communist revolutionary
Marxist
The Red Brigades sought to seize political power in Italy with a strategy combining elements of the Maoist cultural revolution in China and the Leninist Bolshevik revolution in Russia. The "dictatorship of the proletariat" would be achieved in three phases; first, a period of "armed propaganda," followed by an attack on the "heart of the state," followed by a state of "generalized civil war" which would end with the overthrow of the state. [17]
Size Estimates
1970: 50 (Terrorism and Security : the Italian Experience.) [18]
1979: 1,000 "militants" and "some 2,000 external support (Terrorism and Security: The Italian Experience.) [19]
1983: 100 "militants" and "200 external supporters." (Terrorism and Security: the Italian Experience.) [20]
Designated/Listed
N/A. [21]
Resources
The Red Brigades got some revenue from kidnappings for ransom and from theft, which is also how they often acquired weapons. In absorbing smaller militant groups, the Red Brigades also took on their material assets, including those of the Gruppi di Azione Partigiana (GAP), which was financed by millionaire publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli until his death in 1972. [22] The group Soccorso Rosso (Red Aid) provided free legal services to left-wing operatives. By October 31, 1982, Italian police had discovered and dismantled some 200 bases belonging to the BR. [23]
External Influences
The Red Brigades were influenced in their ideology and methods by leftist and militant movements all over the world. As elements of the Italian left moved toward a strategy of political violence in 1967 and 1968, Uruguay's Tupamaros provided a model of urban guerilla warfare at the same time that Palestinian nationalist terrorism became more prominent in the wake of the Six-Day war of 1967. [24] Philosophically, the BR borrowed from Lenin and Mao.
More formally, members of the Red Brigades had contact with other Western European militant movements extant in the 1970s, especially Germany's Red Army Faction (RAF), whose 1977 kidnapping of business leader Hans Schleyer was the model for the Aldo Moro kidnapping a year later. [25] The BR are also believed to have had some connection with France's Actione Direct (AD) and have allegedly provided training for them. [26]
Former Red Brigades members have told authorities that the BR acquired weapons from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), with Libya acting as intermediary, beginning in 1978 or before. [27] BR founders Renato Curcio and Margherita Cagol visited Cuba. [28] There is disputed evidence that the Red Brigades may have received funding from "Eastern bloc" communist countries including Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria. [29] One former brigadier has denied these contacts, saying "The RB was formally prohibited from having contact, making liaison, or receiving assistance from the Eastern Bloc." [30] A training camp outside of Benghazi, Libya was allegedly used by Italian terrorists. Former members of the Red Brigades have denied press accounts of training abroad, however, saying that the BR instead used abandoned mines in Italy's mountains as training sites. [31]
Geographical Locations
Italian terrorist organizations of both the left and right were active primarily in the northwest and center of Italy. Left-wing groups concentrated on Milan, Turin, and Rome, whereas the militant right was most active in Milan and Rome. The BR was the only one of these groups with a strong presence in Genoa. [32] The merger with NAP gave the Red Brigades a foothold in Naples and elsewhere in the more-agrarian south, but the Red Brigades had difficulty sustaining formal "columns" there, particularly after NAP dissolved. [33] Though the BR had its strongest presence in the cities listed above, the organization was active in at least 16 of Italy's 20 regions over its lifespan. [34]
Targets & Tactics
The Red Brigades typically attacked factories and the offices of right-wing targets such as political parties or certain trade unions. In its first few years such attacks were only against property and most often took the form of office raids and car arson. Early Red Brigades communiqués describe such attacks as punishments for specific "anti-worker" actions, such as the firing of a coworker: "For every comrade they hit, one of them must pay," or, more generally, "for every eye, two eyes; for every tooth, an entire face." Thus, when in late 1970 "first the bosses, then the unions" of Milan's Pirelli plant fired a 50-year-old mechanic, "one of them, precisely the 'first on the list' (as suggested by many of the factory workers), found his car destroyed." [35]
The Red Brigades' 1971 "self-interview" describes such methods as a form of "armed propaganda," which served both to recruit new members and to demonstrate "the conniving between power groups and/or apparently separate institutions." [36]
The Red Brigades claimed its first attack against an individual on March 3, 1972, with the kidnapping of a Sit-Siemens plant manager. They released him the same day. After 1972, the Red Brigades carried out targeted killings and kidnappings of factory managers, magistrates, and political figures, particularly members of the Christian Democratic party.
The BR was one of few left-wing terrorist groups to engage in kidnappings, and conducted by far the most of any left-wing terrorist group, 18 of 24 attributed to the entire terrorist left. [37] Most of the BR's kidnappings were political, whereas other Italian leftist terrorist groups typically kidnapped to raise funds through ransom. [38]
The BR adopted the practice of mass leg-shootings, also called "kneecapping," in 1980, months after another leftist group, Front Line (PL), pioneered the tactic. [39]
The Red Brigades did not carry out mass-casualty explosive attacks. There were four such attacks in Italy between 1969 and 1980, all attributed to right-wing terrorists. [40]
Political Activities
The Red Brigades abandoned overt political activity after a wave of arrests in 1972. [41]
Major Attacks
April 18, 1974: Kidnapping of Genoa Assistant State Attorney Mario Sossi. Sossi was the sixth person, and the first state employee, kidnapped by the Red Brigades. In its claim of responsibility, the BR called the kidnapping an attack "on the heart of the state." The group released him on May 23 in exchange for a court order, later blocked, to release eight BR-affiliated prisoners. (). [42]
June 17, 1974: The BR killed two members of the right-wing party Italian Social Movement (MSI). (2 killed). [43]
November 16, 1977: BR operatives shot Carlo Casalegno, deputy editor of La Stampa newspaper, on a street in Turin in broad daylight. Casalegno died of his wounds on November 29. (1 killed). [44]
March 16, 1978: The BR kidnapped Aldo Moro, president of the Christian Democratic party and a former prime minister. In the attack, members of the Red Brigades killed five of Moro's bodyguards. On April 15, a BR communiqué announced that a "People's Tribunal" (Tribunale del Popolo) had tried Moro and had condemned him to death for his role in the "counter-revolutionary function of the [Christian Democrats]." Until May, however, BR communiqués offered to exchange Moro for 13 imprisoned BR members, including founders Franceschini and Curcio. The Italian government refused. Police found Moro's body in a car on May 9, 1978. (1 killed). [45]
May 20, 1981: The Red Brigades kidnapped a chemical engineer in Mestre. It was the last attack claimed with the name "Red Brigades" as the organization split into factions. (0). [46]
Relationships with Other Groups
The Red Brigades was the largest left-wing terrorist organization in Italy, and most other left-wing Italian terrorist groups had some relationship to it as either rivals or allies. Other organizations later split off from the BR or were absorbed by it.
The BR's most important ideological rival was Front Line (PL), the second-largest left-wing terrorist group in Italy. Several of the PL's founders were dissident members of the BR who left the group because of its strict hierarchy and the centrality of the armed struggle to its political agenda. The PL viewed the hierarchy as counterproductive, and the armed struggle as merely a tactic in a larger political program. The Red Brigades may have begun to cooperate with the PL in the late 1970s as the smaller organization declined and began calling for a unified proletarian force. The BR's symbol, a five-pointed star, appeared on the PL's claim of responsibility for a 1979 attack on a Turin school. [47]
The BR formed an alliance with Naples-based Armed Proletarian Nuclei (NAP) in 1976. The BR had had difficulty extending its reach into agrarian southern Italy due to its focus on the class struggle in factories, which were concentrated in the industrial north. [48] Most of NAP's leadership was arrested shortly after that, and the BR absorbed the remainder of the group's assets and members. [49]
The BR absorbed several other smaller groups as well, including Partisan Action Groups (GAP), which merged with the Red Brigades in 1970 after itself absorbing the October XXII Circle. [50]
The BR itself began to decline with the arrest of many of its leaders in the early 1980s. The group split; its main successors were the Red Brigades Walter Alasia Column (BR-WA), the Red Brigades Guerrila Party (BR-PG), and the Red Brigades Fighting Communist Party (BR-PCC).
Community Relationships
Leftist extraparliamentary organizations represented a recruitment pool and a source of logistical and public relations support for the BR, especially Workers' Autonomy (Autonomia Operaia, AUTOP) and Workers' Power (Potere Operaiao, POTOP or PO). [51] This latter group formally dissolved in 1973, though prosecutors investigating the case argued that the "dissolution" was a cover for members' deciding to take up arms with the Red Brigades and others. [52]
References
^ Barbato, Tullio. Il Terrorismo In Italia Negli Anni Settanta : Cronaca E Documentazione. Milano: Bibliografica, 1980. p. 52
^ Brigaterosse.org. "Breve storia delle Brigate Rosse (1970-1987), Parte III." Last updated March 15, 2007. Retrieved April 15, 2012, from http://www.brigaterosse.org/brigaterosse/storia/storia3.htm .
^ Della Porta, Donatella. Il Terrorismo Di Sinistra. Bologna: Il mulino, 1990. p. 92.
^ Brigate Rosse, "Prima intervista a se stessi," 1971. Available: http://www.brigaterosse.org/brigaterosse/documenti/archivio/doc0001.htm
^ Barbato, Tullio. Il Terrorismo In Italia Negli Anni Settanta : Cronaca E Documentazione. Milano: Bibliografica, 1980.
| Aldo Moro |
The song 'As Long As He Needs Me' comes from which show and film? | Red Brigades Fighting Communist Party | Mapping Militant Organizations
Red Brigades Fighting Communist Party
Formed
1988
First Attack
December 17, 1981: Members of the BR-PCC kidnapped a high-ranking NATO official and American Brigadier General James Lee Dozier. Italian police freed Dozier in a raid in January 1982. (No reported casualties) [1]
Last Attack
April 16, 1988: Members of the BR-PCC assassinated an Italian Senator. (1 killed) [2]
Updated
June 20, 2012
Narrative Summary
The Red Brigades Fighting Communist Party (BR-PCC) was the main successor to the Red Brigades (BR), Italy's largest left-wing terrorist organization, after the BR began to split in 1980. Like the Red Brigades and its other successors, it sought the overthrow of the democratic and capitalist Italian state, but it differed with the BR's other successors over tactics and strategy. Similar to the Red Brigades and its other successors, it was dismantled by arrests and former militants' cooperation with police.
The BR-PCC, which inherited the core of the parent organization and retained much of its traditional leadership, was the most successful of the groups that split from the BR. The BR had faced a law enforcement crackdown in the wake of its most famous attack, the 1978 kidnapping and eventual murder of a former Prime Minister, and began to break apart into factions shortly afterward. [3] The BR-PCC formed a few months after the Red Brigades Guerrilla Party (BR-PG) split from the BR. [4]
The BR-PCC retained much of the traditional structure and ideology of the original Red Brigades. The BR's other offshoots criticized it for this, saying the BR-PCC was too militaristic and hierarchical and had lost touch with the workers. [5]
Departing from other BR branches, the BR-PCC had international political goals in addition to a desire to instigate local class warfare.
It is best-known for two actions against American targets: the kidnapping of a U.S. and NATO general, and the killing of an American diplomat. These attacks differed from those of the BR and its other offshoots, whose targets were almost exclusively Italian and which were focused more narrowly on fomenting revolution in Italy.
The BR-PCC proposed a "strategic retreat" in the wake of a wave of arrests following its first kidnapping in 1982. The object was to reorganize the organization to better position itself for continuing its offensive against the state. [6] The BR's other offshoots opposed this, and the BR-PCC itself continued to stage attacks. [7] The BR-PCC likely formally dissolved in 1988, when the BR's traditional leaders issued a communiqué from jail, declaring the armed struggle finished.
Leadership
The BR-PCC was led by some of the historic leaders of the Red Brigades, many of whom guided the organization from jail.
Antonio Savasta (October 1981 to 1982): Savasta was the leader of the Venice branch of the Red Brigades. He was arrested for participation in the kidnapping of an American Brigadier General and high-ranking NATO official in 1982. His cooperation with authorities led to the arrest of hundreds more members. [8]
Mario Moretti (October 1981 to 1988): Moretti was a founding member of the Red Brigades and confessed to having personally fired the shots that killed Christian Democratic Leader Aldo Moro. He was arrested in 1981 and freed in 1998. He likely helped lead the BR-PCC from prison. [9]
Barbara Balzerani, alias "Sara" (December 1981 to June 19, 1985): Balzerani had been a member of the student movement in Rome prior to joining the Red Brigades. She participated in some of the BR's and the BR-PCC's highest-profile attacks. She was arrested in 1985. [10]
Ideology & Goals
Communist revolutionary
Left wing
The Red Brigades Fighting Communist Party (BR-PCC), like the Red Brigades and all of its successors, sought to overthrow the Italian democratic capitalist state and replace it with a dictatorship of the proletariat. The BR-PCC differed with the BR's other successors over strategy, tactics, and organization, however. In particular, the BR-PCC was considered more strictly "Leninist" than the other groups in its embrace of strict hierarchy and centrally-planned, as opposed to spontaneous, attacks. [11]
Its specific demands included Italy's withdrawal from NATO, a halt to the construction of missile installations in Sicily, and the withdrawal of a multinational peacekeeping force from Lebanon. [12]
Name Changes
High-profile attacks have been staged under the names "The New Red Brigades" and BR-PCC beginning again in 1999. It is unclear what if any connection these new groups have to the original groups. [13]
Size Estimates
Unknown: 93 people were charged with involvement in the BR- (La Mappa Perduta.) [14]
Resources
The BR-PCC funded its activities primarily by robbing banks. While it engaged in kidnappings like its predecessor the BR, the BR-PCC did not seek ransom and instead used kidnappings as political statements without a self-financing motive. [15]
Targets & Tactics
The BR-PCC attacked traditional left-wing targets such as politicians. It appears not to have focused on law enforcement targets, though the group did kill two policemen, perhaps by accident, while robbing a bank. [16]
The BR-PCC emphasized America as a primary enemy and symbol of international capitalism and imperialism. It advocated the creation of a multinational Anti-Imperialist Fighting Front that would unite anti-American fighters, especially from Lebanon, Palestine, Iran, and Libya. [17] Domestically, the BR-PCC staged two high-profile attacks against Americans in Italy, kidnapping one and killing the other. Though other groups on the left had condemned the U.S. as a capitalist imperialist power and had demanded Italy's exit from NATO, the BR-PCC appears to be the only Italian left-wing terrorist group to have successfully attacked Americans in Italy.
Major Attacks
December 17, 1981: Members of the BR-PCC kidnapped a high-ranking NATO official and American Brigadier General James Lee Dozier. Italian police freed Dozier in a raid in January 1982. (0 killed). [18]
May 3, 1983: Members of the BR-PCC wounded a member of the Italian Socialist Party in Rome. (0 killed). [19]
February 15, 1984: Members of the BR-PCC killed U.S. diplomat Leamon Hunt in Rome. (1 killed). [20]
February 10, 1986: Members of the BR-PCC killed a former mayor, citing his investments in the defense industry, in Florence. (1 killed). [21]
February 14, 1987: Members of the BR-PCC killed two policemen in the course of a robbery in Rome. (2 killed). [22]
April 16, 1988: Members of the BR-PCC killed an Italian senator. (1 killed). [23]
Relationships with Other Groups
The BR-PCC was one of three main groups that split from the Red Brigades following its decline in the 1980s. The BR-PCC was a rival of the other main splinter groups, the Red Brigades-Walter Alasia and the Red Brigades-Guerilla Party. Those groups criticized the BR-PCC for being too orthodox and too focused on militancy over other forms of political expression. The dispute between the groups was mostly rhetorical, [24] however, and they did not attack each other.
The BR-PCC split again beginning in 1985, leading to the formation of the Union of Communist Combatants (UdCC). The UdCC, like the BR's other offshoots, advocated a less militaristic approach to the revolution, and broader participation from the masses. [25]
References
| i don't know |
Who wrote the play 'Blood Brothers'? | BBC - GCSE Bitesize: Willy Russell
To understand the context of Blood Brothers you’ll need some background on the writer himself and on the aspects of British society that might have influenced his interests and his ways of thinking.
Willy Russell
Willy Russell was born in 1947 into a working-class family near to Liverpool. He left school at 15 without academic qualifications and became a hairdresser. By the age of 20 he felt the need to return to education and, after leaving university, he became a teacher at a comprehensive school in his home city.
During this time Russell wrote songs for performers and for radio shows. One of his early plays was about the Liverpool pop group the Beatles. He has a love of popular music and this can be seen in many of his plays, but especially in Blood Brothers.
Page:
| Willy Russell |
US Vice-President Joe Biden represents which state? | Willy Russell: 'I want to talk about things that matter’ - Telegraph
Theatre
Willy Russell: 'I want to talk about things that matter’
'Blood Brothers’ is finally leaving the West End, but its restless writer Willy Russell still has plenty to say
'I don’t have anything like the ambition I once had,' says Willy Russell. 'Having enjoyed so much success, I now feel able to explore and experiment with all sorts of other creative things' Photo: Paul Cooper
By Angela Levin
| i don't know |
"What was advertised as ""spreading straight from the fridge""?" | UK television adverts 1955-1985
Breads, spreads, biscuits, crackers, cakes
Anchor Butter (1): c.1970
There’s an Anchor sign on Britain’s favourite butter,
It’s the Anchor sign that tells you it’s the best.
If you like your bread and butter,
There’s no other word you’ll utter
’Cos you’ll always want the butter
With the Anchor sign!
(A little butter sailor singing and dancing to a hornpipe tune)
Anchor Butter (2): 1982
Didn’t we have a lov-er-ly time
Those far off days with Anchor?
Salmon and cucumber butties for you
Something cheesy — ain’t it breezy?
Somebody’s seen the butler machine!
Kiss-me-quick and donkeys
So far away — and I Anchor today
For those days gone by.
You’ve got to Anchor for the real taste of butter!
Tune: “Didn’t we have a lovely time the day we went to Bangor”]
Anchor Butter (3)
There’s an anchor sign on Britain’s favourite butter,
It’s the anchor sign that tells you it’s the best.
If you want your bread and butter there’s no other name you’ll utter
’Cos Britain’s favourite butter has the Anchor sign
Everybody loves it ’cos it tastes so nice,
Housewives like it for the lovely price.
If you want your bread and butter there’s no other name you’ll utter
’Cos Britain’s favourite butter has the Anchor sign!
Big T bread: 1970s
Big T, Big T Roll,
Big T, Big T in a ba-ag!
(The wrapping was one of the first plastic bag types, which eventually almost replaced wax paper)
Blue Band Margarine
It’s a good good feeling!
Breakaway chocolate biscuit: c.1972
With Eric Idle’s “nudge nudge” advert adapted from Monty Python
Breakaway. The milk chocolate suggestive biscuit.
Burton’s Bingo caramel bar
Sung by Joe Brown in a cockney accent in skiffle style, to the tune of "What a crazy world we’re living in."
Burton’s made a biscuit,
Favver said "By jingo!"
"Muvva’s played a blinder son, she’s gone and bought some Bingo".
Sister can’t resist ’em, with all that Ca-Ra-Mel
When ’er boyfriend asks for some she says “You go and buy yer own!”
Joe: So do your mouth a favour, and listen you yer ma,
Buy a Burton’s Bingo Caramel Bar
Sister: With lovely chocolate!
Joe: Buy a Burton’s Bingo Caramel Bar
Father: With crispy wafer!
Joe: Buy a Burton’s Bingo Caramel Bar
And give us anuvver muvver!
Butter (1): 1950s
Lady (giving man a sandwich): Here you are. It’s butter too. Real butter.
Man: Mmmm: wonderful!
Lady: Only butter tastes like butter.
Voiceover: Buy some extra butter this week.
Butter (2): 1960s
With Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier
AL: What are you doing with that teacake?
JLM: Nothing; nothing at all really.
AL: You are looking to see if it has got butter in it, aren't you? Well, has it?
JLM: It's rather difficult to say.
AL: Well, don't keep staring at it. Taste it. That's the only way to tell if there's butter in it
JLM: Mmmm. Beautiful butter.
AL: Thank goodness for that.
Voiceover: Butter tastes so much better.
Cadbury’s Chocolate Biscuits: 1950s
Good to eat and good for you …
Cadbury’s Chocolate Biscuits.
Cadbury’s Chocolate Fingers (1): 1960s
They’re singular, they’re fingular,
They’re biscuits without any bends,
They’re long and little, they start at the middle
And come to a stop at the ends.
They’re long and thin
With a chocolate skin —
Like sticks in chocolate silk
But the most singular thing
In a finger is …
Cadbury’s Chocolate Fingers (2)
Well I got these chocolate fingers now
And I know they’re gonna please,
They sure taste good, well I knew they would,
’Cos they’re made by Cadbury’s.
Well those fingers sure go quickly,
And I tell you kids they should,
’Cos when Cadbury’s make the chocolate,
It sure makes those fingers good
So the next time you buy fingers,
Make sure they’re just like these,
’Cos the chocolate makes the fingers,
And the chocolate’s Cadbury’s!
Cadbury’s Chocolate Fingers (3)
[Child trying to fit Cadbury’s chocolate fingers between his own fingers bites the end off to make it fit]:
Why are you so clever, Brian?
Cadbury’s Chocolate Fingers (4)
Brian (counting chocolate fingers in a box): “Firty-one, firty-two ….
Younger friend: Wha’ ya doin’ Brian?
Brian: I'm counting Cadburys chocolate fingers.
Younger friend: Oh, how many are there?
Brian: There are firty-two in every box of Cadburys chocolate fingers.
Younger friend (after a long pause): I wish I was a clever as you, Brian. I really … I really do.
Cadbury’s Flake Cake: 1970s
What makes a little cake so Cadbury?
It’s the Cadbury’s Chocolate Flake —
that makes Cadbury’s Flake cake so original!
It’s that touch of originality
That makes a little cake so Cadbury
Cadbury’s bake such original cakes!
Cadbury’s Mini Roll: c.1972
It’s that touch of orig-in-al-ity
That makes a little cake so … Cad-bu-ry!
Clover (1): early 1980s
Clover spreads straight from the fridge.
Clover (2): 1983/4
Roll it over in the Clover,
Roll it over, spread it on and do it again!
Country Life butter (1): early 1970s
Country Life English butter. Our cows are closer.
Country Life butter (2)
Oh we are the lads from Country Life —
And you’ll never put a better bit of butter on your knife,
If you haven’t any i-i-in … have a word with your wife
And spread it on your toast in the morning!
It’s English butter through and through (through and through),
Tasty, fresh, and creamy too (creamy too);
Oh you’ll never put a better bit of butter on your knife,
And so the toast is Country Life (Country Life).
It’s Country Life, it’s English too,
From the cow to the dairy, from the dairy down to you,
It’s pure and fresh, and creamy through and through,
So spread it on your toast in the morning!
[Tune: D’ya Ken John Peel]
Country Life butter (2)
There’s a grocer’s in the town (in the town)
Opposite the Rose and Crown (Rose and Crown)
And on Thursdays they go down and load the van
With Country Life butter from the man (grocer man).
[Tune: There’s a Tavern in the Town]
Country Life butter (3): 1981
Oh we are the lads from Country Life —
And you’ll never put a better bit of butter on your knife,
If you haven’t any i-i-in … have a word with your wife
And spread it on your toast in the morning!
It’s Country Life, it’s English too….!
Who’s this?
It’s whatd’y’callit!
Oh … bye! Oh bye!… Bye!
So spread it on your toast in the morning!
Voice-over: Country Life — you’ll never put a better bit of butter on your knife!)
[With the butter men]
She knows what I likes, this wife of mine.”
And she gets it all the time…
Country Life butter (5)
We’re ’ere on a picnic,
You can join us if you’ll be quick,
We’ve got lots of tasty goodies
And of course Country Life.
It’s fresh and it’s English
And it’s creamy as you could wish
O you’ll never put a better bit o’
Butter on your knife.
You can jam it, meat-paste it,
On fresh bread you’ll really taste it,
And it’s lovely with a crumpet
But don’t tell the wife.
Crawford Cheddar biscuits
You’ll keep coming back for just one more!
Crawford’s Cheddars. Bet you can’t eat just one!
Energen crispbread
Energen leads the march against starch!
Fletcher loaf
Better fetch a Fletcher loaf,
Better fetch a Fletcher loaf!
Flora margarine: 1980
[Man outside supermarket mouths to his wife] “Flora!”
Voice-over: Flora! the margarine for men!
Frear’s biscuits
Frears are Jolly Good Biscuits to try try try,
Frears are Jolly Good Biscuits to buy buy buy,
If you’ve never tried them,
Why Why Why?
For Frears are Jolly etc etc…
Fresh Cream Cakes: c.1980
(With Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough in drag, looking at a photograph album)
Roy: Looking through these, don’t you get an intense flush of nostalgia?
Les: Only in the warm weather!
Roy: Look, there’s your Bert!
Les (munching on a huge cream cake): In his de-mob suit — he was a lion amongst men in them days! I’m filling up!
Roy: So I see!
Voiceover: Fresh Cream Cakes — naughty …
Roy: But nice!
[National Dairy Council. The slogan “Naughty … but nice” was written by Salman Rushdie and was used in a series of adverts starring actors and comedians such as Barbara Windsor and Larry Grayson]
Fry’s Chocolate Spread
We love to be fed
On cakes and bread
and chocolate spread by Fry’s!
Surprise, surprise,
It’s chocolate spread by Fry’s!!
Gale’s Honey
Gale’s, Gale’s, Gale’s,
Pass the honey please.
Gale’s Lemon Curd (1)
Gale’s lemon curd is the best for baking,
Gales lemon curd is the best there is!
Gale’s Lemon Curd (2)
[Sung by children]
The BEST of the lemon curds is-Gales Lemon Curd!
Golden Shred marmalade (1973)
… Golden Shred. That’s what I said!
Gray Dunn caramel wafers (1): 1955
Caramel Wafers by Gray Dunn
A crunchy treat for everyone,
Luscious, dreamy, simply heaven,
Twelve for only one and seven!
Gray Dunn caramel wafers (2): 1950s
What makes a nice cuppa nicer?
What makes a cuppa complete?
Gray Dunn caramel wafers
Make a cuppa go down a treat!
Heinz Toast Toppers: 1970s
Quite possibly the easiest snack in the whole world.
Homepride Bread: 1971
New Homepride Bread. Baked later to taste fresher.
Hovis bread (1): 1956
For goodness’, goodness’, goodness’ sake,
Don’t say brown, say Hovis!
Hovis bread (2): 1968
Hovis is the golden-hearted taste of the wheat.
Hovis bread (3)
With actor Gordon Rollings and a young lady on a tandem struggling up a hill
Jack and Jill
Intent to reach the peak.
Before the top,
Their legs had gone all weak.
This sign they saw, [Hovis sign shown here in advert]
Above a door,
And went inside to eat.
Each Hovis slice,
Just set them up a treat.
They forge ahead
All hills they quickly climb,
With never a frown
They don’t say brown,
But Hovis every time.
Is there ’owt we can do to improve our ’ovis?
Hovis bread (5): c.1970
Make Hovis your daily bread.
Hovis bread (6): 1973
(A young lad pushes a bike laden with loaves of bread up the steep cobbled street of a northern town)
Last stop on round would be old ma Peggotty’s place — ’twas like taking bread to the top of the world! ’Twas a grand ride back though …. and afterward, I knew baker would ’ave kettle on and doorsteps of hot Hovis ready.
“There’s wholemeal in Hovis,” he’d say — “get it inside yer lad, does yer
good that — and one day you’ll go up that hill as fast as yer come down!”
Hovis — it’s as good today as it’s always been.
[To the tune of Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony arranged for brass band. This classic TV commercial (which was actually filmed at Gold Hill , Shaftesbury, Dorset!) was voted the favourite advertisement of all time in a 2006 UK poll, by which time the young actor, Carl Barlow, was a north London fireman. It had a celebratory re-run in May 2006 with the addition of the words “Celebrating 120 years of Hovis goodness”.]
Huntley and Palmers (1)
The first name you think of in biscuits.
Huntley and Palmers (2)
… ’Cos Huntley and Palmers make ’em
Like biscuits ought to be.
Jacobs Cream Crackers: 1972
Keep them by the bread bin!
Jacob’s Marshmallow Tea Cakes: 1970s
Every one’s a fluffy one!
Kellogg’s Skanda Krisp
Last year I told you about Kellogg’s Skanda Krisp from Finland,
and very much it seems you like them! Skanda Krisp is slim and dark,
spreads easily, and has only 90 calories per slice!
Kellogg’s Skanda Krisp — very much we hoped you’d like them!
Very much it seems you do!
Kerrygold butter (1)
Sung in an Irish accent
Now Kerrygold Butter it hasn’t a better
It makes the mouth water the sound of its name,
It’s pure Irish cream, two full pints in each pound of it.
Light and inviting there’s nothing the same.
For cheese it’s the choice and for Rolls it’s the Royce
And atop a fine trout sure it looks like a dream,
There’s no finer taste than the Kerrygold Butter,
The Kerrygold Butter that’s so full of cream.
Kerrygold butter (2)
Please don’t cook with Kerrygold.
Kraft Velveteen
Kunzle Cakes chocolate assortment: 1957
Insist on Kunzle quality.
’Cos she’s a mum, she’ll do the sum, and out will come —
with Danish Lur-r-pak.
Isn’t it worth that little extra?
The finest butter in the wor-r-ld
McVitie’s Chocolate Homewheat: 1983
McVitie’s make biscuits like they ought to be
And Chocolate Homewheat’s a treat!
Wherever you hide them
They’ll always find them,
A home’s not home without Homewheat.
Nobody bakes them like McVitie’s do,
Nobody makes them like you-ou!
McVities Digestive biscuits: early 1970s
McVities Digestives —
Wholesome English wheatmeal, Trinidad sugar, and McVities special care.
McVities Gingernuts
I’m a Jamaican ginger grower and I very proudly say,
I grow the finest ginger in the world today.
I picks the best and packs it and McVities comes to buy it,
Then they bake it into gingernuts you really ought to try it.
You snap into a McVities gingernut — you tastes it too
Jamaican ginger — the world’s best — is waiting for you.
The grower (Norman Beaton)I knows it … I grows it! you don’t think your ma would give you anything but the best.
McVities bake a better biscuit!
The grower: Ask your Ma.
McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes (2): early 1970s
Featuring Victor Spinetti as “The Mad Jaffa Cake Eater”, a turbaned character who rode a bicycle and stole and ate other people’s Jaffa Cakes
There’s orangey!
McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes (3): 1983
Munchkins — argh! They’re after that special McVitie’s recipe for Jaffa Cakes. I’ll show them! It’s McVitie’s secret combination of light sponge, smooth plain chocolate and the real Jaffa orangey bit that just bowls them over. I won’t let anyone steal the secret of McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes.
McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes (4): 1983
Munchkins: they’re always hanging around for McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes. They’re driven round the twist by the light sponge, dark chocolate, and smashing Jaffa orangey bit. But I know how to bring them down to earth.
[Sends in clockwork bird that makes them fall off their stilts.]
I won’t let the Munchkins munch your McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes.
McVities Rich Tea biscuits: 1985
McVitie’s bake biscuits like they ought to be
Like McVitie’s Rich Te-a
Tea and coffee needs some!
A drink’s too wet without them!
They’re the very best that they can be!
Nobody bakes ’em like McVitie’s do,
Nobody makes ’em like you,
Nobody makes ’em like you.
Magic margarine
Try a little bread and Magic!
Marmite: 1970s
The growing-up spread you never grow out of.
My Mate Marmite.
Mother’s Pride bread (1): 1950s
Baker:
For bread with freshness baked inside
There is no bread like Mother’s Pride,
Crumbs so smooth and crumbs so white,
With freshness baked inside.
Children: We want Mother’s Pride!
Mother’s Pride bread (2)
Mother’s Pride, just like mother used to bake it!
[with Hylda Baker]
Mother’s Pride bread (3): 1960s
Mums and Mother’s Pride
Go together like a boiled egg and soldiers!
Mother’s Pride bread (4): 1960s
I’m the Mother in Mother’s Pride, you know — they named it after me!
[with Thora Hird]
Mother’s Pride bread (5): 1969
With Dusty Springfield
I’m a happy knocker-upper and I’m popular beside
’Cos I wake ’em with a cuppa … and tasty Mother’s Pride,
Then they’re up in a flash and a rush (it’s the bread)
And a dash and a push (it’s the bread)
With a flash and a dash and a rush and a push (I can say it’s the bread).
It’s the Mother’s Pride bread! It makes them love work!
They’re going berserk to get off to work!
It’s in the way I wake ’em by bringing to their side —
The bread (we freshly bake ’em!) …
Fantastic Mother’s Pride!
Mother’s Pride bread (5): c.1970
Mother’s Pride. Because mother knows best.
Mr Kipling cakes
Mr Kipling does make exceedingly good cakes
Nimble (1): 1970
With girl suspended from hot-air balloon
She flies like a bird in the sky,
She flies likes a bird and I wish that she was mine,
She flies like a bird, o me o my, I see her fly,
Now I know, I can't let Maggie go.
Voiceover: Nimble — real bread, but lighter Make it part of your calorie-controlled diet.
[Tune: “I can’t let Maggie go” by Honeybus]
Nimble (2): 1974
So easy to use, (so easy to use),
Pillsbury dough!
Procea bread: c.1955
Newsreel: “Bread makes history in Britain”
(followed by what had been taken out of the bread and what had been put in).
At the end children are shown leaving school, accompanied by the words:
“Hurry, there’s Procea for tea!”
Rich Highland Shorties: 1968/9
Voiceover: By Meredith and who? Drew!
Ritz Crackers: 1971
To the tune “Doing The Lambeth Walk”
End of jingle:
Who can resist a Ritz?
Ritz Crackers
Nothing Fitz like a Ritz!
Robertson’s Jams (1): 1950s
Golly! They’re good!
Look for the golly — the golly on the jar!
Robertson’s Jam (3): 1969
Have a Robertson's jamboree!
One, two, three, four reasons why Julie Andrews likes Ryvita!
Ryvita (2): 1970s
Win the inch war with Ryvita!
Shippam’s fishpaste
Shippams for tea, for tea.
[Tune: “Blue Danube”]
It’s got a crunch in the biscuit and a munch in the middle.
Slimcea (1)
Show them (show them) you’re a Slimcea girl,
Show them the slim life you’re living,
Look at the glances they’re giving,
Show them you’re a Slimcea girl.
It’s tasty bread all right —
Slimcea’s good and light,
Show them (show them) you’re a Slimcea girl!
Slimcea (2)
Show them (show them) you’re a Slimcea girl
You’re a slim girl in a new and exciting world!
Show them you’re a Slimcea girl!
Snibs: 1971
Snibs. Munchy peanut biscuits with the “Goodness!” taste!
Soreen malt loaf (1): c.1960
Don’t forget the Soreen, Doreen!
Soreen malt loaf (2)
Soreen is goodness and wonderful flavour,
With lots of good things for the children to savour.
Stork Margarine (1): 1978
Can you tell Stork from butter?
Seven out of ten people can’t tell Stork from butter.
Stork Margarine (2)
Tastes good enough to eat with nothing on!
Summer County Margarine (1)
As soon as a woman tastes it, a crown appeared on her head (to a fanfare):
Summer County makes you feel like a queen.
Summer County Margarine (2)
Showing cows in a field
Summer County
[repeated again and again to the music of the Merry Widow waltz]
Voiceover: [Uncertain: did it use the slogan “country-fresh flavour”?]
Sunblest bread (1): c.1958
Cartoon: Little boy slides down a sandwich singing:
When it’s time to have a bite,
Have a sandwich,
Have a sandwich!
Sunblest bread (2)
Possibly dating from 1969 when there was a different wrapper each day saying “Happy Monday”, “Happy Friday”, “Happy Weekend” etc. Monday’s bread was blue; Tuesday orange; Wednesday purple; Thursday green; Friday red, and Saturday yellow.
Fresh every day the Sunblest way,
Fresh to the last slice.
Sunblest bread (3)
Why catch a crab just to have a crab sandwich?
Have Sutherland’s Spread instead!
Sutherland’s Spread 2: c.1985
When life gets dull and boring,
Don’t let it get you down,
Get something fresh from Sutherland’s
And spread the word around
Take heart, get smart, get fresh, get Sutherland’s fresh spread!
Build a triple decker to brighten up your bread,
Slap it on a cracker and let the flavour spread,
Take heart, get smart, get fresh, g
Get Sutherland’s fresh spread!
TUC Crackers: 1968
… bursts into flavour, on your tongue!
Vitalite
Wake up in the mornin’ wanting some breakfast,
Which margarine do you put on your to-o-oast?
Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh Vitalite — that’s right!
[Tune: “The Israelites”]
| blue band margarine |
Which painter married Hortense Fiquet and used her as the subject of many of his paintings? | UK television adverts 1955-1985
Breads, spreads, biscuits, crackers, cakes
Anchor Butter (1): c.1970
There’s an Anchor sign on Britain’s favourite butter,
It’s the Anchor sign that tells you it’s the best.
If you like your bread and butter,
There’s no other word you’ll utter
’Cos you’ll always want the butter
With the Anchor sign!
(A little butter sailor singing and dancing to a hornpipe tune)
Anchor Butter (2): 1982
Didn’t we have a lov-er-ly time
Those far off days with Anchor?
Salmon and cucumber butties for you
Something cheesy — ain’t it breezy?
Somebody’s seen the butler machine!
Kiss-me-quick and donkeys
So far away — and I Anchor today
For those days gone by.
You’ve got to Anchor for the real taste of butter!
Tune: “Didn’t we have a lovely time the day we went to Bangor”]
Anchor Butter (3)
There’s an anchor sign on Britain’s favourite butter,
It’s the anchor sign that tells you it’s the best.
If you want your bread and butter there’s no other name you’ll utter
’Cos Britain’s favourite butter has the Anchor sign
Everybody loves it ’cos it tastes so nice,
Housewives like it for the lovely price.
If you want your bread and butter there’s no other name you’ll utter
’Cos Britain’s favourite butter has the Anchor sign!
Big T bread: 1970s
Big T, Big T Roll,
Big T, Big T in a ba-ag!
(The wrapping was one of the first plastic bag types, which eventually almost replaced wax paper)
Blue Band Margarine
It’s a good good feeling!
Breakaway chocolate biscuit: c.1972
With Eric Idle’s “nudge nudge” advert adapted from Monty Python
Breakaway. The milk chocolate suggestive biscuit.
Burton’s Bingo caramel bar
Sung by Joe Brown in a cockney accent in skiffle style, to the tune of "What a crazy world we’re living in."
Burton’s made a biscuit,
Favver said "By jingo!"
"Muvva’s played a blinder son, she’s gone and bought some Bingo".
Sister can’t resist ’em, with all that Ca-Ra-Mel
When ’er boyfriend asks for some she says “You go and buy yer own!”
Joe: So do your mouth a favour, and listen you yer ma,
Buy a Burton’s Bingo Caramel Bar
Sister: With lovely chocolate!
Joe: Buy a Burton’s Bingo Caramel Bar
Father: With crispy wafer!
Joe: Buy a Burton’s Bingo Caramel Bar
And give us anuvver muvver!
Butter (1): 1950s
Lady (giving man a sandwich): Here you are. It’s butter too. Real butter.
Man: Mmmm: wonderful!
Lady: Only butter tastes like butter.
Voiceover: Buy some extra butter this week.
Butter (2): 1960s
With Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier
AL: What are you doing with that teacake?
JLM: Nothing; nothing at all really.
AL: You are looking to see if it has got butter in it, aren't you? Well, has it?
JLM: It's rather difficult to say.
AL: Well, don't keep staring at it. Taste it. That's the only way to tell if there's butter in it
JLM: Mmmm. Beautiful butter.
AL: Thank goodness for that.
Voiceover: Butter tastes so much better.
Cadbury’s Chocolate Biscuits: 1950s
Good to eat and good for you …
Cadbury’s Chocolate Biscuits.
Cadbury’s Chocolate Fingers (1): 1960s
They’re singular, they’re fingular,
They’re biscuits without any bends,
They’re long and little, they start at the middle
And come to a stop at the ends.
They’re long and thin
With a chocolate skin —
Like sticks in chocolate silk
But the most singular thing
In a finger is …
Cadbury’s Chocolate Fingers (2)
Well I got these chocolate fingers now
And I know they’re gonna please,
They sure taste good, well I knew they would,
’Cos they’re made by Cadbury’s.
Well those fingers sure go quickly,
And I tell you kids they should,
’Cos when Cadbury’s make the chocolate,
It sure makes those fingers good
So the next time you buy fingers,
Make sure they’re just like these,
’Cos the chocolate makes the fingers,
And the chocolate’s Cadbury’s!
Cadbury’s Chocolate Fingers (3)
[Child trying to fit Cadbury’s chocolate fingers between his own fingers bites the end off to make it fit]:
Why are you so clever, Brian?
Cadbury’s Chocolate Fingers (4)
Brian (counting chocolate fingers in a box): “Firty-one, firty-two ….
Younger friend: Wha’ ya doin’ Brian?
Brian: I'm counting Cadburys chocolate fingers.
Younger friend: Oh, how many are there?
Brian: There are firty-two in every box of Cadburys chocolate fingers.
Younger friend (after a long pause): I wish I was a clever as you, Brian. I really … I really do.
Cadbury’s Flake Cake: 1970s
What makes a little cake so Cadbury?
It’s the Cadbury’s Chocolate Flake —
that makes Cadbury’s Flake cake so original!
It’s that touch of originality
That makes a little cake so Cadbury
Cadbury’s bake such original cakes!
Cadbury’s Mini Roll: c.1972
It’s that touch of orig-in-al-ity
That makes a little cake so … Cad-bu-ry!
Clover (1): early 1980s
Clover spreads straight from the fridge.
Clover (2): 1983/4
Roll it over in the Clover,
Roll it over, spread it on and do it again!
Country Life butter (1): early 1970s
Country Life English butter. Our cows are closer.
Country Life butter (2)
Oh we are the lads from Country Life —
And you’ll never put a better bit of butter on your knife,
If you haven’t any i-i-in … have a word with your wife
And spread it on your toast in the morning!
It’s English butter through and through (through and through),
Tasty, fresh, and creamy too (creamy too);
Oh you’ll never put a better bit of butter on your knife,
And so the toast is Country Life (Country Life).
It’s Country Life, it’s English too,
From the cow to the dairy, from the dairy down to you,
It’s pure and fresh, and creamy through and through,
So spread it on your toast in the morning!
[Tune: D’ya Ken John Peel]
Country Life butter (2)
There’s a grocer’s in the town (in the town)
Opposite the Rose and Crown (Rose and Crown)
And on Thursdays they go down and load the van
With Country Life butter from the man (grocer man).
[Tune: There’s a Tavern in the Town]
Country Life butter (3): 1981
Oh we are the lads from Country Life —
And you’ll never put a better bit of butter on your knife,
If you haven’t any i-i-in … have a word with your wife
And spread it on your toast in the morning!
It’s Country Life, it’s English too….!
Who’s this?
It’s whatd’y’callit!
Oh … bye! Oh bye!… Bye!
So spread it on your toast in the morning!
Voice-over: Country Life — you’ll never put a better bit of butter on your knife!)
[With the butter men]
She knows what I likes, this wife of mine.”
And she gets it all the time…
Country Life butter (5)
We’re ’ere on a picnic,
You can join us if you’ll be quick,
We’ve got lots of tasty goodies
And of course Country Life.
It’s fresh and it’s English
And it’s creamy as you could wish
O you’ll never put a better bit o’
Butter on your knife.
You can jam it, meat-paste it,
On fresh bread you’ll really taste it,
And it’s lovely with a crumpet
But don’t tell the wife.
Crawford Cheddar biscuits
You’ll keep coming back for just one more!
Crawford’s Cheddars. Bet you can’t eat just one!
Energen crispbread
Energen leads the march against starch!
Fletcher loaf
Better fetch a Fletcher loaf,
Better fetch a Fletcher loaf!
Flora margarine: 1980
[Man outside supermarket mouths to his wife] “Flora!”
Voice-over: Flora! the margarine for men!
Frear’s biscuits
Frears are Jolly Good Biscuits to try try try,
Frears are Jolly Good Biscuits to buy buy buy,
If you’ve never tried them,
Why Why Why?
For Frears are Jolly etc etc…
Fresh Cream Cakes: c.1980
(With Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough in drag, looking at a photograph album)
Roy: Looking through these, don’t you get an intense flush of nostalgia?
Les: Only in the warm weather!
Roy: Look, there’s your Bert!
Les (munching on a huge cream cake): In his de-mob suit — he was a lion amongst men in them days! I’m filling up!
Roy: So I see!
Voiceover: Fresh Cream Cakes — naughty …
Roy: But nice!
[National Dairy Council. The slogan “Naughty … but nice” was written by Salman Rushdie and was used in a series of adverts starring actors and comedians such as Barbara Windsor and Larry Grayson]
Fry’s Chocolate Spread
We love to be fed
On cakes and bread
and chocolate spread by Fry’s!
Surprise, surprise,
It’s chocolate spread by Fry’s!!
Gale’s Honey
Gale’s, Gale’s, Gale’s,
Pass the honey please.
Gale’s Lemon Curd (1)
Gale’s lemon curd is the best for baking,
Gales lemon curd is the best there is!
Gale’s Lemon Curd (2)
[Sung by children]
The BEST of the lemon curds is-Gales Lemon Curd!
Golden Shred marmalade (1973)
… Golden Shred. That’s what I said!
Gray Dunn caramel wafers (1): 1955
Caramel Wafers by Gray Dunn
A crunchy treat for everyone,
Luscious, dreamy, simply heaven,
Twelve for only one and seven!
Gray Dunn caramel wafers (2): 1950s
What makes a nice cuppa nicer?
What makes a cuppa complete?
Gray Dunn caramel wafers
Make a cuppa go down a treat!
Heinz Toast Toppers: 1970s
Quite possibly the easiest snack in the whole world.
Homepride Bread: 1971
New Homepride Bread. Baked later to taste fresher.
Hovis bread (1): 1956
For goodness’, goodness’, goodness’ sake,
Don’t say brown, say Hovis!
Hovis bread (2): 1968
Hovis is the golden-hearted taste of the wheat.
Hovis bread (3)
With actor Gordon Rollings and a young lady on a tandem struggling up a hill
Jack and Jill
Intent to reach the peak.
Before the top,
Their legs had gone all weak.
This sign they saw, [Hovis sign shown here in advert]
Above a door,
And went inside to eat.
Each Hovis slice,
Just set them up a treat.
They forge ahead
All hills they quickly climb,
With never a frown
They don’t say brown,
But Hovis every time.
Is there ’owt we can do to improve our ’ovis?
Hovis bread (5): c.1970
Make Hovis your daily bread.
Hovis bread (6): 1973
(A young lad pushes a bike laden with loaves of bread up the steep cobbled street of a northern town)
Last stop on round would be old ma Peggotty’s place — ’twas like taking bread to the top of the world! ’Twas a grand ride back though …. and afterward, I knew baker would ’ave kettle on and doorsteps of hot Hovis ready.
“There’s wholemeal in Hovis,” he’d say — “get it inside yer lad, does yer
good that — and one day you’ll go up that hill as fast as yer come down!”
Hovis — it’s as good today as it’s always been.
[To the tune of Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony arranged for brass band. This classic TV commercial (which was actually filmed at Gold Hill , Shaftesbury, Dorset!) was voted the favourite advertisement of all time in a 2006 UK poll, by which time the young actor, Carl Barlow, was a north London fireman. It had a celebratory re-run in May 2006 with the addition of the words “Celebrating 120 years of Hovis goodness”.]
Huntley and Palmers (1)
The first name you think of in biscuits.
Huntley and Palmers (2)
… ’Cos Huntley and Palmers make ’em
Like biscuits ought to be.
Jacobs Cream Crackers: 1972
Keep them by the bread bin!
Jacob’s Marshmallow Tea Cakes: 1970s
Every one’s a fluffy one!
Kellogg’s Skanda Krisp
Last year I told you about Kellogg’s Skanda Krisp from Finland,
and very much it seems you like them! Skanda Krisp is slim and dark,
spreads easily, and has only 90 calories per slice!
Kellogg’s Skanda Krisp — very much we hoped you’d like them!
Very much it seems you do!
Kerrygold butter (1)
Sung in an Irish accent
Now Kerrygold Butter it hasn’t a better
It makes the mouth water the sound of its name,
It’s pure Irish cream, two full pints in each pound of it.
Light and inviting there’s nothing the same.
For cheese it’s the choice and for Rolls it’s the Royce
And atop a fine trout sure it looks like a dream,
There’s no finer taste than the Kerrygold Butter,
The Kerrygold Butter that’s so full of cream.
Kerrygold butter (2)
Please don’t cook with Kerrygold.
Kraft Velveteen
Kunzle Cakes chocolate assortment: 1957
Insist on Kunzle quality.
’Cos she’s a mum, she’ll do the sum, and out will come —
with Danish Lur-r-pak.
Isn’t it worth that little extra?
The finest butter in the wor-r-ld
McVitie’s Chocolate Homewheat: 1983
McVitie’s make biscuits like they ought to be
And Chocolate Homewheat’s a treat!
Wherever you hide them
They’ll always find them,
A home’s not home without Homewheat.
Nobody bakes them like McVitie’s do,
Nobody makes them like you-ou!
McVities Digestive biscuits: early 1970s
McVities Digestives —
Wholesome English wheatmeal, Trinidad sugar, and McVities special care.
McVities Gingernuts
I’m a Jamaican ginger grower and I very proudly say,
I grow the finest ginger in the world today.
I picks the best and packs it and McVities comes to buy it,
Then they bake it into gingernuts you really ought to try it.
You snap into a McVities gingernut — you tastes it too
Jamaican ginger — the world’s best — is waiting for you.
The grower (Norman Beaton)I knows it … I grows it! you don’t think your ma would give you anything but the best.
McVities bake a better biscuit!
The grower: Ask your Ma.
McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes (2): early 1970s
Featuring Victor Spinetti as “The Mad Jaffa Cake Eater”, a turbaned character who rode a bicycle and stole and ate other people’s Jaffa Cakes
There’s orangey!
McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes (3): 1983
Munchkins — argh! They’re after that special McVitie’s recipe for Jaffa Cakes. I’ll show them! It’s McVitie’s secret combination of light sponge, smooth plain chocolate and the real Jaffa orangey bit that just bowls them over. I won’t let anyone steal the secret of McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes.
McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes (4): 1983
Munchkins: they’re always hanging around for McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes. They’re driven round the twist by the light sponge, dark chocolate, and smashing Jaffa orangey bit. But I know how to bring them down to earth.
[Sends in clockwork bird that makes them fall off their stilts.]
I won’t let the Munchkins munch your McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes.
McVities Rich Tea biscuits: 1985
McVitie’s bake biscuits like they ought to be
Like McVitie’s Rich Te-a
Tea and coffee needs some!
A drink’s too wet without them!
They’re the very best that they can be!
Nobody bakes ’em like McVitie’s do,
Nobody makes ’em like you,
Nobody makes ’em like you.
Magic margarine
Try a little bread and Magic!
Marmite: 1970s
The growing-up spread you never grow out of.
My Mate Marmite.
Mother’s Pride bread (1): 1950s
Baker:
For bread with freshness baked inside
There is no bread like Mother’s Pride,
Crumbs so smooth and crumbs so white,
With freshness baked inside.
Children: We want Mother’s Pride!
Mother’s Pride bread (2)
Mother’s Pride, just like mother used to bake it!
[with Hylda Baker]
Mother’s Pride bread (3): 1960s
Mums and Mother’s Pride
Go together like a boiled egg and soldiers!
Mother’s Pride bread (4): 1960s
I’m the Mother in Mother’s Pride, you know — they named it after me!
[with Thora Hird]
Mother’s Pride bread (5): 1969
With Dusty Springfield
I’m a happy knocker-upper and I’m popular beside
’Cos I wake ’em with a cuppa … and tasty Mother’s Pride,
Then they’re up in a flash and a rush (it’s the bread)
And a dash and a push (it’s the bread)
With a flash and a dash and a rush and a push (I can say it’s the bread).
It’s the Mother’s Pride bread! It makes them love work!
They’re going berserk to get off to work!
It’s in the way I wake ’em by bringing to their side —
The bread (we freshly bake ’em!) …
Fantastic Mother’s Pride!
Mother’s Pride bread (5): c.1970
Mother’s Pride. Because mother knows best.
Mr Kipling cakes
Mr Kipling does make exceedingly good cakes
Nimble (1): 1970
With girl suspended from hot-air balloon
She flies like a bird in the sky,
She flies likes a bird and I wish that she was mine,
She flies like a bird, o me o my, I see her fly,
Now I know, I can't let Maggie go.
Voiceover: Nimble — real bread, but lighter Make it part of your calorie-controlled diet.
[Tune: “I can’t let Maggie go” by Honeybus]
Nimble (2): 1974
So easy to use, (so easy to use),
Pillsbury dough!
Procea bread: c.1955
Newsreel: “Bread makes history in Britain”
(followed by what had been taken out of the bread and what had been put in).
At the end children are shown leaving school, accompanied by the words:
“Hurry, there’s Procea for tea!”
Rich Highland Shorties: 1968/9
Voiceover: By Meredith and who? Drew!
Ritz Crackers: 1971
To the tune “Doing The Lambeth Walk”
End of jingle:
Who can resist a Ritz?
Ritz Crackers
Nothing Fitz like a Ritz!
Robertson’s Jams (1): 1950s
Golly! They’re good!
Look for the golly — the golly on the jar!
Robertson’s Jam (3): 1969
Have a Robertson's jamboree!
One, two, three, four reasons why Julie Andrews likes Ryvita!
Ryvita (2): 1970s
Win the inch war with Ryvita!
Shippam’s fishpaste
Shippams for tea, for tea.
[Tune: “Blue Danube”]
It’s got a crunch in the biscuit and a munch in the middle.
Slimcea (1)
Show them (show them) you’re a Slimcea girl,
Show them the slim life you’re living,
Look at the glances they’re giving,
Show them you’re a Slimcea girl.
It’s tasty bread all right —
Slimcea’s good and light,
Show them (show them) you’re a Slimcea girl!
Slimcea (2)
Show them (show them) you’re a Slimcea girl
You’re a slim girl in a new and exciting world!
Show them you’re a Slimcea girl!
Snibs: 1971
Snibs. Munchy peanut biscuits with the “Goodness!” taste!
Soreen malt loaf (1): c.1960
Don’t forget the Soreen, Doreen!
Soreen malt loaf (2)
Soreen is goodness and wonderful flavour,
With lots of good things for the children to savour.
Stork Margarine (1): 1978
Can you tell Stork from butter?
Seven out of ten people can’t tell Stork from butter.
Stork Margarine (2)
Tastes good enough to eat with nothing on!
Summer County Margarine (1)
As soon as a woman tastes it, a crown appeared on her head (to a fanfare):
Summer County makes you feel like a queen.
Summer County Margarine (2)
Showing cows in a field
Summer County
[repeated again and again to the music of the Merry Widow waltz]
Voiceover: [Uncertain: did it use the slogan “country-fresh flavour”?]
Sunblest bread (1): c.1958
Cartoon: Little boy slides down a sandwich singing:
When it’s time to have a bite,
Have a sandwich,
Have a sandwich!
Sunblest bread (2)
Possibly dating from 1969 when there was a different wrapper each day saying “Happy Monday”, “Happy Friday”, “Happy Weekend” etc. Monday’s bread was blue; Tuesday orange; Wednesday purple; Thursday green; Friday red, and Saturday yellow.
Fresh every day the Sunblest way,
Fresh to the last slice.
Sunblest bread (3)
Why catch a crab just to have a crab sandwich?
Have Sutherland’s Spread instead!
Sutherland’s Spread 2: c.1985
When life gets dull and boring,
Don’t let it get you down,
Get something fresh from Sutherland’s
And spread the word around
Take heart, get smart, get fresh, get Sutherland’s fresh spread!
Build a triple decker to brighten up your bread,
Slap it on a cracker and let the flavour spread,
Take heart, get smart, get fresh, g
Get Sutherland’s fresh spread!
TUC Crackers: 1968
… bursts into flavour, on your tongue!
Vitalite
Wake up in the mornin’ wanting some breakfast,
Which margarine do you put on your to-o-oast?
Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh Vitalite — that’s right!
[Tune: “The Israelites”]
| i don't know |
Which French city held up the advance of British troops for over a month shortly after D-Day? | CHAPTER 22: World War II: The War Against Germany and Italy
World War II: The War Against Germany and Italy
With the invasion of North Africa (Operation TORCH), the U.S. Army in late 1942 began a ground offensive against the European Axis that was to be sustained almost without pause until Italy collapsed and Germany was finally defeated. More than a million Americans were to fight in lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea and close to four million on the European continent, exclusive of Italy, in the largest commitment to battle ever made by the U.S. Army. Alongside these Americans were to march British, Canadian, French, and other Allied troops in history's greatest demonstration of coalition warfare, while on another front massed Soviet armies were to contribute enormously to the victory.
The North African Campaign, November 1942-May 1943
Although the decision to launch Operation TORCH had been made largely because the Allies could not mount a more direct attack against the European Axis early in the war, there were specific and attractive objectives�to gain French-controlled Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia as a base for enlisting the French empire in the war, to assist the British in the Libyan Desert in destroying Axis forces in North Africa, to open the Mediterranean to Allied shipping, and to provide a steppingstone for subsequent operations.
The Germans and their Italian allies controlled a narrow but strategic strip of the North African littoral between Tunisia and Egypt with impassable desert bounding the strip on the south. (Map 40) Numbering some 100,000 men under a battle-tested German leader, Field Marshal Rommel, the German-Italian army in Libya posed a constant threat to Egypt and the Near East as well as to French North Africa and, since the Axis also controlled the northern shores of the Mediterranean, served to deny the Mediterranean to Allied shipping. Only a few convoys seeking to supply British forces on the island of Malta ever ventured into the Mediterranean, and these took heavy losses.
Map 40
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Moving against French Africa posed for the Allies special problems rooted in the nature of the armistice that had followed French defeat in 1940. Under terms of that armistice, the Germans had left the French empire nominally intact, along with much of the southern half of Metropolitan France, yet in return the French Government was pledged to drop out of the war. Although an underground resistance movement had already begun in France and an Allied-equipped force called the Free French was assembling in the British Isles, that part of the regular French Army and Navy left intact by the armistice was sworn to the service of the Vichy government. This pledge had led already to the anomaly of Frenchman fighting Frenchman and of the British incurring French enmity by destroying part of the fleet of their former ally.
If bloodshed was to be averted in the Allied invasion, French sympathies had to be enlisted in advance, but to reveal the plan was to risk French rejection of it and German occupation of French Africa. Although clandestine negotiations were conducted with a few trusted French leaders, these produced no guarantee that French forces would not resist.
Partly because of this intricate situation, the Allies designated an American, General Eisenhower, to command the invasion in order to capitalize on absence of rancor between French and Americans by giving the invasion an American rather than a British complexion. American troops were to make up the bulk of the assault force, and the Royal Navy was to keep its contribution as inconspicuous as possible.
The operation was to begin in western Egypt, where the British Commander in Chief, Middle East, General Sir Harold R. L. G. Alexander, was to attack with the veteran British Eighth Army under Lt. Gen. Bernard L. Montgomery against Field Marshal Rommel's German-Italian army. Coming ashore in French Africa, General Eisenhower's combined U.S.-British force was to launch a converging attack against Rommel's rear.
In selecting beaches for the invasion, U.S. planners insisted upon a landing on the Atlantic coast of Morocco lest the Germans seal the Strait of Gibraltar and cut off support to forces put ashore on the Mediterranean coast. Because both troops and shipping were limited, a landing on the Atlantic coast restricted the number and size of landings possible inside the Mediterranean. Although a landing as far east as Tunisia was desirable because of vast overland distances (from the Atlantic coast to Tunis is more than a thousand miles), proximity of Axis aircraft on Sicily and Sardinia made that too perilous.
Making the decision on the side of security, the Allies planned simultaneous landings at three points�in Morocco near the Atlantic port of Casablanca and
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in Algeria near the ports of Oran and Algiers. Once the success of these landings was assured, a convoy was to put ashore small contingents of British troops to seize ports in eastern Algeria while a ground column headed for Tunisia in a race to get there before the Germans could move in.
Given the assignment to invade North Africa only at the end of July 1942, the U.S. Army faced enormous difficulties in meeting a target date in November of the same year. Troops had had little training in amphibious warfare, landing craft were few and obsolete, and much equipment was inferior to that of the Axis forces. So few U.S. troops were available in England that troops for the landing near Casablanca had to be shipped direct from the United States, one of history's longest sea voyages preceding an amphibious assault.
After soundly defeating an Axis attack, Montgomery's Eighth Army on October 23 auspiciously opened an offensive at El 'Alamein, there to score a victory that was to be a turning point in British fortunes. A little over two weeks later, before daylight on November 8, the U.S. Navy put U.S. Army forces ashore near Casablanca, while the Royal Navy landed other U.S. troops and contingents of British troops near Oran and Algiers. The entire invasion force consisted of over 400 warships, 1,000 planes, and some 107,000 men, including a battalion of paratroopers jumping in the U.S. Army's first airborne attack.
Although the invasion achieved strategic surprise, the French in every case but one fought back at the beaches. Dissidence among various French factions limited the effectiveness of some of the opposition, but any resistance at all raised the specter of delay that might enable the Germans to beat the Allies into Tunisia. Three days passed before the French agreed to cease fire and take up arms on the Allied side.
French support at last assured, the Royal Navy put British troops ashore close to the Tunisian border while an Allied column began the long overland trek. The British troops were too few to do more than secure two small Algerian ports, the ground column too late. Over the narrow body of water between Sicily and North Africa the Germans poured planes, men, and tanks. Except for barren mountains in the interior, Tunisia was for the moment out of Allied reach.
The Tunisia Campaign
Recoiling from the defeat at El 'Alamein, Rommel's German-Italian army in January 1943 occupied old French fortifications near the-southern border of Tunisia, the Mareth Line, there to face Montgomery's Eighth Army, while more than 100,000 enemy troops under General Juergen von Arnim faced west-
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ward against General Eisenhower's Allied force. Although the Italian high command in Italy exercised loose control, the Axis nations failed to establish a unified command over these two forces.
The Allied plan to defeat Rommel by converging attacks having been foiled, General Eisenhower had no choice but to dig in to defend in the Tunisian mountains until he could accumulate enough strength to attack in conjunction with a renewed strike by Montgomery against the Mareth Line. Before this could be accomplished, Rommel on February 14 sent strong armored forces through the passes in central Tunisia against the U.S. II Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Lloyd R. Fredendall. Rommel planned to push through the Kasserine Pass, then turn northwestward by way of an Allied supply base at Tébessa to reach the coast and trap the Allied units.
In a series of sharp armored actions, Rommel quickly penetrated thinly held American positions and broke through the Kasserine Pass. Although success appeared within his grasp, lack of unified command interfered. Planning an attack of his own, General von Arnim refused to release an armored division needed to continue Rommel's thrust. Concerned that Rommel lacked the strength for a deep envelopment by way of Tébessa, the Italian high command directed a turn northward, a much shallower envelopment.
The turn played into Allied hands, for the British already had established a blocking position astride the only road leading northward. At the height of a clash between Rommel's tanks and the British, four battalions of American artillery arrived after a forced march from Oran. On February 22 these guns and a small band of British tanks brought the Germans to a halt. Warned by intelligence reports that the British Eighth Army was about to attack the Mareth Line, Rommel hurriedly pulled back to his starting point.
The Axis offensive defeated, the U.S. II Corps, commanded now by Maj. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., launched a diversionary attack on March 17 toward the rear of the Mareth Line, while Montgomery's Eighth Army a few days later struck the line in force. By the end of the first week of April, the two forces had joined.
With all their forces now linked under the tactical command of General Alexander, the Allies opened a broad offensive that within a month captured the ports of Bizerte and Tunis and compressed all Axis troops into a small bridgehead covering the Cape Bon peninsula at the northeastern tip of Tunisia. The last of some 275,000 Germans and Italians surrendered on May 10.
Although the original Allied strategy had been upset by the delay imposed by French resistance and the swift German build-up in Tunisia, Allied troops
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achieved victory in six months, which in view of their limited numbers and long lines of communications, was impressive. A few days later the first unopposed British convoy since 1940 reached beleaguered Malta.
American troops in their first test against German arms had made many mistakes. Training, equipment, and leadership had failed in many instances to meet the requirements of the battlefield, but the lessons were clear and pointed to nothing that time might not correct. More important was the experience gained, both in battle and in logistical support. Important too was the fact that the Allied campaign had brought a French army back into the war. Most important of all, the Allies at last had gained the initiative.
The Sicily Campaign, July-August 1943
Where the Allies were to go after North Africa had already been decided in January 1943 at the Casablanca Conference. As with the decision to invade North Africa, the next step�invading Sicily (Operation HUSKY)�followed from recognition that the Allies still were unready for a direct thrust across the English Channel. Utilizing troops already available in North Africa, they could make the Mediterranean safer for Allied shipping by occupying Sicily, perhaps going on after that to invade Italy and knock the junior Axis partner out of the war.
As planning proceeded for the new operation, General Eisenhower (promoted now to four-star rank) remained as supreme commander, while General Alexander, heading the 15th Army Group, served as ground commander. Alexander controlled Montgomery's Eighth Army and a newly created Seventh U.S. Army under Patton (now a lieutenant general).
How to invade the Vermont-size, three-cornered island posed a special problem. The goal was Messina, the gateway tot he narrow body of water between Sicily and Italy, the enemy's escape route to the Italian mainland. Yet the Strait of Messina was so narrow and well fortified that Allied commanders believed the only solution was to land elsewhere and march on Messina by way of shallow coastal shelves on either side of towering Mount Etna.
Applying the principle of mass, Alexander directed that all landings be made in the southeastern corner of the island, British on the east coast, Americans on the southwest. Behind British beaches a brigade of glider troops was to capture a critical bridge, while a regiment of U.S. paratroopers took high ground behind American beaches. After seizing minor ports and close-in airfields, Patton's Seventh Army was to block to the northwest against Axis reserves while Montgomery mounted a main effort up the east coast.
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Because Sicily was an obvious objective after North Africa, complete strategic surprise was hardly possible, but bad weather helped the Allies achieve tactical surprise. As a huge armada bearing some 160,000 men steamed across the Mediterranean, a mistral�a form of unpredictable gale common to the Mediterranean�sprang up, so churning the sea that General Eisenhower was for a time tempted to order delay. While the heavy surf swamped some landing craft and made all landings difficult, it put the beach defenders off their guard. Before daylight on July 10, both British and Americans were ashore in sizable numbers.
As presaged in North Africa, poor performance by Italian units left to German reserves the task of repelling the invasion. Although preattack bombardment by Allied planes and confusion caused by a scattered jump of U.S. paratroopers delayed German reaction, a panzer division mounted a sharp counterattack against American beaches before the first day was out. It came dangerously close to pushing some American units into the sea before naval gunfire and a few U.S. tanks and artillery pieces that had got ashore drove off the German tanks.
To speed reinforcement, the Allies on two successive nights flew in American and British paratroopers. In both instances, antiaircraft gunners on ships standing offshore and others on land mistook the planes for enemy aircraft and opened fire. Losses were so severe that for a time some Allied commanders questioned the wisdom of employing this new method of warfare.
The Germans meanwhile formed a solid block in front of the British along the east coast, prompting General Patton to urge expanding the role of his Seventh Army. First cutting the island in two with a drive by the II Corps, commanded now by Maj. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, Patton sent a provisional corps pushing rapidly through faltering Italian opposition to the port of Palermo and the northwestern tip of the island. This accomplished within fourteen days after coming ashore, Patton turned to aid the British by attacking toward Messina along a narrow northern coastal shelf.
As both Allied armies in early August readied a final assault to gain Messina, the Germans began to withdraw to the mainland. Despite Allied command of sea and air, they managed to evacuate all their forces, some 40,000 troops. When on August 17, thirty days after the invasion, U.S. patrols pushed into Messina, the Germans had incurred some 10,000 casualties, the Italians probably as many as 100,000, mostly prisoners of war. Allied losses were 22,000.
The American force that fought in Sicily was far more sophisticated than that which had gone into battle in North Africa. New landing craft, some capable of bearing tanks, had made getting ashore much quicker and surer,
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and new amphibious trucks called DUKW's eased the problem of supply over the beaches. Gone was the Grant tank with its side-mounted gun, lacking wide traverse; in its place was the Sherman with 360-degree power-operated traverse for a turret-mounted 75-mm. piece. Commanders were alert to avoid a mistake often made in North Africa of parceling out divisions in small increments, and the men were sure of their weapons and their own ability. Some problems of co-ordination with tactical air remained, but these soon would be worked out.
The Surrender of Italy
Even as the Allies had been preparing to invade Sicily, the Italian people and their government had become increasingly disenchanted with the war. Under the impact of the loss of North Africa, the invasion of Sicily, and a first bombing of Rome, the Italian king forced Mussolini to resign as head of the government.
Anxious to find a way out of the war, a new Italian government made contact with the Allies through diplomatic channels, leading to direct talks with General Eisenhower's representatives. The Italians, it soon developed, were in a quandary�they wanted to pull out of the war, yet they were virtual prisoners of German forces in Italy that Hitler, sensing Italian defection, strongly reinforced. Although plans were drawn for airborne landings to secure Rome coincident with announcement of Italian surrender, these were canceled in the face of Italian vacillation and inability to guarantee strong assistance in fighting the Germans. The Italian government nevertheless agreed to surrender, a fact General Eisenhower announced on the eve of the principal Allied landing on the mainland.
The Italian Campaign, September 1943-May 1945
Since the Allied governments had decided to pursue after Sicily whatever course offered the best chance of knocking Italy from the war, invading the mainland logically followed. This plan also presented an opportunity to tie down German forces and prevent their employment either on the Russian front or against the eventual Allied attack across the English Channel. Occupying Italy also would provide airfields close to Germany and the Balkans.
How far up the peninsula of Italy the Allies were to land depended almost entirely on the range of fighter aircraft based on Sicily, for all Allied aircraft carriers were committed to the war in the Pacific. Another consideration was a desire to control the Strait of Messina to shorten sea supply lines.
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On September 3 a British force under Montgomery crossed the Strait of Messina and landed on the toe of the Italian boot against surprisingly moderate opposition. Following Eisenhower's announcement of Italian surrender, a British fleet steamed brazenly into the harbor of Taranto in the arch of the Italian boot to put a British division ashore on the docks, while the Fifth U.S. Army under Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark staged an assault landing on beaches near Salerno, twenty-five miles southeast of Naples.
Reacting in strength against the Salerno invasion, the Germans two days after the landing mounted a vigorous counterattack that threatened to split the beachhead and force abandonment of part of it. For four days, the issue was in doubt. Quick reinforcement of the ground troops (including a regiment of paratroopers jumping into the beachhead), gallant fighting, liberal air support, and unstinting naval gunfire at last repulsed the German attack. On September Is the Germans began to withdraw, and the next day patrols of the British Eighth Army arrived from the south to link the two Allied forces. Two weeks later American troops took Naples, thereby gaining an excellent port, while the British seized valuable airfields around Foggia on the other side of the peninsula.
Although the Germans seriously considered abandoning southern Italy to pull back to a line in the Northern Apennines, the local commander, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, insisted that he could hold for a considerable time on successive lines south of Rome. This proved to be an accurate assessment. The Allied advance was destined to proceed slowly, partly because of the difficulty of offensive warfare in rugged mountainous terrain and partly because the Allies limited their commitment to the campaign, not only in troops but also in shipping and the landing craft that were necessary if the enemy's strong defensive positions were to be broken by other than frontal attack.
Because the build-up for a cross-Channel attack�the main effort against Germany�was beginning in earnest, the Allies could spare few additional troops or shipping to pursue the war in Italy. Through the fall and winter of 1943-44, the armies would have to do the job in Italy with what was at hand, a total of eighteen Allied divisions.
A renewed offensive in October 1943 broke a strong German delaying position at the Volturno River, twenty miles north of Naples, and carried as far as a so-called Winter Line, an imposing position anchored on towering peaks around the town of Cassino. Casting about for a way to break this line, General Eisenhower obtained permission to retain temporarily from the build-up in Britain enough shipping and landing craft to make an amphibious end run. General Clark was to use a corps of his Fifth U.S. Army to land on beaches near Anzio, some thirty miles south of Rome and sixty miles behind the Winter
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Line. By threatening or cutting German lines of communications to the Winter Line, the troops at Anzio were to facilitate Allied advance through the line and up the valley of the Liri River, the most obvious route to Rome.
Provided support by a French corps equipped with American arms, General Clark pulled out the U.S. VI Corps under Maj. Gen. John P. Lucas to make the envelopment. While the VI Corps�which included a British division�sailed toward Anzio, the Fifth Army launched a massive attack aimed at gaining access to the Liri valley. Although the VI Corps landed unopposed at Anzio on January 22, 1944, the attack on the Winter Line gained little.
Rushing reserves to Anzio, Field Marshal Kesselring quickly erected a firm perimeter about the Allied beachhead and successfully resisted every attempt at breakout. On February 16 Kesselring launched a determined attack to eliminate the beachhead that only a magnificent defense by U.S. and British infantry supported by artillery, tanks, planes, and naval gunfire at last thwarted.
Through the rest of the winter and early spring, the Fifth and Eighth Armies regrouped and built their combined strength to twenty-five divisions, mainly with the addition of French and British Commonwealth troops. General Eisenhower, meanwhile, had relinquished command in the Mediterranean early in January to go to Britain in preparation for the coming invasion of France. He was succeeded by a Britisher, Field Marshal Sir Henry M. Wilson.
On May 11 the Fifth and Eighth Armies launched a new carefully synchronized attack to break the Winter Line. Passing through almost trackless mountains, French troops under General Clark's command scored a penetration that unhinged the German position. As the Germans began to fall back toward Rome, the VI Corps attacked from the Anzio beachhead but failed to make sufficient progress to cut the enemy's routes of withdrawal. On June 4, 1944, U.S. troops entered Rome.
With D-day in Normandy only two days off, the focus of the Allied war against Germany shifted to France, and with the shift came a gradual diminution of Allied strength in Italy. Allied forces nevertheless continued to pursue the principle of the offensive. Reaching a new German position in the Northern Apennines, the Gothic Line, they started in August a three-month campaign that achieved penetrations, but they were unable to break out of the mountains. This period also saw a change in command as General Clark became commander of the Allied army group and Lt. Gen. Lucian K. Truscott assumed command of the Fifth Army.
In the spring of 1945 the Fifth and Eighth Armies penetrated a final German defensive line to enter the fertile plains of the Po River valley. On May 2, the Germans in Italy surrendered, the first formal capitulation of the war.
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Less generally acclaimed than other phases of World War II, the campaign in Italy nevertheless had a vital part in the overall conduct of the war. At the crucial time of the Normandy landings, Allied troops in Italy were tying down twenty-six German divisions that well might have upset the balance in France. As a result of this campaign, the Allies obtained airfields useful for strategic bombardment of Germany and the Balkans, and conquest of the peninsula further guaranteed the safety of Allied shipping in the Mediterranean.
Cross-Channel Attack
Even as the Allied ground campaign was proceeding on the shores of the Mediterranean, three other campaigns were under way from the British Isles�the campaign of the U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy to defeat the German submarine, a U.S.-British strategic bombing offensive against Germany, and a third, intricately tied in with the other two, a logistical marathon to assemble the men and tools necessary for a direct assault against the foe.
Most critical of all was the antisubmarine campaign, for without success in that, the two others could progress only feebly at best. The turning point in that campaign came in April 1943, when the full effect of all the various
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devices used against the U-boat began to be apparent. Despite German introduction of an acoustical torpedo that homed on the noise of an escort's propellers, and later of the schnorkel, a steel tube extending above water by means of which the U-boat could charge its batteries without surfacing, Allied shipping losses continued to decline. In the last two years of the war the submarines would sink only one-seventh of the shipping they did in the earlier years.
In the second campaign, the combined bomber offensive that U.S. and British chiefs at Casablanca had directed, the demands of the war in the Pacific and the Mediterranean slowed American participation. Not until the summer of 1943 were sufficient U.S. bombers available in Britain to make a substantial contribution, and not until February 1944 were U.S. airmen at last able to match the big thousand-plane raids of the British.
While the Royal Air Force struck by night, bombers of the U.S. Army Air Forces hit by day, both directing much of their attention to the German aircraft industry in an effort to cripple the German air arm before the invasion. Although the raids imposed delays on German production, the most telling effect was the loss of German fighter aircraft and trained pilots rising to oppose the Allied bombers. As time for the invasion approached, the German air arm had ceased to represent a real threat to Allied ground operations, and Allied bombers could shift their attention to transportation facilities in France in an effort to restrict the enemy's ability to move reserves against the invasion.
The logistical build-up in the British Isles, meanwhile, had been progressing at an ever-increasing pace, easily the most tremendous single logistical undertaking of all time. The program entailed transporting some 1,600,000 men across the submarine-infested Atlantic before D-day and providing for their shelter, hospitalization, supply, training, and general welfare. Mountains of weapons and equipment, ranging from locomotives and big bombers to dental fillings, also had to be shipped.
Planning for the invasion had begun long before as the British, standing alone, looked to the day when they might return to the Continent. Detailed planning began in 1943 when the Combined Chiefs of Staff appointed a Britisher, Lt. Gen. Frederick E. Morgan, as chief of staff to a supreme commander yet to be named. Under Morgan's direction, British and American officers drew up plans for several contingencies, one of which, Operation OVERLORD, anticipated a large-scale assault against a still powerful German Army. This plan served as the basis for a final plan developed early in 1944 after General Eisenhower, designated as the supreme commander, arrived in Britain and established his command, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, or SHAEF.
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The over-all ground commander for the invasion was the former head of the British Eighth Army, General Montgomery, who also commanded the 21 Army Group, the controlling headquarters for the two Allied armies scheduled to make the invasion. The British Second Army under Lt. Gen. Sir Miles C. Dempsey was to assault on the left; the First U.S. Army under Bradley (promoted now to lieutenant general) on the right.
A requirement that the invasion beaches had to be within easy range of fighter aircraft based in Britain and close to at least one major port sharply limited the choice. The state of German defenses imposed further limitations, leaving only one logical site, the base of the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy, southeast of Cherbourg. (Map 41) To facilitate supply until Cherbourg or some other port could be opened, two artificial harbors were to be towed from Britain and emplaced off the invasion beaches.
Despite a weather forecast of high winds and a rough sea, General Eisenhower made a fateful decision to go ahead with the invasion on June 6. During the night over 5,000 ships moved to assigned positions, and at two o'clock, the
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morning of the 6th, the operation for which the world had long and anxiously waited opened. One British and two U.S. airborne divisions (the 82d and 101st) dropped behind the beaches to secure routes of egress for the seaborne forces. Following preliminary aerial and naval bombardment, the first waves of infantry and tanks began to touch down at 6:30, just after sunrise. A heavy surf made the landings difficult but, as in Sicily, put the defenders off their guard.
The assault went well on British beaches, where one Canadian and two British divisions landed, and also at UTAH, westernmost of the U.S. beaches, where the 4th Division came ashore. The story was different at OMAHA Beach; there an elite German division occupying high bluffs laced with pillboxes put the landings in jeopardy. Allied intelligence had detected the presence of the enemy division too late to alter the landing plan. Only through improvisation and personal courage were the men of two regiments of the 1st Division and one of the 28th at last able to work their way up the bluffs and move slowly inland. Some 50,000 U.S. troops nevertheless made their way ashore on the two beaches before the day was out. American casualties were approximately 6,500, British and Canadian, 4,000 in both cases lighter than expected.
The German command was slow to react to the invasion, having been misled not only by the weather but also by an Allied deception plan which con-
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tinued to lead the Germans to believe that this was only a diversionary assault, that the main landings were to come later on the Pas de Calais. Only in one instance, against the British who were solidly ashore, did the Germans mount a sizable counterattack on D-day.
Build-up and Breakout
While Allied aircraft and French resistance fighters impeded the movement of German reserves, the Allies quickly built up their strength and linked the beachheads. U.S. troops then moved against Cherbourg, taking the port, after bitter fighting, three weeks following the invasion. Other Allied forces had in the meantime been deepening the beachhead between Caen and the road center of St. Lô, so that by the end of June the most forward positions were twenty miles from the sea, and the Germans still had been able to mount no major counterattack.
Commanded by Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, the Germans nevertheless defended tenaciously in terrain ideally suited to the defense. This was hedgerow country, where through the centuries French farmers had erected high banks of earth around every small field to fence livestock and protect crops from coastal winds. These banks were thick with the roots of shrubs and trees, and in many places sunken roads screened by a canopy of tree branches ran between two hedgerows. Tunneling into the hedgerows and using the sunken roads for lines of communication, the Germans turned each field into a small fortress.
For all the slow advance and lack of ports (a gale on June 19 demolished one of the artificial harbors and damaged the other), the Allied build-up was swift. By the end of June close to a million men had come ashore, along with some 586,000 tons of supplies and 177,000 vehicles. General Bradley's First Army included four corps with 2 armored and 11 infantry divisions. British strength was about the same.
Seeking to end the battle of the hedgerows, the British attempted to break into more open country near Caen, only to be thwarted by concentrations of German armor. General Bradley then tried a breakout on the right near St. Lô. Behind an intensive aerial bombardment that utilized both tactical aircraft and heavy bombers, the First Army attacked on July 25. By the second day American troops had opened a big breach in German positions, whereupon armored divisions drove rapidly southward twenty-five miles to Avranches at the base of the Cotentin peninsula. While the First Army turned southeastward, the
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Third U.S. Army under General Patton entered the line to swing through Avranches into Brittany in quest of ports.
The arrival of the Third Army signaled a major change in command. General Bradley moved up to command the I2th Army Group, composed of the First and Third Armies, while his former deputy, Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges, assumed command of the First Army. Montgomery's 21 Army Group consisted of the British Second Army and a newcomer to the front, the First Canadian Army under Lt. Gen. Henry D. G. Crerar. General Montgomery continued to function as overall ground commander, an arrangement that was to prevail for another five weeks until General Eisenhower moved his headquarters to the Continent and assumed direct command of the armies in the field.
In terms of the preinvasion plan, General Eisenhower intended establishing a solid lodgment area in France extending as far east as the Seine River to provide room for air and supply bases. Having built up strength in this area, he planned then to advance into Germany on a broad front. Under Montgomery's 21 Army Group, he would concentrate his greatest resources north of the Ardennes region of Belgium along the most direct route to the Ruhr industrial region, Germany's largest complex of mines and industry. Bradley's 12th Army Group, meanwhile, was to make a subsidiary thrust south of the Ardennes to seize the Saar industrial region along the Franco-German frontier. A third force invading southern France in August was to provide protection on Bradley's right.
The First Army's breakout from the hedgerows changed that plan, for it opened the German armies in France to crushing defeat. When the Germans counterattacked toward Avranches to try to cut off leading columns of the First and Third Armies, other men of the First Army held firm, setting up an opportunity for exploiting the principle of maneuver to the fullest. While the First Canadian Army attacked toward Falaise, General Bradley directed mobile columns of both the First and Third Armies on a wide encircling maneuver in the direction of Argentan, not far from Falaise. This caught the enemy's counterattacking force in a giant pocket. Although a 15-mile gap between Falaise and Argentan was closed only after many of the Germans escaped, more than 60,000 were killed or captured in the pocket. Great masses of German guns, tanks, and equipment fell into Allied hands.
While the First Army finished the business at Argentan, Patton's Third Army dashed off again toward the Seine River, with two objects: eliminating the Seine as a likely new line of German defense and making a second, wider
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envelopment to trap those German troops that had escaped from the first pocket. Both Patton accomplished. In the two pockets the enemy lost large segments of two field armies.
Invasion of Southern France
Even as General Eisenhower's armies were scoring a great victory in Normandy, the Allies on August 15 staged another invasion, this one in southern France (Operation DRAGOON) to provide a supplementary line of communications through the French Mediterranean ports and to prevent the Germans in the south from moving against the main Allied armies in the north. Lack of landing craft had precluded launching this invasion at the same time as OVERLORD.
Under control of the Seventh U.S. Army, commanded now by Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch, three U.S. divisions, plus an airborne task force and French commandos, began landing just after dawn. Defending Germans were spread too thin to provide much more than token resistance, and by the end of the first day the Seventh Army had 86,000 men and 12,000 vehicles ashore. The next day French troops staged a second landing and moved swiftly to seize the ports of Toulon and Marseille.
Faced with entrapment by the spectacular Allied advances in the north, the Germans in southern France began on August 17 to withdraw. U.S. and French columns followed closely and on September 11 established contact with Patton's Third Army. Under the 6th Army Group, commanded by Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers, the Seventh Army and French forces organized as the 1st French Army passed to General Eisenhower's command.
Pursuit to the Frontier
As Allied columns were breaking loose all over France, men and women of the French resistance movement began to battle the Germans in the streets of the capital. Although General Eisenhower had intended to bypass Paris, hoping to avoid heavy fighting in the city and to postpone the necessity of feeding the civilian population, he felt impelled to send help lest the uprising be defeated. On August 25 a column including U.S. and French troops entered the city.
With surviving German forces falling back in defeat toward the German frontier, General Eisenhower abandoned the original plan of holding at the Seine while he opened the Brittany ports and established a sound logistical base. Determined to take advantage of the enemy's defeat, he reinforced Mont-
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gomery's 21 Army Group by sending the First U.S. Army close alongside the British, thus providing enough strength in the northern thrust to assure quick capture of ports along the English Channel, particularly the great Belgian port of Antwerp. Because the front was fast moving away from Brittany, the Channel ports were essential.
Ports posed a special problem, for with the stormy weather of fall and winter approaching, the Allies could not much longer depend upon supply over the invasion beaches, and Cherbourg had only a limited capacity. Even though Brittany now was far behind the advancing front, General Eisenhower still felt a need for the port of Brest. He put those troops of the Third Army that had driven into the peninsula under a new headquarters, the Ninth U.S. Army commanded by Lt. Gen. William H. Simpson, and set them to the task. When Brest fell two weeks later, the port was a shambles. The port problem nevertheless appeared to be solved when on September 4 British troops took Antwerp, its wharves and docks intact; but the success proved to be illusory. Antwerp is on an estuary sixty miles from the sea, and German troops clung to the banks, denying access to Allied shipping.
The port situation was symptomatic of multitudinous problems that had begun to beset the entire Allied logistical apparatus (organized much like Pershing's Services of Supply, but called the Communications Zone). The armies were going so far and so fast that the supply services were unable to keep pace. Although enough supplies were available in Normandy, the problem was to get them to forward positions that sometimes were more than 500 miles beyond the depots. Despite extraordinary measures such as establishing a one-way truck route called the Red Ball Express, supplies of such essential commodities as gasoline and ammunition began to run short. This was the penalty the Allied armies would have to pay for the decision to make no pause at the Seine.
The logistical crisis sparked a difference over strategy between General Eisenhower and General Montgomery. In view of the logistical difficulties, Montgomery insisted that General Patton's Third Army should halt in order that all transportation resources might be concentrated behind his troops and the First Army. This allocation, he believed, would enable him to make a quick strike deep into Germany and impel German surrender.
Acting on the advice of logistical experts on his staff, General Eisenhower refused. Such a drive could succeed, his staff advised, only if all Allied armies had closed up to the Rhine River and if Antwerp were open to Allied shipping. The only choice, General Eisenhower believed, was to keep pushing all along the line while supplies held out, ideally to go so far as to gain bridgeheads over the Rhine.
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There were obstacles other than supply standing in the way of that goal. Some were natural, like the Moselle and Meuse Rivers, the Vosges Mountains in Alsace, the wooded hills of the Ardennes, and a dense Huertgen Forest facing the First Army near Aachen. Others were man made, old French forts around Metz and the French Maginot Line in northeastern France, as well as dense fortifications all along the German border�the Siegfried Line, or, as the Germans called it, the West Wall. By mid-September the First Army had penetrated the West Wall at several points but lacked the means to exploit the breaks.
Although General Eisenhower assigned first priority to clearing the seaward approaches to Antwerp, he sanctioned a Montgomery proposal to use Allied airborne troops in a last bold stroke to capitalize on German disorganization before logistics should force a halt. While the British Second Army launched an attack called Operation GARDEN, airborne troops of a recently organized First Allied Airborne Army (Lt. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton) were to land in Operation MARKET astride three major water obstacles in the Netherlands�the Maas, Waal, and Lower Rhine Rivers. Crossing these rivers on bridges to be secured by the airborne troops, the Second Army was to drive all the way to the Ijssel Meer (Zuider Zee), cutting off Germans farther west and putting the British in a position to outflank the West Wall and drive into Germany along a relatively open north German plain.
Employing one British and two U.S. airborne divisions, the airborne attack began on September 17. On the first day alone approximately 20,000 paratroopers and glider troops landed in the largest airborne attack of the war. Although the drops were spectacularly successful and achieved complete surprise, the chance presence of two panzer divisions near the drop zones enabled the Germans to react swiftly. Resistance to the ground attack also was greater than expected, delaying quick link-up with the airheads. The combined operation gained a salient some fifty miles deep into German-held territory but fell short of the ambitious objectives, including a bridgehead across the Lower Rhine.
At this point, Montgomery (promoted now to field marshal) concentrated on opening Antwerp to Allied shipping, but so determined was German resistance and so difficult the conditions of mud and flood in the low-lying countryside that it was well into November before the job was finished. The first Allied ship dropped anchor in Antwerp only on November 28.
As a result of a cutback in offensive operations and extraordinary efforts of the supply services, the logistical situation had been gradually improving. In early November resources were sufficient to enable the U.S. armies to launch a big offensive aimed at reaching the Rhine; but, despite the largest air attack in direct
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support of ground troops to be made during the war (Operation QUEEN), it turned out to be a slow, arduous fight through the natural and artificial obstacles along the frontier. Heavy rain and severe cold added to the difficulties. By mid-December the First and Ninth Armies had reached the Roer River east of Aachen, twenty-three miles inside Germany, and the Third Army had come up to the West Wall along the Saar River northeast of Metz, but only the Seventh Army and the 1st French Army in Alsace had touched any part of the Rhine.
Having taken advantage of the pause imposed by Allied logistical problems to create new divisions and rush replacements to the front, the Germans in the west had made a remarkable recovery from the debacle in France. Just how remarkable was soon to be forcefully demonstrated in what had heretofore been a quiet sector held by the First Army's right wing.
The Ardennes Counteroffensive
As early as the preceding August, Adolf Hitler had been contemplating a counteroffensive to regain the initiative in the west and compel the Allies to settle for a negotiated peace. Over the protests of his generals, who thought the plan too ambitious, he ordered an attack by twenty-five divisions, carefully conserved and secretly assembled, to hit thinly manned U.S. positions in the Ardennes region of Belgium and Luxembourg, cross the Meuse River, and push on northwestward to Antwerp. In taking Antwerp, Hitler expected to cut off the British 21 Army Group and the First and Ninth U.S. Armies.
Under cover of inclement winter weather, Hitler concentrated his forces in the forests of the Eifel region, opposite the Ardennes. Before daylight on December 16, the Germans attacked along a 60-mile front, taking the VIII Corps and the south wing of the V Corps by surprise. In most places, German gains were rapid, for the American divisions were either inexperienced or seriously depleted from earlier fighting, and all were stretched thin.
The Germans nevertheless encountered difficulties from the first. Cut off and surrounded, small U.S. units continued to fight. At the northern shoulder of the penetration, divisions of the V Corps refused to budge from the vicinity of Monschau, thereby denying critical roads to the enemy and limiting the width of the penetration. At St. Vith American troops held out for six days to block a vital road center. To Bastogne to the southwest, where an armored detachment served as a blocking force, General Eisenhower rushed an airborne division which never relinquished that communications center even though
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surrounded. Here Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe delivered a terse one-word reply to a German demand for surrender: "Nuts!"
Denied important roads and hampered by air attacks as the weather cleared, the Germans fell a few miles short of even their first objective, the Meuse River. The result after more than a month of hard fighting that cost the Americans 75,000 casualties and the Germans close to 100,000 was nothing but a big bulge in the lines, from which the battle drew its popular name.
Faced with a shortage of infantry replacements during the enemy's counteroffensive General Eisenhower offered Negro soldiers in service units an opportunity to volunteer for duty with the infantry. More than 4,500 responded, many taking reductions in grade in order to meet specified requirements. The 6th Army Group formed these men into provisional companies, while the 12th Army Group employed them as an additional platoon in existing rifle companies. The excellent record established by these volunteers, particularly those serving as platoons, presaged major postwar changes in the traditional approach to employing Negro troops.
Although the counteroffensive had given the Allied command some anxious moments, the gallant stands by isolated units had provided time for the First and Ninth Armies to shift troops against the northern flank of the penetration
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and for the Third Army to hit the penetration from the south and drive through to beleaguered Bastogne. A rapid shift and change in direction of attack by the Third Army was one of the more noteworthy instances during the war of successful employment of the principle of maneuver.
By the end of January 1945, U.S. units had retaken all lost ground and had thwarted a lesser German attack against the 6th Army Group in Alsace. The Germans having expended irreplaceable reserves, the end of the war in Europe was in sight.
The Russian Campaigns
Much of the hope for an early end to the war rested with tremendous successes of the Soviet armies in the east. Having stopped the invading Germans at the gates of Moscow in late 1941 and at Stalingrad in late 1942, the Russians had made great offensive strides westward in both 1943 and 1944. Only a few days after D-day in Normandy the Red Army had launched a massive offensive which by mid-September had reached East Prussia and the gates of the Polish capital of Warsaw. In January 1945, as U.S. troops eliminated the bulge in the Ardennes, the Red Army started a new drive that was to carry to the Oder River, only forty miles from Berlin.
Far greater masses of troops were employed in the east than in the west over vast distances and a much wider front. The Germans had to maintain more than two million combat troops on the Eastern Front as compared with less than a million on the Western Front. Yet the Soviet contribution was less disproportionate than would appear at first glance, for the war in the east was a one-front ground war, whereas the Allies in the west were fighting on two ground fronts and conducting major campaigns in the air and at sea, as well as making a large commitment in the war against Japan. At the same time, the United States was contributing enormously to the war in Russia through lend-lease�almost $11 billion in materials, including over 400,000 jeeps and trucks, 12,000 armored vehicles (including 7,000 tanks, enough to equip some 20-odd U.S. armored divisions), 14,000 aircraft, and 1.75 million tons of food.
The Final Offensive
Soon after the opening of the Soviet January offensive, the Western Allies began a new drive to reach and cross the Rhine, the last barrier to the industrial heart of Germany. Exhausted by the overambitious effort in the Ardennes and forced to shift divisions to oppose the Russians, the Germans had little chance of holding west of the Rhine. Although Field Marshal von Rundstedt wanted
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to conserve his remaining strength for a defense of the river, Hitler would authorize no withdrawal. Making a strong stand at the Roer River and at places where the West Wall remained intact, the Germans imposed some delay but paid dearly in the process, losing 250,000 troops that could have been used to better advantage on the Rhine.
Falling back behind the river, the Germans had made careful plans to destroy all bridges, but something went amiss at the Ludendorff railroad bridge in the First Army's sector at Remagen. On March 7 a task force of the 9th Armored Division found the bridge damaged but passable. Displaying initiative and courage, a company of infantry dashed across. Higher commanders acted promptly to reinforce the foothold.
To the south, a division of the Third Army on March 22 made a surprise crossing of the Rhine in assault boats. Beginning late the next day the 2I Army Group and the Ninth U.S. Army staged a full-dress crossing of the lower reaches of the river, complete with an airborne attack rivaling in its dimensions Operation MARKET. The Third Army then made two more assault crossings, and during the last few days of March both the Seventh Army and the 1st French Army of the 6th Army Group crossed farther upstream. Having expended most of their resources west of the river, the Germans were powerless to defeat any Allied crossing attempt.
As the month of April opened, Allied armies fanned out from the Rhine all along the line with massive columns of armor and motorized infantry. Encircling the Ruhr, the First and Ninth Armies took 325,000 prisoners, totally destroying an entire German army group. Although the Germans managed to rally determined resistance at isolated points, a cohesive defensive line ceased to exist.
Since the Russians were within forty miles of Berlin and apparently would reach the German capital first, General Eisenhower put the main weight of the continuing drive behind U.S. armies moving through central Germany to eliminate a remaining pocket of German industry and to link with the Russians. The 21 Army Group meanwhile sealed off the Netherlands and headed toward the base of the Jutland peninsula, while the 6th Army Group turned southeastward to obviate any effort by the Nazis to make a last-ditch stand in the Alps of southern Germany and Austria.
By mid-April Allied armies in the north and center were building up along the Elbe and Mulde Rivers, an agreed line of contact with the Red Army approaching from the east. First contact came on April 25 near the town of Torgau, followed by wholesale German surrenders all along the front and in Italy.
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With Berlin in Soviet hands, Hitler a suicide, and almost every corner of Germany overrun, emissaries of the German Government surrendered on May 7 at General Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims, France. The next day, May 8, was V-E Day, the official date of the end of the war in Europe.
The Situation On V-E Day
As V-E Day came, Allied forces in Western Europe consisted of 4 ½ million men, including 9 armies (5 of them American�one of which, the Fifteenth, saw action only at the last), 23 corps, 91 divisions (61 of them American), 6 tactical air commands (4 American), and 2 strategic air forces (1 American). The Allies had 28,000 combat aircraft, of which 14,845 were American, and they had brought into Western Europe more than 970,000 vehicles and 18 million tons of supplies. At the same time they were achieving final victory in Italy with 18 divisions (7 of them American).
The German armed forces and the nation were prostrate, beaten to a degree never before seen in modern times. Hardly any organized units of the German Army remained except in Norway, Czechoslovakia, and the Balkans, and these would soon capitulate. What remained of the air arm was too demoralized even for a final suicidal effort, and the residue of the German Navy lay helpless in captured northern ports. Through five years of war, the German armed forces had lost over 3 million men killed, 263,000 of them in the west, since D-day. The United States lost 135,576 dead in Western Europe, while Britain, Canada, France, and other Allies incurred after D-day approximately 60,000 military deaths.
Unlike in World War I, when the United States had come late on the scene and provided only those forces to swing the balance of power to the Allied side, the American contribution to the reconquest of Western Europe had been predominant, not just in manpower but as a true arsenal of democracy. American factories produced for the British almost three times more lend-lease materials than for the Russians, including 185,000 vehicles, 12,000 tanks, and enough planes to equip four tactical air forces, and for the French, all weapons and equipment for 8 divisions and 1 tactical air force, plus partial equipment for 3 more divisions.
Although strategic air power had failed to prove the decisive instrument many had expected, it was a major factor in the Allied victory, as was the role of Allied navies, for without control of the sea lanes, there could have been no build-up in Britain and no amphibious assaults. It was nonetheless true that the application of the power of ground armies finally broke the German ability and will to resist.
498
While the Germans had developed a flying bomb and later a supersonic missile, the weapons with which both sides fought the war were in the main much improved versions of those that had been present in World War I�the motor vehicle, the airplane, the machine gun, indirect fire artillery, the tank. The difference lay in such accouterments as excellent radio communications and in a new sophistication, particularly in terms of mobility, that provided the means for rapid exploitation that both sides in World War I had lacked.
From North Africa to the Elbe, U.S. Army generalship proved remarkably effective. Such field commanders as Bradley, Devers, Clark, Hodges, Patton, Simpson, Patch, and numerous corps and division commanders would stand beside the best that had ever served the nation. Having helped develop Army doctrine during the years between the two great wars, these same men put the theories to battlefield test with enormous success. Some indication of the magnitude of the responsibilities they carried is apparent from the fact that late in the war General Bradley as commander of the 12th Army Group had under his command four field armies, 12 corps, and 48 divisions, more than 1,300,000 men, the largest exclusively American field command in U.S. history.
These commanders throughout displayed a steady devotion to the principles of war. Despite sometimes seemingly insurmountable obstacles of weather, terrain, and enemy concentration, they were consistently able to achieve the mass, mobility, and firepower to avoid a stalemate, maintaining the principles of the objective and the offensive and exploiting the principle of maneuver to the fullest. On many occasions they achieved surprise, most notably in the amphibious assaults and at the Rhine. They were themselves taken by surprise twice, in central Tunisia and in the Ardennes, yet in both cases they recovered quickly. Economy of force was particularly evident in Italy, and simplicity was nowhere better demonstrated than in the Normandy landings, despite a complexity inherent in the size and diversity of the invasion forces. From the first, unity of command was present in every campaign, not just at the tactical level but also in the combined staff system that afforded the U.S. and Britain a unity of command and purpose never approached on the Axis side.
page updated 27 April 2001
| Caen |
Which motorway runs from Ross to Tewksbury? | Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 | World War II Database
World War II Database
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
ww2dbaseWith Germans fortified along the entire French coast, Hitler's highly boasted "Fortress Europe" seemed to be difficult to crack. While they fought side-by-side as comrades, the United Kingdom and the United States offered polar opposite views toward plans for Europe. While the British favored jabbing at the far reaches of the Axis Empire such as North Africa and Italy while bombing Germany into submission, the bolder Americans argued for a direct assault on Western Europe. In the earlier stages of the war the Americans settled with the British, landing in North Africa in Nov 1942 and Sicily in Jul 1943. In Nov 1943, Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill met at Tehran, Iran; Stalin requested a landing in France to open up a second front against Germany, and Churchill reluctantly agreed.
ww2dbaseSite Selection and Invasion Planning
ww2dbaseThe Allied planners had long been studying the possible landing points on the French coast. By May 1943, four potential landing sites were being considered: Normandy in the Bay of the Seine between Cotentin Peninsula and the estuary of the River Orne, Pas-de-Calais, eastern and western coasts of the Contentin Peninsula, and the northern coast of Brittany. Brittany was ruled out rather quickly despite it possessing several excellent ports due to the distance the transports would have to travel and the potential ease for German forces to seal Allied forces on the Brittany peninsula. Pas-de-Calais was the closest point between the United Kingdom and France, thus it was an obvious choice evident with the strong German defenses in that region; the idea was abandoned as well (though a deceptive campaign continued to force the Germans to maintain a strong presence there). It was decided that Normandy would be the site of the invasion, and the western-most landing force would secure the Cotentin Peninsula. The original plans called for the landing of three divisions onto the beaches on the first wave, then two more divisions in the second wave to drive into the city of Caen; the second wave would be supported by paratroopers and glider troopers dropped in hours before the invasion. Later, the final first wave landing party grew to five divisions, two American, two British, and one Canadian. A carefully coordinated aerial and naval bombardment was also called for, while warships would bombard both known troop concentrations behind the beaches and beach defenses. Other aerial forces would also be employed to disrupt German lines of communications and transportation behind the beaches and to disable German air capabilities.
ww2dbaseWhile preparing the landing, the planners also called for facilities to aid the subsequent logistical operations, code named "Gooseberries" and "Mulberries", which would be critical before a port city, such as Cherbourg, could be secured. Gooseberry was to consist of a line of sunken ships, placed stern to stern, to allow smaller ships to sail within the Gooseberry lines safely. Mulberry was preconstructed harbor modules towed in from Britain to Normandy. The design and deployment of such harbors were absolute engineering marvels.
ww2dbaseWhile the planners were busy in the war rooms, soldiers prepared for the invasion as well. Thousands of American troops were placed into the Assault Training Center at Woolacombe, while American airborne troops trained at Camp Toccoa in Georgia, United States. On the British side, General Percy Hobart's "Funnies" tanks were studied closely to determine what types would be best to support a beach landing party (these tanks would make the British and Canadian landings just a bit easier at Sword, Gold, and Juno beaches). Four major practice landings were conducted by the troops at Slapton Sands on the Devon coast to familiarize the troops with the feel of rushing out of a Higgins landing craft. One of such practice landings would be attacked by lurking German E-boats, which would sink two LSTs and damage a third, resulting in the death of 639 American soldiers.
ww2dbaseCommanders and Troops
ww2dbaseAmerican President Roosevelt favored General Dwight Eisenhower as the commander of Operation Overlord, who eventually got the job much to British Field Marshall Alan Brooke's disappointment; American General George Marshall was said to have wanted the position as well, but Marshall and Eisenhower both insisted that Marshall was happy to see Eisenhower's appointment. Many Allied leaders were worried that Eisenhower did not possess as much tactical battlefield experience as other front runners for the job, but his political capabilities made him a far more attractive candidate to lead a force consisted of many Allied nations. With an American in the role of the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, British commanders were chosen to lead the air, sea, and land forces. Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh Mallory was made Allied Expeditionary Air Force Commander, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay was made the Allied naval commander, and General Sir Bernard Montgomery was named the commander of the 21st Army Group consisted of British, Canadian, and American troops.
ww2dbaseWhile the Normandy operation was decidedly Anglo-American, Eisenhower felt gathering French support was important. Roosevelt, however, opposed the notion of giving French General Charles de Gaulle any kind of recognition as a French leader, for that he seized that title for himself without any democratic process among the French people. Nevertheless, Eisenhower approached him. De Gaulle, however, felt ridiculed that he was asked to support a landing operation led by an American. He refused to publicly announce his support for Overlord, and would not comply with any Allied request for his support.
ww2dbaseBesides de Gaulle, another wartime leader gave Eisenhower headaches. Prime Minister Churchill, a veteran of WW1, requested to accompany the landing operations; the request was naturally denied immediately by Eisenhower. Churchill responded with his intent to overrule Eisenhower. "Since this is true it is not part of your responsibility, my dear General, to determine the exact composition of any ship's company in His Majesty's Fleet", he said to Eisenhower, "by shipping myself as a bona fide member of a ship's complement it would be beyond your authority to prevent my going." Eisenhower expressed that this would unnecessarily add to his personal burden, but the Prime Minister refused to budge. When King George VI heard of it, he cleverly noted that if Churchill felt compelled to accompany the landing force, then he, as the King of the United Kingdom, should share equal duty and privilege of leading the British and Commonwealth troops as well. After the King's comments were made known to Churchill, he withdrew his request to personally lead the landing forces.
ww2dbaseWith the exception of the US 1st Division, most American troops involved in the invasion were conscripts with little or no experience, but the lack of experience was to be made up by the high levels of mobility in American infantry doctrine. The British troops had more experience fighting in, for example, North Africa. British command structure was both a blessing and a curse: decisions were often made at the battalion level or below, therefore cooperation between units, even those in the same division, left something to be desired. The independent nature of command, however, gave low level junior officers in the field the ability to call in artillery to aid with taking down German defensive positions without having to wade through the divisional bureaucracy.
ww2dbaseOn the German side, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt was the commander-in-chief of the West. Under him, Field Marshal Hugo Sperrle headed the air forces of Luftflotte 3 (including III Flak Corps and paratroopers) and Admiral Theodor Krancke commanded the Navy Group West, though Allied air superiority made air and naval forces insignificant in terms of defending against the coming invasion. Rundstedt's ground forces were led by local generals or local military governors, and beach defenses were largely built by men of the Organization Todt, which was a para-military group that answered to armament minister Albert Speer. A significant percentage of Rundstedt's troops in the region were either older (average age around mid-30s) or captured Soviet troops (with little loyalty for Germany). Furthermore, some of the troops had to take on construction duties for fortifications as Organization Todt could not handle the workload alone, which deprived valuable training time. In Oct 1943, Rundstedt sent a special report to Adolf Hitler as an attempt to raise alarm, and as a direct result, Field Marshall Erwin Rommel was assigned to France on 3 Nov 1943 to lead the Army Group for Special Employment, which later became Army Group B. Instead of placing Rommel's forces under Rundstedt, however, the new army group remained directly under Berlin's control, which resulted in some redundancy of responsibility between Rommel and Rundstedt. In Mar 1944, Rommel requested total command of all German forces in the region under him, but Hitler refused, instead only granting him control of three armored divisions while retaining the control the other three armored division in the area to the German High Command in Berlin.
ww2dbaseThe German ground forces in the Normandy and Cotentin Peninsula region belonged to Colonel General Friedrich Dollman's 7th Army. The Normandy sector, in particular, fell under the control of General (der Artillerie) Erich Marcks. On paper the Germans fielded a large number of divisions in France, but the combination of the lack of mobility and the poor quality of certain units made the actual strength lower than appeared. Paratrooper Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich von der Heydte once commented after an inspection that the
troops for a defense against an Allied landing were not comparable to those committed in Russia. Their morale was low; the majority of the enlisted men and noncommissioned officers lacked combat experience; and the officers were in the main those who, because of lack of qualification or on account of wounds or illness were no longer fit for service on the Eastern Front.
ww2dbaseThe Start of the Invasion
ww2dbaseDue to bad weather, the original invasion date of 5 Jun was passed on by Eisenhower. He worried that if weather did not clear up in the next several days, the invasion would be delayed until 18 June when the right tide condition was to be seen again. However, reports indicated that the weather would be relatively good on Tuesday, 6 Jun 1944. Eisenhower gave the order to launch the operation with a simple "Okay, let's go" after spending 45 minutes to with his senior staff.
ww2dbaseNaturally, the Germans took notice of the weather, too. Seeing the weather turning bad, they thought that even heavy aerial bombardments were unlikely, and a chance of invasion slim to none, thus a significant number of officers were sent to Rennes in Brittany for a map exercise. Rommel, too, was absent from the region; thinking that the Allies would not make any moves during such foul weather, he departed for Germany to see Hitler once more to make another argument for more men and resources; it was also his wife's birthday, and Rommel looked forward to time with her.
ww2dbaseAs the Allied transports sailed from ports across southern England, 822 C-47 transport aircraft carried over 13,000 paratroopers across the English Channel. These spearheads would secure key crossroads behind enemy lines and silence artillery guns. The use of airborne troops was a big unknown to Eisenhower, who feared the projected high casualty rates among the airborne would not be worth the potential successes. He feared that he "would carry to [his] grave the unbearable burden of a conscience justly accusing [him] of the stupid, blind sacrifice of thousands of flower of our youth", he noted in his memoirs. He finally gave the go-ahead for the airborne operation when he realized that without the operations behind enemy lines, the Utah and Omaha beach landings might be jeopardized.
ww2dbaseOperation Neptune
6-30 Jun 1944
ww2dbaseThe naval side of the matter, including both transporting the amphibious forces and warship escorts, fell under the jurisdiction of Ramsay of the British Royal Navy. The Allies assembled a fleet of 1,213 various ships under Ramsay's command, including 4,000 landing craft. The eastern elements of the naval forces were assigned under the command of British Rear Admiral Sir Philip Vian, while the Western Task Force was under the American Rear Admiral Alan Kirk. Before the armada was a fleet of 287 minesweepers, which began clearing paths across the English Channel at 0030 hours on 6 Jun.
ww2dbaseOperation Neptune's contribution after the landing operations was equally as important. In post-war interviews, Rundstedt spoke of the difficulties of moving men and supplies to the front because of the constant danger from naval bombardment. American infantry officer Lieutenant Charles Scheffel who arrived in Normandy three days after the initial landing witnessed some of the bombardment that frustrated Rundstedt.
ww2dbaseAt day break, we looked directly south [from a transport ship] at a coastline that curved around us to the eastern horizon. Ships were everywhere. Through my field glasses I watched a battleship firing toward shore. Its huge guns belched flames and reddish smoke that rushed downwind.
ww2dbaseCloser to us, some destroyers and cruisers poured smaller shells inland. I could see no flashes of explosions on the beaches, but a deep rumbling came from wherever the shells were landing.
ww2dbaseWhen Operation Neptune officially ended by the end of Jun 1944, the ships, mostly British, ferried a massive amount of supplies onto continental Europe: 850,279 men, 148,803 vehicles, and 570,505 tons of various supplies.
ww2dbaseUtah Beach
6 Jun 1944
ww2dbaseThe German defenses in what the Allies designated Utah Beach were placed under Lieutenant General Karl Wilhelm von Schlieben, who held the position of the commander of the 709th Infantry Division since Dec 1943. Immediately to the west on the Cotentin Peninsula, the 243rd Infantry Division under Lieutenant General Heinz Hellmich and the newly arrived 91st Luftlande Division under Lieutenant General Wilhelm Falley were in relative proximity. Two of the three commanding officers, however, were at the war games at Rennes on the day of the Allied invasion, thus creating a vulnerability. Furthermore, German troops in this area were not of the highest caliber; over 2,000 German soldiers in this area were foreign troops (333 Georgian volunteers and 1,784 Soviet prisoners of war), who were expected to be less-than-effective under pressure, while the average age of German troops was 36 (ie., those not deemed fit for service on the demanding Eastern Front). Finally, German heavy equipment such as artillery pieces and anti-tank guns tend to be obsolete models or captured Czech, French, and Russian weapons of varied effectiveness. Despite all the disadvantages listed, however, the Germans had one thing on their side: many of the officers and non-commissioned officers were battle-hardened veterans from the Eastern Front, and their leadership would later prove worthy.
ww2dbaseAt Cherbourg, German Admiral Theodor Krancke had 16 S-boats in two torpedo flotillas, but Allied control of air and rough seas due to the storm made his force rather useless.
ww2dbaseThe first troops to invade Utah Beach actually arrived three days before D-Day. In the early hours of 3 Jun 1944, six mixed British-American teams were sent by the Office of Strategic Services to France. Their tasks were to mark airborne drop zones for the arriving airborne troops of the US 82nd Airborne Division under Major General Matthew Ridgway and the US 101st Airborne Division under Major General Maxwell Taylor, who arrived via 821 C-47 and C-54 transport aircraft in the night of 5 Jun. The pathfinder teams arrived first, with the tasks of dropping the first airborne troops into Normandy, who then would also mark drop zones for the remaining paratrooper transports. Due to unexpected clouds, many of the pathfinders were dropped away from the intended areas. When the main wave arrived, the dropping was further disrupted by heavy anti-aircraft fire; with the transports weaving to avoid being hit, it made a concentrated drop impossible. Many of the paratroopers were scattered, and with the tall hedgerows, some units were not able to gather until the beachhead had already been secured; by estimation, only about 10% of the paratroopers landed in the planned drop zones, and only 25% within a mile of the planned drop zones. Those who were able to gather, however, played their part well. Taking advantage of the surprise, units such as that led by Staff Sergeant Harrison Summers, for example, were able to very quickly kill or capture 150 German troops before the Germans figured out how to react. Ultimately, however, the paratroopers were not able to achieve their main objectives due to the inability to gather a strong force after landing.
ww2dbaseGerman forces, not on high alert due to the bad weather and were without their divisional commanders, were first warned of a potential Allied operation around 2300-2400 hours on 5 Jun when aircraft warning stations at Cherbourg picked up the Allied transports. Paradrops were reported by 1030 hours on 6 Jun, and by 0300 towns such as Ste-M�re-�glise were reporting enemy attacks. General Falley, the only divisional commander in the area, attempted to reach his headquarters, but his vehicle ran into paratroopers, and he was killed in the ensuing firefight near Picauville. Now truly without any top level officers, the German troops lost valuable time to react to the Allied attack. Although several counterattacks were made at various locations, the Allied airborne troops were largely able to achieve what they were sent to do.
ww2dbaseFrom the sea, Major General Raymond Barton's US 4th Infantry Division arrived with armored support from the US 70th Tank Battalion, veterans of North Africa and Sicily. The first combat action at the beach began at 0505 hours when German coastal batteries fired on Allied ships as they were sighted on the horizon; most of these batteries remain active until later that afternoon. Allied naval bombardment began at 0550, aided by aerial bombardment by IX Bomber Command. Unlike the aerial bombardment at Omaha Beach, that at Utah Beach was much more effective, hitting costal batteries, bunkers, and other defenses. Actual German casualties inflicted by the naval and aerial bombardments were low, but the defending troops were stunned by the display of firepower. The landing troops quickly made a temporary beachhead, and soon after they were met with 28 (out of 32) duplex-drive tanks, which led them to breach the seawall. The landers actually were delivered to the wrong beach, which was to south of where the planned invasion site was located, but luckily this section of the beach had weaker defenses which made the landing easier. The second wave of 32 LCVP landing craft followed, which contained demolition parties to clear beach obstacles. The third wave that followed 15 minutes after the initial landing arrived with additional M4 Sherman tanks, dozer tanks, and other heavy equipment. The first senior level officer on the beach was General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., son of the former president of the United States and fifth cousin of the current president. He went ashore with the first wave of landing troops, personally overseeing landing operations and contributed to adjusting the invasion plans to suit the new landing site. He later earned a Medal of Honor for his gallantry.
ww2dbaseAmerican troops reached Turqueville, north of the beach, by the evening without meeting serious resistance, while another regiment moved west and eliminated a platoon of German 75-millimeter anti-tank gun troops. A defensive perimeter was formed westward from St-Germain-de-Varreville toward Ste-M�re-�glise while troops made contact with the airborne troops, whose rank continued to grow as gliders brought in more men and heavy weapons through out the day; the first glider wave alone consisted of 54 Horsa and 22 CG-4A gliders that delivered 437 men, 64 vehicles, 13 57-millimeter anti-tank guns, and 24 tons of various supplies. By midnight, Utah Beach was considered secure. The US 4th Infantry Division had achieved its primary objectives at a cost of only 197 casualties, which was much lighter when compared to the much higher 2,000 casualties at the neighboring and much more heavily defended Omaha Beach.
ww2dbaseOn 7 Jun, German forces in the immediate Utah Beach area were largely contained in pockets such as the one south of Ste-M�re-�glise. Part of the German troops there were the 795th Georgian Battalion, which were easily convinced to surrender. The Germans there, however, put up a stronger defense, holding a ridge that covered the access road to Ste-M�re-�glise while two battalions fought their way into the town, supported by StuG III assault guns. The German threat there was not eliminated in the Ste-M�re-�glise area until the end of 7 Jun when the Germans withdrawn. Meanwhile, two regiments of the US 4th Infantry Division moved north up the Cotentin Peninsula and met German resistance at coastal gun positions near Azeville and Crisbecq. With naval gunfire support, the troops slowly moved along the coast up the Cotentin Peninsula.
ww2dbaseOmaha Beach
6 Jun 1944
ww2dbaseAt 0100 hours on 6 Jun 1944, German LXXXIV Corps were alerted to the airborne attacks. These paratroopers were not meant to be dropped behind Omaha Beach, the four-mile stretch of sand between Pointe du Hoc and the town of Ste-Honorine-des-Petres; rather, they were dropped there due to the confusion of the night, further disrupted by intense German anti-aircraft fire. At 0300 hours, the Allied Task Force O arrived 25,000 yards off of Omaha Beach. Shortly after that, at about 0310, General Marcks ordered the corps reserve, Kampfgruppe Meyer, to start marching toward Montmartin-Deville to counter the paratropers; in retrospect this was a bad maneuver as later in the day these troops would be much needed in the east, the opposite direction. Some time around 0320 to 0340 hours, several German artillery positions behind the beaches came under attack by American paratroopers. At 0330 hours, Allied invasion troops were readied aboard their ships, and at 0415 they were loaded onto their landing craft. It was not until 0502 that German command received reports of Allied naval activity off Omaha Beach, and by 0520 visual contacts were made by German scouting looking over the horizon. At 0545, the naval bombardment from large warships began, lasting until 0625; some surprised German troops, clueless, reported them as aerial bombardments. Shortly after, the large warships switched their guns to target beach fortifications. At 0610, smaller ships such as LCG(L) craft added their firepower to the bombardment. A few moments before the landing craft dashed for the beaches, nine LCT(R) craft fired 9,000 rockets at German defensive positions, making a wonderful spectacle but ultimately useless as nearly all of them missed their intended targets.
ww2dbaseBy this stage, aside from the waste of 9,000 rockets, things seemed to be going well for the Allies. Part of it was due to luck. Noticing the foul weather, Colonel General Dollman lowered the alert status of the defenses of what Allies would call Omaha Beach, thinking that nothing would happen in the stormy weather. This lucky break allowed the airborne attack to be done in greater surprise, as well as some safe passage as the landing craft approached the beaches. However, the Allies made several great mistakes during the preparations, which would soon haunt them. One of the failures was that the Allied intelligence failed to detect the presence of German 352nd Division, thus grossly underestimating the defensive strength.
ww2dbaseThe first wave of landers consisted of 1,450 men in eight infantry companies. They reached the beach at 0631 hours. As soon as the ramps dropped, the landing craft were under intense machine gun and rifle fire. This gave light to the second mistake the Allies committed for the Omaha Beach operations. American did not think highly of British General Hobart's "funnies", which were modified tanks used for some of the other beaches on this day to provide additional cover, which were now realized as badly needed. The American did deploy tanks, in the form of duplex-drive tanks (DD tanks), but most of them were released too far out to sea that most of them sank in the choppy waters; only 5 out of the 32 DD tanks made it to land. The American soldiers on the beach could only find refuge behind German beach obstructions such as concrete cones and welded steel rails; they were promised craters made by aerial bombs immediately before the landing, but the bomber crews, fearful that they would hit friendly ships, delayed the bomb release by 30 seconds, so their bombs fell far inland (hitting American paratroopers in few instances), leaving the beach crater-less and coverless.
ww2dbaseWhat resulted was a bloody scene central to so many Hollywood movies such as Saving Private Ryan. Troops waded in water while machine guns, rifles, mortars, and artillery shells from further inland cut them down. Several landing craft were unlucky enough to be hit directly by mortar fire, exploding and in some cases killing all men aboard. A few units lost all of their officers and non-commissioned officers, leaving the men confused and scared behind the beach obstructions; the 1/116 Infantry, for example, lost three of its four company commanders and 16 junior officers before most of the men even reached land. As the first wave of landing troops bogged down on the beach, the second landing wave which arrived shortly after 0700 hours found itself stuck in a great traffic jam, vulnerable to enemy fire. By this time, the ocean tide turned, and the rising water drowned many wounded men who were unable to move themselves inland. At one point, General Omar Bradley was so distressed that he considered withdrawing the Omaha landers, and instead moving his forces to Utah Beach. US Navy destroyer McCook's captain Lieutenant Commander Ralph Ramey, seeing the dangerous situation, ordered his ship against battle plans to sail closer to shore and bombard enemy defenses. As other destroyers followed suit, the naval fire was able to alleviate the pressure for landing troops. The destroyers' 5-inch guns destroyed several German gun emplacements and allowed the landing troops to advance.
ww2dbaseAt 0720 hours, the Americans made significant progress as a platoon-sized group of men breached German defenses while a M4A1 Sherman tank of the 741st Tank Battalion knocked out a 88-mm gun casemate that had been so deadly thus far. At about 0745, another M4A1 Sherman tank knocked out another casemate. A few American officers made their courage known during this time, such as Colonel George Taylor, who ran up and down the beach rallying the men, leaving the legacy of quotes such as "[t]wo kinds of people are staying on the beach, the dead and those who are going to die - now let's get the hell out of here!" At 0750, Kampfgruppe Meyer was ordered to reverse their march, but they were already so far west that they would not reach Omaha sector until the afternoon; had they been kept in place, they would have reached Omaha sector as early as 0930 hours. As more Americans landed and more German fortifications destroyed or disabled, the German defensive line was clearly faltering. German positions began falling at a rapid rate starting at 0900, with a great number of positions captured between 0930 and 1000 hours. With imperfect information that German defenses were still holding, plus the situation at Gold Beach was considered more dire, the local officer in command Lieutenant General Dietrich Kraiss of the 352nd Infantry Division decided to move his reserves toward that direction, thus sealing Omaha sector's doom.
ww2dbaseMeanwhile, three companies of the US 2nd Rangers under Lieutenant Colonel James Rudder landed at Pointe-du-Hoc, a rocky promontory, in an area of Omaha Beach that was far from the main combat action. A navigational error caused a 40 minute delay in the landing schedule and exposed the landing craft to unnecessary fire (two landing craft were sunk as they tried to return to the correct path), but shell fire from battleship USS Texas and destroyer Satterlee provided some cover fire for the Rangers. Within 5 minutes of their landing, they began scaling the cliffs with rocket-propelled grappling hooks, reaching the top very quickly. Their mission was to capture the large coastal guns deployed at the promontory, but to their disappointment, when they reached the top and captured the positions, they found either empty casemates or casemates with dummy guns made of timber. They continued to move southward, reaching the highway at about 0800 hours, and stumbled upon some of the guns they were originally sent out to destroy in an apple orchard 600 yards south of Pointe-du-Hoc in Criqueville-en-Bessin. The Rangers destroyed them with thermite grenades, possibly saving many of their comrades' lives on Utah Beach, as the guns were trained in that direction, with ammunition ready near the guns. The Rangers were isolated in the Pointe-du-Hoc area for most of the day, holding back German attempts to drive them back into the sea but at the cost of many casualties.
ww2dbaseBy the afternoon, American troops were reaching the villages behind the beaches. American control of the air played a critical role at this stage, as German reinforcements were harassed constantly. The 12 75-mm Marder III tank destroyers that Kraiss sent forth, for example, were detected from the onset, and the observation aircraft gave their coordinates for the naval guns to rain destruction on the German vehicles, destroying or disabling most of them before they reached American lines. At 2230 that night, more than 30,000 American troops had reached the beach. Omaha Beach was declared secure after the United States lost more than 2,000 men.
ww2dbaseGold Beach
6 Jun 1944
ww2dbaseGold Beach was situated in the center of the Allied attack on Normandy. The UK 50th Division, veteran of Gazala and El Alamein battles in North Africa in 1942, was placed in charge of the assault; the division was commanded by Major General Douglas Graham, a veteran of the Italian campaign in 1943. Defending Gold Beach was part of Major General Wilhelm Richter's German 716th Infantry Division, supported by units made up of Eastern Europeans. Behind Gold, Juno, and Sword Beaches was the city of Caen, which was a major objective for all three beaches.
ww2dbaseAt 0535 on 6 Jun, HMS Bulolo with naval operations commanding officer Commodore Douglas-Pennant dropped anchor 7 miles off of the beach, thus marking the start of the operation. Undetected, the Gold beach invasion achieved surprise, and the troops were able to board their landing craft without disruptions. As the sun rose, Allied aircraft and warships bombarded the coastline. Duplex-drive Sherman tanks aboard tank landing craft spearheaded the actual landing, followed by those carrying infantry. At 0730, the landing began as DD Sherman tanks were launched 5,000 yards from the beach. Shortly after, the landing operation became rather disorganized as the landing craft arrived all about the same time instead of being staggered, and they threatened to run in to each other as they maneuvered to avoid German fire and naval mines. Despite the spectacular aerial and naval bombardment, much of the German defenses were still in tact.
ww2dbaseAt the Jig Green sector of the beach, the British 231st Brigade waded ashore into a field of machine gun fire coming from the village of Le Hamel. Lacking armor protection as many of its tanks were slowed or turned back due to rough seas, the brigade became pinned down between the sea and a minefield. The most formidable obstacle in front of them was a concrete fortification housing a number of machine gun and mortar nests and a concrete casement with a 75-millimeter gun, which had already knocked out several tanks and landing craft by this time. Major Warren of the 1st Hampshires concluded that it was impossible to attack the fortification head-on, and he began the lead his men around it in search for a possible attack from the rear. Meanwhile, the Dorsets landed to the left of the 1st Hampshires; the Dorsets bypassed Le Hamel in favor of attacking German positions at Buhot and Puits d'H�rode. At 0815, the 2nd Devons landed under fire similar to those who landed before them; one company of the 2nd Devons joined the 1st Hampshires in attempt to take out the 75-millimeter gun, while the others moved toward the village of Ryes 2 miles inland. The 47 Royal Marine Commando landed next. After landing, the commandos moved toward the harbor of Port-en-Bessin in attempt to link up with the Americans landing at Omaha Beach; taking a wide detour around Le Hamel and running into several German strongpoints, it took them until the evening to reach Port-en-Bessin, losing many men en route.
ww2dbaseAt King Red sector, the UK 69th Brigade landed at 0730 hours, under fire from a concrete casemate-protected 88-millimeter gun. In this sector, the 5th East Yorks faced the toughest defensive fire, pinned down along the seawall for what it seemed to them like eternity until an AVRE vehicle could get close and fire at point blank range into the casemate, destroying the 88-millimeter gun. The 5th East Yorks spent that morning clearing out the town of La Rivi�re immediately behind the fortification. To the west, the 6th Green Howards had a slightly easier time with their landing, facing heavy machine gun and small arms fire, but spared of shelling. With the aid of AVRE vehicles, the 6th Green Howards directly assaulted the German machine gun positions and the concrete strongpoint beyond. With most of the beach defenses wiped out, the 6th Green Howards were joined by tanks of the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards in the assault on a four-gun battery at Mont Fleury. The battery's defenders were already demoralized from the earlier bombardment by Allied aircraft and by the HMS Belfast, the battery had been relatively silent, and was taken by the British troops with relative ease. At 0815, the 7th Green Howards landed, completing the landings of the UK 69th Brigade. The troops of the 7th Green Howards attacked the German gun battery at Ver-sur-Mer first, and found its occupants to be demoralized, surrendering rather quickly.
ww2dbaseBy the end of the morning, the beach area had largely been secured with the exception of the Le Hamel fortification. A new attempt at assaulting this strongpoint began at 1345 hours, where infantrymen spent an hour to move to a rendezvous point south of the German fortification, and at 1500 moved in toward the fortification. As they were about to be halted by intense small arms fire, they found luck on their side as an AVRE vehicle traveled nearby. They persuaded the crew to help them attack the fortification, and the AVRE fired several rounds of petard charges, stopping the machine gun fire long enough for the troops to rush in. Through fierce hand-to-hand fighting, the Germans were slowly pushed out of the fortification and the surrounding village. The 75-millimeter gun was destroyed by a petard charge fired through the rear door of the blockhouse. By 1600, Le Hamel was secured.
ww2dbaseWhile the Le Hamel attack was underway, British troops moved west along the coast and cleared several German strongpoints and captured the German radar station on the cliffs to the east of the Arromanches. On the high ground opposite of the Arromanches, German troops were gathering, and naval gunfire was called in to prevent the Germans from staging a counter attack. Meanwhile, the Dorsets, having just cleared Ryes, moved toward a large gun battery at Longues, whose 152-millimeter coastal defense guns had been firing at Allied warships since the invasion began. Three out of its four guns had already been silenced by naval bombardment, but the fourth gun remained defiant, firing intermittently through the entire day. At 1900 hours, the gun fell silent, and the 184-men garrison surrendered peacefully the next morning to the 2nd Dorsets.
ww2dbaseOverall, German response to the attack on Gold Beach was weak. The few attempts at concentrating troops in preparation for counter attacks were effectively disrupted by Allied naval gunfire and aerial attacks. By mid-day, the Germans knew the beach could not be defended, and tried to fall back to the town of Bayeux, which guarded the road to Caen.
ww2dbaseJuno Beach
6 Jun 1944
ww2dbaseJuno Beach was attacked by 15,000 men of the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division, supported by 9,000 British troops. Canadian commanding officer Major General Rodney Keller took charge of this assault. Defending the 5.5-mile stretch of beach between La Rivi�re and St Aubin was part of Major General Wilhelm Richter's German 716th Infantry Division, supported by units made up of Eastern Europeans. Most of the German defense in the Juno Beach area was concentrated around the small port of Courseulles on the estuary of the River Seulles, located roughly in the center of Juno Beach. Behind Gold, Juno, and Sword Beaches was the city of Caen, which was a major objective for all three beaches.
ww2dbaseDue to the need for higher tide at Juno Beach to clear the offshore reef, the invasion began slightly later than Gold and Sword Beaches that flanked Juno Beach on either side. The first wave of attack landed at 0745 with Brigadier H. W. Foster's Canadian 7th Brigade landing on both sides of River Seulles. Previous aerial and naval bombardments failed to neutralize German coastal positions, thus the Canadians found themselves landing in a killing zone, and the lack of armor at the opening moments of the landing made matters worse. B Company of the Winnipegs, one of the two assault companies, landed at Mike Green sector and was immediately pinned down by heavy machine gun fire from concrete pillboxes and accurate fire from snipers and other infantrymen. The other assault company, D Company, landed on the left, and was forced to fight through a maze of concealed machine gun nests and Tobruk emplacements (underground concrete structures each with a small opening on top that was usually camouflaged). Great casualties were incurred to overtake these defensive structures, and once that was achieved, the Canadians charged inland at a region where the River Seulles curved. Men of the B Company crossed the river on a small bridge and spearheaded this part of the assault, while men of D Company crossed the minefield near La Vallette and advanced toward the village of Graye-sur-Mer. To the west, also at Mike Green sector, C Company of the Canadian Scottish Rifles, attached to the Winnipegs, landed with less opposition; their objective was a concrete casemate housing a 75-millimeter gun, which had already been knocked out by naval gunfire before the landing.
ww2dbaseAt about 0805, reserve companies landed on Juno Beach. They were spared of the worst of the direct-fire from German defensive structures, but they still had to land amidst mortar and artillery fire. With the incoming tide, the beach narrowed, and the small strip of land soon became crowded, particularly with all the combat vehicles arriving later than planned, and none of the beach exits had been cleared. At 0830 hours, the beach was less than 100 yards deep. Specialized Hobart's Funnies tanks, Crab vehicles, were dispatched to clear one of the exits. The first two struck mines and became disabled, but the third Crab vehicle was able to clear a single track 150 yards inland before being bogged down in a flooded area, and the Churchill AVRE that came to the rescue also became stuck, thus the crews had to abandon the vehicles, incurring three deaths and three injuries from small arms fire. Shortly after, a bridge was laid over the flooded area, using the two stuck vehicles as support. This exit was cleared by 0915. The other exit was cleared with less drama, and was open to traffic at about 0930 hours.
ww2dbaseon the other side of the mouth of the River Seulles, the Regina Rifle Regiment landed at Nan Green sector near the town of Courseulles. A Company landed right in front of a German 75-millimeter gun and a 88-millimeter gun, both in concrete casemates, fired on them, supported by machine gun nests and four Tobruk emplacements; B Company landed further to the east; C Company landed right in front of Courseulles. The beached offered little cover, thus all the troops dashed for the base of the German defensive fortifications as soon as they reached land, while a few DD Sherman tanks were on hand to provide some cover fire. The 75-millimeter gun fired about 200 shells before an armor piercing tank shell penetrated the gun shield and killed the crew, and the 88-millimeter gun was likewise disabled by close-range tank gun fire. By the time the Hobart's Funnies vehicles arrived at the Nan Green sector, 40 minutes behind schedule, the Canadian troops had already cleared German defenses in the immediate beach area. The flail tanks, bulldozers, and bridge layers cleared up two lanes inland by 0900 hours. Meanwhile, men of the C Company rushed into the town of Courseulles and performed house-to-house fighting to clear the beach town of German defenders. While the troops cleared each house, sniper fire from neighboring buildings and mortar and machine gun fire from a nearby German strongpoint with height advantage made the task extremely difficult. It took until the early afternoon for Courseulles to become secured, and the strongpoint near the town was taken shortly after.
ww2dbaseTo the west, the 8th Brigade of the Canadian 3rd Division landed between Berni�res and St Aubin, supported by Canadian and British duplex-drive Sherman tanks. The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada landed at Nan White sector at 0755 hours and had a tough time establishing their positions for the first 15 minutes of the landing, especially with the tanks arriving later than expected. B Company of Queen's Own Rifles of Canada landed directly in front of a German strongpoint, suffering 65 casualties in the opening few minutes of the landing, but the men slowly worked from pillbox to pillbox to silence the machine guns. To the right, A Company men were able to dash across the beach, but were soon held down by machine gun and mortar fire in the field immediately beyond the beach. The arrival of tanks and shortly after the reserve companies alleviated the situation. Between 0910 and 0930, self-propelled guns of the 14th and 19th Field Regiments of the Royal Canadian Artillery landed onto a narrow, crowded, and chaotic beach. Once the beach defenses were knocked out, the troops gathered to take their first objective, the village of B�ny-sur-Mer, but it was not until noon they received the order to advance toward the village, and it would not be taken until mid-afternoon.
ww2dbaseThe Canadian North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment landed at Nan Red sector at 0800 hours, west of St Aubin. The men of A Company faced relatively light opposition, but the B Company men landed right in front of a strongpoint with a 50-millimeter gun, which knocked out the first two duplex-drive Sherman tanks with ease, followed by the first two AVRE vehicles. It would take the B Company men until 1115 hours to silence the strongpoint with two duplex-drive Sherman tank guns, one AVRE gun, and many petard charges launched by another AVRE vehicle. C and D Companies landed a short while after A and B Companies landed; C Company men took the village of Tailleville, two miles away from St Aubin, in the late afternoon.
ww2dbaseIn the Nan Red sector, British marines of the 48 Royal Marine Commando landed after suffering great casualties from destroyed landing craft on the way to the beach and heavy small arms fire after making landfall. They were supposed to capture the strongpoint at Langrune and then link up with marines from the 41 Royal Marine Commando from Sword Beach, but they achieve neither on D-Day as Langrune proved to be much more difficult to conquer than originally thought. Two concrete emplacements, one housing a 75-millimeter gun and the other a 50-millimeter anti-tank gun, held up the British marines' advance; their concrete walls were so well constructed that tanks shells essentially bounced off of them. By the end of the first day of the Normandy invasion, the 48 Royal Marine Commando suffered 50% casualties without taking Langrune.
ww2dbaseSword Beach
6 Jun 1944
ww2dbaseSituated around the estuary of the River Orne, the 21-mile wide area that the Allies designated as Sword and Juno Beaches was defended by the German 716th Infantry Division commanded by artillery officer Major General Wilhelm Richter, an officer since WW1 and a veteran of campaigns in Poland, Belgium, and Russia in the European War. The German 716th Infantry Division was raised in M�nster, Germany, and consisted mainly of older men from Rhineland and Westphalia regions; they had been stationed in Normandy, France since Jun 1942 and had been trained specifically for coastal defense and occupation duties. Some of the division's strength was syphoned away as replacements for losses on the Russian front; about 1,000 soldiers from occupied Soviet territories were sent in to replace some of the men transferred away. Several miles inland, about 20 miles southeast of Caen, was the German 21st Panzer Division commanded by Major General Edgar Feuchtinger, who reported to Rommel's Army Group B. Feuchtinger was not a respected commander; though a veteran of many campaigns, he was promoted to a high rank largely because of political connections in the Nazi Party, thus he was not respected by all of his peers. Additionally, some units of the 21st Panzer Division were consisted of men previously rejected by other units; in fact, it was the only panzer division to be rejected for the campaign in Russia in early 1944. Behind the beach's formidable fortifications were artillery pieces not unlike other invasion beaches; heavy guns of 150 to 381-millimeter calibers were deployed as far east as Le Havre, and closer to the beach at Merville, Ouistreham, Riva Bella, and Colleville were smaller guns with calibers of 104 to 150-millimeters.
ww2dbaseThe Allies commander for invading Sword Beach was Major General Tom Rennie of the UK 3rd Division, supported behind enemy lines by Major General Richard Gale's airborne troopers of the UK 6th Airborne Division. Also in assistance of the UK 3rd Division was the 5th Assault Regiment from Major General Percy Hobart's UK 79th Armored Division, which operated specialized tanks, "Hobart's Funnies", to counter beach obstacles. The troops of the 3rd Division were trained since Dec 1943 for the specific purpose of the cross-Channel invasion. Rear Admiral A. G. Talbot of the Royal Navy was placed in charge for the seaborne element of the Sword Beach assault, operating British and Commonwealth ships under his command.
ww2dbaseThe invasion of Sword Beach launched at 2256 hours in the night of 5 Jun 1944 when six Horsa gliders were pulled airborne at Tarrant Rushton airfield in England, United Kingdom. These glider troops of the 6th Airlanding Brigade of the UK 6th Airborne Division landed in landing Zone X close by the bridges at Orne at about 0015 hours on 6 Jun. Within minutes, 90 glider troops gathered within 100 yards of the bridges, which were their primary objectives. Lieutenant Den Brotheridge and his platoon dashed across the first bridge, Pegasus Bridge, killing one sentry (the other had ran away at the first sight of the troops), but not before he sounded the alarm. Brotheridge dashed toward a nearby machine gun pit, throwing a grenade into it as he ran, but unfortunately for him, the grenade did not take out the crew, and he was cut down by the machine gun. Troops following Brotheridge silenced the gun pit. On the other side of the bridge, Lieutenant Wood and his platoon had already taken out several defenses, including a machine gun position and a anti-tunk gun crew. The two platoon quickly took control of the first bridge. The second bridge, several hundred yards to the east, were attacked by two platoons of glider troopers. They captured the bridge with relative ease. The glider troopers now dug in to hold the bridge until the arrival of friendly paratroopers. The pathfinders of the UK 22nd Independent Parachute Company landed minutes after the bridges were secured, but they took a while to rally as they were widely scattered. At 0045, transports began dropping the main body of paratroopers, who were also dispersed. By daybreak, only about 200 men gathered for the defense of the bridges, now under the responsibility of paratrooper Lieutenant Colonel Pine Collins.
ww2dbaseNear Merville, British paratroopers were scattered widely like their pathfinder comrades. Many of the battalions were forced to begin their operations at about 60% strength as many of their men were unable to find their way to the rally points. The UK 9th Parachute Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway, was of no exception. The 9th Parachute Battalion was charged with taking the gun battery at Merville, which was regarded a critical operation. They were ordered to take the battery by 0500, or cruiser HMS Arethusa would fire her guns in attempt to do the same, which might risk hitting the paratroopers. Otway was only about to gather 150 out of his total of 750 men before he began his attack, meanwhile the Germans were well fortified with barbed wires, minefields, and steel and earth bunkers. Shortly before he commenced his attack, he met up with Major George Smith and his party, who landed near the battery and had mapped out routes through the minefield without being detected, and Otway's men made use of two of the mapped routes for their attack. Otway timed his attack to coincide with glider landings near the battery so to take advantage of the confusion the attack would cause. Nevertheless, their assault was still detected, and they soon attracted machine gun fire. The gliders were under intense fire but tried to keep on track, but ultimately they were unable to locate the exact location of the battery, and landed too far away to take part in the combat. Without the additional support from glider troops, Otway's men slowly moved forward on their own, receiving fire from all sides. They cleared trenches one by one, some by hand-to-hand combat. Though the fighting was brutal, the German morale was low due to being taken by surprise; additionally, after discovering they were being assaulted by paratroopers, some of the Germans began falling back as they thought they could not defend against hostile elite forces in darkness. With much of the German defenses melting away, Otway's men moved from gun position to gun position, destroying the 75-millimeter guns (they had originally thought 150-millimeter guns were deployed here) one by one, completing the mission before the 0500 deadline. Of the 150 men that launched the attack, 70 were killed or wounded by the time the mission was completed.
ww2dbaseThe mission to destroy the two bridges over the River Dives was given to Lieutenant Colonel George Bradbrooke's men of the Canadian 1st Parachute Battalion. Also dispersed, only a fraction of the strength gathered. They were successful in destroying the bridges. The destruction of the bridge near the village of Troarn was among the most difficult. A small group of paratroopers drove a jeep in high speed through the German-defended town, men hanging on to the railings as the vehicle slid left and right as it sped down the main street to avoid gunfire (one men fell off and became missing), and reached the unguarded road bridge. They were successful in destroying the bridge with demolition charges, escaping by foot afterwards.
ww2dbaseLearning of the attacks, Major General Richter called Major General Feuchtinger, requesting the major general to send in all of his tanks of the 21st Panzer Division in anticipation of a major assault to arrive in the morning. Feuchtinger hesitated, unsure whether the airborne attacks were diversionary or not, and he opted to pass the decision up the chain of command, thus losing valuable time. Meanwhile, some of Feuchtinger's men were already engaged in combat, largely because British and Canadian paratroopers had landed near their positions.
ww2dbaseAt 0300, the Allied air forces bombarded the German beach defenses for the final time before the amphibious invasion. A few hours later, British warships bombarded German gun batteries and other strongpoints along Sword Beach. After daybreak, British destroyers closed in and fired at short range. At 0510 hours, Royal Air Force aircraft laid a smoke screen to shield the invasion force, but the smokescreen was used by boats of the German 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla to attack, firing 15 torpedoes and scoring one hit, sinking destroyer Svenner with few lives lost. At 0530, soldiers began embarking landing craft. At 0600, LCA landing craft began sailing for Queen Red and Queen White sectors, joined by waves of various landing craft every few minutes. As the landing craft closed, LCT(R) vessels fired a total of 1,064 5-inch rockets, knocking out some beach obstacles and creating a smoke screen. Shortly after, at the range of 7,000 yards, self-propelled guns of the UK 3rd Division began to fire from their vessels to knock out beach obstacles. At the distance of 5,000 yard to the beach, 40 duplex-drive Sherman tanks of the UK 13th/18th Hussars were launched; 31 of them would make it to the beach successfully. By this point, all German guns were firing at the landing craft, and the Allied formation began to break up. At 0725 hours, the infantry arrived on the beach, which quickly attracted fire from machine guns and other small arms. The UK 2nd East Yorks, which landed on Queen Red sector, experienced a tough fight as they attempted to dash across an area bombarded by 88-millimeter and 75-millimeter guns inland, while being raked by machine gun fire. However, the use of specialized tanks such as the Hobart's Funnies provided the Sword Beach landers a slightly easier time than their American counterparts in Omaha and Utah Beaches, as vehicles such as the flail tanks and bridging tanks cleared obstacles and provided bridges to cross anti-tank ditches, all the while provided just a bit more cover for the infantry against small arms fire.
ww2dbaseShortly behind the initial wave were 24 landing craft carrying British Royal Marine commandos. The commandos landed on the extreme western end of Queen White sector and moved toward the German strongpoint at Lion-sur-Mer, which would serve as the link-up between Sword and Juno Beaches. The first target of the commandos was the demolished casino at Riva Bella, which had been turned into a formidable fortress of interlocking bunkers, trenches, wire entanglements, and minefields. Leading the attack on Riva Bella was French Captain Phillippe Kieffer, commanding officer of two groups of French commandos attached to the British Royal Marines, thus making this attack a purely French effort. Kieffer attacked Riva Bella at two locations from the rear with small arms, personal anti-tank weapons, and grenades, but the commandos were soon stalled by two German positions, a bunker and a water tower, both proved to be difficult for Allied weapons to penetrate. The bunker in particular was a difficulty for the French troops, as it housed a 50-millimeter gun that fired through concrete embrasures. Instead of ordering his men to charge, Kieffer alone moved toward the beach, found a duplex-drive Sherman medium tank, and persuaded the tank to assist the assault on Riva Bella. The Sherman tank knocked out both of the water tower and the concrete bunker, allowing the commandos to move in and take over the German strongpoint. To the east, British commandos attacked the German gun battery at the mouth of River Orne from the rear. Machine gun nests, 50-millimeter anti-tank guns, and minefields protected the battery. In the center of the battery was a 56-foot high concrete tower that housed the control and ranging equipment for the costal guns; though not a defensive structure, German troops made effective use of the tower's height to observe British movements to relay down to the defenders on the ground, meanwhile throwing grenades down at close-by British commandos as opportunities presented. To the commandos' disappointment, they found most of the gun positions empty, as they had already been moved further inland. With this new knowledge, the commandos moved out of the battery to regroup. This gun battery, with its concrete tower, would remain in German control for a few more days to come.
ww2dbaseAnother group of commandos, led by Brigadier Lord Lovat, marched inland with bagpiper Bill Millin playing without stoppage. They met up with Colonel Pine Coffin's paratroopers later that day.
ww2dbaseAs the beach front began to be cleared, due to the rising tide, the beach narrowed, and the small strip of land soon became a chaotic scene of troops, supplies, vehicles, and landing craft coming and going. Traffic jams became a serious issue at the exits, and this slowed the Allied momentum especially as tanks waited on the beaches for their opportunities to move inland.
ww2dbaseThe German forces suffered relative light casualties from the pre-invasion aerial and naval bombardment. Though somewhat shell-shocked, they sprang to action quickly, and even the volunteer units from Eastern Europe fought reasonably well. As the result, most of the strongpoints were fiercely defended, forcing the Allies to seize just about every single one by force. As soon as Gerd von Rundstedt realized that the attack was a major Allied invasion attempt, he contacted Adolf Hitler for permission to release all tanks for a counter attack, but permission was slow in the coming as Berlin still considered the possibility that the invasion was merely a diversionary attack. Therefore, the only tanks available were those of Feuchtinger's 21st Panzer Division located south of Caen. By the time those tanks moved, it was already mid-morning, and Allied fighters and fighter-bombers had already established tight patrols in the air, making vehicular movement very difficult for the Germans. Nevertheless, a counter attack by armor materialized under the leadership of young German Colonel Oppeln-Bronikowski, leading a group of Panzer IV tanks. The German tanks were met with anti-tank weapons and Sherman Firefly tanks of the UK Staffordshire Yeomantry, and the counter attack was immediately halted. Oppeln-Bronikowski called off the attack after losing 13 of his tanks. A second prong of the counter attack by infantrymen of the 192nd Panzergrenadiers fared a bit better being able to penetrate Allied lines and making contact with isolated German beach defenders of the 736th Infantry Regiment near Lion-sur-Mer. These infantrymen were later joined by a few tanks. Instead of exploiting further, however, Feuchtinger was forced to recall the 192nd Panzergrenadiers to Caen after observing 250 gliders full of British airborne troops land near St Aubin. The appearance of German armor and the German's ability to reach the sea made the Allied field commanders at Sword Beach a bit weary, thus a decision was made to regroup at the beach, thus delaying the objective to take Caen by the end of 6 Jun. Nevertheless, British troops still moved toward Caen, albeit a very slow pace, so that the city could be taken in the following few days. Along the way, they encountered the unexperienced but fierce troops of the 12th SS-Panzer Division "Hitlerjugent", who held the lines so that, behind them, German tanks could gather in preparation for a counter offensive.
ww2dbaseSword Beach was effectively secured by the Allies at the end of 7 Jun.
ww2dbaseConclusion of D-Day
ww2dbaseBy the night of 6 Jun, Allied powers had taken control of all five beachheads. Although the Allies failed to take Caen and Bayeux, two main objectives for the first day of the invasion, the Allies were nevertheless able to hold beachheads from which they began to solidify their precarious positions. Very soon, the Allies began building the Mulberry ports that would allow vehicles, supplies, and more men to arrive. Without much rest, the troops moved forward again; Allied troops needed to hold territory far enough from the beaches to prevent German artillery attacks on the newly established supply dumps. German General Rundstedt attempted to counterattack on several occasions, but none achieved any significance as Allied superiority generally overwhelmed German tanks.
ww2dbaseThe next stage of the campaign for the Allied forces was amongst the hedgerows: cris-crossing walls averaging five feet in height. The German infantry made great use of the hedgerows, practically turning every hedgerow wall into a fortress wall. Skirmishes at the hedgerows reminded historian Stephen Ambrose of the trench warfare of WW1, while to Bob Bearden, an American paratrooper, hedgerows were simply physical representations of the unknown. "You discover what is beyond each hedgerow as you step through at the end of each one", he recalled, never knowing whether there would be a German machine gun nest on the other side. Because the hedgerows, German prisoners suffered, too. Bearden noted in his memoir that German prisoners were usually gathered in the open field between hedgerows so that they could be guarded against escape, but when the German mortar and artillery shells came down, they became most vulnerable to the flying shrapnel. "It was one hell of a situation for those poor Germans."
ww2dbaseOn 7 and 8 Jun, the German 12th SS Panzer Division, comprised of Hitler Youth personnel, counterattacked between Juno and Sword beaches. Although this attack inflicted heavy losses on the Canadians, stiff Canadian resistance broke the counterattack after losing only short ground.
ww2dbaseAfter the landings, Utah Beach and its Mulberries were a busy seaport. When Captain Richard Winters of the American 101st Paratroopers reached Utah Beach on 10 Jul along with his unit to return to England to rest and train for the next mission, he called "seeing the beach for the first time, with that armada of ships as far as the eye could see in every direction, and seeing the American flag on the beach, left me feeling weak in the knees and for a few moments and brought tears to my eyes".
ww2dbaseCarentan
10-14 Jun 1944
ww2dbaseThe Allied forces fighting northward toward Cotentin Peninsula was headed by Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe of the US 101st Airborne Division, whose first step was to take the port city of Carentan which was at the base of the peninsula. The first engagement for Carentan took place at the town of St-C�me-du-Mont, which was located on the highway to Carentan. The town was defended by Lieutenant Colonel von der Heydte, who was also an airborne officer, commanding the German 6th Parachute Regiment, along with various companies he could gather from the surrounding areas, including two Eastern European battalions of questionable capability or loyalty. Von der Heydt was ordered by Rommel to defend Carentan "to the last man". In the morning of 8 Jun, four American airborne battalions attacked, quickly driving German troops out of the town toward the west into troops of the US 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, and by the end of that day the Americans were beyond of St-C�me-du-Mont. Because the Germans had flooded the marshlands nearby, the Allies were forced to advance via roads.
ww2dbaseWhen troops of the 3rd Battalion, US 502nd Parachute Infantry Division arrived at Bridge No. 2 over the Douve River, they found it blown up by the retreating Germans, and the engineers had a difficult time repairing the bridge under fire by an 88-millimeter gun. Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole, commander of the assault, sent a patrol across the river in a small boat, which found another bridge blocked by a Belgian gate. The patrol was able to open the gate 18-inches wide to let one man pass at a time. They discovered that the Germans seemed to be concentrated at a well-built farmhouse nearby.
ww2dbaseMeanwhile, the 327th Glider Infantry crossed the Douve River around the same time in the morning of 10 Jun, captured Br�vands, and then was joined by men of Company A of the US 401st Glider Infantry Regiment; they seized roads at the base of the peninsula including the bridges spanning the Vire-Taute Canal east of Carentan by the evening.
ww2dbaseShortly after noon of 10 Jun, as the bridge over the Douve River had not been repaired, the men of 3/502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment attacked over an improved bridge. They reached Bridge No. 4 by 1600 hours after suffering heavy casualties, and were halted by the combination sniper fire, artillery fire, and the unlikely (due to Allied air superiority) Ju 87 Stuka aircraft strafing. In the early hours of 11 Jun, an American company quietly sneaked through the Belgian gate previously found for the farmhouse that seemed to house the main German defenses. Discovered, the company was pinned down by unrelenting German fire that would not cease even in the face of American artillery bombardment. Cole ordered a smokescreen to be laid, in which the men would charge out with bayonets. In close hand-to-hand combat, the first wave of 20 men and the second wave of 50 men fought with the German savagely, taking the farmhouse. Casualties were so heavy on both sides that a brief respite was observed by both sides to take care of the wounded. That afternoon was marked by a series of engagements, including German counterattacks that nearly broke through American lines, halted only by a heavy artillery barrage.
ww2dbaseOn 11 Jun, McAuliffe prepared for a main assault at Carentan to take place in the next day or two, while at the same time the Germans, dangerously low on ammunition, quietly fell back during that night, leaving only a small rear guard. Meanwhile, a German air re-supply paradrop operation commenced, delivering ammunition about 11 kilometers to the southwest, but that was too late to make a difference as the German troops were already leaving. Von der Heydt was later criticized for prematurely abandoning Carentan; Lieutenant General Max Pemsel, the chief of staff of the German 7th Army, was among those who thought von der Heydt broke down mentally and physically during the battle for Carentan. To his own defense von der Heydt claimed that his troops were in dire straits, and he had no idea that the German 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division was already en route to reinforce Carentan.
ww2dbaseAt 0200 on 12 Jun, two battalions of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment began to attack a hill designated Hill 30, and took that position by 0500 hours. The Americans were reinforced in the following two hours. At 0600 hours, Carentan was attacked by Americans from the north and south, which wiped out the German rear guard and reached the center of the town by 0730. In the afternoon of 12 Jun, the German 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division planned a counter-attack, but it never took place as their assault guns were held up in the assembly areas due to Allied air attacks.
ww2dbaseAt about 0700 hours on 13 Jun, the German counterattack finally began under the command of SS-Gruppenf�hrer Werner Ostendorf. Two battalions of the German 37th Panzergrenadier Regiment, supported by tanks of the 17th Panzer Battalion and 48 StuG IV assault guns, pushed back the left side of the American front lines immediately as the Americans were surprised to see a concentration of German heavy weapons. Lieutenant Richard Winters' troops of Company E of US 506th Parachute Infantry Battalion held the right side, however. By 0900 hours, the leading assault guns were within 875 yards of the southwestern side of Carentan. The American paratroopers were able to slow the German advance by taking advantage of the hedgerows. By noon, the Germans were only about 500 yards from Carentan, but by that time the German momentum had already began to shake. At about 1400 hours, tanks of the US 2nd Armored Division arrived; they were ordered to the area by General Bradley at 1030 earlier that day, a decision based upon the interception and timely deciphering of German communications. The tanks, supported by self-propelled howitzers of the US 14th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, attacked down the Carentan-Baupte road, threatening to cut off the German spearhead elements. The offensive was called off by von der Heydt after suffering several hundred casualties, seven assault guns lost, and thirteen assault guns damaged. Furious with yet another withdraw ordered by von der Heydt, Ostendorf arrested von der Heydt and sent him to a SS military judge that night, who concluded von der Heydt made the proper decisions at Carentan and released him shortly after. This German failed counterattack were later nicknamed the battle of Bloody Gulch by the Americans.
ww2dbaseTo the east of Carentan, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment advanced to Mesnil on the afternoon of 12 Jun, then attacked south as far Rouxeville and Montmartin-en-Graignes. The 2nd Battalion rescued a pocket of 29th Division troops that included its deputy division commanding officer, Brigadier General Norman D. Cota. On 13 Jun, the regiment was pulled back to form a defensive line against a possible German counterattack that never took place.
ww2dbaseOn 14 Jun, the 502nd and 506th Parachute Infantry Regiments established a defensive line along the highway from Baupte to Auverville, thus linking up with men of the US 82nd Airborne Division, ending the actions for Carentan.
ww2dbaseCherbourg
18-29 Jun 1944
ww2dbaseCherbourg was a major port on the Cotentin Penninsula, with waters deep enough for large Allied transports to dock and transport in large amounts of supplies. By 18 Jun, Major General Collins of the US Army led his VII Corps and took control of all major roads leading into Cherbourg, starting the siege on the German defenders in that port city. Despite the stubborn bravery and the effective use of pillboxes and artillery positions on the part of the Germans, the Americans made slow progress. On 19 Jul, German General Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben pulled back all his forces into the city itself to concentrate his remaining forces. The German forces were well-dug in along a series of hills, field fortifications, bunkers, and former V-1 rocket launching sites. To soften the defenses, the Allies bombarded the area heavily. Starting at 1240 hours 22 Jun, Typhoon and Mustang aircraft of the 2nd Tactical Air Force of the Royal Air Force conducted 25 minutes of intense rocket and strafing attacks, followed by 55 minutes of bombing and strafing by 562 American P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang aircraft, and then 11 groups of B-26 Marauder bombers of the US 9th Air Force bombed the general area at 1400 hours. The ground troops advanced during the air attack, and they reported that the Germans were so well dug in that the aerial bombardment seemed to have done little to loosen the defenses. It took two days of hard fighting for the Americans to breach the outer defenses.
ww2dbaseOn 25 Jun, a German medical officer accompanied by a captured American pilot came out under a white flag to request that the German naval hospital be spared from shelling, and he also asked for a supply of plasma to treat the wounded. The officer was allowed to return with the plasma he requested, and he also brought back into Cherbourg a letter demanding immediate surrender. At this time, although besieged, Schlieben believed that his men could hold up for at least another month or two due to the terrain and fortifications that favored the defenders. However, even as Schlieben was reading the demands, Americans had begun another assault, and the German defenses suddenly crumbled. German officers ordered port facilities burned, and the fires lit up the skies. On 26 Jun, men of the US 9th and 79th Divisions silenced the German artillery positions at Fort de Roule after a tough fight. On the same day, street fighting within Cherbourg began. Adding to the frustration of house-to-house urban fighting was the presence of coastal guns that were still firing on American positions. As the Americans learned from captured German soldiers that Schlieben was commanding the defense from a bunker in St Sauveur, the Americans focused their attacks at that direction. As they reached near the tunnel entrance to the bunker, the Americans sent a German prisoner into the bunker to demand surrender, which was refused. M-10 tank destroyers were brought forward to fire high explosive rounds at the bunker, which finally broke the German spirit. 800 German officers and men surrendered, including Schlieben, Admiral Hennecke, and their staff officers. The remaining German forces around the city gradually gave up as they learned the news of Schlieben's surrender. Cherbourg fell under Allied control on 29 Jun, capturing 10,000 German prisoners in the final days of combat in that city.
ww2dbaseThough the city was targeted for its deep water ports, the capture did not provide immediately benefits due to the extensive damage caused by German sabotage that began during the night of 25-26 Jun. It would take Allied engineers three to four weeks before small ships could make use of the docks, and two months before larger ships could enter. The waters were also ridden ridden with German naval mines, requiring deep-sea divers to clear. "The work of the mine sweepers and the deep-sea divers in Cherbourg Harbor was dramatic and courageous", Eisenhower later said of the operations to restore the usefulness of the harbor for Allied causes.
ww2dbaseCaen
9 Jun-9 Jul 1944
ww2dbaseAlthough Caen was a target for 6 June, it was not achieved by the British troops landing on the beaches that day. Since very early on in the campaign, British and German troops held a stalemate at Caen (Montgomery had launched three separate strikes at Caen before 1 July, to no avail). On 9 July, Montgomery ordered a massive air strike against that city with the goal of clearing the city's defenses. 450 aircraft were ordered to drop 2500 tons of bombs on Caen, however the pilots feared friendly fire against troops that held lines very close to the city, and delayed several seconds before releasing the bombs. That resulted in heavy damage on the city without actually weakening the German defenses by much. British troops advanced after the air strike, though suffering heavy casualties (average of 25% casualty rate for infantry battalions). Fierce German defenses, including a major German tank counterattack, stalled advancing British troops once again when the British held about half of the city. British troops held on to Caen, forcing the German 12th SS Panzer Division and Army engineers (acting as infantry) to commit to the Caen area, allowing American VIII Corps to reach Coutances, which in turn allowed General Patton's US Third Army to sweep through northwestern France.
ww2dbaseSt. Lo
15-18 Jul 1944
ww2dbaseBradley's troops marched through the treacherous hedgerows onward to St. Lo, suffering over 5,000 casualties during the advance. However, American tanks and infantry slowly learned how to work with each other to cover each others' weaknesses. An innovative American sergeant named Culin took the steel rails Germans used on the beaches, cut them down to the right size, and welded them in front of tanks. These make-shift heavy bulldozers began to force their way through the hedgerows. This invention allowed US troops to advance several hedgerow walls in a matter of hours, instead of entire days as seen in previous days of hedgerow fighting. This innovation also prevented tanks from exposing their weak underbelly to enemy fire when they climbed the hedgerows.
ww2dbaseSince the early days of the campaign, Allied bombers had already rained devastation upon St. Lo. As a prisoner of war, when Bearden traveled through the town on 10 Jun, he recalled that the town appeared "as if a gargantuan machine had just picked up the city, put it in a bag, shook it real good, and emptied it out onto the ground like a huge pile of rubbish." When the American troops arrived on 15 Jul, they grew tired of the slow advances through the hedgerows, and sought more aggressive results. Instead of conducting house-to-house fighting among the ruins where "dead animals and human body parts lay jumbled", they simply attempted to fight through them. On one occasion, American troops drove a bulldozer into a German-held house, burying the three German soldiers inside. By 18 Jul, the Americans had taken control of the little that was left of the town.
ww2dbaseConclusion of the Campaign
ww2dbaseAllied superiority especially in the first few weeks of the Normandy campaign for a large part secured the Allied foothold in France. The German defenders fought fiercely, but they were limited by limited reinforcements as German trucks were constantly strafed by opposing aircraft. General Fritz Bayerlein of the German 12th SS Panzer Division wrote of the destruction caused by Allied fighter-bombers right at the start of the campaign.
By noon [of 7 Jun 1944] it was terrible; every vehicle was covered with tree branches and moved along hedges and the edges of woods. Road junctions were bombed and a bridge knocked out. By the end of the day I had lost forty tank trucks, carrying fuel, and ninety other vehicles. Five of my tanks were knocked out, and eighty-four half-tracks, prime movers, and self-propelled guns.
ww2dbaseOn the Allied side, columns of trucks and other vehicles streamed from the beaches to the supply dumps and the front lines with relatively minimal interference from German aircraft, greatly contrasting the German experience. Lieutenant John Eisenhower, newly commissioned son of the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces, commented to his father "[y]ou would never get away with this if you didn't have air supremacy" shortly after the Normandy campaign commenced; General Eisenhower responded: "If I didn't have air supremacy, I wouldn't be here!"
ww2dbaseThe Allied success right from the start of the invasion did not take away hints that the cost of progress thus far had been tremendous, however. In the morning of 28 Jun, when pilots of the US Army Air Force 365th Fighter Group flew their P-47 Thunderbolt fighters over the Normandy beaches, they saw American bodies still drifting in the water. It was a sobering sight for the airmen as they looked look beyond and saw "long lines of German prisoners plodding towards the barbed wire stockades on the beach".
ww2dbaseThough the Normandy Campaign officially ended on 24 Jul 1944 as defined by the US Army Center of Military History, German forces would not be cleared from the Normandy region until 22 Aug at the conclusion of the Falaise pocket operation.
ww2dbaseSources: Band of Brothers, Crack! and Thump, Crusade in Europe, D-Day: 24 Hours that Saved the World, Hell Hawks, Overlord, the Second World War, To D-Day and Back, U.S. Army Center of Military History, Wikipedia.
Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 Interactive Map
Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 Timeline
1. HERBERT B. WOOTEN says:
26 May 2005 05:00:19 PM
Where czn I find ino about the units that unloaded supplies and equipment, especially the unit that dug foxholes on the beach just below the current cemetary
2. Wright, Ovid says:
5 Jul 2005 02:59:55 PM
Am looking for information on the LST knicknamed Royal Flush Served in the Pacific in WW2.
3. Anonymous says:
14 Mar 2006 12:39:49 PM
Caen was a major Canadian objective - NOT British.
4. Anonymous says:
30 Mar 2006 01:24:25 PM
The last bit of information sounds real enough but if those troops were part of Pattons Third they were moving way to fast for the supply lines to keep up and were the soldiers who were buried American or German????
5. Tom Black says:
8 Jun 2006 06:26:04 PM
How many times were German armies ever caught in a large encirclement? The Germans, when they were on the offensive, repeatedly caught their enemies in encirclement manoeuvres, partidularly in the Russian campaign, when they rounded up Soviet armies again and again, but they also caught the western allies in this way in the early stages of the war. Yet in the last years of the war, when the Germans were forced on to the defensive on every front, they hardly ever suffered any large encirclement by the Allies. One exception to this was the battle of Normandy. Normandy was the only battle where the western Allies succeeded in catching the Germans in a large encirclement. The key reason for this was Montgomerys strategy of drawing the great bulk of the German armoured divisions into the Caen sector, where they confronted the British and Canadian forces, leaving the remaining sectors light in armour opposite the Americans. This created the conditions which enabled the Americans to break out into open country against relatively lighter opposition, and conduct a great sweep round to the river Seine, while the Canadians British and Americans also closed a smaller ring round Falaise. This was in effect a double envelopment, and a disaster for the Germans, liberating all of France in one battle. This victory was achieved under Montgomerys leadership, since he was the ground commander for the post-D Day operations. Once the battle of Normandy was won, Eisenhower took over the ground command. After this, the Allies progressed along a wide front, but there were no more grand encirclement victories. Not only was Montgomery in the words of von Mellenthin, The only commander on either side who never lost a battle, but he was also the only commander of the western allies who caught the Germans in an encirclement battle.
6. Ole Bang says:
5 Sep 2006 04:57:02 AM
Usual American propaganda
16 Sep 2006 02:05:59 AM
Re the comments: Nothing wrong with finding yourself a hero -- and
Montgomery has his upside and deserves considerable respect, but --
there were a lot of buts. Why is this necessary. The successful
generals -- and Montgomery was one -- won a great war and all
contributed and all had defects. How many times were the Germans
caught in a large encirclement? More times than Montgomery could
count. He never accomplished one within the meaning of large
encirclement and that includes British authors such as Max Hastings.
Encirclement was a factor on the Eastern Front, again and again. Those
battles on the Eastern Front produced massively larger losses to the
Germans and damage to their situation in the war. We in the west
always seem to conveniently forget that the late, unlamented Soviet
Union destroyed Paulus 6th Amy at Stalingrad, having turned a German
offensive into a Soviet siege that tightened until the German Army
within was destroyed. The battle as a whole is generally considered
the bloodiest documented in history with appalling losses of life on
both sides -- each suffering roughly 750,000 killed and wounded with
the Soviets capturing the final 110,000. Apart from the Feldherren,
the Soviets captured 22 German generals. Nor was it the first (or
last) time Georgy Zhukov had encircled and destroyed an enemy (in the
sense that any commander does anything). He had destroyed the Japanese
6th Army at the battle of Khalkhin Gol in the undeclared border war of
1939, accomplishing a surprisingly deft maneuver for a general
considered brilliant strategically and more than willing to wield a
blunt instrument. Khalkhin Gol was a classic of annihilation with
Japanese losses on a scale with major WWI battles. Zhukov and von
Manstein went at each other a number of times and (personal faults
aside) both were consistently good to brilliant with what they had to
work with, e.g. Mansteins orders not to retreat however wise it might
be. As for other encirclements, battles in the Soviet Union were on
such a scale that an encirclement larger than the captures from the
Falaise Pocket could occur within the context of the larger battle.
Operation Bagration (in Belorus) conducted at the same time as the
Battle of Normandy cost the Germans 260,000 dead, another 250,000
wounded and 116,000 POWs. (The Soviets claimed totals of well over 1.1
million German losses. Among those losses were 50,000 German troops
encircled in Minsk. Operation Bagration is considered by some to be
Hitlers worst defeat. But the list of battles in which the Germans
lost 500,000 troops seems to go on and on - one the Eastern Front.
Montgomery was brilliant tactically and his role in the Allied victory
is not to be diminished. But it doesnt help to be inaccurate. He was
usually a pain in the **** slow, methodical, not very good at
strategy. His strategical limitations and lack of political skills
were obvious in his post-war failures. He stupidly, blindly and
repeatedly antagonized the Americans who went from 2 of 55 divisions
on D-Day to 72 of 85 in 1945, which served neither his country or the
Allied fight. What saved him from the public humiliation was
Eisenhowers careful assessment of the effect it would have on the war
effort. Sometimes the best general is the one who fights well in a
losing campaign -- as opposed to the general who wins through vast
superiority of numbers and material. By any account, Market Garden was
a disaster and a defeat with the unnecessary loss of an elite British
division. More importantly, while Montgomery had made a wise decision
in bypassing the plan to capture Breton ports, his lack of attention
to Antwerp or another major channel port contributed to a supply
bottleneck. Montgomery was notably weak in taking advantage of
encirclements which in fact were accomplished by allied generals on a
grander scale than that of the Battle of Normandy where the result was
about 100,000 seasoned German troops escaping the Falaise Pocket. .
While they lost equipment, their escape helped prolong the war. Far
more troops escaped than were captured or killed within the pocket.
Similarly, in the Batttle of the Bulge Montgomery justifiably is
praised for bringing order and coherence to a difficult situation, but
declined to make an attack in time to accomplish an encirclement of
the attacking German units and once again the men escaped with the
loss of their heavy equipment. It doesnt help to focus on relatively
obscure comments of von Mellethin, a not bad but also not particularly
important German general who scored in the post-war battle of memoirs.
He served as staff to a number of generals, including Hasso von
Monteuffel at the bulge. Monteuffel considered Montgomerys command
during the Bulge praiseworthy but he was also one of those who said
more quietly that had the Allies moved faster on January 1, the Gemans
would have been crushed. As to winning France with a single battle at
Normandy, it isnt the case. The Normandy campaign was vital to the
Western Allies and it was decisive in sealing Germanys fate. But the
campaign for France continued for some months afterward -- and the
last German troops were not expelled until he end of the war, e.g.
Lorient. Overcaution costs lives as surely as recklessness does. But
we should all be grateful that our leaders and generals were not
fighting to simply smash the enemy at any cost, but with some regard
for the value of those who served. We should all consider less
cheerleading for war and hope that we do not see 50-60 million lives
wipe out for nothing but sheer nuttiness. That the battle of Normandy
was necessary is evidence of just how crazy this all was. As a
sidenote, a frequently overlooked part of the Battle of Normandy was
(for once) an effective bombing campaign that destroyed key Seine
bridges that slowed and sometimes prevented German reinforcements.
they made it impossible to escape with heavy equipment. And while
Normandy attracted troops from the Soviet Union, had it not been for
earlier battles the German armor could have been used properly in
counterstroke. As it was, much of the time it was wasted.
8. Anonymous says:
18 Sep 2006 02:08:58 AM
That should have read 2 of 5 division on D-Day.
9. colin new says:
19 Oct 2006 12:53:49 PM
my dad landed at sword beach,how can i find out which regiment he was in and when he landed,his name was george henry new.
10. Anonymous says:
14 May 2007 10:26:12 PM
to the first anonymous - ur right, it was canadian, but british helped. but that wasnt your point, it was a canadian objective.
11. Walter E Radzewicz says:
28 Aug 2007 09:37:27 AM
My father, Walter J Radzewicz was in artillery in Battle of the Bulge, remembers when US troops entered Bastogne and recalls how the German counterattack was fierce. German offensive was so concentrated on the east, that they did not watch what was coming from the West, Russian troops started to take Berlin.
12. Anonymous says:
6 Jan 2008 09:15:32 AM
Wow...you guys are so smart...
13. Stuart Sayre says:
20 Jan 2008 01:01:24 PM
Thanks for the great source for History Fair
14. Anonymous says:
22 Jan 2011 07:45:46 AM
"9 Jun 1944 US troops captured St. M�re-Eglise, France, cutting major road and rail links to the Cherbourg Peninsula."
This is just plain WRONG. St.M�re-Eglise was captured on June 6th by elements of the 82nd Airborne division. The Cherbourg peninsula was not cut until June 18th, when units from both the US 9th and 82nd divisions cut roads at Barneville-sur-mer and Portbail.
15. Anonymous says:
17 Mar 2011 08:50:14 AM
this was such an amazing site i got so much information for my project i just thank you for all your input:)
16. Will P says:
8 May 2011 05:35:21 PM
i finished my project thanks to this site
17. Chris says:
5 Jun 2013 06:32:38 PM
Here I sit on June 5, 2013 @ 8:00PM (EST - USA). I said it on this website on the anniversary of the invasion of Iwo Jima. At the actual time of the invasion...I am amazed and in awe of the selfless dedication and sacrifice of ALL who served. Knowing that 69 years ago at this very moment men with their whole life ahead of them were fighting for something greater than themselves. Placing themselves in harms way for a greater cause...freedom for all! God bless all..."some gave all, all gave some!" Let us who benfit from their sacrifice never forget those who lie silent ans still on foreign shores. Thank you for your sacrifice!
18. Jackie says:
16 Jul 2013 07:32:16 PM
Instow, North Devon 1943 was home to about 2000 of them for a little over a year, and suddenly one morning they were all gone. It wasn't long before we knew where to. God bless them all - it seems like yesterday. I am searching for Deck Records to help find one navyman Neil Mackay based in Instow 1943-44.
19. carbonnet says:
13 Jan 2014 07:21:01 AM
Sorry , Hello, I'm French, I parrainne the grave of an American soldier in Tulsa Oklahoma in the cemetery of Colleville sur mer Normandy France with an association (FLOWERS OF MEMORY) to bloom grave Billie Jo Montgomery number killed in 1944 06952852 and I'd like to get in touch with the family to share the document or photos.Ainsi soldier Con L Kroleski NEW YORK, SUFFOLK COUNTY NUMBER 32531850,Thank you to answer me
20.
16 Dec 2014 07:35:36 PM
ABOVE FILE PHOTO: LANDING CRAFT
Photograph was taken 6/6/44 US troops come ashore near Vierville sur Mar.
21. Anonymous says:
24 Dec 2014 09:51:42 AM
27th /28th Le Landel/La Londe battle: Operation Mitten
Some mistakes here
1. The S Lancs Battalion (D company) had entered Le Londel on 10th June and patrolled around Le Landel subsequently .They were relieved on the 15th by 2nd East Yorks Regiment .On 21s June Lancs back at Le Landel.
2. Incorrect to say that both Chateaus were taken on the 27/28th - only La Londe was taken on the 28th since operation Mitten started at Le Landel where the S Lancs were based.,With the vital input of the 2nd E Yorks, the 1st Suffolks and the Staffordshire Yeomanry with their Crocodile tankS,. La Londe Chateauu was taken by the Suffolks at 17.00 hrs on the 28th.
Please rectify detail to say that both chateaus were not taken at the same time - Le Landel had been the base for allied attacks way before 28th June.
All the best
22. Linda says:
3 Jan 2015 11:44:19 AM
I found the information my Dad (Herbert Wooten) was looking for at: http://www.longshoresoldiers.com/2011/01/black-soldiers-in-wwii-us-army.html and letter below (http://www.ospreypublishing.com/blog/longshore_soldiers_commanders_report):
502ND PORT BATTALION
5 September 1944
SUBJECT: Unit History.
To: Commanding Officer, 5th Engineer Special Brigade, Communication Zone, ETC, APO 562, U. S. Army. (Attn: Brigade Historian) In accordance with letter, Hqrs., 5th Engineer Special Brigade, dated 1 September 1944, Subject: Unit History, the following is submitted for the 502nd Port Battalion.
1. CASUALTIES AND CHANGE IN COMMAND: As one of the few regularly constituted SOS [Service of Supply] units selected to accompany the Combat Engineer Battalions in the establishment or the Beach Head, tUW 502nd Port Battalion suffered some casualties. These included Lt. Colonel JAMES T. PIERCE of Erie, Pa., the Battalion Commander who had activated and trained the organization. On D plus 3 and only two weeks before he would have celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of his original Army induction Colonel PIERCE lost his leg in the explosion of a German anti-personnel mine. The same explosion wounded 1st Lt. KENNIE E. HATFIELD, the Bn. Adjutant who was evacuated and later returned to duty, and Tech. Sgt. Elbert D. Blocker of Corona, New York, the Battalion Sergeant Major. Major MARTIN S. HAYDEN of Grosse Pointe, Michigan assumed command.
Three of the five 502nd men who lost their lives on the Normandy Beach were drowned as they were being landed on the afternoon of D plus 1. These men, members of the 270th Port Company, lost their lives when a landing line stretched ashore from a grounded LST gave way as they worked their way ashore. But for the heroism of an officer and four EM of the Battalion, the casualty list would have been higher. 1st Lt. WILLIAM B. MORRIS of Wilmington, N.C.; S/Sgt. Herbert R. Brooks of Bronx, New York; Cpl. Robert D. Bond of West Somerville, Mass.; Sgt Scott Clay of Brooklyn, New York; and Pvt. William H. Beach, Jr. of Warick, New York repeatedly risked their lives by going out into the channel water after men who were unable to get ashore alone. In all they brought ashore 16 men including the three upon whom their efforts at artificial respiration were unsuccessful. The officer and the five EM have all been recommended for the Soldiers Medal.
2. BATTALION BAND: The 502nd Port Battalion has good grounds for the belief that their organization was the first to furnish organized entertainment to American troops in Normandy. The story goes back to the United Kingdom and the determination of Col. PIERCE that his Battalion would have a band. Instruments were procured and a band formed at Camp Crookston in Scotland. The instruments were brought along when the Battalion sailed for France. On approximately D plus 12 the first concert was given. It was an unplanned and informal affair which partially disrupted Beach operations as soldiers gathered from the fox holes or adjacent fields and trucks pulled up on the road to listen to a little jive. On orders of the Brigade Commander the band was removed from other duties and put "on the road" as the first organized show in Normandy. Nightly they performed under the direction of Cpl. Eugene D. Cosby of Alquippa, Pa., the band leader. Band officer is 1st Lt. FREDERICK A. STONE of South Sudbury, Mass. who started his formalized musical career with Barnum and Bailey's Circus Band and continued it as the trainer of many a Massachusetts National Guard and American Legion Band. Master or Ceremonies for the road show was Chaplain EDWARD G. CARROLL of Washington, D. C.
3. OPERATIONS: In the workings or the Plan Neptune, the 502nd, like other Beach Head Port Battalions, encountered unanticipated obstacles and devised solutions which at times violated and in other instances added new chapters to the book on stevedoring rules. Initially the operation was according to plan; all ships began to arrive from the States which not only had no gear for their discharge but which in some cases had been loaded with the assurance that they would be discharged at fixed installations and with the heavy equipment of such fixed docks. Port Battalion officers who had been taught that booms must never be over-loaded discovered that the writer or that rule had not considered the question of "calculated risk" as it may be necessitated on a Beach operation. Section leaders discovered that the books carried no description of the proper gear for some of their peculiar lifts into landing craft. They fought a battle of telephone poles during a period when that unappreciated commodity arrived in a succession of ships. They devised their own sling for handling bundles of pierced steel planking which proved to be one or the primary bugaboes or a ship-Dukw operation. They encountered and conquered the problem of sorting in the holds all cargo regardless of how badly it had been mixed in loading.
4. PAST HISTORY OF BATTALION:
Significant dates in the history of this Battalion are
as follows:
Activated, Camp Myles Standish, Mass.------------25 March 1943.
Sailed for ETO from Port of New York-------------13 October 1943.
Arrived, Camp Crookston, Glasgow, Scotland-------19 October 1943.
Arrived at marshalling area, Llanover, Wales-----15 May 1944.
Sailed for France.....----------------------------2 June 1944.
Arrived of French coast--------------------------7 June 1944.
From the Commanding Officer:
16 Apr 2015 04:02:26 PM
hello, I'm from londe and if you have photographs or informations.merci
24. Anonymous says:
13 Aug 2015 11:21:30 AM
I was wondering if Mr. Chen could write a bit a bit about Sainte Mere-Eglise.
Thanks!
29 Nov 2015 05:54:16 AM
How did the Normandy Invasion affect the rest of the war.
Thanks
4 Dec 2015 08:40:55 PM
Looking for any information on Company C 601 Infantry Reg 9th Division US Army.
Cannot find any mention of them.
My dad never spoke about the war. I'd really like to know. Thanks!
27. Laraby Johnson says:
9 Dec 2015 02:53:19 PM
Hey,
Why did WWII even start.
28. carbonnet says:
14 Feb 2016 10:24:49 AM
Sorry , Hello, I'm French, I parrainne the grave of an American soldier in Tulsa Oklahoma in the cemetery of Colleville sur mer Normandy France with an association (FLOWERS OF MEMORY) to bloom grave Billie Jo Montgomery number killed in 1944 06952852 and I'd like to get in touch with the family to share the document or photos.,Thank you to answer me
29. Anonymous says:
15 Mar 2016 09:42:25 AM
Hi
My dad was in the Cameronians and landed in Normandy sometime during the d day operations. He has said very little about it and now at 90 his memories are vague. He says he travelled to France on a Canadian ship and landed in one of the landing craft. He went on to march through France, he went inside Belsen at the start of its liberation and he went to the Potsdam peace signing. Does anyone have any information that may relate to his battalion?
30. Anonymous says:
28 Apr 2016 04:04:52 PM
It helped a lot and I thought it was pretty cool.
31. Anonymous says:
6 Jun 2016 06:17:35 PM
72 years later...lest we forget their sacrifice or that of anyone who goes in harms way in defense of their country.
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Non-dispensational, covenant theologians recognize this essential about dispensationalists as noted by Michael Williams.
The Darbyist church/Israel distinction constitutes the one great organizing principle of classical dispensationalism. The metaphysical and historical distinction between the church and Israel is the axle upon which the theology of Darby, Scofield, and Chafer rides. It is the one great absolutely necessary or essential element of the system. The Darbyist metaphysical distinction between Israel and the church is the sine qua non of classical dispensational theology. [66]
Whether dispensationalists or non-dispensationalists, all recognize for dispensationalism the importance of the distinction between God�s rule for Israel and His rule for the church.
From the time of his convalescence, Darby developed a theology that taught and supported a dispensational, premillennial, pretribulationism. Essentially Darby came to understand that his place or position was the same as Christ, which is in heaven. Thus, the church is a heavenly people, not an earthly people like the established church, in which he was a clergyman. Juxtaposed to the heavenly and spiritual church was Israel, who are composed of a spiritual, ethnic, and national people on earth who have a future in God�s plan after the church age.
Darby came to understand that the church could be taken to heaven at any moment without signs preceding that event, in what would later be known as the pretribulational rapture of the church. Darby�s realization of a change in dispensations laid the groundwork for the development of dispensationalism, since he saw a distinction between God�s plan for the church and His plan for Israel. By this time, Darby also developed a pessimistic view of the visible church, Christendom, and came to believe that it was in utter ruins.
By January 1828, February at the latest, John Nelson Darby had not only come to an understanding of the idea of pretribulationism, but, he had also come to see other components, along with a rationale to support this view. This does not mean that his ideas relating to pretribulationism came out of the womb fully developed along with no internal contradictions. [67] There was still developmental work to be done. Stunt surmises: �In fact for some years after his experience of deliverance there was something decidedly ambivalent about some of the positions adopted by Darby.� [68] It would take at least another decade for Darby to develop full confidence in his new views and their implications. The basics were in place by early 1828. This was too early to have received seminal influence from others regarding things Darby strongly contends he came to understand from personal Bible study alone during his Dublin convalescence.
Conclusion
J. N. Darby�s pretribulationism appeared as a seminal idea from his own Bible study during a convalescence period of December 1827 through January 1828 while staying at his sister�s house in Dublin. Darby was in distress about issues relating to the true nature and purpose of the Church during his convalescence, which led to his ideas of the rapture of the Church, an ecclesiastical and eschatological issue. Stunt concludes: �we must emphasize that Darby was a very complex person whose understanding of scripture and theology was continually evolving.� [69] Darby possessed the intellect, education, and capability needed for original thinking, and the discipline to develop ideas into a system. There is nothing in the record that indicates that this is not what he in fact did do. Through Darby�s own personal testimony on multiple occasions, he provided the theological rationale to support pretribulationism, something that would be unlikely if it was just an idea stolen from another source.
A Refutation of False Origin of the Rapture Theories
Exactly from whom, when, and where did Darby�s pretribulationism arise? Such questions are often debated within the world of American Evangelicalism. There have been a number of theories about the genesis of Darby�s pretribulationism put forth over the years. This article is an attempt to identify the various proposals, sift through the evidence, and attempt to discern fact from fiction concerning this matter.
The Views
There are currently a number of theories that attempt to explain the sudden rise of Darby�s pretribulationism. Most current advocates of pretribulationism believe that Plymouth Brethren J. N. Darby generated his views as a result of personal Bible study, most likely during his convalescence from a riding accident. [70] They do not deny that, in part, Darby was influenced by some aspects of the theological climate of his day.
There are several theories, almost entirely by pre-trib opponents, which argue that Darby was primarily influenced by other sources. First, Edward Irving (1792–1834) and the Irvingite movement first developed pretribulationism and Darby got his main ideas from them. [71] Second, it is put forth that Darby�s pretribulationism was taken from the writings of the Jesuit Priest Manual de Lacunza (1731–1801), who wrote under the pseudonym of Juan Josafat Ben-Ezra, a converted Jew. [72] Third, pretribulationism was the product of a prophecy from a woman in Irving�s church in London. [73] Fourth, the pre-trib rapture came forth from a prophetic utterance by a fifteen-year old Scottish lassie named Margaret Macdonald (1815–@1840) in Port Glasgow, Scotland in April 1830. [74] The evidence for each view will be sifted and weighed.
In this article I will only have space to deal with the two most widely held views, which are the Edward Irving or Irvingite view and the Margaret Macdonald view. The Manual de Lacunza and �a woman in Irving�s London church� view are not widely held and will be skipped in favor of a more extensive interaction with the two most popular views. However, the Manual de Lacunza view is nothing more than a pre- conflagration view, while the �woman in Irving�s London church� view does not speak of a two-staged coming, instead it speaks of a single second advent.
The Edward Irving View
This view argues that Darby was influenced by either Edward Irving or someone within the Irvingite movement. A recent scholarly attempt to advance this view is made by American Mark Patterson. [75] He sees Irvingite eschatology as an antecedent source to Darby and pretribulationism. �Irving�s writing in The Morning Watch reveal that he was, above and before anything else, a pretribulational-premillennial theologian,� declares Patterson. �This cannot be overstated. From his meeting with Hately Frere in 1825 until his death in December 1834, Irving�s every thought and writing was shaped under the aegis of his imminent Adventism and premillennial convictions.� [76] Even though Patterson says:
It is not my purpose here to correlate or equate Albury�s premillennialism with contemporary dispensationalism or to prove the source of the latter is to be found in the former. My intention is simply to demonstrate that Albury�s hermeneutic led to a specific systematic theology that I believe is best described as �nascent dispensationalism.� The precise relationship between Albury�s theology and that which will follow in John Nelson Darby, the Plymouth Brethren, and especially 20th century dispensationalism, while remarkable, lie beyond the purview of this thesis. [77]
Patterson says in a co-authored article, �In the end, and at the very least, Irving must be considered the paladin of pre-tribulational pre-millennialism and the chief architect of its cardinal formulas.� [78] He adds the following:
In addition to the a priori dismissal of Irving, there exist two fundamental errors common among those who uncritically assume Darby to be the source of the pre-tribulation Rapture. First, few acknowledge the degree to which Darby�s theology reflects the very millenarian tradition in which he was immersed. The core principles of his theology—literalistic hermeneutic, apostasy in the Church, the restoration of the Jews to their homeland, details of Christ�s coming, and his belief that biblical prophecy spoke uniquely to his day—were concepts held, discussed and propagated by a large body of prophecy students. Second, the development of Darby�s own theology, in spite of how he remembers it, was from 1827 to even as late as 1843 in a largely formative stage. [79]
There are a number of problems created when one sees too great of a similarity between Irvingite historicism and Brethren futurism. Patterson appears to make such errors.
The �core principles� of Darby�s theology, as expressed by Patterson are too broad and general. Look at this list compared to Irving and his followers: First, �literalistic hermeneutic.� Patterson himself describes Irving and the Albury hermeneutics as not just literal since that �tells only half the story,� but ones who follow the �literal-typological methodology.� [80] This is typical of the quasi-literalism of historicism. While Darby is said to be a consistent literalist, who did not attempt to make days into years or find historical fulfillment of seal, trumpet or bowl judgments in the church�s past history. These events were all literal, as the text said and were future events. Also, Irving and Albury believed that many of the passages that spoke of events in a future Jewish tribulation were unfolding before their eyes, for example, Babylon referred to the apostate Church of their own day. David Bebbington distinguishes between a historicist hermeneutic and a futurist form of literalism:
Historicists found it hard to be thoroughgoing advocates of literal interpretation. There was too great a gulf between the detail of biblical images and their alleged historical fulfillment to make any such claim possible. Futurists did not suffer from this handicap. Consequently, they shouted louder for literalism—and, among the futurists, the dispensationalists shouted loudest of all. J. N. Darby was contending as early as 1829 that prophecy relating to the Jews would be fulfilled literally. As his thought developed during the 1830s, this principle of interpretation became the lynchpin of his system. Because Darby�s opinions were most wedded to literalism, his distinctive scheme enjoyed the advantage of taking what seemed the most rigorist view of scripture. [81]
Thus, Irving and Albury do not have a common hermeneutic with Darby as Patterson contends. Irving and Albury were basically in the historicist camp, while Darby was a clear futurist.
No doubt both held to the apostasy of the church, but even this similarity reflects a great chasm of differences between the Albury historicist view and that of the futurist. The Albury view of apostasy was because the church had just finished the 1260 days, which are really 1260 years that ended with the defeat of Antichrist (i.e., Roman Catholicism) in 1789 via the French Revolution. These events forewarned the soon rise of the whore of Babylon (Rev. 17—18), which is the apostate church. [82] On the other hand, Darby and his futurism held that the apostasy of the church was predicted primarily in the New Testament Epistles [83] and would increasingly characterize the end of the current church age, which is totally different than what will take place after the rapture during the tribulation. Albury historicism saw apostasy as a harbinger of the second coming of Christ to the earth, while Darby saw the ruin of the church as a characteristic that precedes an imminent rapture of the church followed by the events of the seven-year tribulation.
Both approaches do see a restoration of the Jews to their homeland, but as with the previous two issues, there are significant differences. Darby believed that the Jews would return to their land in unbelief and then converted during the seven-year tribulation, yet future to the church age. He says, �At the end of the age the same fact will be reproduced: the Jews—returned to their own land, though without being converted—will find themselves in connection with the fourth beast.� [84] However, Irving believed that current with this present age, �when the Lord shall have finished the taking of witness against the Gentiles, . . . will turn his Holy Spirit unto his ancient people the Jews.� [85] Shortly after that time, Christ will return. [86]
The last two items mentioned by Patterson are �details of Christ�s coming, and his belief that biblical prophecy spoke uniquely to his day.� These are so broad that they could be said to characterize just about any Evangelical view of eschatology, whether amillennial, premillennial or postmillennial; whether preterist, historicist, futurist or idealist. Every approach has details of Christ�s coming and certainly every system believes that their view speaks uniquely to his day. More importantly are the differences concerning the details of Christ coming as seen by the different systems and also many difference would arise in relation to how each prophetic view spoke uniquely to his day. Thus, it is less than compelling to see how Irving and Albury�s eschatology is the forerunner to Darby, pretribulationism and dispensationalism. Instead, it is Irving and Albury that Darby was reacting against.
Concerning Patterson�s second point, I agree that it was a process of about fifteen years in which Darby developed a mature system, however, the initial idea of something like a pre-trib rapture would come in an instant, even though it might take a decade and a half to work out the implications and settle one�s conscience. Just such a scenario appears to fit what we know of Darby. Further, I don�t think anyone who has studied these issues would argue that Darby was incapable of producing a unique theology.
An extensive critical analysis of Irvingite doctrine declared that they were still overwhelmingly historicist, [87] while Darby and the Brethren had become futurist. Flegg, an Irvingite scholar who grew up within the church, notes that the differences between the two movements are far-reaching:
The later Powerscourt Conferences were dominated by the new sect. The Brethren took a futurist view of the Apocalypse, attacking particularly the interpretation of prophetic �days� as �years�, so important for all historicists, including the Catholic Apostolics. . . . It was the adoption of this futurist eschatology by a body of Christians which gave it the strength to become a serious rival to the alternative historicist eschatology of the Catholic Apostolics and others. Darby introduced the concept of a secret rapture to take place �at any moment�, a belief which subsequently became one of the chief hallmarks of Brethren eschatology. He also taught that the �true� Church was invisible and spiritual. Both these ideas were in sharp contrast to Catholic Apostolic teaching, and were eventually to lead to schism among the Brethren. There were thus very significant differences between the two eschatologies, and attempts to see any direct influence of one upon the other seem unlikely to succeed—they had a number of common roots, but are much more notable for their points of disagreement. Several writers have attempted to trace Darby�s secret rapture theory to a prophetic statement associated with Irving, but their arguments do not stand up to serious criticism. [88]
When reading the full message of Irvingite eschatology it is clear that they were still very much locked into the historicist system which views the entire church age as the tribulation. After all, the major point in Irving�s eschatology was that Babylon (false Christianity) was about to be destroyed and then the second coming would occur. Classic historicism! He also taught that the second coming was synonymous with the rapture. [89] Irving believed that it was the single return of the Lord that was getting near. This is hardly pretrib since Irving believed that the tribulation began at least 1,500 years earlier and he did not teach a separate rapture, followed by the tribulation, culminating in the second coming. Ernest Sandeen tells us:
Darby�s view of the premillennial advent contrasted with that held by the historicist millenarian school in two ways. First, Darby taught that the second advent would be secret, an event sensible only to those who participated in it. . . . There were, in effect, two �second coming� in Darby�s eschatology. The church is first taken from the earth secretly and then, at a later time, Christ returns in a public second advent as described in Matthew 24. . . .
Second, Darby taught that the secret rapture could occur at any moment. In fact, the secret rapture is also often referred to as the doctrine of the any-moment coming. Unlike the historicist millenarians, Darby taught that the prophetic timetable had been interrupted at the founding of the church and that the unfulfilled biblical prophecies must all wait upon the rapture of the church. . . . Darby avoided the pitfalls both of attempting to predict a time for Christ�s second advent and of trying to make sense out of the contemporary alarms of European politics with the Revelation as the guidebook. [90]
Even though Irving and his Albury disciples spoke often about the translation of saints to heaven, they clearly did not hold to pre-trib rapture views. Flegg�s definitive and fairly recent work on the Catholic Apostolic Church makes it clear �that the translation may not be simply a single event at the time of the first resurrection, but spread over a short period of time prior to it.� [91] Doesn�t this sound like pretribulationism? Flegg further explains what is meant:
This period of great tribulation was inevitable, but would be escaped by an elect body (those referred to by St. Paul in I Thess. 4:16–17) who would be resurrected by Christ or translated (caught up in the clouds) through the operation of the Holy Spirit at the beginning (morning) of the Second Advent. This was the first resurrection—the gathering of the �first-fruits�, the resurrection from/out of the dead of which the New Testament spoke and which was indicated by the woman in travail (Apoc. 12:1–2). The Old Testament �saints� would participate in it, and both the resurrected and the translated would receive their resurrection bodies and remain standing with Christ upon Mount Zion. [92]
We see from the above notation that the Irvingite rapture is part of the second coming. Thus, their doctrine teaches a brief interval between the rapture and the second advent, not a rapture followed by a multi-year tribulation and then a new event, the second coming. Patterson cites 74 examples of what he calls a �pretribulational rapture,� [93] however, after looking up each reference, it is better to view them as references to the second coming, as described above, that includes a translations of believers. This is not pretribulationism as taught by Darby, the Brethren or modern dispensationalist.
The Margaret Macdonald View
This notion contends �that the popular Pre-Trib Rapture teaching of today was really instigated by a teenager in Scotland who lived in the early 1800�s,� [94] who was connected with the broader Irvingite movement. �If Christians had known [this] all along,� bemoans MacPherson concerning the historical beginnings of the pretribulational rapture, �the state of Christianity could have been vastly different today.� [95] He thinks this ignorance has been due not merely to a historical oversight, but rather to a well-orchestrated �cover-up� carefully managed by clever pretribulational leaders each step of the way. [96] MacPherson opines: �during the first 18 centuries of the Christian era, believers were never �Rapture separaters� [sic]; they never separated the minor Rapture aspect of the Second Coming of Christ from the Second Coming itself.� [97]
In 1983 MacPherson declared, �Fifteen years ago I knew nothing about Pre-Trib beginnings.� [98] He began his quest by writing to his father and received an answer that indicated a lack of consensus among scholars, �so I decided to do some research on my own.� [99] MacPherson�s investigation gathered steam when he found a rare book in 1971 by Robert Norton, The Restoration of Apostles and Prophets; In the Catholic Apostolic Church (1861). �The important part in Norton�s book,� claimed MacPherson, �is a personal revelation that Margaret Macdonald had in the spring of 1830.� [100] MacPherson uses this finding to project the notion that the doctrine of the pretribulational rapture is of demonic origin through a 15-year-old Scottish lassie.
Since the 1970s in America, it has become commonplace for writers of articles and books against pretribulationism to bring up some form of the argument that Darby commandeered key elements of his view from an Irvingite source. Marvin Rosenthal is typical of this approach, who wrote that the pre-trib rapture was of Satanic origin and unheard of before 1830. "To thwart the Lord's warning to His children, in 1830," contends Rosenthal, "Satan, the 'father of lies,' gave to a fifteen-year-old girl named Margaret McDonald a lengthy vision." [101] Many similar examples could be multiplied.
MacPherson�s Claims
Irvingite Robert Norton included a handwritten account of Margaret Macdonald�s �prophecy,� [102] which MacPherson says was the fountainhead for Darby�s development of the pretribulational rapture doctrine. [103] MacPherson does not say that Macdonald included a clear statement of the pretribulational rapture, but that she �separated the Rapture from the Second Coming before anyone else did.� [104] According to MacPherson, Darby pilfered this two-stage teaching from Macdonald and then developed it systematically, skillfully passing it off as the fruit of his personal Bible study.
Macdonald�s so-called revelation that MacPherson cites to make his case revolves around two key phrases. �Margaret dramatically separated the sign of the Son of man from the coming of the Son of man,� [105] declares MacPherson, based on her phrase, �now look out for the sign of the Son of man.� [106] MacPherson argues that �she equated the sign with the Rapture—a Rapture that would occur before the revealing of Antichrist.� [107] He bases this on her statement, �I saw it was just the Lord himself descending from Heaven with a shout, just the glorified man, even Jesus.� [108]
MacPherson�s Errors
MacPherson makes two major errors in his attempt to argue that Macdonald originated the basis for the pretribulation rapture. First, it is highly doubtful that the Macdonald �prophecy� refers to a two-stage coming of Christ, as MacPherson advocates. Therefore it would be impossible for this source to be the basis for a new idea if it did not contain those elements. Timothy Stunt tells us �that the text of Margaret Macdonald�s prophecy (published by Robert Norton, in 1840) is so very confused that it hardly provides a basis for constructing a coherent eschatology and there is no evidence that this particular prophecy was characteristic of all her utterances.� [109] MacPherson has misinterpreted Macdonald�s words by equating her use of �sign� with a rapture. Rather, she is saying that only those who are spiritual will see the secret sign of the Son of Man that will precede the single, posttribulational second coming of Christ. In other words only those who have the light of the Holy Spirit within them will know when the Second Coming will take place because this spiritual enlightenment will enable them to have the spiritual perception to see the secret sign (not the secret rapture). These are her own words as recorded by Norton:
. . . all must, as Stephen was, be filled with the Holy Ghost, that they might look up, and see the brightness of the Father�s glory. I saw the error to be, that men think that it will be something seen by the natural eye; but �tis spiritual discernment that is needed, the eye of God in his people. . . . Only those who have the light of God within them will see the sign of his Appearance. No need to follow them who say, see here, or see there, for his day shall be as the lightning to those in whom the living Christ is. �Tis Christ in us that will lift us up—he is the light—�tis only those that are alive in him that will be caught up to meet him in the air. I saw that we must be in the Spirit, that we might see spiritual things. John was in the Spirit, when he saw a throne set in Heaven. . . . it is not knowledge about God that it contains, but it is in entering into God— . . . I felt that those who were filled with the Spirit could see spiritual things, and feel walking in the midst of them, while those who had not the Spirit could see nothing. [110]
Macdonald is clearly concerned with spiritual insight for several reasons: (1) Stephen saw into heaven; he was not raptured or taken to heaven. (2) The sign will be seen only by the spiritually enlightened. It will not be a natural or physical sign, but one perceived by �spiritual discernment.� (3) She is discussing �the sign of his appearance,� not His actual appearance. (4) Once a person has been so enlightened, he will not need direction from others. He will be guided directly by �the living Christ.� (5) The emphasis is on seeing: �John was in the Spirit, when he saw,� �those who were filled with the Spirit could see.� D. H. Kromminga observes that Macdonald�s �prophecies made it plain that the return of the Lord depended upon the proper spiritual preparation of His Church.� [111]
John Bray agrees that Macdonald was teaching a single coming, not a two-staged event. �The only thing new in her revelation itself seems to be that of just Spirit-filled Christians being caught up at the second coming of Christ following heavy trials and tribulation by the Antichrist.� [112] In other words Macdonald seems to have been teaching a posttribulational, partial rapture. Bray further explains:
It seems to me that Margaret MacDonald was saying that Christians WILL face the temptation of the false Christ (antichrist) and be in �an awfully dangerous situation,� and that only the Spirit IN US will enable us to be kept from being deceived; and that as the Spirit works, so will the antichrist; but the pouring out of the Spirit will �fit us to enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb,� and those filled with the Spirit would be taken while the others would be left. . . . Margaret MacDonald did teach a partial rapture, of course, but this did not necessarily mean that the teaching included a tribulation period FOLLOWING THAT for the other Christians. . . . It would not be right to take for granted that Margaret MacDonald believed in a tribulation period following the appearing of Christ unless she had definitely said so. [113]
Another point MacPherson makes to support his opinion is that �Macdonald was the first person to teach a coming of Christ that would precede the days of Antichrist.� [114] This would mean, according to MacPherson, that Macdonald had to be teaching a two-stage coming. However, it is highly questionable, as already noted, that Macdonald was referring to the rapture, as MacPherson insists. Also Macdonald was still a historicist; she believed the church was already in the tribulation and had been for hundreds of years. Therefore the Antichrist was to be soon revealed, but before the second coming. She said believers need spiritual sight so they will not be deceived. Otherwise, why would believers, including herself, need to be filled with the Spirit to escape the deception that will accompany �the fiery trial which is to try us,� associated with the Antichrist�s arrival? Further, she certainly includes herself as one who needs this special ministry of the Holy Spirit, as can be seen from this passage from her �revelation.�
. . . now shall the awful sight of a false Christ be seen on this earth, and nothing but the living Christ in us can detect this awful attempt of the enemy to deceive. . . . The Spirit must and will be purged out on the church, that she may be purified and filled with God. . . . There will be outward trial too, but �tis principally temptation. It is brought on by the outpouring of the Spirit, and will just increase in proportion as the Spirit is poured out. The trial of the Church is from the Antichrist. It is by being filled with the Spirit that we shall be kept. I frequently said, Oh be filled with the Spirit—have the light of God in you, that you may detect satan—be full of eyes within—be clay in the hands of the potter—submit to be filled, filled with God. . . . This is what we are at present made to pray much for, that speedily we may all be made ready to meet our Lord in the air—and it will be. Jesus wants his bride. His desire is toward us. [115]
Charles Ryrie also notes a further misunderstanding of Macdonald�s prophecy�:
She saw the church (�us�) being purged by Antichrist. MacPherson reads this as meaning the church will be raptured before Antichrist, ignoring the �us�. In reality, she saw the church enduring Antichrist�s persecution of the Tribulation days. [116]
Macdonald, then, was a posttribulationist. She believed the church would go through the Tribulation. This is hardly the beginnings of pretribulationism! John Walvoord observes,
Readers of MacPherson�s Incredible Cover-Up will undoubtedly be impressed by the many long quotations, most of which are only window dressing for what he is trying to prove. When it gets down to the point of proving that either MacDonald or Irving was pretribulationist, the evidence gets very muddy. The quotations MacPherson cites do not support his conclusions. [117]
Stunt also notes,
that none of the contemporary witnesses of the Clydeside utterance made any mention of Margaret Macdonald proclaiming a new doctrine. In fact it is only with some difficulty that one can identify what MacPherson calls her �pretribulationist� teaching in the transcript of 1840, and when in 1861 Norton quoted from her prophecy he omitted the passage which referred to �the fiery trial� which �will be for the purging and purifying of the real members of the body of Jesus�—a passage which clearly assumes that Christians will go through the tribulation. [118]
Second, in spite of MacPherson�s great amount of research and writing he has yet to produce hard evidence that Darby was influenced by Macdonald�s utterances, regardless of what they meant. MacPherson only assumes the connection. Throughout MacPherson�s writings, he keeps presenting information about issues, developments, and beliefs from Great Britain during the early 1800s, apparently thinking that he is adding proof for his thesis that �the popular Pre-Trib Rapture teaching of today was really instigated by a teenager in Scotland who lived in the early 1800�s.� [119] Much of the information is helpful and interesting, but does not provide actual evidence for his thesis. Even if Darby developed the doctrine of the pretribulational rapture after Macdonald�s utterance, specific proof would be needed to make a link between Macdonald and Darby. Instead MacPherson only offers speculative guesses about how Darby used his training for the law profession to manipulate Christians by hiding the supposed true origins of his teaching on the rapture.
Conclusion
While Irving and the Albury group had a few eschatological ideas that were unique, a belief in the pretrib rapture was not one of those aspects. It is impossible for one to follow the historicist approach and also believe that the rapture will occur before the tribulation, since historicists believe that the tribulation began hundreds of years ago. It is also true that Irvingites spoke of a soon coming of Christ to translate believers to heaven, but this view was part of their second coming belief that they could have derived from Manuel Lacunza�s writings, [120] which were not the product of futurism at that point. Such a view has similar elements as seen in Robert Gundry�s version of posttribulationism. Gundry holds that there will be a rapture or catching up to meet the Lord in the air �to form a welcoming party that will escort the Lord on the last leg of his descent to earth.� [121]
On the other hand, Darby most likely thought of and then developed the idea of pretribulationism in the process of shifting to futurism. Paul Wilkinson notes, �that Darby found an exegetical basis in Scripture for his doctrine of a pretribulation Rapture. As a careful student of the Bible, Darby had no need to appeal to an oracle for his doctrines. The unfounded and scurrilous accusations of MacPherson and his sympathizers contravene the whole ethos of John Nelson Darby, a man of integrity to whom the Word of God was paramount.� [122] Tim LaHaye believes that whether Darby was influenced by the Bible or not, nevertheless, pretribulationism is found within the pages of Scripture.
John Darby gained his views primarily from his study of the Word of God, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the influence of emerging premillennial biblical literalists, who were moving from the Historical school of interpreting prophecy to the Futurist position. But even if he didn�t, that doesn�t change anything. The pre-Trib position is supported by Scripture. Surely that is enough! [123]
[1] W. G. Turner, John Nelson Darby: A Biography (London: C. A. Hammond, 1926), 14.
[2] Max S. Weremchuk, John Nelson Darby: A Biography (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1992), 199. Weremchuk has written the most comprehensive biography on Darby and has been relied greatly in the subsequent section.
[3] Weremchuk, Darby, 19.
[4] Timothy C. F. Stunt, �Influences in the Early Development of J. N. Darby� in Crawford Gribben and Timothy C. F. Stunt, eds., Prisoners of Hope? Aspects of Evangelical Millennialism in Britain and Ireland, 18001880 (Carlisle, UK: 2004), 49.
[5] Weremchuk, Darby, 29.
[6] Weremchuk, Darby, 30.
[7] Floyd Sanders Elmore, �A Critical Examination of the Doctrine of the Two Peoples of God in John Nelson Darby,� (ThD diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1990), 52–4.
[8] Elmore provides a copy of Darby�s academic record broken down by semester in Appendix A, �Two Peoples of God,� 318.
[9] Elmore, �Two Peoples of God,� 53.
[10] Elmore, �Two Peoples of God,� 66.
[11] Elmore, �Two Peoples of God,� 57–8.
[12] Elmore, �Two Peoples of God,� 74–5.
[13] Gary L. Nebeker, �John Nelson Darby and Trinity College, Dublin: A Study in Eschatological Contrasts,� Fides et Historia (vol. 34, no. 2; Summer 2002), 96.
[14] Ernest R. Sandeen, The Roots of Fundamentalism: British and American Millenarianism, 1800–1930 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1978), 38.
[15] Elmore, �Two Peoples of God,� 73.
[16] Weremchuk, Darby, 32.
[17] Weremchuk, Darby, 32.
[18] �Darby�s Marginal Notes, Next to 2 Timothy 3 in His Greek New Testament� in Weremchuk, Darby, Appendix C, 204.
[19] Stunt, �Influences,� 52.
[20] Stunt, �Influences,� 52.
[21] Paul Richard Wilkinson, For Zion�s Sake: Christian Zionism and the Role of John Nelson Darby (Milton Keynes, England: Paternoster, 2007), 68.
[22] Weremchuk, Darby, 38.
[23] Wilkinson, For Zion�s Sake, 68.
[24] J. N. Darby, Letters of J. N. Darby (Oak Park, IL: Bible Truth Publishers, 1971), III, 297.
[25] Weremchuk, Darby, 45. Stunt notes that this conversion rate was documented in the monthly issues of the Christian Examiner from November 1826 to August 1827 in Timothy C. F. Stunt, From Awakening to Secession: Radical Evangelicals in Switzerland and Britain 1815–35 (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2000), 167.
[26] Stunt, From Awakening to Secession, 169.
[27] Wilkinson, For Zion�s Sake, 75.
[28] Grayson Carter, Anglican Evangelicals: Protestant Secessions From The Via Media, c. 1800–1850 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 211.
[29] Carter, Anglican Evangelicals, 211.
[30] Carter, Anglican Evangelicals, 212. On Magee and his alienation of clergy within the Church of Ireland due to his views and policies, see, Peter Nockles, �Church or Protestant Sect? The Church of Ireland, High Churchmanship, and the Oxford Movement, 1822-1869� The Historical Journal (vol. 41, no. 2; June 1998): 457–93. For information on the Church of Ireland in Darby�s era, see, Alan Acheson, A History of the Church of Ireland, 1691-2001. 2nd ed. (Dublin: Columbia Press, 2003).
[31] Erastian refers to a proponent of the views of the Swiss theologian Thomas Erastus (1524-1583), who argued that the sins of Christians should be punished by the state and not the Church in the withholding of the sacraments.
[32] Tim Grass, Gathering to his Name: The Story of Open Brethren in Britain & Ireland (Milton Keynes, England: Paternoster, 2006), 17.
[33] Darby, Letters, III, 297–8.
[34] R. A. Huebner argues that Darby�s convalescence took place December 1826–January 1827, while Timothy Stunt claims it was December 1827–January 1828. Huebner cites a date on a letter between the Bellett brothers as his dating source. Huebner, John Nelson Darby: Precious Truths Revived and Defended, Volume One, Revival of Truth 1826–1845, 2nd ed., augmented (Jackson, NJ: Present Truth Publishers, 2004), 8–9. However, Stunt�s position appears more feasible because of the letter from Darby�s friend John Bellett to his brother George at the end of January 1828 in which John said, �I hope on Friday to see John Darby. You will be grieved to hear that he has been laid up for nearly two months from a hurt in his knee. His poor people in Calary miss him sadly.� Recollections of the late J. G. Bellett, (1895), 27. Stunt says, �The letter was apparently received when George was at Bandon. It is dated 31 Jan. 1827, but Bellett had probably written the previous year�s date, as one does, at the end of January. The year must be 1828 for several reasons. First, George moved to Bandon in 1827 and probably after 31 January (D. Bellett), Memoir of G. Bellett, 64). Secondly, the evidence for Darby�s 1827–8 convalescence is overwhelming. His references to �two years and three months� after his ordination (Letters, iii: 297) and �1827–8� (Letters, i: 185) are explicit. Lastly, F. W. Newman saw him on crutches in late 1827 (see below, ch. 8. p. 206).� Stunt, From Awakening to Secession, 169.
[35] Stunt, From Awakening to Secession, 171.
[36] Darby, Letters, III, 453–4.
[37] Darby, Letters, I, 344–5.
[38] Darby, Letters, I, 185.
[39] Darby, Letters, I, 344.
[40] Darby, Letters, III, 298.
[41] Darby, Letters, III, 298.
[42] Darby, Letters, I, 344.
[43] Darby, Letters, I, 515.
[44] (Italics added) Darby, Letters, III, 298.
[45] Darby, Letters, III, 299.
[46] (Italics added) Darby, Letters, I, 344.
[47] Darby, Letters, I, 516.
[48] Darby, Letters, I, 344.
[49] Darby, Letters, I, 516.
[50] Darby, Letters, III, 298–9.
[51] J. N. Darby, �Thoughts on Revelation XIV., XV., XVI,� The Bible Treasury (vol. 12, no. 281; October 1879), 352.
[52] �. . . in 1827 I went to Ireland . . . In the Autumn of 1828 I returned to Oxford. . .� F. W. Newman, Contributions Chiefly to the Early History of the Late Cardinal Newman, pp. 21 and 24. �In Dublin (1827–8) . . .,� ibid, p. 62. Cited from Huebner, John Nelson Darby, 12, f.n. 60. In Phases of Faith, Newman says the following: �After taking my degree, I became a Fellow of Balliol College; and the next year I accepted an invitation to Ireland, and there became private tutor for fifteen months in the house of one now deceased� (p. 17).
[53] Stunt, �Influences,� 59, f.n. 56.
[54] Benjamin Wills Newton, The Fry Collection, 61. Newton makes a similar statement about Newman visiting Darby in 1827 on page 235. Timothy Stunt describes The Fry Collection as the collection of handwritten �expositions, recollections and conversations� of Newton by one �who greatly valued his teaching,� Frederick W. Wyatt. �On Wyatt�s death the collection came into the possession of Alfred C. Fry� who assembled the various collections into a single volume and in 1982 Fry �presented his collection to the Christian Brethren Archive (CBA) in the John Rylands University Library in Manchester.� Stunt, From Awakening to Secession, 313–4. This writer has a photocopy of the manuscript which contains a total of 444 pages. See also Fry Collection, 240–1.
[55] John Gifford Bellett, Interesting Reminiscences of the Early History of �Brethren:� With Letter from J. G. Bellett to J. N. Darby (London: Alfred Holness, n.d.), 4.
[56] Bellett, Recollections, 27.
[115] Norton, Memoirs, 174–76.
[116] Charles Ryrie, What You Should Know about the Rapture (Chicago: Moody Press, 1981), 71.
[117] John F. Walvoord, The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), 44.
[118] Stunt, �Controversy,� 93.
[119] MacPherson, Hoax, 7.
[120] Manuel Lacunza, also known as Juan Josafat Ben-Ezra, The Coming of Messiah, 99–101; 214–17; 248–51; 266–67.
[121] Bob Gundry, First the Antichrist (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997), 109.
[122] Paul Richard Wilkinson, �John Nelson Darby and the Origins of Christian Zionism,� (Ph. D. Thesis, University of Manchester, 2006), 322.
[123] Tim LaHaye, The Rapture: Who Will Face the Tribulation? (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2002), 187.
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Give any year in the life of 'Ivan the Terrible'? | Darby, John Nelson
Encyclopedia > People > Philosophy and Religion > Protestant Christianity: Biographies
John Nelson Darby
Darby, John Nelson, 1800–1882, one of the founders of the Plymouth Brethren , b. England. In 1827 he left a curate's post in Wicklow, Ireland, and joined with others in Dublin to found the Brethren. Later he formed congregations on the Continent, in Switzerland, France, and Germany. Between 1859 and 1874, Darby paid a number of visits to the United States and Canada. His followers, especially those on the Continent, came to be called Darbyites or Exclusive Brethren.
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Who commanded the Royal Navy taskforce which destroyed much of the Italian fleet off Cape Matapan in 1941? | The Italian Navy during World War II - Naval War in the Mediterrean, Malta & Crete - WWII Forums
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The Italian Navy during World War II
Started by JCFalkenbergIII , Aug 15 2008 11:30 PM
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Posted 15 August 2008 - 11:30 PM
The Italian Navy during World War II
The Second World War was a dramatic defeat for Italy and consequently for the Italian Navy. The reasons of the naval disaster are several:
a) Wrong attitudes of Supermarina (Naval Head Quarter) in conducting the war strategies - crews and Captains demonstrated every day an extraordinary courage and skill but their initiatives were always frustrated by Supermarina's too prudent policy;
absolutely poor coordination with the Air Force;
c) inadequate equipments in terms of radar lack and unsatisfactory precision of gun aiming systems;
d) fuel lack;
e) the enemy was the British Royal Navy , for centuries the most powerful armada of the world;
f) the Royal Navy was able to read for almost all conflict long the Italian encryipted message that should be kept secret.
Most of these reasons are the obvious consequences of the irresponsible political decision by the Mussolini's government to join the war, thinking it would be ended in few months with the victory of German ally on every front.
Submarine Ambra's crew
The Italian militaries had to obey to the orders of the government, and they went to a war well aware that there weren't chances of victory for them. They were successful in the '30s against Ethiopians and Spanish Republicans, but the enemy they were going to face was well different.
Anyway we will only analyse the military facts and not the political ones.
War began for Italy on June 10, 1940, with only only two battleships that were combat ready, the Conte di Cavour and Giulio Cesare, battleships Littorio and Vittorio Veneto were still under training.
Others would be ready in several months: Caio Duilio, Andrea Doria. The rest of the fleet included, 7 heavy cruisers, twelve light cruisers, about one hundred and twenty destroyers and torpedo boats and over one hundred submarines.
The British were slightly numerically inferior and were based in Alexandria (Mediterranean Fleet) and Gibraltar (Force H), two of the advantages the British had, were the availability of aircraft carriers and tactics based on the use of aircraft in reconnaissance and strike roles. Italians lacked totally from this point of view, all their airplanes were controlled by th Air Force which imposed to not build any carrier. Mussolini thought that all Italian peninsula was a huge aircraft carrier: this though will be tragically wrong.
During the first days of war Italians lost 5 submarines and the British lost cruiser Calypso sunk by submarine Bagnolini. On June 27, 1940 Italian destroyer Espero is sunk by 5 British cruisers.
The first clash between the two navies was at Point Stilo two squadrons escorting the respective convoys, Italian ships (under the command of Admiral Campioni) were Cesare, Cavour, 14 cruisers and numerous destroyers, British units were battleships Warspite, Malaya, and Royal Sovereign, aircraft carrier Eagle, five light cruisers, and 14 destroyers, commander was Admiral Cunningham .
The result of this match was that only Giulio Cesare was lightly damaged, but it demonstrated the inferiority of the Italian since they were in a more favorable position and they lost a good chance to beat the British more significantly. The battle was near the coasts of Italy and if the cooperation with the Air Force had work properly, Point Stilo would have been a great victory. In addition Veneto and Littorio were almost ready for combat, and his commander, Admiral Bergamini, asked the permission to join the battle, but it was denied by Supermarina. On July 18 a British formation sunk the cruiser Colleoni, while on July, 20 British planes attacked Tobruk harbour sinking destroyers Nembo and Ostro.
On the night of October 12, 1940 British cruisers Ajax, Orion , York and Sidney sunk Italian torpedo boats Airone , Ariel and Artigliere. During this battle the British rescued the Italian survivors, even this could endangered them for the upcoming of the rest of Italian fleet. Admiral Cunningham was blamed for that by his headquarter because those days London was suffering under the continuous attacks of Luftwaffe; Cunningham answered that Italians torpedo boats fought with courage a no-chance struggle, and for that reason they deserved to be helped.
The night of November 11, 1940, the "Night of Taranto", was the saddest in Italian Seamen's history and one of the most brilliant for the British. That night all of the six Italian battleships were in the Taranto harbour; the Royal Navy planned a daring action: two strikes of torpedo-carrying Swordfish aircraft took off from carrier Illustrious, that approached undetected to within 170 miles of Taranto. Battleships Conte di Cavour, Caio Duilio and Littorio were hit by torpedoes. And only two of the twenty-one British aircraft were shot down. Littorio and Duilio were moored to prevent their sinking. Cavour sank with only her superstructures above water. Littorio and Duilio were repaired in some months while Cavour was ready again only at the time of the armistice.
On November 27, the Italian and British Fleets met again at the southwest of Sardinia for that the will have been called Battle of Capo Teulada. Italians fired first and the cruiser, Berwick , was hit almost immediately, in return the Italian destroyer Lanciere was damaged. After that both began inconsequential actions and then broke off the encounter. Italians could have had, once again, better results if Admiral Campioni and Supermarina had not so prudent and first of all if had been air support.
Cruiser Zara's guns firing (Mondadori)
On February 9, 1941, there was another British daring action: Force H consisting of the battleship Malaya, battlecruiser Renown, carrier Ark Royal, a cruiser and ten destroyers, bombarded Genoa for half an hour totally undisturbed. After that, due to an incredible series of misunderstandings and to the poor communication, Italians did not intercept the British force.
HMS Ark Royal
On February 25, 1941 British submarine Upright sunk Italian cruiser Diaz.
On March 28, 1941, an Italian force, under Admiral Iachino, made up of Veneto, 8 cruisers and 13 destroyers neared Cape of Matapan, in order to interdict convoy traffic between Egypt and Greece, contacted four British light cruisers and 8 destroyers. But it was a trap of Admiral Cunningham: these ships were only the scouts for the Mediterranean fleet, made up of the battleships Warspite, Valiant, and Barham, Formidable, and nine destroyers.
Battleship HMS Warspite
After a quite long pursuing of the British scout force, the Italians were attacked by air strikes: Admiral Iachino decided to return home. Those air strike managed to slow down the Italians that waited in vain throughout the day for German air support. At sunset, the heavy cruiser Pola was hit by a torpedo and stopped.
Admiral Iachino ordered the heavy cruisers Zara and Fiume and four destroyers to stand by and assist Pola, being unaware of the close proximity of the heavy British ships (once again the lack of reconnaissance!).
The British ships, radar equipped, unlike their foe, attacked the Italian forces, completely unaware of the enemy's presence, while aiding Pola. The result was: Fiume, Pola, Zara and two destroyers, Alfieri and Carducci were sunk. 2303 Seamen died. The only British loss was the cruiser Bonaventure sunk by Italian submarine Ambra but during an action independent from this clash.
It must be said that while the Royal Navy was fair and human, attempting to rescue the Italian survivors (this aid failed because only at that moment arrived the German planes!!! They anyway gave the exact position of the survivors to the Italian Hospital ships) British propaganda lied having reported that Pola's sailors were drunk and panicked. It was demonstrated that it was not true.
There is a touching epilogue of the Matapan battle: on August 1952, on a beach near Cagliari it was found a bottle with a message "Royal Ship Fiume - I beg you Sir, to inform my dear Mother that I die for the Country. Seamen Chirico Francesco from Futani - Salerno. Thank you Sir - Italy!" The mother was informed and her son received the Bronze Medal for Military Valour.
Cruiser Fiume
In 1941 the German ally began to send planes and submarines to help the Italian Navy to face the British and the things for Axis improved.
On April 14, 1941 while escorting a convoy to Africa Italian destroyers Tarigo, Lampo and Baleno were surprised by 4 British destroyers. Tarigo's Captain, Pietro de Cristofaro had a leg riped off but continued to lead his men under the British fire. Tarigo was almost destroyed when Tenente di Vascello Ettore Besagno and Sottocapo Marchetti managed to launch three torpedoes before sinking. One of these torpedoes sunk destroyer Mohawk. Lampo and Baleno were seriously damaged.
HMS Mohawk
On night of March 25, 1941, there was one of the many intrepid assault of Italian commandoes in British harbours thought as a diversion for the fact of Matapan. Two destroyers Crispi and Sella approached 10 miles the Suda bay and lowered 6 small "Barchini" ( they were tiny speedboats, very fast, full of explosive and driven by one man who had to aim the target ship and jump off the boat at the very last moment; it required of course an enormous amount of courage). These "Barchini" were lead by Tenente di Vascello Luigi Faggioni.
They entered the harbour, where were 4 cruisers and many merchant ships. The result was cruiser York severely damaged (it would be totally destroyed later by German Stukas), one petrol ship damaged. The six braves were captured, and sat free by Germans later.
HMS York
In June 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union and the balance of force in the Mediterranean changed. The pressure on Malta was reduced and the British were free to intercept Italian convoys to Lybia. In that period the losses of these convoys grew up to 63%.
On July 25, 1941 there was the attempted assault of Malta harbour by commandoes of X Flottiglia Mas, there died Teseo Tesei .
On september 19, 1941 Gibraltar harbour is forced by X Flottiglia Mas "Maiali" and 4 cargoes were sunk by Tenenti di Vascello Catalano, Vesco, Visentini.
Destroyers Dardo and Camicia Nera
On November 9, 1941 an Italian convoy to Lybia escorted by several destroyers is intercepted during night by radar-equipped Force K under the command of Admiral Agnew (Cruisers Aurora and Penelope and destroyers Lance and Lively): Destroyer Fulmine was sunk immediately, Grecale was damaged and there was a slaughter of Italian cargoes; destroyer Libeccio was sunk instead by submarine Upholder.
Destroyer Libeccio
The night of December 1, 1941, Force K again attacked a convoy escorted by destroyer Da Mosto that was sunk after an epic struggle attempting to save the cargoes from British ships and planes.
In mid-December 1941 took place the first battle of Sirte.
A huge convoy was sent to supply axis forces in Africa. A force with Duilio, three cruisers and four destroyers was provided, with support based on Littorio, Doria, Cesare, two heavy cruisers and ten destroyers. This force met a British one escorting their own convoy to Malta.
Admiral Angelo Iachino, commander of the Italians, decided to retreat to protect better the Italian convoy and to avoid to engage in a night the radar-equipped opponents. But few hours later he attacked the British surprising them while they were under air attack. But it was too late, the night arrived.
Iachino kept his forces between the British and the Italian convoy, which reached its destination safely. Supermarina claimed this non-battle a victory for propaganda reasons.
The next night, the Alexandria port were raided again by commandoes and battleship Valiant and Queen Elizabeth were sunk with a tanker as well. To know in detail this epic feat read the story of Luigi Durand de la Penne .
Royal Navy battleship Hms Queen Elizabeth (Mondadori)
The British managed those days to sink cruisers Da Giussano and Da Barbiano but the loss of the 2 battleship with the many successes of German U-Boats in the Mediterranean swung the naval balance to the Italians and reduced losses of Axis convoy . The Royal Navy lost also, due to mines, cruiser Neptune and destroyer Kandahar, while cruisers Aurora and Penelope were seriously damaged.
At the beginning of 1942 the British decided to resupply Malta by a convoy from Alexandria. 4 ships, an anti-aircraft cruiser and six destroyers departed from Alexandria. There were also 3 light cruisers and 4 destroyers, as well as another force of destroyers supporting the convoy. A cruiser also sorted to provide assistance from Malta. Italians sent 2 heavy and one light cruiser with 8 destroyers leaded by battleship Littorio to intercept the British.
Weather was rough but the Italian cruisers found the British, who escaped away, smoking all around. Admiral Iachino kept his ships between the convoy and Malta, waiting the right moment to attack, but once again it was too late: darkness closed in, and the night (Italian's second enemy) saved the British fleet. That night the Italians lost two destroyers due to the worsening of the storm. But the British convoy was delayed and the next morning was attacked by German planes, and only few material could reach Malta. on the way home. This was named the second Sirte's Battle.
On April 1, 1942 submarine Urge sunk Italian cruiser Bande Nere.
On April 14th, 1942, Italian torpedo-boat Pegaso sunk the most glorious British submarine of WW2, the terrible Upholder, his brave captain, David Wanklyn died with his ship.
http://www.geocities.../9226/bnere.gif Cruiser Giovanni dalle Bande Nere
The months after the British managed to reinforce Malta anyway sending there a large number of Spitfires many of them from US carrier Wasp. In fact with US in the war, the balance was shifting. Malta became a bastion from which offensives could be launched anytime.
The most proper strategic move for the Axis was to occupy Malta at that moment, but Hitler preferred to push further in Egypt.
In mid june 1942 there were a series of battles involving British and Axis convoys to Malta and to Lybia respectively.
One from Alexandria consisted of 9 merchant ships and a tanker, with 8 cruisers and 22 destroyers. Littorio, Veneto, and 6 destroyers in one group and 4 cruisers and 4 destroyers in a second group sailed to intercept the convoy. The next morning, the heavy cruiser Trento was hit by a torpedo and sank the day after; battleship Littorio took a bomb hit from an American B-24 with no damage. The British convoy was assaulted by submarines and torpedo-boats and turned back to Alexandria.
Another convoy from Gibraltar sailed to Malta and with 6 merchant with a close escort and a covering force of a battleship, 2 carriers, and 8 destroyers. Italians countered the convoy with light units from Sicily, supported by air attacks and a cruiser division, near the island of Pantelleria with success this time: just 2 freighters survived of attacks and delivered their supplies to Malta.
On june 15, 1942, in the Black Sea one Italian Mas and 2 minisubmarines CB3, under the command of C.Castagnacci, sank 3 Soviet submarines.
On july, 14, 1942, again the X Flottiglia Mas assaulted, with a commando, Gibraltar's Bay sinking 4 cargoes.
On August 4, 1942, Submarine Scirè, one of the most glorious Italian units, was sunk while attempting an assault at Haifa.
On August 12, 1942, again attempting to supply Malta, the British lost cruiser Cairo (by submarine Axum) and Manchester (by torpedo boats); British ships Nigeria, Kenya, Ohio and Italian ships Attendolo and Bolzano were also damaged.
After a long chase, Italian torpedo boat Circe sunk British submarine P38, one of the most feared units in the Mediterranean Sea. torpedo boats Circe and Lupo were sunk in the same period.
On December 4, 1942 American B24s sunk cruiser Attendolo.
On December 12, 1942, Algeri port was forced by X-Flottiglia Mas ("Maiali" and Gamma men) and 4 cargoes were sunk.
Again on December 1942, Italian submarines Dessiè, Porfido, Uarsciek, Granito and Emo were sunk.
Finally the latest battleship, Roma, was ready to combat but the Italian lack of fuel grew more and more. The British took advantage of this and organized a massive series of convoys the Italians could not intercept with their heavy units because of fuel lack. Malta once again had offensive capability, and failure in taking Malta was now heavily felt. Sending anything in Africa was almost a suicide in that situation, the Italian Navy managed anyway to send in Africa 86% of material and 92% of men.
Between the end of 1942 and the beginning of 1943, were sunk destroyer Folgore, Aviere, Pancaldo, Lampo, Malocello, Ascari, Corsaro, Bombardiere, Saetta; same fate for torpedo boats Animoso, Perseo, Climene, Ciclone, Cigno, Uragano and Procellaria. While Italian torpedo boats sunk British submarine Sahib and Thunderbolt.
During the first 6 months of 1943 Italian submarines performed with discipline 129 no-chance missions against a much better equipped and numerically superior enemy: 18 subs were utilised, 11 were lost.
On April 10, 1943 American B24s sunk cruiser Trieste.
On April 16, 1943 2 Italian torpedo boats Cigno and Cassiopea engaged with 2 British destroyers: Italian Cigno and British Packenham were sunk.
British counterattacked at El Alamein and began the reconquest of Northern Africa ended in May 1943. San Marco Marines lowered last Italian Flag in Africa on May, 9, 1943.
On June 10, 1943, Allied invaded Sicily. The last Italian ship sunk by the Allies was destroyer Gioberti on August 9, 1943. Italians decided to preserve the remaining fleet, because of the total lack of fuel, for a final, huge and hopeless battle against the coming Allied forces in order to save at least the honour before being defeated. But the armistice arrived on September 8, 1943 and the Allied were no more enemies: the foe was the German.
A total confusion was among Italian militaries, in certain cases it was attempted to save equipment from the German carrying them to the Allies, in other cases some did not accept the surrender and continued to fight the Allies.
Admiral Bergamini disciplinatelly tried to save from La Spezia his division sailing to reach the Allies: with him were battleship Roma (his flagship), Vittorio Veneto, Italia (former Littorio), cruisers Avoia, D'Acosta, Abruzzi, Garibaldi, Regolo, and Montecuccoli, a destroyer escort, and many other minor ships. The group was attacked by Luftwaffe and a terrible bad luck was waiting Bergamini. One radio-guided bomb fell just into the chimney of Roma and the battleship exploded, killing Bergamini and all the crew. Italians erroneously thought that the approaching aircrafts were British so there was no air cover at all.
The convoy finally arrived in Malta.
http://www.geocities...l/9226/roma.JPG The sad end of battleship Roma. (Mondadori)
The Italian wish to continue to fight will be satisfied on September, 23, 1943, with an agreement of cooperation with the Allies, except for the battleships, signed by Admirals Cunningham and De Courten. Italians Seamen who continued to fight, gained the Allies admiration and gave a significative contribution to the liberation of Italy, starting on October 19, 1943. The San Marco Marines were the first Allied troops to enter in Venice.
After the end of the war the Italian Navy had to face a sad fate: the winner nations claimed the best of the remaining Italian ships and the treaty imposed the Italians very hard restrictions on possessing and building ships. During the tragedy of Second World War 33.000 Italian Seamen lost their lives and were lost 270.000 tons of warships. 412.000 tons of enemy warships were sunk (with the ones sunk by Air Force and by German U Boats) .
The Italian merchant Navy lost 2.513 ships (522.120 tons).
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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman.
Posted 17 August 2008 - 11:57 PM
"Shortage of oil was also a key factor in limiting the operations of the Italian Navy throughout the war. The Italian war reserve of fuel-far too low a figure-was exhausted by late summer, 1941. The Navy’s needs were at least 200,000 tons a month for full freedom of operations: rationing reduced the men-of-war to less than 90,000 tons a month in 1941, and the situation worsened steadily.
By the end of April, 1942, Italian fleet units were reduced to the fuel supply actually on board. As a matter of fact, they never took part in another war mission after mid-June."
Oil Strategy in World War II | Oil150.com
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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman.
2
Posted 28 October 2008 - 03:32 AM
I notice anything small and armed with torpedos was effective vs the British ships. Aircraft, submarines, torpedo boats, Maile type weapons...
So theres a what if. Could Italy have done better if it had never invested anything after 1922 in capitol ships? Instead developing torpedo delivery systems. Submarines, fast long endurance surface boats, aircraft, ect... Aside from saving all the steel, fuel and money for other projects, would a larger investment in torpedo delivery systems and similar weapons have benefitted the Italians operationally?
Didn't the Germans try something like that with all the Uboats?
Im kidding, but still a bit goofy to think that torpedo-craft alone would save them.
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Posted 28 October 2008 - 03:51 AM
Here is a site with campaign summaries for the Italian Navy. Italian Navy, Zara, Fiume, Pola, Artigeliere, Aviere, Trento Reading the summaries it appears that the Italian Navy did have some degree of success when using torpedo delivery systems. While they may never have succeeded long term against the British Navy, they certainly caused damage to British shipping and interfered with the delivery of material (logistics again, JC) to the British Army in Alexandria.
Regards, Michelle
Oliver Goldsmith, "I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines."
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Posted 01 November 2008 - 03:52 PM
It seems that the WW2 italian military has been described too bad here and the british seem to be overvalued, considering the massive support that they had from all the allies.
The italian military had several lacks of armament in general because of the embargo of 1935 (after the invasion of Ethiopia) that concerned the raw materials and impeded to face the war with a proper armament and enough supplies.
More over we have to consider that Mussolini was suddenly pushed into the the WW2 from Hitler without having had the time to plan and to train properly the italian military command for a world war.
Italy hadn't the WW2 in its originary plans, but only the its colonial campaigns.
Despite all, the italian military accomplished many winning battles against the allies, thanks also to its great special forces like Folgore, Bersaglieri, Alpini or Decima Mas who sank several battleships ( Comando Supremo: Naval Assault Units ). Expecially in the Mediterranean sea, the italian attacks pushed the british near to the collapse before the american coming.
ALL THE ITALIAN WINNING BATTLES AGAINST THE ALLIES
1940
June 13 - Italian destroyer Strale sinks British submarine HMS Odin off Taranto.
June 16 - British submarine HMS Grampus is sunk by Italian destroyers.
June 23 - British destroyer HMS Khartoum is sunk off Eritrea by Italian smg. (submarine) Torricelli.
July 4 - The start of a series of first moves by Italy that led to humiliating defeats of the British. Lt. Gen Guglielmo Nasi struck westward from Ethiopia into Sudan. They capture several border towns and arrive within 300 miles of Khartoum. Within 6 weeks, Nasi conquered British Somaliland, causing the British to evacuate from the Sea at Berbera.
July 8 - Regia Aeronautica bombers bomb the British cruiser HMS Gloucester. Scoring a direct hit and killing her captain and 17 crewmen. Gloucester survives, but with a crippled steering gear.
July 11 - British destroyer HMS Escort is sunk off Gibraltar by Italian submarine smg. Marconi.
August 1 - Italian destroyer Ugolino Vivaldi sinks British submarine HMS Oswald off Cape Spartivento
August 3 - British Somaliland surrenders to Italy.
November 6 - The British mount their counteroffensive in the Sudan town of Gallabat. 7,000 troops under the command of Sir William Slim storm Gallabat with tank and infantry. Without air cover, he was unable to achieve his goals. The Italian Air Force shot down 5 gladiators and bombed his troops, killing 42 and wounding 125. The attack on Italian forces ended with a British withdrawal.
December 18 - British submarine HMS Triton is sunk in the Adriatic by Italian torpedo boats
________________________________________________________________________________________________
1941
January 7 - Italian torpedo boat Clio sinks Free French submarine Narval off the coast of Tobruk, Libya.
January 24 - Considered the first real "armored clash" is spawned at Mechili. The Italian Special Armored Brigade destroys 15 British tanks and pursue the the British for an additional 20 kilometers before losing communication with the home base and turning back. They then destroy another 6 tanks from a British counterattack. O'Connor orders a two week halt to bring in fresh supplies after his 70 cruisers are reduced to 50, and 120 light tanks reduced to 95. He considers this force to small to attack the 57 M13/40's and 25 L3/35's of the Italian Brigade.
February 3 - The British attack Keren with a force of 30,000 against 23,000 Italians made up of 3 Brigades of Colonial Levies and 3 Brigades of Savoia Grenadiers. After attacks and counterattacks, the Italians were able to push the Indian Infantry Brigade back. Then the Scottish attacked and were also repelled by the Italians.
March 31 - British cruiser HMS Bonaventure is sunk off Crete by Italian submarine smg. Ambra.
May 1 - British submarine HMS Usk is sunk off the coast of Sicily by Italian destroyers
May 13 - Italian torpedo boat Pleiadi sinks British submarine HMS Undaunted off the coast of Tripoli, Libya.
May 15 - British forces receive forewarning of a possible threat by Italian forces when action in Colonel O'Connor's Squadron C of 4 RTR lose 7 out of 10 Matilda tanks by Italian 47/32 guns. Axis casualties include 592 Italians and 685 Germans.
May 27 -28 - The British are ordered to evacuate Crete. In the 3 day battle of the seas, the Italo-German forces were able to sink 2 cruisers, 4 destroyers and one battleship. Two cruisers and 4 destroyers were damaged severely. During this battle, the Decima Flottiglia Mas maneuvered six Explosive Motor Boat (EMB) through the mines and antipersonnel nets of Suda Bay and sunk the British cruiser HMS York, two tankers and a steamer.
July 30 - Italian torpedo boat Achille Papa sinks British submarine HMS Cachalot off Malta.
September 20 - The Decima Flottiglia Mas is able to complete its second attempt at attacking ships ported in Gibraltar. Human Torpedoes successfully sink 2 tankers Fiona Shell and Denby Dale and the British H.M.S. Durban. The pilots and divers successfully escape by swimming to Spanish shores.
November 19 - British attack Axis forces at Bir El Gobi. Ariete's 146 M13/40's take the brunt of the attack and stop the British advance. The Ariete deploy in three battalion sized formations with twenty four 75/27's, thirty 47/32's, twelve 105/28's and seven 102/35's. The Ariete with 73 guns and 137 tanks, engaged the 28 pdrs. and 158 Crusaders of the XXII Armoured Brigade of the British. The XXII lose 55 tanks at Bir El Gobi and spend the next two days in the Allied rear regrouping. The 21st Panzer also managed to destroy 23 of the IV Armoured Brigades tanks. Over the next few days, the Ariete attack the XXII and IV Armoured Brigade and by November 23, the Ariete, Trieste and Savona account for more than 200 British tanks destroyed along with roughly 200 British vehicles. The Bologna, Trento and Pavia Divisions contained Tobruk. Because of the independent actions of the Italian and German subordinate, Rommel was saved from disaster.
December 4 -7 - Another successful engagement by Italian forces in Bir El Gobi, when the battalion of Giovanni Fascisti maul the XI Indian Brigade, destroying 100 tanks. Norrie's troops, who had an overwhelming advantage in every area, failed to concentrate their actions against the Italians causing one arm of the Italian battalion, the "Giovanni Fascisti" to block the actions of his corps and inflicted heavy casualties on one of his brigade The Giovanni Fascisti engaged the British army corps for 4 days and severely damaging the IV Armoured Brigade. The IV Armoured Brigade had to retreat 20 miles in order to reorganize. This forced Ritchie to abandon his intent to attack Rommels southern flank and trap his forces in Gabr Saleh.
December 5 - Rommel orders a general retreat and "forgets" to notify the Trieste and Ariete Division, forcing them to fight through the British Commonwealth IV Armoured Brigade and the 7th Support Group to rejoin the retreating German forces. Rommels hasty retreat cost the Italian Ariete and Trieste Divisions greatly, however, their determination to fight through the surrounding British gave the Ariete and not DAK, the first major tank battle of North Africa and accounted for another 100 British Commonwealth armored vehicle losses at Alam Hamza.
December 18 - Force K, the British Flotilla assigned to protect Malta and its shipping, hits an Italian moored minefield 20 miles east of Tripoli. The cruiser HMS Neptune and destroyer HMS Kandahar are sunk, the cruiser HMS Aurora is badly damaged and the cruiser HMS Penelope is slightly damaged. The site of the stricken ships limping back to the Grand Harbour brought a sense of fear into the Maltese people, who depend on the protected convoys to survive.
December 19 - The H.M.S. Valiant and H.M.S.Queen Elizabeth, while moored in the port of Alexandria, are critically damaged by explosions under their keels planted by Human Torpedo's operated by Italian frogmen of the Decima Flottiglia MAS. The damage was so great that these two ships were deemed unseaworthy. Along with the Battleships, the tanker Sagona and the British Destroyer Jervis were also severely damaged. Two Italian frogmen are captured, Lt. Luigi Durand de la Penne and Lt Bianchi. They refused to divulge any information until moments before the explosion (because they were being interrogated right above the area of the keel where the explosion was to occur). This attack, which neutralized the ability of the British to oppose the Italian Regia Marina with its battleships, allowed deeply needed convoys to supply Axis forces in Africa.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1942
January 23 - Italian intelligence begin giving Rommel daily British Order of Battle. Italians give the Marcks Group more power by presenting the self propelled Semovente 75/18.
February 6 - The British are pushed back to Gazala. The British Commonwealth forces lose 40 tanks, 40 field guns and 1,400 troops. This was a disaster for the Allies in more ways than one. Now the Allied convoys to Malta must pass between Axis occupied Crete and Axis airfields in Benghazi.
February 13 - Italian torpedo boat Circe sinks British submarine HMS Tempest off Taranto.
February 25 - British submarine P38 is sunk off the coast of Tunisia by Italian destroyers.
SECOND BATTLE OF SIRTE
March 22 - Admiral Iachino sets sail in his flagship, the Vittorio Veneto, along with 2 heavy cruisers, the Gorizia and Trento, light cruiser Bande Nere and four destroyers to intercept a convoy. The convoy were protected by 3 fast frigates, along with the Clan Campbell, the Pampas the Norwegian Talabot, the Breconshire , the Carlisle and 6 destroyers were then joined by the Penelope and the destroyer Legion.
At 9:30 A.M., Italian torpedo bombers began the attack on the convoy and it's escorts, causing no damage. The Luftwaffe then appeared and again no damage to the convoy. At 1:30 P.M., most of the Italian and Allied ships made sight of each other. The Allied fleet immediately began making smoke to prevent accurate range finding by the Italian vessels. The Italian heavy cruisers opened fire and began to turn away once the Carlisle and a destroyer began to fire back. The British assumed they were retreating. It was, however, a trick to attempt to get the Allied ships within range of the still unseen Battleship Littorio's 15" guns. The Allies did not fall for it.
At 4:30 P.M., the opposing fleets again made sight of each other. The Euryalus and the Cleopatra were both peppered by Italian shells. The winds began to increase to gail force strength and coupled with the smoke screen, it became difficult for the Italian ships to get into position to fire. Once the Vittorio Veneto found a clearing, it badly damaged two Allied destroyers (one had reduced speed, the other temporary crippled in the water). With the worsening of conditions, and slight damage to the Vittorio Veneto, Admiral Iachino disengaged the attack.
MARETH
March - Italian forces inflict heavy loses on British 56th division.
April 14 - The most respected British submarine HMS Upholder is sunk by Italian Torpedo Boat Pegaso off the coast of Tripoli, Libya.
April 28 - British submarine HMS Urge is sunk by Italian Torpedo Boat Pegaso off the coast of Libya
ENFIDAVILLE
April 29 - Italian forces inflict considerable losses on the British 56th Division as soon as it reached the battlefield.
May 26 - Trieste makes its way through British minefields and the Ariete destroy the III Indian Motor Brigade and hold the IV Armoured Brigade because the German 90th Light proved to weak to both attack and guard the Axis flank.
26 May to 21 June - One of the high points of Rommel's African military tactics in which Auchinleck and Ritchie could not take advantage of the situation and as a result, the British 8th army was beat back.
May 31 - Italian guns inflict heavy losses on the British near Sidra Ridge. The Ariete pound the II and XXII Armoured Brigade. Bastico reports "The Italian XX Corps fought well, the DAK, not so well. The 90th Light was in retreat."
June 1 - Rommels Axis forces break through the Gazala line, destroying 100 British tanks and taking 3,000 British POW's.
June 5 - 6 - British Commonwealth forces mount a major counteroffensive code named "Aberdeen". The Italian X Corps holds them up in the North and the Trieste and 90th Light contain the French at Bir Hacheim. The Ariete joins the 15th and 21st Panzer to battle the 42nd and 7th Royal Tank Regiments, including the II, IV and XXII Armoured, IX and X Indian and the CCI Guards brigades. The Ariete and Italian artillery repulse the British at Sidra and Aslagh ridges.
June 11 - Bir Hacheim falls to an attack by the Trieste and the 12th Ariete pepper the XXII Armoured and CCI Guard brigades. After a decisive victory, the Ariete attack the IV Armoured Brigade with the 21st Panzer.
June 14 - The Regia Marina sends the Italian 7th cruiser division (cruisers, submarines and torpedo bombers) under Admiral da Zara in the flagship Eugenio di Savoia from Palermo, Sicily to intercept. In the following battle the Regia Marina's direct attack sank the British destroyer Bedouin and forced an altered and delaying route on the British, allowing the Axis air forces to reduce the convoy from 6 to 2 transports. Only 2 merchant ships, the Orari and Troilus, along with the Welshman, were able to make it to Malta.
Mid June - Operation Vigorous, which included 11 merchant ships, seven cruisers and 28 destroyers was the largest convoy to set sail for Malta. The convoy had to turn back around and return home to Alexandria, Egypt once it was noted that the Italian Battleships Littorio and Vittorio Veneto, along with 2 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 12 destroyers were dispatched to intercept them.
Total Allied damage included 8 merchant ships sunk, 3 damaged, 5 cruisers damaged, 4 destroyers sunk, 1 destroyer damaged, 2 corvettes damaged and one torpedo boat sunk. Only 1 Italian heavy cruiser was lost, scuttled by the Italians due to severe damage.
These two operations were major Italian naval victories, but the downfall was that the oil shortages became so great for the Italian military machine, that such large Italian naval operations were rarely seen again.
June 20 - The Africa Corp and Italian XX Corp begin pounding Tobruk, eventually resorting to hand to hand combat with the British who are under the command of Klopper. Italian Caproni's, German Junkers 88's and Stukas bomb Tobruk to mercy. See Battle Map..
June 21 - Klopper surrenders Tobruk to the Afrika Korps. The spoils include 33,000 POW's, roughly 2,000 vehicles, 30 tanks, 400 guns and much needed fuel. Italian destroyer Strale runs aground off Tunisia and is scuttled. Rommel pursuades Hitler to approve and advance to Egypt. Cavallero, Kesselring and Mussolini do not agree with his actions.
July 22 - Trento, Brescia and Ariete capture 1,400 British POW's and destroy 146 tanks in a unsuccessful British strike.
July 27 - The Axis supply crisis ends and the Trento artillery destroy 27 tanks, 30 vehicles and capture 1,000 POW's during an Axis counterattack after the 9th Australian and I Armoured Brigades overran the Trento 61st Battalion and the German 361st Regiment. The British are now just as exhausted and the Italian XX Corps maul the New Zealanders, thanks mostly to Italian artillery and mines which destroy 86 of the XXII Armoured Brigade's 97 Valentines and 120 New Zealand anti-tank guns.
End of July - The British try to break through the Folgore Parachute Division at Deir el Munassib, but Folgore's strong defense repell the attack and cause the British substantial losses in men and vehicles.
August 6 - Italian Torpedo Boat Pegaso sinks British submarine HMS Thorn off Tobruk, Libya. (Note: Pegaso sinks 3 British submarines in 4 months.)
December 25 - Italian Torpedo Boat Ardente sinks British submarine P48 off the coast of Tunisia.
____________________________________________________________________________________
April 28 - Italian Torpedo Boat Sagittario sinks British MTB 639 off the coast of Sicily.
April 29 - Considerable losses inflicted on the British 56th Division by Italian forces in Enfidaville.
July 17 - Italian cruiser Scipione Africano sinks British MTB 316 off Messina.
Edited by THE_TRUTH_HURTS, 01 November 2008 - 07:12 PM.
Posted 03 November 2008 - 01:05 AM
And yet the Germans did not trust them. And the Fascists "governed "the North and never surrendered LOL? In regards to the RSI navy,
"The RSI navy would have no effect in the remaining years of the war, and by German order, the only naval vessels allowed to carry the Italian flag were those dependent on the X Flottiglia Mas."
Edited by JCFalkenbergIII, 03 November 2008 - 01:11 AM.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman.
Posted 03 November 2008 - 01:28 AM
"Mussolini realized in the months following his new appointment that the RSI was little different than the other occupied countries of Germany. Northern Italy was to support the German war effort. Mussolini was flanked by German counselors, and even protected by 30 SS men of Hitler's personal body guards. After complaints by Mussolini, Italian troops were finally authorized to protect Mussolini to the same degree as the SS detachment. Mussolini also demanded the release of Italian military prisoners, but Hitler only counteroffered with better treatment of them. Mussolini would always push for more autonomy, but little was ever given."
"By January 1945, the Russians had entered Germany and the war was all but lost. Mussolini held hope in Hitler's "Secret Weapons" to change the balance of war, but he was not convinced. Mussolini was upset that Germany was not giving him the authority he needed to do what he felt was necessary, and Graziani was aggravated that Germany could not trust the Italian military with independent military actions. Mussolini decided to move his government to Milano, where he could initiate contacts with the Allies. If these contacts did not bear favorable terms of surrender, he would establish a final front in Valtellina. This Allies would accept none other than a unconditional surrender and to Mussolini's dismay, only 2,000 to 5,000 soldiers could be assembled for what he percieved as a "final heroic stand". On 18 December 1944, Mussolini had moved his office to Milano. German Ambassador Rahn, suggested he move to Merano or the Brenner Pass, but Mussolini chose Milano due in part to his wish to distance himself from German authority."
"German troops surrendered in Italy on 2 May 1945 and the RSI ceased to exist. In the end, The RSI could not function as a state with the overbearing German occupation and the pressure of Partisan attacks. The last two years of the war was, in reality, an Italian civil war...fascists against partisans. Approximately 12,000 to 300,000 fascists were killed by Partisans in the last months of war. An unknown, but significant amount of Partisans were killed by Fascists. "
Comando Supremo: Repubblica Sociale Italiana
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman.
Posted 03 November 2008 - 08:02 AM
It's time to write the history currectly. On September 1943 the new government led from Badoglio signed the armistice with the "AMERICANS" who led the invasion of Italy. The other allies just supported that campaign with a minor role.
I suppose the 8th Army led by Montgomery landed on Sicily after rolling up Germans and Italians on North Africa because they were fed up with the Lybian and Tunisian cooking and wanted to grab more Chianti supplies at the source then. It was not an invasion, it was a gastronomical expedition only.
In case you need it more explicitly:
What the heck, nobody in this forum denies the Italian Soldier's valour, but do we need the tub thumping?
Quousque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra...
36 posts
Posted 03 November 2008 - 11:06 AM
I suppose the 8th Army led by Montgomery landed on Sicily after rolling up Germans and Italians on North Africa because they were fed up with the Lybian and Tunisian cooking and wanted to grab more Chianti supplies at the source then. It was not an invasion, it was a gastronomical expedition only.
In case you need it more explicitly:
What the heck, nobody in this forum denies the Italian Soldier's valour, but do we need the tub thumping?
The real british forces were just a small part of the allies. People who hide this detail do only a mere propaganda.
Edited by THE_TRUTH_HURTS, 05 November 2008 - 11:53 AM.
36 posts
Posted 03 November 2008 - 11:14 AM
"Mussolini realized in the months following his new appointment that the RSI was little different than the other occupied countries of Germany. Northern Italy was to support the German war effort. Mussolini was flanked by German counselors, and even protected by 30 SS men of Hitler's personal body guards. After complaints by Mussolini, Italian troops were finally authorized to protect Mussolini to the same degree as the SS detachment. Mussolini also demanded the release of Italian military prisoners, but Hitler only counteroffered with better treatment of them. Mussolini would always push for more autonomy, but little was ever given."
"By January 1945, the Russians had entered Germany and the war was all but lost. Mussolini held hope in Hitler's "Secret Weapons" to change the balance of war, but he was not convinced. Mussolini was upset that Germany was not giving him the authority he needed to do what he felt was necessary, and Graziani was aggravated that Germany could not trust the Italian military with independent military actions. Mussolini decided to move his government to Milano, where he could initiate contacts with the Allies. If these contacts did not bear favorable terms of surrender, he would establish a final front in Valtellina. This Allies would accept none other than a unconditional surrender and to Mussolini's dismay, only 2,000 to 5,000 soldiers could be assembled for what he percieved as a "final heroic stand". On 18 December 1944, Mussolini had moved his office to Milano. German Ambassador Rahn, suggested he move to Merano or the Brenner Pass, but Mussolini chose Milano due in part to his wish to distance himself from German authority."
"German troops surrendered in Italy on 2 May 1945 and the RSI ceased to exist. In the end, The RSI could not function as a state with the overbearing German occupation and the pressure of Partisan attacks. The last two years of the war was, in reality, an Italian civil war...fascists against partisans. Approximately 12,000 to 300,000 fascists were killed by Partisans in the last months of war. An unknown, but significant amount of Partisans were killed by Fascists. "
Comando Supremo: Repubblica Sociale Italiana
Nobody denies the defeat of the RSI, but I want only to say that who signed the alliance with Germany (Mussolini and the fascists) never changed side and never signed an armistice till the end. This detail is often forgotten and Italy is described as a country of traitors concerning the WW2.
It's absolutely false, the people who celebrated the allies coming were since the beginning anti fascist.
Posted 03 November 2008 - 12:11 PM
It's time to write the history currectly.
I was unaware that the many sources provided by many persons on the forum was mear propaganda. You have been asked to provide a source for your information, which you have failed to do. This only leaves us to believe that you yourself have fallen victim to propaganda.
Please give the Combined Fleet the chance to bloom as flowers of death. This is the navy’s earnest request. RADM Tasuku Nakazawa prior to the Battle of Leyte Gulf
It is the function of the Navy to carry the war to the enemy so that it will not be fought on U.S. soil. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
Posted 03 November 2008 - 02:13 PM
I was unaware that the many sources provided by many persons on the forum was mear propaganda. You have been asked to provide a source for your information, which you have failed to do. This only leaves us to believe that you yourself have fallen victim to propaganda.
Funny how its always "propaganda" when it goes against someone's views isn't it
? I have noticed that some who come here think that they are bringing us the "truth" or are fighting "propaganda". They don't last long here. BTW In my last post I provided the source from where I got the info from. Oddly enough it is one source where part of his information came from.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman.
| Cunningham |
Which US President was imprisoned by the British and killed Charles Dickinson in a duel with pistols? | World War II | WarWiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
Adolf Hitler then turned on the Soviet Union , launching a surprise attack ( codenamed Operation Barbarossa ) on June 22 , 1941 . Despite enormous gains, the invasion stalled on the outskirts of Moscow in late 1941, as the winter weather made further advances difficult. The Germans initiated another major offensive the following summer, but the attack bogged down in vicious urban fighting in Stalingrad . The Soviets later launched a massive encircling counterattack to force the surrender of the German Sixth Army at the Battle of Stalingrad (1942–43), decisively defeated the Axis at the Battle of Kursk , and broke the Siege of Leningrad . The Red Army then pursued the retreating Wehrmacht to Berlin , and won the street-by-street Battle of Berlin , as Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker on April 30 , 1945 .
Meanwhile, the Western Allies successfully defended North Africa (1940–43), invaded Italy (1943), and then liberated France (1944), following amphibious landings in Normandy . After repulsing a German counterattack at the Battle of the Bulge that December, the Western Allies crossed the Rhine River to link up with their Soviet counterparts at the Elbe River in central Germany.
During the war in Europe, some 6 million Jews , along with another 5 to 6 million people — Roma (Gypsies) , Slavs , Communists , homosexuals , the disabled and several other groups — were murdered by Germany in a state-sponsored genocide that came to be known as the Holocaust .
War in Asia and the Pacific
Main articles: Second Sino-Japanese war and Pacific War
Territory of the Empire of Japan at its peak.
The Empire of Japan , already in Manchuria since 1931, invaded China on July 7 , 1937 . Australia and then the United States, in 1940 , responded with embargoes on iron exports to Japan. On September 27 , 1940 Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy. After fruitless negotiations with the United States concerning withdrawal from China, excluding Manchukuo , Japan attacked Vichy French -controlled Indochina on July 24 , 1941. This caused the United States, United Kingdom and Netherlands to block Japan's access to oil , such as that in the Dutch East Indies and British colonies in Borneo .
Japan launched nearly simultaneous surprise attacks against the major U. S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor , on Thailand and on the British territories of Malaya and Hong Kong . Though it was significant to the US Navy , most Americans had never heard of Pearl Harbor . The attacks occurred on December 7 , 1941 in western international time zones and on December 8 in the east. Later on December 8, Japan attacked The Philippines , which was politically controlled by the United States at the time and quickly fell to Japanese forces. On December 11, Germany and Italy also declared war on the United States. Japanese forces commenced assaults on British and Dutch territory in Borneo on December 15. From their major prewar base at Truk in the South Pacific, Japanese forces began to attack and occupy neighboring Allied territories.
Japan's campaign in China lasted from 1937 to the end of the war, during which the Republic of China faced 80% of Japanese troops and relieved the Soviet Union under Stalin from fighting a two-front war . In the war against Japan, China lost more than 3 million soldiers and more than 17 million civilians. Many others were tortured, forced into slavery or raped, which resulted in charges of Japanese war crimes .
Japan won victory after victory in South East Asia and the Pacific, including the capture of 130,000 Allied prisoners in Malaya and at the fall of Singapore on February 15, 1942. Much of Burma , the Netherlands East Indies, the Australian Territory of New Guinea , and the British Solomon Islands also fell to Japanese forces.
In the last year of the war US air forces conducted a strategic firebombing campaign against the Japanese homeland. On August 6 , 1945 , the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima , and on August 9 another was dropped on Nagasaki . On the same day the Soviets joined the Pacific campaign in Manchuria , quickly defeating the Japanese Kwantung Army there. Japan surrendered on August 14 , 1945 .
Call me wind becasue I am absolutely blown away. Call me wind becasue I am absolutely blown away.
Causes
Main articles: Causes of World War II , Events preceding World War II in Europe , and Events preceding World War II in Asia
The immediate causes of World War II are generally held to be the German invasion of Poland , as well as the Japanese attacks on China , the United States , and the British and Dutch colonies. All of the attacks resulted from the leadership of authoritarian ruling elites in Germany and Japan. World War II began after these acts of aggression were met with an official declaration of war or armed resistance.
Cause of war in Europe
Edit
Germany and France had been struggling for dominance in Continental Europe for fifty years, and fought two previous wars, the Franco-Prussian War , and World War I . Meanwhile the power of the Soviet Union threatened to eclipse them both as industrialization spread to this massive country. World War I had been a preemptive war by Germany against the precursor to the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire , [1] but it ended in catastrophe for the Germans, with millions dead, the loss of some peripheral territory, and economic hardships.
Molotov signs the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in Moscow . Behind him are Shaposhnikov , Ribbentrop , and Stalin .
In the six years preceding World War II, Adolf Hitler , leading the Nazi Party, took power in Germany and eliminated its democratic government, the Weimar Republic . As stated in Mein Kampf , an autobiographical book outlining his plans for the future, Hitler's goal was to invade and conquer lands around Germany, and to make them German. He railed against Communists and ethnic minorities, such as Jews . After taking power, he prepared Germany for another war with large political rallies and speeches.
During the late 1930s Hitler abrogated the Treaty of Versailles , which had brought peace after WWI. He remilitarized the Rhineland , and increased the size of the German army, navy, and air force.
The British and French governments followed a policy of appeasement in order to avoid a new European war, out of concern for perceived war-weariness of their populations due to the huge death tolls of the first World War. This policy culminated in the Munich Agreement in 1938, in which the seemingly inevitable outbreak of the war was averted when the United Kingdom and France agreed to Germany's annexation and immediate occupation of the German-speaking regions of Czechoslovakia . In exchange for this, Hitler gave his word that Germany would make no further territorial claims in Europe. [2] [3] Chamberlain declared that the agreement represented "peace for our time." In March 1939, Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia , effectively killing any notions of appeasement.
Hideki Tojo of Imperial Japan .
The failure of the Munich Agreement showed that negotiations with Hitler could not be trusted, as his aspirations for dominance in Europe went beyond anything that the United Kingdom and France would tolerate. Poland and France pledged on May 19 , 1939 to provide each other with military assistance in the event either was attacked. The British had already offered support to Poland in March.
On August 23 , 1939 , Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact . The Pact included a secret protocol that would divide Central Europe into German and Soviet areas of interest, including a provision to partition Poland. Each country agreed to allow the other a free hand in its area of influence, including military occupation . The deal provided for sales of oil and food from the Soviets to Germany, thus reducing the danger of a British blockade such as the one that had nearly starved Germany in World War I. Hitler was then ready to go to war with Poland and, if necessary, with the United Kingdom and France. He claimed there were German grievances relating to the issues of the Free City of Danzig and the Polish Corridor , but he planned to conquer all Polish territory to incorporate it into the German Reich . The signing of a new alliance between the United Kingdom and Poland on August 25 did not significantly alter his plans.
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, causing France and the United Kingdom to declare war. The United Kingdom brought with it the huge British Empire , and most members of the British Commonwealth joined the war soon after.
Cause of war in Asia
Main articles : Showa Era , Militarism-Socialism in Showa Japan , Japanese nationalism
Following the policies adopted after the Treaty of Versailles by occidental powers toward the recognition of Japan as a colonial power, many politicians and militarist leaders such as Fumimaro Konoe and Sadao Araki brought back the concept of hakko ichiu and promoted the right of Japan to conquer Asia and unify it under the rule of emperor Showa , the offspring of Amaterasu Omikami .
Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and China in 1937 to bolster its meager stock of natural resources, to relieve Japan from population pressures and to extend its colonial realm to a wider area. This invasion became a "holy war" (seisen) and was followed by a harsh occupation with many atrocities against civillians ( Nanking massacre , sanko sakusen ). The United States and the United Kingdom reacted by making loans to China , providing covert military assistance , pilots and fighter aircraft to the Chinese Kuomintang and instituting after 1940 broad natural resource embargoes against Japan. The embargoes could have ultimately forced Japan to give up its newly conquered possessions in China or find new sources of oil and other resources.
Japan was faced with the choice of withdrawing from China, negotiating some compromise, developing new sources of supply, buying what they needed somewhere else, or going to war to conquer the territories that contained oil, bauxite and other resources in the Dutch East Indies , Malay and the Philippines . Japan's leaders believed that the French, Dutch, Soviet and British governments were preoccupied with the war in Europe, and that the United States could not be war-ready for years and would compromise before waging full-scale war. Japan thus proceeded with its plans for the war in the Pacific , and invaded and conquered nations and colonial possessions throughout Asia and the Pacific. [4]
For propaganda purposes, Japan's leaders stated that the goal of its military campaigns was to create the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere . This, they claimed, would be a co-operative league of Asian nations, freed by Japan from European imperialist domination, and liberated to achieve autonomy and self-determination. In practice, occupied countries and peoples were completely subordinate to Japanese authority.
The direct cause of the United States' entry into the war with Japan was the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Germany declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941.
Chronology
Main articles: Second Sino-Japanese War , Battle of Lake Khasan , and Battle of Khalkhin Gol
The Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937, when Japan attacked deep into China from its foothold in Manchuria ( Northeast China ). On July 7 , 1937 , Japan, after occupying Manchuria since 1931, launched another attack against China near Beijing . The Japanese made initial advances but were stalled in the Battle of Shanghai . The city eventually fell to the Japanese in December 1937, and the capital city Nanjing also fell. As a result, the Chinese Nationalist government moved its seat to Chongqing for the remainder of the war. The Japanese forces committed brutal atrocities against civilians and prisoners of war in the Rape of Nanking , slaughtering as many as 300,000 civilians within a month. Neither Japan or China officially declared war, for a similar reason—fearing declaration of war would alienate Europe and the United States.
In Spring 1939, Soviet and Japanese forces clashed in Mongolia . The growing Japanese presence in the Far East was seen as a major strategic threat by the Soviet Union, and Soviet fear of having to fight a two front war was a primary reason for the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with the Nazis (other historians mention Munich Agreement as a supposition to this pact). The Japanese invasion of Mongolia was repulsed by Soviet units under General Georgiy Zhukov . Following this battle, the Soviet Union and Japan were at peace until 1945. Japan looked south to expand its empire, leading to conflict with the United States over the Philippines and control of shipping lanes to the Dutch East Indies . The Soviet Union focused on the west, leaving only minimal troops to guard the frontier with Japan.
War breaks out in Europe (September 1939 – May 1940)
Polish infantry during the Invasion of Poland , September 1939.
On September 1 , 1939, Germany invaded Poland , using the false pretext of a faked " Polish attack " on a German border post. The United Kingdom and France gave Germany two days to withdraw from Poland. Once the deadline passed on September 3, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand declared war on Germany, followed quickly by France, South Africa, Canada and Nepal. Immediately, Great Britain began seizing German ships and implementing a blockade.
Despite the French and British treaty obligations and promises to the Polish government, both France and Great Britain were unwilling politically to launch a land invasion of Germany. The French mobilized slowly and then mounted only a short a token offensive in the Saar ; neither did the British send land forces in time to support the Poles (see Western betrayal ). Meanwhile, on September 8 , the Germans reached Warsaw , having slashed through the Polish defenses.
On September 17 , the Soviet Union , pursuant to its secret agreement with Germany , invaded Poland from the east , throwing Polish defenses into chaos by opening the second front. A day later, both the Polish president and commander-in-chief fled to Romania . On October 1 , hostile forces, after a one-month siege of Warsaw , entered the city. The last Polish units surrendered on October 6 . Poland, however, never officially surrendered to the Germans. Some Polish troops evacuated to neighboring countries . In the aftermath of the September Campaign, occupied Poland managed to create a powerful resistance movement and contributed significant military forces to the Allies for the duration of World War II.
After Poland fell, Germany paused to regroup during the winter of 1939–1940 until April 1940, while the British and French stayed on the defensive. The period was referred to by journalists as “the Phony War ” or the “Sitzkrieg” because so little ground combat took place. During this period Soviet Union attacked Finland on November 30 , 1939 , which started the Winter War . Despite outnumbering Finnish troops by 4 to 1, the Red Army found the attack embarrassingly difficult, and the Finnish defence prevented an all-out invasion. Finally, however, the Soviets prevailed and the peace treaty saw Finland cede strategically important border areas near Leningrad .
Germany invaded Denmark and Norway on April 9 , 1940 , in Operation Weserübung . Denmark did not resist, but Norway fought back. The Norwegian defense was undermined by the collaboration of Vidkun Quisling , whose name is now synonymous with "traitor". The United Kingdom , whose own invasion was ready to launch, landed in the north. By late June, the Allies were defeated and withdrew, Germany controlled most of Norway , and the Norwegian Army had surrendered, while the Norwegian Royal Family escaped to London . Germany used Norway as a base for air and naval attacks on Arctic convoys headed to the Soviet Union. Norwegian partisans would continue to fight against the German occupation throughout the war.
The Western Front (May 1940 – September 1940)
Main articles: Battle of France and Battle of Britain
The Germans ended the Phony War on May 10 , 1940 when they invaded Luxembourg , Belgium , the Netherlands , and France . The Netherlands was quickly overwhelmed and the Dutch city of Rotterdam was destroyed in a bombing raid. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Army advanced into northern Belgium and planned to fight a mobile war in the north, while maintaining a static continuous front along the Maginot Line further south. The Allied plans were immediately smashed by the most classic example in history of Blitzkrieg .
Germans parading in the deserted Champs-Élysées avenue, Paris , June 1940.
In the first phase of the invasion, Fall Gelb , the Wehrmacht's Panzergruppe von Kleist, raced through the Ardennes , a heavily forested region which the Allies had thought impenetrable for a modern, mechanized army. The Germans broke the French line at Sedan , held by reservists rather than first-line troops, then drove west across northern France to the English Channel, splitting the Allies in two.
The BEF and French forces , encircled in the north, were evacuated from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo . The operation was one of the biggest military evacuations in history, as 338,000 British and French troops were transported across the English Channel on warships and civilian boats.
On June 10 , Italy joined the war, attacking France in the south. German forces then continued the conquest of France with Fall Rot (Case Red). France signed an armistice with Germany on June 22 1940 , leading to the direct German occupation of Paris and two-thirds of France, and the establishment of a German puppet state headquartered in southeastern France known as Vichy France .
Heinkel He 111 bomber over London on 7 Sep. 1940.
Germany had begun preparations in the summer of 1940 to invade the United Kingdom in Operation Sea Lion . Most of the British Army's heavy weapons and supplies had been lost at Dunkirk. The Germans had no hope of overpowering the Royal Navy , but they did think they had a chance of success, if they could gain air superiority . To do that, they first had to deal with the Royal Air Force (RAF). The ensuing contest in the late Summer of 1940 between the two air forces became known as the Battle of Britain . The Luftwaffe initially targeted RAF Fighter Command aerodromes and radar stations. Hitler, angered by retaliatory bombing raids on Berlin, switched his attentions towards the bombing of London, in an operation known as The Blitz . The Luftwaffe was eventually beaten back by Hurricanes and Spitfires , while the Royal Navy remained in control of the English Channel. Thus, the invasion plans were postponed indefinitely.
After France had fallen in 1940, the United Kingdom was out of money. Franklin Roosevelt persuaded the U.S. Congress to pass the Lend-Lease act on March 11 1941 , which provided the United Kingdom and 37 other countries with US$50 billion dollars in military equipment and other supplies, US$31.4 billion of it going to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Canada operated a similar program that sent $4.7 billion in supplies to the United Kingdom.
The Mediterranean (April 1940 – May 1943)
Main articles: Balkan Campaign , Battle of the Mediterranean , North African campaign , and Yugoslavian Front (WWII)
Afrika Korps tanks advance during the North African campaign.
Control of Southern Europe , the Mediterranean Sea and North Africa was important because the British Empire depended on shipping through the Suez Canal . If the canal fell into Axis hands or if the Royal Navy lost control of the Mediterranean, then transport between the United Kingdom, India, and Australia would have to go around the Cape of Good Hope , an increase of several thousand miles.
Following the French surrender, the British attacked the French Navy anchored in North Africa in July 1940, out of fear that it might fall into German hands. This contributed to a souring of British-French relations for the next few years. With the French fleet destroyed, the Royal Navy battled the Italian fleet for supremacy in the Mediterranean from their strong bases at Gibraltar , Malta , and Alexandria , Egypt.
Italy invaded Greece on October 28 , 1940 , from Italian occupied Albania , but was quickly repulsed. By mid-December, the Greek army advanced into southern Albania, tying down 530,000 Italian troops. Meanwhile, in fulfillment of Britain's guarantee to Greece the Royal Navy struck the Italian fleet on November 11 , 1940 . Torpedo bombers from British aircraft carriers attacked the Italian fleet in the southern port of Taranto . One battleship was sunk and several other ships were put temporarily out of action. The success of aerial torpedoes at Taranto was noted with interest by Japan's naval chief, Yamamoto, who was considering ways of neutralizing the U.S. Pacific Fleet . Mainland Greece eventually fell to a German invasion from the East, through Bulgaria .
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery , Commander of the British 8th Army .
Italian troops crossed into Egypt from Libya to attack British bases in September 1940, thus beginning the North African Campaign . The aim was to capture the Suez Canal . British, Indian and Australian forces counterattacked in Operation Compass , which stopped in 1941 after numerous Australian and New Zealand (ANZAC) forces were transferred to Greece to defend it from German attack. German forces (known later as the Afrika Korps ) under General Erwin Rommel landed in Libya in February 1941 to renew the assault on Egypt.
Germany also invaded Crete , significant for the large-scale use of German paratroopers. Crete was defended by about 11,000 Greek and 28,000 ANZAC troops, who had just escaped Greece without their artillery or vehicles. The Germans attacked the three main airfields of the island of Maleme , Rethimnon , and Heraklion . After one day of fighting, none of the objectives were reached and the Germans had suffered appalling casualties. German plans were in disarray and the German commander, General Kurt Student , was contemplating suicide. During the next day, through miscommunication and failure of Allied commanders to comprehend the situation, Maleme airfield in western Crete fell to the Germans. The loss of Maleme enabled the Germans to fly in heavy reinforcements and overwhelm the Allied forces on the island. In light of the heavy casualties suffered by the parachutists, however, Hitler forbade further airborne operations.
In North Africa, Rommel's forces advanced rapidly eastward, laying siege to the vital seaport of Tobruk . Two Allied attempts to relieve Tobruk were defeated, but a larger offensive at the end of the year ( Operation Crusader ) repelled Rommel's forces after heavy fighting.
The war between the Allied and Italian navies swung decisively in favor of the Allies on March 28 , 1941, when Admiral Cunningham's ships encountered the main Italian fleet south of Cape Matapan , at the southern extremity of the Greek mainland. At the cost of a couple of aircraft shot down, the Allies sank five Italian cruisers and three destroyers, and damaged the modern battleship Vittorio Veneto . The Italian Navy was emasculated as a fighting force, and the Allied task of moving troops across the Mediterranean to Greece was eased.
On April 6 , 1941, German, Italian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian forces invaded Yugoslavia , ending with the surrender of the Yugoslav army on April 17 , and the creation of client states in Croatia and Serbia . Also on April 6 , Germany invaded Greece from Bulgaria. The Greek army defending the Metaxas Line was outnumbered and outmaneuvered by the rapid German advance through Yugoslavia and collapsed. Athens fell on April 27 , yet the United Kingdom managed to evacuate over 50,000 troops.
Resistance broke out in Yugoslavia in mid-1941, centered around two movements: the Communist-led Partisans , commanded by Tito , and the royalist Chetniks led by Draža Mihailović . The two paramilitaries briefly cooperated in 1941 but soon fell out, with the Chetniks assuming a more ambivalent role, frequently siding with the occupying forces against the communists.
In April-May 1941, there was a short war in Iraq that resulted in a renewal of British occupation. In June, Allied forces invaded Syria and Lebanon , and captured Damascus on June 17 . Later, in August, UK and Red Army troops occupied neutral Iran , securing its oil and a southern supply line to the Soviet Union.
Members of the 9th Australian Infantry Division in a posed photograph during the Second Battle of El Alamein . (Photographer: Len Chetwyn.)
At the beginning of 1942, the Allied forces in North Africa were weakened by detachments to the Far East. Rommel once again recaptured Benghazi . He then defeated the Allies at the Battle of Gazala , and captured Tobruk along with several thousand prisoners and large quantities of supplies, before drivng deeper into Egypt.
The First Battle of El Alamein took place in July 1942. Allied forces had retreated to the last defensible point before Alexandria and the Suez Canal . The Afrika Korps , however, had outrun its supplies, and the defenders stopped its thrusts. The Second Battle of El Alamein occurred between October 23 and November 3 . Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was in command of Allied forces known as the Eighth Army . The Allies took the offensive and, despite initially stiff German resistance, were ultimately triumphant. After the German defeat at El Alamein, the Axis forces made a successful strategic withdrawal to Tunisia .
Operation Torch was launched by the U.S., British and Free French forces on November 8 , 1942 , to gain control of North Africa through simultaneous landings at Casablanca , Oran and Algiers, followed a few days later by a landing at Bône , the gateway to Tunisia. The local forces of Vichy France put up minimal resistance before submitting to the authority of Free French General Henri Giraud . In retaliation, Hitler invaded and occupied Vichy France. The German and Italian forces in Tunisia were caught in the pincers of Allied advances from Algeria in the west and Libya in the east. Rommel's tactical victory against inexperienced American forces at the Battle of the Kasserine Pass only postponed the eventual surrender of the Axis forces in North Africa in May 1943.
In 1943 the Axis almost succeeded in wiping out Yugoslav Partisan resistance. From January to April, the guerillas were forced to flee eastwards in winter conditions over the rough terrain of Bosnia , suffering heavy losses, eventually crossing the Neretva river and securing their command and the hospital. They continued eastwards, incapacitating the Chetnik forces in the area, and fell into a near-fatal German encirclement in the Sutjeska valley in late May.
Sub-Saharan Africa (July 1940 – September 1943)
Main articles: East African Campaign (World War II) , West Africa Campaign (World War II) , and Battle of Madagascar
Italy had gained control of Eritrea and Italian Somaliland during the colonial Scramble for Africa , and had taken Ethiopia prior to the outbreak of World War II during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War (1935–1936). These three colonies were reorganized into the dominion of Italian East Africa .
During early 1940 , Italian colonial forces consisted of 80,000 Italian troops and 200,000 native troops, while British forces in all of British Somaliland , Kenya and Sudan only amounted to 17,000. [5] . The Italians first amassed in preparation of taking French Somaliland (now known as Djibouti ). This attack was called off with the collapse of the French army and the installation of the neutral government of Vichy France . In July , Sudanese border towns of Kassala and Gallabat were occupied by an Italian force of 50,000, [6] and in August 1940 , the Italian colonial army attacked and took British Somaliland using a force of 25,000. This gave Italy control of nearly all of the Horn of Africa .
In September 1940 , Allied forces failed during the Battle of Dakar to take the capital of Senegal from the Vichy French troops defending it; French West Africa remained Vichy until the Operation Torch landings in North Africa in November 1942 . Yet in November , the Allies succeeded in the Battle of Gabon , solidifying control over French Equatorial Africa for the Free French Forces .
Also in November 1940 , the British began a counteroffensive from Sudan against Italian-held Gallabat with only 7,000 troops, which was unable to make much headway. [5] However in January 1941 , the Italian army withdrew its forces in the Sudanese border towns to more defensible terrain to the east of Kassala. [7] With additional reinforcements from the British Indian Army and South Africa , the campaign began to make progress. British Somaliland was retaken in March, and Addis Ababa , capital of Ethiopia, was captured on April 6 . Emperor Haile Selassie I returned to the city on May 5 . However, a force of Italians continued to fight a guerrilla war in Ethiopia until the Italian surrender of September 1943 .
Madagascar , as a French colony, was considered enemy territory by the British after the creation of the collaborationist Vichy regime. It was also the suggested land to which European Jews should be deported, in an anti-Semitic proposition known as the " Madagascar Plan ." While the British still controlled Egypt and the Suez Canal , such German plans were impossible, and eventually they were shelved in favor of a genocidal campaign, which was termed the " Final Solution ." With the advent of the Japanese entrance to the war in December 1941 , and the surrender of Singapore in February 1942 , the Allies became increasingly worried Madagascar would fall to the Axis. Therefore, they conducted an invasion known as Operation Ironclad in May 1942 . Fighting lasted there against the Vichy French defenders until November, who were backed by several Japanese submarines. In December, French Somaliland was also taken by the British.
After the landings of Operation Torch , the remainder of Vichy territories in Africa came under the control of the Allies. With the southern continent generally secure, apart from the Italian insurgency in Ethiopia, the Allies turned their attention to other theatres.
The Eastern Front (April 1941 – January 1942)
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The eastern front at the time of the Battle of Moscow: ██ Initial Wehrmacht advance - to 9 July 1941 ██ Subsequent advances - to 1 September 1941 ██ Encirclement and battle of Kiev - to 9 September 1941 ██ Final Wehrmacht advance - to 5 December 1941
The battle of Greece and the invasion of Yugoslavia delayed the German invasion of the Soviet Union by a critical six weeks.
Three German Army Groups along with various other Axis military units who in total numbered over 4.3 million men, 3,3 million Germans and 1 million Axis, launched the invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22 , 1941. Army Group North was deployed in East Prussia and was composed of 18th and 16th infantry armies and a Panzer Army, the 4th . Its main objectives were to secure the Baltic states and seize Leningrad. Opposite Army Group North were 2 Soviet Armies. The Germans threw their 600 Tanks at the junction of the two Soviet Armies in that sector. The 4th Panzer Army 's objective was to cross the River Neman and River Dvina which were the two largest obstacles in route to Leningrad . On the first day, the Tanks crossed River Neman and penetrated 50 miles. Near Rasienai, the Panzers were counterattacked by 300 Soviet Tanks. It took 4 Days for the Germans to encircle and destroy the Soviet Tanks. The Panzers then crossed the River Dvina near Dvinsk . The Germans were now in striking distance of Leningrad; however, Hitler ordered the Panzers to hold their position while the Infantry Armies caught up. The orders to hold would last over a week, giving plenty of time to the Russians to shore up defenses around Leningrad.
Army Group Center was deployed in Poland and comprised 9th , 4th Army , and two Panzer Armies, the 2nd and the 3rd . Its main objective was to capture Moscow. Opposite Army Group Center were 4 Soviet Armies. The Russians occupied a salient which jutted into German territory with its center at Bialystok . Beyond, Bialystok was Minsk which was a key railway junction and guardian of the main highway to Moscow. 3rd Panzer Army punched through the junction of the two Soviet Armies from the North and crossed the River Neman , and 2nd Panzer Army crossed the River Bug from the south. While the Panzers attacked, the Infantry armies struck at the Salient and encircled Russian troops at Bialystok. The Panzer Armies' objective was to meet at Minsk and prevent any Russian withdrawal. On June 27, 2nd and 3rd Panzer Armies met up at Minsk advancing 200 miles into Soviet Territory. In the vast pocket between Minsk and the Polish border, 32 Soviet Infantry and 8 Tank Divisions were encircled and were mercilessly attacked . Russian soldiers numbering 290,000 were captured, while 250,000 Russians managed to escape.
Army Group South was deployed in Southern Poland and Romania and was composed of 6th , 11th , and 17th armies and a Panzer Army, the 1st along with two Romanian Armies and several Italian, Slovakian and Hungarian Divisions. Its objective was to secure the oil fields of the Caucasus. In the South, the Russian Commanders had quickly reacted to the German attack and whose Tank forces vastly outnumbered the Germans. Opposite the Germans in the South were 3 Soviet Armies. The German struck at the junctions of the 3 Soviet Armies but 1st Panzer Army struck right through the Soviet Army with the objective of capturing Brody . On June 26, 5 Soviet Mechanized Corps with over 1,000 Tanks mounted a massive counterattack on 1st Panzer Army. The Battle was among the fiercest of the invasion lasting over 4 days. In the end the Germans prevailed but the Russians inflicted heavy losses on the 1st Panzer Army. With the failure of the Soviet Armored offensive, the last substantial Soviet tank forces in the south were now spent.
The October Revolution military parade on November 7, 1941, in Red Square was not cancelled despite German troops on the outskirts of Moscow.
On July 3, Hitler finally gave the go-ahead for the Panzers to resume their drive east after the infantry armies had caught up. The next objective of Army Group Center was the city of Smolensk which commanded the road to Moscow. Facing the Germans was an old Russian defensive line where the Soviets had deployed 6 Armies. On July 6, the Soviets launched an attack with 700 Tanks against the 3rd Panzer Army. The Germans, using their overwhelming air superiority, wiped out the Soviet tanks. The 2nd Panzer Army crossed the River Dneiper and closed on Smolensk from the south while 3rd Panzer Army after defeating the Soviet counter attack approached Smolensk from the north. Trapped between their pincers were 3 Soviet Armies. On July 26, the Panzers closed the gap and then began to eliminate the pocket which yielded over 300,000 Russian prisoners but 200,000 evaded capture. Hitler by now had lost faith in battles of encirclement and wanted to defeat the Soviets by inflicting severe economic damage which meant seizing the oil fields in the south and Leningrad in the North. Tanks from Army Group Center were diverted to Army Group North and South to aid them. Hitler's generals vehemently opposed this as Moscow was only 200 miles away from Army Group Center and the bulk of the Red Army was deployed in that sector and only an attack there could hope to end the war quickly. But Hitler was adamant and the Tanks from Army Group Center arrived and reinforced the 4th Panzer Army in the north which made it breakthrough the Soviet defenses on August 8 and by the end of August was only 30 miles from Leningrad. Meanwhile the Finns had pushed South East on both sides of Lake Ladoga reaching the old Finnish Soviet frontier.
In the South by mid-July below the Pinsk Marshes , the Germans had reached to a few miles of Kiev . The 1st Panzer Army then went South while the German 17th Army which was on 1st Panzer Army's southern flank struck east and in between the Germans trapped 3 Soviet Armies near Uman . As the Germans eliminated the pocket, the tanks turned north and crossed the Dneiper meanwhile 2nd Panzer Army which was diverted from Army Group Center on Hitler's orders had crossed the River Desna with 2nd Army on its right flank. The two Panzer armies now trapped 4 Soviet Armies and parts of two others. The encirclement of Soviet forces in Kiev was achieved on September 16. The encircled Soviets did not give up easily, a savage battle now ensued lasting for 10 days after which the Germans claimed over 600,000 Russian soldiers captured. Hitler called it the greatest battle in history. After Kiev, the Red Army no longer outnumbered the Germans and there were no more reserves. To defend Moscow, Stalin had only 800,000 men left.
On September 9, Army Group North reached to about 7 miles from Leningrad but Hitler ordered Leningrad to besieged. The Russians had mounted an increasing number of attacks against Army Group Center but lacking its tanks, it was in no position to go on the offensive. Hitler had changed his mind and decided that tanks will be send back to Army Group Center for its all out drive on Moscow. Operation Typhoon , the drive on Moscow began on October 2. In front of Army Group Center was a series of elaborate defense lines. The Germans easily penetrated the first defense line as 2nd Panzer Army returning from the south took Orel which was 75 miles behind the Russian first defense line. The Germans then pushed in and the vast pocket yielded 663,000 Russian prisoners. The Russians now had only 90,000 men and 1,500 tanks left for the defense for Moscow.
Soviet Siberian soldiers fighting during the Battle of Moscow .
Almost from the beginning of Operation Typhoon the weather had deteriorated steadily, slowing the German advance on Moscow to as little as 2 miles a day. On October 31, the Germany Army High Command ordered a halt on Operation Typhoon as the armies were re-organized. The pause gave the Soviets time to build up new armies and bring in the Soviet troops from the east as the neutrality pact signed by the Soviets and Japanese in April, 1941 assured Stalin that there was no longer a threat from the Japanese.
On November 15, the Germans once again began the attack on Moscow. Facing the Germans were 6 Soviet Armies. The Germans intended to let the 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies cross the Moscow Canal and envelop Moscow from the North East. The 2nd Panzer Army would attack Tula and then close in on Moscow from the South and the 4th Army would smash in the center. However, on November 22, Soviet Siberian Troops were unleashed on the 2nd Panzer Army in the South which inflicted a shocking defeat on the Germans. The 4th Panzer Army succeeded in crossing the Moscow canal and on December 2 had penetrated to 15 miles of the Kremlin. But by then the first blizzards of the winter began and the Wehrmacht was not equipped for winter warfare. Frostbite and disease had caused more casualties than combat; dead and wounded had already reached 155,000 in 3 weeks. Strength of divisions were now at 50% and the bitter cold had caused severe problems for guns and equipment. Weather conditions grounded the Luftwaffe . Newly built up Soviet troops near Moscow now numbered over 500,000 men and Zhukov on December 5 launched a massive counter attack which pushed the Germans back over 200 miles but no decisive breakthrough was achieved. The invasion of the Soviet Union had so far cost the Germans over 250,000 dead, 500,000 wounded and most of their tanks.
The Pacific (April 1941 – June 1943)
The American battleships West Virginia and Tennessee under attack at Pearl Harbor .
Hitler kept his plan to invade the USSR secret from the Japanese. The USSR, fearing a two-front war , decided to make peace with Japan. On April 13 , 1941 , the USSR and Japan signed the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact , thus allowing the Japanese to concentrate their attention to the upcoming war in Asia-Pacific.
In the summer of 1941, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands began an oil embargo against Japan, threatening its ability to fight a major war at sea or in the air. However, Japanese forces continued to advance into China. Japan planned an attack on Pearl Harbor to cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet , then seize oil fields in the Dutch East Indies .
On December 7 , Japan launched virtually simultaneous surprise attacks against Pearl Harbor, Thailand and on the British territories of Malaya and Hong Kong . A Japanese carrier fleet launched an unexpected air attack on Pearl Harbor. The raid destroyed most of the American aircraft on the island and knocked the main American battle fleet out of action (three battleships were sunk, and five more were heavily damaged, though only USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma were permanently lost, the other six battleships were repaired and eventually returned to service). However, the four American aircraft carriers that had been the intended main target of the Japanese attack were off at sea. At Pearl Harbor, the main dock, supply, and repair facilities were quickly repaired. Furthermore, the base's fuel storage facilities, whose destruction could have crippled the Pacific fleet, were untouched. The attack united American public opinion to demand vengeance against Japan. The following day, December 8 , the United States declared war on Japan.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto , Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy , 1939–43.
Simultaneously with the attack on Hawaii, the Japanese attacked Wake Island , an American territory in the central Pacific. The initial landing attempt was repulsed by the garrison of Marines , and fierce resistance continued until December 23. The Japanese sent heavy reinforcements, and the garrison surrendered when it became clear that no American relief force was coming.
Japan also invaded the Philippines , a U.S. Commonwealth, on December 8. American and Filipino forces, under General Douglas MacArthur , were forced to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula . Dogged resistance continued until April, buying precious time for the Allies. Following their surrender, the survivors were led on the Bataan Death March . Allied resistance continued for an additional month on the island fortress of Corregidor , until it too surrendered. General MacArthur, who had been ordered to retreat to Australia, vowed, "I shall return."
Disaster struck the British on December 10, as they lost two major battleships, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse . Both ships had been attacked by 85 Japanese bombers and torpedo planes based in Saigon , and 840 UK sailors perished. Churchill was to say of the event, "In all of the war I have never received a more direct shock."
Germany declared war on the United States on December 11 , even though it was not obliged to do so under the Tripartite Pact . Hitler hoped that Japan would support Germany by attacking the Soviet Union. Japan did not do so because it had signed a non-aggression treaty, preferring instead to focus on expanding its empire in China, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. Rather than opening a second front on the USSR, the effect of Germany's declaration of war was to remove any significant opposition within the United States to joining the fight in the European Theater.
U.S. Marines rest in the field on Guadalcanal, August-December 1942.
The Allies were officially formed in the Declaration by United Nations on January 1 , 1942 . Soon afterwards, the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) was formed to unite Allied forces in South East Asia. It was the first Allied supreme command of the war.
ABDACOM naval forces were all but destroyed in the Battle of the Java Sea —the largest naval battle of the war up that point—on February 28 through March 1. The joint command was wound up shortly afterwards, to be replaced by three Allied supreme commands in southern Asia and the Pacific.
In April, the Doolittle Raid , the first Allied air raid on Tokyo, boosted morale in the United States and caused Japan to shift resources to homeland defense, but did little physical damage.
In early May, the Japanese implemented Mo Sakusen (Operation Mo), a plan to take Port Moresby , New Guinea . The first stage was thwarted by the U.S. and Australian navies in the Battle of the Coral Sea . This was both the first battle fought between aircraft carriers, and the first battle where the opposing fleets never made direct visual contact. The American aircraft carrier Lexington was sunk and the Yorktown was severely damaged, while the Japanese lost the light carrier Shōhō and the large carrier Shōkaku suffered moderate damage. Zuikaku lost half of her air complement, and along with Shōkaku, was unable to participate in the upcoming battle at Midway. The battle was a tactical victory for the Japanese, as they inflicted heavier losses on the American fleet, but it was a strategic American victory, as the Japanese attack on Port Moresby was deflected.
In the six months after Pearl Harbor the Japanese had achieved nearly all of their naval objectives. Their fleet of eleven battleships, ten carriers, eighteen heavy and twenty light cruisers remained relatively intact. They had seriously damaged or sunk all U.S. battleships in the Pacific. The British and Dutch Far Eastern fleets had been destroyed, and the Royal Australian Navy had been driven back to port. [8] Their ring of conquests settled on a defensive perimeter of their choosing, extending from the Central Pacific to New Guinea to Burma.
Opposing this, the only significant strategic force remaining to the Allies was the naval base at Pearl Harbor, including the U.S. Pacific Fleet's three aircraft carriers. Both sides viewed a decisive battle between aircraft carriers as inevitable, and the Japanese were confident in that they held a numerical advantage in heavy carriers of 10:3. [9] They also had an excellent carrier-based aircraft in the Zero . The Japanese sent a task force towards Midway Island, an outlier of the Hawaiian Islands, with the goal of drawing the remainder of the American fleet to battle. On June 5 , American carrier-based dive-bombers sighted the Japanese force and sank four of Japan's best aircraft carriers in the Battle of Midway , at the cost of the carrier Yorktown. This was a major victory for the United States, and marked the turning point of the war in the Pacific. American shipbuilding and aircraft production vastly outpaced the Japanese, and the Japanese fleet would never again enjoy such numerical superiority.
In July, the Japanese attempted to take Port Moresby by land, along the Kokoda Track , a rugged, single-file path through the jungle and mountains. An outnumbered, untrained and ill-equipped Australian battalion—awaiting the return of regular units from North Africa and the U.S. Army—waged a fighting retreat against a 5,000-strong Japanese force.
On August 7 , U.S. Marines began the Battle of Guadalcanal . For the next six months, U.S. forces fought Japanese forces for control of the island. Meanwhile, several naval encounters raged in the nearby waters, including the Battle of Savo Island , Battle of Cape Esperance , Naval Battle of Guadalcanal , and Battle of Tassafaronga .
In late August and early September, while battle raged on the Kokoda Track and Guadalcanal, an attack by Japanese marines at the eastern tip of New Guinea was defeated by Australian forces, in the Battle of Milne Bay . This was the first defeat for Japanese land forces during the Pacific War.
On January 22 , after a bitter battle at Gona and Buna , Australian and U.S. forces took back the major Japanese beachheads in eastern New Guinea.
American authorities declared Guadalcanal secure on February 9. U.S., New Zealand, Australian and Pacific Island forces undertook the prolonged campaign to retake the occupied parts of the Solomon Islands , New Guinea, and the Dutch East Indies, experiencing some of the toughest resistance of the war. The rest of the Solomon Islands were retaken in 1943.
China and South-East Asia (September 1941 – March 1944)
Main articles: Battle of Singapore and Battle of Changde
Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival , led by a Japanese officer, marches under a flag of truce to negotiate the capitulation of Allied forces in Singapore, on February 15 , 1942 . It was the worst defeat in British history.
By 1940, the war had reached a stalemate with both sides making minimal gains. The United States provided heavy financial support for China and set up the Flying Tigers air unit to bolster Chinese air forces.
Japanese forces invaded northern parts of French Indo-China on September 22. Japanese relations with the west had deteriorated steadily in recent years and United States, having renounced the U.S.-Japanese trade treaty of 1911, placed embargoes on exports to Japan of war and other materials.
Less than 24 hours after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan invaded Hong Kong . The Philippines and the British colonies of Malaya , Borneo , and Burma soon followed, with Japan's intention of seizing the oilfields of the Dutch East Indies. Despite fierce resistance by Philippine, Australian, New Zealand, British , Canadian , Indian , and American forces , all these territories capitulated to the Japanese in a matter of months. Singapore fell to the Japanese on February 15. Approximately 80,000 British Commonwealth personnel (along with 50,000 taken in Malaya), went into Japanese POW camps, representing the largest-ever surrender of British-led personnel. Churchill considered the British defeat at Singapore as one of the most humiliating British defeats of all time.
The Battle of Changde , called the Stalingrad of the East. China and Japan lost a combined total of 100,000 men in this battle.
Japan launched a major offensive in China following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The aim of the offensive was to take the strategically important city of Changsha , which the Japanese had failed to capture on two previous occasions. For the attack, the Japanese massed 120,000 soldiers under four divisions. The Chinese responded with 300,000 men, and soon the Japanese army was encircled and had to retreat.
The Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang Army, under Chiang Kai-shek , and the Communist Chinese Army , under Mao Zedong , both opposed the Japanese occupation of China, but never truly allied against the Japanese. Conflict between Nationalist and Communist forces emerged long before the war; it continued after and, to an extent, even during the war, though less openly.
The Japanese had captured most of Burma , severing the Burma Road by which the Western Allies had been supplying the Chinese Nationalists. This loss forced the Allies to create a large sustained airlift from India, known as "flying the Hump ". Under the American General Joseph Stilwell , Chinese forces in India were retrained and re-equipped, while preparations were made to drive the Ledo Road from India to replace the Burma Road. This effort was to prove an enormous engineering task.
The Atlantic (September 1939 - May 1945)
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In the North Atlantic , German U-boats attempted to cut supply lines to the United Kingdom by sinking merchant ships. In the first four months of the war they sank more than 110 vessels. In addition to supply ships, the U-boats occasionally attacked British warships. One U-boat sank the British carrier HMS Courageous , while another managed to sink the battleship HMS Royal Oak in her home anchorage of Scapa Flow .
In addition to U-boats, surface raiders posed a threat to Allied shipping. In the South Atlantic , the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee sank nine British Merchant Navy vessels. She was tracked down off the coast of South America, then engaged by the cruisers HMS Ajax , HMS Exeter , and HMNZS Achilles in the Battle of the River Plate , and forced into Montevideo Harbor . Rather than face battle again, Captain Langsdorff made for sea and scuttled his battleship just outside the harbor.
On May 24, 1941, the German battleship Bismarck left port, threatening to break out into the Atlantic. She sank HMS Hood , one of the finest battlecruisers in the Royal Navy. A massive hunt ensued, in which the German battleship was sunk after a 1,700-mile (2,700 kilometer) chase, during which the British employed eight battleships and battle cruisers, two aircraft carriers, 11 cruisers, 21 destroyers, and six submarines. Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal struck the Bismarck, causing her rudder to jam and allowing the pursuing Royal Navy squadrons to sink her.
In the summer of 1941, the Soviet Union entered the war on the side of the Allies. While they had tremendous reserves in manpower, they had lost much of their equipment and manufacturing base in the first few weeks following the German invasion. The Western Allies attempted to remedy this by sending Arctic convoys , which travelled from the United Kingdom and the United States to the northern ports of the Soviet Union - Archangel and Murmansk. The treacherous route around the North Cape of Norway was the site of many battles as the Germans continually tried to disrupt the convoys using U-boats, bombers, and surface ships.
Following the entry of the United States into the war in December 1941, U-boats sank shipping along the East Coast of the United States and Canada , the waters around Newfoundland , the Caribbean Sea , and the Gulf of Mexico . They were initially so successful that this became known among U-boat crews as the Second happy time . Eventually, the institution of shore blackouts and an interlocking convoy system resulted in a drop in attacks and U-boats shifted their operations back to the mid-Atlantic.
On May 9 , 1942 the destroyer HMS Bulldog captured a German U-Boat and recovered a complete, intact Enigma Machine , an encryption device. The machine was taken to Bletchley Park , England, where it was used to break the German code . Thereafter the Allies enjoyed an advantage in that they could intercept and understand some German radio communications, directing naval forces to where they would be most effective.
In December 1943, the last major sea battle between the Royal Navy and the German Navy took place. At the Battle of North Cape , Germany's last battlecruiser, the Scharnhorst , was sunk by HMS Duke of York , HMS Belfast , and several destroyers.
The turning point of the Battle of the Atlantic took place in early 1943 as the Allies refined their naval tactics , effectively making use of new technology to counter the U-Boats. The Allies produced ships faster than they were sunk, and lost fewer ships by adopting the convoy system. Improved anti-submarine warfare meant that the life expectancy of a typical U-boat crew would be measured in months. The vastly improved Type 21 U-boat appeared as the war was ending, but too late to affect the outcome.
The Eastern Front (January 1942 - February 1943)
Operation Blau: German advances from 7 May 1942 to 18 November 1942 : ██ to 7 July 1942 ██ to 22 July 1942 ██ to 1 August 1942 ██ to 18 November 1942
On January 6, 1942, Stalin, confident of his earlier victory, ordered a general counter-offensive . Initially the attacks made good ground as Soviet pincers closed around Demyansk and Vyazma and threatening attacks were made towards Smolensk and Bryansk. But despite these successes the Soviet offensive soon ran out of steam. By March, the Germans had recovered and stabilized their line and secured the neck of the Vyazma Pocket. Only at Demyansk was there any serious prospect of a major Soviet victory. Here a large part of the German 16th Army had been surrounded. Hitler ordered no withdrawal and the 92,000 men trapped in the pocket were to hold their ground while they were re-supplied by air. For 10 weeks they held out until April when a land corridor was opened to the west. The German forces retained Demyansk until they were permitted to withdraw in February 1943.
With the spring both sides decided to resume the offensive. While the German high command decided to stabilize the front at Kharkov , the Soviets unknowingly decided to attack in the same sector to maintain pressure in the south. The Soviets had attacked in Kharkov sector in January and had established a salient on the West Bank of the River Donets . On May 12, the Soviets opened with concentric attacks on either side of Kharkov and in both sides the Soviets broke through German lines and a serious threat to the city emerged. In response, the Germans accelerated the plans for their own offensive and launching it 5 days later.
The German 6th Army struck at the salient from the south and encircled the entire Soviet army assaulting Kharkov. In the last days of May, the Germans destroyed the forces inside the pocket. Of the Soviet troops inside the pocket, 70,000 were killed, 200,000 captured and only 22,000 managed to escape. The Germans did not realize the scale of the victory they had achieved, and unknown to the Germans, by early June the wide steppes of the Caucuses lay virtually undefended.
Hitler had by now realized that his Armies were too weak to carry out an offensive on all sectors of the Eastern Front. But if the Germans could seize the oil and fertile rich area of Southern Russia this would give the Germans the means to continue with the war. In April, Hitler outlined his plans for the main campaign in Russia codenamed Operation Blue . The overall objective of Operation Blue would be the destruction of the Red Army's southern front, consildation of the Ukraine west of the River Volga , and the capture of the Caucaus oil fields. The Germans reinforced Army Group South by transferring divisions from other sectors and getting divisions from Axis allies. By late June, Hitler had 74 Divisions ready to go on the offensive, 54 of them were German.
The German plan was a three pronged attack in Southern Russia. The 4th Panzer Army (transferred from Army Group North) and the 2nd Army supported by the 2nd Hungarian Army would attack from Kursk to Voronezh and afterwhich they will continue to attack and anchor their left wing around the River Volga. The 6th Army would attack from Kharkov and move in parallel with 4th Panzer Army to reach the River Volga. The 1st Panzer Army would strike towards the lower Don River, flanked on its right by the 17th Army. These movements were expected to result in a series of great encirclements of Soviet troops. The Soviets did not know where the main German offensive of 1942 would come. Stalin was convinced that the German objective of 1942 would be Moscow and over 50% of all Red Army troops were deployed in the Moscow region. Only 10% of Russian troops were deployed in Southern Russia.
On June 28, 1942, the German offensive began. Everywhere the Russians fell back as the Germans sliced through the Russian defenses. By July 5, forward elements of 4th Panzer Army reached the River Don near Voronezh and got embroiled in a bitter battle to capture the city. The Russians, by tying down 4th Panzer Army gained vital time to reinforce their defenses. The Russians for the first time in the war were not fighting to hold hopelessly exposed positions but were retreating in good order. As German pincers closed in they only found stragglers and rear guards. Angered by the delays, Hitler re-organized Army Group South to two smaller Army Groups, Army Group A which now included the 17th Army, 1st Panzer Army and 4th Panzer Army. Army Group B included 2nd Army, 6th Army and two Italian and Hungarian Armies. The bulk of the Armored forces were now concentrated with Army Group A which was ordered to attack towards the Caucasus oil fields while Army Group B was ordered to capture Stalingrad and guard against any Soviet counter attacks. The transfer of 4th Panzer Army away from 6th Army to help the 1st Panzer Army cross the lower region of the Don River reduced 6th Army's advance to a march giving further time to the Russians to consolidate their positions.
By July 23, the German 6th Army had taken Rostov but Russians fought a skillful rearguard action which embroiled the Germans in heavy urban fighting to take the city. This also allowed the main Russian formations to escape encirclements. With the River Don's crossing secured in the south and with the 6th Army's advance flagging, Hitler send the 4th Panzer Army back to join up with 6th Army. In late July, 6th Army resumed its offensive and by August 10, 6th Army cleared Russian presence from the west bank of the River Don but Russians held out in some areas further delaying 6th Army's march east. In contrast, Army Group A after crossing the River Don on July 25 had fanned out on a broad front. The German 17th Army swung west towards the Black Sea, the 1st Panzer Army attacked towards the south and east sweeping through country largely abandoned by the Russians. On August 9, 1st Panzer Army reached the foothills of the Caucasus mountains, advancing more than 300 miles.
Soviet soldiers fighting in the ruins of Stalingrad, 1942.
The German 6th Army after finally clearing the west bank of the River Don of Russian troops crossed the river on August 21 and began advancing on Stalingrad . Germans bombed the city killing over 40,000 people and turning much of the city into rubble. The 6th Army's advance on Stalingrad from the North while the 4th Panzer Army advanced from the South. Between these armies and in the area from River Don to River Volga , a salient had been created. Two Russian Armies were in the salient and on August 29, 4th Panzer Army mounted a major attack through the salient towards Stalingrad. 6th Army was ordered to do the same but Russians mounted major attacks against 6th Army from the North which tied up 6th Army for 3 vital days enabling the Soviet forces in the salient to escape encirclement and fall back towards Stalingrad. The Russians who by now had realized that the German plan was the seizure of the oil fields began sending large number of troops from the Moscow sector to reinforce their troops in the South. Zhukov assumed command of the Stalingrad front and in early September and mounted a series of attacks from the North which further delayed the 6th Army's attempt to seize Stalingrad. By mid-September, the 6th Army after neutralizing the Soviet counterattacks once again resumed to capture the city. On September 13, the Germans advanced through the southern suburbs and by September 23, 1942, the main factory complex was surrounded and the German artillery was within range of the quays on the river, across which the Soviets evacuated wounded and brought in reinforcements. Ferocious street fighting , hand-to-hand conflict of the most savage kind, now ensued at Stalingrad. Exhaustion and deprivation gradually sapped men's strength. Hitler, who had become obsessed with the battle of Stalingrad, refused to countenance a withdrawal. General Paulus, in desperation, launched yet another attack early in November by which time the Germans had managed to capture 90% of the city. The Soviets, however, had been building up massive forces on the flanks of Stalingrad which were by this time severely undermanned as the bulk of the German forces had been concentrated in capturing the city and Axis satellite troops were left guarding the flanks. The Soviets launched Operation Uranus on November 19 1942, with twin attacks that met at the city of Kalach four days, encircling the 6th Army in Stalingrad.
The eastern front at the time of Operation Uranus.
The Germans requested permission to attempt a breakout, which was refused by Hitler, who ordered the Sixth Army to remain in Stalingrad where he promised they would be supplied by air until rescued. About the same time, the Soviets launched Operation Mars in a salient near the vicinity of Moscow. Its objective was to tie down Army Group Center and to prevent it from reinforcing Army Group South at Stalingrad.
Meanwhile, Army Group A's advance into the Caucasus had stalled as Russians had destroyed the oil production facilities and a year's work was required to bring them back up and the remaining oil fields lay south of the Caucasus Mountains. Throughout August and September, German Mountain troops probed for a way through but by October with the onset of winter, they were no closer to their objective. With German troops encircled in Stalingrad, Army Group A began to fall back.
By December, Field Marshal von Manstein hastily put together a German relief force of units composed from Army Group A to relieve the trapped Sixth Army. Unable to get reinforcements from Army Group Center, the relief force only managed to get within 50 kilometers (30 mi) before they were turned back by the Soviets. By the end of the year, the Sixth Army was in desperate condition, as the Luftwaffe was able to supply only about a sixth of the supplies needed.
Shortly before surrendering to the Red Army on February 2 1943 , Friedrich Paulus was promoted to Field Marshal . This was a message from Hitler, because no German Field Marshal had ever surrendered his troops or been taken alive. Of the 300,000 strong 6th Army, only 91,000 survived to be taken prisoner, including 22 generals, of which only 5,000 men ever returned to Germany after the war. This was to be the greatest, and most costly, battle in terms of human life in history. Around 2 million men were killed or wounded on both sides, including civilians, with Axis casualties estimated to be approximately 850,000 and 750,000 for the Soviets.
The Western Front (September 1940 – June 1944)
Main article: Strategic bombing during World War II
Picture taken after the failed Canadian assault on the beach at Dieppe .
Apart from Italy, Western Europe saw very little fighting from September 1940-June 1944. British and Canadian forces launched a small raid on the occupied French seaport of Dieppe , on August 19, 1942, whose aim was to test and gain information for an invasion of Europe which would happen later in the war. The Dieppe Raid was a total disaster but it provided critical information about amphibious tactics which would be utilized later in Operation Torch and Operation Overlord .
In December 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which brought the United States into the war, Churchill and Roosevelt met at the Arcadia Conference . They agreed that defeating Germany had priority over defeating Japan. To relieve German pressure on the Soviet Union, the United States proposed a 1942 cross-channel invasion of France. The British opposed this, suggesting instead a small invasion of Norway or landings in French North Africa . The Declaration by the United Nations was issued, and the Western Allies invaded North Africa first.
With the entry of the United States into the War, the aerial war turned in favor of the Allies by late 1942. The U.S. air force began the first daylight bombing of Germany, which allowed far more precise targeting, but exposed the bombers to more danger than night bombing. Meanwhile the British and the Canadians targeting German cities and war industries for night bombing. This effort was orchestrated by Air Chief Marshall Harris , who became known as "Bomber Harris". Additionally, Winston Churchill ordered "terror raids" intended to wipe out whole cities in one go, by incendiary devices causing firestorms, thus depriving German workers of their homes. Mass raids involving upwards of 500 to 1000 heavy bombers at a time were undertaken against airfields, industrial centers, submarine bases, rail-marshalling yards, oil depots and, in the later stages of the war, launching sites for weapons such as the V-1 missile (nicknamed 'doodlebug'), the V-2 rocket and a jet-engined plane, the Messerschmitt Me 262 . The Luftwaffe was overwhelmed and by 1945, all major German cities were burnt-out ruins.
The remains of the German town of Wesel after intensive Allied area bombing in 1945 destroyed 97% of all buildings in the town.
The Allies also began sabotage missions against Germany such as Operation Anthropoid in which Reinhard Heydrich , the architect of the Final Solution was assassinated in May 1942 by Czech resistance agents flown in from the United Kingdom. Hitler ordered severe reprisals against the occupants of the nearby Czechoslovakian village of Lidice . All the while, the Allies continued to build up their forces in the United Kingdom for an eventual invasion of Western Europe which was planned for late spring or early summer of 1944.
The Mediterranean (May 1943 – March 1945)
Main articles: Italian Campaign (World War II) and Yugoslavian Front (WWII)
The surrender of Axis forces in Tunisia on May 13 , 1943 , yielded some 250,000 prisoners. The North African war proved to be a disaster for Italy, and when the Allies invaded Sicily on July 10 in Operation Husky , capturing the island in a little over a month, the regime of Benito Mussolini collapsed. On July 25 , he was removed from office by Victor Emmanuel III, the King of Italy , and arrested with the positive consent of the Great Fascist Council. A new government, led by Pietro Badoglio , took power and declared ostensibly that Italy would stay in the war. Badoglio had already begun secret peace negotiations with the Allies.
The Allies invaded mainland Italy on September 3 , 1943 . Italy surrendered to the Allies on September 8 , as had been agreed in negotiations. The royal family and Badoglio government escaped to the south, leaving the Italian army without orders, while the Germans took over the fight, forcing the Allies to a complete halt in the winter of 1943–44 at the Gustav Line south of Rome .
In the north, Mussolini, with Nazi support, created what was effectively a puppet state , the Italian Social Republic or Republic of Salò , named after the new capital of Salò on Lake Garda .
Cassino is destroyed after heavy bombardment.
In May and June 1943 the main corps of the Yugoslav Partisan was encircled and nearly annihilated by German forces in the Sutjeska offensive in eastern Bosnia. The core forces around Tito successfully broke through the encirclement, and the tide turned in their favor. After Italy capitulated, the guerillas took and held on to several Adriatic islands, notably Vis , which became an Allied air force base. At the Tehran Conference the Allies recognized the Partisans as the legitimate Yugoslav fighting force.
Following Italy's surrender, German troops took over the defense of the Italian peninsula and established the Gustav line in the southern Apennine Mountains south of Rome. The Allies were unable to break this line, and so attempted to bypass it with an amphibious landing at Anzio on January 22 , 1944 . The landing, named Operation Shingle , quickly became encircled by the Germans and bogged down, leading Churchill to comment, "Instead of hurling a wildcat onto the shore all we got was a stranded whale."
Unable to circumvent the Gustav line, the Allies again attempted to break through with frontal assaults . On February 15, the monastery of Monte Cassino , founded in 524 by St. Benedict was destroyed by American B-17 and B-26 bombers. Crack German paratroopers poured back into the ruins to defend it. From January 12 to May 18, it was assaulted four times by Allied troops, for a loss of over 54,000 Allied and 20,000 German soldiers.
After months, the Gustav line was broken and the Allies marched north. On June 4 , Rome was liberated, and the Allied army reached Florence in August. It then was held at the Gothic Line on the Tuscan Apennines during the winter.
As the Red Army advanced into the Balkans, Romania left the Axis on August 23 , Bulgaria on September 9 , and German troops abandoned Greece on October 12 . Concurrently, Yugoslav Partisans shifted operations into Serbia , freed Belgrade on October 20 with Soviet help, and assisted the Albanian Resistance rout the Germans by November 29 . By year end, the Partisans controlled the eastern half of Yugoslavia and the Dalmatian coast, and on March 20 , 1945 they mounted their final push westwards.
The Eastern Front (February 1943 – January 1945)
Waffen-SS Panzergrenadiers and Tiger tanks of the SS Panzergrenadier Division Totenkopf during the start of Operation Zitadelle .
After the surrender of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad on February 2 , 1943 , the Red Army launched eight offensives during the winter. Many were concentrated along the Don basin near Stalingrad. These attacks resulted in initial gains until German forces were able to take advantage of the over extended and weakened condition of the Red Army and launch a counter attack to re-capture the city of Kharkov and surrounding areas. This was to be the last major strategic German victory of World War II.
The rains of spring inhibited campaigning in the Soviet Union, but both sides used the interval to build up for the inevitable battle that would come in the summer. The start date for the offensive had been moved repeatedly as delays in preparation had forced the Germans to postpone the attack. By July 4 , the Wehrmacht, after assembling their greatest concentration of firepower during the whole of World War II, launched their offensive against the Soviet Union at the Kursk salient. Their intentions were known by the Soviets, who hastened to defend the salient with an enormous system of earthwork defenses. The Germans attacked from both the north and south of the salient and hoped to meet in the middle, cutting off the salient and trapping 60 Soviet divisions. The German offensive in the Northern sector was ground down as little progress was made through the Soviet defenses but in the Southern Sector there was a danger of a German breakthrough. The Soviets then brought up their reserves to contain the German thrust in the Southern sector, and the ensuing Battle of Kursk became the largest tank battle of the war, near the city of Prokhorovka . The Germans lacking any sizable reserves had exhausted their armored forces and could not stop the Soviet counteroffensive that threw them back across their starting positions.
The Soviets captured Kharkov following their victory at Kursk and with the Autumn rains threatening, Hitler agreed to a general withdrawal to the Dnieper line in August. As September proceeded into October, the Germans found the Dnieper line impossible to hold as the Soviet bridgeheads grew. Important Dnieper towns started to fall, with Zaporozhye the first to go, followed by Dnepropetrovsk. Early in November the Soviets broke out of their bridgeheads on either side of Kiev and recaptured the Ukrainian capital. The 1st Ukrainian Front attacked at Korosten on Christmas Eve , and the Soviet advance continued along the railway line until the 1939 Soviet-Polish border was reached.
Soviet advances from August 1943 to December 1944.
The Soviets launched their winter offensive in January 1944 in the Northern sector and relieved the brutal siege of Leningrad . The Germans conducted an orderly retreat from the Leningrad area to a shorter line based on the lakes to the south. By March the Soviets struck into Romania from Ukraine. The Soviet forces encircled the First Panzer Army north of the Dniestr river. The Germans escaped the pocket in April, saving most of their men but losing their heavy equipment. During April, the Red Army launched a series of attacks near the city of Iaşi, Romania, aimed at capturing the strategically important sector which they hoped to use as a springboard into Romania for a summer offensive. The Soviets were held back by the German and Romanian forces when they launched the attack through the forest of Târgul Frumos as Axis forces successfully defended the sector through the month of April.
As Soviet troops neared Hungary, German troops occupied Hungary on March 20 . Hitler thought that Hungarian leader Admiral Miklós Horthy might no longer be a reliable ally. Germany's other Axis ally, Finland had sought a separate peace with Stalin in February 1944, but would not accept the initial terms offered. On June 9 , the Soviet Union began the Fourth strategic offensive on the Karelian Isthmus that, after three months, forced Finland to accept an armistice.
Before the Soviet could begin their Summer offensive into Belarus they had to clear the Crimea peninsula of Axis forces. Remnants of the German Seventeenth Army of Army Group South and some Romanian forces were cut off and left behind in the peninsula when the Germans retreated from the Ukraine. In early May, the Red Army's 3rd Ukrainian Front attacked the Germans and the ensuing battle was a complete victory of the Soviet forces and a botched evacuation effort across the Black Sea by Germany failed.
Ruins of the Bank Polski after the Warsaw Uprising .
With the Crimea cleared, the long awaited Soviet summer offensive codenamed, Operation Bagration, began on June 22 , 1944 which involved 2.5 million men and 6,000 tanks. Its objective was to clear German troops from Belarus and crush German Army Group Center which was defending that sector. The offensive was timed to coincide with the Allied landings in Normandy but delays caused the offensive to be postponed for a few weeks. The subsequent battle resulted in the destruction of German Army Group Centre and over 800,000 German casualties, the greatest defeat for the Wehrmacht during the war. The Soviets swept forward, reaching the outskirts of Warsaw on July 31 .
The proximity of the Red Army led the Poles in Warsaw to believe they would soon be liberated. On August 1 , they revolted as part of the wider Operation Tempest . Nearly 40,000 Polish resistance fighters seized control of the city. The Soviets, however, did not advance any further. [1] The only assistance given to the Poles was artillery fire, as German army units moved into the city to put down the revolt. The resistance ended on October 2 . German units then destroyed most of what was left of the city.
Bucharesters greet Romania's new ally, the Red Army , on 31 August , 1944 .
Following the destruction of German Army Group Center, the Soviets attacked German forces in the south in mid-July 1944, and in a month's time they cleared Ukraine of German presence inflicting heavy losses on the Germans. Once Ukraine had been cleared the Soviet forces struck into Romania. The Red Army's 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts engaged German Heeresgruppe Südukraine, which consisted of German and Romanian formations, in an operation to occupy Romania and destroy the German formations in the sector. The result of the Battle of Romania was a complete victory for the Red Army, and a switch of Romania from the Axis to the Allied camp. Bulgaria surrendered to the Red Army in September. Following the German retreat from Romania, the Soviets entered Hungary in October 1944 but the German Sixth Army encircled and destroyed three corps of Marshal Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky's Group Pliyev near Debrecen , Hungary. The rapid assault the Soviets had hoped that would lead to the capture of Budapest was now halted and Hungary would remain Germany's ally until the end of the war in Europe. This battle would be the last German victory in the Eastern Front.
The Soviets recovered from their defeat in Debrecen and advancing columns of the Red Army liberated Belgrade in late December and reached Budapest on December 29 , 1944 and en-circled the city where over 188,000 Axis troops were trapped including many German Waffen-SS. The Germans held out till February 13 , 1945 and the siege became one of the bloodiest of the war. Meanwhile the Red Army's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Baltic Fronts engaged the remnants of German Army Group Center and Army Group North to capture the Baltic region from the Germans in October 1944. The result of the series of battles was a permanent loss of contact between Army Groups North and Centre, and the creation of the Courland Pocket in Latvia where the 18th and 16th German Armies, numbering over 250,000 men were trapped and would remain there till the end of the war.
The Pacific (June 1943 – July 1945)
Main articles: Battle of Iwo Jima and Battle of Okinawa
U.S. Air force attacked Japan by using massive incendiary bombs against Japanese cities during the war with hundreds of planes flying at low altitudes.
On June 30, the Allies launched Operation Cartwheel , a grand strategy for the South and South West Pacific, aimed at isolating the major Japanese base at Rabaul , before proceeding on an " island-hopping " campaign towards Japan. Three main objectives were identified: recapturing Tulagi and the Santa Cruz Islands ; recapturing the north coast of New Guinea , and the central Solomon Islands and; the reduction of Rabaul and related bases.
By September, Australian and U.S. forces in New Guinea had captured the major Japanese bases at Salamaua and Lae . Soon afterwards they launched the Huon Peninsula , the Finisterre Range , Bougainville , and New Britain campaigns .
In November, U.S. Marines won the Battle of Tarawa . This was the first heavily opposed amphibious assault in the Pacific theater . The high casualties taken by the Marines sparked off a storm of protest in the United States, where the large losses could not be understood for such a tiny and seemingly unimportant island. The Allies adopted a policy of bypassing some Japanese island strongholds and letting them "wither on the vine", cut off from supplies and troop reinforcements.
The Allied advance continued in the Pacific with the capture of the Marshall Islands before the end of February. Some 42,000 U.S. Army soldiers and U.S. Marines landed on Kwajalein atoll on January 31 . Fierce fighting occurred, and the island was taken on February 6 . U.S. Marines next defeated the Japanese in the Battle of Eniwetok .
The U.S. strategic objective was to gain airbases within bombing range of the new B-29s on the Mariana Islands , especially Saipan , Tinian and Guam . On June 11 , the U.S. Naval fleet bombarded Saipan, defended by 32,000 Japanese troops; 77,000 Marines landed starting the 15th, and the island was secure by July 9. The Japanese committed much of their declining naval strength in the Battle of the Philippine Sea , but suffered severe losses in both ships and aircraft. After the battle, the Japanese aircraft carrier force was no longer militarily effective. With the capture of Saipan, Japan was finally within range of B-29 bombers.
Guam was invaded on July 21 and taken on August 10 , but the Japanese fought fanatically. Mopping-up operations continued long after the Battle of Guam was officially over. The island of Tinian was invaded on July 24 and was conquered on August 1 . This operation saw the first use of napalm in the war. [10]
"I have returned." — A famous photo of Gen. MacArthur coming ashore back to the Philippines. Photo taken by Carl Mydans of Life magazine.
USS Franklin badly damaged after sustained kamikaze attacks in March 1945 just before the Battle of Okinawa .
General MacArthur's troops liberated the Philippines, landing on the island of Leyte on October 20 . The Japanese had prepared a rigorous defense and used the last of their naval forces in a failed attempt to destroy the invasion force in the Battle of Leyte Gulf , October 23 through October 26 , 1944 , arguably the largest naval battle in history . This was the first battle that employed Japanese kamikaze attacks. The Japanese battleship Musashi , one of the two largest battleships ever built, was sunk by 19 American torpedoes and 17 bombs.
Throughout 1944, Allied submarines and aircraft attacked Japanese merchant shipping and deprived Japan's industry of the raw materials it had gone to war to obtain. The main target was oil, and Japan ran almost dry by late 1944. In 1944, submarines sank over two million tons of cargo, [11] while the Japanese were only able to replace less than one million tons. [12] for emergency landings for B29s and because it was close enough In January 1945, the U.S. Sixth Army landed on Luzon , the main island of the Philippines. Manila was recaptured by March.
The United States captured Iwo Jima in February. The island was psychologically important because it was traditional Japanese territory, administered by the Tokyo prefecture. It was heavily defended with many underground entrenchments, but was eventually taken by Marines after they captured Mount Suribachi, a keystone of the defense. Iwo Jima proved invaluable because of its two airfields that were used for emergency landings for B29's, and because it was close enough to provide fighter escort that could reach the Japanese Home Islands . [13]
With the subsequent capture of Okinawa (April through June), the U.S. brought the Japanese homeland within easier range of naval and air attack. The Japanese defended the island with ground forces, kamikazes, and with the one-way suicide mission of the battleship Yamato , which was sunk by American dive-bombers. Amongst dozens of other Japanese cities, Tokyo was firebombed , and about 90,000 people died from the initial attack. The dense living conditions around production centres and the wooden residential constructions contributed to the large loss of life. In addition, the ports and major waterways of Japan were extensively mined by air in Operation Starvation , which seriously disrupted the logistics of the island nation .
The last major offensive in the South West Pacific Area was the Borneo campaign of mid-1945, which was aimed at further isolating the remaining Japanese forces in Southeast Asia and securing the release of Allied prisoners of war.
China and South-East Asia (March 1944 – June 1945)
Netaji Subash Chandra Bose — one of the most prominent leaders of the Indian Independence Movement , led the Indian National Army against the allies in Imphal & Burma during World War II.
The Indian Army 's Gurkha Rifles crossing the Irrawaddy River on 27 January , 1945 . The Gurkhas were involved in hard fought actions with the Japanese during the early months of 1945.
In April 1944, the Japanese launched Operation Ichigo , to secure the railway route from Peking to Nanking, and to clear southern China of American airfields under the command of General Chennault [14] The operation was successful in that it opened a continuous corridor from Peking to Indochina, and the airfields were forced to relocate inland. However it failed to destroy the army of Chiang Kai-shek , and the Americans soon acquired the Marianas , from which they could bomb the Japanese Home Islands .
While the Americans steadily built the Ledo Road from India to China, in March 1944, the Japanese began their own offensive into India. This "Delhi Chalo" ('March to Delhi ') was initiated by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose , [15] the commander of Indian National Army (a force comprised of POWs from the British Indian Army who had been captured by the Japanese and had decided to join the war in an attempt to rid India of their colonial rulers, and thereby attain independence). [16] The Japanese attempted to destroy the main British and Indian forces at Imphal , resulting in some of the most ferocious fighting of the war. While the encircled allied troops were reinforced and resupplied by transport aircraft until fresh troops broke the siege, the Japanese, in part due to torrential rains, ran out of supplies and starved. The surviving forces eventually retreated losing 85,000 men, one of the largest Japanese defeats of the war.
During the monsoon from August to November 1944, the Japanese were pursued to the Chindwin River in Burma. With the onset of the dry season in early 1945, while the American and Chinese forces finally completed the Ledo Road, although too late to have any decisive effect, the British Fourteenth Army , consisting of Indian, British, and African units, launched an offensive into Central Burma. The Japanese forces were heavily defeated, and the Allies pursued them southward, taking Rangoon on May 2 (see Operation Dracula ).
The Western Front (June 1944 – January 1945)
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By the Spring of 1944, the Allied preparations for the invasion of France were complete. They had assembled around 120 Divisions with over 2 million men of which 1.3 million were Americans, 600,000 were British and the rest were Canadians, Free French and Polish units. The invasion was set for June 5th but bad weather postponed the invasion to June 6, 1944. [17] Almost 85-90% of all German troops were deployed on the Eastern Front and only 400,000 Germans in two armies, the German Seventh Army and the newly created Fifth Panzer Army was all that Germany could spare to defend against the allied invasion. The Germans had also constructed an elaborate series of fortifications along the coast called the Atlantic Wall to deter the invasion but in many places the Wall was incomplete. The Allied forces under supreme command of Dwight D. Eisenhower had launched an elaborate deception campaign to convince the Germans that the landings would occur in the Calais area which caused the Germans to deploy large parts of their forces in that sector. Only 50,000 Germans were deployed in the Normandy sector on the day of the invasion.
Supplies coming ashore on Normandy.
The invasion began with 17,000 air borne troops being dropped in Normandy to serve as a screening force to prevent the Germans from attacking the beaches. By early morning, a massive Naval flotilla bombarded German defenses on the beaches but due to rough seas many ships were off target. The Americans in particular suffered heavy losses on Omaha beach due to the German fortifications being left intact. However by the end of the first day, most of the Allied objectives were accomplished even though the British objective of capturing Caen proved too optimistic. The Germans launched no significant counterattack on the beaches as Hitler believed the landings to be a decoy. Only three days later the German High command realized that Normandy was the actual invasion, but by then the Allies had already consolidated their beachheads .
The bocage terrain of Normandy where the Americans had landed made it ideal ground for defensive warfare. Nevertheless, the Americans made steady progress and captured the deep-water port of Cherbourg on June 26, one of the primary objectives of the invasion. However, the Germans had mined the harbor and destroyed most of the port facilities before surrendering, and it would be another month before the port could be brought back into limited use. The British launched another attack on June 13 to capture Caen but were held back as the Germans had moved in large number of troops to hold the city. The city was to remain in German hands for another 6 weeks.
British Troops take cover on Sword Beach .
Allied firepower, improved tactics, and numerical superiority eventually resulted in a breakout of American mechanized forces at the western end of the Normandy pocket in Operation Cobra on July 23. When Hitler learned of the American breakout, he ordered his forces in Normandy to launch an immediate counter-offensive. However the German forces moving in open countryside were now easily targeted by Allied aircraft, as they had initially escaped Allied air attacks due to their well camouflaged defensive positions.
The Americans placed strong formations on their flanks which blunted the attack and then began to encircle the 7th Army and large parts of the 5th Panzer Army in the Falaise Pocket . Some 50,000 Germans were captured, but 100,000 managed to escape the pocket. Worse still, the British and Canadians who had been bogged down in their sector now began to break through the German lines. Any hope the Germans had of containing the Allied thrust into France by forming new defensive lines was now gone. The Allies raced across France, advancing as much as 600 miles in two weeks [18] The German forces retreated into Northern France, Holland and Belgium. By August 1944, Allied forces stationed in Italy invaded the French Riviera on August 15 and linked up with forces from Normandy. The clandestine French Resistance in Paris rose against the Germans on August 19 , and a French armored division under General Philippe Leclerc , pressing forward from Normandy, received the surrender of the German forces there and liberated the city on August 25 .
American troops march down the Champs Elysées in Paris.
The Germans launched the V-1 flying bomb , the world's first cruise missile , to attack targets in southern England and Belgium. Later, they would employ the V-2 rocket , a liquid-fuelled guided ballistic missile . Neither of these weapons was very accurate and they could only target large areas like cities. They had little military effect but were rather intended to demoralize Allied civilians.
Logistical problems plagued the Allies' advance east as the supply lines still ran back to the beaches of Normandy. Allied paratroopers and armor attempted a war-winning advance through the Netherlands and across the Rhine River with Operation Market Garden in September, but they were repulsed. A decisive victory by the Canadian First Army in the Battle of the Scheldt secured the entrance to the port of Antwerp , which freed it to receive supplies by late November 1944. Meanwhile, the Americans launched an attack through the Hurtgen Forest in September; the Germans, despite having smaller numbers, were able to use the difficult terrain and good defensive positions to hold back the Americans for over 5 months. In October, the Americans captured Aachen , the first major German city to be occupied.
Allied paratroopers land during Operation Market Garden .
Hitler had been planning to launch a major counteroffensive against the Allies since mid-September. The objective of the attack was to capture Antwerp. Not only would the capture or destruction of Antwerp prevent supplies reaching the allied armies, it would also split allied forces in two, demoralizing the alliance and forcing its leaders to negotiate. For the attack, Hitler concentrated the best of his remaining forces, launching the attack through the Ardennes in southern Belgium , a hilly and in places a heavily wooded region, and the site of his victory in 1940. Dense cloud cover denied the Americans the use of their reconnaissance and ground attack aircraft.
Parts of the attack managed to break through the thinly-held American lines, and dash headlong for the Meuse . However the northern section of the line held, constricting the advance to a narrow corridor. The German advance was delayed at St. Vith , which American forces defended for several days. At the vital road junction of Bastogne , the American 101st Airborne Division held out for the duration of the battle. Patton 's 3rd Army to the South made a rapid 90 degree turn and rammed into the German southern flank, relieving Bastogne.
The weather by this time had cleared unleashing allied air power as the German attack ground to a halt at Dinant . In an attempt to keep the offensive going, the Germans launched a massive air raid on Allied airfields in the Low Countries on January 1, 1945. The Germans destroyed 465 aircraft but lost 277 of their own planes. While the allies recovered their losses in just days, the Luftwaffe was no longer capable of launching major air attack again. [19]
Allied forces from the north and south met up at Houffalize and by the end of January they had pushed the Germans back to their start positions. Many German units were caught in the pocket created by the Bulge and forced to surrender or retreat without their heavy equipment. Months of the Reich's war production had been expended whereas German forces on the Eastern front were virtually starved of resources at the very moment the Red Army was preparing for its massive offensive against Germany.
The Eastern Front (January 1945 – April 1945)
Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgiy Konstantinovich Zhukov .
With the Balkans and most of Hungary cleared of German troops by late December 1944, the Soviets began a massive re-deployment of their forces to Poland for their upcoming Winter offensive. Soviet preparations were still on-going when Churchill asked Stalin to launch his offensive as soon as possible to ease German pressure in the West. Stalin agreed and the offensive was set for January 12, 1945. Konev ’s armies attacked the Germans in southern Poland and expanded out from their Vistula River bridgehead near Sandomierz. On January 14 , Rokossovskiy ’s armies attacked from the Narew River north of Warsaw. Zhukov's armies in the centre attacked from their bridgeheads near Warsaw. The combined Soviet offensive broke the defences covering East Prussia , leaving the German front in chaos.
Zhukov took Warsaw by January 17 and by January 19 , his tanks took Łódź . That same day, Konev's forces reached the German pre-war border. At the end of the first week of the offensive, the Soviets had penetrated 160 kilometers (100 mi) deep on a front that was 650 kilometers (400 mi) wide. The Soviet onslaught finally halted on the Oder River at the end of January, only 60 kilometers (40 mi) from Berlin.
Berlin and Prague offensive on the Eastern Front, 1945.
The Soviets had hoped to capture Berlin by mid-February but that proved hopelessly optimistic. German resistance which had all but collapsed during the initial phase of the attack had stiffened immeasurably. The Russian supply lines were over-extended and discipline among Soviet troops as they were unleashed on German territory all but collapsed. The spring thaw, the lack of air support, and fear of encirclement through flank attacks from East Prussia , Pommern and Silesia led to a general halt in the Soviet offensive. The newly created Army Group Vistula, under the command of Heinrich Himmler, attempted a counter-attack on the exposed flank of the Soviet Army but failed by February 24. This made it clear to Zhukov that the flank had to be secure before any attack on Berlin could be mounted. The Soviets then re-organized their forces and then struck north and cleared Pomerania and then attacked the south and cleared Silesia of German troops. In the south, three German attempts to relieve the encircled Budapest garrison failed, and the city fell to the Soviets on February 13. Again the Germans counter-attacked; Hitler insisting on the impossible task of regaining the Danube River. By March 16, the attack had failed, and the Red Army counter-attacked the same day. On March 30, they entered Austria and captured Vienna on April 13.
Red Army soldiers raising the Soviet flag on the roof of the Reichstag in Berlin .
Hitler had believed that the main Soviet target for their upcoming offensive would be in the south near Prague and not Berlin and had send the last remaining German reserves to defend that sector. The Red Army's main goal was in fact Berlin and by April 16 it was ready to begin its final assault on Berlin . Zhukov's forces struck from the center and crossed the Oder river but got bogged down under stiff German resistance around Seelow Heights . After three days of very heavy fighting and 33,000 Russian soldiers dead, [20] the last defenses of Berlin were breached. Konev crossed the Oder river from the South and was within striking distance of Berlin but Stalin ordered Konev to guard the flanks of Zhukov's forces and not attack Berlin, as Stalin had promised the capture of Berlin to Zhukov. Rokossovskiy’s forces crossed the Oder from the North and linked up with British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's forces in northern Germany while the forces of Zhukov and Konev captured Berlin.
By April 24 , the Soviet army groups had encircled the German Ninth Army and part of the 4th Panzer Army . These were main forces that were supposed to defend Berlin but Hitler had issued orders for these forces to hold their ground and not retreat. Thus the main German forces which were supposed to defend Berlin were trapped southeast of the city. Berlin was encircled around the same time and as a final resistance effort, Hitler called for civilians, including teenagers and the elderly, to fight in the Volkssturm militia against the oncoming Red Army. Those marginal forces were augmented by the battered German remnants who had fought the Soviets in Seelow Heights . Hitler ordered the encircled Ninth Army to break out and link up with the Twelfth Army of General Walther Wenck and relieve Berlin. An impossible task, the surviving units of the Ninth Army were instead driven into the forests around Berlin near the village of Halbe where they were involved in particularly fierce fighting trying to break through the Soviet lines and reach the Twelfth Army. A minority managed to join with the Twelfth Army and fight their way west to surrender to the Americans. Meanwhile the fierce urban fighting continued in Berlin. The Germans had stockpiled a very large quantity of panzerfausts and took a very heavy toll on Soviet tanks in the rubble filled streets of Berlin. However, the Soviets employed the lessons they learned during the urban fighting of Stalingrad and were slowly advancing to the center of the city. German forces in the city resisted tenaciously, in particular the SS Nordland which was made of foreign SS volunteers, because they were ideologically motivated and they believed that they would not live if captured. The fighting was house-to-house and hand-to-hand. The Soviets sustained 360,000 casualties; the Germans sustained 450,000 including civilians and above that 170,000 captured. Hitler and his staff moved into the Führerbunker , a concrete bunker beneath the Chancellery, where on April 30 1945 , he committed suicide , along with his bride, Eva Braun .
War ends in Europe
Main articles: Yalta Conference , End of World War II in Europe , and Prague Offensive
Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin at Yalta in 1945.
Roosevelt , Churchill , and Stalin made arrangements for post-war Europe at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. Their meeting resulted in many important resolutions such as the formation of the United Nations , democratic elections in Poland, borders of Poland moved westwards at the expense of Germany, Soviet nationals were to be repatriated and it was agreed that Soviet Union would attack Japan within three months of Germany's surrender.
The Allies resumed their advance into Germany in late January. The final obstacle to the Allies was the river Rhine , which was crossed in late March 1945, aided by the fortuitous capture of the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen . Once the Allies had crossed the Rhine, the British fanned out northeast towards Hamburg, crossing the river Elbe and moving on towards Denmark and the Baltic Sea .
U.S. General Omar Bradley led the advance into Germany.
The U.S. 9th Army went south as the northern pincer of the Ruhr encirclement, and the U.S. 1st Army went north as the southern pincer of the Ruhr encirclement. These armies were commanded by General Omar Bradley who had over 1,300,000 men under his control. On April 4 , the encirclement was completed, and the German Army Group B which included the 5th Panzer Army, 7th Army and the 15th Army commanded by Field Marshal Walther Model was trapped in the Ruhr Pocket . Some 300,000 German soldiers became prisoners of war . The 1st and 9th U.S. armies then turned east. They halted their advance at the Elbe river where they met up with Soviet troops in mid-April.
Allied advances in the winter of 1944–45 up the Italian peninsula had been slow because of the mountainous terrain and troop re-deployments to France. But by April 9 , the British/American 15th Army Group broke through the Gothic Line and attacked the Po Valley , gradually enclosing the main German forces. Milan was taken by the end of April. The U.S. 5th Army continued to move west and linked up with French units while the British entered Trieste and met up with the Yugoslav partisans. A few days before the surrender of German troops in Italy, Italian partisans captured Mussolini trying to make his escape to Switzerland. He was executed, along with his mistress, Clara Petacci . Their bodies were taken to Milan and hung upside down on public display.
Marshals of the Soviet Union Zhukov (on the white horse) and Rokossovskiy at the Victory Parade in Red Square on June 24 1945 .
After Hitler's death, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz became leader of the German government but the German war effort quickly disintegrated. German forces in Berlin surrendered the city to Soviet troops on May 2 , 1945 . The German forces in Italy surrendered on May 2 , 1945 , at General Alexander's headquarters, and German forces in northern Germany , Denmark, and the Netherlands surrendered on May 4 . The German High Command under Generaloberst Alfred Jodl surrendered unconditionally all remaining German forces on May 7 in Rheims , France. The western Allies celebrated " V-E Day " on May 8 . The Soviet Union celebrated " Victory Day " on May 9 . Some remnants of German Army Group Center continued resistance until May 11 or May 12 (see Prague Offensive ). [2]
War ends in Asia
Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong met in the wartime capital of Chongqing , to toast to the Chinese victory over Japan .
The last Allied conference of World War II was held at the suburb of Potsdam , outside Berlin, from July 17 to August 2 . During the Potsdam Conference , agreements were reached among the Allies on policies for occupied Germany. An ultimatum was issued calling for the unconditional surrender of Japan.
U.S. president Harry Truman decided to use the new atomic weapon to bring the war to a swifter end. The battle for Okinawa had shown that an invasion of the Japanese mainland (planned for November) would result in large numbers of American casualties. The official estimate given to the Secretary of War was 1.4 to four million Allied casualties, though some historians dispute whether this would have been the case. Invasion would have meant the death of millions of Japanese soldiers and civilians, who were being trained as militia.
The mushroom cloud resulting from the nuclear weapon known as Fat Man rises 18 km (11 mi, 60,000 ft) over Nagasaki from the nuclear explosion hypocenter .
On August 8 , two days after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the Soviet Union, having renounced its nonaggression pact with Japan in April, attacked the Japanese in Manchuria, fulfilling its Yalta pledge to attack the Japanese within three months after the end of the war in Europe . The attack was made by three Soviet army groups. In less than two weeks, the Japanese army in Manchuria, consisting of over a million men, had been destroyed by the Soviets. The Red Army moved into North Korea on August 18 . Korea was subsequently divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet and U.S. zones.
The American use of atomic weapons against Japan and the Soviet invasion of Manchukuo prompted Hirohito to bypass the existing government and intervene to end the war. In his radio address to the nation, the Emperor did not mention the entry of the Soviet Union into the war, but in his "Rescript to the soldiers and sailors" of August 17, ordering them to cease fire and lay down arms, he stressed the relationship between Soviet entrance into the war and his decision to surrender, omitting any mention of the atomic bombs.
The Japanese surrendered on August 14 , 1945 , or V-J day , signing the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on September 2. The Japanese troops in China formally surrendered to the Chinese on September 9 , 1945 . See image
Casualties, civilian impact, and atrocities
Major deportation routes to Nazi extermination camps during The Holocaust , Aktion T-4 and alike.
Some 63 million people, or 3% of the world population, died in the war (though estimates vary): about 24 million soldiers and 38 million civilians. This total includes the estimated 9 million lives lost in the Holocaust. Of the total deaths in World War II, approximately 80% were on the Allied side and 20% on the Axis side. [21]
Allied forces suffered approximately 17 million military deaths, of which about 11 million were Soviet and 3 million Chinese. Axis forces suffered about 8 million, of which more than 5 million were German. In total, of the military deaths in World War II, approximately 44% were Soviet soldiers, 22% were German, 12% were Chinese, 8% were Japanese, 9% were soldiers of other Allied forces, and 5% were other Axis country soldiers. Some modern estimates double the number of Chinese casualties originally stated. [21] Of the civilian deaths, approximately 90% were Allied (nearly a third of all civilians killed were Soviet citizens, and more than 15% of all civilians killed in the war died in German extermination camps) and 10% were Axis. [21]
Many civilians died as a result of disease, starvation, massacres, genocide —in particular, the Holocaust —and aerial bombing . One estimate is that 12 million civilians died in Holocaust camps, 1.5 million by bombs, 7 million in Europe from other causes, and 7.5 million in China from other causes. [22] Allied civilian deaths totaled roughly 38 million, including 11.7 million in the Soviet Union, 7 million in China and 5.2 million from Poland. There were around 3 million civilian deaths on the Axis side, including 2 million in Germany and 0.6 million in Japan. The Holocaust refers to the organized state-sponsored murder of 6 million Jews , 1.8-1.9 million non-Jewish Poles, 200,000–800,000 Roma people , 200,000–300,000 people with disabilities, and other groups carried out by the Nazis during the war. The Soviet Union suffered by far the largest death toll of any nation in the war, over 23 million.
Mistreated, starved prisoners in the Ebensee concentration camp , Austria .
In addition to the Nazi concentration camps , the Soviet Gulag , or labor camps , led to the death of citizens of occupied countries such as Poland, Lithuania , Latvia , and Estonia , as well as German prisoners of war (POW) and even Soviet citizens themselves who had been supporters of the Nazis or were thought to be the ones. Japanese POW camps also had high death rates; many were used as labour camps, and starvation conditions among the mainly U.S., British, Australian and other Commonwealth prisoners were little better than many German concentration camps. Sixty percent (1,238,000 ref. Krivosheev) of Soviet POWs died during the war. Vadim Erlikman puts it at 2.6 million Soviet POWs that died in German Captivity. [23] Richard Overy gives the number of 5.7 million Soviet POW and out of those 57% died or were killed. [24]
On February 19 , 1942 , Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 , leading to the internment of thousands of Japanese , Italians , German Americans , and some emigrants from Hawaii who fled after the bombing of Pearl Harbor for the duration of the war. 150,000 Japanese-Americans were interned by the U.S. and Canadian governments, as well as nearly 11,000 German and Italian residents of the U.S.
Despite the international treaties and a resolution adopted by the League of Nations on 14 May 1938 condemning the use of toxic gas by Japan , the Imperial Japanese Army frequently used chemical weapons . Because of fears of retaliation, however, those weapons were never used against Westerners but only against other Asians judged "inferior" by the imperial propaganda. According to historians Yoshiaki Yoshimi and Seiya Matsuno, the authorization for the use of chemical weapons was given by specific orders (rinsanmei) issued by Hirohito himself. For example, the Emperor authorized the use of toxic gas on 375 separate occasions during the invasion of Wuhan , from August to October 1938.
A survivor of German aerial bombardment, Siege of Warsaw .
The bacteriological weapons were experimented on human beings by many units incorporated in the Japanese army, such as the infamous Unit 731 , integrated by Imperial decree in the Kwantung army in 1936. Those weapons were mainly used in China and, according to some Japanese veterans, against Mongolians and Russian soldiers in 1939 during the Nomonhan incident . [25]
According to a joint study of historians featuring Zhifen Ju, Mark Peattie, Toru Kubo, and Mitsuyochi Himeta, more than 10 million Chinese were mobilized by the Japanese army and enslaved by the Kôa-in for slave labor in Manchukuo and north China . [26] According to Mitsuyoshi Himeta, at least 2.7 million died during the Sankō Sakusen operation implemented in Heipei and Shantung by General Yasuji Okamura .
From 1945 to 1951, German and Japanese officials and personnel were prosecuted for war crimes. Top German officials were tried at the Nuremberg Trials , and many Japanese officials at the Tokyo War Crime Trial and other war crimes trials in the Asia-Pacific region .
Resistance and collaboration
Main articles: Resistance during World War II and Collaboration during World War II
Members of the Dutch Eindhoven Resistance with troops of the U.S. 101st Airborne in front of the Eindhoven cathedral during Operation Market Garden in September 1944.
Resistance during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation, disinformation, and propaganda to outright warfare.
Among the most notable resistance movements were the Polish Home Army , the French Maquis , the Yugoslav Partisans , the Greek resistance force, and the Italian Resistance in the German-occupied Northern Italy after 1943. Germany itself also had an anti-Nazi movement . The Communist resistance was among the fiercest, since they were already organised and militant even before the war and they were ideologically opposed to the Nazis.
Before D-Day , there were some operations performed by the French Resistance to help with the forthcoming invasion. Communications lines were cut; trains were derailed; roads, water towers, and ammunition depots were destroyed; and some German garrisons were attacked.
There were also resistance movements fighting against the Allied invaders. The German resistance petered out within a few years, while in the Baltic states resistance operations against the occupation continued into the 1960s.
Home fronts
Main article: Home front during World War II
" Home front " is the name given to the activities of the civilians of the nations at war. All the main countries reorganized their homefronts to produce munitions and soldiers, with 40–60% of GDP being devoted to the war effort. Women were drafted in the Soviet Union and Britain. Shortages were everywhere, and severe food shortages caused malnutrition and even starvation, such as in the Netherlands and in Leningrad. New workers were recruited, especially housewives, the unemployed, students, and retired people. Skilled jobs were re-engineered and simplified ("de-skilling") so that unskilled workers could handle them. Every major nation imposed censorship on the media as well as a propaganda program designed to boost the war effort and stifle negative rumors. Every major country imposed a system of rationing and price controls. Black markets flourished in areas controlled by Germany. Germany brought in millions of prisoners of war, slave laborers, and forced workers to staff its munitions factories. Many were killed in the bombing raids, the rest became refugees as the war ended.
Technology
Main articles: Technology during World War II and Technological escalation during World War II
Weapons and technology improved rapidly during World War II and some of these played a crucial role in determining the outcome of the war. Many major technologies were used for the first time, including nuclear weapons , radar , proximity fuses , jet engines , ballistic missiles , and data-processing analog devices (primitive computers). Every year, the piston engines were improved. Enormous advances were made in aircraft , submarine , and tank designs, such that models coming into use at the beginning of the war were long obsolete by its end. One entirely new kind of ship was the amphibious landing craft.
Industrial production played a role in the Allied victory. The Allies more effectively mobilized their economies and drew from a larger economic base. The peak year of munitions production was 1944, with the Allies out-producing the Axis by a ratio of 3 to 1. (Germany produced 19% and Japan 7% of the world's munitions; the U.S. produced 47%, Britain and Canada 14%, and the Soviets 11%). [27]
The Allies used low-cost mass production techniques, using standardized models. Japan and Germany continued to rely on expensive hand-crafted methods. Japan thus produced hundreds of airplane designs and did not reach mass-production efficiency; the new models were only slightly better than the original 1940 planes, while the Allies rapidly advanced in technology. [28] Germany thus spent heavily on high-tech weaponry, including the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket, advanced submarines, jet engines, and heavy tanks that proved strategically of minor value. The combination of better logistics and mass production proved crucial in the victory. "The Allies did not depend on simple numbers for victory but on the quality of their technology and the fighting effectiveness of their forces... In both Germany and Japan less emphasis was placed upon the non-combat areas of war: procurement, logistics, military services," concludes historian Richard Overy. [29]
Delivery of weapons to the battlefront was a matter of logistics. The Allies again did a much better job in moving munitions from factories to the front lines. A large fraction of the German tanks after June 1944 never reached the battlefield, and those that did often ran short of fuel. Japan in particular was notably inefficient in its logistics system. [30]
Many new medical and surgical techniques were employed as well as new drugs like sulfa and penicillin , not to mention serious advances in biological warfare and nerve gases. The Japanese control of the quinine supply forced the Australians to invent new anti-malarial drugs. The saline bath was invented to treat burns. More prompt application of sulfa drugs saved countless lives. New local anesthetics were introduced making possible surgery close to the front lines. The Americans discovered that only 20% of wounds were caused by machine-gun or rifle bullets (compared to 35% in World War I). Most came from high explosive shells and fragments, which besides the direct wound caused shock from their blast effects. Most deaths came from shock and blood loss, which were countered by a major innovation, blood transfusions . [31]
Cryptography played an important part in the war, as the United States had broken the Japanese naval codes and knew the Japanese plan of attack at Midway. British and Polish codebreakers deciphered several German codes, giving the Allies an advantage in the European theater as well.
The massive research and development demands of the war accelerated the growth of the scientific communities in Allied states, while German and Japanese laboratories were disbanded; many German engineers and scientists continued their weapons research after the war in the United States, the Soviet Union and other countries. Read below for more information on technology in the war. Template:See also
Military Intelligence
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Both Allied and German intelligence failed to effectively conduct human intelligence gathering, except for prisoner interrogation. The reason is that it is very difficult to train agents to be fluent in the language and culture of the enemy. For example, all German agents parachuted onto British soil were quickly caught by the British authorities, and most were turned. Also, German intelligence turned many English agents on the European continent; virtually no English agent operated in German territory.
Technical intelligence gathering was much more effective, mainly on the Allied side. The most important cryptologic systems of both Germany and Japan, Enigma and JN-25 respectively, were analysed and were broken by Polish, British and American cryptologists . This gave the Allied war effort a distinctive edge: Allied commanders knew what their Axis opponents were planning. The defeat of the German Afrika Korps and the elimination of a large number of German submarines is attributed to the Allied success in reading communications deemed "secure" by the German High Command . The naval intelligence situation in the Pacific was very similar: American naval intelligence often knew about Japanese plans well in advance and could dispatch their warships accordingly. The commander of the US pacific fleet (Admiral Nimitz )later stated that communications intelligence was as valuable "as an additional fleet" in the Pacific theater.
The success of communications intelligence during World War II seems to be a major reason for the UKUSA group of countries to fund large SIGINT organizations like NSA and GCHQ , which are in operation up to the present day.
However, it is notable that Germany had some success in breaking the American M-209 cryptomachine, but this device was mainly used for tactical communications. Unfortunately, very few facts about German SIGINT during WW2 is known. See this German story .
Aftermath
Main articles: Aftermath of World War II and Effects of World War II
The war concluded with the surrender and occupation of Germany and Japan. It left behind millions of displaced persons and prisoners of war , and resulted in many new international boundaries. The economies of Europe, China and Japan were largely destroyed as a result of the war. In 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall devised the "European Recovery Program", better known as the Marshall Plan . Effective from 1948 to 1952, it allocated 13 billion dollars for the reconstruction of Western Europe. To prevent (or at least minimize) future conflicts, the allied nations, led by the United States , formed the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945. One of the first actions of the United Nations was the creation of the State of Israel , partly in response to the Holocaust.
Aftermath of World War II in Europe
Main articles: Marshall Plan , Eastern bloc , Iron Curtain , Expulsion of Germans after World War II , and Allied Occupation Zones in Germany (too many parameters in {{ main }})
German occupation zones in 1946 after territorial annexations in the East. The Saarland (in the French zone) is shown with stripes because it was removed from Germany by France in 1947 as a protectorate , and was not incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany until 1957.
The end of the war hastened the independence of many British crown colonies (such as India) and Dutch territories (such as Indonesia) and the formation of new nations and alliances throughout Asia and Africa. The Philippines were granted their independence in 1946 as previously promised by the United States. Poland's boundaries were re-drawn to include portions of pre-war Germany , including East Prussia and Upper Silesia , while ceding most of the areas taken by the Soviet Union in the Molotov-Ribbentrop partition of 1939, effectively moving Poland to the west. Germany was split into four zones of occupation, and the three zones under the Western Allies was reconstituted as a constitutional democracy . The Soviet Union's influence increased as they established hegemony over most of eastern Europe, and incorporated parts of Finland and Poland into their new boundaries. Europe was informally split into Western and Soviet spheres of influence , which heightened existing tensions between the two camps and helped establish the Cold War .
Germany was partitioned into four zones of occupation, coordinated by the Allied Control Council . The American, British, and French zones joined in 1949 as the Federal Republic of Germany , and the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic . In Germany, economic suppression and denazification took place. Millions of Germans and Poles were expelled from their homelands as a result of the territorial annexations in Eastern Europe agreed upon at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences. In the West, Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France, and the Saar area was separated from Germany. Austria was divided into four zones of occupation, which were united in 1955 to become the Republic of Austria. The Soviet Union occupied much of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans . In all the USSR-occupied countries, with the exception of Austria, the Soviet Union helped Communist regimes to power. It also annexed the Baltic countries Estonia , Latvia , and Lithuania .
Aftermath of World War II in Asia
Main articles: Occupied Japan , Division of Korea , and Chinese Civil War
In Asia, Japan was occupied by the U.S, aided by Commonwealth troops, until the peace treaty took effect in 1952. The Japanese Empire's government was dismantled under General Douglas MacArthur and replaced by a constitutional monarchy with the emperor as a figurehead. The defeat of Japan also led to the establishment of the Far Eastern commission which set out policies for Japan to fulfill under the terms of surrender. In accordance with the Yalta Conference agreements, the Soviet Union occupied and subsequently annexed Sakhalin and the Kuril islands . Japanese occupation of Korea also ended, but the peninsula was divided between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, along 38th parallel. The U.S.-backed South Korea would fight the communist North Korea in the Korean War , with Korea remain divided.
World War II was a pivotal point in China's history. Before the war against Japan, China had suffered nearly a century of humiliation at the hands of various imperialist powers and was relegated to a semi-colonial status. However, the war greatly enhanced China's international status. Not only was the central government under Chiang Kai-shek able to abrogate most of the unequal treaties China had signed in the past century, the Republic of China also became a founding member of the United Nations and a permanent member in the Security Council . China also reclaimed Manchuria and Taiwan. Nevertheless, eight years of war greatly taxed the central government, and many of its nation-building measures adopted since it came to power in 1928 were disrupted by the war. Communist activities also expanded greatly in occupied areas, making post-war administration of these areas difficult. Vast war damages and hyperinflation thereafter demoralized the populace, along with the continuation of the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and the Communists. Partly because of the severe blow his army and government had suffered during the war against Japan, the Kuomintang, along with state apparatus of the Republic of China , retreated to Taiwan in 1949 and in its place the Chinese communists established the People's Republic of China on the mainland.
Media
Main article: World War II in contemporary culture
The term most used in the United Kingdom and Canada is "Second World War", while American publishers use the term "World War II". Thus the Oxford University Press uses The Oxford Companion to the Second World War in the United Kingdom, and The Oxford Companion to World War II for the identical 1995 book in the United States.
The OED reports the first use of "Second World War" was by novelist H.G. Wells in 1930, although it may well have been used earlier. [32] The term was immediately used when war was declared; for example, the September 3, 1939, issue of the Canadian newspaper, The Calgary Herald . Prior the United States' entry into the War, many Americans referred to it as the "European War".
World War II has been portrayed in numerous media in many languages. Films include Twelve O'Clock High (1949), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), The Dirty Dozen (1967), A Bridge too Far (1977), Das Boot (1981), and Saving Private Ryan (1998). The war figures prominently in thousands of written works, including Joseph Heller's Catch-22 , Akiyuki Nosaka's Grave of the Fireflies , Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl and Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five . Games set within World War II include the board game Axis and Allies and video games 1942 (1984), Wolfenstein 3D (1992), and Call of Duty (2003). The war has been portrayed in many television media, such as Hogan's Heroes (1965–1971) and the miniseries Band of Brothers (2001).
Notes
↑ Richard Overy The Dictators Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia p.568–569
↑ Hal Gold, Unit 731 testimony, p.64–65, 1996.
↑ Zhifen Ju, "Japan's atrocities of conscripting and abusing north China draftees after the outbreak of the Pacific war", 2002
↑ Raymond W. Goldsmith, "The Power of Victory: Munitions Output in World War II" Military Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 1. (Spring, 1946), pp. 69–80; online at JSTOR
↑ Richard Overy. The Air War, 1939–1945 (2005)
↑ Overy (1993) p 318–9
↑ Mark Parillo, "The Pacific War" in Richard Jensen et al, eds. Trans-Pacific Relations: America, Europe, and Asia in the Twentieth Century (2003), pp. 93–104.
↑ Harold C. Leuth, "Military Medicine" in Walter Yust , ed. 10 Eventful Years (1947) 3:163–67; Mark Harrison, Medicine and Victory: British Military Medicine in the Second World War (2004)
↑ Library catalogs show the first use in 1934: Why war? A handbook for those who will take part in the second world war by Ellen Wilkinson & Edward Conze , (London, 1934), and Johannes Steel, The second world war, (New York, 1934).
Bibliography
Liddell Hart, Sir Basil History of the Second World War (1970)
Murray, Williamson and Millett, Allan R. A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War (2000)
Overy, Richard. Why the Allies Won (1995)
Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Simon & Schuster. (1959). ISBN 0-671-62420-2 .
Smith, J. Douglas and Richard Jensen (2003). World War II on the Web: A Guide to the Very Best Sites. ISBN 0-8420-5020-5 .
Weinberg, Gerhard L.A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II (2005) ISBN 0-521-44317-2
(2004) Poteri narodonaseleniia v XX veke : spravochnik. ISBN 5-93165-107-1 .
External links
| i don't know |
'Edward Lewis' and 'Vivian Ward' were the principal characters in which popular 1990 film? | Pretty Woman (1990) - Quotes - IMDb
Pretty Woman (1990)
Vivian : People put you down enough, you start to believe it.
Edward Lewis : I think you are a very bright, very special woman.
Vivian : The bad stuff is easier to believe. You ever notice that?
[after negotiating three thousand dollars]
Vivian : I would have stayed for two thousand.
Edward Lewis : I would have paid four.
Old Lady at Opera : Did you like the opera, dear?
Vivian : It was so good, I almost peed my pants!
Edward Lewis : She said she liked it better than Pirates of Penzance.
Shop assistant: Hello, can I help you?
Vivian : I was in here yesterday, you wouldn't wait on me.
Shop assistant: Oh.
Vivian : You people work on commission, right?
Shop assistant: Yeah.
Edward Lewis : You can't charge me for directions!
Vivian : I can do anything I want to baby, I ain't lost.
Edward Lewis : I told you not to pick up the phone.
Vivian : Then stop calling me.
Edward Lewis : I never treated you like a prostitute.
[Walks away]
[Kit is trying to cheer up Vivian]
Vivian : Tell me one person who it's worked out for.
Kit : What, you want me to name someone? You want like a name? Oh, God, the pressure of a name... I got it. Cindafuckin'rella
Vivian : That would make you a... lawyer.
Edward Lewis : What makes you think I'm a lawyer?
Vivian : You have that sharp, useless look about you.
Vivian : Yeah. Be still like vegetables. Lay like broccoli.
Edward Lewis : Look, I'll tell ya what. I'll be back. We'll do broccoli tomorrow.
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Edward Lewis : People's reactions to opera the first time they see it is very dramatic; they either love it or they hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don't, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul.
Edward Lewis : So what happens after he climbs up and rescues her?
Vivian : She rescues him right back.
Vivian : Bridge? He's not really my uncle.
Bridget : They never are dear.
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[last lines]
Happy Man : Welcome to Hollywood! What's your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don't; but keep on dreamin' - this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin'.
[At the beginning of the evening]
Vivian : In case I forget to tell you later, I had a really good time tonight.
Lady at polo match: Edward is our most eligible bachelor, everyone is trying to land him.
Vivian : Oh, I'm not trying to land him, I'm just using him for sex.
Vivian : Can I call you Eddie?
Edward Lewis : Not if you expect me to answer.
Edward Lewis : 6 nights at $300 is $1800
Vivian : You want days too.
Philip Stuckey : Oh, God! What?
Edward Lewis : It corners like it's on rails.
Vivian : Are you sure you want me to stay the night? I mean, I could just pop ya real good and get outta here.
Edward Lewis : No, I'd really like you to stay. I don't want to be alone tonight.
Vivian : Is it your birthday?
Edward Lewis : No, no. Not my birthday.
Vivian : Oh. 'Cause you know, I've been the surprise at a lot of birthday parties.
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Vivian : When I was a little girl, my mama used to lock me in the attic when I was bad, which was pretty often. And I would- I would pretend I was a princess... trapped in a tower by a wicked queen. And then suddenly this knight... on a white horse with these colors flying would come charging up and draw his sword. And I would wave. And he would climb up the tower and rescue me. But never in all the time... that I had this dream did the knight say to me, "Come on, baby, I'll put you up in a great condo."
| Pretty Woman |
How many players are there in an Ice Hockey team? | Pretty Woman - Wikiquote
Pretty Woman
Jump to: navigation , search
Pretty Woman is a 1990 film about a man in a legal but hurtful business who needs an escort for some social events, and hires a beautiful prostitute he meets... only to fall in love.
Directed by Garry Marshall . Written by J.F. Lawton .
She walked off the street, into his life and stole his heart.
Contents
You and I are such similar creatures, Vivian. We both screw people for money.
Impossible relationships. My special gift is impossible relationships.
People's reaction to opera the first time they hear it is extreme, ... They either love it or they hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don't, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul.
Vivian Ward[ edit ]
[to Edward] In case I forget to tell you later, I had a really good time tonight.
I want the fairy tale.
Honey, I've got a runner in my pantyhose. I'm not wearing pantyhose.
People always do what you tell them to do? ...I guess so.
The first guy I've ever loved was a total nothing. The second was worse. My mom called me a bum magnet. There was a bum in a fifty mile radius, I was completely attracted to him.
The bad things are easier to believe. Haven't you noticed that?!
You'll buy a snap dog and we'll cop a squat under a tree or somewhere.
I appreciate the whole seduction thing you've got going on here, but let me give you a tip: I'm a sure thing.
I think you have a lot of special gifts, Edward.
Baby, I'm gonna treat you so nice, you're never gonna wanna let me go.
People put you down enough, you start to believe it.
Kit De Luca[ edit ]
Yo, Viv, babe. Would ya come down here? The Sphincter Police won't let me through.
Fifty bucks, Grandpa. For seventy-five, the wife can watch.
Those are two very specific examples of crackheads.
A name you want a name, the pressure of a name. I got it Cindafuckenrella.
Others[ edit ]
Philip Stuckey: [about Morse] He mortgaged everything he owns, right down to his underwear, to secure a loan from the bank.
Magician at party: No matter what they say, it's all about money. So let's imagine, ladies, that you're a savings and loan officer. Watch - one, two, three; see, you've got it all, and we've got nothing. You've got all four, take a look.
Happy Man: Welcome to Hollywood! What's your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don't; but keep on dreamin' - this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin'.
Dialogue[ edit ]
Edward: When you and I were dating, did you speak to my secretary more than you spoke to me?
Susan: She was one of my bridesmaids.
Vivian: Wait a minute — that's a Lotus Esprit!
Kit: No, that's rent. You should go for him. You look hot tonight. Don't take less than a hundred. Call me when you're through… Take care of you.
Vivian: Take care of you.
Vivian: Hey, sugar, you lookin' for a date?
Edward: No, I want to find Beverly Hills. Can you give me directions?
Vivian: Sure. For five bucks.
Edward: That's Ridiculous.
Vivian: Price just went up to ten.
Edward: You can't charge me for directions!
Vivian: I can do anything I want to, Baby; I ain't lost.
Edward: I hadn't exactly planned this.
Vivian: Do you plan everything?
Edward: Always.
Vivian: Yeah me too! I'm actually, no I'm not a planner. I would say I'm a kinda fly by the seat of your pants gal, you know moment to moment. Yeah that's me, that's...yeah.
Edward: I guess this is not the greatest time to be a hooker, is it?
Vivian: Look, I use condoms always. I get checked out once a month at the free clinic. Not only am I better in the sack than an amateur, I am probably safer.
Edward: I like that; that's very good. You should have that printed on your business card.
Vivian: If you're makin' fun of me, I don't like it.
Edward: [laughs] No, I'm not making fun of you. No, I don't. I'm not. I wouldn't offend you. I'm sorry. What's your name?
Vivian: What do you want it to be?
Vivian: Man, this baby must corner like it's on rails!
Edward: Beg your pardon?
Vivian: Well, doesn't it blow your mind? This is only four cylinders!
Edward: Tell me, what kind of… what kind of money you girls make these days? Ballpark.
Vivian: Can't take less than a hundred dollars.
Edward: Hundred dollars a night?
Vivian: For an hour.
Edward: An hour? You make a hundred dollars an hour and you got a safety pin holding your boot up? You gotta be joking.
Vivian: I never joke about money.
Edward: Neither do I.
Edward: Hundred dollars an hour. Pretty stiff.
[She reaches over into his lap.]
Vivian: Well, no… but it's got potential.
Vivian: What is your name?
Edward: Edward.
Vivian: Edward? That's my favorite name in the whole world!
Edward: [mock seriously] No!
[A well-dressed couple observe Edward and the scantily-clad Vivian as an elevator arrives.]
Vivian: Well, color me happy! There's a sofa in here for two!
[The man moves to enter, but his wife stops him. A chagrined Edward turns to the couple.]
Edward: First time in an elevator.
Woman: Ah.
[Edward enters. The woman turns to her husband.]
Woman: Close your mouth, dear.
Vivian: Wow! Great view! I bet you can see all the way to the ocean from out here.
Edward: I'll take your word for it. I don't go out there.
Vivian: Why don't you go out there?
Edward: I'm afraid of heights.
Vivian: You are? So how come you rented the penthouse?
Edward: It's the best. I looked all around for penthouses on the first floor, but I can't find one.
Vivian: Well, now that you got me here, what are you going to do with me?
Edward: You wanna know something? I don't have a clue.
Vivian: You know, you could pay me. That's one way to, maybe, break the ice.
[Vivian hops up onto Edward's desk in a sultry pose.]
Edward: You're on my fax.
Vivian: Well, that's one I haven't been on before.
[Vivian pulls a fistful of condoms from her purse.]
Vivian: Pick one. I got red, I got green, I got yellow… I'm out of purple, but I do have one Gold Circle coin left… the condom of champions, the one and only… nothin' is gettin' through this sucker. Whaddya say, hmm?
Edward: A buffet of safety.
Vivian: I'm a safety girl.
Vivian: So Edward, are you in town on, uh, business or pleasure?
Edward: Business, I think.
Vivian: Business, you think. Well… let me guess. That would make you… a lawyer.
Edward: A lawyer?
Edward: What makes you think I'm a lawyer?
Vivian: You've got that, um… sharp, useless look about you.
Vivian: Listen, I… I appreciate this whole seduction scene you've got goin', but let me give you a tip — I'm a sure thing, okay? So… I'm on an hourly rate. Could we just move it along?
Edward: Somehow, I'm sensing that this time problem is a major issue with you. Why don't we just get through that right now.
Vivian: Great! Let's get started.
Edward: How much for the entire night?
Vivian: Stay here? [small laugh] You couldn't afford it.
Edward: Try me.
Edward: Done. Thank you. Now we can relax.
[A flummoxed Vivian gets up.]
Vivian: Are you sure you want me to stay for the entire night? I mean, I could just pop ya good and be on my way.
Edward: To tell you the truth, I don't feel like being alone tonight.
Vivian: Why, is it your birthday, or something?
Edward: No.
Vivian: I mean, I have been the party at a couple of birthdays.
Edward: Hmpf. I bet you have.
Edward: Oh, by the way, Phil — about your car…
Philip Stuckey: Oh God. What?
Edward: It corners like it's on rails.
Philip Stuckey: What?! What does that mean? Edward… Edward…
[Grinning, Edward hangs up.]
Vivian: [after Edward catches her singing along to "Kiss" by Prince in the tub] Don't you just love Prince?
Edward: More than life itself.
[Fumbling with his tie, Edward tells Vivian about his business.]
Vivian: You don't actually have a billion dollars, huh?
Edward: No. I get some of it from banks, investors… it's not an easy thing to do.
Vivian: And you don't make anything…
Edward: No.
Vivian: … and you don't build anything.
Edward: No.
Vivian: So whadda ya do with the companies once you buy 'em?
Edward: I sell them.
[Viv reaches for his tie.]
Vivian: Here, let me do that. You sell them.
Edward: Well, I… don't sell the whole company, I break it up into pieces, and then I sell that off, it's worth more than the whole.
Vivian: So, it's sort of like, um… stealing cars and selling 'em for parts, right?
Edward: [sighs exasperatedly] Yeah, sort of. But legal.
Edward: I will pay you to be at my beck and call.
Vivian: Look, I'd love to be your beck-and-call girl, but…
Edward: Any questions?
Vivian: Can I call you Eddie?
Edward: Not if you expect me to answer.
Vivian: I would have stayed for two thousand.
Edward: I would have paid four. I'll see ya tonight.
Vivian: Baby, I'm gonna treat you so nice, you're never gonna wanna let me go.
Edward: Three thousand, for six days, and Vivian, I will let you go.
Vivian: I called and called! Where were you last night?
Kit: Ma?
Thompson: Now, Mr. Lewis, however, is a very special customer, and we like to think of our special customers as friends. Now, as a customer, we would expect Mr. Lewis to sign in any additional guests, but as a friend, we're willing to overlook it. Now, I'm assuming that you're a… [long pause] … relative?
Vivian: [meekly] Yes.
Thompson: I thought so. Then you must be his…
[Thompson gives Vivian an expectant nod. Another long pause.]
Vivian: Niece?
Thompson: Of course. Naturally, when Mr. Lewis leaves, I won't see you in this hotel again. I assume you have no other uncles here?
Bridget: Now, I'm sure we're gonna find something here that your uncle would love.
Vivian: Bridg? He's not really my uncle.
Bridget: They never are, dear.
Vivian: Hello!
Edward: Never, ever pick up the phone.
Vivian: Then why're you calling me?
Vivian: All right. I'll meet you in the lobby, but only 'cause you're payin' me to.
Edward: Well, thank you very much.
[He hangs up the phone and turns to the receptionist.]
Edward: Get her back for me, please.
Vivian: 'Lo?
Edward: I told you not to pick up the phone.
Vivian: Then stop callin me.
[Edward snickers and hangs up.]
Vivian: [grinning] Sick.
Thompson: I have a message for you, sir.
Edward: From who?
Thompson: Ah, from your niece, sir.
Edward: My what?
Thompson: The young lady who's staying in your room, sir.
Edward: Oh. Hmm. I think we both know that she's not my niece.
Thompson: Of course.
Edward: The reason I know that, is that I am an only child.
Vivian: You're late.
[Vivian accidentally launches an escargot, which is deftly caught by the mâitre-d.]
Vivian: Slippery little suckers.
Mâitre-D: It happens all the time.
Vivian: Let's watch old movies all night… we'll just veg out in front of the TV.
Edward: "Veg out"?
Vivian: Yeah. Be still like vegetables. Lay like broccoli.
Edward: Look, I'll tell ya what. I'll be back. We'll do broccoli tomorrow.
Vivian: The stores are not nice to people — I don't like it.
Edward: Stores are never nice to people. They're nice to credit cards.
Edward: You see this young lady over here?
Hollister: Yes.
Edward: Do you have anything in this shop as beautiful as she is?
Hollister: Oh, yes.
[Edward gives Hollister a look.]
Hollister: Oh, no! No, no! No. I'm saying we have many things as beautiful as she… would want them to be! [babbling] That's the point I was getting at. And I think we can all agree with that. That's why, when you came in here, you knew from the first—
Edward: You know what we're gonna need here? We're going to need a few more people helping us out. I'll tell you why. We are going to be spending an obscene amount of money in here. So we're going to need a lot more help sucking up to us, 'cause that's what we really like.
Hollister: Ohhhh!
Edward: You understand that.
Hollister: Sir, if I may say so, you're in the right store, and the right city, for that matter!
Hollister: Exactly how obscene an amount of money were you talking about? Just… profane, or really offensive?
Edward: Really offensive.
Hollister: [to himself] I like him so much.
Hollister: Mr. Lewis? How's it going so far?
Edward: Pretty well, I think. I think we need some major sucking up.
Hollister: Very well, sir. You're… not only handsome, but a powerful man. I could see the second you walked in here, you were someone to reckon with…
Edward: Hollister.
[Vivian, smartly dressed and carrying many bags, stops in at yesterday's clothing store.]
Vivian: Do you remember me?
Salesperson: No, I'm sorry.
Vivian: I was in here yesterday. You wouldn't wait on me?
Salesperson: Oh.
Vivian: You work on commission, right?
Salesperson: Ah, yes.
Vivian: Big mistake. Big. Huge! [turns away] I have to go shopping now!
Edward: I was very angry with him. It cost me ten thousand dollars in therapy to say that sentence: "I was very angry him." I do it very well, don't I? I'll say it again: I was very angry with him. "Hello, my name is Mr. Lewis, I am very angry with my father."
Vivian: I would've been angry at the ten thousand dollars.
Vivian: Did I mention… my leg is 44 inches from hip to toe, so basically, we're talkin' about…
[She wraps her legs around Edward.]
Vivian: … 88 inches of therapy… wrapped around you, for the bargain price of…
Edward and Vivian: [in unison] … three thousand dollars!
Gretchen: Edward's our most eligible bachelor. Everybody is trying to land him.
Vivian: Well, I'm not trying to land him. I'm just using him for sex.
Elizabeth Stuckey: '[about Vivian] She's sweet, Edward! Wherever did you find her?
Edward: 976-BABE.
Vivian: People put you down enough, you start to believe it.
Edward: I think you… are a very bright, very special woman.
Vivian: The bad stuff is easier to believe. You ever notice that?
Matron: Did you enjoy the opera, dear?
Vivian: Oh, it was so good, I almost peed my pants!
[Vivian walks off.]
Edward: She said she liked it better than The Pirates of Penzance.
[Edward offers Vivian a condo, car, and a shopping allowance.]
Vivian: What else? You going to leave some money by the bed when you pass through town?
Edward: Vivian, it really wouldn't be like that.
Vivian: How would it be?
Edward: Well, for one thing, it would get you off the streets.
Vivian: That's just geography.
Edward: Vivian, what is it you want? What do you see happening between us?
Vivian: I don't know. When I was a little girl, my mama used to lock me in the attic when I was bad, which was pretty often. And I would… I would pretend I was a princess, trapped in the tower by a wicked queen. And then suddenly, this knight, on a white horse, with these colors flying, would come charging up and draw his sword… and I would wave, and he would climb up the tower, and rescue me. But never in all the time… that I had this dream… did the knight say to me, "Come on, baby, I'll put you up in a great condo."
Edward: I've never treated you like a prostitute.
[He walks away.]
Vivian: You just did.
Kit: Maybe you guys could, like, um… you know, get a house together, and like, buy some diamonds, and a horse — I don't know. Anyway… it could work! It happens!
Vivian: When does it happen, Kit?
Vivian: I just wanna know who it works out for. You give me one example of somebody that we know that it happened for.
[They start talking over each other.]
Kit: Name someone? You want me to name someone?
Vivian: Yeah, you know a person that it's worked for.
Kit: You want me to, like, give you a name, or something?
Vivian: Yeah, I'd like a name.
Kit: Oh, God, the pressure of a name… Cinde-fucking-rella!
Edward: So what happened after he climbed up the tower and rescued her?
Vivian: She rescues him right back.
| i don't know |
Which Shakespeare play features 'Dogberry', a Constable? | Much Ado About Nothing 3.3 - Dogberry gathers the Watchmen
Explanatory Notes for Act 3, Scene 3
From Much Ado About Nothing. Ed. A. Wilson Verity. London: Rivingtons.
I feel sure that in writing these Dogberry and Verges scenes Shakespeare had in his mind's eye one of Lyly's comedies; viz., Endimion. (iv. 2.) Lyly's work is crude and incomplete; but I believe that he furnished the prototypes of the immortal constables. It would be easy to show from other places how familiar Shakespeare was with the works of his contemporary. For a single example take the beautiful "Hark, hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings." (Cymbeline, ii. 3. 21; and Sonnet 29); it was "conveyed" from Campaspe, v. i. I have not thought it necessary to note the magnificent Malapropisms scattered up and down the scene. Who runs may read.
Dogberry and Verges. "Dogberry occurs as a surname in a charter of the time of Richard II, and Verges as that of a usurer in MS. Ashmol, 38, where this epitaph is given: 'Here lyes father Verges, who died to save charges.'" (Halliwell, quoted by Mr. Marshall.) Verges is a vulgarism for verjuice. Dogberry appears to be the name of a shrub. The order of seniority is � Dogberry, Verges (Headborough, to give him his official title), and Seacole, appointed (pro hac vice) "constable of the watch" for the night. The stage-directions in the scenes where they appear are rather confused, an unimportant matter for us.
10 George Seacole. Halliwell thinks that we should read Francis, identifying the watchman here with the Seacole in scene 5, who was to bring "his pen and inkhorn to the gaol." Perhaps, however, the Seacole family was numerous and fertile of dignified and accomplished officials.
13 Well-favour'd. 'Good-looking.'
40 Bills. "A kind of pike or halbert ... the usual weapon of watchmen." (Nares.)
50 Meddle or make. So Troilus and Cressida, i. I. 14, "I'll not meddle nor make."
55 They that touch. An old saying, found in Ecclesiasticus xiii. I, "He that toucheth pitch, shall be defiled with it." Shakespeare refers to the proverb in i Henry IV, ii. 4. 455, and Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 3. 3.
74 Statues. An intentional blunder, which the later Folios needlessly correct to statutes.
84 Till two. When they would go off duty.
88 Coil. 'Fuss,' 'bother.' A Celtic word.
98 Pent-house. 'A shed, sloping out from the main building.'
99 Like a true drunkard. A quibble on his own name, which seems to have meant 'drunkard.'
104 Any villany. Some editors change to villain; needlessly, I think.
109 Unconfirm'd. 'Inexperienced.'
| Much Ado About Nothing |
Which actor is the husband of Billie Piper? | The Character Elbow in Shakespeare's Play, Measure for Measure Essay
The Character Elbow in Shakespeare's Play, Measure for Measure Essay
:: 5 Works Cited
Length: 1502 words (4.3 double-spaced pages)
Rating: Blue
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The Character Elbow in Shakespeare's Play, Measure for Measure
In Act 2, scene 1 of the play Measure for Measure the character Elbow, a representation of the "Comedic Constable" often depicted in William Shakespeare's comedies and traji-comedies, gives the director an unusual creative license in portraying this figure to give the audience a rich theatrical experience. (Evans 427) These characters are most commonly depicted as "artless, inadequate, naïve, and prosaic men who bumble through their official duties, sublimely unaware of their blunders, intent upon fulfilling their offices even when they are not really sure just what those offices are." (Evans 427) They are honest men as well, duteous, as "none of Shakespeare's comic policemen reveals any conscious neglect of duty." (Evans 430)
In one high school production of the play Measure for Measure which I saw a while ago, the character Elbow was played as sort of a village idiot, using a slack-jawed southern accent. The actor almost appeared to be attempting to portray Elbow as a drunkard as well, which I later found through research was not the stereotype that Shakespeare was trying to mock at the time. I enjoyed the comedic representation of the character, but I now think that he could have been more effectively portrayed like the character Dogberry was in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, especially the most recent performance at Loyola's McManus Theater by Uzay Tumer. This performance can rather illustrate the character more as a man self-confident in his actions and duties who is plagued with an inability to communicate to the other characters.
Elbow's speech and logic just becomes riddled with "self-contradictory malapropisms" which confuse those wish...
... middle of paper ...
... probably the main reason I have drawn out this scene into a huge collaboration of expressions. Confusion, exasperation, confidence, perplexity, happiness, frustration, and sheer amazement are all of which I wanted to capture in this brief interaction.
Works Cited
| i don't know |
What type of bridge is the Forth Railway Bridge? | Engineering Timelines - the Forth Rail Bridge
The Forth Rail Bridge
introduction | the cantilever principle | building the bridge
BUILDING THE BRIDGE
The construction challenges posed by the Forth Bridge were immense. The spans necessary were almost four times as large as any railway bridge previously built in the United Kingdom, which as yet had no cantilever bridges.
Also, steel, the proposed material, was considered relatively untried for bridge applications. From the mid 1800s most railway bridges were of cast iron, although steel could offer a 50 per cent increase in maximum working stresses, clearly a great attraction with long spans.
Safety was a primary concern after the Tay Bridge disaster. A new wind loading of 56 lb per sq ft (previously 10 lb per sq ft) had been imposed and the Board of Trade stated that the bridge: 'should gain the confidence of the public, and enjoy a reputation of not only being the biggest and strongest, but also the stiffest bridge in the world'.
The construction of the colossal spans was tremendous task that was undertaken by William Arrol of Glasgow, who had also worked on the massive new Tay Bridge. Initial site work involved building the support piers. No special difficulty arose with the work executed either in tidal conditions, or in half-tide or full-tide cofferdams.
Each of the three main towers is supported on four separate granite foundations, constructed within iron caissons 21m (70ft) in diameter. The caissons were founded at depths varying from 4.25m (14ft) to 27m (89ft). A delay was caused when one of the caissons accidentally tilted and, through a combination of very high and low tides, sank unevenly into the mud. It took ten months before it was refloated and sunk again in the correct position.
By 1887, the year of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, the core of the towers had reached their full height and it remained to extend their arms towards each other and close the gap. It was the task of constructing the cantilever sections that fully demonstrated the the practicality and buildability of cantilever design. Because construction takes place by building out from one support to the next, no temporary support structure is needed. This dramatically reduces the amount of material required and the time taken. All the steel superstructure, which used large riveted tubes for the compression members, was fabricated on site.
In September 1889, a bridge worker clamboured from the Queensferry to the central Inchgarvie cantilever across a ladder placed between crane jacks, working some 60m (200ft) above the water. On 15th October a more secure and formal crossing was made, and by 6th November the central girder was ready to be connected. This was delayed for over a week until the temperature changed sufficiently to cause the necessary expansion that would allow the key plates to be driven in and the girder fixed between its supporting cantilevers.
The bridge was opened by the Prince of Wales on 5th March 1890 and is still in use today. It held the world record for a cantilever bridge until 1917.
Not only is the Firth of Forth Rail Bridge still in use today, it is also a structure that will continue to inspire generations of engineers. And how long might such a monument last? 'Forever if you look after it' according to the Firth of Forth Bridge Engineer in 1890.
| Cantilever |
Albert II became King of the Belgians in 1993 on the death of his brother. What was his brother's name? | Bridges - Steelconstruction.info
SteelConstruction.info
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Steel is widely used around the world for the construction of bridges from the very large to the very small. It is a versatile and effective material that provides efficient and sustainable solutions . Steel has long been recognised as the economic option for a range of bridges. It dominates the markets for long span bridges, railway bridges, footbridges , and medium span highway bridges. It is now increasingly the choice for shorter span highway structures as well. Society gains in many ways from the benefits delivered by steel bridge solutions. Landmark steel bridges embody good design, they are fast to build, and have stimulated the regeneration of many former industrial, dock and canalside areas.
Steel bridges are an essential feature of a country’s infrastructure and landscape. Few man-made structures combine the technical with the aesthetics in such an evocative way. Look closely at the next ‘landmark’ bridge you see; the chances are that it is made of steel.
Main Article: Sustainable steel bridges
Modern steel bridges taking advantage of the latest advances in automated fabrication and construction techniques are able to provide economic solutions to the demands of safety, rapid construction, aesthetics, shallow construction depth, minimal maintenance and flexibility in future use. Steel also scores well on all the sustainability measures, and offers a broad range of benefits addressing the economic, environmental, and social priorities of the ‘triple bottom line’ of sustainability.
Prefabrication of steelwork
(Image courtesy of Mabey Bridge Ltd.)
Economic priorities
Aesthetically pleasing bridges
Recycling route diagram
The high strength-to-weight ratio of steel minimises the structural weight of superstructures and thus minimises the substructure costs, which is particularly beneficial in poor ground conditions. Minimum self-weight is also an important factor in the cost of transporting and handling components. Use of steel facilitates shallow construction depths, which overcomes problems with headroom and flood clearances, and minimises the length and cost of approach embankments.
Steel is the most recycled construction material and choosing it for bridges represents a sustainable management of natural resources. When a steel bridge reaches the end of its useful life, the girders can be cut into manageable sizes to facilitate demolition, and returned to steelworks for recycling . Some 99% of structural steel either finds its way back into the steelmaking process where it is used to create new steel products or is reused . There is no degradation in the performance of recycled steel. Alternatively, component parts of steel bridges can be reused in other structures; entire bridges have been relocated and bridges can be designed with ease of future relocation in mind.
Steel has broad architectural possibilities. Steel bridges can be made to look light or reassuringly solid, and can be sculptured to any shape or form. The high surface quality of steel creates clean sharp lines and allows attention to detail. Modern fabrication methods can easily provide curvature in plan and elevation. The painting of steelwork introduces colour and contrast, and repainting can change or refresh the appearance of the bridge.
[ top ] Forms of construction
Main articles: Multi-girder composite bridges , Ladder deck composite bridges , Integral bridges , Half-through bridges , Box girder bridges , and Tied-arch bridges
Steel is a most versatile and effective material for bridge construction , able to carry loads in tension, compression and shear. Structural steelwork is used in the superstructures of bridges from the smallest to the greatest. There is a wide variety of structural forms available to the designer but each essentially falls into one of four groups; beam bridges , arch bridges , cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges .
[ top ] Beam bridges
A beam and slab, or composite bridge is one where a reinforced concrete deck slab sits on top of steel I-beams, and acts compositely with them in bending. There are two principal forms of this beam and slab construction; multi-girder construction and ladder deck construction. Between them, they account for the majority of medium span highway bridges currently being built in the UK, and are suitable for spans ranging from 13m up to 100m. The choice between the two forms depends on economic considerations and site-specific factors such as form of intermediate supports and access for construction.
Cross sections
Cross section of a multi-girder highway bridge
Cross section of a ladder deck bridge
Examples
Hunslett Viaduct , Leeds
Increasingly, such composite bridges are adopting ‘ integral construction ’, where the deck is rigidly connected to the abutments. This eliminates the need for expansion joints and bearings , which minimises future maintenance requirements.
In some situations, notably for railway bridges, the depth between the trafficked surface (or rails) and the underside of the bridge is severely constrained and there is little depth available for the structure. In these circumstances, ‘ half-through ’ construction is used.
General arrangement of a half-through bridge
[ top ] Box girder bridges
Box girders comprise two webs that are joined top and bottom by a common flange creating a closed cell that offers very good torsional stiffness, which may be required on highly curved bridges . In beam and slab bridges, box girders are an alternative to plate girders at the upper end of the span range, where they offer a lower steel weight, although this has to be balanced against increased fabrication costs. Such composite box girder decks may take the form of multiple closed steel boxes, with the deck slab over the top, or an open top trapezoidal box, closed by the deck slab.
Longer spans of 100 to 200m typically use either a single box or a pair of boxes with crossbeams. For such long spans and for bridges such as lifting bridges, where minimising structural weight is very important, an all-steel orthotropic deck may be used instead of a reinforced concrete slab. Above about 200m, box girders are likely to be part of a cable-stayed bridge or a suspension bridge , where they are specially shaped for optimum aerodynamic performance.
Box girder bridges
Variable depth trapezoidal closed top box girders
River Nene Viaduct, Peterborough
Open top box girders curved in plan
Fossdyke Bridge, Lincoln
[ top ] Truss bridges
A truss is a triangulated framework of individual elements or members which act primarily in tension or compression. Trusses have been used in a similar way to beams in composite decks (Oresund Approach Spans), as arches (Sydney Harbour Bridge), as cantilevers (Forth Rail Bridge) or as stiffening girders to suspension bridges (Forth Road Bridge).
Today, the truss girder form of construction usually proves expensive to fabricate because of the large amount of labour-intensive work in building up the members and making the connections , so they are seldom used for ordinary highway bridges. However, for through or half-through forms, truss bridges do offer a very stiff, lightweight solutions with minimum structural depth. Hence, they are widely used in the UK for footbridges , demountable bridges (Bailey bridges), gantries and longer span railway bridges (over 50m).
Truss bridges
[ top ] Arch bridges
In the traditional form, a steel arch has a similar structural action to old masonry arch bridges. The arch springs from the foundations and exerts horizontal thrusts on them. The arch elements act primarily in compression. The deck may either be supported on struts, resting on arch below, or it may be suspended on hangers from the arch above.
A tied-arch or "bow string" arch is a particular development of the arch form. The horizontal thrusts from the arching action are resisted by tension members between the arch springings. Effectively the deck acts as a tension tie, and is supported by hangers from the arch above. This form is suited to the soft soils of riverbanks, where the ground cannot withstand the large horizontal thrusts from arching action.
In recent years, arches and tied-arches have become a little more common, partly because the use of an arch from which to hang the deck allows the construction depth of a suspended deck to be kept shallow, even at longer spans, and partly because arches make a clear architectural statement. Arches are sometimes skew to the line of the deck and sometimes the arch planes are inclined for dramatic visual effect.
Arch bridges
Arch skew to the line of the deck
Hulme Arch, Manchester
Swansea Sail Bridge
In this form of bridge, the main girders are supported at intervals along their length by inclined tension members (stays) connected to a high mast or pylon. There may be either a single plane of stays down the centre of the bridge, or two planes; one on each side of the bridge. The towers act in compression and can have a variety of forms (A-frame, H-frame or columns). The deck girders sustain compression forces as well as bending forces.
Recent developments in the modelling and analysis of dynamic behaviour and the use of sophisticated damping against oscillation have extended the realm of the cable-stayed bridge to spans in excess of 1000m, which had previously been the almost exclusive domain of suspension bridges . The visual appearance of stayed structures can be very effective, even dramatic. They are frequently considered appealing or eye-catching. On a more modest scale, cable-stayed construction is sometimes used for footbridges , to give support and stiffness to an otherwise very light structure.
Examples of cable-stayed bridges include:
[ top ] Suspension bridges
Humber Bridge
A suspension bridge is fundamentally simple in action: two cables are suspended between two supports (‘towers’ or ‘pylons’), hanging in a shallow curve, and a deck is supported from the two cables by a series of hangers along their length. The cables and hangers are in simple tension and the deck spans transversely and longitudinally between the hangers. In most cases the cables are anchored at ground level, either side of the main towers; often the side spans are hung from these portions of the cables.
In addition to its action in carrying traffic, the deck acts as a stiffening girder running the length of each span. The stiffening girder spreads concentrated loads and provides stiffness against oscillation; such stiffness is needed against both bending and twisting actions.
Because of their fundamental simplicity and economy of structural action, suspension bridges have been used for the longest bridge spans. The graceful curve of the suspension cable combined with the strong line of the deck and stiffening girder generally give a very pleasing appearance. The combination of grace and grandeur in such situations leads to the acknowledged view that many of the world’s most exciting bridges are suspension bridges.
One recent example of a smaller suspension bridge is Peace Bridge, Derry-Londonderry
Main articles: Material selection and product specification and Weathering steel
Plate mill control room
Structural steel is a high-quality material that is readily available worldwide in certified grades, in products of various shapes and sizes. Prefabrication of steelwork in controlled factory conditions leads to high quality work at minimum cost. The excellent quality control is achieved through a thorough testing regime at the steel mills and during the fabrication processes of cutting and drilling , assembly , welding , and protective treatment . The quality assurance that is attained should give confidence to all clients and engineers who specify steel for their bridge project.
Steel material is supplied in two product forms – ‘flat products’ ( steel plate and strip) and ‘long products’ (rolled sections, either standard open sections such as beams, channels, angles, etc or hollow sections ). For structural use in bridges these products are inevitably cut (to size and shape) and welded, one component to another. In the structure, the material is subject to tensile and compressive forces. Structural steel generally responds in a linear elastic manner, up to the ‘yield point’ and thereafter has a significant capacity for plastic straining before failure. All these aspects of steel material are utilised by the designer of a steel bridge.
The selection of an appropriate grade of steel for a bridge requires an awareness of the steel manufacturing process , an appreciation of the relevant product standards and an understanding of several issues including:
Product specifications
Steel derives its material properties from a combination of chemical composition, mechanical working and heat treatment. The yield strength is probably the most significant property that the designer will need to use or specify. The achievement of a suitable yield strength whilst maintaining other properties has been the driving force behind the development of modern steel making and rolling processes .
A typical weathering steel bridge over the A1 at Wetherby
S355 steel is predominantly used in highway bridge applications, as it is readily available, and generally gives the optimum balance between stiffness and strength. S275 steel is often used on railway bridges, where stiffness rather than strength governs the design, or where fatigue is the critical design case. S420 and S460 steels can offer advantages where self-weight is critical or the designer needs to minimise plate thicknesses. However, the use of such steels confers no benefits in applications where fatigue , stiffness or the instability of very slender members is the overriding design consideration. These steels are also less readily available in the UK.
Other mechanical properties of particular importance to the bridge designer include ductility , toughness , weldability , and corrosion resistance .
All structural steels, with the exception of ‘ weathering steel ’, have a similar resistance to corrosion. In exposed conditions they need to be protected by a coating system. There are no special requirements of the steel material for ordinary coating systems, including both aluminium and zinc metal spray . However, if the steel is to be galvanized , then there is a need to control the alloy content (notably the Silicon content).
Weathering steel is a high strength low alloy steel that in suitable environments forms an adherent protective rust ‘patina’, to inhibit further corrosion. The corrosion rate is so low that bridges fabricated from unpainted weathering steel can achieve a 120 year design life with only nominal maintenance.
Main articles: Bridges - initial design , Modelling and analysis of beam bridges , Design of beams in composite bridges , Shear connection in composite bridge beams , Design for half-through construction , Design of steel footbridges , Fatigue design of bridges , Bracing systems , Stiffeners , Connections in bridges , Bridge articulation and bearing specification , Plan curvature in bridges , Skew bridges , and Specification of bridge steelwork
A wealth of design guidance
Designers of steel bridges are well supported with a wealth of guidance to assist them in designing the most economic solution for their clients. This extends from initial concept design , through detailed design verification and on to appropriate specification .
In the concept design stage, the designer takes the outline requirements of the alignment engineer (the road, rail or pedestrian layout, cross section and vertical profile) and derives a structural solution that suits the topography and restrictions of the site, whilst minimising both costs and risks. There may be little detailed calculation at this stage but there should be consultation with steelwork contractors and main contractors. Most bridge construction in the UK currently takes place under collaborative arrangements and thus access to steelwork contractors and main contractors should be readily available to the designer. In the absence of a collaborative arrangement, designers should at least discuss the options with a steelwork contractor at an early stage.
While minimising cost may be the most obvious consideration when embarking on the design of a steel bridge, the health and safety of all those concerned in the construction of the bridge and in its maintenance throughout its life is the responsibility of all those people making decisions about the procurement of the bridge. So, as well as aiming for a structurally efficient solution, designers should consider how the steelwork will be fabricated and erected, how the deck will be completed (i.e. design for construction ), and how the bridge will be maintained. The chosen bridge erection scheme will clearly have a big influence on the type and location of any connections .
Preliminary sizing is part of the concept design , and is often based on crude estimations of load distribution, and resulting bending moments and shear forces. However, for steel composite highway bridges, preliminary design charts and an associated software tool are available to facilitate far more accurate initial girder sizes
Detailed design is effectively design verification to the Eurocodes, which is more of a checking process than original creative design. Modelling and analysis is carried out for the selected structural arrangement for the various loading conditions (including fatigue ) taking full account of any curvature and skew . The adequacy of the main members ( composite beams , half-through beams , and box girders etc.) is then checked in detail to ensure that they are adequate to carry the applied moments and forces. Details such as shear connection , stiffener sizes and bracing member sizes, etc, are chosen at this stage to suit the global actions of the main members.
The main output from the design process is often seen as a set of drawings, but designers should also recognise the importance of an appropriate specification . It is important that a project specification (and the accompanying drawings) should express clearly the particular requirements for a structure and, where standards allow options and alternatives, which additional requirements apply. Failure in clarity will lead to extra provisions for risk and extra costs in resolving queries. The project specification should also avoid over-specification, requiring unnecessary quality and excessively tight tolerances will lead to higher costs. The project specification should generally follow recognised industry standards, such as the Specification for Highway Works [1] .
CAD model of a multi-girder bridge
(Image courtesy of Mabey Bridge Ltd.)
Offsite prefabrication of steel components means that construction time on site, often in hostile environments, is minimised. The speed of bridge construction made possible by steel allows disruption to road and rail users to be kept to a minimum, if not eliminated, with significant positive knock-on effects for the UK economy. The relatively low weight of structural steel components permits the erection of large sections; in some circumstances complete bridges can be moved into position overnight. Speed of steel bridge construction also benefits main contractors even on ‘green field’ sites, as it allows them to establish and maintain access for haul roads.
One of the key drivers behind the success of steel bridges in the UK since the 1980s has been the continuous investment by steelwork contractors in automated fabrication equipment for cutting and drilling , girder assembly and welding steel. Production efficiencies are further enhanced within modern factories by working on a number of projects in parallel to achieve profitable utilisation of the space, equipment and permanent workforce. The fabrication process begins with 3D modelling the bridge steelwork with CADCAM software, which creates a list of components (girder webs and flanges, stiffeners and bracing elements etc.) required for the structure and produces the programs for the automated fabrication equipment. The model is also used to locate and rectify conflicts and can even carry out a virtual trial erection . Once the steelwork has passed through the factory, it is usually then blast cleaned and painted prior to transportation to site.
Erection of Lagentium Viaduct , A1(M) Darrington to Dishforth
(Image courtesy of Mabey Bridge Ltd.)
A wide range of construction methods and sequences are available for steel bridges. They can be lifted, piece-by-piece, by cranes or strand jacks ; they can be launched by sliding or rolling from the abutment; or they can be slid or transported into position. In some instances a combination of erection methods are needed; these are called ‘Hybrid schemes’. Steel offers flexibility in terms of erection sequence and certainty in terms of the programme and, once erected, the steel girders provide platforms for subsequent deck construction operations.
The involvement of a steelwork contractor during the concept design and detailed design stage depends very much on the form of contract, but even with relatively ‘ordinary’ structures it is desirable to seek their advice at an early stage. The steelwork contractor can provide assistance with design for construction , i.e. the definition of the structural concept, steelwork detailing and planning the proposed erection scheme. This ensures that the costs associated with steelwork contract are minimised.
Videos of bridge construction:
2. Mallard Bridge on White Rose Way, Doncaster being installed over the East Coast Main Line using one of the largest mobile cranes in the UK.
3. Arch lift on the Central Link Bridge in Merthyr Tydfil.
4. Loughor Viaduct Replacement near Swansea shows a 15 hour bridge slide in 70 seconds.
Main articles: Corrosion protection and Weathering steel
Forth Rail Bridge
Steel bridges now have a proven life span extending to well over 100 years. A notable example is the imposing Forth Rail Bridge in Scotland, which was completed in 1890. The scale and size of this significant landmark was a major achievement in construction engineering, and the structure has stood the test of time.
Steel has a predictable fatigue life and the structural elements are visible and accessible. Any signs of deterioration are readily apparent, without the need for extensive investigations. Corrosion is a surface effect, which rarely compromises the structural integrity of a bridge, and any problems may be swiftly addressed by repainting the affected areas. Advances in coating technology and an industry commitment to the training of coating applicators mean that the latest protective systems are expected to last well beyond 30 years before requiring maintenance. Furthermore, the use of unpainted weathering steel , which requires almost no maintenance, is increasingly popular, as it is recognised as the ultimate low maintenance option for bridge construction.
Tamar Bridge widening, Plymouth
(Image courtesy of AECOM)
Steel bridges are readily adaptable to changes in road configuration and increased loading that would render other types of structure obsolete ahead of their original design lives. One notable example is the Tamar suspension bridge in Plymouth, which needed widening and strengthening due to increased traffic loads and volumes. The solution was to replace the concrete deck with a new lightweight steel one, and add steel cantilever sections. The result was that the widened 5-lane bridge was only 25 tonnes heavier than the old 3-lane structure, and was able to accommodate 44 tonne trucks.
Steel bridges also lend themselves to easy and rapid strengthening or repair in the event of accidents, with well proven techniques like heat straightening ensuring that damaged structures are soon back in use.
The fundamental requirements to fully realise the potential durability of a steel bridge include:
Airless spray application of paint
(Image courtesy of Mabey Bridge Ltd.)
The majority of steel bridges in the UK are protected against corrosion by the use of paint coatings . Modern specifications usually comprise a sequential coating application of paints or alternatively paints applied over thermally sprayed metal coatings to form a ‘duplex’ coating system. The protective paint systems usually consist of primer , intermediate coat(s) and finish coats . Each coating ‘layer’ in any protective system has a specific function, and the different types are applied in a particular sequence of primer followed by intermediate/build coats in the shop, and finally the finish or top coat on site. Hot-dip galvanizing is an alternative durable coating that is sometimes used, although its use is generally limited to smaller bridges due to the nature of the application process.
| i don't know |
Which town is the administrative headquarters of Derbyshire? | Register offices in Derbyshire: Community and living - Derbyshire County Council
Register offices
Register offices in Derbyshire
Details of the register offices in Derbyshire where you may register births, deaths, notices of marriage and civil partnerships or celebrate a wedding, civil partnership, naming, renewal of vows or citizenship ceremony.
All offices operate an appointment-only system and it is essential that you telephone the office to make an appointment before you visit.
Derbyshire Register Office (Chesterfield)
Tel: 01246 271405 or 01246 234754
Opening times:
Monday to Friday, between 9am and 4.30pm.
All appointments must be pre-booked.
Appointments available at Derbyshire Register Office
Birth registration, death registration, notice of marriage and notice of civil partnership.
Ceremonies available at Derbyshire Register Office
Wedding, civil partnership, naming, renewal of vows and private citizenship ceremonies.
Tel: 01246 234754 or 01246 271405
Opening times:
Tuesdays and Thursdays subject to registrar availability.
All appointments must be pre-booked.
Appointments available at Matlock Registration Office
Birth registration, death registration, notice of marriage and notice of civil partnership.
Ceremonies available at County Hall
Wedding, civil partnership, naming, renewal of vows and private citizenship ceremonies.
Tel: 01629 533969 or 533985 (superintendent registrar) or 01629 533968 (registrar of births and deaths)
Opening times:
Monday and Wednesday, between 10am and 12.30pm
Friday between 1.30pm and 4pm.
All appointments must be pre-booked.
Appointments available at Ashbourne Registration Office
Birth registration, death registration, notice of marriage and notice of civil partnership.
Ceremonies available at Ashbourne Registration Office
Wedding, civil partnership, naming, renewal of vows and private citizenship ceremonies.
Bakewell Registration Office opening times
To register a birth or a death:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, between 8.45am and 12.30pm.
For notice appointments and all ceremony bookings:
Monday and Tuesday between 1pm and 4.30pm
Wednesday between 9am to 12.30pm and between 1pm and 5pm
Thursday between 1pm and 5.30pm
Friday between 1pm and 4.30pm.
All appointments must be pre-booked.
Appointments available at Bakewell Registration Office
Birth registration, death registration, notice of marriage and notice of civil partnership.
Ceremonies available at Bakewell Registration Office
Wedding, civil partnership, naming, renewal of vows and private citizenship ceremonies.
| Matlock |
The first three constituencies to declare their results in the 2010 General Election were in which city? | NEW MILLS TOWN COUNCIL HOME PAGE | New Mills Town Council in Derbyshire
NEW MILLS PARISH
WHEN: 12 January 2017 to 01 February 2017
WHERE: Public Footpath No.153 New Mills Parish at the stone slab bridge 30 meters from Laneside Road.
REASON: To facilitate public safety due to a defective bridge.
ALTERNATIVE ROUTE: There is no recommended alternative route.
Access will be maintaned, wherever reasonably possible, on the affected length of footpath. The footpath will re-open as soon as the work is finished. This may be earlier than advertised.
Derbyshire County Council apologises for any inconvenience caused while work takes place. Anyone needing further information should ring Call Derbyshire 01629 533190.
This notice is given under Section 14 of he Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (as amended) to prohibit its use by traffic.
Mike Ashworth, Strategic Director - Economy, Transport and Communities, County Hall, Matlock, DE4 3AG
PUBLIC BRIDLEWAY No.180 AND No.181 NEW MILLS PARISH
WHEN: 19 December 2016 to 31 January 2017
WHERE: Public Bridleway No.180 New Mills Parish from St. George's Road to High Hills Road, and Public Bridleway No.181 New MIlls Parish from High Hill Road to Wilde's Crossing (junction with Public FootpathNo.121).
REASON: To facilitate path maintenace works.
ALTERNATIVE ROUTE: There is no recommended alternative route.
Access will be maintained, wherever reasonably possible, on the affected length of bridleway. The bridleway will re-open as soon as the work is finished. This may be earlier than advertised.
Derbyshire County Council apologises for any inconvenience caused while work takes place. Anyone needing further information should ring Call Derbyshire 01629 533190.
The County Council has made an order under Section 14 of the Road Traffic Regualtion Act 1984 (as amended) to prohibit its use by traffic.
Mike Ashworth, Strategic Director - Economy, Transport and Communities, County Hall, MATLOCK, DE4 3AG.
DERBYSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
HELP OUR RECYCLING EFFORTS AND YOU COULD WIN £££S
Have you got any broken or unwanted electricals? Dig them out and take them to yor local wate recycling centre in the New Year for your chance to win one of fifteen £100 cash prizes. From hairdryers to hedge-trimmers, fairy lights to fridges and toasters to TV's there's a wide range of household appliances you can take to one of our recycling centres.
From 2 January until 19 February, you can exchange them for a golden ticket which could win you a cash prize of £100. The competition and campaign is being funded by Advantage Waste Brokers - the contractor which works on our behalf to collect and recycle electrical items taken to our recycling centres.
Find out more : www.derbyshire.gov.uk/electric
MILLENNIUM BRIDGE EARNS 2016 TRIPADVISOR
CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE
We are pleased to announce that the Millennium Bridge Walkway has been selected to received the 2016 TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence, reflecting the consistently great reviews submitted by visitors to the area.
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Media Release
End of the road for High Peak recycling banks
The decision has been made as a result of ongoing issues of contamination and improper use of the facilities coupled with an overall drop in use.
Councillor John Haken, Executive Member for Operational Services at High Peak Borough Council, said "Unfortunately, the misuse of the bins and associated fly-tipping means the cost of continuing to service these facilities is disproportionate to the amount of recyclable material that is being collected."
"The Council operates an effective recycling and waste collection service for residents from their homes and most of the materials collected from these recycling sites can be recycled in the brown bin, green box and red bag. There has been a general decline in recycling centre use since the introduction of the brown bin service so we have taken the decision that there is no real need for additional facilities."
Last year the Council, recycled 43% of the total waste collected and provisional figures for 2015/16 show this has increased to 48.5%. However, the amount of un-recyclable material from the recycling sites reduces this figure. So removing the sites, and the contaminated material, will increase the overall recycling rate and help meet the 50% Government target.
All residents can continue to recycle a wide range of materials directly from their homes as part of the Council's recycling and waste collection service. For a reminder of what can be recycled please visit www.highpeak.gov.uk/hp/bins
Derbyshire County Council also provides facilities for recycling at their household waste centres in Buxton and Glossop. Residents with large quantities of material, and those who like to recycle cartons (which aren't currently accepted by the Council's contractor), can use these facilities in addition to their containers at home.
The removal of the bins at th sites will start from Monday 18 January. The Council has written to all relevant landowners and put signs on the recycling banks advising users of the changes. It is also working with contractors and the street cleansing team to coordinate bank removal with a final site clear-up.
Residents are urged not to leave bags of materials for recycling on the old sites as it will not be possible to collect them and they will be treated as flytipping which can attract fines of up to £50,000.
The Council is also developing a recycling service for commercial waste customers which is due to start in February.
Councillor Haken added "The recycling bins at the bring-sites were often over-flowing due to incorrect items and bagged waste. An element of this has been identified as commercial waste. Closing these sites will free up collection vehicles enabling us to improve the service we offer traders and increase the amount of tonnage we recycle. It's a decision that makes sense all round."
HPBC Media Release Contact: Carolyn Sanders - Media Relations Manager Press Officer: 0345 129 7777 ext 4691 or 07595 270937 Email: [email protected] Web:www.highpeak.gov.uk
New Mills Town Council
New Mills Town Council have needed to close a section of the Torrs Riverside Park footpath due to a rock fall incident which took place in December last year. The Town Council has made the area safe and has been seeking expert advice on the best way forward to stabilise the rock face and to ensure continued public safety of the many residents and visitors attracted to the area.
The Torrs Riverside Park is a natural gorge running through the centre of New Mills, it is an area enjoyed by walkers, sightseers and climbers alike; it can still be accessed from Hyde Bank Road near the junction with Church Road.
New Mills Town Council will be reviewing its options on the footpath diversion during the term of the closure.
New Mills World War One Commemoration
The Great War started on 4th August 1914 and ended on 11th November 1918, a total of 52 months. During that period, New Mills, a town with a population of around 8,000, lost 205 men who were killed on active service, a terrible toll of nearly 4 men a month. Of the number of men, physically or mentally injured there is no accurate record, but it would be safe to assume the figure would be far greater. Local men and their families made great sacrifices and the Town Council and its partners will recognise these sacrifices by -
Installing notice boards at key points around the parish. The boards will carry a list of casualties and other World War One information and wherever possible on the anniversary of the death of a local serviceman, a biographical piece about the casualty will be posted on the board.
To mark the centenary of the Great War, to illustrate its horror and the bravery of the men of both sides who fought in the trenches of Flanders and elsewhere, the machine gun will go on permanent display in the Town Hall foyer.
New Mills Town Council have agreed that over and above any national commemoration, the town will honour the sacrifice of those New Mills men who were killed, those men who were wounded and of the local families who suffered and gave so much, by undertaking to continually fly the Union Flag* at the Town Hall from the 4th August 2014 until the 11th November 2018 as a mark of respect and appreciation.
As a further mark of respect, all the council's official paper will carry the image of a red poppy, the universally recognised symbol of remembrance, from 4th August 2014 until 11th November 2018.
A number of special church services will take place at key moments in the war. The first on Monday 4th August will take place at 7.30pm at St.George's Parish Church and will mark the outbreak of war 100 years ago.
* Except during national days such as St. George's Day, when we would fly the appropriate flag, or in the event of the flag needing to be lowered as a mark of respect.
DERBYSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL ( DCC )
DCC have been busy fixing potholes all over the County's roads, following the severe wet winter weather. They have so far this year repaired nearly 8,000 potholes, and will continue to do so. If you do spot a pothole, it can be reported on-line using the following link
( Clicking on this link will direct you away from New Mills Town Council website )
( Clicking on the above links will take you away from New Mills Town Council website )
NEW MILLS TOWN HALL AND THE HERITAGE AND INFORMATION
CENTRE LOCATION
You will find below, recent news, statements and information. You can click on any of the navigation buttons to see what is on the site.
NEW MILLS TOWN COUNCIL
HERITAGE AND INFORMATION CENTRE
New Mills Town Council own and are the governing body for the Heritage and Information Centre.
The Centre has a dedicated Town Council employee who is the Administrator, and has a Management Committee who act on behalf of the Council especially in the area of the museum, artifacts and displays of collections There are dedicated members of staff who are all Volunteers, without whom the centre would not be as successful as it is.
SERVING THE TOWN OF NEW MILLS,
IN HIGH PEAK, DERBYSHIRE
Please contact us if you have questions concerning the work of the Town Council, if you have any concerns that you feel the Council should be aware of or where it can help or support you. You can use the tabs above or on the left to find your way around the site.
New Mills is in the High Peak of Derbyshire and has a population of just over 10000. Local authority services are provided by Derbyshire County Council, High Peak Borough Council and New Mills Town Council and part of the town’s 2000 hectares (5000 acres) are within the Peak District National Park.
New Mills is home to various businesses, but most famously Swizzels Matlows located on Albion Road has been producing Love Hearts and Drum Stick Lollies in New Mills since 1940.
New Mills lies where the rivers Sett and Goyt join to become one of the principal tributaries of the River Mersey. The rivers flow through the town in a spectacular gorge, the Torrs which is the home of the Millennium Walkway and the Archimedean screw. The Peak Forest Canal also passes through the town.
New Mills was designated as High Peak’s first fairtrade town in 2006. [+ read more...]
| i don't know |
The Isle of Man Steam Railway runs from Douglas to which small seaside town? | Douglas (Isle of Man) – Travel guide at Wikivoyage
Understand[ edit ]
Douglas is the capital of the Isle of Man. The island's government assembly, the House of Keys, is located there. Douglas is also the main centre of commerce on the island and home to around a quarter of the island's population.
The town's main areas are the sea front which stretches for 2 miles between the Onchan and the Sea Terminal. The Quay area near the Sea Terminal is popular for drinking and shopping. Away from the sea front are shopping districts, financial offices and government buildings while Upper Douglas becomes more residential.
By plane[ edit ]
The only operating commercial airport on the Island is the 54.086596 -4.63394 1 Isle of Man Airport ( IATA : IOM) in Ronaldsway, located about 15km south of Douglas. Flights depart to London Luton, Gatwick and City, as well as (amongst other destinations) Dublin , Manchester , Leeds , Bradford and Birmingham . Select flights to smaller UK airports often operate during the summer months.
By car[ edit ]
If you are flying into Ronaldway Airport, then you can rent a car to drive into the town.
By boat[ edit ]
Ferries from Liverpool and Heysham in England to Douglas operate all year round. Ferries from Belfast and Dublin operate a more restricted schedule to Douglas. Be advised that transport to the island during the last week of May and the first week of June may be extremely expensive and often fully booked a year in advance because of the TT Festival.
By steam train[ edit ]
Close to the airport is a halt stop of the Isle of Man Steam Railway which runs from Port Erin, in the south, to Douglas. It offers one of the few opportunities to take a steam train from the airport to your destination. Trains run during the summer months only.
Get around[ edit ]
A horsedrawn tram, one of only two left in the world, runs the Douglas promenade's length, from the ferry terminal to the Manx Electric Railway's southern terminal. There is also a bus service in town.
Douglas is easily walkable.
See[ edit ]
54.1544 -4.4819 1 Manx Museum , Kingswood Grove, Douglas, IM1 3LY, ☎ +44 1624 648000 . Museum dedicated to the history and the natural history of the Isle of Man. There is a section dedicated to Viking finds. Free entry.
54.1619 -4.4733 2 Castle Mona. A seaside mansion designed by George Steuart for John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl. Completed in 1804.
54.14915 -4.476 3 Jubilee clock. A street clock commemorating the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign (1887).
54.14915 -4.476 4 Gaiety Theatre , Harris Promenade (Buses 1, 2, 11, 12, 12A, 13, 13A, 13B, 13C and 13D stop at the Gaiety Theatre), ☎ +44 1624 600555 . 1900 theatre and one of the few remaining theatres designed by Frank Matcham. Incredibly detailed interior
Do[ edit ]
Buy Kippers. Buy kippers from one of the two kipper shops on Strand Street
Go on the Horse Tram Railway. Travel from the Sea Terminal to the far end of Douglas Bay using the Horse Tram £3 (Aug 08) apx.
Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy). This is one of the world's best-known motorcycle road races. See the start of the TT from the grandstand overlooking Nobles Park.
Buy[ edit ]
Douglas is the island's shopping capital and most chain stores are located in Strand Street and Duke Street close to the sea front. Smaller independent shops can be found around the Quay area close to Strand Street and the Sea Terminal (where ferries from the UK and Ireland dock). This area has been semi-pedestrianised in recent years and includes small cafés, pubs and Douglas Train Station (for steam trains to the south of the island).
Eat[ edit ]
The Isle of Man prides itself on the quality and variety of its locally produced food and drink – from freshly caught seafood, to succulent meat and specially brewed beers and spirits.
A visit to the island really is the perfect opportunity to see what the local producers, farmers and fishermen do best.
If you’re a fan of seafood try traditional Manx Kippers which are herring fillets that have been smoked over hot oak chips, or Manx Queen Scallops - Queenies as they are more commonly known - which are sustainably sourced from Manx waters.
If you prefer meat you’ll find a large selection to choose from including the rich and tasty Loaghtan Lamb - which comes from an unusual horned sheep which is believed to have been brought to the island by the Vikings.
And for those visitors with a sweet tooth, make sure you don’t miss out on creamy Manx ice cream, handmade confectionary and traditional cakes including the Manx Bonnag. One favourite, of tourists and residents alike, is Davison's Ice Cream on Douglas Promenade.
You’ll be able to sample this produce at the regular farmers’ markets, supermarkets and a variety of cafes, pubs and restaurants around the island.
Food in the Isle of Man is more expensive than in the UK. Expect to pay upwards of £30 per head for a meal in a restaurant.
54.1479 -4.4806 1 Tanroagan , 9 Ridgeway St, IM1 1EW, ☎ +44 1624 612355 , e-mail: [email protected] . (Mon-Fri) Lunch: 11:30am–3:00pm, (Mon-Sat) Dinner: 6:00pm–9:30pm. A seafood restaurant: various fish, scallops, lobsters, etc. Good selection of wine.
Drink[ edit ]
There are many places to drink in Douglas, from typical British pubs to cocktail and wine bars.
Sleep[ edit ]
There are a large number of bed and breakfasts in Douglas with high quality hotels such as the Sefton and Hilton also available (£90 a night).
It is strongly that you book ahead especially in the TT Season when rooms will be at a premium.
Budget[ edit ]
54.16442 -4.468759 1 Edelweiss Guest House , 29 Palace Terrace, Queens Promenade, IM2 4NF (far end of the promenade from the sea terminal, entrance on Switzerland Road), ☎ +44 1624 675115 , e-mail: [email protected] . From £40 per night. (updated Nov 2016)
54.163878 -4.468828 2 Inglewood Guest House , 26 Palace Terrace, Queens Promenade, IM2 4NF (follow the promenade from the sea terminal), ☎ +44 1624 674734 , e-mail: [email protected] . From £42.50 per night. (updated Nov 2016)
Stay safe[ edit ]
The Isle of Man is largely a very safe place but petty crime does occur, and as with any destination, tourists should always be on their guard.
Go next[ edit ]
Why not take an old electric tram north to Laxey or Ramsey ? Alternatively take a steam train south to Castletown , the island's old capital, and Port Erin . Motorcycle enthusiasts might like to do a lap of the TT Course (36 miles) starting at the Grandstand in Douglas.
This city travel guide to Douglas is a usable article. It has information on how to get there and on restaurants and hotels. An adventurous person could use this article, but please feel free to improve it by editing the page .
| Port Erin |
Which colour of jersey is worn by the leader in the points classification in the Tour de France? | Towns & Villages - Isle of Man
Isle of Man
Home: Visitor Information > Explore > Towns & Villages
Towns & Villages
Take time to explore the Isle of Man’s charming towns and villages and discover a wide range of things to see and do during your stay.
Whatever you’re looking for – whether it’s a journey back in time to discover the history and heritage of the Island, a traditional bucket and spade beach break, or somewhere to be active while surrounded by stunning scenery - you’ll find it here on the Isle of Man.
The Island’s capital, Douglas, is a great place to begin your trip. As well as the main shopping area and entertainment complexes, you’ll find the starting point of the Steam Railway and Manx Electric Railway, which lead south and north respectively. The Story of Mann trail also starts in Douglas and will act as your guide to the heritage attractions located around the Island.
Visit the ancient cobbled streets of Castletown in the south of the Island to see one of Europe’s most preserved medieval castles – Castle Rushen, or head for Laxey in the east for a glimpse of the world’s largest working waterwheel – Lady Isabella.
Over on the west coast, Peel and Port Erin have glorious sandy beaches, sheltered bays, and the chance to spot basking sharks and seals. No trip to either destination is complete without a delicious Manx ice cream as you stroll along the beach or sit and admire the rolling waves of the Irish Sea.
For those visitors who want to do something active, why not take advantage of the fantastic walking trails in Port St Mary or try something a little more adventurous – such as coasteering, canoeing or abseiling at an activity centre based near to Ramsey in the north of the Island.
Rest assured, wherever you choose to visit and whatever you choose to do, you’ll be guaranteed a warm Manx welcome.
In This Section
| i don't know |
Who plays '2' in the 2010 ITV series 'The Prisoner'? | 2010 TV Preview: 'The Prisoner'
2010 TV Preview: 'The Prisoner'
Click in to find out more about the modern day remake of cult classic The Prisoner.
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One of the most beloved and iconic of classic cult shows, The Prisoner is about to be reborn for a modern day audience in a new six-episode series for ITV. The story is faithful to the original (man wakes up in a bizarre gated community, bereft of personal identity) and the cast is huge (Jim Caviezel is Number Six, while Sir Ian McKellen (r) plays looming leader Number Two). In the next of our 2010 Previews, Tube Talk speaks to chief screenwriter Bill Gallagher to find out more about The Prisoner's resurrection.
How did the production come about?
"Damien Timmer, who was with Granada at the time, had long wanted to make an updated version of The Prisoner but couldn't track down who had the TV rights. Originally it was made by a company called ABC - now defunct - so the rights had gone elsewhere. Eventually he found out that actually the rights belonged to Granada International, who were one floor up from him! It took him two years to find that out. Once they had the rights they called me out of the blue one evening and asked if I would like to write a remake of The Prisoner. I was thrilled. I loved it as a kid. I couldn't make sense of it but it had a real impact on me and it was unlike anything else on television, so I jumped in immediately and then thought 'Well, how am I going to do this?'"
Did you have a list of things you want to keep from the original?
"I just thought 'What was the essence of it? What is it that makes it so different and compelling?' The obvious thing is a man in this place called The Village - but what is it? How did he get there? How does he get out? Such a nightmare experience, that. Also the way of storytelling. It wasn't a conventional narrative, it was strange ways of telling stories. My approach was to take the essence of it, but also it would have been pointless to repeat the original, so I just responded to it with 'these are the questions and dilemmas the original posed, what are the dilemmas now?'"
The original was very much a social commentary too - has that been maintained?
"It is but it's more oblique, less overt. There was the Cold War and a kind of assertion of the individual - 'I'm a free man' - those kinds of '60s concerns. It would have been easy to do a version that invokes terrorism - a kind of surface version - but the battles are more subtle these days. The world is different and so much more accessible in some respects. We're all bloody Americans now! Also I think I wanted to make it a bit more about the state of human beings, not looking in terms of political battles but what is going on within the individual. How have we changed? Where are we going as individuals? One of the notions I came up with was, 'what if we become so obsessed with our individuality that it's dangerous?' Dangerous on the small scale in relationships, families and communities, but also dangerous on a vast scale so it's actually affecting our means of functioning."
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You've got a great cast. Can you tell us more about them and their characters?
"James Caviezel plays Number 6. He's an individual who works for a vast corporation, where there's a mammoth amount of surveillance going on. It's not so much for crime or any sinister means, but it's for mass observation - patterns of behaviour, patterns in lifestyle - and he starts to see things in his work that make him think something is happening so he reports it. Once he's reported it he wakes up in the village. His battle is: What is this place? Why am I here? How do I get out? He pretty soon realises he can't escape physically so he's left with the question of 'What is this place?'
"Ian McKellen plays Number 2. In the original series there was a different Number 2 every week but I wanted to dig into the character of Number 2 - I didn't want to make him a two-dimensional monster figure who controlled the village. I wanted to get inside the man so I gave him a family, I gave him a story, a moral dilemma, and I gave him doubt in himself. We sent [Ian] the scripts and he said he would do it straight away. We met in a restaurant in London and as he came in the restaurant I stood up to greet him. He gave me a hug, patted me on the head and said 'What goes on in that mind of yours, Bill?' I think he was really taken by the daring of the script. It was full of menace and madness and strangeness. Something you had to dig into rather than having it on a plate. Once we got Ian I went back through the scripts and rewrote his character. Not the story or events, but the way he speaks. I knew he would have this wonderful twinkling playful menace about him, which is fantastic. "
This was an international collaboration between AMC and ITV. Were there any particular challenges in creating a show that worked for both audiences?
"Not really. As I said earlier we're all Americans now and although I say that with my tongue in my cheek, we do have access to every blink of an eye all over the world. The village is this strange place and you don't know where it is, it's an international place - it's not a particularly English place. In terms of the identity of the show it's not a case of an English writer writing for an American audience, that wasn't the sensibility of it. Therefore things like characterisation and setting wasn't a concern. It's not set in a part of America or Britain or Italy, it's set in a world where all of us could be in that dilemma."
It's now aired on AMC in the US. Were you pleased with how it performed and the reaction?
"I was. There was a conventional experience of prior-to-broadcast, broadcast, reviews, reactions, audience figures - all of which went well. The new experience for me was the Twitter reactions, where I was reading the audience experience as they were watching it. That was phenomenal - like something out of The Prisoner! They were figuring it out and sharing their thoughts and giving reactions. As a writer, you spend two or three years on something and put it out there, then a few North London critics give you two paragraphs, but it was phenomenal to experience what people were going through as they watched it."
Finally, is there a possibility of a second series?
"It's a miniseries. That was the brief in the beginning and it always had that beginning, middle and end. Of course I didn't write it in order to do this but given that The Village still exists, I suppose it is possible for there to be another series. It hasn't gone out in England yet though so we're just getting to the end of this one. Artistically it's possible, but whether the world wants another one I don't know!"
Are you looking forward to the remake of The Prisoner? Add your comments to this entry below!
Additional reporting by Philippa Warr
| Ian McKellen |
Which Emeritus Professor at Edinburgh University has written several series of novels including '2½ Pillars Of Wisdom' and '44 Scotland Street'? | The Prisoner | Television & radio | The Guardian
Television & radio
Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen star in ITV's reinvention of the 1960s cult thriller, The Prisoner
• The Prisoner begins on Saturday April 17 at 9.30pm on ITV1
Thursday 15 April 2010 11.41 EDT
Jim Caviezel, who plays New Yorker Michael in ITV's remake of The Prisoner, awakes to see Ian McKellen, the charismatic Two …Photograph: ITV
| i don't know |
Which 'rapper' has released albums entitled 'Mr. Smith' and 'Todd Smith'? | LL Cool J - Music on Google Play
LL Cool J
About the artist
James Todd Smith, known professionally as LL Cool J, is an American rapper, actor, author, and entrepreneur from Queens, New York. He is known for such hip hop hits as "I Can't Live Without My Radio", "I'm Bad", "The Boomin' System", "Rock The Bells" and "Mama Said Knock You Out", as well as romantic ballads such as "Doin' It", "I Need Love", "Around the Way Girl" and "Hey Lover".
LL Cool J is also known as one of the forefathers of pop rap. He has released 13 studio albums and two greatest hits compilations. His twelfth album Exit 13, was his last for his long-tenured deal with Def Jam Recordings. His latest album, Authentic, was released in April 2013. In 2010, VH1 considered him to be in their "100 Greatest Artists Of All Time" list.
LL Cool J has also appeared in numerous films, including In Too Deep, Any Given Sunday, S.W.A.T., Mindhunters, and Edison. He currently stars in an action role as NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna, on the CBS crime drama television series NCIS: Los Angeles. LL Cool J is also the host of Lip Sync Battle on Spike.
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The DEFinition is the tenth studio album by American rapper LL Cool J, released on August 31, 2004 by Def Jam Recordings. Produced by Timbaland, N.O. Joe and 7 Aurelius, the album peaked at number ...
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10 is the ninth studio album by American rapper LL Cool J, released on October 15, 2002 by Def Jam Recordings. It peaked at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200. LL Cool J and 10 hit a milestone in...
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G.O.A.T. is the eighth studio album by American rapper LL Cool J, issued on Def Jam Recordings. It was released on September 12, 2000, and peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. It was LL ...
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Phenomenon is the seventh studio album by rapper LL Cool J. After the success of his previous release Mr. Smith, the same basic principles are followed here, with several R&B-influenced tracks, and...
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Mr. Smith is the sixth studio album by American hip hop recording artist LL Cool J, released on November 21, 1995 by Def Jam. After the commercially disappointing 14 Shots to the Dome, it was a suc...
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Mr. Smith is the sixth studio album by American hip hop recording artist LL Cool J, released on November 21, 1995 by Def Jam. After the commercially disappointing 14 Shots to the Dome, it was a suc...
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Heavy D
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Ice-T
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Wreckx-n-Effect
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Timbaland & Magoo
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| LL Cool J |
Crowned o June 1st 1533, Anne Boleyn was the mother of which monarch? | LL Cool J — Listen for free on Spotify
LL Cool J
Play on Spotify
Hip-hop is notorious for short-lived careers, but LL Cool J is the inevitable exception that proves the rule.
Releasing his first hit, "I Can't Live Without My Radio," in 1985 when he was just 17 years old, LL initially was a hard-hitting, streetwise b-boy with spare beats and ballistic rhymes. He quickly developed an alternate style, a romantic -- and occasionally sappy -- lover's rap epitomized by his mainstream breakthrough single, "I Need Love." LL's first two albums, Radio and Bigger and Deffer, made him a star, but he strived for pop stardom a little too much on 1989's Walking with a Panther. By 1990, his audience had declined somewhat, since his ballads and party raps were the opposite of the chaotic, edgy political hip-hop of Public Enemy or the gangsta rap of N.W.A , but he shot back to the top of the charts with Mama Said Knock You Out, which established him as one of hip-hop's genuine superstars. By the mid-'90s, he had starred in his own television sitcom, In the House, appeared in several films, and had racked up two of his biggest singles with "Hey Lover" and "Doin' It." In short, he had proven that rappers could have long-term careers.
Of course, that didn't seem likely when he came storming out of Queens, New York, when he was 16 years old. LL Cool J (born James Todd Smith; his stage name is an acronym for "Ladies Love Cool James") had already been rapping since the age of nine. Two years later, his grandfather -- he had been living with his grandparents since his parents divorced when he was four -- gave him a DJ system and he began making tapes at home. Eventually, he sent these demo tapes to record companies, attracting the interest of Def Jam , a fledgling label run by New York University students Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin . Def Jam signed LL and released his debut, "I Need a Beat," as their first single in 1984. The record sold over 100,000 copies, establishing both the label and the rapper. LL dropped out of high school and recorded his debut album, Radio. Released in 1985, Radio was a major hit and it earned considerable praise for how it shaped raps into recognizable pop-song structures. On the strength of "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and "Rock the Bells," the album went platinum in 1986. The following year, his second album, Bigger and Deffer, shot to number three due to the ballad "I Need Love," which became one of the first pop-rap crossover hits.
LL's knack for making hip-hop as accessible as pop was one of his greatest talents, yet it was also a weakness, since it opened him up to accusations of being a sellout. Taken from the Less Than Zero soundtrack, 1988's "Goin' Back to Cali" walked the line with ease, but 1989's Walking with a Panther was not greeted warmly by most hip-hop fans. Although it was a Top Ten hit and spawned the gold single "I'm That Type of Guy," the album was perceived as a pop sell-out effort, and on a supporting concert at the Apollo, he was booed. LL didn't take the criticism lying down -- he struck back with 1990's Mama Said Knock You Out, the hardest record he ever made. LL supported the album with a legendary, live acoustic performance on MTV Unplugged, and on the strength of the Top Ten R&B singles "The Boomin' System" and "Around the Way Girl" (number nine, pop) as well as the hit title track, Mama Said Knock You Out became his biggest-selling album, establishing him as a pop star in addition to a rap superstar. He soon landed roles in the films The Hard Way (1991) and Toys (1992), and he also performed at Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration in 1993. Mama Said Knock You Out kept him so busy that he didn't deliver the follow-up, 14 Shots to the Dome, until the spring of 1993. Boasting a harder gangsta rap edge, 14 Shots initially sold well, debuting in the Top Ten, but it was an unfocused effort that generated no significant hit singles. Consequently, it stalled at gold status and hurt his reputation considerably.
Following the failure of 14 Shots to the Dome, LL began starring in the NBC sitcom In the House. He returned to recording in 1995, releasing Mr. Smith toward the end of the year. Unexpectedly, Mr. Smith became a huge hit, going double platinum and launching two of his biggest hits, with the Boyz II Men duet "Hey Lover" and "Doin' It." At the end of 1996, he released the greatest-hits album All World, while Phenomenon appeared one year later. G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time), released in 2000, reached the top of the album charts, and 2002's 10 featured one of his biggest hits in years, "Luv U Better." With the help of producer Timbaland , he unleashed the tough DEFinition album in 2004 as his James Todd Smith clothing line was hitting the malls. "Control Myself," a hit single featuring Jennifer Lopez , prefaced 2006's Todd Smith album. His 2008 effort Exit 13 would be his last album for Def Jam as the rapper found work as a primetime television star, landing a starring role on CBS' NCIS: Los Angeles. In 2013 he returned to recording, first making news with the track "Accidental Racist," his much-maligned duet with country star Brad Paisley . Another Paisley duet landed on LL's 2013 album Authentic, a star-studded effort with Eddie Van Halen , Snoop Dogg , and Charlie Wilson also appearing as guests. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
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Nicknamed 'The Staggies', which First Division team were runners-up in the 2010 Scottish FA Cup Final? | Ross County F.C. | Open Access articles | Open Access journals | Conference Proceedings | Editors | Authors | Reviewers | scientific events
See also: List of Ross County F.C. seasons
The club were formed in 1929 after the previous local clubs from the North Caledonian Football League , Dingwall Victoria United, the 'Dingwall Victors', and Dingwall Thistle, the 'Dingwall Jags' successfully applied for Highland Football League membership. The club was subsequently renamed Ross County. Playing in the Highland League from 1929, they won the championship on three occasions, first in 1967, then in 1991 and 1992. They also gained a reputation for their good performances in the early rounds of the Scottish Cup , upsetting league teams on eight occasions. The most notable of these upsets came on 8 January 1994, they won 4–0 at Forfar Athletic , and were elected to the Scottish Football League three days later.
At the beginning of season 1994–95 the Scottish League underwent changes in its structure, and, following a vote on 11 January 1994, County were allocated one of the two vacancies in the new 10-club Division Three . County gathered 57 votes, while the proposed merger to form Inverness Caledonian Thistle amassed 68.
In 1998–99 they were Champions of the Third Division and thereby won promotion to the Second Division, where they finished in third place. This resulted in promotion to the First Division followed thanks to a reorganisation of the League, with the Premier League being expanded from ten clubs to twelve. After seven seasons in the First Division Ross County were relegated back to the Second Division in 2006–07. They won the Second Division in 2007–08, and were promoted back to the First Division. Ross County finished their first season back in the First Division in 8th place.
Their manager for a very short spell until October 2005, was former Inverness and Hearts manager John Robertson . He left the club on 24 October 2005, due to differences of opinion on a number of fundamental issues with the chairman. Gardner Spiers , a former Aberdeen coach, was appointed caretaker manager , but he too left in April 2006 after being told he would not be considered for appointment on a permanent basis. Director of Football George Adams took temporary charge before former Motherwell player Scott Leitch was appointed on 18 April 2006. Leitch, after winning the Challenge Cup but suffering relegation, stood down at the end of the 2006–07 season, almost exactly one year after his appointment. [2] Former Partick Thistle manager Dick Campbell was announced as his replacement in May 2007. [3] However, after a good run of results to start their Division 2 campaign, Campbell and the Ross County board decided to part company on 2 October 2007. Derek Adams (son of George Adams) took over as caretaker, and was confirmed as permanent manager a month later, after the side's good form continued.
File:RossCountyFC League Performance.svg
Chart of table positions of Ross County since joining the League.
In November 2010 Derek Adams left to become Colin Calderwood's assistant at Hibernian . [4] Former Celtic player Willie McStay was appointed as his replacement in November 2010. [5] Although McStay's tenure was short – lasting only 9 games. [6] Jimmy Calderwood was then appointed until the end of the 2010–11 season. [7] In May 2011 it was announced that Derek Adams was to return as manager. [8]
Ross County won their first ever nationwide trophy when they won the Scottish Challenge Cup in November 2006 on penalties with Jason Crooks scoring the deciding spot kick on his competitive debut. [9]
Two years later County again reached the final of the Scottish Challenge Cup . They played Airdrie United at McDiarmid Park . Unlike two years previously, County lost in a penalty shootout where four penalties were missed. Ross County also reached the Challenge Cup final on April 2011 in which they beat Queen Of The South 2–0.
On 23 March 2010 they defeated Scottish Premier League club Hibernian 2–1 in a Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at home at Victoria Park. [10] In the semi-final, they played Celtic on Saturday 10 April 2010. Described as the biggest match in their history,[ citation needed ] they won 2–0 in Hampden Park and reach the final of the Scottish Cup for the first time in their history. [11] More than 7,000 Ross County fans travelled to Glasgow to watch the game.
In the 2010 Scottish Cup Final on 15 May 2010, County lost 0–3 to Dundee United at Hampden Park . [12] The match was watched by more than 17,000 Ross County fans.
Ross County secured promotion to the Scottish Premier League on 10 April 2012 when their nearest rival to the title Dundee failed to beat Queen of the South .
Due to the 3 events, April 10 is fondly known as Ross County Day.
During this push to promotion, Ross County embarked on a 40-game undefeated run in league football, which continued into the Scottish Premier League. The run was ended by St. Johnstone on 22 September 2012. [13] The Staggies parted company with George and Derek Adams on the 28th August 2014 following a poor start to the 2014–15 campaign.
Players, managers, and rivalries
Managers of Ross County have included Neale Cooper and Alex Smith and they have had players such as Mark Hateley , John Hewitt , Brian Irvine and former Celtic player David Hannah .
Their main rivals are fellow Highlanders, Inverness Caledonian Thistle , who they contest the Highland derby with. However, County have only finished above their rivals twice in their 19 seasons in the league. Due to the geographical proximity of the clubs and despite the rivalry, Inverness CT have signed many former Ross County players over the years, including Barry Wilson , Stuart Golabek , Roy McBain , Graham Bayne , Richard Hastings , Steven Hislop, John Rankin , Andrew Barrowman , Lionel Djebi-Zadi and Don Cowie . Many former Inverness CT players have also "crossed the bridge" in the opposite direction, most notably Iain Vigurs , Grant Munro , Michael Fraser and Ross Tokely in recent years. Both Stuart Golabek and Andy Barrowman had two spells at County each, with the former also having two spells at ICT.
Nickname
The Club's nickname is the Staggies, taken from their badge which is a Caberfeidh, or Stag’s Head. This in turn was taken from the regimental badge of the Seaforth Highlanders , the regiment in which many locals had fought and died during the Great War .
Mascot
Ross County's mascot, due to their affiliation with the stag crest of the Seaforth Highlanders, is a stag named Rosco, a play on the club's name.
Club records
| Ross-shire |
In which 1970's police drama did Karl Malden play 'Detective Lieutenant Mike Stone'? | ross county f c : definition of ross county f c and synonyms of ross county f c (English)
Current season
Ross County Football Club are a Scottish professional football team from the town of Dingwall , Ross and Cromarty . Founded in 1929, they will play in the 2012–13 Scottish Premier League after winning promotion as champions of the First Division . They play their home matches at Victoria Park . Prior to the 1994–95 season they played in the Highland Football League , a competition they won three times. They have also won the Scottish First Division , Second Division , Third Division (once each) and Challenge Cup twice. In 2010, they produced a remarkable run to reach the Scottish Cup Final. Nicknamed The Staggies, County's home colours are dark blue and white. They are currently managed by Derek Adams and in season 2011-2012 produced an amazing season only losing one game.
Contents
See also: List of Ross County F.C. seasons
The club were formed in 1929 after the previous local club, the Dingwall Victors, applied for Highland League status. The club was subsequently renamed Ross County. Initially playing in the Highland Football League , they won the championship on three occasions, first in 1967, then in 1991 and 1992. They also gained a reputation for their good performances in the early rounds of the Scottish Cup , upsetting league teams on eight occasions. The most notable of these upsets came on the 8th January 1994, they won 4–0 at Forfar Athletic , and were elected to the Scottish Football League three days later.
At the beginning of season 1994–95 the Scottish League underwent changes in its structure, and, following a vote on 11 January 1994, County were allocated one of the two vacancies in the new 10-club Division Three . County gathered 57 votes, while the proposed merger to form Inverness Caledonian Thistle amassed 68.
In 1998–99 they were Champions of the Third Division and thereby won promotion to the Second Division, where they finished in third place. This resulted in promotion to the First Division followed thanks to a reorganisation of the League, with the Premier League being expanded from ten clubs to twelve. After seven seasons in the First Division Ross County were relegated back to the Second Division in 2006–07. They won the Second Division in 2007–08, and were promoted back to the First Division. Ross County finished their first season back in the First Division in 8th place.
Their manager for a very short spell until October 2005, was former Inverness and Hearts manager John Robertson . He left the club on the 24 October 2005, due to differences of opinion on a number of fundamental issues with the chairman. Gardner Spiers , a former Aberdeen coach, was appointed caretaker manager , but he too left in April 2006 after being told he would not be considered for appointment on a permanent basis. Director of Football George Adams took temporary charge before former Motherwell player Scott Leitch was appointed on 18 April 2006. Leitch, after winning the Challenge Cup but suffering relegation, stood down at the end of the 2006–07 season, almost exactly one year after his appointment. [1] Former Partick Thistle manager Dick Campbell was announced as his replacement in May 2007. [2] However, after a good run of results to start their Division 2 campaign, Campbell and the Ross County board decided to part company on 2 October 2007. Derek Adams (son of George Adams) took over as caretaker, and was confirmed as permanent manager a month later, after the side's good form continued.
In November 2010 Derek Adams left to become Colin Calderwood's assistant at Hibernian . [3] Former Celtic player Willie McStay was appointed as his replacement in November 2010. [4] Although McStay's tenure was short – lasting only 9 games. [5] Jimmy Calderwood was then appointed until the end of the 2010/2011 season. [6] In May 2011 it was announced that Derek Adams was to return as manager. [7]
Ross County won their first ever nationwide trophy when they won the Scottish Challenge Cup in November 2006 on penalties with Jason Crooks scoring the deciding spot kick on his competitive debut. [8]
Two years later County again reached the final of the Scottish Challenge Cup . They played Airdrie United at McDiarmid Park . Unlike two years previously, County lost in a penalty shootout where four penalties were missed. Ross County also reached the Challenge Cup final in 2011 in which they beat Queen Of The South 2–0.
On 23 March 2010 they defeated Scottish Premier League club Hibernian 2–1 in a Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at home at Victoria Park. [9]
In the semi-final, they played Celtic on Saturday 10 April 2010. Described as the biggest match in their history[ citation needed ], they won 2-0 in Hampden Park and reach the final of the Scottish Cup for the first time in their history. [10] More than 7,000 Ross County fans travelled to Glasgow to watch the game.
In the 2010 Scottish Cup Final on 15 May 2010, County lost 0–3 to Dundee United at Hampden Park . [11] The match was watched by more than 17,000 Ross County fans.
Ross County secured promotion to the Scottish Premier League on 10 April 2012 when their nearest rival to the title Dundee failed to beat Queen of the South .
Players, managers, and rivalries
Managers of Ross County have included Neale Cooper and Alex Smith and they have had players such as Mark Hateley , John Hewitt , Brian Irvine and former Celtic player David Hannah .
Their main rivals are fellow Highlanders, Inverness Caledonian Thistle , who they contest the Highland derby with. However, County have only finished above their rivals twice in their 18 seasons in the league. Due to the geographical proximity of the clubs and despite the rivalry, Inverness CT have signed many former Ross County players over the years, including Barry Wilson , Stuart Golabek , Roy McBain , Graham Bayne , Richard Hastings , Steven Hislop, John Rankin , Andrew Barrowman , Lionel Djebi-Zadi and Don Cowie . Many former Inverness CT players have also "crossed the bridge" in the opposite direction, most notably Iain Vigurs , Grant Munro , Michael Fraser and Ross Tokely in recent years. Both Stuart Golabek and Andy Barrowman had two spells at County each, with the former also having two spells at ICT.
Nickname
The Club's nickname is the Staggies, taken from their badge which is a Caberfeidh, or Stag’s Head. This in turn was taken from the regimental badge of the Seaforth Highlanders , the regiment in which many locals had fought and died during the Great War .
Mascot
Ross County's mascot, due to their affiliation with the stag crest of the Seaforth Highlanders, is a stag named Rosco, a play on the club's name.
Club records
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