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Special Operations Executive

Special Operations Executive

The Special Operations Executive (SOE), often called "the Baker Street Irregulars" after Sherlock Holmes's fictional group of spies, was a World War II organisation initiated by Winston Churchill and Hugh Dalton in July 1940 as a mechanism for conducting warfare by means other than direct military engagement. Originally designated as 'Section D' of MI6, the mission of the SOE was to encourage and facilitate espionage and sabotage behind enemy lines and to serve as a focal point for the formation of a vestigial resistance movement in Britain itself (the Auxiliary Units) in the possible event of an Axis invasion. Known also as Churchill's Secret Army and charged by him to "set Europe ablaze." Head of the SOE from September 1943 was Colin Gubbins (1896-1976), a soldier who rose to the rank of Major General. The headquarters of SOE were at 64 Baker Street. Another important London base was Aston House, where weapons and tactics research was conducted. Under the cover name ISRB (Inter Services Research Bureau) SOE set up an Establishment where development of equipment for use in the Secret war could be undertaken. Called Station IX this was situated at the Frythe - a former hotel, outside Welwyn. Here ISRB developed Radios, Weapons, explosive devices, and "booby - traps" for use by Agents and clandestine raiding forces. Among products produced at Station IX were a miniature folding motorbike (the Welbike) - for use by parachutists, a silenced pistol (the Welrod) and several miniature submersible craft (the Welman and Sleeping Beauty). A sea -trials unit was set up in West Wales at Goodwick, by Fishguard (station IXa) where these craft were tested. In late 1944 craft were despatched to Australia to the Allied Intelligence Bureau (SRD), for tropical testing.[http://www.welfreighter.info/] SOE's operations in France were directed by two London-based country sections. The "F" Section, under British control, recruited agents who were not prepared to accept the leadership of General De Gaulle, while the "RF" Section was linked to de Gaulle's]] Free French operations. As well, there were two smaller sections: "EU/P" Section, which dealt with the Polish community in France and the "DF" Section which was responsible for escape routes and coordination. During the latter part of 1942 another section known as 'AMF' was established in Algiers. The initial training centre of the SOE was at Wanborough Manor, Guildford. The SOE included a number of women, its F Section (France) alone placed 39 female agents in to the field, of whom 13 did not return. The Valençay SOE Memorial was unveiled at Valençay in the Indre département of France on May 6, 1991, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the despatch of F Section's first agent to France. The memorial's "Roll of Honour" lists the names of the 91 men and 13 women members of the SOE who gave their lives for France's freedom. The SOE were highly dependent upon the security of radio transmissions. The development of high quality radios, secure transmission procedures and proper ciphers took a considerable time. Leo Marks, SOE's chief cryptographer, was responsible for the development of better codes to replace the insecure poem codes. SOE were particularly active in the following countries: France, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Greece, Poland, Czechoslovakia. Through cooperation with the Special Operations Executive and the British intelligence service, a group of Jewish volunteers from Palestine were sent on missions to several countries in Nazi-occupied Europe from 1943 to 1945. From early 1942, S.O.E. also contributed to the allied war effort in South East Asia, and by the latter part of the war, covered resistance and covert operations throughout the region. This part of S.O.E. adopted the name Force 136. In March of 1941 a group performing commando raids in Norway, Norwegian Independent Company 1 (NOR.I.C.1) was organized under leadership of Captain Martin Linge. Their initial raids in 1941 was Operation Archery), their best known raids were probably the Norwegian heavy water sabotage. Communication lines with London were gradually improved, so that in 1945, 64 radio operators were spread throughout Norway. On May 5, 1941, Georges Bégué (1911-1993) became the first SOE agent dropped in France who then setup radio communications and met the next drop of agents. Between Bégué's first drop and August 1944, more than four hundred F Section agents were sent into occupied France to serve in a variety of functions such as arms and sabotage instructors, couriers, circuit organisers, liaison officers, and radio operators. SOE was dissolved officially in 1946, and much of its sphere of influence reverted to the Secret Intelligence Service, SIS, better known as MI6. See SOE F Section timeline for a list of significant events in the history of F Section. See also SOE F Section networks for details of the individual networks operated by F Section. SOE was known in public by its cover name, the Inter-Services Research Bureau (ISRB).

Agents

Amongst SOE's agents can be numbered:
- Lorraine Adie, who married American OSS agent Miles Copeland, Jr.
- Jack Agazarian (1916-1945)
- France Antelme (1900-1945)
- Guy D'Artois
- Lisé de Baissac
- Alcide Beauregard
- Yolande Beekman (1911-1944)
- Georges Bégué (1911-1993)
- Robert Benoist (1895-1944)
- Muriel Byck
- Gustave "Guy" Biéler (1904-1944)
- Emanuel Bierer (1884-ukn)
- Helen Anna Agate Thormann-Bierer (1885-ukn)
- Pierre Brossolette (1903-1944)
- Denise Bloch (1915-1945)
- Andrée Borrel (1919-1944)
- Tony Brooks
- Maurice Buckmaster (1902-1992)
- Sonya Butt
- Robert Bennett Byerly
- Francis Cammaerts (1916- )
- William John Chalk (1899-ukn)
- Robert Arthur Chapman (1901-ukn)
- Arthur Christie (1921-2003)
- Odette Churchill - see Odette Sansom
- Peter Churchill (1909-1972)
- Adolphus Richard Cooper (1899-ukn)
- Yvonne Cormeau (1909-1998)
- Madeleine Damerment (1917-1944)
- Major Jim Davies
- Francois Adolphe Deniset
- Henri Dericourt (1909-1962)
- Sir Derek Dodson
- Gustave Duclos
- Albrecht Gaiswinkler (1905-1979)
- Emile Garry (1909-1944)
- Haim Gerson
- Christine Granville, General Motors (1915-1952) (real name Krystyna Skarbek)
- Virginia Hall (1906-1982)
- Marcel Homet (1897-ukn)
- Desmond Hubble (1910-1944)
- Max Hymans (1900-1961)
- Peter Johnsen
- Noor Inyat Khan (1914-1944)
- Andrzej Kowerski
- James Larose
- Cecily Lefort (1900-1945)
- Vera Leigh (1903-1944)
- Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915- )
- John Kenneth Macalister (1914-1944)
- Eileen Nearne
- Alfred Newton
- Henry Newton
- Gilbert Norman (1914-1944)
- Sonia Olschanezky (1923-1944)
- Harry Peulevé (1916-1963)
- Frank Pickersgill (1915-1944)
- Eliane Plewman (1917-1944)
- Sir Anthony Quayle (1913-1989)
- Alex Rabinovich
- Harry Rée (1914-1991)
- Chaviva Reik (1914-1944)
- Lilian Rolfe (1914-1945)
- Diana Rowden (1915-1944)
- Yvonne Rudelatt (1895-1945)
- Roméo Sabourin (1923-1944)
- Odette Sansom-Hallowes, GC (1912-1995)
- Krystyna Skarbek (aka Christine Granville), General Motors (1915-1952)
- Einar Skinnarland (1918-2002)
- Maurice Southgate
- Arthur Staggs (1912- )
- George Reginald Starr (1904-1980)
- John Renshaw Starr
- Brian Stonehouse (1918-1998)
- Francis Suttil (1910-1945)
- Violette Szabo (1921-1945)
- Hannah Szenes (1921-1944)
- Jacques Taschereau
- Paul-Émile Thibeault
- F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas (1902-1964)
- Pierre de Vomécourt
- Nancy Wake (1912- )
- Peter Wand-Tetley
- William Grover-Williams (1903-1945)
- Jean-Pierre Wimille (1908-1949)
- Pearl Witherington (1914- )
- John Young

Numbered stations

SOE operated several "stations" located in country houses and elsewhere. These were given numbers, such as:
- Station VI - Bride Hall, the weapons acquisition section.
- Station IX - The Frythe estate near Welwyn Garden City, which began as a wireless research unit (Special Signals), then became a weapons development & production centre, then a research and development station. Now a factory belonging to Smithkline Beecham. [http://www.timelapse.dk/Welrod/uk/SoeStationIX.htm]
- Station X - Bletchley Park, a radio station, now more famous for its subsequent use as a code breaking centre. The radio station moved to Aston House when code breaking activities took over.
- Station XI - Aston House near Stevenage, a research and development station.
- Station XII - also at Aston House, the radio station that started at Bletchley Park.
- Station XIV - Briggens, near Roydon, Essex, contained the forgery section.
- Station XV - Thatched Barn - on the Barnet bypass at Borehamwood, Hertfordshire - camouflage section, for development of booby traps.
- Station XVA - Kensington, London - prototypes.
- Station XVB - A training centre for agents and Demonstration Room for briefing officials, at the Natural History Museum in London. [http://www.nhm.ac.uk/darwincentre/live/presentations/181103PaulClark.html]
- Station XVC - photographic and make-up section.
- Station 53a - Grendon Hall in Grendon Underwood, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire - cryptology centre. Now a prison.
- Station 53b - Poundon, Buckinghamshire, near Bicester. - radio listening and transmission station.
- Station 53c - Poundon, Buckinghamshire, near Bicester. - Training American forces in SOE communications techniques. 53b and 53c were physically separate establishments but close to each other. Some of the 53b staff were transferred when 53c opened. Others, whose code numbers are unknown, included:
- Gaynes Hall near St Neots in Cambridgeshire - Norwegian section.
- The Firs - Whitchurch, near Aylesbury - explosives testing.
- Arisaig, Inverness-shire - finishing school [http://www.btinternet.com/~m.a.christie/facts.htm]
- Henley-on-Themes - quartermaster
- Fawley Court, Henley on Thames - S.O.E. Signals section training facility
- Bellasis, at Box Hill, outside Dorking
- Brickendonbury Manor - sabotage

Bibliography and filmography

- The Secret History of SOE - Special Operations Executive 1940-1945, (BPR Publications, 2000), Professor William Mackenzie. ISBN 0953615189
- Secret Agent - The True Story of the Special Operations Executive, (BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2000), David Stafford, ISBN 0563537345
- R.J.Minney wrote the book "Carve Her Name with Pride" in 1956, telling the story of Violette Szabo. A film of the same title was made in 1958 starring Paul Schofield and Virginia McKenna.
- William Stanley Moss wrote the book "Ill Met by Moonlight" in 1950, giving his first-hand account of an SOE operation in 1944 to kidnap Major General Heinrich Kreipe, the German divisional commander on Crete. The film "Night Ambush", based on the book, was made in 1957, starring Dirk Bogarde and Marius Goring.
- Jerrard Tickell wrote the book "Odette: The story of a British agent" in 1949, telling the story of Odette Sansom-Hallowes. The film "Odette", based on the book, was made in 1950, starring Anna Neagle and Trevor Howard.
- Jean Overton Fuller wrote the book "The Starr Affair", telling the story of John Renshaw Starr.
- The Heroes of Telemark is a film, made in 1965, based on an SOE operation to sabotage the heavy water plant at Rjukan, Norway in 1943.
- A French/Norwegian black and white docu-film from 1948 titled "La Bataille de l'eau lourde"/"Kampen om tungtvannet" (trans. "The Fight Over the Heavy Water"), featured some of the ‘original cast’, so to speak. Joachim Rønneberg has stated; "'The Fight over Heavy Water' was an honest attempt to describe history. On the other hand 'Heroes of Telemark' had little to do with reality.”
- "Nancy Wake Codename: The White Mouse" is a 1987 docudrama about Nancy Wake's work for SOE, partly narrated by herself.
- "Between Silk and Cyanide" by Leo Marks, 1998; Marks was the Head of Codes at SOE and this book is an account of his struggle to introduce better encryption for use by the field agents
- "Mission Scapula SOE in the Far East" by Arthur Christie, ISBN 0954701003 A true story about an ordinary soldier seconded into MI5 and sent on a mission to Singapore just before it fell. With Freddy Spencer-Chapman.
- "Operation Daybreak" is a 1976 film, based upon a true, dangerous operation in May 1942 to drop a small group of Czech S.O.E. agents into their own occupied country with the singular deadly mission to assassinate Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's protege, Reinhard Heydrich, Reichsprotektor (representing the nazi protectorate over the Czech puppet-state) of Bohemia and Moravia, hated as The Butcher of Prague. The mission succeeded, but with tragic results.
- "Bridge on the River Kwai" is a well-known classic British-made war-drama 1957, set in Thailand during WW2, during the construction of the Siam - Burma railway through virgin jungle and endless hills and gorges, using malnourished, mistreated allied prisoners of war. A counter-story in the film, which collides with the main story at the climax, relates to a mission to destroy the newly-constructed railway bridge by a fictious cloak and dagger sabotage organisation called 'Force 316', whose training base is in Ceylon. In fact, this is a thinly-disguised reference to the real-life Force 136, part of SOE, who indeed had wartime jungle-training facilities in Ceylon at M.E. 25 - Horona.
- Fictional versions of SOE turn up as the organization in charge of occult activities in Tim Powers' Declare and Charles Stross's The Atrocity Archives.

Miscellany/trivia

- Author Ian Fleming, who knew both Maurice Buckmaster and Vera Atkins, is reputed to have used at least parts of them to create "M", and "Miss Moneypenny" in his James Bond books. In his first Bond novel, Fleming is said to have based the "Vesper Lynd" character on the beautiful SOE agent, Christine Granville. Another agent that Fleming used for his Bond character was Duane Hudson.

External links

- [http://clutch.open.ac.uk/schools/emerson00/soe_gubbins_marks.html Colin Gubbins, Leo Marks and the SOE]
- [http://www.pro.gov.uk/releases/feb2002-SOE/list.htm Special Operations Executive Records Release 8th Feb 2002] (dead link)
- [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2003/may12/default.htm Special Operations Executive Records Releases in May 2003]
- [http://www.64-baker-street.org/ 64 Baker Street: The Women of the SOE]
- [http://www.m.a.christie.btinternet.co.uk/ "Mission Scapula" Special Operations Executive in the Far East.] Category:World War II groups Category:Espionage
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Baker Street Irregulars

The Baker Street Irregulars are several different groups, all named after the original, from various Sherlock Holmes stories.

The original

The original Irregulars are a group of fictional characters featured in the Sherlock Holmes stories. They were a group of street urchins who helped Holmes out from time to time. The head of the group was called Wiggins. Holmes paid them a shilling a day (plus expenses), with a guinea prize (worth one pound and one shilling) for a vital clue.

Special Operations Executive

The Special Operations Executive (SOE), tasked by Winston Churchill to "set Europe ablaze" during World War II, had their headquarters at 64 Baker Street and were often called "the Baker Street Irregulars" after Sherlock Holmes's fictional group of spies.

The modern organization

The Baker Street Irregulars are also an organization of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts founded in 1934 by Christopher Morley. Members have included Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Rex Stout and Isaac Asimov. They continue to convene every January in New York City for an annual dinner, which forms part of a weekend of celebration and study involving other Sherlockian groups and individuals as well. The present leader of is Michael Whelan of Indianapolis, Indiana. The BSI, as it calls itself, is considered the preeminent Sherlockian group in the United States. There are also "scion societies" approved by the BSI in dozens of local communities. Most scion societies welcome new members, but the BSI does not accept applications for membership -- instead, membership and the awarding of an "Irregular Shilling" comes as an honor to those who have made a name for themselves in local groups or in Sherlockian publications. The BSI has published [http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com The Baker Street Journal], an "irregular quarterly of Sherlockiana" since 1946.

The band

The Baker Street Irregulars is also the name of an English band from Preston who take their name from Holmes' street urchins.

Influence on other popular culture

Robert A. Heinlein picked up the idea in his novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. Those Irregulars carried out similar surveillance in the run-up to a revolution, working for a computer named Mycroft, named after Sherlock Holmes' older smarter brother. The Irregulars also appear in the animated series Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, though these are teenagers, and presumably older than the ones of the Doyle canon. Like in the stories, the unofficial leader is named Wiggins, an aspiring pugilist and soccer player. Holmes practically deduces his entire life story simply by noting his walk and the stains on his clothes during their first meeting. A self-styled cockney girl and a computer nerd paraplegic form the other members of the group.

External links

- [http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com The Baker Street Journal from BSI]
- [http://www.thebakerstreetirregulars.com/ Baker Street Irregulars band page] Baker Street Irregulars ja:ベイカー街遊撃隊

World War II

, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. From top going counterclockwise: Allied landing on D-Day 1944, the Nuremberg Rally 1936, the Nagasaki atom bomb 1945, the Soviet flag over the Reichstag in Berlin 1945 and the Gate of Auschwitz.]] World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th Century conflict that engulfed much of the globe and is accepted as the largest and deadliest continuous war in human history. It was the first time that a number of newly developed technologies, including nuclear weapons, were used against either military or civilian targets. World War II resulted in the direct or indirect death of anywhere from 50 to 60 million or more people, over 3% of the world population at that time. It is estimated to have cost more money and resources than all other wars combined: about 1 trillion US dollars in 1945 (adjusted for inflation; roughly 10.5 trillion in 2005), not including subsequent reconstruction [http://www.historychannel.com/worldwartwo/?page=triumph5]. The outcomes of the war, including new technology and changes to the world's geopolitical, cultural and economic arrangement, were unprecedented. The conflict began by most Western accounts on September 1 1939 with the German invasion of Poland (the Pacific war is taken to have started on July 7 1937 with the Japanese attack on China) and lasted until mid-1945, involving many of the world's countries. Virtually all countries that participated in World War I were involved in World War II. Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939 and Canada followed on September 10, 1939. The United States entered the conflict in December of 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Summary

Attributed in varying degrees to the Treaty of Versailles, the Great Depression, and the rise in nationalism, racism, fascism, National socialism, Japanese imperialism, and militarism, the causes of the war are a matter of debate. The war was fought between the Axis Powers and the Allies. The Axis initially consisted of an alliance between Germany and Italy, which later expanded to include Japan and Eastern European countries such as Romania and Bulgaria. Some of the nations that Germany conquered sent military forces, particularly to the Eastern front. Among the expeditionary forces that joined Germany were forces from Vichy France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain (though Spain was itself a neutral country) and armies of Russians and Ukrainians under the command of the general Andrey Vlasov. The Allies were initially the United Kingdom, including the Commonwealth, France and Poland, later joined by the USSR, the United States of America and China. Fighting occurred across the Atlantic Ocean, in Western and Eastern Europe, in the Mediterranean Sea, Africa, the Middle East, in the Pacific and South East Asia, and it continued in China. In Europe, the war ended with the surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945 (V-E and Victory Days), but continued in Asia until Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945 (V-J Day). At least 50 million people died as a result of the war. This figure includes acts of genocide such as the Holocaust and General Ishii Shiro's Unit 731 experiments in Pingfan, incredibly bloody battles in Europe and the Pacific Ocean, and massive bombings of cities, including the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan and the firebombing of Dresden (and even worse but less known) of Pforzheim in Germany. Few areas of the world were unaffected; the war involved the "home front" and bombing of civilians to a new degree. Atomic weapons, jet aircraft, rockets and radar, the blitzkrieg, or "lightning war", the massive use of tanks, submarines, torpedo bombers and destroyer/tanker formations, are only a few of many wartime inventions and new tactics that changed the face of the conflict. Post–World War II Europe was partitioned into Western and Soviet spheres of influence, the former undergoing economic reconstruction under the Marshall Plan and the latter becoming satellite states of the Soviet Union. This partition was, however, informal; rather than coming to terms about the spheres of influence, the relationship between the victors steadily deteriorated, and the military lines of demarcation finally became the de facto country boundaries. Western Europe largely aligned as NATO, and Eastern Europe largely as the Warsaw pact countries, alliances which were fundamental to the ensuing Cold War. In Asia, the United States' military occupation of Japan led to Japan's democratisation. China's civil war continued through and after the war, resulting eventually in the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The war sparked a wave of independence for colonies of European powers, who were exhausted from fighting the war. There was a fundamental shift in power from Western Europe to the new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, though there were few actual boundary changes. __TOC__

Causes

People's Republic of China]] Main articles: Causes of World War II, Events preceding World War II in Europe, Events preceding World War II in Asia The causes of World War II are naturally a debated subject, but a common view, particularly among the allies in the early post-war years, ties them to the expansionism of Germany and Japan: Germany had lost wealth, power and status following the First World War and the expansion was to make Germany great again.
- In Germany there was a strong desire to escape the bonds of the World War I Treaty of Versailles, and eventually, Hitler and the Nazis assumed control of the country. They led Germany through a chain of events: rearmament, reoccupation of the Rhineland, a merger with Austria (Anschluss), incorporation of Czechoslovakia and finally the invasion of Poland.
- In Asia, Japan's efforts to become a world power and the rise of militarist leadership (in the 1930s the government in Japan was undermined as militarists rose to power and de facto gained totalitarian control) led to conflicts with first China and later the United States. Japan also sought to secure additional natural resources, such as oil and iron ore, due in part to the lack of natural resources on Japan's own home islands.

Participants

iron ore and Joseph Stalin, during the Yalta Conference in 1945]] Main article: Participants in World War II The belligerents of the Second World War are usually considered to belong to either of the two blocs: the Axis and the Allies. A number of smaller countries participated in the war, though often under occupation or as proxies of one of the large powers. The Axis Powers consisted primarily of Germany, Italy, and Japan, which split the Earth into three spheres of influence under the Tripartite Pact of 1940, and vowed to defend one another against aggression. This replaced the German-Japanese Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936 that Italy had joined in 1937. Spain's fascist government led by Francisco Franco was a great asset in trade to the Axis powers during the war. A number of smaller countries were counted among the Axis powers. Among these were Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia, and arguably Finland. Among the Allied powers, the so-called Big Three were the United Kingdom (from September 3 1939), the Soviet Union (from June 1941) and the United States (from December 1941). China had been at war with Japan since 1937. 1937 On August 23, 1939, just before the war broke out, the USSR and Germany signed the non-aggression Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which, among other things, divided Eastern Europe into regions of influence. But Germany violated the pact when it invaded the USSR in 1941. Similarly, the US had the (much older) unilateral Monroe Doctrine, which stated that Europe should not interfere in the Americas and in turn the U.S. would not interfere in European affairs (including wars). But the U.S. entered the war after first Japan and then Germany declared war on it and launched direct attacks on its navy, shipping and other interests. Many other countries, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Thailand and Yugoslavia are also considered important Allies, although some of these were conquered and occupied by Axis forces or even officially joined the Axis as a result of coercion. Countries that attempted to remain neutral in the conflict were often viewed with suspicion by the participants, and often pressured to make contributions to the most influential power in their neighbourhood. Sovereignty was often difficult to maintain as many countries that did not directly participate in the conflict nevertheless held vested interests in seeing a particular side prevail. For example, neutral Switzerland was generally considered to be "Allied-friendly", while neutral Spain was considered "Axis-friendly", despite the fact that neither country openly proclaimed any alliances. Such situations allowed neutral countries to become hotbeds of espionage. It is important to note as well, that Sweden's participation in the war was negligable due to specific relations with the German state at the time.

A debated starting date

On which date World War II started is a debated subject; historians do not all agree on which event signified the start of the war. The most common date used is 1 September 1939, marking the German invasion of Poland which resulted in the British and French declarations of war two days later. Other candidates include the Japanese invasion of China on 7 July 1937 (the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War) or the entry of Hitler's armies to Prague in March 1939. Some historians argue that the Italian occupation of Ethiopia (The Second Italo-Abyssinian War) which lasted seven months in 1935-1936 was the actual start of World War II. There are some historians that argue the war started on the start of the Manchurian Incident on 18 September 1931.

Chronology 1937-45

Main articles: European Theatre of World War II, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II, Pacific War, End of World War II in Europe

1937: Second Sino-Japanese War

On 7 July 1937, Japan, after occupying northeastern China as Manchuria in 1931, launched another attack against China near Beijing (see Marco Polo Bridge Incident). Rather than retreating swiftly as in engagements with the Japanese before, the Chinese government declared war on Japan, marking the official start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which would soon become part of the World War. In December 1937, the capital, Nanking (now Nanjing), fell and the Chinese government moved its seat to Chongqing for the rest of the war. Surprised by the unanticipated level of resistance from China, the Japanese forces committed brutal atrocities against civilians and POWs when Nanking was occupied (see Nanjing Massacre), killing up to 200,000 civilians within a month. In Europe, the peace was uneasy, with Germany annexing Austria and Czechoslovakia, and taking apparent aim at Poland.

1939: War breaks out in Europe

Poland]] Main articles: Polish September Campaign, Phony War War broke out in Poland on 1 September 1939, with the German invasion of Poland. France and the United Kingdom honoured their defensive alliance of March 1939 by declaring war two days later on 3 September. Australia and New Zealand declared war the same day, although through the quirk of the international date line, New Zealand then Australia were the first to declare war on Germany. Canada followed a week later, on 10 September. Only partly mobilised and with troops inadequately equipped with largely outdated weapons (which included large numbers of horse-mounted cavalry), and without the anticipated support of French or British forces, Poland unsurprisingly fared poorly against the Wehrmacht's superior numbers and "blitzkrieg" tactics. In accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Red Army invaded Poland from the east on 17 September. Hours later, the Polish government escaped to Romania. The last Polish Army unit was defeated on 6 October. As Poland fell, the British and French were either caught unaware of German intentions or had not allowed themselves to believe that Germany would invade Poland. Germany paused to regroup during a period that would be termed "the Phony War", or the "Sitzkrieg", which lasted until May 1940. Polish forces continued to fight the Axis powers after their country fell. A prominent example was the assistance of Polish pilots during the Battle of Britain. The Soviet Union, due to its treaty relationship with Nazi Germany, did not fight the fascists: Stalin was happy to have those he felt were his natural and true enemies—the capitalist West and Nazi Germany—fight each other. Indeed, the Soviets had their partisans in the U.S., working alongside Nazi sympathisers, advocate that the U.S. remain neutral in the war, a position that the majority of Americans, reluctant to join in what they saw as "someone else's war," welcomed. Battle of Britain There were isolated engagements during the "Phony War" or "Sitzkrieg" period, including the sinking of HMS Royal Oak in the anchorage at Scapa Flow and Luftwaffe bombings of the naval bases at Rosyth and Scapa Flow. The Kriegsmarine pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee was sunk in South America after the battle of the River Plate. The Tripartite Pact was signed between Germany, Italy, and Japan on 27 September, 1940, formalising their alignment as the "Axis Powers". The Soviet Union invaded Finland on 30 November 1939, beginning the Winter War, which lasted until March 1940 with Finland ceding territory to the Soviet Union.

1940: The war spreads

Winter War Main Articles: Norwegian Campaign, Battle of France, Battle of Britain, North African Campaign, Balkans Campaign Europe: Germany invaded Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940, in Operation Weserübung, ostensibly to counter the threat of an Allied invasion from the region. Heavy fighting ensued on land and at sea in Norway. British, French and Polish forces landed to support the Norwegians at Namsos, Åndalsnes and Narvik, with most success at the latter. By late June, all Allied forces had been evacuated, and the Norwegian Army surrendered. France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were invaded on 10 May, ending the Phony War and beginning the Battle of France. The Allies had hoped to establish a static continuous front and were ill-prepared for the German Blitzkrieg tactics. In the first phase of the invasion, Operation Yellow, the Wehrmacht's Panzergruppe von Kleist bypassed the Maginot Line and split the Allies in two by driving to the English Channel. Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands fell quickly against the attack of Army Group B, and the British Expeditionary Force, trapped in the north, was evacuated at Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo. German forces then invaded France itself, in Operation Red, advancing behind the Maginot Line and near the coast. While some units from the French army were still fighting, a number of top politicians and military leaders decided that it would be better to surrender given the situation; France signed an armistice with Germany on June 22 1940, leading to the establishment of the Vichy France puppet government in the unoccupied part of France. In June 1940 the Soviet Union occupied Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, and annexed Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina from Romania. Not having secured a rapid peace with the United Kingdom, Germany began preparations to invade with the Battle of Britain. Fighter aircraft fought overhead for months as the Luftwaffe and Royal Air Force fought for control of Britain's skies. The Luftwaffe initially targeted RAF Fighter Command but turned to terror bombing London. The Luftwaffe was not successful, and Operation Sealion, the proposed invasion of the British Isles, was abandoned. Similar efforts were made, though at sea, in the Battle of the Atlantic. In a long-running campaign, German U-Boats attempted to deprive the British Isles of necessary Lend Lease cargo from the United States. The U-Boats reduced shipments considerably; however, the United Kingdom refused to seek peace, with Prime Minister Winston Churchill stating that "We shall never surrender". President Roosevelt announced a shift in the American stance from neutrality to "non-belligerency". The Mediterranean: Italy invaded Greece on 28 October 1940, from bases in Albania. Although outnumbered, Greek forces successfully repelled the Italian attacks and launched a full-scale counter-attack deep into Albania. By mid-December they had liberated one-fourth of Albania. The North African Campaign began in 1940; Italian forces in Libya attacked British forces in Egypt. The aim was to make Egypt an Italian possession, especially the vital Suez Canal. British, Indian and Australian forces counter-attacked (see Operation Compass), but this offensive stopped in 1941 when much of the Commonwealth forces were transferred to Greece to defend it from German attack. However, German forces (known later as the Afrika Korps) under General Erwin Rommel landed in Libya and renewed the assault on Egypt. Italian troops invaded and captured British Somaliland in August 1940. On the other hand, the Italian declaration of war challenged the British supremacy of this sea, a supremacy hinged on Gibraltar, Malta and Alexandria. While Gibraltar was never under direct attack, Alexandria and to a deadlier degree Malta were hit repetitively by Axis attacks, the thrusts towards the Suez Canal for the former, and the 1940/42 Blitz for the latter, which made the island of Malta the most heavily bombed place on earth. Asia: In 1940, Japan occupied French Indochina (Vietnam) upon agreement with the Vichy Government, despite local Free French, and joined Axis powers Germany and Italy. These actions intensified Japan's conflict with the United States and the United Kingdom, which reacted with an oil boycott.

1941: The war becomes global

Main articles: Eastern Front, Continuation War, Attack on Pearl Harbor Europe: Attack on Pearl Harbor Yugoslavia's government succumbed to the pressure of Italy and Germany and signed the Tripartite Treaty on 25 March 1941. This was followed by anti-Axis demonstrations in the country and a coup which overthrew the government and replaced it with a pro-Allied one on 27 March 1941. Hitler's forces then invaded Greece and Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941. Hitler reluctantly sent forces to assist Mussolini's forces in their attempt to capture Greece, principally to prevent a British build-up on Germany's strategic southern flank. With these new troops the Axis succeeded in driving the Greek forces back. British troops were diverted from North Africa to assist with the defence but failed to prevent Greece's capture. On 20 May 1941, the Battle of Crete began when elite German paratroopers and glider-borne mountain troops and some 1300 aeroplanes launched a massive airborne invasion of the Greek island of Crete. Crete was defended by an group of about 43,000 Greek, New Zealand, Australian and British troops, not all of them fully equipped. The Germans attacked the island simultaneously on the three airfields. Their invasion on two of the airfields failed, but they successfully captured one, which allowed them to reinforce their position by landing reinforcements. After a week it was decided that so many German troops had been flown in that there was no way to defeat them, and about 17,000 Commonwealth soldiers were evacuated. However, over 10,000 Greek and 500 Commonwealth troops remained at large and caused problems for the German occupiers. The Germans may have suffered well over 15,000 casualties. So heavy were the losses that Hiler decided never to launch an airborne invasion again. General Kurt Student would later say, "Crete was the grave of the German parachutists". The Allies, on the other hand, came to the conclusion that every major invasion should be supported by paratroopers. Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the largest invasion in history, commenced on 22 June 1941. The "Great Patriotic War" (Russian: Великая Отечественная Война, Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voyna) had begun with surprise attacks by German panzer armies, which encircled and destroyed much of the Soviet's western military, capturing or killing hundreds of thousands of men. Soviet forces came to fight a war of scorched earth, withdrawing into the steppe of Russia to acquire time and stretch the German army. Industries were dismantled and withdrawn to the Ural mountains for reassembly. German armies pursued a three-pronged advance against Leningrad (modern-day St Petersburg), Moscow, and the Caucasus. Having pushed to occupy Moscow before winter, German forces were delayed into the Soviet Winter. Soviet counter-attacks defeated them within sight of Moscow's spires, and a rout was only narrowly avoided. Some historians identify this as the "turning point" in the Allies' war against Germany; others identify the capitulation of the German Sixth Army outside Stalingrad (modern-day Volgograd) in 1943. The Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union began with Soviet air attacks shortly after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, on 25 June, and ended with an armistice in 1944. The Soviet Union was joined in the war by the United Kingdom but not by the United States. The Mediterranean again: In June 1941, Allied forces invaded Syria and Lebanon, capturing Damascus on 17 June (see Syria-Lebanon campaign). Meanwhile, Rommel's forces advanced rapidly eastward, laying siege to the vital seaport of Tobruk. Australian and other Allied troops in the city resisted all until relieved, but a renewed Axis offensive captured the city and drove the Eighth Army back to a line at El Alamein. Asia: The Sino-Japanese War El Alamein Main article: Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) A war had begun in Asia years before World War II started in Europe. Japan had invaded China in 1931. By 1937, war had broken out as the Japanese sought control of China. Roosevelt signed an unpublished (secret) executive order in May 1940 allowing U.S. military personnel to resign from the service so that they could participate in a covert operation in China: the American Volunteer Group, also known as Chennault's Flying Tigers. Over a seven-month period, Chennault's Flying Tigers destroyed an estimated 600 Japanese aircraft, sunk numerous Japanese ships, and stalled the Japanese invasion of Burma. With the United States and other countries cutting exports to Japan, particularly fuel oil, Japan planned a strike on Pearl Harbor on Sunday, 7 December 1941, to cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet while consolidating oil fields in Southeast Asia. It is hard to determine whether the Japanese intended to release an advance declaration of war, however, as means of coordinating secret directives with public communication, particularly during a weekend in the U.S., were limited. Despite what warning signs remained, the attack on Pearl Harbor achieved military surprise and dealt severe damage to the American Fleet's battleships, though the primary targets, aircraft carriers, remained safely at sea. The next day, Japanese forces arrived at Hong Kong, which later led to the surrender of the British colony on Christmas Day (known to locals as 'Black Christmas'), as well as launching numerous attacks on British and American outposts across the Pacific. Asia: The United States enters the war
Main article: Attack on Pearl Harbor Attack on Pearl Harbor On 7 December 1941, Japanese warplanes commanded by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo carried out a surprise air raid on Pearl Harbor, the largest U.S. naval base in the Pacific. The Japanese forces met little resistance and devastated the harbour. This attack resulted in 8 battleships either sunk or damaged, 3 light cruisers and 3 destroyers sunk as well as damage to some auxiliaries and 343 aircraft either damaged or destroyed. However the attack failed to strike targets that could have been crippling losses to the US Pacific Fleet such as the aircraft carriers which were out at sea at the time of the attack or the base's ship fuel storage and repair facilities. The survival of these assets have led many to consider this attack a catastrophic long term strategic blunder for Japan. The following day, the United States declared war on Japan. Simultaneously to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan also attacked U.S. air bases in the Philippines. Immediately following these attacks, Japan invaded the Philippines and also the British Colonies of Hong Kong, Malaya, Borneo and Burma with the intention of seizing the oilfields of the Dutch East Indies. In a matter of months, all these territories and more fell to the Japanese onslaught. The British island fortress of Singapore was captured in what Churchill considered one of the most humiliating British defeats of all time. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Germany declared war on the United States on 11 December 1941, even though it was not obliged to do so under the Tripartite Pact of 1940. Hitler made the declaration in the hopes that Japan would support him by attacking the Soviet Union. Japan did not oblige him, and this diplomatic move proved a catastrophic blunder which gave President Franklin D. Roosevelt the pretext needed for the United States joining the fight in Europe with full commitment and with no meaningful opposition from Congress. Some historians mark this moment as another major turning point of the war with Hitler provoking a grand alliance of powerful nations, most prominently the UK, the USA and the USSR, who could wage powerful offensives on both East and West simultaneously.

1942: Deadlock

Franklin D. Roosevelt] Main articles: Battle of Stalingrad, Operation Torch Europe: In 1942, an aborted German offensive was launched towards the Caucasus to secure oil fields, and German armies reached Stalingrad. The siege of Stalingrad continued for many months, with vicious urban warfare leading to high casualties on both sides. At night, the Soviet forces were resupplied from the east bank of the Volga, and the Wehrmacht forces were eventually ground down; especially after Hitler diverted the armour of the Sixth Army to the Caucasus. In November a Soviet offensive encircled Sixth Army. By early February 1943, it was clear that the Sixth Army would have to surrender. Hitler promoted General Friedrich Paulus, who was in charge of the German forces, to Field Marshal in the vain hope it would deter him from surrendering. It did not, and he surrendered completely on 2 February. The results were the destruction of the city, millions of casualties, and the collapse of Germany's Sixth Army as a viable fighting force. Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels responded with his Sportpalast speech to the German people. Some historians cite this as the European war's "turning point". The Mediterranean: Sportpalast speech Sportpalast speech (432nd Squadron) damaged by flak somewhere over Algeria during the North African Campaign in 1942.]] The First Battle of El Alamein took place between 1 July and 27 July 1942. German forces had advanced to the last defensible point before Alexandria and the Suez Canal. However, they had outrun their supplies, and a Commonwealth defence stopped their thrusts. The Second Battle of El Alamein occurred between October 23 and November 3, 1942, after Bernard Montgomery had replaced Claude Auchinleck as commander of the Commonwealth forces, now known as the Eighth Army. Erwin Rommel, German commander of the Afrika Corps, known as the "Desert Fox", was absent for this battle because he was recovering from jaundice back in Europe. Commonwealth forces took the offensive, and although they lost more tanks than the Germans began the battle with, Montgomery was ultimately triumphant. The western Allies had the advantage of being close to their supplies during the battle. In addition, Rommel was getting little or no help by this time from the struggling Luftwaffe, which was now more tasked with defending Western European air space, and fighting the Soviet Union, than providing Rommel with support in North Africa. After the German defeat at El Alamein, Rommel made a successful strategic withdrawal to Tunisia. During the Arcadia Conference from December 1941 to January 1942, the Allied leaders concluded that it was essential to keep Russia in the war. This consideration led to the overall strategy "Germany First"; i.e. giving priority of knocking out Germany before Japan. This decision resulted in a long debate as to where and when to open a Second Front against Germany. The American Chiefs of Staff favoured a cross-channel (France) amphibious operation in the summer. The British opposed this because of insufficient landing craft and logistical problems. It was also thought that American forces were in a process of expansion, organisation and exercise, not capable yet of fighting an experienced German army. Only if Russia collapsed would they approve a main landing in France. Churchill put forward the idea of a small invasion in Norway or landings in French North Africa. The plan for landings in Africa was approved in July 1942. Operation Torch was headed by General Dwight Eisenhower. The aim of Torch was to gain control of Morocco and Algiers through simultaneous landings at Casablanca, Oran and Algiers, followed a few days later with a landing at Bône, the gateway to Tunisia. The operation was launched on 8 November 1942. The first wave was almost entirely American troops, because it was thought that the French would react more favourably to Americans than British. It was hoped that the local forces of Vichy France would put up no resistance and submit to the authority of Free French General Henri Giraud. In fact, resistance was stronger than expected but still sporadic. In Algiers, 400 members of the French resistance captured much of the city, though it was retaken before Allied forces could arrive. The Vichy commander, Admiral Darlan, negotiated an end to hostilities, against orders from the Vichy government. He was allowed to retain local control by the Allies, to the annoyance of Free French leaders. Hitler invaded and occupied Vichy France in response. Rommel's Afrika Corps was not being supplied adequately because of the loss of transport shipments caused by Allied—mostly British—navies and air forces in the Mediterranean. This lack of supplies and air support destroyed any chance of a large German offensive in Africa. Ultimately, German and Italian forces were caught in the pincers of a twin advance from Algeria and Libya. The withdrawing Germans continued to put up stiff defence, and Rommel defeated the American forces decisively at the Battle of Kasserine Pass before finishing his strategic withdrawal back to the meagre German supply chain. Inevitably, advancing from both the east and west, the Allies finally defeated the German Afrika Corps on May 13 1943. Some 250,000 Axis soldiers were taken prisoner. Asia: 1943]] In May 1942, a naval attack on Port Moresby, New Guinea, was thwarted by Allied navies in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Had the capture of Port Moresby succeeded, the Japanese Navy would have been within striking range of Australia. This was both the first successful opposition to Japanese plans and the first naval battle fought only between aircraft carriers. The two sides suffered roughly equal losses. A month later the invasion of Midway Island was prevented by decoding secret Japanese messages, and hence alerted U.S. naval leaders that Midway was the Japanese target. American pilots sunk four Japanese carriers, which the Japanese industry could not replace swiftly. The loss of many planes and skilled pilots (many of them took part in Pearl Harbor) was also difficult to redress. The Americans lost one carrier and fewer planes. It was a complete victory for the Americans, and the Japanese Navy was now on the defensive. However, in July an overland attack on Port Moresby was led along the rugged Kokoda Track. This was met with Australian militia, many of them very young and undertrained, fighting a stubborn rearguard action until the arrival of Australian regulars returning from action in North Africa, Greece and the Middle East. But amazingly, the outnumbered and untrained Australian 39th battalion defeated the 5,000-strong Japanese army. This was one of the most significant victories in Australian military history. Even prior to the American entry to the war, the Allied leaders had agreed that priority should be given to the defeat of Nazi Germany. Nonetheless, U.S. forces began to attack captured territories, beginning with Guadalcanal Island, against a bitter and determined Japanese defence. On 7 August 1942, the United States assaulted the island. In late August and early September, while battle raged on Guadalcanal, an amphibious Japanese attack on the eastern tip of New Guinea was met by Australian forces at Milne Bay, and the Japanese land forces suffered their first conclusive defeat. On Guadalcanal, the Japanese resistance failed in February 1943. A substantial element of the Asian campaign was played out, starting in 1942, in the Aleutian Islands. For detailed information, see World War II: Aleutian Islands.

1943: The war turns

World War II: Aleutian Islands Main articles: Battle of Kursk, Italian Campaign Europe: Russia: After the victory at Stalingrad, the Red Army launched a series of eight offensives during the winter, many concentrated along the Don basin near Stalingrad, which resulted in initial gains until German forces were able to take advantage of the weakened condition of the Red Army and regain the territory it lost. In July, the Wehrmacht launched a much-delayed offensive against the Soviet Union at Kursk. Their intentions were known by the Soviets, and the Battle of Kursk ended in a Soviet counteroffensive that threw the German Army back. Italy is invaded: Newly captured North Africa was used as a springboard for the invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943. On 25 July Mussolini was fired from office by the King of Italy, allowing a new government to take power. Having captured Sicily, the Allies invaded mainland Italy on 3 September 1943. Italy surrendered on 8 September, but German forces continued to fight. Allied forces advanced north but were stalled for the winter at the Gustav Line, until they broke through in the Battle of Monte Cassino. Rome was captured on 5 June 1944. Mid-1943 brought the fifth and final German Sutjeska offensive against the Yugoslav Partisans before the invasion and subsequent capitulation of Italy, the other major occupying force in Yugoslavia. Partisans, Louisville (CA-28), Portland (CA-33) and Columbia (CL-56) into Lingayen Gulf, Philippines, January 1945.]] Asia: (1943–45) Australian and U.S. forces then 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, New Britain and New Ireland in 1944. As the Philippines were being retaken in late 1944, the Battle of Leyte Gulf raged, arguably the largest naval battle in history. 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 South East Asia and securing the release of Allied POWs. Allied submarines and aircraft also attacked Japanese merchant shipping, depriving Japan's industry of the raw materials it had gone to war to obtain. The effectiveness of this stranglehold increased as U.S. Marines captured islands closer to the Japanese mainland. The 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 more implicitly. The Japanese had captured most of Burma, severing the Burma Road by which the Western Allies had been supplying the Chinese Nationalists. This forced the Allies to create a large sustained airlift, known as "flying the Hump". U.S. led and trained Chinese divisions, a British division and a few thousand U.S. ground troops cleared the Japanese forces from northern Burma so that the Ledo Road could be built to replace the Burma Road. Further south the main Japanese army in the theatre were fought to a standstill on the Burma-India frontier by the British Fourteenth Army (the "Forgotten Army"), which then counter-attacked, and having recaptured all of Burma was planning attacks towards Malaya when the war ended.

1944: The beginning of the end

British Fourteenth Army, 6 June 1944]] Main articles: Battle of Normandy, Operation Bagration, Operation Market Garden, Battle of the Bulge On "D-Day" (6 June 1944) the western Allies invaded German-held Normandy in a pre-dawn amphibious assault spearheaded by American (82nd and 101st), British (6th) and Canadian paratroops, opening the "second front" against Germany. The allies suffered large casualties during the beach assault. German artillery batteries pounded the beaches. But the airborne divisions took out the guns from the rear, enabling the seaborne troops to break inland. Hedgerows aided the defending German units, and for months the Allies measured progress in hundreds of yards and bloody rifle fights. An Allied breakout was effected at St.-Lô, and the most powerful German force in France, the Seventh Army, was almost completely destroyed in the Falaise pocket while counter-attacking. Allied forces stationed in Italy invaded the French Riviera on 15 August and linked up with forces from Normandy. The clandestine French Resistance in Paris rose against the Germans on 19 August, and a French division under General Jacques Leclerc, pressing forward from Normandy, received the surrender of the German forces there and liberated the city on August 25. By early 1944, the Red Army had reached the border of Poland and lifted the Siege of Leningrad. Shortly after Allied landings at Normandy, on 9 June, the Soviet Union began an offensive on the Karelian Isthmus that after three months would force Nazi Germany's co-belligerent Finland to an armistice. Operation Bagration, a Soviet offensive involving 2.5 million men and 6,000 tanks, was launched on 22 June, destroying the German Army Group Centre and taking 350,000 prisoners. Finland's defence had been dependent on active, or in periods passive, support from the German Wehrmacht that also provided defence for the chiefly uninhabited northern half of Finland. After the Wehrmacht retreated from the southern shores of the Gulf of Finland, Finland's defence was untenable. The Allies' armistice conditions included further territori

Hugh Dalton

Edward Hugh John Neale Dalton, Baron Dalton, generally known as Hugh Dalton (1887-1962) was a British Labour Party politician, and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1945 to 1947. He was involved in a political scandal involving budget leaks. He was born in Neath in Wales: his father was chaplain to Queen Victoria. He was educated at Eton College, King's College, Cambridge, the London School of Economics and the Middle Temple. During World War I, he served as a soldier on the French and Italian Fronts. He then returned to the LSE and the University of London as a lecturer. He was elected to the British House of Commons as Labour MP for Camberwell in 1929 and became a junior Foreign Office minister in the second Labour Government. As with most other Labour MPs, he lost his seat in 1931, though he was re-elected in 1935. During the World War II coalition, Winston Churchill appointed him Minister of Economic Warfare from 1940 and he established the Special Operations Executive, and was later a member of the executive committee of the Political Warfare Executive. He became President of the Board of Trade in 1942. Although a Labour politician Dalton was a strong supporter of Churchill during the crisis of May 1940, when Lord Halifax and other Conservative supporters of appeasement in the war cabinet urged a compromise peace. After the Labour victory in the 1945 General Election, he became Chancellor of the Exchequer and nationalised the Bank of England in 1946. Walking into the House of Commons to give the 1947 Budget speech, he made an off-the-cuff remark to a journalist which was printed before he had completed his speech. This led to his resignation for leaking a Budget secret. In 1948 he returned to Government as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, then became Minister of Town and Country Planning in 1950, renamed as Minister of Local Government and Planning in 1951. He finally left Government after the 1951 General Election. He was also President of the Ramblers' Association from 1948 to 1950 and Master of the Drapers' Company in 1958-1959. He was made a life peer in 1960.

External links

- Dalton, Hugh Dalton, Hugh Category:British political scandals Dalton, Hugh Dalton, Hugh Dalton, Hugh Dalton, Hugh Dalton, Hugh Dalton, Hugh Dalton, Hugh Dalton, Hugh

1940

1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar).

March-April

- March 3 - In Sweden, a time bomb destroys the office of Norrskenflamman newspaper of Swedish communists - 5 dead
- March 5- Members of Soviet politburo: Stalin, Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, Mikhail Kalinin, Kliment Voroshilov and Lavrenty Beria himself, signed prepared by Beria order of execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POW, known also as Katyn massacre.
- March 12 - Soviet Union and Finland sign a peace treaty in Moscow ending the Winter War. Finns, and the World opinion, shocked by the harsh terms.
- March 18 - World War II: Axis powers - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.
- March 21 Édouard Daladier resigns as prime minister of France. He is replaced by Paul Reynaud.
- April 4 - Prime minister of Greece, Aleksandros Korizis, shoots himself - initial official explanation is "heart attack"
- April 7 - Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
- April 9 - World War II: Germany invades Denmark and Norway in operation Weserübung. The British campaign in Norway is simultaneously commenced.
- April 12 - The Faroe Islands were occupied by British troops following the invasion of Denmark by Nazi Germany. This action was taken to avert a possible German occupation of the islands, which would have had very grave consequences for the course of the Battle of the Atlantic.
- April 23 - Rhythm Night Club burns in Natchez, Mississippi - 198 dead

June

- June 4 - World War II: Dunkirk evacuation ends - British forces complete evacuating 300,000 troops from Dunkirk in France.
- June 9 - World War II: The British Commandos are created.
- June 10 - World War II: Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom.
- June 10 - World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy's actions with [ftp://webstorage2.mcpa.virginia.edu/library/nara/fdr/audiovisual/speeches/fdr_1940_0610.mp3 "Stab in the Back"] speech from the graduation ceremonies of the University of Virginia.
- June 10 - World War II: German forces, under General Erwin Rommel, reach the English Channel.
- June 10 - World War II: Canada declares war on Italy.
- June 10 - World War II: Norway surrenders to German forces.
- June 12 - World War II: 13,000 British and French troops surrender to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel at St. Valery-en-Caux.
- June 14 - World War II: Paris falls under German occupation.
- June 14 - World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Naval Expansion Act into law which aims to increase the United States Navy's tonnage by 11 %.
- June 14 - Holocaust: A group of 728 Polish political prisoners from Tarnów become the first residents of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
- June 17 - The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union.
- June 17 - World War II: Operation Ariel begins - Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
- June 17 - World War II: Luftwaffe Junkers 88 bomber sinks British ship RMS Lancastria, that was evacuating troops from near Saint-Nazaire, France. Death toll is over 2500. Wartime censorship prevents the story going public.
- June 23 - World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris in now occupied France.[http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/blhitler38.htm]

July-August

France
- July 5 - World War II: The United Kingdom and the Vichy France government break off diplomatic relations.
- July 10 - World War II: Vichy France government established. French national assembly votes full powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain
- July 10 - Tom Wintringham opens his own training school in Osterley Park for British Home Guard volunteers
- July 10 - World War II: Battle of Britain. Luftwaffe, the Air Force of Germany, in preparation for Operation Sealion begins to hit British convoys in the English Channel thus starting the battle (this start date is contested, though).
- July 14 - World War II: Andrew George Latta McNaughton takes command 7th Army Corps consisting of British, Canadian and New Zealand troops.
- July 21 - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are proclaimed to be "independent" Socialist republics.
- August 3 - Lithuania is officially incorporated in the Soviet Union as the Lithuanian SSR.
- August 5 - Latvia is officially incorporated in the Soviet Union as the Latvian SSR.
- August 6 - Estonia is officially incorporated in the Soviet Union as the Estonian SSR.
- August 20 - Ramón Mercader assassinates exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Mexico City with an ice-ax. Trotsky dies the next day.

September-October

Mexico City
- September 4 - World War II: The USS Greer becomes the first United States ship fired upon by a German submarine in the war, even though the United States is a neutral power. Tension heightens between the two nations as a result.
- September - U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division activated and ordered into federal service for one year to engage in a training program in Ft. Sill and Louisiana prior to serving in World War II.
- September 7 - Treaty of Craiova: Romania loses Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria.
- September 7 - World War II: The Blitz - Nazi Germany begins to rain bombs on London. This will be the first of 57 consecutive nights of strategic bombing.
- September 12 - The Hercules Munitions Plant in Kenvil, New Jersey explodes, killing 55 people.
- October 9 - World War II: Battle of Britain - During a nighttime air raid by the German Luftwaffe, St. Paul's Cathedral is pierced by a bomb; Musician John Lennon is born during an air-raid in Liverpool, England.
- October 15 - First release of The Great Dictator, directed by Charlie Chaplin who is cast as fascist dictator Adenoid Hynkel, clearly modeled on Führer Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany.
- October 28 - World War II: Italy invades Greece.
- October 31 - World War II: Battle of Britain ends - The United Kingdom prevents Germany from invading Britain.

November

- November 1 - French children discover Lascaux caves
- November 5 - U.S. presidential election, 1940: Democrat incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Republican challenger Wendell Willkie and becomes the United States' first third-term president.
- November 7 - In Washington, the middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapses in a windstorm, a mere four months after the bridge's completion (it opened to traffic on July 1, 1940 as the third-longest suspension bridge in the world).
- November 9 - Premiere of Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez in Barcelona, Spain.
- November 11 - World War II: Battle of Taranto - The Royal Navy launches the first aircraft carrier strike in history, on the Italian fleet at Taranto.
- November 11 - World War II: The German Hilfskreuzer (cruiser) Atlantis captures top secret British mail, and sends it to Japan
- November 11 - Armistice Day Blizzard: An unexpected blizzard kills 144 in U.S. Midwest.
- November 14 - World War II: In England, the city of Coventry is destroyed by 500 German Luftwaffe bombers (150,000 fire bombs, 503 tons of high explosives, 130 parachute mines leveled 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people were killed).
- November 16 - World War II: In response to Germany leveling Coventry two days before, the Royal Air Force begins to bomb Hamburg (by war's end, 50,000 Hamburg residents died from Allied attacks).
- November 16 - Unexploded pipe bomb founded in Consolidated Edison office building (only years later the culprit, George Metesky, is apprehended
- November 18 - World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.
- November 20 - World War II: Hungary, Romania and Slovakia join the Axis Powers.
- November 27 - In Romania, coup leader General Ion Antonescu's Iron Guard arrests and executes over 60 of exiled king Carol II of Romania's aides. Among the dead is former minister and acclaimed historian Nicolae Iorga.
- November 27 - World War II: Royal Navy and Regia Marina fight the Battle of Cape Spartivento.

December

- December 30 - California's first modern freeway, the future California State Route 110, is opened to traffic in Pasadena, California, as the Arroyo Seco Parkway. It is now called the Pasadena Freeway.

Unknown Date

- Guilin, China, acquires current name.

Ongoing Events

- Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
- World War II (1939 - 1945).

Births

January-February

- January 4 - Brian David Josephson, Welsh physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- January 4 - Gao Xingjian, Chinese-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- January 6 - Penny Lernoux, American journalist and author (d. 1989)
- January 14 - Julian Bond, American civil rights activist
- January 20 - Carol Heiss, American figure skater
- January 22 - John Hurt, English actor
- February 2 - David Jason, English actor
- February 3 - Fran Tarkenton, American football player
- February 4 - George Romero, American film writer, producer, and director
- February 5 - H.R. Giger, Swiss artist
- February 6 - Tom Brokaw, American television news reporter
- February 6 - Jimmy Tarbuck, English comedian
- February 8 - Ted Koppel, American journalist
- February 8 - Joe South, American singer and songwriter
- February 9 - J. M. Coetzee, South African writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 12 - Richard Lynch, American actor
- February 19 - Smokey Robinson, American musician
- February 20 - Jimmy Greaves, English footballer
- February 21 - James Wong, Hong Kong composer (d. 2004)
- February 23 - Peter Fonda, American actor
- February 24 - Denis Law, Scottish footballer
- February 25 - Ron Santo, baseball player
- February 28 - Mario Andretti, American race car driver
- February 29 - Edward Frederic Benson, American writer

March-April

- March 3 - Germán Castro Caycedo, Colombian writer and journalist.
- March 6 - Willie Stargell, baseball player (d. 2001)
- March 7 - Rudi Dutschke, German student leader (d. 1979)
- March 9 - Raúl Juliá, Puerto Rican actor (d. 1994)
- March 10 - Chuck Norris, American actor and martial artist
- March 12 - Al Jarreau, American singer
- March 15 - Phil Lesh, American musician (Grateful Dead)
- March 16 - Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian writer and film director
- March 16 - Chuck Woolery, American game show host
- March 17 - Mark White, Governor of Texas
- March 22 - Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian actor (d. 1996)
- March 25 - Anita Bryant, American entertainer
- March 26 - Spiridon Louis, Greek runner
- March 27 - Cale Yarborough, American race car driver
- March 29 - Ray Davis, American musician (P-Funk)
- March 30 - Astrud Gilberto, Brazilian-born singer
- April 1 - Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- April 2 - Penelope Keith, English actress
- April 12 - Herbie Hancock, American musician
- April 16 - Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
- April 18 - Joseph L. Goldstein, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- April 20 - George Takei, American actor
- April 25 - Al Pacino, American actor
- April 26 - Giorgio Moroder, Austrian film composer

May-July

- May 1 - Elsa Peretti, Italian jewelry designer
- May 8 - Ricky Nelson, American singer (d. 1985)
- May 9 - James L. Brooks, American film producer and writer
- May 11 - Juan Downey, Chilean-born video artist (d. 1993)
- May 17 - Alan Kay, American computer scientist
- May 20 - Stan Mikita, Slovakian-born hockey player
- May 20 - Sadaharu Oh, Japanese baseball player
- May 22 - Bernard Shaw, American journalist and television news reporter
- May 24 - Joseph Brodsky, Russian-born poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
- May 29 - Farooq Leghari, President of Pakistan
- June - Carole Ann Ford, British actress
- June 1 - René Auberjonois, American actor
- June 2 - King Constantine II of Greece
- June 16 - Neil Goldschmidt, Governor of Oregon
- June 17 - George Akerlof, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 20 - John Mahoney, English-born actor
- June 21 - Mariette Hartley, American actress
- June 23 - Adam Faith, English singer and actor (d. 2003)
- June 23 - Lord Irvine of Lairg, Lord Chancellor of England
- June 23 - Wilma Rudolph, American athelete (d. 1994)
- June 25 - A.J. Quinnell, English writer (d. 2005)
- July 3 - César Tovar, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 1994)
- July 7 - Ringo Starr, English drummer (The Beatles)
- July 10 - Gene Alley, baseball player
- July 10 - Helen Donath, American soprano
- July 13 - Patrick Stewart, English actor
- July 18 - Joe Torre, baseball player and manager
- July 22 - Alex Trebek, Canadian game show host
- July 24 - Stanley Hauerwas, American theologian
- July 26 - Mary Jo Kopechne, American aide to Robert F. Kennedy (d. 1969)
- July 27 - Bharati Mukherjee, Indian-born novelist

August-December

- August 3 - Martin Sheen, American actor
- August 7 - Jean-Luc Dehaene, Prime Minister of Belgium
- August 9 - Beverlee McKinsey, American actress
- August 10 - Bobby Hatfield, American singer (Righteous Brothers) (d. 2003)
- August 20 - Rubén Hinojosa, American politician
- August 25 - José Van Dam, Belgian bass-baritone
- September 5 - Raquel Welch, American actress
- September 10 - David Mann, American artist (d. 2004)
- September 12 - Mickey Lolich, baseball player
- September 14 - Larry Brown, American basketball coach
- September 13 - Óscar Arias, Costa Rican politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- October 9 - John Lennon, English musician and singer (The Beatles) (d. 1980)
- October 13 - Pharaoh Sanders, American saxophonist
- October 14 - Cliff Richard, English singer
- October 15 - Peter Doherty, Australian immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- October 19 - Michael Gambon, Irish actor
- October 23 - Pelé, Brazilian footballer
- October 25 - Bobby Knight, American basketball coach
- November 1 - Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, Chief Justice of India
- November 15 - Sam Waterston, American actor
- November 21 - Richard Marcinko, U.S. Navy SEAL team member and author
- November 25 - Joe Gibbs, American football coach
- November 27 - Bruce Lee, American martial artist and actor (d. 1973)
- December 1 - Richard Pryor, American actor and comedian (d. 2005)
- December 4 - Gary Gilmore, American murderer
- December 5 - Peter Pohl, Swedish writer
- December 12 - Sharad Pawar, Indian politician
- December 12 - Dionne Warwick, American singer
- December 21 - Frank Zappa, American musician, composer, and satirist (d. 1993)
- December 22 - Noel Jones, British Ambassador to Kazakhstan (d. 1995)
- December 26 - Edward C. Prescott, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate

Deaths

- January 4 - Flora Finch, English-born actress and comedienne (b. 1869)
- January 18 - Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish poet and writer (b. 1865)
- January 27 - Isaac Babel, Ukrainian writer (b. 1894)
- February 11 - John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada (b. 1875)
- March 10 - Mikhaïl Boulgakov, Russian writer (b. 1891)
- March 16 - Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
- March 20 - Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (b. 1860)
- March 31 - Tinsley Lindley, English footballer (b. 1865)
- April 26 - Carl Bosch, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
- May 15 - Menno ter Braak, Dutch writer (b. 1902)
- May 20 - Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
- May 25 - Joe De Grasse, Canadian film director (b. 1873)
- May 28 - Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse (b. 1868)
- June 10 - Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born publisher, entrepreneur, and black nationalist (b. 1887)
- June 17 - Arthur Harden, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- June 21 - Smedley Butler, U.S. general (b. 1881)
- June 29 - Paul Klee, Swiss artist (b. 1879)
- July 4 - Robert Pershing Wadlow, tallest man in the world (infection) (b. 1918)
- August 8 - Johnny Dodds, American jazz clarinettist (b. 1892)
- August 18 - Walter Chrysler, American automobile pioneer (b. 1875)
- August 21 - Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1879)
- August 22 - Mary Vaux Walcott, American artist and naturalist (b. 1860)
- August 30 - J.J. Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
- September 27 - Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Austrian neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1857)
- October 10 - Berton Churchill, Canadian actor (b. 1876)
- November 9 - Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1869)
- December 5 - Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist (b. 1880)
- December 19 - Kyösti Kallio, President of Finland (b. 1873)
- December 21 - F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (b. 1896)
- December 25 - Agnes Ayres, American actress (b. 1898)

Date unknown

- December - Raymond Pearl, American biologist (b. 1879)

Nobel Prizes

- Physics - not awarded
- Chemistry - not awarded
- Physiology or Medicine - not awarded
- Literature - not awarded
- Peace - not awarded
- ko:1940년 ms:1940 ja:1940年 simple:1940 th:พ.ศ. 2483

MI6

The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), more commonly known as MI6 (originally Military Intelligence Section 6), or the Secret Service or simply Six, is the United Kingdom's external security agency. SIS is responsible for the United Kingdom's espionage activities overseas, as opposed to MI5 which is charged with internal security within the UK. It was founded in October 1909 (along with MI5) as the Foreign Section of the Secret Service Bureau. Its first director was Captain Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming, who, often dropping the "Smith", used his initial "C" as a code name which was also used by all subsequent directors of SIS (compare with "M" in the James Bond stories). The insignia of SIS is a green "C" (a nod to the initial director and his habit of signing all official documents with green ink) with an image of a brain inside it, with the words Semper Occultus, which translates to Always Secret, underneath.

World War I

The organisation's first significant test came with the First World War, during which it had mixed success. SIS was unable to penetrate Germany itself, but had some significant successes in military and commercial intelligence; this was achieved mostly by means of agent networks in neutral countries, occupied territories, and Russia. After the war, SIS resources were greatly reduced and its consumers, such as the War Office and Admiralty, were given partial control of its operational activities through the appointment of consumer liaisons or 'Circulating' sections. The Circulating Sections set requirements for the operational 'Group' sections and passed SIS product back to their home departments. This relationship was termed the '1921 arrangement' and provided the basic internal structure of the agency that still prevails today. During the 1920s it began to operate mainly through a system of sometimes grudging cooperation with the diplomatic service. Most embassies acquired a "Passport Control Officer" who was in fact the SIS head for that country. This gave SIS's operatives a degree of cover and diplomatic immunity, but the system probably lasted too long and was an open secret by the 1930s. In the immediate post-war years and throughout most of the 1920s, SIS was preoccupied with Communism, and Communist Russia in particular. Sidney Reilly was loosely associated with SIS until his capture, and SIS sponsored and supported both his and Boris Savinkov's attempts to bring down the Communist regime, in addition to running more orthodox espionage efforts within Russia. Cumming died (in his office) in 1923 and was replaced as "C" by Admiral Sir Hugh 'Quex' Sinclair, who may have lacked the charisma of his predecessor, but was probably the first C with a coherent vision for the future of the agency. Under his leadership, a wide range of new functions were developed. These included a central foreign counter-espionage Circulating Section (Section V) which liaised with MI5, collated counter-espionage (CE) information from, and issued CE requirements to, SIS stations abroad; an economic intelligence section dealing with trade, industrial and contraband (Section VII); a clandestine short-wave radio communications organisation for communicating by radio with SIS informants in foreign countries (Section VIII), an intercept unit accessing and reading the contents of foreign diplomatic bags (Section N) and a sub-organisation for political covert actions and paramilitary operations in time of war, Section D. Section D would eventually serve as one of the foundations of the wartime Special Operations Executive (SOE). Along with the rest of the intelligence community and the wider government, SIS switched focus in the 1930s to Nazi Germany. Again its success was rather modest; although it did acquire several quite reliable sources within the Government and also the German Admiralty, its information was probably less comprehensive than that provided by the rival network of Robert Vansittart, the permanent undersecretary at the Foreign Office. 'Quex' Sinclair died in 1939 and was replaced as "C" by Lt. Col. Stewart Menzies. Menzies was another run-of-the-mill chief; by common opinion, SIS did not have a head of Cumming's calibre until Dick White, in the post-war era.

World War II

During the Second World War, SIS was overshadowed in intelligence terms by several other initiatives, including the massive cryptanalytic effort undertaken by the Government Code and Cypher School (GC & CS), the bureau responsible for interception and decryption of foreign communications at Bletchley Park; the extensive "double-cross" system run by MI5 to feed misleading intelligence to the Germans; and the work of the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit. It was also affected by the inflammatory activities of the Special Operations Executive, which tended to increase the danger to its own agents. Its most famous operation of the war was a spectacular failure known as the Venlo incident (after the Dutch town where much of the action took place), in which SIS was thoroughly duped by agents of the German secret service, the Abwehr, posing as high-ranking Army officers involved in a plot to depose Hitler. In a series of meetings between SIS agents and the 'conspirators', SS plans to abduct the SIS team were shelved due to the presence of Dutch police. When a meeting took place without police presence, two SIS agents were duly abducted by the SS. This failure considerably tarnished the service's reputation. During the Second World War SIS first began to be referred to as 'MI6' when, under a reorganization of military intelligence at the War Office, the War Office circulating section acquired the military designation MI6 (within SIS it was termed Section VI). Despite difficulties at the outset of the war, SIS recovered and began to run substantial and successful operations both in the occupied Continent and in the Middle East and Far East where it operated under the cover name 'Interservice Liaison Department' (ISLD). One of SIS' main functions throughout the war was to operate the secure wireless system that carried the ULTRA intercepts of Axis Enigma communications broken by the Government Codes and Cipher School (GC&CS).

Cold War

In 1946 SIS absorbed the 'rump' remnant of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), dispersing the latter's personnel and equipment between its operational divisions or 'controllerates' and new Directorates for Training and Development and for War Planning. The 1921 arrangement was streamlined with the geographical, operational units redesignated 'Production Sections', sorted regionally under Controllers, all under a Director of Production. The Circulating Sections were renamed 'Requirements Sections' and placed under a Directorate of Requirements. SIS operations against the USSR were extensively compromised by the fact that the post-war Counter-Espionage Section, R5, was headed for two years by the penetration agent Harold Adrian Russell 'Kim' Philby. Although Philby's damage was mitigated for several years by his transfer as Head of Station in Turkey, he later returned and was the SIS intelligence liaison officer at the Embassy in Washington DC. In this capacity he compromised a programme of joint US-UK paramilitary operations in Enver Hoxha's Albania (although it has been shown that these operations were further compromised 'on the ground' by poor security discipline amongst the Albanian émigrés recruited to undertake the operations). Philby was eased out of office and quietly retired in 1953 after the defection of his friends and fellow members of the 'Cambridge spy ring' Donald Duart Maclean and Guy Burgess. SIS suffered further embarrassment when it turned out that an officer involved in both the Vienna and Berlin tunnel operations had been turned as a Soviet agent during internment by the Chinese during the Korean War. George Blake returned from his internment to be treated as something of a hero by his contemporaries in 'the office'. His security authorisation was restored, and in 1953 he was posted to the Vienna Station where the original Vienna tunnels had been running for years. After compromising these to his Soviet controllers, he was subsequently assigned to the British team involved on Operation Gold, the Berlin tunnel, and which was, consequently, blown from the outset. Blake was eventually identified, arrested and faced trial in court for espionage and was sent to prison - only to be busted out and escape to the USSR in 1964. Despite these setbacks, SIS began to recover in the early 1960s as a result of improved vetting and security, and a series of successful penetrations, one of the Polish security establishment codenamed NODDY and the other the GRU Colonel Oleg Penkovsky. Penkovsky ran for two years as a considerable success, providing several thousand photographed documents, including Red Army rocketry manuals that allowed US National Photographic Interpretation Centre (NPIC) analysts to recognise the deployment pattern of Soviet SS4 MRBMs and SS5 IRBMs in Cuba in October 1962. SIS operations against the USSR continued to gain pace through the remainder of the Cold War, arguably peaking with the recruitment in the 1970s of Oleg Sergeivich Gordievsky whom SIS ran for the better part of a decade then successfully exfiltrated from the USSR across the Finnish border in 1985. The real scale and impact of SIS activities during the second half of the Cold War remains unknown, however, because the bulk of their most successful targeting operations against Soviet officials were the result of 'Third Country' operations recruiting Soviet sources travelling abroad in Asia and Africa. These included the defection of KGB officer Vladimir Kuzichkin to the SIS' Tehran Station in 1982, the son of a senior Politburo member and a member of the KGB's internal Second Chief Directorate who provided SIS and the British government with warning of the mobilisation of the KGB's Alpha Force during the 1991 August Coup which, briefly, toppled Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. SIS activities included a range of covert political action successes, including the overthrow of an increasingly pro-Soviet Mohammed Mossadeq in Iran in 1953 (in collaboration with the US Central Intelligence Agency), the again collaborative toppling of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo in 1961, and the triggering of an internal conflict between Lebanese paramilitary groups in the second half of the 1980s that effectively distracted them from further hostage takings of Westerners in the region. A number of "intelligence operatives" (spies) have left SIS. Usually they have either found new employment in the civilian world or defected to a friendly country. In the late 1990s, an SIS officer called Richard Tomlinson was dismissed and later wrote a fascinating story of his experiences. Although SIS tried to prevent its publication, the book can be read online for free.

End of Cold War to present

The end of the Cold War represented less a wholesale change of SIS' operational orientation than a reshuffling of existing priorities. The Soviet Bloc ceased to swallow the lions share of operational priorities, although the stability and intentions of a weakened but still nuclear-capable Federal Russia constituted a significant concern. Instead, functional rather than geographical intelligence requirements came to the fore such as counter-proliferation (via the agency's Production and Targeting, Counter-Proliferation Section) which had been a sphere of activity since the discovery of Pakistani physics students studying nuclear-weapons related subjects in 1974; counter-terrorism (via two joint sections run in collaboration with the Security Service, one for Irish terrorism and one for international terrorism); counter-narcotics and serious crime (originally set up under the Western Hemisphere Controllerate in 1989); and a 'global issues' section looking at matters such as the environment and other public welfare issues. In the mid-1990s these were consolidated into a new post of Controller, Global and Functional. During the transition, then-C Sir Collin McColl embraced something of a new, albeit limited, policy of openness towards the press and public, with 'public affairs' falling into the brief of Director, Counter-Intelligence and Security (renamed Director, Security and Public Affairs). McColl's policies were part and parcel with a wider 'open government initiative' developed from 1993 by the government of (now Sir) John Major. As part of this, SIS' operations, and those of the national signals intelligence agency, GCHQ were placed on a statutory footing through the 1994 Intelligence Services Act. Although the Act provided procedures for Authorisations and Warrants, this essentially enshrined mechanisms that had been in place at least since 1953 (for Authorisations) and 1985 (under the Interception of Communications Act, for warrants). Under this Act, since 1994, SIS and GCHQ activities have been subject to scrutiny by Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee. During the mid-1990s the British intelligence community was subjected to a comprehensive costing review by the Government, and as part of broader defence cut-backs SIS had its resources cut back 25% across the board and senior management was reduced by 40%. As a consequence of these cuts, the Requirements division (formerly the Circulating Sections of the 1921 Arrangement) were deprived of any representation on the Board of Directors. At the same time, the Middle East and Africa Controllerates were pared back and amalgamated. According to the findings of Lord Butler of Brockwell's Review of Weapons of Mass Destruction, the reduction of operational capabilities in the Middle East and the weakening of the Requirements division's ability to challenge the quality of the information the Middle East Controllerate was providing the Joint Intelligence Committee's estimates of Iraq's nonconventional weapons programmes. These weaknesses were major contributors to the UK's erroneous assessments of Iraq's 'weapons of mass destruction' prior to the 2003 invasion of that country. On May 6, 2004, it was announced that Sir Richard Dearlove was to be replaced as head of the SIS by John Scarlett, formerly chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. Scarlett is an unusually high profile appointment to the job, and a well known figure on television screens in the United Kingdom due to his evidence at the Hutton Inquiry. His predecessor, Sir Richard Dearlove, is now Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge and photographs of him are publicly available for the first time.

SIS building

Pembroke College, seen from Vauxhall Bridge]] SIS headquarters, since 1995, is at 85, Vauxhall Cross, along the Albert Embankment in Vauxhall on the banks of the River Thames by Vauxhall Bridge, London. Previous headquarters have been Century House, 100 Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth, 1966-95; and 54, Broadway, off Victoria Street, London SW1, 1924-66. (Although SIS operated from Broadway, it was actually based at St. James's Street). Designed by Terry Farrell, the developer Regalian Properties plc approached the Government in 1987 to see if they had any interest in the proposed building. At the same time MI5 was seeking alternative accommodation and collocation of the two services was studied. In the end this proposal was abandoned due to the lack of buildings of adequate size (existing or proposed) and the security considerations of providing a single target for attacks. In July 1988 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher approved the purchase of the new building for the SIS. At this stage the government proposed to pay for the building outright in order to maintain secrecy over the intended use of the site. It is important to note that at this time the existence of MI6 was not officially acknowledged. The building design was reviewed to incorporate the necessary protection for Britain's foreign intelligence gathering agency. This includes overall increased security, extensive computer suites, technical areas, bomb blast protection, emergency back-up systems and protection against electronic eavesdropping. While the details and cost of construction have been released, about ten years after the original National Audit Office report was written, some of the service's special requirements remain classified. The NAO report [http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/9900236.pdf Thames House and Vauxhall Cross] has certain details omitted, describing in detail the cost and problems of certain modifications but not what these are. Rob Humprey's London: The Rough Guide suggests one of these omitted modifications is a tunnel beneath the Thames to Whitehall. It has been commented that it is ironic for such a secretive organisation to occupy one of the most high-profile and distinctive buildings in London. The NAO put the final cost at £135.05m for site purchase and the basic building, or £152.6m including the service’s special requirements. The building was featured in the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough. In the pre-credits sequence, Bond chases a suspect from the building up the Thames following the explosion of cash which was recovered and brought into the building by him. It is later revealed that the money was dipped in urea, in effect a fertiliser bomb. MI6 allowed exterior filming of the building for the first time in tribute to the long-time popularity of the secret agent. On the evening of September 20, 2000, the building was attacked by a Russian-built Mark 22 anti-tank missile. Striking the eighth floor, the missile caused only superficial damage. The Anti-Terrorist branch of the Metropolitan Police attributed responsibility to Irish Republicans, specifically the Real IRA.

Directors of the SIS

- Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming 1909–1923
- Sir Hugh Sinclair 1923–1939
- Sir Stewart Menzies 1939–1952
- Sir John Sinclair 1953–1956
- Sir Richard White 1956–1968
- Sir John Rennie 1968–1973
- Sir Maurice Oldfield 1973–1978
- Sir Dick Franks 1979–1982
- Sir Colin Figures 1982–1985
- Sir Christopher Curwen 1985–1989
- Sir Colin McColl 1989–1994
- Sir David Spedding 1994–1999
- Sir Richard Dearlove 1999–2004
- John Scarlett 2004–present

SIS in fiction

- Ian Fleming's fictional spy James Bond worked for MI6, and the SIS building itself features in some of the Pierce Brosnan films.
- The late ITV television series The Sandbaggers (first broadcast in the UK between 1978 and 1980) revolved around the fictional Special Operations Section of SIS, although the internal structure of the organization as portrayed in the series actually resembled that of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Sandbaggers was the inspiration for the Greg Rucka scripted comic book Queen and Country and its related novels, A Gentleman's Game and Private Wars, also featuring SIS.
- The BBC spy drama series Spooks, although set at MI5, frequently portrays the relationship between the two agencies, and several of the main characters have transferred from SIS to the Security Service. Hugh Laurie guest-starred in the first series as Jools Siviter, a boisterous and condescending MI6 officer.
- In the third season of Fox's television drama 24, Jack Bauer visits the MI6 offices in Los Angeles to gather information about a suspected bioterrorism attack plotted by a British ex-agent, Stephen Saunders. Later, the offices were destroyed in a bombing that attempted to destroy the information that Bauer sought.
- The Alex Rider series is set around a 14-year-old spy for MI6. It is probably the least realistic of the fictional works about MI6.
- The comic book sleuth Harold Clifton was in MI6 during the WWII. After his retirement, he still is invited every now and then to support. For one of those actions he received a knighthood in 1995.
- Author John le Carré is a former SIS officer, and the agency often features in his novels, where it is colloquially known as "the Circus". Examples include: the George Smiley series and The Tailor of Panama.

Notes

# Richard Tomlinson, [http://www.antioffline.com/bigbreach/bigbreach.html The Big Breach: From Top Secret to Maximum Security] (Moscow: Narodny Variant Publishers, 2001).

External links

- [http://www.sis.gov.uk Official homepage]
- [http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1059736061019 Information about SIS] from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's website
- [http://www.fas.org/irp/world/uk/mi6/ Entry for MI6] on the Federation of American Scientists' Intelligence Resource Program

References

- Davies, Philip H.J. (2004). MI6 and the Machinery of Spying London: Frank Cass, ISBN 9780714654577 (h/b)
- Davies, Philip H.J. (2005) 'The Machinery of Spying Breaks Down' in Studies in Intelligence Summer 2005 Declassified Edition.
- Humphreys, Rob (1999) London: The Rough Guide, Rough Guides, ISBN 185828404X
- Richard Tomlinson, The Big Breach - From Top Secret to Maximum Security. Coauthor Nick Fielding, Mainstream Publishing (1 February 2001) ISBN 1903813018 Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) ja:イギリス情報局秘密情報部

Axis Powers

The Axis Powers were those participants in World War II opposed to the Allies. The 3 major Axis powers, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and the Empire of Japan, referred to themselves as the "Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis". At their zenith, the Axis powers ruled empires that dominated large portions of Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, but they were ultimately defeated in the end of World War II. Like the Allies, membership of the Axis was fluid, and some nations entered and later left the Axis during the course of the war.
- Major Axis powers
- Nazi Germany, under Führer Adolf Hitler (and in the last days of the war, President Karl Dönitz)
- Japan, under Emperor Hirohito, Prime Minister Hideki Tojo (and in the last days of the war, Kuniaki Koiso and Kantaro Suzuki).
- Italy (until September 8, 1943), under Prime Minister Benito Mussolini & King Victor Emmanuel III.
- Lesser Axis powers
- Bulgaria (until August 1944)
- Hungary (until April 4, 1945)
- Romania (until August 1944)
- Italian Social Republic (Republic of Salò), under Benito Mussolini
- Countries in active coalition with the Axis
- USSR (until June 22, 1941, Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact)
- Finland (Anti-Comintern Pact 1941; June 26, 1944 – July 31, 1944, Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement)
- Independent State of Croatia (until May 1945)
- Thailand, under Field Marshal Luang Phibunsongkhram.
- Provisonal Government of Free India, under Subhas Chandra Bose.
- Under direct internal Axis control
- Manchukuo (Manchuria; until August 1945)
- Mengjiang (until August 1945)
- Reformed Government of the Republic of China (until August 1945)
- Vichy France (until August 1944)
- Slovakia (until 1944-45)
- Lokot Republic (until 1943)
- Belarusian Central Rada (until 1944)
- Reichskommissariat Ostland (until 1944)
- Reichskommissariat Ukraine (until 1943-44)
- Neutral countries with good relations with the Axis
- Spain (until 1945)
- Portugal (until 1945). At the same time, it held a secular alliance with Britain.
- Switzerland
- Sweden
- Turkey (until 1945) receiving certain military equipment,also poses political and commerce link with Axis for sometimes
- Argentina (pro-Axis neutrality until March 27 1945 when declared war against Germany and Japan under American pressure.) See also these articles: Native pro-Axis leaders, governments and Axis direct control of occupied countries; Axis plans for expansion and attacks and; Expansion operations and planning of the Axis Powers.

Origins

On September 18, 1931, Manchuria was an object of Japanese invasion during the Mukden incident. Italy, facing opposition to its war in Abyssinia from the League of Nations, forged an alliance with Germany, which had withdrawn from the League in 1933. The term was first used by Benito Mussolini, in November 1936, when he spoke of a Rome-Berlin axis in reference to the treaty of friendship signed between Italy and Germany on October 25 1936. The two countries would form an "axis" around which the other states of Europe could revolve. Later, in May 1939, this relationship transformed into an alliance, dubbed the "Pact of Steel". The Axis was extended to include Japan as a result of the Anti-Comintern Pact of November 25th 1936 and the Tripartite Treaty of September 27, 1940. The alliance was subsequently joined by Hungary (November 20 1940), Romania (November 23 1940), Slovakia's puppet government (November 24 1940) and Bulgaria (March 1, 1941). The Italian name Roberto briefly acquired a new meaning from "Roma-Berlino-Tokyo" between 1940 and 1945.

Lesser Axis nations

Hungary

The first and most willing of the Central European Axis allies, Hungary started its collaboration with the fascist states of the Axis in 1927 signing a treaty with Italy. Formal and informal ties with Germany throughout the 1930s lead to Hungary's active participation in subduing and dismantling of the Czechoslovak state, from which it obtained a number of territories. Hungary formally signed the tripartie pact on November 20, 1940

Romania

Joined the Axis in on November 23, 1940 after Russia occupied half of one of its provinces (Moldova, June 28, 1940) and Germany and Italy forced it to relinquish half of another (Transylvania) to Hungary on August 30, 1940.

Bulgaria

Joined the Axis in November 1940.

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia joined on March 25, 1941, but a British-supported coup d'état two days later put Yugoslavia's participation in question (although King Peter II of Yugoslavia actually declared his adherence to the treaty), leading to a German occupation of Yugoslavia in April. When Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, several nationalist groups used this to their advantage. The territory roughly consisting of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina was made into a puppet state called the "Independent State of Croatia". Other parts of Yugoslavia were either annexed, governed directly by the coalition forces, or by other locals (e.g. general Milan Nedić in Serbia). On April 10, 1941, the extreme-right nationalist Ustaše organization proclaimed the "Independent State of Croatia" on parts of occupied Yugoslav territory. The leader of the state was Ante Pavelić. The state was largely founded on nationalist aspirations due to the mistreatment of Croats and other South Slavic people within Yugoslavia because of the Royal Yugoslav government's policy of pro-Serb bias. Fascist forces subsequently sent thousands of Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and dissenting Croats and others to the concentration camps where most of them died. In 1941 Ivan Mihailov's Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) welcomed Bulgaria's renewed control of Vardar Macedonia which was populated basically with ethnic Bulgarians. There was hardly any resistance in this area till 1944. In the beginning of September 1944, when the Bulgarian government left the Axis and declared war on Nazi Germany, Berlin offered Mihailov to declare Macedonia's independence with Berlin's support but he declined. The Yugoslav Partisan forces under the command of Josip Broz Tito, a Croat, fought a guerrilla war throughout Yugoslavia and the ISC since mid-1941. By 1943 they became a major opponent, and in 1945 they were joined by the Red Army and the Bulgarian army and expelled the fascists. Croatia and other territories were then reincorporated into the second Yugoslavia.

Italian Social Republic

The Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana in Italian) was established in 1943 following Italy's defeat at the hands of the Allies. On July 25 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III stripped Benito Mussolini of his powers and had him arrested upon leaving the palace. Several months later, in a spectacular raid led by Otto Skorzeny, Mussolini was freed, declared his dismissal a coup, and proclaimed it put down on September 23 1943. On that same date he assumed control in the northern half of Italy, which he proclaimed to be the Italian Social Republic with its capital at Salò. The Republic came to an end in 1945 when Allied forces ousted the Germans from Italy.

Middle East

Iraq under the control of Rashid Ali al-Kaylani tried to join the Axis but there was internal resistance. When Kaylani was again appointed prime minister in 1940, King Ghazi had just passed away and the new four-year-old King Faisal II assumed the throne, with his uncle Emir Abdul-Illah serving as "acting monarch." While Abdul-Illah supported the British in the war, Kaylani was strongly opposed to them and refused to allow troops to cross through Iraq to the war front. Kaylani was also opposed to those calling for him to break off ties with the Fascist government in Italy. He subsequently sent his Justice Minister, Naji Shawkat, to meet with the then German ambassador to Turkey, Franz von Papen, to win German support for his government. At a later meeting, in which the Mufti's private secretary acted as the representative for the Iraqi government, Kaylani assured Germany that his country's natural resources would be made available to the Axis Powers in return for German recognition of the Arab states' right to independence and political unity, as well as the right to "deal with" the Jews living in Arab lands. When Britain found out about these dealings, sanctions were immediately placed on Iraq. The last chance for Iraqi entrance on the side of Germany slipped away when the Italians began to lose control of their territory holdings in North Africa. On January 31 1941, Kaylani was forced to resign from the post of Iraqi Prime Minister due to British pressure. The Japanese had some contact with Islamic leaders in Southeast Asia and Middle East areas, such as British Malaya, Dutch Indies, Afghanistan or Sinkiang, before and during the war. Among these leaders were the Sultan of Johore, Afghan Sardar Mohammad Hashim Khan, and Uiguir leader Ma Chung-ying. They coordinated some actions with Japanese agents, but these contacts did not result in significant action during the war. Certain Italian agents arrived to Persia and Afghanistan with similar purposes, but received little assistance..

South East Asia

During Axis operations in French Indochina, Japanese agents maintained contact with the Vichy France governor, Admiral Decoux. At the same time, these agents kept in contact with local Vietnamese chief Mandarin Tran Trong-kim, installing him as prime minister of the Vichy puppet regime. This ended with the Japanese invasion of Vichy Indochina, which Germany decided to ignore. The Philippines was not officially or technically an Axis member. However, the Japanese military installed a puppet government which governed from 1943 to 1945. The government was compelled to cooperate with the Japanese. (However, the Philippine Commonwealth government-in-exile, led by President Manuel Quezon, and a significant Filipino guerrilla movement were opposed to the Japanese.) Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 the United States had declared war against the Empire of Japan. Japan had been annexing East Asian territory for nearly ten years before bringing the U.S. into the war. Following Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded the Philippine Islands. In 1943 most high government officials had fled off the islands but a justice of the Filipino Supreme Court by the name of José P. Laurel was instructed to remain in Manila by President Manuel Quezon. Quezon went into exile to Bataan and then to the United States. It is because Laurel was such a critic of the United States that he fell in favor with the senior members of the Japanese occupying force. He was appointed President of the Philippines on October 14, 1943. Attempts were made at Laurel's life by Filipinos trying to resist the Japanese. Laurel was shot on two occasions but recovered. Laurel was instrumental in intervening in protecting Filipinos against the harsh Japanese wartime rule and policies. During the Second World War, the Japanese massacred many Filipinos, and raped and molested Filipinas. In Burma before the conflict, Japanese agents maintained contacts with Ba Maw (Saw), the indigenous Prime Minister in Burmese British administration. For this, British authorities arrested him, but the Burmese leader was liberated when Axis forces arrived. He conformed one Autonomous Pro-Japanese Government in Burma with Japanese advisers and supported by Japanese forces until 1944-45 when arriving American, British, and Chinese forces invaded and liberated the country. In British Malaya (Malaysia), the Japanese sustained some contacts with the Islamic local leader, the Sultan of Johore. This leader visited Japan in 1934, received the Tenno, the Decoration of Rising Sun Great Cord and established relationships with the Japanese administration. When Japanese Forces invaded Dutch Indies, during their 1942-45 occupation, they promised total political independence and proposed the organization of "Nation Defenders Army", under the guidance of Ahmed Sukarno, the local leader. He founded since 1927 the "Indonesian Nationalists Party", which during Japanese occupation received ideological support.

Countries in active or passive coalition with the Axis

Finland

After being attacked by the Soviet Union in the Winter War (1939–1940), the democratic Finland was a co-belligerent of Nazi Germany during the Continuation War (1941–1944), seeking to regain its lost territory and conquer East Karelia. Some Finns tended to view (and still do) these two conflicts as separate from World War II. In Allied usage, Finland was often referred to as an Axis country, which is often deplored as an effect of Soviet propaganda depicting the Finns as fascists in disguise.This conflicts with Finnish self-perception, which considers Finns acting only for self-preservation. It is interesting to note, however, that unlike Great Britain and France, the United States did not declare war on Finland during World War II. American perceptions of Finland were generally more favorable than the rest of the Allied powers. The Finnish government was very careful to nurture this political separation. Finland was never a signatory to the Tripartite Treaty, and Finns refused to put Finnish army under the joint command with Germans. Also Finnish high command refused to implement German wishes which it considered too damaging to Finnish interests, like attack to Leningrad or cutting Murmansk railroad at Louhi. The relation did more closely resemble a formal alliance during the six weeks of the Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement, which was presented as a German condition for much needed help with munitions and air support as the Soviet offensive coordinated with D-day threatened Finland with complete occupation. In the Lapland War (1944–1945), Finland as a co-belligerent of the Soviet Union pushed the German Wehrmacht out of Finnish territory to then-occupied Norway.

Thailand

Japanese forces began invading Thailand at nine points on the morning of December 8, 1941. Resistance to the Japanese invaders was swift and courageous, but Field Marshal Luang Phibunsongkhram, the prime minister, ordered the cessation of resistance. On December 21 a military alliance with Japan was signed and on January 25, 1942 Thailand declared war on Britain and the United States of America. The Thai ambassador to the United States, Seni Pramoj did not deliver his copy of the declaration of war, so although the British reciprocated by declaring war on Thailand and consequently considered it a hostile country, the USA did not. The Seri Thai was established during these first few months. Thai forces conducted their biggest offensive of the war in May 1942, taking Kengtung in northern Burma from the Chinese 93rd Army. Parallel Seri Thai organisations were established in Britain and inside Thailand. Queen Ramphaiphanee was the nominal head of the Britain-based organisation, and Pridi Phanomyong, then regent, headed its largest contingent, which was operating within the country. Aided by elements of the military, secret airfields and training camps were established while Allied agents fluidly slipped in and out of the country. As the war dragged on, the Thai population came to resent the Japanese presence. In June 1944, Phibun was overthrown in a coup engineered by the Seri Thai. The new civilian government attempted to aid the Seri Thai while at the same time maintaining cordial relations with the Japanese. After the war, US influence prevented Thailand from being treated as an Axis country, but Britain demanded three million tons of rice as reparations and the return of areas annexed from the British colony of Malaya during the war and invasion. Thailand also had to return the portions of British Burma, French Cambodia and French Laos that had been taken.

Soviet Union

In order to gain strength before the inevitable all-out war, under secret provisions in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union invaded several eastern European nations, which were previously part of the Russian Empire for centuries, on September 17, 1939. Poland was partitioned between Germany and the Soviet Union. The Baltic States capitulated to the Soviets on September 28. The Soviets invaded another part of former Russian Empire, Finland, on November 30 and seized minor parts of its territory. Relations with the Germans deteriorated after disagreements and mutual suspicions. Hitler never intended to continually honour the pact and invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 thus ending the treaty.

Free India

The Provisional Government of Free India was a shadow government led by Subhas Chandra Bose. It operated only in Japanese-controlled areas outside India. Bose was an Indian nationalist who did not believe in Gandhi's peaceful methods for achieving independence. Several key factors were vital in Bose's rise to power. The first was that even though India was a colony its army was largely autonomous. The second factor was that with Britain at war with Germany, an uprising could not be put down as easily as in years prior. The third and most important factor was the advance of the Japanese Empire through Asia. The Japanese Empire had earlier established Manchukuo (Manchuria) as independent in 1932 and later Indonesia and Vietnam independent without the approval of the latter two's European colonial masters. Bose led several units in mutiny against the British government and had come into alliance with the invading Japanese Empire to India's east. Bose and A.M.Sahay, another local leader, received ideological support from Mitsuru Toyama, chief of the Black Dragon Society along with Japanese Army advisers. Other Indian thinkers in favour of the Axis cause were Asit Krishna Mukherji, a friend of Bose and husband of Savitri Devi Mukherji, one of the women thinkers in support of the German cause, and the Pandit Rajwade of Poona. Bose was helped by Rash Behari Bose , founder of the Indian Independence League in Japan. Bose declared India's independence on October 21 1943. With its provisional capital at Port Blair on the Nicobar Islands, the state would last two more years until August 18 1945 when it officially became defunct. In its existence it would receive recognition from nine governments: Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, Italy, Independent State of Croatia, Reformed Government of the Republic of China, Thailand, Burma (under Ba Maw), Manchukuo, and the Philippines under de facto (and later de jure) president José Laurel.

Spain

Although Spain under Generalissimo Francisco Franco stayed neutral throughout the war, the country was ideologically aligned with the Axis powers (the Nationalists had received considerable military support from Germany and Italy during the Spanish Civil War). Franco did allow Spaniards to volunteer for what was described as a struggle against Bolshevism, and eventually over 40,000 Spanish volunteers fought on the Axis side during World War Two (primarily on the Eastern Front) under the auspices of the Blue Division.

Under direct internal Axis control

Manchukuo (Manchuria)

Manchukuo, meaning Manchuria, was a puppet state set up by Japan on February 18, 1932. The country's independence was not recognized by the League of Nations causing Japan to withdraw from the League. Italy, Germany and the Japanese-puppet government of China under Wang Jingwei were the only major governments to recognize the Japanese backed state. In the following order, these other states later recognized the existence of this nation: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ba Maw Burmese Nation, Thailand, the Indian government of Subhas Chandra Bose, and The Vatican. Manchuria met its dissolution in 1945 following Japan's defeat ending World War II. In Manchukuo there were also some anti-Communist White Russians leaders known as the "Duce" Konstantin Vladimirovich Rodzaevsky and General Kislistin. They sought to persuade the Imperial Japanese Army to invade Russian Siberia, for the purpose of establishing an anti-Soviet pro-Axis Russian government in the Russian Far East.

Mengjiang

Mengjiang (Mengchiang) was a client state organized by Japan on February 18 1936. The country's independence was merely theoretical, since principal political power remained firmly with "local" Japanese establishment. The local leader under the Japanese administration was the Mongol Prince Demchugdongrub. The Japanese Army's ostensible purpose there was an eventual invasion of Soviet Siberia, during which it would advance the frontiers of Menchiang to Soviet Outer Mongolia. This was an attempt to exploit Pan-Mongol nationalist spirit and promise a future unified great Mongol nation. Mengjiang vanished in 1945 following Japan's defeat ending World War II and the invasion of Soviet and Red Mongol Armies.

Nanjing puppet state

Reformed Government of the Republic of China is a term applied to a puppet state in central China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). This short-lived state was founded March 29 1940 by Wang Chingwei, who became Head of State of the Japanese supported collaborationist government based in Nanjing. Its flag was similar to that of the Republic of China, whose flag is still flown in Taiwan. On September 9 1945, following the defeat of Japan in World War II, the area was surrendered to General Ho Ying-ching, a Nationalist General loyal to Chiang Kai-shek. Additionally, Japanese forces organized other minor "independent" nations or political entities in occupied lands on the Chinese mainland, from the Inner Mongolia to Guangdong.

Vichy France

Following the successful invasion of France by German forces and the capture of Paris, France surrendered to Germany on 24 June 1940. Germany divided France into occupied and non-occupied zones with the latter under the leadership of the Vichy government, which was the de facto government of France led by prime minister Henri Philippe Pétain. The occupation resulted in a divided French state splintered into Vichy France and France. Charles de Gaulle directed forces called the Free French Forces in exile; The United States recognized Vichy France as the legitimate de jure government until 1942. The Allies feared that Vichy French-controlled colonies around the world would be used by Axis forces as bases, and many were attacked by Allied forces, beginning with the destruction of the Vichy French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir on July 3, 1940. Vichy forces often fought back vigorously, and were occasionally assisted by German, Italian or Japanese forces. Perhaps the most notable example of a Vichy-controlled colony used as an Axis base was French Indochina, which became the starting point for the Japanese invasions of Thailand, Malaya and Borneo. The Vichy government ceased to exist on September 3 1944 following the victory of Allied forces and restoration of the French Republic over all Vichy territories, colonies, and land holdings.

Lokot Republic

During the Axis actions of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, alongside occupation plans in Reichskommissariat Ostland and Reichskommissariat Ukraine, Axis forces developed a political and administrative experiment in the so-called Lokot Republic. This territory of one little anti-Soviet Russian pro-Axis local administration under Axis direct control, lead at first by Constantine Voskoboinik and later succeeded by Bronislaw Kaminski, himself also commander of native anti-communist forces of Russian National Liberation Army or RONA. The idea of liberation from the Bolsheviks found noticeable support in Russian-occupied areas, and this state is one example of collaboration between natives and Axis forces. Another Russian anti-communist leader with similar thinking was Andrey Vlasov and his local anti-Stalinist pro-Axis force of Russian Liberation Army (ROA). The Republic's life came to an end in 1943, soon after the war on the Eastern Front changed course at the Battle of Stalingrad.

Belarusian Central Rada

In Axis forces occupation period, theirs attempted to establish a similar puppet state in Belarus with local government under the name of Belarusian Central Rada (BCR), with similar state symbols of ancient Belarusian nation. (The chairman of the BCR was Radasłaŭ Astroŭski). This "nation" vanished after the Axis defeat in the Eastern Front in 1944.

Reichskommissariats of Ostland and Ukraine

In Axis direct military administration in Reichskommissariat Ostland and Reichskommissariat Ukraine, theirs managed the political control along some native collaborators, and permit at lasts certain rights and support local culture in purpose for gaining local friendship. In Ukraine exist some local nationalists why proposed to Axis military authorities nominal independence or autonomy. Inclusive military authorities joining natives suggest and permit some military volunteers units between Axis forces in occupied territories. At contrary, the Axis civil administration, assigned at Schleshwig-Holstein Gauleiter Heinrich Lohse (for Ostland) and East Prussia Gauleiter Erich Koch (for Ukraine) are very hard, with massive exploitation of natural resources, local workers deportations, measures for Jews, etc., during yours all administrative period. Alfred Rosenberg, previously at commenced of Axis Eastern Front campaign, suggest the some administrative organization in future USSR conquest lands in next Reichskommissariats: Ostland (Baltic States),Ukraine,Kaukasus (Caucasia lands) and Moskau (Moscow and the rest of Russian European areas surrounding). This territories extended from European frontier to Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line. Mentioned proposes stay in line with "Lebensraumpolitik" and "Lebensraum im Osten" (the creation of more living space for Germans in the east) geopolitical strategies for future German east provinces expansion in benefits of "Aryan" generations in next centuries. These military and civil administrative policies in territories previously mentioned and respectives geopolitical and expansionist ambitious plans if maintaining until when Axis military situation turning in Stalingrad and Kursk during 1943-1944.

White Russian Client State in Soviet Far East

Axis forces in North Asian lands during Pacific War pretend the organization of Client State in Soviet Far East, similarly at Far Eastern Republic. In accord with Hakko Ichiu Geopolitical doctrines, between Japanese strategic planning for mainland Asia (1905-1940), also theirs ideed, in eventually of land invasion in Siberia, the foundation of some political entity in Russian Far East, possibly leading by White Russian chief Konstantin Vladimirovich Rodzaevsky and General Kislistin, under orders of Axis direct administration, in similar form of ancient Japanese administration in Baikal, Khabarovsk and Vladivostok during 1918-1922, also included Kamchatka, occupied for theirs in 1918-1927. These leaders poses orders to establishing one "counterrevolutionaire antisoviet" pro Axis movement and new order government. These political entity served too how "Bulwark" along Chosen and Manchukuo, against Russian Soviet influence. The excuse for such political entity are why at Japan poses debt to establish "order" in Siberia, debt at "chaos" provoked by suppose Soviet defeating for victorious Axis Forces in European Eastern Front and prevent eventual American aid to Soviet demoralized Government, finding refugee in these territory. At the same time, this areas, served how "springboard", for next anti-Stalinist operations in nearest Siberian lands, along Outer Mongolia. Axis commanders, considered at Red Army detachment in Far East, how "easy prey" under these situation, theirs expected your total defeating in December 1941. These plans, originally ideed during 1929-1939 Russo-Japanese Incidents, more later retaken in 1941-1942 period, during European Eastern Front fight (Operation Barbarossa), for less needed of Axis forces arriving to Volga river at finish of July 1941, time chosen for commenced operations in the area, the "Kantouken Plan" or "Othsu or B Operation". This project to definitively stopped when occurred Stalingrad Axis defeat in 1943.

Summary

Of the lesser Axis powers, six would become defunct by the end of the war: Vichy France, the Independent State of Croatia, Slovakia, Manchukuo, the Italian Social Republic, and Provisional Government of Free India. Of the six, only three would reemerge, under entirely separate governments. These were:
- India (1947),
- Croatia (1991), and
- Slovakia (1993).

Secondary Sources

- Gerhard L. Weinberg. A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II.(NY: Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition, 2005) is the best scholarly overview.
- I. C. B. Dear and M. R. D. Foot, eds. The Oxford Companion to World War II. (2001) is the best reference book, with encyclopedic coverage of all military, political and economic topics.

External links

- [http://www.axishistory.com/ Axis History Factbook] Category:World War II politics ko:추축국 ja:枢軸国 simple:Axis countries

1943

1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday.

Events

January

- January 4 - End of term for Culbert Olson, 29th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Earl Warren.
- January 11 - The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China.
- January 11 - General Juanto dies in Argentina - Ramón Castillo succeeds him
- January 12 - Jan Campert, Dutch journalist and writer, dies in Neuengamme concentration camp
- January 13 - Richard Moll, actor
- January 14 - Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to travel by airplane while in office (Miami, Florida to Morocco to meet with Winston Churchill to discuss World War II).
- January 15 - World War II: Japanese are driven off Guadalcanal.
- January 15 - The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated (Arlington, Virginia).
- January 18 - World War II: Soviet officials announce they have broken the Wehrmacht's siege of Leningrad.
- January 18 - The Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rise up for the first time, starting the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
- January 23 - World War II: British forces capture Tripoli from the Nazis.
- January 23 - In Spearfish, South Dakota, temperature rises from -20 to +7 degrees Celsius in two minutes
- January 23 - Duke Ellington plays at New York City's Carnegie Hall for the first time.
- January 24 - World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
- January 27 - World War II: 50 bombers mount the first all American air raid against Germany (Wilhelmshaven was the target).
- January 29 - German police arrests necrophiliac Bruno Ludke

February

Bruno Ludke]
- February 1 - World War II: Vidkun Quisling is appointed Prime Minister of Norway by the Nazi occupiers.
- February 2 - World War II: In Russia, the Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end with the surrender of the German 6th Army.
- February 3 - World War II: The death of the Four Chaplains when their ship was struck by a torpedo.
- February 7 - World War II: In the United States, it is announced that shoe rationing will go into effect in two days.
- February 8 - World War II: Battle of Kursk - the Soviet Red Army successfully repels a massive German attack.
- February 8 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal - United States forces defeat Japanese troops.
- February 10 - March 3 - Mohandas Gandhi keeps a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment
- February 11 - General Eisenhower is selected to command the allied armies in Europe.
- February 12 - Mark Stephen Dube jr. was born.
- February 14 - World War II: Rostov, Russia is liberated.
- February 14 - World War II: Battle of the Kasserine Pass - German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launch an offensive against Allied defenses in Tunisia; it is the United States' first major battle defeat of the war.
- February 16 - World War II: Soviet Union reconquers Kharkov, but is later driven out in the Third Battle of Kharkov
- February 18 - The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.
- February 20 - American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
- February 22 - Members of White Rose are executed in Nazi Germany.
- February 27 - The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, United States explodes, killing 74 men.
- February 28 - OPERATION GUNNERSIDE, 6 Norwegians led by Joachim Ronneberg successfully attack the heavy water plant Vemork.

March

- March 1 - "Panzer General" Heinz Guderian becomes the Inspector-General of the Armoured Troops for the German Army during World War II.
- March 2 - World War II: Battle of the Bismarck Sea - United States and Australian forces sink Japanese convoy ships.
- March 3 - 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station in London.
- March 8 - World War II: American forces are attacked by Japanese troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville in a battle that will last five days.
- March 13 - World War II: On Bougainville, Japanese troops end their assault on American forces at Hill 700.
- March 13 - Holocaust: German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków.
- March 26 - World War II: Battle of Komandorski Islands - In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.

April

- April 3 - Shipwrecked steward Poon Lim is rescued by Brazilian fishermen after he has been adrift for 130 days
- April 22 - Albert Hofmann writes his first report about the hallucinogenic properties of LSD, which he first synthesized in 1938.
- April 25 - Easter occurs on the latest possible date. Last time 1886 next time 2038.
- April 27 - The U.S. Federal Writers' Project is shuttered.

May

Federal Writers' Project]
- May 11 - World War II: American troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
- May 13 - World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
- May 16 - World War II: The Dambuster Raids by RAF 617 Sqdn on German dams.
- May 16 - Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
- May 17 - World War II: Surviving RAF Dam Busters return.
- May 17 - The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the ENIAC.
- May 24 - Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes Chief Medical Officer in Auschwitz.

June

- June 4 - Military coup in Argentina ousts Ramón Castillo.
- June 22 - U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division land in North Africa prior to training at Arzew, French Morocco while serving in World War II.

July

- July 5 - World War II: Battle of Kursk - The largest tank battle in history begins.
- July 5 - World War II: An Allied invasion fleet sails to Sicily.
- July 6 - World War II: Americans and Japanese fight the Battle of Kula Gulf off Kolombangara.
- July 10 - World War II: The Allied invasion of Sicily marks the beginning allied invasion of Axis-controlled Europe with landings on the island of Sicily, off mainland Italy by the U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division.
- July 12 - World War II: Americans and Japanese fight the naval Battle of Kolombangara.
- July 19 - World War II: Rome is bombed by the Allies for the first time in the war.
- July 24 - World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, those of the Americans by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
- July 25 - In Italy the Gran Consiglio del Fascismo retires its consent to Mussolini; Mussolini is arrested and the power is given to Maresciallo d'Italia Gen. Pietro Badoglio.
- July 28 - World War II: Operation Gomorrah - The British bomb Hamburg causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.

August

- August 6 - World War II: Americans and Japanese fight the Battle of Vella Gulf off Kolombangara.
- August 17 - World War II: The US 7th Army under General George S. Patton arrive in Messina, Italy followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
- August 29 - World War II: Germany dissolves the Danish government after it refuses to deal with a wave of strikes and disturbances to the satisfaction of the German authorities. (See: Occupation of Denmark)

September

- September 3 - World War II: Mainland Italy is invaded by Allied forces under Bernard L. Montgomery, for the first time in the war.
- September 5 - World War II: The 503rd Parachute Regiment under American General Douglas MacArthur lands and occupies Nadzab, just east of the port city of Lae in northeastern Papua New Guinea.
- September 7 - A fire at the Gulf Hotel in Houston, Texas, kills 55 people.
- September 8 - World War II: United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies.
- September 8 - World War II: Julius Fucik is executed by Nazis.
- September 8 - First classes commence at Grace University.
- September 23 - World War II: Republic of Salò is founded.

October

- October 6 - World War II: Americans and Japanese fight the naval Battle of Vella Lavella.
- October 7 - World War II: Naples post office explosion
- October 13 - World War II: The new government of Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany.
- October 18 - Chiang Kai-shek took the oath of office as president of China.
- October 21 - Lucie Aubrac and others in her French Resistance cell liberate Raymond Aubrac from Gestapo imprisonment
- October 22 - World War II: RAF delivers a highly destructive airstrike on the German industrial and population center of Kassel

November

- November 1 - World War II: In Operation Goodtime, United States Marines land on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
- November 2 - World War II: In the early morning hours, American and Japanese ships fight the inconclusive Battle of Empress Augusta Bay off Bougainville.
- November 2 - World War II: British troops, in Italy, reach the Garigliano River.
- November 15 - Porajmos: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies and "part-Gypsies" were to be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps."
- November 16 - World War II: After flying from Britain, 160 American bombers strike a hydro-electric power facility and heavy water factory in German-controlled Vemork, Norway.
- November 16 - World War II: Japanese submarine sinks surfaced USA submarine USS Corvina near Truk
- November 18 - World War II: 440 Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF lost nine aircraft and 53 aviators.
- November 20 - World War II: Battle of Tarawa begins - United States Marines land on Tarawa and Makin atolls in the Gilbert Islands and take heavy fire from Japanese shore guns.
- November 22 - World War II: War in the Pacific - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and ROC leader Chiang Kai-Shek meet in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan.
- November 22 - Lebanon gains independence from France.
- November 23 - The Deutsche Opernhaus on Bismarckstraße in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg was destroyed. It was rebuilt in 1961 and called the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
- November 25 - World War II: Americans and Japanese fight the naval Battle of Cape St. George between Buka and New Ireland.
- November 28 - World War II: Tehran Conference - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin meet in Tehran to discuss war strategy (on November 30 they established an agreement concerning a planned June 1944 invasion of Europe codenamed Operation Overlord).
- November 29 - Second session of AVNOJ, the Anti-fascist council of national liberation of Yugoslavia, is held in Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina, determining the post-war ordering of the country.

December

- December 4 - World War II: In Yugoslavia, resistance leader Marshal Tito proclaims a provisional democratic Yugoslav government in-exile.
- December 4 - Great Depression ends in the United States: With unemployment figures falling fast due to World War II-related employment, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes the Works Progress Administration.
- December 20 - Military coup in Bolivia
- December 24 - World War II: US General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the supreme Allied commander.
- December 30 - Subhash Chandra Bose raises the flag of Indian independence at Port Blair.

Undated

- Development of the Colossus computer by British to break German encryption (see History of computing hardware).
- Mondragón cooperative begins in Basque Country in Spain
- Arana Hall, Otago founded.

Ongoing

- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

Births

January

- January 2 - Baris Manco, Turkish celebrity
- January 4 - Doris Kearns Goodwin, American writer
- January 6 - Terry Venables, English football manager
- January 10 - Jim Croce, American singer (d. 1973)
- January 11 - Jim Hightower, American radio host and author
- January 16 - Brian Ferneyhough, British composer
- January 18 - Kay Granger, American politician
- January 19 - Janis Joplin, American singer (d. 1970)
- January 19 - Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
- January 24 - Sharon Tate, American actress (d. 1969)
- January 25 - Tobe Hooper, American film director
- January 26 - César Gutiérrez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 2005)
- January 30 - Marty Balin, American musician

February

- February 2 - Erkan Genis, Turkish artist
- February 3 - Blythe Danner, American actress
- February 4 - Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese politician
- February 5 - Nolan Bushnell, American video game pioneer
- February 5 - Craig Morton, American football player
- February 6 - Fabian, American singer
- February 7 - Gareth Hunt. English actor
- February 9 - Joe Pesci, American actor
- February 9 - Joseph E. Stiglitz, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 13 - Geoff Edwards, American game show host
- February 14 - Maceo Parker, American musician (P-Funk)
- February 18 - Graeme Garden, Scottish writer, comedian, and actor
- February 19 - Tim Hunt, British biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- February 20 - Mike Leigh, Britsh film director
- February 21 - David Geffen, American record executive and film producer
- February 23 - Fred Biletnikoff, American football player and coach
- February 25 - George Harrison, English musician (The Beatles) (d. 2001)
- February 24 - Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer
- February 26 - Bill Duke, American actor and director
- February 27 - Morten Lauridsen, American composer

March

- March - John Leeson, British actor
- March 1 - Gil Amelio, American entrepreneur
- March 2 - Peter Straub, American author
- March 8 - Lynn Redgrave, English actress
- March 9 - Bobby Fischer, American chess player
- March 9 - Charles Gibson, American television journalist
- March 15 - David Cronenberg, Canadian film director
- March 19 - Mario J. Molina, Mexican chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- March 19 - Mario Monti, Italian member of the European Commission
- March 21 - Vivian Stanshall, English comedian, writer, artist, broadcaster, and musician (d. 1995)
- March 22 - Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor
- March 22 - Keith Relf, British musician (The Yardbirds) (d. 1976)
- March 26 - Bob Woodward, American journalist
- March 29 - Eric Idle, English actor, writer, and composer
- March 29 - John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- March 29 - Vangelis, Greek musician and composer
- March 31 - Christopher Walken, American actor

April

- April 5 - Max Gail, American actor
- April 8 - Miller Farr, American football player
- April 10 - Andrzej Badeński, Polish athlete
- April 20 - John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor
- April 23 - Dominik Duka, Czech Catholic bishop and theologian
- April 28 - John O. Creighton, American astronaut

May

- May 8 - Toni Tennille, singer
- May 10 - Richard (Dick) Darman, American federal government official and businessman
- May 14 - Jack Bruce, British musician and songwriter
- May 14 - Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland
- May 17 - Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, King of Malaysia
- May 22 - Betty Williams, Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- May 23 - John Newcombe, Australian tennis player
- May 25 - Jessi Colter, American singer and composer
- May 27 - Bruce Weitz, American actor
- May 30 - James Chaney, American civil rights worker (d.1964)
- May 31 - Joe Namath, American football player
- May 31 - Sharon Gless, American actress

June

- June 2 - Ilayaraja, Music Composer,Tamil Nadu,India
- June 6 - Richard Smalley, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 8 - Colin Baker, British actor
- June 15 - Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark
- June 17 - Newt Gingrich, American politician
- June 17 - Barry Manilow, American musician
- June 23 - James Levine, American conductor
- June 26 - John Beasley, American actor
- June 26 - Klaus von Klitzing, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 27 - Rico Petrocelli, baseball player
- June 29 - Maureen O'Brien, British actress

July

- July 4 - Konrad "Conny" Bauer, German trombonist
- July 4 - Geraldo Rivera, American reporter and talk show host
- July 5 - Curt Blefary, baseball player (d. 2001)
- July 10 - Arthur Ashe, American tennis player (d. 1993)
- July 26 - Mick Jagger, English singer (Rolling Stones)

August

- August 4 - Bjørn Wirkola, Norwegian ski jumper
- August 5 - Nelson Briles, baseball player (d. 2005)
- August 7 - Dino Valente, American musician, (d. 1994)
- August 11 - Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani general and leader
- August 14 - Jimmy Johnson, American football coach and television analyst
- August 17 - Robert De Niro, American actor
- August 20 - Sylvester McCoy, British actor
- August 24 - John Cipollina, American musician, (d. 1989)
- August 28 - Lou Piniella, baseball player and manager
- August 30 - Jean-Claude Killy, French skier

September

- September 6 - Richard J. Roberts, English biochemist and molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- September 6 - Roger Waters, English musician
- September 11 - Gilbert Proesch, Italian-born artist (Gilbert and George)
- September 11 - Raymond Villeneuve, Canadian terrorist
- September 22 - Toni Basil, American musician and video artist
- September 28 - J. T. Walsh, American actor (d. 1998)
- September 29 - Lech Wałęsa, President of Poland, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- September 30 - Johann Deisenhofer, German biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- September 30 - Ian Ogilvy, English actor

October

- October 2 - Franklin Rosemont, American poet
- October 6 - Michael Durrell, American actor
- October 14 - Lois Hamilton, American model, actress, and artist (d. 1999)
- October 16 - Paul Rose, Canadian terrorist

November

- November 7 - Joni Mitchell, American musician
- November 7 - Michael Spence, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 11 - Doug Frost, Australian swimming coach
- November 12 - Wallace Shawn, American actor
- November 14 - Peter Norton, American software engineer and businessman
- November 19 - Aurelio Monteagudo, Cuban Major League Baseball player (d. 1990)

December

- December 5 - Eva Joly, Norwegian-born French magistrate
- December 8 - James Douglas "Jim" Morrison, American musician (d. 1971)
- December 11 - John Kerry, American politician
- December 12 - Grover Washington Jr., American saxophonist (d. 1999)
- December 13 - Ferguson Jenkins, baseball player
- December 17 - Ron Geesin, British musician and songwriter (Pink Floyd)
- December 18 - Keith Richards, English guitarist and songwriter (The Rolling Stones)
- December 23 - Harry Shearer, American actor and writer
- December 24 - Tarja Halonen, President of Finland
- December 28 - Richard Whiteley, English television presenter (d. 2005)
- December 31 - John Denver, American musician (d. 1997)
- December 31 - Ben Kingsley, English actor

Deaths

January-June

- January 5 - George Washington Carver, American educator, activist, and botanist
- January 23 - Alexander Woollcott, American bon vivant (b. 1887)
- January 26 - Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenicist (b. 1880)
- February 14 - David Hilbert, German mathematician (b. 1862)
- February 17 - Armand J. Piron, American musician and composer (b. 1888)
- March 3 - George Thompson, English cricketer (b. 1877)
- March 12 - Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor (b. 1869)
- March 13 - Stephen Vincent Benet, American poet (b. 1898)
- March 28 - Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian composer and pianist (b. 1873)
- April 18 - Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (b. 1884)
- May 14 - Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1854)
- May 26 - Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford (b. 1893)
- June 26 - Karl Landsteiner, Austrian biologist and physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1868)

July-December

- July 21 - Charlie Paddock, American athlete (b. 1900)
- August 12 - Bobby Peel, English cricketer (b. 1857)
- August 14 - Joe Kelley, baseball player (b. 1871)
- August 21 - Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)
- August 28 - King Boris III of Bulgaria (b. 1894)
- September 1 - Charles Atangana, Cameroonian chief
- September 24 - John Stone Stone, American physicist and inventor (b. 1869)
- October 5 - Leon Roppolo, American musician (b. 1902)
- October 9 - Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- October 19 - Camille Claudel, French sculptor (b. 1864)
- December 1 - Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai prince and historian (b. 1862)
- December 7 - Per Imerslund, "The aryan idol" (b. 1912)

Nobel Prizes

- Physics - Otto Stern
- Chemistry - George de Hevesy
- Physiology or Medicine - Carl Peter Henrik Dam, Edward Adelbert Doisy, Gerhard Domagk
- Literature - not awarded
- Peace - not awarded
- ko:1943년 ms:1943 ja:1943年 simple:1943 th:พ.ศ. 2486

Colin Gubbins

Major General Sir Colin Gubbins (1896-1976) was the prime mover of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) in the Second World War. He was also responsible for setting up the secret Auxiliary Units. Colin McVean Gubbins was educated at Cheltenham College. His father, John Harington Gubbins (1852-1929), served with distinction as a scholar-diplomat in Japan for 30 years.

Bibliography

- Peter Wilkinson and Joan Bright Astley, Gubbins and SOE, London, Leo Cooper, 1993, ISBN 085052556X. Gubbins, Colin Gubbins, Colin

Welrod

The Welrod was a British bolt action, magazine fed, suppressed (silenced) pistol devised during World War Two at - the Inter Services Research Bureau (later Station IX) - based near Welwyn Garden City, UK, for use by irregular forces and resistance groups. It was not a mass produced weapon, only around 2,800 being made.

History

It was used primarily by the British SOE but was also used by the American OSS. The Welrod was extremely quiet, being almost inaudible when fired. Examples were made in 9 x 19 mm Parabellum and .32 ACP, with capacities of 5 rounds in the magazine (more rounds could be loaded, but it was not recommended). The Welrod took the form of a 1.25 inch diameter cylinder about 12 inches long. The rear of the cylinder contained the bolt, the middle the ported barrel and expansion chamber of the suppressor, and the front the baffles and wipes of the suppressor. There is a knurled knob at the rear that serves as the bolt handle, and the magazine forms the pistol grip. The Welrod was provided with sights marked with fluorescent paint for use in low light conditions. Although it had a maximum range of 25 yards, it was intended for use far closer - up to point blank. The muzzle end of the gun was cut away so that it could be fired in direct contact with the target. This would reduce the sound levels even further, and removed the chance of missing. The ported barrel of the Welrod served two purposes; it released the powder gases gradually into the rear of the suppressor, reducing the sound of firing, and it reduced the velocity of the bullet to subsonic speeds (this was especially important in the 9mm version since the standard 9mm loading is supersonic). The baffles and wipes that follow the barrel serve to further slow the gases of firing, releasing them over a long period of time and avoiding the sharp explosion that occurs when high pressure powder gases are suddenly released to the atmosphere. The Welrod used a bolt action design because it was simple, reliable, and quiet. Revolvers are not suitable for silencing because the gap between cylinder and barrel releases high pressure gas which cannot be silenced; semiautomatic pistols have many parts that move when firing and make a loud and distinct sound. The bolt action has only the noise of the firing pin hitting the primer, and the bolt can be cycled quietly, if needed. While single shots were the norm for the missions the Welrod was used in, the action could be cycled and a new round ready to fire in less than a second. The Welrod was a "sanitized" weapon, meaning that it had no markings indicating its manufacturer or country of origin; all it was marked with was a serial number and some inscrutable symbols and letters (likely inspection marks). The Birmingham Small Arms Company confirmed that they manufactured some of the Welrod pistols, but that they put no markings at all on them, so any markings were likely added by the British military after delivery. For use at longer ranges the silenced version of the Sten gun and the silenced De Lisle carbine were used. The Welrod was widely used in Denmark during WWII, and is reported to have been used during the Falklands War of 1982. The name Welrod comes from the custom that all the clandestine equipment devised at Station IX in Welwyn had names starting with Wel, e.g, Welbike, Welman

External links

- [http://www.kitsune.addr.com/Firearms/Single-Shot-Pistols/Welrod.htm Welrod Silenced Gun]
- [http://www.timelapse.dk/Welrod/uk/ A Danish site with research into the production and use of the Welrod]
- http://www.alliedspecialforces.org

Poland

The Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska) is a country located in Central Europe, between Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania, and Russia (in the form of the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave) to the north. The Polish state was formed over 1,000 years ago under the Piast dynasty, and reached its golden age near the end of the 16th century under the Jagiellonian dynasty, when Poland was one of the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful countries in Europe. In 1791 the Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth voted for the Constitution of May 3, Europe's first modern codified constitution, and the second in the world after the Constitution of the United States. Soon afterwards, the country ceased to exist after being partitioned by its neighbours Russia, Austria, and Prussia. It regained independence in 1918 in the aftermath of the First World War as the Second Polish Republic. Following the Second World War it became a communist satellite state of the Soviet Union known as the People's Republic of Poland. In 1989 the first partially-free elections in Poland's post-World War II history concluded the Solidarity (Solidarność) movement's struggle for freedom and resulted in the defeat of Poland's communist rulers. The current Third Polish Republic was established, followed a few years later by the drafting of a new constitution in 1997. In 1999 Poland acceded to NATO, and in 2004 it joined the European Union.

Name

:See the name 'Poland' in other languages, in Wiktionary. Poland's official name in Polish is Rzeczpospolita Polska. The names of the country, Polska, and of the nationality, the Poles, are of Slavic origin. Their name derives from the tribal name Polanie - people living around Lake Gopło - the cradle of Poland mentioned as Glopeani having 400 strongholds circa 845 (Bavarian Geographer). Common opinion holds that the name Polska comes from the Slavic Polanie tribe who established the Polish state in the 10th century (Greater Poland). The conventional etymology of the ethnic name of the Poles relates it to these Polish Polanie, "dwellers of the field"; pole, "field", analogous to Russian polyî, "open land", from Indo-European pelè-, "flat" + -anie, "inhabitants", analogous to Latin -anus, "originating from" (please compare Yuriev-Polsky). In old Latin chronicles the terms terra Poloniae (land of Poland) or Regnum Poloniae (kingdom of Poland) appear. Parallel to this terminology, another one, Lechia, came into use, thought to derive from the tribe name Lędzianie. It gave rise to an alternative name for "Pole": Lęch, Lęchowie in Old Church Slavonic, Lechia, Lechites in Latin, Lach in Ruthenian, Lyakh in Russian, as well as to old German Lechien, Hungarian Lengyelorszag, Lengyel, Lithuanian Lenkija, lenkas and Turkish Lechistan (from Persian Lehestan).

History

Poland began to form into a recognizable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty. Poland's first historically documented ruler, Mieszko I, was baptized in 966, adopting Catholic Christianity as the country's new official religion, to which the bulk of the population converted in the course of the next century. In the 12th century Poland fragmented into several smaller states, which were later ravaged by the Mongol armies of the Golden Horde in 1241. In 1320 Władysław I became the King of reunified Poland. His son Kazimierz Wielki repaired the Polish economy, built new castles and won the war against the Russian dukedom (Lwow become a Polish City). Under the Jagiellon dynasty, Poland forged an alliance with its neighbour Lithuania. A golden age occurred in the 16th century during its union (Lublin Union) with Lithuania in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The citizens of Poland took pride in their ancient freedoms and parliamentary system, although the Szlachta monopolised most of the benefits. Since that time Poles have regarded freedom as their most important value. Poles often call themselves the nation of the free people. freedom In the mid-17th century a Swedish invasion rolled through the country in the turbulent time known as "The Deluge" (potop). Numerous wars against the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Cossacks, Transylvania and Brandenburg-Prussia ultimately came to an end in 1699. During the following 80 years, the waning of the central government and deadlock of the institutions weakened the nation, leading to anarchistic tendencies and a growing dependency on Russia. In Polish Democracy every member of parliament was able to break any work or project by shouting 'Liberum Veto' during the session. Russian tsars took advantage of this unique political vulnerability by offering money to Parliamentary traitors, who in turn would consistently and subversively block necessary reforms and new solutions. The Enlightenment in Poland fostered a growing national movement to repair the state, resulting in the first written constitution in Europe, the Constitution of May 3 in 1791. The process of reforms ceased with the partitions of Poland between Russia, Prussia, and Austria in 1772, 1793 and 1795 which ultimately dissolved the country. Poles resented their shrinking freedoms and several times rebelled against their oppressors (see List of Polish Uprisings). Napoleon recreated a Polish state, the Duchy of Warsaw, but after the Napoleonic wars, Poland was split again by the Allies at the Congress of Vienna. The eastern part was ruled by the Russian tsar as a Congress Kingdom, and possessed a liberal constitution. However, the tsars soon reduced Polish freedoms and Russia eventually de facto annexed the country. Later in the 19th century, Austrian-ruled Galicia became the oasis of Polish freedom. During World War I all the Allies agreed on the restitution of Poland that United States President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed in point 13 of his Fourteen Points. Shortly after the surrender of Germany in November 1918, Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic (II Rzeczpospolita Polska). A new threat, Soviet aggression, arose in the 1919 (Polish-Soviet War), but Poland succeeded in defending its independence. Polish-Soviet War The Second Polish Republic lasted until the start of World War II when Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland. Poland surrendered on September 28 1939 and suffered greatly in the period that followed as a General Government. Of all the countries involved in the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: over 6 million perished, half of them Polish Jews. In its conclusion, Poland's borders shifted westwards, pushing the eastern border to the Curzon line and the western border to the Oder-Neisse line. After the shift, Poland emerged 20% smaller by 77,500 km² (29,900 mi²); although the important cities of Gdańsk, Szczecin and Wrocław were all incorporated into its post-war borders. The shift also involved the migration of millions of people – Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, Jews. As a result of these events, Poland became, for the first time in history, an ethnically unified country. A Polish minority is still present in neighbouring countries of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, as well as in other countries (see Poles article for the population numbers). The largest number of ethnic Poles outside of the country can be found in the United States. The Soviet Union instituted a new communist government in Poland, analogous to much of the rest of the Eastern Bloc. Military alignment within the Warsaw Pact throughout the Cold War was also part of this change. In 1948 a turn towards Stalinism brought in the beginning of the next period of totalitarian rule. The People's Republic of Poland (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa) was officially proclaimed in 1952. In 1956 the régime became more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms. In 1970 the government was changed. It was a time when the economy was more modern, and the government had large credits. Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union, "Solidarity", which over time became a political force. It eroded the dominance of the Communist Party; by 1989 it had triumphed in parliamentary elections, and Lech Wałęsa, a Solidarity candidate, eventually won the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement greatly contributed to the soon-following collapse of Communism all over Eastern Europe. A shock therapy program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe. Despite a regression in social and economic standards, there were numerous improvements in other human rights (free speech, functioning democracy and the like). Poland was the first post-communist country to regain pre-1989 GDP levels. Poland joined the NATO alliance in 1999 along with the Czech Republic and Hungary. Polish voters then said yes to the EU in a referendum in June 2003. Poland joined the European Union on 1 May 2004.

Politics

Poland is a democratic republic. Its current constitution dates from 1997. The government structure centres on the Council of Ministers, led by a prime minister. The president appoints the cabinet according to the proposals of the prime minister, typically from the majority coalition in the bicameral legislature's lower house (the Sejm). The president, elected by popular vote every five years, serves as the head of state. The current president is Aleksander Kwaśniewski. Polish voters elect a two house parliament, consisting of a 460 member lower house Sejm and a 100 member Senate (Senat). The Sejm is elected under a proportional representation electoral system similar to that used in other parliamentary political systems while the Senate is elected under a comparatively rare first past the post bloc voting. With the exception of ethnic minority parties, only political parties receiving at least 5% of the total national vote can enter Sejm. When sitting in joint session, members of Sejm and Senate form the National Assembly, (Polish Zgromadzenie Narodowe). The National Assembly is formed on three occasions: taking oath by the new president, bringing an indictment against the President of the Republic to the Tribunal of State, declaration of the President's permanent incapacity to exercise his duties due to the state of his health. The judicial branch plays an important role in decision-making. Its major institutions include the Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy), the Supreme Administrative Court (Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny) (judges appointed by the president of the republic on the recommendation of the National Council of the Judiciary for an indefinite period), the Constitutional Tribunal (Trybunał Konstytucyjny) (judges chosen by the Sejm for nine-year terms) and the Tribunal of State (Trybunał Stanu) (judges chosen by the Sejm for for the current term of office of the Sejm, except for the position of chairperson which is held by the First President of the Supreme Court). The Sejm (on approval of the Polish Senate) appoints the Ombudsman or the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection (Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich) for a five-year term. The Ombudsman has the duty of guarding the observance and implementation of the rights and liberties of the human being and of the citizen, the law and principles of community life and social justice.

Geography

judicial branch The Polish landscape consists almost entirely of the lowlands of the North European Plain, at an average height of 173 metres (568 ft), though the Sudetes (including the Karkonosze) and the Carpathian Mountains (including the Tatra mountains, where one also finds Poland's highest point, Rysy, at 2,499 m [8,199 ft]) form the southern border. Several large rivers cross the plains; for instance, the Vistula (Wisła), Oder (Odra), Warta the (Western) Bug. Poland also contains over 9,300 lakes, predominantly in the north of the country. Masuria (Mazury) forms the largest and most-visited lake district in Poland. Remains of the ancient forests survive: see list of forests in Poland. Poland enjoys a temperate climate, with cold, cloudy, moderately severe winters and mild summers with frequent showers and thunder showers.

Big Cities

climate climate climate climate] climate

Administrative division

climate climate Poland is subdivided into sixteen administrative regions known as voivodships (województwa, singular - województwo): Lower levels of administrative division are:
- powiats (counties)
- gminas (commune)

Economy

gmina gmina gmina] Since its return to democracy, Poland has steadfastly pursued a policy of liberalising the economy and today stands out as one of the most successful and open examples of the transition from a partially state-capitalist market economy to a primarily privately owned market economy. The privatisation of small and medium state-owned companies and a liberal law on establishing new firms have allowed for the rapid development of an aggressive private sector, followed by a development of consumer rights organisations later on. Restructuring and privatisation of "sensitive sectors" (e.g., coal, steel, railways, and energy) has begun. The biggest privatisations so far were a sale of Telekomunikacja Polska, a national telecom to France Telecom (2000) and an issue of 30% shares of the biggest Polish bank, PKO BP, on the Polish stockmarket (2004). Poland has a large agricultural sector of private farms, that could be a leading producer of food in the European Union now that Poland is a member. Challenges remain, especially under-investment. Structural reforms in health care, education, the pension system, and state administration have resulted in larger-than-expected fiscal pressures. Warsaw leads Central Europe in foreign investment and allegedly needs a continued large inflow. GDP growth had been strong and steady from 1993 to 2000 with only a short slowdown from 2001 to 2002. The prospect of closer integration with the European Union has put the economy back on track, with growth of 3.7% annually in 2003, a rise from 1.4% annually in 2002. In 2004 GDP growth equalled 5.4%. Annual growth rates broken down by quarters:
- 2003: Q1 - 2.2% | Q2 - 3.8% | Q3 - 4.7% | Q4 - 4.7%
- 2004: Q1 - 6.9% | Q2 - 6.1% | Q3 - 5.8% | Q4 - 5.9%
- 2005: Q1 - 2.1% | Q2 - 2.8% | Q3 - 3.7% | Although the Polish economy is currently undergoing an economic boom there are many challenges ahead. The most notable task on the horizon is the preparation of the economy (through continuing deep structural reforms) to allow Poland to meet the strict economic criteria for entry into the European Single Currency. There is much speculation as to just when Poland might be ready to join the Eurozone, although the best guess estimates put the entry date somewhere between 2009 and 2013. For now, Poland is preparing to make the Euro its official currency (as other countries of the European Union), and the Złoty will eventually be abolished from the modern Polish economy. Since joining the European Union, many young Polish people have left their country to work in other EU countries becouse of high unemployment rate (about 17%). Poland produces: clothes, electronics, cars, buses (Autosan, Jelcz SA, Solaris, ) helicopters (PZL Świdnik), planes (PZL Mielec), ships, military engineering (including tanks), medicines (Polpharma, Polfa, etc), food, chemical products etc.

Science, technology and education

The education of Polish society was a goal of rulers as early as the 12th century. The library catalog of the Cathedral Chapter of Kraków dating back to 1110 shows that already in the early 12th century Polish intellectuals had access to the European literature. In 1364, in Kraków, the Jagiellonian University, founded by King Kazimierz Wielki, became one of Europe's great early universities. In 1773 King Stanisław August Poniatowski established his Commission on National Education (Komisja Edukacji Narodowej), the world's first state ministry of education. Today, Poland has more than a hundred institutions of post-secondary education: technical, medical, economics, as well as the traditional universities to be found in its major cities; e.g., Gdańsk, Bydgoszcz, Katowice, Kraków, Lublin, Łódź, Poznań, Rzeszów, Warsaw, Wrocław yielding over 61 thousand scientists. Furthermore, there are about 300 research and development institutes, with about 10 thousand more researchers. In addition, there is a number of smaller laboratories. In sum, there are 91 thousand scientists in Poland today.

Telecommunication and IT

The share of the telecom sector in the GDP is 4.4% (end of 2000 figure), compared to 2.5% in 1996. Nevertheless, despite high expenditures for telecom infrastructure (the coverage increased from 78 users per 1000 inhabitants in 1989 to 282 in 2000)
the coverage mobile cellular is 660 users per 1000 people (2005)
- Telephones - mobile cellular: 25.3 million (Raport Telecom Team 2005)
- Telephones - main lines in use: 12.5 million (Raport Telecom Team 2005)

Transportation

- Rail: The Polish State Railways (PKP) is one of the larger railway systems of central and western Europe, with 23,420 kilometres (14,552 mi) in its network (1998). Refurbishment of the network has commenced to bring standards into line with western European railway networks. [http://www.plk-sa.pl/]
- Road: By Western European standards, Poland has a relatively poor infrastructure of expressways/highways. The Government has undertaken a programme to improve the standard of a number of significant national highways by 2013. The total length of expressways/highways is 364,657 kilometres (226,587 mi). There are a total of 9,283,000 registered passenger automobiles, as well as 1,762,000 registered trucks and buses (2000). PKP
- Air: Poland has eight major airports (in decreasing order of traffic: Warsaw, Kraków, Katowice, Gdańsk, Poznań, Wrocław, Szczecin and Rzeszów), a total of 123 airports and airfields, as well as three heliports. The number of passenger at Polish airports has consistently increased since 1991.
- Marine: The total length of navigable rivers and canals is 3,812 kilometres (2,369 mi). The merchant marine consists of 114 ships, with an additional 100 ships registered outside the country. The principal ports and harbours are: Port of Gdańsk, Port of Gdynia, Port of Szczecin, Port of Swinoujscie, Port of Ustka, Port of Kolobrzeg, Gliwice, Warsaw, Wroclaw.

Tourism and holidays

Wroclaw
- Tourism in Poland
- Holidays in Poland
- [http://wikitravel.org/en/Poland Poland on Wikitravel]

Demographics

Poland formerly played host to many languages, cultures and religions. However, the outcome of World War II and the following shift westwards to the area between the Curzon line and the Oder-Neisse line gave Poland an appearance of homogeneity. Today 36,983,700 people, or 96.74% of the population considers itself Polish (Census 2002), 471,500 (1.23%) declared another nationality. 774,900 people (2.03%) didn't declare any nationality. The officially recognised ethnic minorities include: Germans, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Jews and Belarusians. The Polish language, a member of the West Slavic branch of the Slavic languages, functions as the official language of Poland. Most Poles adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, and 75% count as practising Catholics. The rest of the population consists mainly of Eastern Orthodox (about 509 500), Jehovah's Witnesses (about 123 034) and various Protestant (about 86 880 in the largest Evangelical-Augsburg Church and about as many in smaller churches) religious minorities. [http://www.stat.gov.pl/opracowania_zbiorcze/maly_rocznik_stat/2003/rocznik4/relig.htm]

Culture

Evangelical-Augsburg Church]] Polish culture has more then 1000 years of history. Poland situated between Western and Eastern cultural spaces and got influences from both. For example the traditional costumes include also Islamic influences. Polish culture developed actively and always been as part of western (Western Europe) culture. We can see that today - architecture, folklore, art etc. Also Poland influenced to near situated countries.

UNESCO World Heritage in Poland

- Warszawa (Old Town)
- Kraków (Old Town)
- Wieliczka (Salt mine)
- Malbork (Biggest Brick Stone Castle)
- Zamość (Renaissance Town)
- Toruń (Gothic Town)
- Oświęcim (Auschwitz concentration camp)
- Jawor (Baroque Peace Church)
- Świdnica (Baroque Peace Chruch)
- Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (Pilgrim´s Place)
- Białowieża Forest (National Park - largest remaining primeval forest in Europe)
- Dębno (Gothic Wooden Chruch)
- Słowiński Park Narodowy (highest sand hills)

International rankings

- Human Development Index 2005: Rank 36th out of 177 countries.
- Reporters Without Borders world-wide press freedom index 2004: Rank 32nd out of 167 countries.
- Index of Economic Freedom 2005: Rank 41st out of 155 countries.

External links

Governmental websites

- [http://www.sejm.gov.pl/english.html Sejm] - Sejm - lower chamber of the Parliament
- [http://www.senat.gov.pl/indexe.htm Senat] - Senate - upper chamber of the Parliament
- [http://www.president.pl/x.node?id=479 Prezydent] - President of the Republic of Poland
- [http://www.kprm.gov.pl/english/index.html KPRM] - Prime Minister's Office
- [http://www.sn.pl/english/index.html Sąd Najwyższy] - Supreme Court
- [http://www.trybunal.gov.pl/eng/index.htm Trybunał Konstytucyjny] - Constitutional Tribunal
- [http://www.nbp.pl/Home.aspx?f=srodeken.htm National Bank of Poland]
- [http://www.poland.pl/ The Poland.pl portal]
- [http://www.wse.com.pl/ Warsaw Stock Exchange]
- [http://www.stat.gov.pl/english/index.htm GUS] - Central Statistical Office
- [http://www.sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/angielski/kon1.htm Constitution of Poland]

Poland Tourism

- [http://www.poland-tourism.pl/start.asp?tf=US Polish National Tourist Office (from pot.gov.pl)]

English-language websites on Poland

- [http://www.poland.gov.pl Polska /page about Poland]
- [http://polblog.pl/ PolBlog - Polish News Site]
- [http://www.polishforums.com Poland and Polish Community Online]
- [http://www.centreurope.org/pl/poland.htm Centreurope.org: Poland section]
- [http://www.warsawvoice.pl Warsawvoice]
- [http://www.wbj.pl Warsaw Business Journal]
- [http://www.parks.it/world/PL/Eindex.html Parks in Poland] National parks, wetlands, biosphere reserves and other protected areas Category:European Union member states Category:Republics People of Poland zh-min-nan:Polska als:Polen ko:폴란드 ms:Poland ja:ポーランド simple:Poland th:ประเทศโปแลนด์ fiu-vro:Poola

Guildford

---- Guildford is the county town of Surrey, England, as well as being the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region. Being in a very sandy area, Guildford is probably named after a golden ford in the River Wey which existed in Saxon times. Its population as of the 2001 census was 129,717. It is twinned with Freiburg in southern Germany, and linked with Mukono in central Uganda. Its geographic coordinates are .

History

Alfred Atheling, son of King Ethelred II, had been living in Normandy during the Danish invasion of Saxon England. After Canute died, around 1040, he returned to England where he was met and entertained in Guildford by the Earl Godwine. Godwine handed him to Harold Harefoot's men, who blinded and mutilated him to the extent that he died not long after. There is a 12th century Norman castle, which was built as an overnight resting place as the southernmost point of the Windsor hunting park. It was visited on several occasions by King John and King Henry III. Today only the keep, restored in 2004, remains; the rest of the grounds are a pleasant public garden. In 1995 a Chamber was discovered in Guildford High Street which is widely to believed to be the remains of a [http://www.guildfordjewish.com/index_files/Page317.htm 12th Century Synagogue.] This remains a matter of contention though it is likely to be the oldest remaining synagogue in Western Europe. Guildford elected two members to the Unreformed House of Commons. From the 14th century to the 18th century, it prospered with the wool trade. Guildford was made a diocese in 1927, and Guildford Cathedral was consecrated in 1961. On October 5, 1974, bombs planted by Provisional IRA terrorists went off in two Guildford pubs, killing five civilians. The pubs were targeted because soldiers were known to frequent them. The subsequently arrested suspects, who became known as the Guildford Four, were convicted and sentenced to long prison sentences. They claimed to have been tortured by the police and denied involvement in the bombing. After a long legal battle, they were released in 1989 when their convictions were overturned. 1989

Facilities

In the 21st century Guildford is a bustling English town, with an attractive cobbled High Street, numerous shops and department stores. There is a Tourist Information Office and several hotels including the historic Angel Hotel which long served as a coaching stop on the main London to Portsmouth stage coach route. There are two railway stations (Guildford railway station, near the Friary Centre, and London Road (Guildford) railway station) which provide a convenient link to London Waterloo for commuters, and the main line station also connects to Portsmouth, Reading, Epsom and Gatwick airport. In addition there is a bus station, a free town centre shuttle bus and a 'Park and Ride' service from the south of the town. There is a small museum in the town centre and a nationally successful sports centre, known as the Spectrum, in Stoke park which is home to the Guildford Flames ice hockey team. The University of Surrey is situated to the north-west of the town centre, about ten minutes' walk from Guildford main line train station. Guildford Cathedral is adjacent to the university's main campus and the Royal Surrey County Hospital is nearby. The Royal Grammar School, Guildford's 'old school' building, which was constructed over the turn of the Tudor and Elizabethan periods and houses a chained library, lies towards the top of the High Street. It is a market town with the market being held on Fridays and Saturdays. A farmers' market is usually held on the first Tuesday of each month.

Politics

In 2002, Guildford's application to be granted the status of a city was unsuccessful, losing out to Preston, the only English town being formally recognised as a city as part of the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations. See City status in the United Kingdom. Politically, the constituency of Guildford is thought of as a traditional "Conservative" seat. The first election of the 21st century returned a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament, Sue Doughty, though the 2003 Borough Council elections returned a majority council for the Conservatives, replacing a Liberal Democrat-controlled council. The 2005 general election saw Guildford returned to the Tories (Conservative Party), although by a very narrow margin, 0.7% of the voting electorate (347 votes).

Leisure and Sport

Guildford's [http://www.guildfordspectrum.co.uk Spectrum Leisure Centre] is a national prizewinning sports centre that includes pools, bowls, an ice rink, an athletics track as well as general halls used for indoor sports. The town's principal commercial theatre is the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre which often shows productions before (and after) they have spent time in London's West End. [http://www.electrictheatre.co.ukThe Electric Theatre], opened in 1997 to host performances by musicians and amateur drama groups. Guildford has an Odeon cinema multiplex. A wide variety of cuisines are available in the many restaurants in Guildford. Additionally, there are numerous pubs and bars and several nightclubs. Each summer Guildford hosts the [http://www.ambientpicnic.co.uk/ Ambient Picnic] in Shalford Park by the River Wey. Stoke Park is the venue for both the Guilfest music festival during the summer and the Surrey County Show (agricultural and general) on the last bank holiday Monday in May. Guildford is home to the Guildford Flames of the English Premier Ice Hockey League and the Guildford Heat of the British Basketball League.

Notable residents

Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass lived in Guildford and is buried in the [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=638880&CScn=MOUNT+cemetery& Mount Cemetery]. Author P. G. Wodehouse was born in Guildford in 1881. The author Gerald Seymour and actor Stuart Wilson are from Guildford. Guildford is the home of the games company Lionhead Studios. [http://www.acm.ac.uk The Academy of Contemporary Music], a school for rock and pop musicians, is located in Guildford. Jean Jacques Burnel, the bassist from the Stranglers, went to the Royal Grammar School, Guildford. Terry Jones, the Monty Python writer, went to the Royal Grammar School, Guildford. Sir John Rose , Former Canadian Minister of Finance The studio for Top Gear, a BBC show that reviews cars, is located at Dunsfold, near Guildford.

Trivia

- Ford Prefect from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams pretends to be from Guildford, while in fact he was born near Betelgeuse.
- The Podcasting pioneer Adam Curry sends out his podcasts from the "Curry Cottage" in Guildford. Well known Rock stars that can be spotted in Guildford include, Eric Clapton, Ray Davis, Phil Collins, Joan Armatrading and Roger Taylor

External links

- [http://www.heureka.clara.net/surrey-hants/gu-ford.htm Guildford]
- [http://www.guildford.gov.uk/ Guildford Borough Council]
- [http://www.surrey.ac.uk/ Surrey University]
- [http://www.lionhead.com Lionhead Studios]
- [http://www.acm.ac.uk Academy of Contemporary Music]
- [http://www.guildfordjewish.com Guildford Jewish Community]
- [http://www.guildfordheat.com Guildford Heat Basketball Club]
- [http://www.guildfordflames.com/ Guildford Flames Ice Hockey Club] Category:Towns in Surrey Category:English county towns

Valençay SOE Memorial

The Valençay SOE Memorial is a monument to the members of the Special Operations Executive F Section who lost their lives for the liberation of France. The memorial was unveiled in the town of Valençay in the Indre département of France on May 6, 1991, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the despatch of F Section's first agent to France. It was designed by Elizabeth Lucas Harrison, who originally gave it the name 'Spirit of Partnership'. Dedicated by the Minister of Veterans Affairs for France and the Queen Mother, Elizabeth, the memorial's Roll of Honour lists the names of the 91 men and 13 women members of the SOE who gave their lives for France's freedom. Valençay Memorial's Roll of Honour: #Jack Charles Stanmore Agazarian #Roland Eugene Jean Alexandre #Elisee A. L. Allard #Phillip John Amphlett #James Frederick Amps #Joseph Antoine France Antelme #Denis John Barrett #Alcide Beauregard #Francisque Eugene Bec #Yolande Elsa Maria Beekman # Robert Marcel Charles Benoist #Louis Eugene Desire Bertheau #Gustave Daniel Alfred Biéler #Andre G. Bloch #Denise Madeleine Bloch #Marcus R. Bloom #Andrée Raymonde Borrel #Jean Bouguennec #Muriel Tamara Byck #Robert Bennett Byerly #Eric Joseph Denis Cauchi #Marcel Clech #George Clement #Ted Cyril Coppin # Madeleine Zoe Damerment #Marcel Enzebe Defence #Ange Defendini #George William Hedworth Demand #Francois Adolphe Deniset #Julien Theodore Joseph M. Detal #Roland Dowlen #André J. R. Dubois #Emile George Jean Duboudin #Phillip Francis Duclos #David Haughton Finlayson #Marcel Georges Florent Fox #Henri Jacques Paul Frager #Henri Hubert Gaillot # Emile August Henri Garry #P.A.H. Geelen #Harry Huntington Graham # William Charles Frederick Grover-Williams #John Trevor Hamilton #Victor Charles Hayes #Noor Inayat Khan #Sydney Charles Jones #Clement Marc Jumeau #A. R. Landsdell #Maurice Louis M. A. Larcher #Marcel Mathieu René Leccia #Jacques Paul Henri Ledoux #Lionel Lee #Cecily Margot Lefort #Vera Eugenie Leigh #M. A. Lepage #E. Lesout #Eugene Francis (Levene) Felangue #John Kenneth Macalister #S. Makowski #Claude Raymond Malraux #R. M. A. Mathieu #Andre Adrian Jules Maugenet #James Andrew Mayer #G. B. McBain #James Francis George Menesson #Francois Gerard Michel #Comte Jacques-Arthus Marc de Montalembert #Pierre Louis Mulsant #Isidore Newman #Gilbert Maurice Norman #Paul Baptiste Pardi #Maurice Pertschuk #Frank Herbert Dedrick Pickersgill # Elaine Sophie Plewman #Adolphie Rabinovitch #Brain Dominic Rafferty #Charles Rechenmann #Jean Renaud #Jean Renaud-Dandicolle #Lilian Verna Rolfe #Diana Hope Rowden #Yvonne Claire Rudellat #Roméo Sabourin #M. J. G. de St.Genies #Paul F. M. Sarrette #Alexandre Schwatschko #Henri P. Sevenet #David Whytehead Sibrée #Jean Alexandre Robert Simon #Octave Anne Guillaume Simon #Jack Andrew Eugene Marcel Sinclair #Charles Milne Skepper #V. A. Soskice #Arthur Steele #Francis Alfred Suttill # Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell Szabo #P. R. Tessier #Michael Alfred Raymond Trotobas #P.L. Ullman #François M. C. Vallée #E. M. Wilkinson #George Alfred "Teddy" Wilkinson #Jean Worms #John Cuthbert Young Category:Memorials Category:Special Operations Executive

Valençay

Valençay is a small town amd commune in the Indre département in the Loire Valley of France situated on a hillside overlooking the Nahon river. The town, with a population today of approximately 2,900, was formed by the amalgamation of three settlements: the "Bourg-de-l'Eglise" and the "Bas-Bourg" and what is called the "old quarter." The town is dominated by the magnificent Château de Valençay, built in 1540 by Robert d'Estampes and most notably acquired in 1747 by the Scottish Banker John Law. Later, in 1803 the castle was purchased by the diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. On May 6, 1941, Georges Bégué, the first SOE agent from England was parachuted into a field near Valençay. Fifty years to the day, the Valençay SOE Memorial, originally known as the "Spirit of Partnership," was dedicated in honor of the 104 members of SOE's F Section who died for the liberation of France. The town is also famous for its pyramid shaped Valençay cheese made from raw goat milk. Category:Communes of Indre

Indre

Indre is a département in the center of France named after the Indre River.

History

Indre was one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Berry.

Geography

Indre is part of the current region of Centre (Val de Loire) and is surrounded by the departments of Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher, Cher, Creuse, and Vienne.

Demographics

The inhabitants of the department are called Indriens.

External links

- [http://www.indre.pref.gouv.fr/ Prefecture website] (in French)
- [http://www.cg36.fr/ Conseil Général website] (in French)
- http://www.indrenature.net/ ---- Indre is also the name of a commune in the département of Loire-Atlantique, France. Indrė is also a Lithuanian female name equal to Henrietta.
- ja:アンドル県

May 6

May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). There are 239 days remaining.

Events

- 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance.
- 1536 - King Henry VIII orders Bibles be placed in every church.
- 1682 - Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles.
- 1757 - Battle of Prague - A Prussian army fought an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years' War.
- 1816 - The American Bible Society is founded in New York City.
- 1835 - James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
- 1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends, with a defeat of the Army of the Potomac under General Joseph Hooker by Confederate troops under Stonewall Jackson.
- 1877 - Realizing that his people were weakened by cold and hunger, Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
- 1889 - The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
- 1910 - George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII.
- 1935 - New Deal: Executive Order 7034 creates the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
- 1937 - Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.
- 1940 - John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
- 1941 - At California's March Field Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
- 1942 - World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
- 1945 - World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops (first was on December 11, 1941).
- 1945 - World War II: The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, begins.
- 1954 - Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
- 1960 - Princess Margaret's wedding day.
- 1966 - Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors Murders in England.
- 1981 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.
- 1988 - An airplane going from Namsos to Brønnøysund in Norway crashes into the side of the Torghatten mountain, killing all 36 passengers and crew.
- 1994 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand inaugurate the opening of the Channel Tunnel – a tunnel under the English Channel linking England and France for the first time since the end of the Great Ice Age.
- 1998 - The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared.
- 1999 - In New York, a parole board votes to release Amy Fisher, in prison for the last 7 years for shooting her lover's wife.
- 2002 - Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated during the 2002 Dutch national election campaign by Volkert van der Graaf.
- 2002 - Jean-Pierre Raffarin becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 2002 - The World Wrestling Federation announces that they have changed their name to World Wrestling Entertainment after losing a court battle with the World Wildlife Fund.
- 2004 - The last episode of the popular television sitcom Friends airs.

Births

- 1397 - Sejong the Great of Joseon, ruler of Korea (d. 1450)
- 1501 - Pope Marcellus II (d. 1555)
- 1574 - Pope Innocent X (d. 1655)
- 1638 - Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, First Lord of the British Admiralty (d. 1696)
- 1713 - Charles Batteux, French philosopher (d. 1780)
- 1758 - André Masséna, French marshal (d. 1817)
- 1758 - Maximilien Robespierre, French Revolutionary (d. 1794)
- 1769 - Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1824)
- 1797 - Joseph Brackett, American religious leader and composer (d. 1882)
- 1856 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (d. 1939)
- 1856 - Robert Peary, American explorer (d. 1920)
- 1861 - Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author (d. 1941)
- 1861 - Motilal Nehru, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1931)
- 1868 - Gaston Leroux, French writer (d. 1927)
- 1868 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918)
- 1871 - Victor Grignard, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
- 1871 - Christian Morgenstern, German author (d. 1914)
- 1879 - Bedřich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist (d. 1952)
- 1880 - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German painter (d. 1938)
- 1882 - Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany (d. 1951)
- 1895 - Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (d. 1926)
- 1902 - Harry Golden, American journalist (d. 1981)
- 1902 - Max Ophüls, German-born director (d. 1957)
- 1904 - Moshe Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-born founder of the Feldenkrais method (d. 1984)
- 1904 - Harry Martinson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
- 1906 - Enrique Laguerre, Puerto Rican writer (d. 2005)
- 1915 - Orson Welles, American director (d. 1985)
- 1915 - Theodore H. White, American writer (d. 1986)
- 1920 - Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister of Fiji and President of Fiji (d. 2004)
- 1921 - Erich Fried, German author (d. 1988)
- 1929 - Paul Lauterbur, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1931 - Willie Mays, baseball player
- 1937 - Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, American boxer
- 1945 - Jimmie Dale Gilmore, American musician
- 1945 - Bob Seger, American singer
- 1947 - Martha Nussbaum, American philosopher
- 1948 - Mary MacGregor, American singer
- 1952 - Michael O'Hare, American actor
- 1953 - Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1955 - Tom Bergeron, American game show host
- 1960 - John Flansburgh, American musician (They Might Be Giants)
- 1961 - George Clooney, American actor
- 1964 - Dana Hill, American actress (d. 1996)
- 1972 - Martin Brodeur, Canadian hockey player

Deaths

- 680 - Muawiyah I, caliph (b. 602)
- 1502 - James Tyrrell, alleged murderer of the Princes in the Tower (executed)
- 1555 - Pope Marcellus II (b. 1501)
- 1596 - Giaches de Wert, Flemish composer (b. 1535)
- 1620 - Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, Palestinian-born Kabbalist (b. 1543)
- 1631 - Robert Bruce Cotton, English poltician
- 1638 - Cornelius Jansen, French bishop and religious reformer (b. 1585)
- 1708 - François de Laval, first bishop of New France (b. 1623)
- 1757 - Maximilian Ulysses Reichsgraf von Browne, Austrian field marshal (b. 1705)
- 1757 - Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, British politician (b. 1683)
- 1757 - Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (b. 1684)
- 1859 - Alexander von Humboldt, German naturalist and explorer (b. 1769)
- 1862 - Henry David Thoreau, American author and philosopher (b. 1817)
- 1877 - Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finnish poet (b. 1804)
- 1902 - Bret Harte, American author (b. 1836)
- 1910 - King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (b. 1841)
- 1919 - L. Frank Baum, American writer (b. 1856)
- 1939 - Konstantin Somov, Russian writer (b. 1869)
- 1949 - Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
- 1952 - Maria Montessori, Italian educator (b. 1870)
- 1961 - Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher (b. 1895)
- 1987 - William Casey, American Central Intelligence Agency director (b. [[1913]])
- [[1992 - Marlene Dietrich, German actress (b. 1901)
- 1995 - Maria Pia de Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Braganca (b. 1907)
- 2002 - Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician (b. 1948)
- 2004 - Philip Kapleau, American Zen teacher

Holidays and observances

- Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel (2005)
- Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
- Evodius test change (d. 69)
- Saint Justus (d. 168)
- Maurelius (d. 542)
- Bonizella Piccolomini Cacciaconti
- Saint Prudence (d. 1492)
- Edward Jones and Anthony Middleton, martyrs of England and Wales.
- No Pants Day in 2005

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/6 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050506.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- May 5 – May 7 – April 6 – June 6 – listing of all days ko:5월 6일 ms:6 Mei ja:5月6日 simple:May 6 th:6 พฤษภาคม

Poem code

The poem code is a simple, and insecure, cryptographic method. The method works by the sender and receiver pre-arranging a poem to use. The sender chooses a set number of words at random from the poem and gives each letter in the chosen words a number. The numbers are then used as a key for some cipher to conceal the plaintext of the message. The cipher used was often double transposition. To indicate to the receiver which words had been chosen an indicator group is sometimes sent at the start of the message. The method is insecure for, if one message is broken by any means (including threat, torture, or even cryptanalysis), future messages will be readable if the source poem has been identified. Since the poems used must be memorable, there is a temptation to use well known poems or poems from well known poets, eg Racine, Moliere, Keats, etc. When Leo Marks was appointed codes officer of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in London during World War II, he very quickly recognized the weakness of the technique, and the consequent damage to agents and to their organizations on the Continent, and began to press for changes. Eventually, the SOE began using original compositions (thus not in any published collection of poems from any poet, though perhaps without so much literary merit) to give added protection, but also adopted other more secure methods such as the one-time pad.

Norway

The Kingdom of Norway (Norwegian: Kongeriket Norge / Kongeriket Noreg) is a Nordic country on the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, bordering Sweden, Finland and Russia, with territorial waters bordering Danish and British waters. Norway's extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean is home to its famous fjords. The country has a very elongated shape. The arctic island territories of Svalbard and Jan Mayen are under Norwegian sovereignty and are part of the Kingdom. Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean and Peter I Island in the South Pacific Ocean are also external dependencies, but these are not considered part of the Kingdom. Additionally, Norway has a claim for Dronning Maud Land in Antarctica.

History

In the 9th century Norway consisted of a number of petty kingdoms. According to tradition, Harald Fairhair gathered the small kingdoms into one and in 872 with the battle of Hafrsfjord, he established a feudal state. The Viking age (8th to 11th centuries) was one of national unification and expansion. The Norwegians settled on Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and parts of the British Islands and attempted to settle at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada (perhaps the Vinland of The Saga of Eric the Red). Norwegians founded the modern day Irish cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford and captured the Anglo-Saxon city of Eoforwic renaming it Jorvik, today known as York. The Norwegian Rollo invaded and was ceded Normandy by the French king Charles the Simple in 911. Rollo's great-great-great-grandson William the Conqueror successfully invaded and conquered England in 1066. The Norwegian royal line died out in 1387, partly because of the grand recession after the black plague in 1349, wiping out the majority of the population, and partly because Queen Margrethe's son, heir to the throne, died at barely 17 years of age. The country entered a long period as the weaker part of a union first with Denmark and Sweden – the Kalmar Union – then with Denmark. Margrethe was also queen of Denmark and Sweden. With the forced introduction of Protestantism in 1537, Norway lost the steady stream of pilgrims to the relics of Saint Olav at the Nidaros shrine. With them, ironically, went much of the contact with the cultural and economical life of the rest of Europe. Also, the 17th century saw Norway's total area decrease with the loss of the territories Bohuslän, Jämtland and Härjedalen to Sweden. In the light of national romanticism during the 19th century, this period was by some called the "400-year night". After Denmark-Norway sided with Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars, Norway was ceded to the king of Sweden in 1814. However, Norway declared her independence, adopted a constitution based on American and French models and elected the Danish prince Christian Fredrik as king on 17 May 1814. Norway was forced into a personal union with Sweden, but kept its liberal constitution and independent institutions, except for the foreign service. Growing Norwegian dissatisfaction with the union during the late 19th century, national romanticism, growing national culture, literature (Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson), painting (Hans Gude, Adolph Tiedemand), and music (Edvard Grieg) spawned the dissolution of the union on 7 June 1905. The Norwegian government offered the throne of Norway to Danish Prince Carl. After a referendum confirming the monarchy, the Parliament unanimously elected him king. He took the name of Haakon VII, after the medieval kings of independent Norway. In 1913, Norwegian women gained suffrage. Norway was a neutral country during World War I. Norway also attempted to claim neutrality during World War II, but was invaded by German forces on the 9th of April 1940 (Operation Weserübung). The Allies also had plans to invade Norway, in order to take advantage of her strategically important Atlantic coast, but were thwarted by the German operation. Norway put up a stiff fight against the German occupation and armed resistance in Norway went on for two months. King Haakon and the Norwegian government continued the fight from exile in Rotherhithe, London. On the day of the invasion, the collaborative leader of the small National-Socialist party Nasjonal Samling — Vidkun Quisling — tried to seize power, but was forced by the German occupiers to step aside. Real power was wielded by the leader of the German occupation authority, Reichskommissar Josef Terboven. Quisling, as minister president, later formed a government under German control. During the five years of Nazi occupation, Norwegians built a strong resistance movement which fought the German occupation forces with both armed resistance and civil disobedience. In 1944, the Germans evacuated the provinces of Finnmark and northern Troms, using a scorched earth tactic to create a vast area of No-man's land in response to the Red Army attacking their positions in eastern Finnmark. The Soviets attacked into eastern Finnmark to create a buffer zone after pushing the German forces out of the arctic Kola peninsula. The Russians peacefully returned the area to Norwegian control after the war. The German forces in Norway surrendered on 8 May 1945. The occupation during World War II disturbed the Norwegians' confidence in neutrality, and they turned instead to collective security. Norway was one of the signatories of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949 and was a founding member of the United Nations, providing its first secretary general – Trygve Lie. Norway has twice voted against joining the European Union (in 1972 and 1994), but is associated with the EU via the European Economic Area. However, Norway is a member of the much smaller European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

Politics

Norway is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. The Royal House is a branch of the princely family of Glücksburg, originally from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. [http://www.kongehuset.no/dt_kongehuset_allAtOnce.asp?ogid=21&mgid=21&gid=54&aid=] The functions of the King, Harald V, are mainly ceremonial, but he has influence as the symbol of national unity. Although the constitution of 1814 grants important executive powers to the king, these are almost always exercised by the Council of State in the name of the King (King's Council, or cabinet). The reserve powers vested in the Monarch by the constitution are however significant and an important security part of the role of the Monarchy, and were last used during World War II. The Council of State consists of a Prime Minister and his council, formally appointed by the King. Since 1884, parliamentarism has ensured that the cabinet must have the support of the parliament, so the appointment by the King is a formality. parliamentarism The Norwegian parliament, Stortinget, currently has 169 members (increased from 165, effective from the elections of 12 September 2005). The members are elected from the 19 counties for 4-year terms according to a system of proportional representation. After elections the Storting divides into two chambers, the Odelsting and the Lagting, which meet separately or jointly depending on the agenda. Laws are proposed by the Odelsting and decided by the Lagting or, in case of disagreement, by the joint Storting. Impeachment cases are raised by the Odelsting and judged by the Lagting as part of the High Court of the Realm. Apart from this, the Storting functions as a unicameral parliament. The regular courts include the Supreme Court or Høyesterett (17 permanent judges and a chief justice), courts of appeal, city and district courts, and conciliation councils. Judges attached to regular courts are appointed by the King in council after nomination by the Ministry of Justice. The special High Court of the Realm, which consists of the Supreme Court plus the Lagting, hears impeachment cases. In order to form a government, more than half (currently at least 10 out of 19 members) of the Council of State are required to belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Counties

Evangelical Lutheran Church Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called fylker (singular fylke) and 433 kommuner (singular kommune). Fylke and kommune are officially translated to English as county and municipality. The fylke is the intermediate administration between state and municipality.
- Akershus
- Aust-Agder
- Buskerud
- Finnmark
- Hedmark
- Hordaland
- Møre og Romsdal
- Nordland
- Nord-Trøndelag
- Oppland
- Oslo
- Østfold
- Rogaland
- Sogn og Fjordane
- Sør-Trøndelag
- Telemark
- Troms
- Vest-Agder
- Vestfold See also Regions of Norway.

Geography

Regions of Norway The landscape is generally rugged and mountainous, topped by glaciers, and its coastline of over 83,000 km [http://odin.dep.no/odin/engelsk/norway/environment/032091-991558/dok-bn.html] is punctuated by steep-sloped inlets known as fjords, as well as a multitude of islands and islets. The Northern part of the country is also known as the Land of the Midnight Sun because of its northern location, north of the Arctic Circle, where for part of each summer the sun does not set, and in winter much of its land remains dark for long periods. The southern part is not known for this, however in summertime, the sun is only away for a few hours. Norway is bounded for its entire length by seas of the North Atlantic Ocean: the North Sea to the southwest and its large inlet the Skagerrak to the south, the Norwegian Sea to the west, and the Barents Sea to the northeast. To the east, in order from south to north, it shares a long border with Sweden, a shorter one with Finland, and a still shorter one with Russia. Norway's highest point is the Galdhøpiggen at 2,469 m. With a maximum depth of 514 m, Hornindalsvatnet is Norway's and Europe's deepest lake. The Norwegian climate is fairly temperate, especially along the coast under the influence of the Gulf Stream. The inland climate can be more severe and to the north more subarctic conditions are found, especially in Finnmark. Climate data for some cities in different regions of the country; base period 1961-1990 (temperatures are 24hr average): Data from Norges Meteorologiske Institutt (Norwegian Meteorological Institute). Note: Temperatures have tended to be higher in recent years (see main article).
[http://met.no/english/climate/ Norwegian Meteorological Institute: The climate of Norway]

Economy

main article The Norwegian economy is a prosperous bastion of social capitalism, featuring a combination of free market activity and government intervention. The government controls key areas, such as the vital petroleum sector (through large-scale state enterprises). The country is richly endowed with natural resources - petroleum, hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals - and is highly dependent on its petroleum production and international oil prices; in 2004, oil and gas accounted for 50% of exports. Only Saudi Arabia and Russia export more oil than Norway, which is not a member of OPEC. The last 25 years, the Norwegian economy has shown various signs of the economic phenomenon called Dutch disease. Norway opted to stay out of the European Union during a referendum in 1972, and again in November 1994. However, Norway, together with Iceland and Liechtenstein, participate in the EU's single market via the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement. In 2000 the government sold one-third of the then 100% state-owned oil company Statoil. The economic growth was 0.8% in 1999, 2.7% in 2000, and 1.3% in 2001. After little growth in 2002 and 2003, the economy expanded more rapidly in 2004. With arguably the highest quality of life worldwide, Norwegians still worry about that time in the next two decades when the oil and gas begin to run out. Accordingly, Norway has been saving its oil-boosted budget surpluses in a Government Petroleum Fund, which is invested abroad and at the end of the second quarter of 2005 was valued at 181.5 billion US dollars . Economical overheating is avoided by the partial saving - rather than spending - of the oil revenues which are of very big importance for a relatively small country.

Demographics

The Norwegian population is 4.6 million and increases by 0.4% per year (estimate July 2004). Ethnically most Norwegians are Nordic / North Germanic, while small minorities in the north are Finnish (see also Cwen). The Sami are instead considered an indigenous people, and traditionally live in the Northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. The largest concentration of Sami people is, however, found in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. In recent years, immigration has accounted for more than half the population growth, and 7.9% of the population are immigrants as of 1 January 2005. Norway only takes in a very limited number of asylum seekers and aims to repatriate these people as quickly as possible. The largest immigrant groups are Pakistanis, Swedes, Danes, Iraqis, Vietnamese and Somalis. (Here, immigrants are defined as persons with two foreign-born parents [http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/00/minifakta_en/en/minifakta.pdf].) Approximately 86% of the inhabitants are members of the Evangelic Lutheran Church of Norway (state church). Other Christian societies total about 4.5% (the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church, the Catholic Church, Pentecostal congregations, the Methodist Church, etc.). Among non-Christian religions, Islam is the largest in Norway with about 1.5%, and other religions are at less than 1% each. About 1.5% belong to the secular Human Ethical Union. As of 1 January 2003 approximately 5% of the population are unaffiliated ([http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/07/02/10/trosamf_en/]). The Norwegian language has two official written forms, Bokmål and Nynorsk. They have officially equal status, i.e. they are both used in public administration, in schools, churches, and on radio and television, but Bokmål is used by the majority. Around 95 percent of the population speak Norwegian as their native tongue, although many speak dialects that differ significantly from the written language. Nevertheless, all of the Norwegian dialects are interintelligible. Several Sami languages are spoken and written throughout the country, especially in the north, by the Sami people. The Germanic Norwegian language and the Finno-Ugric Sami languages are entirely unrelated. However, the Finnish language bears some similarities to the Sami language.

Culture

Famous Norwegians include the playwrights/novelists Baron Ludvig Holberg and Henrik Ibsen, explorers Roald Amundsen, Fridtjof Nansen, and Thor Heyerdahl, expressionist painter Edvard Munch and the romanticist composer Edvard Grieg. The playwright/novelists Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Knut Hamsun and Sigrid Undset have all won the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1903, 1920 and 1928 respectively. Norwegians celebrate their national day on May 17, Constitution Day. Many people wear bunad (traditional costumes) and most participate in or watch the 17 May parade through the towns. Henrik Wergeland was the founder of the 17 May parade. These parades differ markedly from those of many other countries in that, rather than the military parades of, for example, France, they consist of children.
- Music of Norway
- Norse mythology
- [http://www.nfi.no/english/norwegianfilms/ Norwegian films]
- Norwegian Theatres

Miscellaneous topics

- Holidays in Norway
- Infrastructure in Norway
- Car numberplates in Norway
- Communications
- Power supply
- Transportation
- Foreign relations of Norway
- Military of Norway
- List of cities in Norway
- List of national parks of Norway
- List of Norwegian companies
- List of Norwegian language radio stations
- List of Norwegian newspapers
- List of Norwegian television channels
- List of Norwegians
- List of schools in Norway
- Norwegian literature
- Norwegian national football team
- Norwegian Premier League
- Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund
- Regions of Norway
- Tourism in Norway
- Cuisine of Norway
- Philharmonic Orchestras in Norway
- Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
- Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra

International rankings

- [http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html GDP per capita] - 4th of 231 countries
- Human Development Index - 1st of 177 countries 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001
- Index of Economic Freedom - 29th of 155 countries
- Reporters Without Borders Worldwide press freedom index - 1st of 166 countries 2003, 2002
- [http://www.savethechildren.org/mothers/report_2004/images/pdf/SOWM_2004_final.pdf Save the Children: State of the World's Mothers 2004] Children's Index: Rank 1, Women's Index: Rank 6, Mother's Index: Rank 6 (119 countries)
- [http://www.transparency.org/pressreleases_archive/2004/2004.10.20.cpi.en.html Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2004] - 8th of 145 countries
- [http://www.weforum.org/site/homepublic.nsf/Content/Global+Competitiveness+Programme%5CGlobal+Competitiveness+Report World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report 2004-2005] - 6th of 104 countries

External links

- [http://www.norway.info Norway.info] - Norway - the Official site
- [http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/00/minifakta_en/en/index.html Minifacts about Norway from Statistics Norway]
- [http://odin.dep.no/odin/english/bn.html ODIN] Information from the Government and Ministries
- [http://www.stortinget.no/english Official site of the Parliament (Stortinget)]
- [http://www.kongehuset.no/default.asp?lang=eng Official site of the Royal House]
- [http://www.norway.org Official website for the Norwegian Embassy in Washington, DC]
- [http://www.norway.no Norway.no] - Official portal
- [http://www.lovdata.no/info/lawdata.html Translated Norwegian legislation]
- [http://www.odin.dep.no/odin/engelsk/norway/system/032005-990424/ The Norwegian Constitution in English]
- [http://www.ub.uio.no/ujur/publikasjoner/skriftserie/18/ Sources to Legal Information in Norway]
- [http://www.norges-bank.no/english/notes_and_coins/ Norges Bank - current notes and coins]
- [http://www.norges-bank.no/english/ The Central Bank of Norway]
- [http://www.world-newspapers.com/norway.html Norwegian news in English]
- [http://odin.dep.no/ud/html/2000/minifakta/e/eng-02.html Public holidays in Norway]
- [http://ngis2.statkart.no/norgesglasset/default.html Searchable map of Norway]
- [http://www.domstol.no/Domstolene/index.asp?startID=&topExpand=1000010&menuitemid=1000033&strUrl=//internet/showObject.asp?i=1000107 The Norwegian court system]
- [http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tpr_e/tp237_e.htm WTO: Trade Policy Review: Norway]
- [http://www.stavanger-web.com/jul/christma.htm Christmas in Norway]
- [http://www.studyinnorway.no/ Study In Norway] als:Norwegen zh-min-nan:Norge [[got:

Netherlands

The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland; IPA pronunciation: /"ne:dərlant/) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands that is formed by the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. (Dutch: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden). The Netherlands is a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarch, located in northwestern Europe. It borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east. In many countries, the Netherlands is often referred to by the name Holland, and even within the Netherlands itself this name is occasionally used as an acceptable translation of the country's name. However widespread, this usage is technically incorrect, as "Holland" is actually a region in the central-western part of the Netherlands, divided into two provinces. Also, the English plural form 'the Netherlands' is a remnant from times when the country was not yet independent and united. See below under 'naming conventions'. The Netherlands is one of the most densely populated and geographically low-lying countries in the world (its name literally means "low country") and is famous for its dikes, windmills, wooden shoes, tulips, bicycles and social tolerance. Its liberal policies (towards drugs and prostitution among other things) receive international attention. The country is host to the International Court of Justice. The English adjective and noun for "of or relating to the Netherlands" is "Dutch," which is also the name of the Dutch language. In the Netherlands, "Netherlands" is sometimes used as an adjective. The origin of this local usage may be that the Dutch word for "Dutch" is Nederlands and to avoid confusion with the words "Duits" (in Dutch) and "Deutsch" (in German) that refer to the country Germany and its language.

Capital

Amsterdam is the hoofdstad ("capital city"), where according to the constitution, the sovereign must be sworn in. The Hague is the Netherlands regeringszetel or residentie (seat of government, residence of the monarch). It is the seat of government, the home of the monarch, and the location of most foreign embassies.

History

:For more details on this topic, see History of the Netherlands and Dutch monarchy. Under Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Spain, the region was part of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands, which also includes most of present-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and some land of France and Germany. In 1568 the Eighty Years' War started after the entire population had been condemned to death by the Holy See and confirmed by the king, and in 1579, the northern half of the Seventeen Provinces declared itself independent and formed the Union of Utrecht, which is seen as the foundation of the modern Netherlands. Philip II, the son of Charles V, was not prepared to let them go that easily. It would not be until 1648 that Spain would recognize Dutch independence. After gaining formal independence from the Spanish Empire under King Philip IV, the Dutch grew to become one of the major seafaring and economic powers of the 17th century during the period of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. In the era, referred to as the Dutch Golden Age, colonies and trading posts were established all over the globe. (See Dutch colonial empire) Many economic historians regard the Netherlands as the first thoroughly capitalist country in the world. In early modern Europe it featured the wealthiest trading city (Amsterdam) and the first full-time stock exchange. The inventiveness of the traders led to insurance and retirement funds as well as such less benign phenomena as the boom-bust cycle, the world's first asset-inflation bubble, the tulip mania of 1636-1637, and according to Murray Sayle, the world's first bear raider - Isaac le Maire, who forced prices down by dumping stock and then buying it back at a discount ("Japan Goes Dutch", London Review of Books [April 5, 2001]: 3-7). After briefly being incorporated in the First French Empire under Napoleon, the Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed in 1815, consisting of the present day Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. In addition, the king of the Netherlands became hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Belgium rebelled and gained independence in 1830, while the personal union between Luxembourg and the Netherlands was severed in 1890 as a result of ascendancy laws which prevented Queen Wilhelmina from becoming Grand Duke. The Netherlands possessed several colonies, most notably the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and Suriname (the latter was traded with the British for New Amsterdam, now known as New York). These 'colonies' were first administered by the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, both collective private enterprises. Three centuries later these companies got into financial trouble and the territories in which they operated were taken over by the Dutch government (in 1815 and 1791 respectively). Only then did they become official colonies. During the 19th century, The Netherlands was slow to industrialize compared to neighboring countries, mainly due to its unique infrastructure of waterways and reliance on wind power. After remaining neutral in World War I, over 100,000 Dutch Jews were murdered in the Holocaust of World War II, along with significant numbers of Dutch Roma (gypsies). After the war, the Dutch economy prospered again, being a member of the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) and European Economic Community unions. The Netherlands was among the twelve founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and among the six founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community, which would later evolve into the European Union.

Naming conventions

The name Holland is often used, incorrectly, for The Netherlands, especially in other languages. The origin of the misnomer lies in the fact that the region of Holland was the economic powerhouse during the time of the United Provinces (1581-1795). After the Napoleonic era, Holland became a mere province of the Kingdom and was split into North and South Holland in 1840. Many people, especially from the northern and southern provinces, object to the use of the name Holland for The Netherlands. But to avoid confusion when addressing other nationals, the Dutch themselves often use the name 'Holland'. The plural "Netherlands" is actually an archaic term, referring to the time when it was a collection of regions that were not yet fully united. In The Netherlands itself the country is called Nederland (literally meaning "low country"), the people are called Nederlanders ("Dutch" in English) and the language is called Nederlands (again, "Dutch" in English); the -s in Nederlands is not a plural ending, but rather is cognate to the English suffix -ish. The English word "Dutch" is akin to the German word Deutsch, which originally meant "(Language) of the (common) people" in contrast with the medieval elite who spoke Latin. An old term for the language of The Netherlands is Diets or Nederdietsch. All these terms derive from what in Latin was known as Theodisca, from Germanic
- Þeudiskaz.

Politics

The Netherlands has been a parliamentary democracy since 1848 and a constitutional monarchy since 1815; before that it had been a republic from 1581 to 1806 (it was occupied by France between 1806 and 1815). The pro forma head of state, since 1980, is Queen Beatrix of the House of Orange-Nassau. The Dutch monarch has little political power, but serves mostly as a ceremonial figurehead to represent the nation. Dutch governments always consist of a coalition, as there is not (and has never been) a single political party large enough to get the majority vote. Formally, the queen appoints the members of the government. In practice, once the results of parliamentary elections are known, a coalition government is formed (in a process of negotiations that can take several months), after which the government formed in this way is officially appointed by the queen. The head of the government is the Prime Minister, in Dutch Minister President or Premier, a primus inter pares who is usually also the leader of the largest party in the coalition. The degree of influence the queen has on actual government decision making is a topic of ongoing speculation. The parliament consists of two houses. The 150 members of the Lower House (Tweede Kamer, or Second Chamber) are elected every four years in direct elections. The provincial parliaments are directly elected every 4 years as well. The members of the provincial parliaments vote (indirectly) for the less important Senate (Eerste Kamer, or First Chamber). Together, the First and Second Chamber are known as the Staten Generaal, the States General. Political scientists consider The Netherlands a classic example of a consociational state, at least in part caused by the necessity in the Netherlands since the middle ages for different cities to cooperate in order to fight the water (different cities were at the time like different countries by today's standards, and often at war). This necessity to reach an agreement despite differences is called the polder model in Dutch. Also, the Netherlands has long been a nation of traders and for international trade one has to be tolerant of the other person's culture. The Netherlands is a neutral country in most international affairs and thus managed to keep out of World War I (although this did not work in World War II). As a result, the Dutch have a 'friendly' reputation in other countries, to the point that bearers of a Dutch passport often have relatively little difficulty getting into other countries, for visits or even for emigration purposes. However, the early years of the 21st century have seen a political change with the right wing in politics gaining on the left. This is illustrated by the quick rise (and fall) of the LPF. Pim Fortuyn, its founder, held former cabinets responsible for the failing integration of immigrants. The present government is led by the cabinet Balkenende II. This cabinet got some critique about economic reforms and the immigration policies. On June 1 2005 the Dutch electorate voted in a referendum against the proposed EU Constitution by a majority of 61.6%, three days after the French had also voted against. See also: Prime Minister of the Netherlands, List of Prime Ministers of the Netherlands

Provinces

List of Prime Ministers of the Netherlands The Netherlands is divided into twelve administrative regions, called provinces, each under a Governor, who is called Commissaris van de Koningin (Commissionair of the Queen).
- Friesland - north west; capital Leeuwarden
- Groningen - north east; capital Groningen
- Drenthe - south of Groningen; capital Assen
- Overijssel - east central, south of Drenthe; capital Zwolle
- Flevoland - central, north of Utrecht; capital Lelystad
- Gelderland - east central, south of Overijssel; capital Arnhem
- Utrecht - central; capital Utrecht
- North Holland - (Noord-Holland) north west (including Amsterdam); capital Haarlem
- South Holland - (Zuid-Holland) west central, south of North Holland (including Rotterdam); capital The Hague (s-Gravenhage or Den Haag)
- Zeeland - south west; capital Middelburg
- North Brabant - (Noord-Brabant) south central; capital 's-Hertogenbosch (or Den Bosch)
- Limburg - south east; capital Maastricht. All provinces are divided into municipalities (gemeenten), together 467; see Municipalities in the Netherlands, and also List of cities in the Netherlands by province. The country is also subdivided in water districts, governed by a water board (waterschap or hoogheemraadschap), each having authority in matters concerning water management. As of 1 January 2005 there are twenty seven. The creation of water boards actually pre-dates that of the nation itself, the first appearing in 1196. In fact, the Dutch water boards are one of the oldest democratic entities in the world still in existence. See also: Ranked list of Dutch provinces.
Geography
Ranked list of Dutch provinces Ranked list of Dutch provinces A remarkable aspect of the Netherlands is the flatness of the country. About half of its surface area is less than 1 m above sea level, and large parts of it are actually below sea level (see [http://www.minbuza.nl/default.asp?CMS_ITEM=MBZ302750 map showing these areas]). An extensive range of dikes and dunes protect these areas from flooding. Numerous massive pumping stations keep the ground water level in check. The highest point, the Vaalserberg, in the south-eastern most point of the country, is 321 m above sea level. A substantial part of the Netherlands, for example, all of Flevoland and large parts of Holland, has been reclaimed from the sea. These areas are known as polders. This has led to the saying "God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands." In years past, the Dutch coastline has changed considerably due to human intervention and natural disasters. Most notable in terms of land loss are the 1134 storm, which created the archipelago of Zeeland in the south west, and the 1287 storm, which killed 50,000 people and created the Zuyderzee (now dammed in and renamed the IJsselmeer - see below) in the northwest, giving Amsterdam direct access to the sea. The St. Elizabeth flood of 1421 and the mismanagement in its aftermath destroyed a newly reclaimed polder, replacing it with the 72 km² Biesbosch tidal floodplains in the southcentre. The most recent parts of Zeeland were flooded during the North Sea Flood of 1953 and 1,836 people were killed, after which the Delta Plan was executed. The disasters were partially man-made; the people drained relatively high lying swampland for use as farmland. This drainage caused the fertile peat to compress and the ground level to drop, locking the land users in a vicious circle whereby they would lower the water level to compensate for the drop in ground level, causing the underlying peat to compress even more. The vicious circle is unsolvable and remains to this day. Up until the 19th century peat was dug up, dried, and used for fuel, further adding to the problem. To guard against floods, a series of defences against the water were contrived. In the first millennium, villages and farmhouses were built on man-made hills called terps. Later these terps were connected by dikes. In the 12th century, local government agencies called "waterschappen" (English "waterbodies") or "hoogheemraadschappen" ("high home councils") started to appear, whose job it was to maintain the water level and to protect a region from floods. (The waterbodies are still around today performing the exact same function.) As the ground level dropped, the dikes by necessity grew and merged into an integrated system. In the 13th century, windmills came into use to pump water out of the areas by now below sea level. The windmills were later used to drain lakes, creating the famous polders. In 1932, the Afsluitdijk (English "Closure Dike") was completed, blocking the former Zuyderzee (Southern Sea) off from the North Sea and thus creating the IJsselmeer (IJssel Lake). It became part of the larger Zuiderzee Works in which four polders totalling 1,650 km² were reclaimed from the sea. After the 1953 disaster, the Delta project, a vast construction effort designed to end the threat from the sea once and for all, was launched in 1958 and largely completed in 2002. The official goal of the Delta project was to reduce the risk of flooding in Holland to once per 10,000 years. (For the rest of the country, the protection-level is once per 4,000 years). This was achieved by raising 3,000 km of outer sea-dikes and 10,000 km of inner, canal, and river dikes to "delta" height, and by closing off the sea estuaries of the Zeeland province. New risk assessments occasionally incur additional Delta project work in the form of dike re-enforcements. The Delta project is the single largest construction effort in human history and is considered by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the seven wonders of the modern world. Because of the high cost of maintaining the polders some have argued that maybe some of the deepest polders should be given up. Additionally, the Netherlands is one of the countries that may suffer most from climatic change. Not only is the rising sea a problem, but also erratic weather patterns may cause the rivers to overflow. These flooded polders might then be used as water catchments to take part of the blow. The country is divided into two main parts by three rivers Rhine (Rijn), Waal, and Meuse (Maas). The south western part of the Netherlands is actually one big river delta of these rivers. These rivers not only function as a natural barrier, but also as a cultural divide, as is evident in the different dialects spoken north and south of these great rivers and the (previous) religious dominance of Catholics in the south and Calvinists in the north. The predominant wind direction in the Netherlands is south west, which causes a moderate maritime climate, with cool summers and mild winters. See also: National parks (Netherlands).
Economy
The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy in which the government has reduced its role since the 1980s. Industrial activity is predominantly in food-processing (for example Unilever and Heineken), chemicals (for example DSM), petroleum refining (for example Royal Dutch Shell), and electrical machinery (for example Philips). A highly mechanised agricultural sector employs no more than 4% of the labour force but provides large surpluses for the food-processing industry and for exports. The Dutch rank third worldwide in value of agricultural exports, behind the US and France. Other important parts of the economy are international trade (Dutch colonialism started with cooperative private enterprises such as the VOC), banking and transport (for example the Rotterdam harbour). The Netherlands successfully addressed the issue of public finances and stagnating job growth long before its European partners. As a founding member of the Euro, the Netherlands replaced its former currency, the Gulden, on January 1 1999 along with the other adopters of the single European currency, with the actual Euro coins and banknotes following on January 1, 2002. However, in the first years of the third millennium, economic and employment growth came to a standstill, which the government tried to resolve by cutting into its expenses. In 2003 the economy shrunk 0.9%. In 2004, the recession was over and the economy began its slow recovery with a meager 1.3% growth. The CPB ("Centraal Plan Bureau", Central Planning Bureau), a think tank of leading Dutch economists linked with the government, expects a recovery of the economy in 2005, with a growth of 2.25%. In 2004, inflation was 1.2%, the lowest level since 1989.
- Economic data for the Netherlands: [http://statline.cbs.nl Dutch] [http://statline.cbs.nl/StatWeb/start.asp?lp=Search/Search&LA=EN English]
- List of Dutch companies
Demographics
The Netherlands is the 15th most densely populated country in the world, with 393 inhabitants per square km (or 482/km² if only the land area is counted, 20% is water). Partly because of this it is also one of the most densely cabled countries in the world. Internet penetration [http://www.internetworldstats.com/top25.htm] is at 66.2% the 7th highest in the world. According CBS Statline, the official statistics bureau of the Netherlands, the ethnic origins of the citizens are very diverse. The vast majority of the population however still remains Dutch. They were: 80.8% Dutch, 8.7% other European, 2.2% Turkish, 1.9% Moroccan, 6.4% other There are no cities with a population over 1 million in the Netherlands, but the 'four big cities' as they are called (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) can in many ways be regarded as one 'big city' agglomeration, the Randstad ('fringe city'), with an agricultural 'green heart' (het Groene Hart). This is illustrated by the idea to create a circular train network with a frequency and carriages similar to a metropolitan railway.
Languages
The official language is Dutch, which is spoken by practically all inhabitants. Another official language is Frisian, which is spoken in the northern province of Friesland and has a strong resemblance to English. Frisian is co-official only in the province of Friesland, although with a few restrictions. Several dialects of Plattdüütsch are spoken in much of the north and are recognised as regional languages, as protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. To the south, the Dutch language shifts into other varieties of Low Franconian and German, which may or may not be best classified as Dutch, most notably West Flemish. One of these, Limburgish, which is spoken in the south-eastern province of Limburg has been recognised as a minority language since 1977.
Religion
According to the governmental statistics agency (CBS) 30% of the population consider themselves to be Roman Catholic, 20% Protestant (predominantly Dutch Reformed) and 8% 'other denominations'. 42% consider themselves not to belong to any religious denomination. Church attendance however is much lower than these figures may suggest: some 70% of the population 'rarely or never' visit a house of worship (be it a church, mosque, synagogue or temple). The most protestants live in the northern provinces while the southern provinces (Noord-Brabant and Limburg) are mainly Roman Catholic. The largest part of the 'other denominations', at 920,000, are Muslim immigrant workers mainly living in the bigger cities, mostly from Morocco and Turkey, and their offspring. The other denominations also include some 200,000 (1.3%) Hindu, mostly descendants of indentured servants who migrated from India to the former Dutch colony of Surinam around 1900. Prior to the Holocaust about 140,000 Jews lived in the Netherlands, however the vast majority of [http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/communities/weurope/comm_netherlands.html Dutch Jewry] was murdered in the Holocaust. About 30,000 Dutch Jews now live in The Netherlands.
Culture
The Netherlands has had many well-known painters. The 17th century, when the Dutch republic was prosperous, was the age of the "Dutch Masters" such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen and many others. Famous Dutch painters of the 19th and 20th century are Vincent van Gogh and Piet Mondriaan. M. C. Escher is a well-known graphics artist. Willem de Kooning was born and trained in Rotterdam, although he is considered to have reached acclaim as an American artist. A (in)famous Dutch master art forger is Han van Meegeren. The Netherlands is the country of philosophers Erasmus of Rotterdam and Spinoza, and all of Descartes' major work was done there. Christiaan Huygens(1629-1695) is a famous astronomer and mathematician. He discovered Saturn's moon Titan and invented an accurate clock. In the Dutch Golden Age, literature flowered as well, with Joost van den Vondel and P. C. Hooft as the two most famous writers. In the 19th century, Multatuli wrote about the bad treatment of the natives in Dutch colonies. Important 20th century authors include Harry Mulisch, Jan Wolkers, Simon Vestdijk, Cees Nooteboom, Gerard van het Reve and Willem Frederik Hermans. The Diary of Anne Frank was also written in the Netherlands. See also: List of museums in The Netherlands, Sport in the Netherlands, Music of the Netherlands, List of Dutch people, Public holidays in the Netherlands Replicas of Dutch buildings can be found in Huis ten Bosch, Nagasaki, Japan. A similar Holland Village is being built in Shenyang, China. Windmills, tulips, wooden shoes, cheese and Delftware pottery are among the numerous items associated with the Netherlands. Dutch policies on recreational drugs, prostitution, same-sex marriage and euthanasia are among the most liberal in the world.
Miscellaneous topics

- City rights in the Netherlands
- Communications in the Netherlands
- Drug policy of the Netherlands
- Dutch colonial empire
- Dutch people
- Dutch-Belgian War
- Education in the Netherlands
- Euthanasia in the Netherlands
- Foreign relations of the Netherlands
- General Intelligence and Security Office (AIVD)
- Income tax in the Netherlands
- List of football clubs in the Netherlands
- Military of the Netherlands
- Netherlands and weapons of mass destruction
- New Netherland
- Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) of the Netherlands
- Prostitution in the Netherlands
- Public holidays in the Netherlands
- Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index 2004 — first place
- Same-sex marriage in the Netherlands
- Statistics Netherlands
- Telephone numbers in the Netherlands
- Television networks in the Netherlands
- Tourism in the Netherlands
- Transportation in the Netherlands
External links

-
- [http://www.statoids.com/unl.html Provinces of Netherlands]
- [http://www.amsterdam-netherlands.info/ Amsterdam / Netherlands info] - Information about the Netherlands, its provinces and Amsterdam.
- [http://www.haganum.nl Best School of The Netherlands- The Gymnasiun Haganum in the Hague]
- [http://www.cbs.nl/en-GB/menu/cijfers/default.htm CBS] - Key figures from the Dutch bureau of statistics
- [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/nl.html CIA - The World Factbook -- Netherlands]
- Dutch news: [http://www.rnw.nl/ Radio Netherlands], [http://www.expatica.com/source/site_content_subchannel.asp?subchannel_id=1 Expatica]
- [http://www.colonialvoyage.com Dutch Portuguese Colonial History] Dutch Colonial History in Sri Lanka, Ceylon, Brazil, India, Malacca (Malaysia), Bengal, Formosa(Taiwan), South Africa, New York, Caribbean, Indonesia. Language Heritage. Maps, chronologies, bibliographies.
- [http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761572410/Netherlands.html Encarta entry on the Netherlands]
- [http://flagspot.net/flags/nl-index.html Flagspot.net - The Netherlands]- site about flags, but also with province maps showing municipalities, and some other info
- Foreign government info about the Netherlands and their relations with it:
[http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/netherlands/index.html Australia] | [http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/canadaeuropa/country_net-en.asp Canada] | [http://meaindia.nic.in/foreignrelation/netherland.htm India] | [http://www.esteri.it/eng/3_22_40_214.asp Italy] | [http://www.mfat.govt.nz/foreign/regions/europe/countrypapers/netherlands.html New Zealand] | [http://www.dfa.gov.za/foreign/bilateral/netherlands.html South Africa] | [http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394365&a=KCountryProfile&aid=1019061813313 UK] | [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3204.htm US]
- [http://www.government.nl Government.nl] - official Dutch government web site
- [http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Dutch] Dutch for English speakers (from Wikibooks)
- [http://www.skyscrapercity.info/200.php?id=4&country=NL&limit=0 List of ca. 1500 tall buildings in the Netherlands]
- [http://www.nlplanet.com/ NL Planet] - English language resources, background information and free forums
- [http://overheid.nl/guest/sites/ Overheid.nl] - official Dutch government portal (includes official publications from 1995; older ones are only available in some libraries, on paper or microfiche)
- [http://www.sdu.nl/staatscourant/gemeentes/gemprovin.htm Province maps showing subdivision in municipalities, and linking each municipality to its basic data page]
- [http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/english/index.jsp The Dutch Royal House]
- [http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=1104447749&men=gmap&lng=en&gln=xx&dat=32&geo=-160&srt=npan&col=aohdq Maps and data]
- [http://www.track.nl/ Track.nl] - An Internet search-engine that specialises in the Netherlands.
- [http://www.world66.com/europe/netherlands World66 Guide to The Netherlands] A travel guide written by its users.
- [http://www.deltaworks.org Deltaworks Online - Flood protection and watermanagement in the Netherlands] Category:European Union member states Category:Monarchies als:Niederlande zh-min-nan:Kē-tē-kok [[got:

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a kingdom in the Balkans which existed from the end of World War I until World War II. It occupied an area made up of the present-day states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, and most of present-day Slovenia and Croatia. Croatia

Formation

The kingdom was formed in 1918 under the name Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Kraljevina Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca cyrillic: Краљевина Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца, Slovenian Kraljevina Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev, Macedonian Кралство на Србите, Хрватите и Словенците, short name Kraljevina SHS, Краљевина СХС). On December 1 1918 it was proclaimed by Alexander Karađorđević, Prince-Regent for his father King Petar (Peter), who was formally King of Serbia. The new Kingdom was made up of the formerly independent kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro, as well as a substantial amount of territory that was formerly part of Austria-Hungary, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The lands previously in Austria-Hungary that formed the new state included Croatia, Slavonia and Vojvodina from the Hungarian part of the Empire, Carniola, part of Styria and most of Dalmatia from the Austrian part, and the Crown province of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Yugoslav kingdom bordered Italy and Austria to the northwest, Hungary and Romania to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece and Albania to the south, and the Adriatic Sea to the west. A plebiscite was also held in the Province of Carinthia, which opted to remain in Austria. The Dalmatian port city of Zadar and a few of the Dalmatian islands were given to Italy. The city of Rijeka was declared a free city-state, but it was soon occupied, and in 1924 annexed, by Italy. Tensions over the border with Italy continued, with Italy claiming more of the Dalmatian coast, and Yugoslavia claiming Istria, part of the former Austrian coastal province which had been annexed to Italy, but which contained a considerable population of Croats and Slovenes. The new government tried to integrate the new country politically as well as economically, a task made difficult because of the great diversity of languages, nationalities, and religions in the new state, the different history of the regions, and great differences in economic development among regions.

Politics

Immediately after the 1st of December proclamation, negotiations between the People's Council (of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs) and the Serbian government resulted in agreement over the new government which was to be headed by Nikola Pašić. However when this was submitted to the approval of the regent it was rejected so producing the new state's first government crisis. All the parties regarded this as a violation of parliamentary principles but the crisis was resolved when they agreed to replace Pašić by Stojan Protić who was a leading member of Pašić's Radical Party. The new government came into existence on the 20th December 1918. (source: Branislav Gligorijević Parlament i političke stranke u Jugoslaviji 1919 1929) In this period before the election of the Constituent Assembly a Provisional Representation served as a parliament which was formed by delegates from the various elected bodies that had existed before the creation of the state. A realignment of parties combining several members of the Serbian opposition with political parties from the former Austria-Hungary led to the creation of a new party, The Democratic Party, that dominated the Provisional Representation and the government. Because the Democratic Party led by Ljubomir Davidović pushed a highly centralized agenda a number of Croatian delegates moved into opposition. However the radicals themselves were not happy that they had only three ministers to the Democratic Parties eleven and on the 16th of August 1919 Stojan Protić handed in his resignation. Ljubomir Davidović then formed a coalition with the Social Democrats. This government did have a majority but the quorum of the Provisional Representation was half plus one vote. The opposition then began to boycott the parliament and as the government could never guarantee that all their supporters to turn up it became impossible to hold a quorate meeting of the parliament. Davidović quickly resigned but as no one else could form a government he again became prime minister. As the opposition continued their boycott the government decided it had no alternative but to rule by decree. This was denounced by the opposition who began to style themselves as the Paliamentary Community. Davidović himself realized that the situation was untenable and requested from the King the immediate holding of elections for the Constituent Assembly. When the King refused he felt he had no alternative but to resign. The Parliamentary Community now formed a government led by Stojan Protić committed to the restoration of parliamentary norms and migigating the centralization of the previous government. Their opposition to the former governments program of radical land reform also united them. As several small groups and individuals switched sides, Protić now even had a small majority. However the Democratic Party and the Social Democrats now boycotted parliament and Protić was unable to muster a quorum. Hence the Parliamentary Community, now in government, was forced to rule by decree. For the Parliamentary Community to thus violate the basic principle around which they had formed put them in an extremely difficult position. In April 1920 widespread worker unrest including a railway strike broke out and according to Gligorijević this put pressure on the two main parties to settle their differences. After successful negotiations Protić resigned to make way for a new government led by the neutral figure of Milenko Vesnić. The social democrats did not follow their former allies the Democratic Party into government because they were opposed to the anti communist measures that that new government was committed. The controversies that had divided the parties earlier were still very much live issues. The Democrat Party continued to push their agenda of centralization and still insisted on the need for radical land reform. A disagreement over electoral law finally led the Democrat Party to vote against the government in Parliament and the government was defeated. Tho this meeting had not been quorate, Vesnić used this as a pretext to resign. His action produced the result Vesnić had intended and the Radical Party agreed to accept the need for centralization while the Democratic Party agreed to drop their insistence on land reform and Vesnić again headed the new government. The Croatian Community and the Slovenian People's Party were however not at all happy with the Radicals acceptance of centralization. Nor for that matter was Stojan Protić and he withdraw from the government on this issue. In September 1920 a peasants' revolt broke out in Croatia, the immediate cause of which was the branding of the peasants cattle. The Croatian Community blamed the centralizing policies of the government and of minister Svetozar Pribićević in particular.

From Constituent Assembly to Dictatorship

One of the few laws successfully passed by the Provisional Representation was the electoral law for the constituent assembly. During the negotiations that preceded the foundation of the new state it had been agreed that voting would be secret and based on universal suffrage. It had not really occurred to them that universal might include women until the beginnings of a movement for women's suffrage appeared with the creation of the new state. The social democrats and the Slovenian Peoples Party supported women's suffrage but the Radicals opposed it. The Democrat Party was open to the idea but not committed enough to make an issue of it so the proposal fell. Proportional Representation was accepted in principle but the system chosen (D'Hondt with very small constituencies) favored large parties and parties with strong regional support. The election was held on the 28th November 1920. When the votes were counted the Democratic Party had won the most seats, more than the Radicals - but only just. For a party that had been so dominant in the Provisional Representation that amounted to a defeat. Further they had done significantly badly in all former Austria-Hungarian areas. That undercut their belief that their centralization policy represented the will of the Yugoslavian people as a whole. The Radicals had done no better in that region but this presented them far less of a problem because they had campaigned openly as a Serbian party. The most dramatic gains had been made by the two anti-system parties. The Croatian Common-People Peasant Parties leadership had been released from prison only as the election campaign began to get underway but according to Gligorijević this far from hindering them had helped them more than active campaigning. The Croatian Community that had in a timid way tried to express the discontent that Croatian Common-People Peasant Party had mobilized had been too tainted by their participation in government and was all but eliminated. The other gainers were the communists who had done especially well in Macedonia. The remainder of the seats were taken up by smaller parties that were at best skeptical of the centralizing platform of the Democratic Party. The results left Nikola Pasić in a very strong position as the Democrats had no choice but to ally with the Radicals if they wanted to get their concept of a centralized Yugoslavia through, where as Pasić was always careful to keep open the option of a deal with the Croatian opposition. The Democrats together with the Radicals were not quite strong enough to get the constitution through on their own and they made an alliance with the JMO, the Yugoslav Muslim Organization. The Muslim party sought and got concessions over the preservation of Bosnia in its borders and how the land reform would effect Muslim landowners in Bosnia. Because the Croatian Peasant Party refused to swear allegiance to the King on the grounds that this presumed that Yugoslavia would be a monarchy (something, they contended only the Constituent could decide) they were unable to take their seats. Most of the opposition though initially taking their seats declared boycotts as time went so that there were few votes against. However the constitution needed 50% plus one vote to pass irrespective of how many voted against and it was touch and go whether it get this. Only last minute concessions to Džemet a group of Muslims from Macedonia and Kosova saved it. In 1921, the Constitution was passed, which established a unitary monarchy. Serb politicians regarded Serbia as the standardbearer of Yugoslav unity, as the state of Piedmont had been for Italy, and the nation of Prussia for the German Empire. Over the following years, Croat resistance against a Serbocentric policy increased. Stjepan Radić, head of the Croatian Peasant Party, was imprisoned due to political reasons. After he was released in 1925, and returned to parliament. In the spring of 1928 Stjepan Radić and Svetozar Pribičević waged a bitter parliamentary battle against the ratification of the Neptune Convention with Italy. In this they mobilised nationalist opposition also in Serbia itself but provoked a violent reaction from the governing majority including death threats. On the 20th June 1928, a member of the government majority, the Montenegrin deputy Puniša Račić shot down five members of the Croatian Peasant Party including their leader Stjepan Radić. Two died on the floor of the Assembly while the life of Stjepan Radić hung in the balance. The opposition now completly withdrew from parliament declaring that they would not return to a parliament in which several of their representatives had been killed and insisting on new elections. On the 1st of August, at a meeting in Zagreb, they renounced the 1st of December declaration of 1920. In this they were demanding that the negotiations for unification should begin from scratch. On the 8th of October, Stjepan Radić died.

The 6th of January Dictatorship

Not long after that, on January 6, 1929, in response to the political crisis triggered by the shooting, King Alexander abolished the Constitution, prorogued the Parliament and introduced a personal dictatorship (the so-called January 6th Dictatorship, Šestojanuarska diktatura). He also changed the name of the country to Kingdom of Yugoslavia and changed the internal divisions to use banovinas on October 3. In 1931 Alexander decreed a new Constitution which made executive power the gift of the King. Elections were to be by universal suffrage (though universal still didn't include women). The provision for a secret ballot was dropped and pressure on public employees to vote for the governing party was to be a feature of all elections held under Alexander's constitution. Further, half the upper house was directly appointed by the King and legislation could become law with the approval of one of the houses alone if it was also approved by the King. On October 9 1934, the king was assassinated in Marseille, France by a Bulgarian VMRO activist Velichko Kerin, more popular with his revolutionary pseudonym Vlado Chernozemski, in a conspiracy with Yugoslav exiles, radical members of the political parties that he banned five years earlier in cooperation with the Croatian extreme right-wing Ustaše organisation. Because Peter II, the eldest son of Alexander was a minor, a regency council of three, specified in Alexander's will, took over the role of King. The council was dominated by the King's cousin Prince Pavle (Paul).

Downfall

On March 25, 1941, Prince Regent Pavle signed the Tripartite Pact in Vienna. Because of his decision, massive demonstrations took place in Belgrade and, after this, his nephew, together with a group of pro-English officers and middle class politicians, made a coup d'état on March 27 1941. General Dušan Simović became prime minister and Yugoslavia backed out of the Axis sphere in all but name. Although the new rulers opposed Germany, they also feared that if Hitler attacked Yugoslavia, the United Kingdom was not in any real position to help. For the safety of the country, they declared that Yugoslavia would adhere to the Tripartite Pact. Regardless of this, in April 1941, the Axis powers invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and quickly conquered it. The royal family escaped abroad, Prince Pavle included The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was soon divided by the Axis into several entities: Hungary and Bulgaria annexed some border areas, Croatia was made into the Independent State of Croatia, and a rump Serbian state was created under the administration of Milan Nedić, which still recognized Peter II as King. Peter II, who had escaped into exile, was still recognized as King of the whole state by the allies. However, over the course of the war, effective power changed to the hands of Tito's Communist Partisans. On June 16, 1944, the Tito-Šubašić Agreement was signed which merged the de facto and the de jure government of Yugoslavia. In early 1945, after the Germans had been driven out, the Kingdom was formally restored, but the new Communist authorities soon proclaimed the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia on December 2, 1945. The new Yugoslavia covered roughly the same territory as the Kingdom had, but it was no longer a kingdom.

List of Kings

# King Petar I (1 Dec 1918 - 16 Aug 1921) (Regent Prince Aleksandar ruled in the name of the King) # King Aleksandar (16 Aug 1921 - 9 Oct 1934) # King Petar II (9 Oct 1934 - 29 Nov 1945)
- exile from 13/14 Apr 1941 #
- Regency headed by Prince Pavle (9 Oct 1934 - 27 Mar 1941)

List of Prime ministers

- Stojan Protić (1918-1919)
- Ljubomir Davidović (1919-1920)
- Stojan Protić (1920)
- Milenko Vesnić (1920-1921)
- Nikola Pašić (1921-1924)
- Ljubomir Davidović (1924)
- Nikola Pašić (1924-1926)
- Nikola Uzunović (1926-1927)
- Velimir Vukićević (1927-1928)
- Anton Korošec (1928-1929)
- Petar Živković (1929-1932)
- Vojislav Marinković (1932)
- Milan Srškić (1932-1934)
- Nikola Uzunović (1934)
- Bogoljub Jevtić (1934-1935)
- Milan Stojadinović (1935-1939)
- Dragiša Cvetković (1939-1941)

Internal divisions

Dragiša Cvetković Internally, the Kingdom was divided into provinces from 1929 onwards, each of them called banovina. Their borders were intentionally drawn so that they wouldn't correspond either to boundaries between ethnic groups, or to the pre-WWI imperial borders. They were named after various geographic features (mostly rivers). The capital of the kingdom was Belgrade. # Dravska banovina (Banovina of Drava), with its capital in Ljubljana # Savska banovina (Banovina of Sava), with its capital in Zagreb # Vrbaska banovina (Banovina of Vrbas), with its capital in Banja Luka # Primorska banovina (Seaside Banovina), with its capital in Split # Drinska banovina (Banovina of Drina), with its capital in Sarajevo # Zetska banovina (Banovina of Zeta), with its capital in Cetinje # Dunavska banovina (Banovina of Danube), with its capital in Novi Sad # Moravska banovina (Banovina of Morava), with its capital in Niš # Vardarska banovina (Banovina of Vardar), with its capital in Skopje # The City of Belgrade, together with Zemun and Pančevo was also an administrative unit In 1939 the Banovina Hrvatska (Banovina of Croatia) was formed from the Primorska and Savska banovinas, with some border alterations. Like Savska, its capital was Zagreb.

External link

- [http://www.geocities.com/dagtho/yugconst19310903.html Full text of Constitution of 1931 (in English)] Yugoslavia Yugoslavia, Kingdom of Category:Yugoslavia ko:유고슬라비아 왕국

Greece

Greece, (Greek: Ελλάδα, older form: Ελλάς, Hellas), officially the Hellenic Republic (Greek: Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, Ellinikí Dimokratía; see also List of traditional Greek place names), is a country in southern Europe on the tip of the Balkan peninsula. It has land boundaries with Bulgaria, The Republic of Macedonia, and Albania to the north and with Turkey to the east. The waters of the Aegean Sea border Greece to the east, and those of the Ionian and Mediterranean Sea to the west and south. Regarded by many as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy, Greece has a long and rich history during which its culture has proven especially influential in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.

Name

Main article: Names of the Greeks The historical name of Greece in Greek is Ellás . This name is also written Hellas in English, following the ancient Greek pronunciation . In modern Greek it is called more commonly Ελλάδα Elládha . The mythical ancestor of the Greeks is the eponymous Hellen. The name of Greece in European languages (English: Greece, French: Grèce, Portuguese: Grécia, Spanish and Italian: Grecia, Welsh: Groeg, German: Griechenland, Dutch: Griekenland, Russian: Греция, etc.) comes from a different root: Graikós (via Latin Graecus) which according to Aristotle was an ancient name for the Greeks. The Japanese name is ギリシャ (Girisha), lent from European languages. On the other hand, the name of Greece in some Middle Eastern and Eastern languages (Turkish: Yunanistan, Arabic: يونان, Hebrew: יוון, ancient Persian: Yaunâ, Indian Pali: Yona, Malay and Indonesian: Yunani) derives from the Greek toponym Iōnía. Norwegian, Chinese (希腊 Xila) and Vietnamese are three of the few languages apart from Greek in which the name Hellas predominates. An interesting and unique form is kept in Georgian. In ancient times, Georgians (Colchs and Iberians) called Greeks ბერძენი berdzeni. This form derives from the Georgian word ბრძენი brdzeni – wise. According to Georgian historians, the name is connected with the notion that philosophy was born in Greece. Modern Georgians still call Greeks ბერძენი berdzeni and Greece საბერძნეთი saberdznet'i, 'Greeks' land' or literally 'land of the wise'. Some Greeks prefer the name Hellas for the country and Hellenes for the people even in English. See Hellenes for discussion.

History

Hellenes Main Article: History of Greece.

Prehistory and antiquity

The shores of Greece's Aegean Sea saw the emergence of the first civilizations in Europe, namely the Minoan and the Mycenaean. After these, a Dark Age followed until around 800 BC, when a new era of Greek city-states emerged establishing colonies along the Mediterranean. Greek culture would later become the basis of the Hellenistic civilization that followed the empire of Alexander the Great. For a detailed history of Ancient Greece see the relevant articles in: History of Greece.

Roman rule and Middle Ages

Militarily, Greece itself declined to the point that the Romans conquered the land (168 BC onwards), though, in many ways, Greek culture would in turn conquer Roman life. Greece became a province of the Roman Empire, but Greek culture continued to dominate the eastern Mediterranean. When the Roman Empire finally split in two, the Eastern Roman Empire, known as the Byzantine Empire, centered around Constantinople (known in ancient times as Byzantium), remained Greek in nature, encompassing Greece itself. From the 4th century to the 15th century, the Byzantine Empire survived eleven centuries of attacks from the north, west and east until Constantinople fell on May 29 1453 to the Ottoman Empire, when Constantine XI, the last emperor of the Palaeologus dynasty, fell. Greece was gradually conquered by the Ottomans during the 15th century.

Ottoman rule

While the Ottomans completed the conquest of the Greek Mainland, two Greek migrations occurred. The first migration saw the Greek intelligentsia migrate to Western Europe and contribute to the advent of the Renaissance. The second migration of Greeks left the plains of the Greek peninsula and resettled in the mountains. The Ottomans were unable to create a permanent military and administrative presence in these mountainous regions. As a result some Greek mountain clans across the peninsula, as well as some islands, were able to maintain a status of independence. The Sphakiots of Crete, the Souliots from Souli of Epirus, and the Maniots from Mani of Peloponnesus were the most resilient mountain clans throughout the Ottoman Empire. By the end of the 16th century and until the 17th century, Greeks began to migrate back to the plains and cities, adding to the increasing urban population. The millet system contributed to the ethnic cohesion of Orthodox Greeks by segregating the various peoples within the Ottoman Empire based on religion. The Orthodox Church, a religious institution with a strong national character, helped the Greeks from all geographical areas of the peninsula (i.e. mountains, plains, and islands) to preserve their ethnic, cultural and linguistic heritage during the years of the Ottoman rule (although at the time it was not stictly speaking a "Greek" church - the Greek Church was instituted after the liberation). The Greeks who remained on the plains during Ottoman occupation were either Christians, who dealt with the burdens of foreign rule, or to a considerable extent Crypto-Christians (Greeks Muslims who were secret practitioners of the Orthodox faith) in order to avoid heavy taxation. The Greeks who converted to Islam and were not Crypto-Christians became Turks in the eyes of Orthodox Greeks. There were no "Greek Muslims", and no "Christian Turks". As a result, religion played an integral part in the formation of the Modern Greek and other post-Ottoman national identities. Turks

Creation of the modern Greek state

The Ottomans ruled Greece until the early 19th century. In 1821, the Greeks rebelled and declared their independence, but did not succeed in winning it until 1829. The elites of powerful European nations saw the war of Greek independence, with its accounts of Turkish atrocities, in a romantic light (see, for example, the 1824 painting the Massacre of Chios by Eugène Delacroix). Scores of non-Greeks volunteered to fight for the cause — including people like Lord Byron. At times the Ottomans seemed on the verge of entirely suppressing the Greek revolution but were eventually forced to give in by the direct military intervention of France, Great Britain and Russia. This was the prelude of the so called "Eastern Question", the gradual dismemberment of the decaying empire by the western powers. The Russian ex-minister of foreign affairs, Ioannis Kapodistrias, himself a Greek, actually a noble from the Ionian Islands, a British protectorate in the Ionian Sea, was chosen as President of the new Republic following Greek independence. That republic disappeared when a few years later Western powers helped turn Greece into a monarchy, the first king coming from Bavaria and the second from Denmark. During the 19th and especially the early 20th centuries, in a series of wars with the Ottomans, Greece sought to enlarge its boundaries to include the ethnic Greek population of the Ottoman Empire (the Ionian State however was donated by Britain upon the arrival of the new king from Denmark in 1863, and Thessaly was ceded by the Ottomans without a fight). Greece would slowly grow in territory and population until reaching its present configuration in 1947. In World War I, Greece sided with the entente powers against Turkey and the other Central Powers. In the war's aftermath, the Great Powers awarded parts of Asia Minor to Greece, including the city of Smyrna (known as Izmir today) which had a large Greek population. At that time, however, the Turkish nationalists, led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, denounced the Sultan's government in Istanbul and organised a new one in Ankara. During the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) the Turks eventually defeated the Greek armies and regained control of Asia Minor. Soon afterwards, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, fixing the borders to this date. A population exchange was included in the agreement and immediately afterwards, hundreds of thousands of Turks then living in mainland Greek territory left for Turkey in exchange for about a million Greeks living in Turkey. The refugees from Asia Minor revived the population, provided cheap labour and hellenized the now depopulated regions, especially in Macedonia. In 1936, General Ioannis Metaxas established an authoritarian conservative dictatorship in Greece, seen as similar to Antonio Salazar's "New State". Greece under Metaxas is also compared to Spain at the time, although it lacked the political violence associated with Francisco Franco's regime. Despite the country's numerically small and ill-equipped armed forces, Greece made an important contribution to the Allied efforts in World War II. At the start of the war Greece sided with the Allies and refused to give in to Italian demands (see Oxi Day). Italy invaded Greece on 28 October 1940, but Greek troops repelled the invaders after a bitter struggle (see Greco-Italian War). This marked the first Allied victory in the war. Hitler then reluctantly stepped in, primarily to secure his strategic southern flank. Troops from Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Italy successfully invaded Greece, overcoming Greek, British, Australian, and New Zealand units within weeks. To reduce the threat of a counter-offensive by Allied forces in Egypt, the Germans attempted to seize Crete in a massive attack by paratroops. Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, however, offered fierce resistance. Although Crete eventually fell, it is pointed out by historians that this, and the whole Greek campaign, delayed German plans significantly, with the result that the German invasion of the Soviet Union started fatally close to winter. During the years of Nazi occupation, hundreds of thousands of Greeks died in direct combat, in concentration camps, or of starvation. The occupiers murdered the greater part of the Jewish community despite efforts by the Greek Orthodox Church and many Christian Greeks to shelter Jews. The Greek economy languished. After liberation, Greece experienced an equally bitter Greek Civil War between the communist-led Democratic Army and the Hellenic Army that lasted until 1949, when the communists were defeated in the battle of Grammos-Vitsi. In the 1950s and 1960s, Greece continued to develop slowly with grants and loans through the Marshall Plan, and later through growth, notably in the tourism sector. In 1967, the Greek military seized power in a coup d'état and overthrew the conservative government of Panayiotis Kanellopoulos which had been preparing a general election set for May 28. The military established what became known as the Régime of the Colonels. In 1973, the régime abolished the Greek monarchy. In October 1973, George Papadopoulos appointed politician Spiros Markezinis as Prime Minister, with a mission undertake a transition to parliamentary democracy. Following the events of the Athens Polytechnic uprising, Papadopoulos and Markezinis were overthrown by a countercoup headed by junta hardliner Brigadier Ioannides on November 25, 1973. A new president, Phaedon Ghizikis, and a new Prime Minister, Adamantios Androutsopoulos, were appointed. Ioannides organised a military coup against President Makarios of Cyprus, which was considered a pretext for the first Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the resulting crisis between Greece and Turkey. Escalation in Cyprus led to the implosion of the military régime. Ex-premier Konstantinos Karamanlis was invited from Paris as interim prime minister under President Ghizikis. He later gained re-election for two further terms at the head of the conservative Nea Dimokratia party, which he founded. In 1975, following a referendum to confirm the deposition of King Constantine II, a democratic republican constitution came into force. Another previously exiled politician, Andreas Papandreou also returned and founded the socialist PASOK party, which won the elections in 1981 and dominated the country's political course for almost two decades. Since the restoration of democracy, the stability and economic prosperity of Greece have grown. Greece joined the European Union in 1981 and adopted the Euro as its currency in 2001. New infrastructure, funds from the EU and growing revenues from tourism, shipping, services, light industry, and the telecommunications industry have greatly raised the standard of living in Greece. Tensions continue to exist between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus and the delimitation of borders in the Aegean Sea, but relations have thawed considerably following successive earthquakes - first in Turkey and then in Greece - and an outpouring of sympathy and generous assistance by ordinary Greeks and Turks. This is in stark contrast to decades of hostility between these two countries, which saw repeated threats of war. Even though both were members of NATO, at times more than half of the entire Greek military was positioned against Turkey. In recent years, Greece has become one of the chief advocates of Turkey's application to join the European Union. The 2004 Summer Olympic Games were held in Athens, returning to Greece for the first time since their modern inception in 1896. Despite widespread initial concerns over the city's ability to meet construction deadlines as well as over its ability to handle a potential terrorist threat, the Athens Games were widely praised as a success [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3610014.stm].

Politics

Main article: Politics of Greece The 1975 constitution includes extensive specific guarantees of civil liberties. The President of the Republic, elected by an increased majority of the Parliament for a term of five years, is nominally the Head of State. However, it is the prime minister and cabinet that play the central role in the political process, while the president performs very limited governmental functions, in addition to ceremonial duties. Greeks elect the 300 members of the country's unicameral parliament (the Vouli ton Ellinon) by secret ballot for a maximum of four years, but elections can occur at more frequent intervals. Greece uses a complex reinforced proportional representation electoral system which discourages splinter parties and ensures that the party which leads in the national vote will win a majority of seats. A party must receive 3% of the total national vote to gain representation. Greek parliamentary politics hinge upon the principle of the "dedilomeni", the "declared confidence" of Parliament to the Prime Minister and his/her administration. This means that the President of the Republic is bound to appoint as Prime Minister a person who will be approved by a majority of the Parilament's members (i.e. 151 votes). With the current electoral system, it is the leader of the party gaining a plurality of the votes in the Parliamentary elections who gets appointed Prime Minister. An administration may, at any time, seek a "vote of confidence"; conversely, a number of Members of Parilament may ask that a "vote of reproach" be taken. Both are rare occurrences with usually predictable outcomes as voting outside the party line happens very seldom. For a list of Greek political parties, see List of political parties in Greece.

Local government

Main article: Peripheries of Greece Peripheries of Greece Peripheries of Greece Peripheries of Greece Greece consists of 13 administrative regions known as peripheries, which subdivide further into the 51 prefectures (nomoi, singular - nomos):

- Attica:
- Attica
- Central Greece:
- Boeotia
- Euboea
- Evrytania
- Phocis
- Phthiotis
- Central Macedonia
- Chalcidice
- Imathia
- Kilkis
- Pella
- Pieria
- Serres
- Thessaloniki

- Crete
- Chania
- Heraklion
- Lasithi
- Rethymno
- East Macedonia and Thrace
- Drama
- Evros
- Kavala
- Rhodope
- Xanthi
- Epirus
- Arta
- Ioannina
- Preveza
- Thesprotia

- Ionian Islands
- Corfu
- Kefalonia
- Lefkada
- Zakynthos
- North Aegean
- Chios
- Lesbos
- Samos
- Peloponnese
- Arcadia
- Argolis
- Corinthia
- Laconia
- Messinia

- South Aegean
- Cyclades
- Dodecanese
- Thessaly
- Karditsa
- Larissa
- Magnesia
- Trikala
- West Greece
- Achaea
- Aetolia-Acarnania
- Elis
- West Macedonia
- Florina
- Grevena
- Kastoria
- Kozani

Beyond these one autonomous region exists: Mount Athos (Agio Oros - Holy Mountain), a monastic state under Greek sovereignty. The 51 nomoi subdivide into 147 eparchies (singular eparchia), which contain 1,033 municipalities and communities: 900 urban municipalities (demoi) and 133 rural communities (koinotetes). Before 1999, Greece's local government structure featured 5,775 local authorities: 457 demoi and 5,318 koinotetes, subdivided into 12,817 localities (oikosmoi).

Geography

Main article: Geography of Greece Geography of Greece Geography of Greece] Geography of Greece The country consists of a large mainland at the southern end of the Balkans; the Peloponnesus peninsula (separated from the mainland by the canal of the Isthmus of Corinth); and numerous islands (around 3,000), including Crete, Rhodes, Kos, Euboea and the Dodecanese and Cycladic groups of the Aegean Sea as well as the Ionian sea islands. Greece has more than 15,000 kilometres of coastline and a land boundary of 1,160 kilometres. About 80% of Greece consists of mountains or hills, thus making Greece one of the most montainous countries of Europe. Western Greece contains lakes and wetlands. Pindus, the central mountain range, has a maximum elevation of 2,636 m. The Pindus can be considered as a prolongation of the Dinaric Alps. The range continues by means of the Peloponnese, the islands of Kythera and Antikythera to find its final point in the island of Crete. (Actually the islands of the Aegean are peaks of underwater mountains that once consisted an extension of the mainland). The Central and Western Greece area contains high, steep peaks dissected by many canyons and other karstic landscapes, including the Meteora and the Vikos gorge the later being the second largest one on earth after the Grand Canyon in the US. Mount Olympus forms the highest point in Greece at 2,919 m above sea level. Also northern Greece presents another high range, the Rhodope, located in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace; this area is covered with vast and thick century old forests like the famous Dadia. Plains are mainly found in Eastern Thessaly, Central Macedonia and Thrace. Greece's climate is divided into three well defined classes the Mediterranean, Alpine and Temperate, the first one features mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Temperatures rarely reach extremes, although snowfalls do occur occasionally even in Athens, Cyclades or Crete during the winter. Alpine is found primarily in Western Greece (Epirus, Central Greece, Thessaly, Western Macedonia as well as central parts of Peloponessus like Achaea, Arkadia and parts of Lakonia where the Alpine range pass by). Finally the temperate climate is found in Central and Eastern Macedonia as well as in Thrace at places like Komotini, Xanthi and northern Evros; with cold, damp winters and hot, dry summers. It's worth to mention that Athens is located in a transition area between the Mediterranean and Alpine climate, thus finding that in its southern suburbs weather is of Mediterranean type while in the Northern suburbs of the Alpine type. About 50% of Greek land is covered by forests with a rich varied vegetation which spans from Alpine coniferous to mediterranean type vegetation. Seals, sea turtles and other rare marine life live in the seas around Greece, while Greece's forests provide a home to Western Europe's last brown bears and lynx as well as other species like Wolf, Roe Deer, Wild Goat, Fox and Wild Boar among others.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Greece Greece has a mixed capitalist economy with the public sector accounting for about half of GDP. Tourism has great importance, providing a large portion of GDP and foreign exchange earnings. Greece also counts as a world leader in shipping (first in terms of ownership of vessels and third by flag registration) [http://www.marad.dot.gov/MARAD_statistics/Country-MFW-7-04.pdf]. Greece figures prominently as a major beneficiary of EU aid, equal to about 2.4% of its GNP. The export of manufactured goods, including telecommunications hardware and software, foodstuffs, and fuels accounts for a large part of the rest of Greek income. The country has a high standard of living, ranking 24th on the 2005 Human Development Index and 22nd on The Economist's 2005 world-wide quality-of-life index[http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.pdf]. The economy has improved steadily over the last few years, as the government tightened fiscal policy in the run-up to Greece's entry into the Eurozone on January 1, 2001. Average per capita income in 2004 was estimated at $22,000 [http://www.worldbank.org/data/databytopic/GNIPC.pdf]. Greece has an expanding services sector and telecommunications industry and has become one of the largest investors in the immediate region. Moreover, Greece now operates as a net importer of labour and foreign workers (mainly from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Pakistan, and Africa). People from these areas now account for 10% of the total population. 2001 Major challenges faced by the country include the reduction of unemployment, privatising of several state enterprises, social security reforms, overhauling the tax system, and minimising bureaucratic inefficiencies. Forecasts predicted economic growth of 4 - 4.5 % in 2004. Reducing the government deficit also remains a major issue, as it is currently running at nearly twice the Eurozone target of 3% of GDP. The new conservative government revealed to Eurostat that the previous figures supplied, which were the basis of Greek entry into the Eurozone, were incorrect. Under a negotiated agreement, the EU gave Greece two years (budgets of 2005 and 2006) to bring the economy in line with the criteria of the European stability pact. The Bank of Greece, now a subsidiary of the European Central Bank, functions as the nation's central bank. This bank is not the same as the "National Bank of Greece", a commercial bank.

Tourism

In the year of 2004, Greece ranked 12th interms of International tourist Arrivals world wide with a figure of 14.180 Million visitors, some of which came for the 2004 Olympic Games. Since the promotion of Greece from the Olympic Games, the Government expects significant growth in the years to come. In 2003, tourists spent an estimated 11 billion Euros contributing 8% to Greeces GDP. Tourism in Greece has multiplied 50 times in the past 40 years and is expected to only get bigger in the next 10 years. The main problem for Greece and its tourism industry is that many people are now going to places such as Turkey or Egypt were they can get a similar summer holiday for alot cheaper. Unfortunatly, the Government dosen't spend much on promoting tourism in Greece, although they have now hired Greek singer, Elena Paparizou, as there official Ambassador as well as having released a new campaign. One suggestion is to focus now on the Winter side of Greece as Greece's tourism industry is really only a 6 month tourism season. If promoted correctly, Greece could almost double its tourist statistics since most of the 14 million tourists are accounted for in only 6 months of a 12 month year.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Greece Greece has various linguistic and cultural minorities. A non-comprehensive list of these would include Pomaks and various Roma groups. A number of religious minorities exist, including the Muslim minority in western Thrace, which makes up about a third of that region's population. Around one million immigrants live full or part time in Greece today, of which 65% have come from Albania following the fall of communism in Albania. This was a very rapid phenomena and the Greek legal and social culture has had some difficulties adapting. Several prominent Greek sportsmen immigrated to Greece as ethnic Greeks from Albania and Georgia in the 1990s, including legendary weightlifters Pyrros Dimas and Kakhi Kakhiashvili. Smaller numbers of immigrants came from Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania. The exact number remains unknown, since the majority live illegally in Greece.

Religion

Prior to Ottoman rule, Greece was part of the Byzantine Empire. The civil and religious capital of the Empire was moved to Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) by Constantine I. Since Constantine’s time the Orthodox Christian faith has flourished and spread throughout Eastern Europe. Even under Turkish rule and repeated attempts at being proselytised firstly by the Jesuits and then by the Protestants, Orthodox Christianity survived and flourished. The role of the Orthodox Church in maintaining Greek ethnic and cultural identity during the 400 years of Ottoman rule, has strengthened the bond between religion and government. Most Greeks, even many non-practicing Christians, revere and respect the Orthodox Christian faith, attend Church and Major Feast days, and are emotionally attached to Orthodox Christianity as their 'national' religion. The Greek Constitution reflects this relationship by guaranteeing absolute freedom of religion while still defining the "prevailing religion" of Greece as the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ. In practice, the Orthodox Church and the secular state are intimately involved with one another. Joint approval is needed for the building of churches and the Church has even blocked the building of places of worship for other religions in Athens. Priests receive state salaries. The President of the Republic takes an oath on the Bible and Orthodox Christianity is given privileged place in religious studies in primary education. The Church has also been allowed to keep its large portfolio of financial assets exempt from taxation and fiscal auditing. Starting in January 2005, a series of highly publicised corruption scandals involving high rank church officials have led to many calls by secular Greeks for the complete separation of Church and State and greater control of Church assets. The majority of Greeks (95-98%) have at least nominal membership in the Eastern Orthodox Church, although religious observance has declined in recent years. Greek Muslims make up about 1.3% of the population, and live primarily in Thrace. Greece also has some Roman Catholics, mainly in the city of Patras and the Cyclades islands of Syros, Paros,Tinos and Naxos; some Protestants and some Jews, mainly in Thessaloniki (which was once a major Jewish city until the Holocaust). Some groups in Greece have started an attempt to reconstruct Hellenic polytheism, the ancient Greek pagan religion. See also: Greek Orthodox Church. One small part of Greece, Mount Athos, is recognised by the Greek constitution as an autonomous monastic republic, although foreign relations, however, remain the prerogative of the Greek state. Spiritually, Mount Athos is under the Patriarchate of Constantinople and is therefore in communion with all the monasteries on Mount Athos and with the Orthodox Church based in various countries. One monastery has recently broken away and has formed a completely independent schism on the Holy Mountain -- Esphygmenou Monastery. Esphygmenou is composed of 117 Zealot monks who stubbornly oppose the head of the Church and do not commemorate him any more. They believe that they are the last remaining true Christians in the world and that Orthodoxy has been corrupted by having dialogue with other faiths. They also object to the lifting of the anathemas against the Roman Catholic Church in the 1960's by Patriarch Athenagoras. Jews have been present in Greece for the last 2000 years. The earliest reference to a Greek Jew is in an inscription, dated c. 300-250 BCE found in Oropos, a small coastal town between Athens and Boeotia, and refers to him as "Moschos, son of Moschion the Jew" who was in all likelihood, a slave. The first Greek Jewish population became known as the Romaniotes and their language became known as Yevanic (from the Hebrew word for Greece: יון/Yavan). From the 16th century onwards, Salonica, a city in northern Greece, had one of the largest (mostly Sephardic by then) Jewish communities in the world and a solid rabbinical tradition. On the island of Crete, the Jews played an important part in the transport trade. During World War II, when Greece was occupied by Nazi Germany, 86% of the Greek Jews were murdered by the invading Axis and only a minority survived and most of them have emigrated to Israel. Greece's Jewish community today is estimated at 4,500.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Greece Greece has produced a vast number of contributors to philosophy, astronomy, science, and the arts. For a list of famous Greek men and women, see List of Greeks. See also:
- Classics
- Education in Greece
- List of Greek dances
- List of museums in Greece
- Greek National Holidays
- List of research institutes in Greece
- Tourism in Greece
- List of universities in Greece

Miscellaneous topics

- History of Greece
- Ancient Greece
- Greek mythology
- Hellenistic civilization
- Byzantine Empire
- Byzantium
- Greek Language
- Communications in Greece
- List of Greek language television channels
- List of radio stations in Greece
- Greek newspapers
- Transportation in Greece
- List of Greek roads
- Rio-Antirio bridge
- Foreign relations of Greece
- Military of Greece
- Postage stamps and postal history of Greece
- Conscription in Greece
- Popular Greek Entertainment
- Plateia Syntagmatos and Vouli ton Ellinon
- Turkish Greek Civic Dialogue Project
- Greeks
- List of Greeks
- Greek American
- Category:Greek-Americans
- Greek Canadians
- Greek Australian

Sport in Greece

- Summer Olympics of 1896, 1906 & 2004
- Greece national football team (Euro 2004 Cup Winners)
- Greece national basketball team (Eurobasket 1987 & 2005 Cup Winners) The Greek government built a world class sport infrastructure specifically for the 2004 Summer Olympics which is generally regarded as a [http://www.athens2004.com/en/Legacy legacy]to the country. Greece was one of the smallest countries to ever host a modern summer Olympic games. The organisation and conduct of the games were considered highly successful. Unlike other western European countries, basketball has become a popular sport in Greece. This is largely the result of the victory achieved by the Greek national basketball team against the Soviet Union in the European championship final of 1987 held in Athens. Eighteen years later, Greece won its second Europen basketball championship in the 2005 Eurobasket, held in Belgrade.

External links

- [http://www.balkanforums.com Greece and the Balkans] Discussion Forum
- [http://www.go4less.gr/main.php?lang=EN Internet Travel Service to Greece and Smartest Accommodation Search Engine]
- [http://www.hri.org HR-Net (Hellenic Resources Network)/ comprehensive Greek news site]
- [http://www.statistics.gr/ Official Greek Statistics Site]
- [http://www.ask4greece.org Ask for Greece/ A volunteer community for Q&As about Greece]
- [http://www.gnto.gr/?langID=2/ Official Tourist Site]
- [http://www.greece-museums.com Greece Museums/ Museum directory of Greece]
- [http://www.athensvirtualtour.com/ Take a short virtual tour of Athens]
- [http://webcam.deili.info/en,1,8 Greece Webcam]
- [http://www.ert.gr/radio/liveradioTritovraxea.asp Radio Greece live]
- [http://greece.ianandwendy.com Photos of Greece from a backpacker's trip]
- [http://www.superbgreece.com Greece travel information]
- [http://www.phigita.net/ Greek Blogs and News]
- [http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/Greece/ Open Directory Project: Greece]
- [http://www.olympion.de/greek-embassies-worldwide.html A list of Greek Embassies Worldwide]
- [http://ozhanozturk.com/content/view/374/1/ History of Ottoman Greece]

Other official sites

- [http://www.presidency.gr/en/index.htm President of the Hellenic Republic]
- [http://www.greece.gr/index.htm Greece Now Government sponsored e-zine on Greek life]
- [http://www.primeminister.gr/gr/lang/en/primeminister.asp Prime Minister of Greece]
- [http://www.parliament.gr/english/default.asp Hellenic Parliament] Category:European Union member states roa-rup:Gârţii zh-min-nan:Hi-lia̍p ko:그리스 ms:Yunani ja:ギリシャ simple:Greece th:ประเทศกรีซ fiu-vro:Kriika

Poland

Name

History

Politics

Geography

Big Cities

climate climate climate climate] climate

Administrative division

Economy

Science, technology and education

Telecommunication and IT

Transportation

Tourism and holidays

Wroclaw
- Tourism in Poland
- Holidays in Poland
- [http://wikitravel.org/en/Poland Poland on Wikitravel]

Demographics

Culture

UNESCO World Heritage in Poland

International rankings

External links

Governmental websites

Poland Tourism

- [http://www.poland-tourism.pl/start.asp?tf=US Polish National Tourist Office (from pot.gov.pl)]

English-language websites on Poland

Jew

The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי transliterated: Yehudi) is used in many ways, but generally refers to a follower of Judaism, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity; and often a combination of these attributes. This article discusses the term as describing an ethnic group; for a consideration of Jewish religion, please refer to Judaism. Most Jews regard themselves as a people, members of a nation, descended from the ancient Israelites and converts who joined their religion at various times and places. The Hebrew name Yehudi (plural Yehudim) came into being when the Kingdom of Israel was split between the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah. The term originally referred to the people of the southern kingdom, although the term Bnei Yisrael (Israelites) was still used for both groups. After the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom leaving the southern kingdom as the only Israelite state, the word Yehudim gradually came to refer to people of the Jewish faith as a whole, rather than those specifically from Judah. The English word Jew is ultimately derived from Yehudi (see Etymology). Its first use in the Bible to refer to the Jewish people as a whole is in the Book of Esther. In modern usage, Jews include both those Jews actively practicing Judaism, and those Jews who, while not practicing Judaism as a religion, still identify themselves as Jews by virtue of their family's Jewish heritage and their own cultural identification. Usage note: The word "Jew" is a noun. Its use as an adjective (e.g. "Jew lawyer") is widely considered offensive; "Jewish" is strongly preferred. Its use as a verb (e.g. "to jew someone") is also considered offensive. However, some sources, such as the American Heritage Dictionary, suggest that phrases like "Jewish person" may be offensive if pointedly used to avoid the word "Jew".

Etymology

There are different views as to the origin of the English language word Jew. The most common view is that the Middle English word Jew is from the Old French giu, earlier juieu, from the Latin iudeus from the Greek Ioudaios (Ιουδαίος). The Latin simply means Judaean, from the land of Judaea. The Hebrew for Jew, יהודי , is pronounced ye-hoo-DEE. The Hebrew letter Yodh (or Yud), י, used as a 'y' in the Hebrew language (as in the word ye-hoo-DEE), becomes a 'j' in languages using the Latin-based alphabet when the Yodh is used as a consonant rather than as a vowel. Therefore, a rough transliteration of יהודי in English would be Jew. The etymological equivalent is in use in other languages, e.g., "Jude" in German, "jøde," in Norwegian, etc., but derivations of the word "Hebrew" is also in use to describe a Jewish person, e.g., in Italian (Ebrei) and , (Yevrey). (See Names of the Jewish people for a full overview.)

Who is a Jew?

Names of the Jewish people. (1878 painting by Maurice Gottlieb)]] Judaism shares some of the characteristics of a nation, an ethnicity, a religion, and a culture, making the definition of who is a Jew vary slightly depending on whether a religious or national approach to identity is used. For discussions of the religious views on who is a Jew and how these views differ from each other, please see Who is a Jew?. Generally, in modern secular usage, Jews include three groups: people who practice Judaism and have a Jewish ethnic background (sometimes including those who do not have strictly matrilineal descent), people without Jewish parents who have converted to Judaism; and those Jews who, while not practicing Judaism as a religion, still identify themselves as Jewish by virtue of their family's Jewish descent and their own cultural and historical identification with the Jewish people. Historical definitions of Jewish identity have traditionally been based on Halakhic definitions of matrilineal descent, and halachic conversions. Historical definitions of who is a Jew date back to the codification of the oral traditon into the Babylonian Talmud. Biblical interpertations of sections in the Tanach, such as Deuteronomy 7:1-5, by learned Jewish sages, is used as a warning against intermarriage between of Jews and non Jews because "[the non-Jewish male spouse] will cause your child to turn away from Me and they will worship the gods of others." Leviticus 24:10 speaks of the son in a marriage between a Hebrew woman and an Egyptian man to be "of the community of Israel.", which contrasts with Ezra 10:2-3, where Israelites returning from Egypt, vowed to put aside their gentile wives and their children. Since the Haskalah, these halakhic interpertations of Jewish identity have been challenged.

Jewish culture

Judaism guides its adherents in both practice and belief, and has been called not only a religion, but also a "way of life," which has made drawing a clear distinction between Judaism, Jewish culture, and Jewish nationality rather difficult. In many times and places, such as in the ancient Hellenic world, in Europe before and after the Enlightenment (see Haskalah), and in contemporary United States and Israel, cultural phenomena have developed that are in some sense characteristically Jewish without being at all specifically religious. Some factors in this come from within Judaism, others from the interaction of Jews with others around them, others from the inner social and cultural dynamics of the community, as opposed to religion itself.

Ethnic divisions

The most commonly used terms to describe ethnic divisions among Jews currently are: Ashkenazi (meaning "German" in Hebrew, denoting the Central European base of Jewry); and Sephardi (meaning "Spanish" or "Iberia" in Hebrew, denoting their Spanish, Portuguese and North African location). They refer to both religious and ethnic divisions. Other Jewish ethnic groups include Mizrahi Jews (a term overlapping Sephardi, but emphasizing North African and Middle Eastern rather than Spanish history, and including the Maghrebim); Teimanim (Yemenite and Omani Jews); and such smaller groups as the Gruzim and Juhurim from the Caucasus, the Bene Israel, Bnei Menashe, Cochin and Telugu Jews of India, the Romaniotes of Greece, the Italkim (Bené Roma) of Italy, various African Jews (most notably the Beta Israel or Ethiopian Jews), the Bukharan Jews of Central Asia, and the Persian Jews of Iran.

Population

Prior to World War II the world population of Jews was approximately 18 million. The Holocaust reduced this number to approximately 12 million. Today, there are an estimated 13 million to 14.6 million Jews worldwide in over 134 countries.

Significant geographic populations

Please note that these populations represent low-end estimates of the worldwide Jewish population, accounting for around 0.2% of the world's population. Higher estimates place the worldwide Jewish population at over 14.5 million.

State of Israel

world's population (Shown standing between the two banners)]] Israel, the Jewish nation-state, is the only country in which Jews make up a majority of the citizens, although the United States has a larger number of Jews. It was established as an independent democratic state on May 14, 1948. Of the 120 members in its parliament, the Knesset, 9 members are Israeli Arabs and 2 are Israeli Druses. At the time of its independence, approximately 600,000 Jews lived in Israel. Since then, the country's Jewish population has increased by about one million over each decade as more immigrants arrived and more Israelis were born, resulting in one of the most significant global Jewish population shifts in over 2,000 years. All the Arab Israeli Wars have not slowed Israel's growth. Israel opened its doors to the Holocaust survivors. It has absorbed a majority of the Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews from the Islamic countries. It has taken in hundreds of thousands of Jews from the former USSR, and has airlifted tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jewsto Israel. In the past decade nearly a million immigrants came to Israel from the former Soviet Union. Many Jews who emigrated to Israel have moved elsewhere, known as yerida ("descent" [from the Holy Land]), due to its economic problems or due to disillusionment with political conditions and the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Diaspora (outside Israel)

The waves of immigration to the United States at the turn of the 19th century, massacre of European Jewry during the Holocaust, and the foundation of the state of Israel (and subsequent Jewish exodus from Arab lands) all resulted in substantial shifts in the population centers of world Jewry during the 20th century. Jewish exodus from Arab lands of the Russian Empire to the safety of the US from 1881-1924.]] Currently, the largest Jewish community in the world is located in the United States, with around 5.6 million Jews. Elsewhere in the Americas, there are also large Jewish populations in Canada and Argentina, and smaller populations in Brazil, Mexico , Uruguay, Venezuela, Chile, and several other countries (see History of the Jews in Latin America). Western Europe's largest Jewish community can be found in France, home to 600,000 Jews, the majority of whom are immigrants or refugees from North African Arab countries such as Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia (or their descendants). There are over 265,000 Jews in the United Kingdom. In Eastern Europe, there are anywhere from 500,000 to over two million Jews living in Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Belarus and the other areas once dominated by the Soviet Union, but exact figures are difficult to establish. The fastest-growing Jewish community in the world, outside Israel, is the one in Germany, especially in Berlin, its capital. Tens of thousands of Jews from the former Eastern Bloc have settled in Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Arab countries of North Africa and the Middle East were home to around 900,000 Jews in 1945. Systematic persecution after the founding of Israel caused almost all of these Jews to flee to Israel, North America, and Europe in the 1950s. Today, around 8,000 Jews remain in Arab nations. Iran is home to around 25,000 Jews, down from a population of 100,000 Jews before the 1979 revolution. After the revolution some of the Iranian Jews emigrated to Israel or Europe but most of them emigrated (with their non-Jewish Iranian compatriots) to the United States (especially Los Angeles). Outside Europe, Asia and the Americas, significant Jewish populations exist in Australia and South Africa.

Population changes: Assimilation

Since at least the time of the ancient Greeks, a proportion of Jews have assimilated into the wider non-Jewish society around them, by either choice or force, ceasing to practice Judaism and losing their Jewish identity. Some Jewish communities, for example the Kaifeng Jews of China, have disappeared entirely, but assimilation has remained relatively low over much of the past millenium, as Jews were often not allowed to integrate with the wider communities in which they lived. The advent of the Jewish Enlightenment (see Haskalah) of the 1700s and the subsequent emancipation of the Jewish populations of Europe and America in the 1800s, changed the situation, allowing Jews to increasingly participate in, and become part of, secular society. The result has been a growing trend of assimilation, as Jews marry non-Jewish spouses and stop participating in the Jewish community. Rates of interreligious marriage vary widely: In the United States they are just under 50%, in the United Kingdom around 50%, and in Australia and Mexico as low as 10%, and in France they may be as high as 75%. In the United States, only about a third of children from intermarriages affiliate themselves with Jewish practice. Additionally, since non-religious Jews generally tend to marry later and have fewer children than the general population, the Jewish community in many countries is aging. The result is that most countries in the Diaspora have steady or slightly declining Jewish populations as Jews continue to assimilate into the countries in which they live.

Population changes: Wars against the Jews

Diaspora Throughout history, many rulers, empires and nations have oppressed their Jewish populations, or sought to eliminate them entirely. Methods employed have ranged from expulsion to outright genocide; within nations, often the threat of these extreme methods was sufficient to silence dissent. Some examples in the history of anti-Semitism are: the Great Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire; the First Crusade which resulted in the massacre of Jews; the Spanish Inquisition led by Torquamada and the Auto de fe against the Marrano Jews; the Bohdan Chmielnicki Cossack massacres in Ukraine; the Pogroms backed by the Russian Tsars; as well as expulsions from Spain, England, France, Germany, and other countries in which the Jews had settled. The persecution culminated in Adolf Hitler's Final Solution which led to the Holocaust, and the slaughter of approximately 6 million Jews from 1939 to 1945.

Population changes: Growth

Israel is the only country with a consistently growing Jewish population due to natural population increase, though the Jewish populations of other countries in Europe and North America have recently increased due to immigration. In the Diaspora, in almost every country the Jewish population in general is either declining or steady, but Orthodox and Haredi Jewish communities, whose members often shun birth control for religious reasons, have experienced rapid population growth, with rates near 4% per year for Haredi Jews in Israel, and similar rates in other countries. Orthodox and Conservative Judaism discourage proselytization to non-Jews, but many Jewish groups have tried to reach out to the assimilated Jewish communities of the Diaspora in order to increase the number of Jews. Additionally, while in principle Reform Judaism favors seeking new members for the faith, this position has not translated into active proselytism, instead taking the form of an effort to reach out to non-Jewish spouses of intermarried couples. There is also a trend of Orthodox movements pursuing secular Jews in order to give them a stronger Jewish identity so there is less chance of intermarriage. As a result of the efforts by these and other Jewish groups over the past twenty-five years, there has been a trend of secular Jews becoming more religiously observant, known as the Baal Teshuva movement, though the demographic implications of the trend are unknown. Additionally, there is also a growing movement of Jews by Choice by gentiles who make the decision to head in the direction of becoming Jews.

Jewish languages

Hebrew is the liturgical language of Judaism (termed lashon ha-kodesh, "the holy tongue"), and is the language of the State of Israel. It was revived by Eliezer ben Yehuda, who arrived in Palestine in 1881 at a time when no one spoke the Hebrew language. Diaspora Jews (outside Israel) today speak the local languages of their respective countries. Yiddish is the historic language of many Ashkenazi Jews, and Ladino of many Sephardic Jews.

History of the Jews

:See also: Historical Schisms among the Jews

Jews and migrations

Historical Schisms among the Jews Throughout Jewish history, Jews have repeatedly been directly or indirectly expelled from both their original homeland, and the areas in which they have resided. This experience as both immigrants and emigrants (see: Jewish refugees) have shaped Jewish identity and religious practice in many ways. An incomplete list of such migrations includes:
- The patriarch Abraham was a migrant to the land of Canaan from Ur of the Chaldees.
- The Children of Israel experienced the Exodus (meaning "departure" or "going forth" in Greek) from ancient Egypt, as recorded in the Book of Exodus.
- The Kingdom of Israel was sent into permanent exile and scattered all over the world by Assyria.
- The Kingdom of Judah was exiled first by Babylonia and then by Rome.
- The 2,000 year dispersion of the Jewish diaspora beginning under the Roman Empire, as Jews were spread throughout the Roman world and, driven from land to land, and settled wherever they could live freely enough to practice their religion. Over the course of the diaspora the center of Jewish life moved from Babylonia to Spain to Poland to United States and to Israel.
- Many expulsions during the Middle Ages and Enlightenment in Europe, including: 1290, 16,000 Jews were expelled from England; in 1396, 100,000 from France; in 1421 thousands were expelled from Austria. Many of these Jews settled in Eastern Europe, especially Poland.
- Following the Spanish Inquisition in 1492, the Spanish population of around 200,000 Sephardic Jews were expelled by the Spanish crown and Catholic church, followed by expulsions in 1493 in Sicily (37,000 Jews) and Portugal in 1496. The expelled Jews fled mainly to the Ottoman Empire, the Netherlands, and North Africa, others migrating to Southern Europe and the Middle East.
- During the 19th century, France's policies of equal citizenship regardless of religion led to the immigration of Jews (especially from Eastern and Central Europe), which was encouraged by Napoleon Bonaparte.
- The arrival of millions of Jews in the New World, including immigration of over 1,000,000 Eastern European Jews to the United States from 1890-1925, see History of the Jews in the United States.
- The Pogroms in Eastern Europe, the rise of modern Anti-Semitism, the Holocaust and the rise of Arab nationalism all served to fuel the movements and migrations of huge segments of Jewry from land to land and continent to continent, until they have now arrived back in large numbers at their original historical homeland in Israel.
- The Islamic Revolution of Iran, forced many Iranian Jews to flee Iran. Most found refuge in the US (particularly Los Angeles, CA) and Israel. Smaller communities of Persian Jews exist in Canada and Western Europe.

Kingdoms of Israel and Judah

Persian Jews)]] Jews descend mostly from the ancient Israelites (also known as Hebrews), who settled in the Land of Israel. The Israelites traced their common lineage to the biblical patriarch Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. A kingdom was established under Saul and continued under King David and Solomon. King David conquered Jerusalem (first a Canaanite, then a Jebusite town) and made it his capital. After Solomon's reign the nation split into two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Israel (in the north) and the Kingdom of Judah (in the south). The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrian ruler Shalmaneser V in the 8th century BC and spread all over the Assyrian empire, where they were assimilated into other cultures and become known as the Ten Lost Tribes. The Kingdom of Judah continued as an independent state until it was conquered by a Babylonian army in the early 6th century BC, destroying the First Temple that was at the centre of Jewish worship. The Judean elite was exiled to Babylonia, but later at least a part of them returned to their homeland after the subsequent conquest of Babylonia by the Persians seventy years later, a period known as the Babylonian Captivity. A new Second Temple was constructed, and old religious practices were resumed.

Persian, Greek, and Roman rule

:See related article Jewish-Roman wars. The Seleucid Kingdom, which arose after the Persians were defeated by Alexander the Great, sought to introduce Greek culture into the Persian world. When the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, supported by Hellenized Jews (those who had adopted Greek culture), attempted to convert the Jewish Temple to a temple of Zeus, the non-Hellenized Jews revolted under the leadership of the Maccabees and rededicated the Temple to the Jewish God (hence the origins of Hanukkah) and created an independent Jewish kingdom known as the Hasmonaean Kingdom which lasted from 165 BCE to 63 BCE, when the kingdom came under influence of the Roman Empire. During the early part of Roman rule, the Hasmonaeans remained in power, until the family was annihilated by Herod the Great. Herod came from a wealthy Idumean family and became a very successful client-king under the Romans. He significantly expanded the Temple in Jerusalem. Upon his death in 4 BCE the Romans directly ruled Judea and there were frequent changes of policies by conflicting and empire-building Caesars, generals, governors, and consuls who often acted cruelly or to maximize their own wealth and power. Rome's attitudes swung from tolerance to hostility against its Jewish subjects, who had since moved throughout the Empire. The Romans, worshipping a large pantheon, could not readily accommodate the exclusive monotheism of Judaism, and the religious Jews could not accept Roman polytheism. After a famine and riots in 66 CE, the Judeans began to revolt against their Roman rulers. The revolt was smashed by the Roman emperors Vespasian and Titus Flavius. In Rome the Arch of Titus still stands, showing enslaved Judeans and a menorah being brought to Rome. It is customary for Jews not to walk through this arch. menorah The Romans all but destroyed Jerusalem; only a single "Western Wall" of the Second Temple remained. After the end of this first revolt, the Judeans continued to live in their land in significant numbers, and were allowed to practice their religion. In the second century the Roman Emperor Hadrian began to rebuild Jerusalem as a pagan city while restricting some Jewish practices. Angry at this affront, the Judeans again revolted led by Simon Bar Kokhba. Hadrian responded with overwhelming force, putting down the revolution and killing as many as half a million Jews. After the Roman Legions prevailed in 135, Jews were not allowed to enter the city of Jerusalem and most Jewish worship was forbidden by Rome. Following the destruction of Jerusalem and the expulsion of the Jews, Jewish worship stopped being centrally organized around the Temple, and instead was rebuilt around rabbis who acted as teachers and leaders of individual communities. No new books were added to the Jewish Bible after the Roman period, instead major efforts went into interpreting and developing the Halakhah, or oral law, and writing down these traditions in the Talmud, the key work on the interepretation of Jewish law, written during the first to fifth centuries CE.

Beginning of the Diaspora

Though Jews had settled outside Israel since the time of the Babylonians, the results of the Roman response to the Jewish revolt shifted the center of Jewish life from its ancient home to the diaspora. While some Jews remained in Judea, renamed Palestine by the Romans, some Jews were sold into slavery, while others became citizens of other parts of the Roman Empire. This is the traditional explanation to the Jewish diaspora, almost universally accepted by past and present rabbinical or Talmudical scholars, who believe that Jews are almost exclusively biological descendants of the Judean exiles, a belief backed up at least partially by DNA evidence. Some secular historians speculate that a majority of the Jews in Antiquity were most likely descendants of converts in the cities of the Graeco-Roman world, especially in Alexandria and Asia Minor. They were only affected by the diaspora in its spiritual sense and by the sense of loss and homelessness which became a cornerstone of the Jewish creed, much supported by persecutions in various parts of the world. Any such policy of conversion, which spread the Jewish religion throughout Hellenistic civilization, seems to have ended with the wars against the Romans and the following reconstruction of Jewish values for the post-Temple era. During the first few hundred years of the Diaspora, the most important Jewish communities were in Babylonia, where the Talmud was written, and where relatively tolerant regimes allowed the Jews freedom. The situation was worse in the Byzantine Empire which treated the Jews much more harshly, refusing to allow them to hold office or build places of worship. The conquest of much of the Byzantine Empire and Babylonia by Islamic armies generally improved the life of the Jews, though they were still considered second-class citizens. In response to these Islamic conquests, the First Crusade of 1096 attempted to reconquer Jerusalem, resulting in the destruction of many of the remaining Jewish communities in the area.

Middle Ages: Europe

First Crusade story in Moorish Spain, from a 14th century Spanish Haggadah.]] Jews settled in Europe during the time of the Roman Empire, but the rise of the Catholic Church resulted in frequent expulsions and persecutions. The Crusades routinely attacked Jewish communities, and increasingly harsh laws restricted them from most economic activity and land ownership, leaving open only moneylending and a few other trades. Jews were subject to explusions from England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire throughout the Middle Ages, with most of the population moving to Eastern Europe and especially Poland, which was uniquely tolerant of the Jews through the 1700s. The final mass expulsion of the Jews, and the largest, occurred after the Christian conquest of Spain in 1492 (see History of the Jews in Spain). Even after the end of the expulsions in the 17th century, individual conditions varied from country to country and time to time, but, as rule, Jews in Western Europe generally were forced, by decree or by informal pressure, to live in highly segregated ghettos and shtetls.

Middle Ages: Islamic Europe and North Africa

During the Middle Ages, Jews in Islamic lands generally had more rights than under Christian rule, with a Golden Age of coexistence in Islamic Spain from about 900 to 1200, when Spain became the center of the richest, most populous, and most influential Jewish community of the time. The rise of more radical Muslim regimes, such as that of the Almohades ended this period by the thirteenth century, and Jews were soon expelled from Spain. Many of these Jews found refuge in the Ottoman Empire, which remained tolerant of its Jewish population for much of its history.

Enlightenment and emancipation

During the Age of Enlightenment, significant changes occurred within the Jewish community. The Haskalah movement paralleled the wider Enlightenment, as Jews began in the 1700s to campaign for emancipation from restrictive laws and integration into the wider European society. Secular and scientific education was added to the traditional religious instruction received by students, and interest in a national Jewish identity, including a revival in the study of Jewish history and Hebrew, started to grow. Haskalah, and 1804 French print.]] The Haskalah movement influenced the birth of all the modern Jewish denominations, and planted the seeds of Zionism. At the same time, it contributed to encouraging cultural assimilation into the countries in which Jews resided. At around the same time another movement was born, one preaching almost the opposite of Haskalah, Hasidic Judaism. Hasidic Judiasm began in the 1700s by Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov, and quickly gained a following with its exuberant, mystical approach to religion. These two movements, and the traditional orthodox approach to Judaism from which they spring, formed the basis for the modern divisions within Jewish observance. At the same time, the outside world was changing. France was the first country to emancipate its Jewish population in 1796, granting them equal rights under the law. Napoleon further spread emancipation, inviting Jews to leave the Jewish ghettos in Europe and seek refuge in the newly created tolerant political regimes (see Napoleon and the Jews). By the mid-19th century, almost all Western European countries had emancipated their Jewish populations, with the notable exception of the Papal States, but persecution continued in Eastern Europe, including massive pogroms at the end of the 19th century throughout the Pale of Settlement. The persistance of anti-semitism, both violently in the east and socially in the west, led to a number of Jewish political movements, culminating in Zionism.

Zionism and immigration

Zionism Many of the newly secular Jews who had embraced Haskalah found themselves deeply troubled by the continuing virulent anti-semitism of the late 1800s, especially the massive pogroms of the 1880s in Russia and the Dreyfus Affair, which occurred in France in 1894, a country many Jews had previously thought of as particularly accepting. Many Jews in Eastern Europe embraced socialism as a potential escape from persecution, but another group, the Zionists, led by Theodor Herzl, viewed the only solution as the creation of a Jewish state. Initially, religious Jews opposed Zionism, as did many secular Jews, who saw integration or other social movements as more promising. The chain of events between 1881 and 1945, however, beginning with waves of anti-Semitic pogroms in Russia and the Russian-controlled areas of Poland, and culminating in the Holocaust, converted the great majority of surviving Jews to the belief that a Jewish homeland was an urgent necessity, particularly given the large population of disenfranchised Jewish refugees after World War II. In addition to responding politically, during the late 19th century, Jews began to flee the persecutions of Eastern Europe in large numbers, mostly by heading to the United States, but also to Canada and Western Europe. By 1924, almost two million Jews had emigrated to the US alone, creating a large community in a nation relatively free of the persecutions of rising European anti-Semitism (see History of the Jews in the United States).

The Holocaust

This anti-Semitism reached its most destructive form in the policies of Nazi Germany, which made the destruction of the Jews a priority, culminating in the killing of approximately six million Jews during the Holocaust from 1941 to 1945. Originally, the Nazis used death squads, the Einsatzgruppen, to conduct massive open-air killings of Jews in territory they conquered. By 1942, the Nazi leadership decided to implement the Final Solution, the genocide of all of the Jews of Europe, and increase the pace of the Holocaust by establishing extermination camps specifically to kill Jews. Millions of Jews who had been confined to diseased and massively overcrowded Ghettos were transported to these "Death-camps" where they were either gassed or shot. Many Jews tried to escape Europe before or during Holocaust, but were unable to find refuge, giving new urgency to the Zionist goal of establishing a Jewish homeland. Holocaust

Israel

In 1948, the Jewish state of Israel was founded, creating the first Jewish nation since the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. After a series of wars with neighboring Arab countries, almost all of the 900,000 Jews previously living in North Africa and the Middle East fled to the Jewish state, joining an increasing number of immigrants from post-War Europe. By the end of the 20th century, Jewish population centers had shifted dramatically, with the United States and Israel being the centers of Jewish secular and religious life.

Persecution

:Related articles: Anti-Semitism, History of anti-Semitism, Modern anti-Semitism

Jewish leadership

There is no single governing body for the Jewish community, nor a single authority with responsibility for religious doctrine. Instead, a variety of secular and religious institutions at the local, national, and international levels lead various parts of the Jewish community on a variety of issues.

Famous Jews

Jews have made contributions in a broad range of human endeavors, including the sciences, arts, politics, business, etc.

External links

General

- [http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761567959/Jews.html#s1 Encarta Encyclopedia entry on Jews]
- [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org Jewish Virtual Library] - collection of many articles on many topics, including Jewish history
- [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia]
- [http://www.jta.org Jewish Telegraphic Agency] - news bureau reporting on contemporary Jewish news and issues
- [http://www.book-lover.com/legendsofthejews/ Legends of the Jews] - online text of classic work by Louis Ginzberg

Maps

- [http://www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415236614/resources/indi.asp Map collection] related to Jewish history and culture from Routledge Publishing

Photos

- [http://www.ZionOzeri.com Zion Ozeri Photography] - photos of many Jewish communities worldwide (requires Macromedia Flash player)

Major Jewish secular organizations

- [http://www.adl.org/adl.asp Anti-Defamation League]
- [http://www.bnaibrith.org B'nai B'rith International]
- [http://www.ajc.org American Jewish Committee]
- [http://www.ujc.org United Jewish Communities: The Federations of North America]
- [http://www.ajcongress.org American Jewish Congress]
- [http://www.science.co.il/JSO.asp Jewish Student Organizations]

Global Jewish communities

- [http://www.haruth.com/JewsoftheWorld.html Jewish Communities of the World] - large list of Jewish communities in many countries
- [http://www.ujc.org/ir_category_listing.html?nt=0&id=200 List of international Jewish organizations]
- [http://uk-org-bod.supplehost.org/bod/index.jsp Board of Deputies of British Jews]
- [http://www.cjc.ca Canadian Jewish Congress] - Jewish advocacy organisation representing Canadian Jewry
- [http://www.einst.ee/factsheets/jews/ Jews in Estonia]
- [http://www.fjc.ru/default.asp Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS (Russia)]
- [http://www.col.fr/ Communaute Online: France]
- [http://www.haruth.com/JewsArgentina.html Jewish Argentina]
- [http://www.mindspring.com/~jaypsand/index.htm African Jews] - also contains information about various small Jewish communities elsewhere
- [http://chinese-school.netfirms.com/Jews.html Chinese Jews] - history of Jews in China
- [http://www.bh.org.il/Communities/index.aspx/ The Database of Jewish Communities]
- [http://www.chabad.org/centers/default.asp?AID=6268 Global Chabad-Lubavitch Centers and Institutions Directory]

Zionist institutions

- [http://www.wzo.org.il/en/default.asp World Zionist Organization]
- [http://www.zoa.org Zionist Organization of America]
- [http://www.hadassah.org Hadassah] - Women's Zionist Organization, also operates a number of prominent hospitals
- [http://www.habonimdror.org Habonim Dror] - Union of Progressive Zionists

Israeli institutions

- [http://www.jafi.org.il The Jewish Agency]
- [http://www.yad-vashem.org.il Yad VaShem] - The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority
- [http://www.imj.org.il Israel Museum]
- [http://www.bh.org.il/index.html/ Beth Hatefutsoth - The Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora]

Lists of notable Jews

- [http://www.science.co.il/Nobel.asp Jewish Nobel Prize Laureates]
- [http://www.jinfo.org Prominent Jewish Scientific and Cultural Figures]

Religious Links

- Orthodox: [http://ou.org The Orthodox Union]
- Conservative: [http://www.uscj.org United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism]
- Karaite: [http://www.karaite-korner.org The Karaite Korner]
- Reform: [http://urj.org/ Union for Reform Judaism]
- Humanistic: [http://www.shj.org/ Society for Humanistic Judaism]
- Reconstructionist: [http://www.jrf.org Jewish Reconstructionist Federation]
- Chabad-Lubavitch: [http://www.chabad.org Chabad]
- Haredi Forum: [http://www.harediforum.com/forum/ Haredi Discussion Forum]

Notes

# Data based on a [http://www.jpppi.org.il/JPPPI/SendFile.asp?TID=67&FID=2377 study] by Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI). See [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer&cid=1088046787193&p=1008596975996 Jewish people near zero growth] by Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post, June 24, 2004. # See, for example Jews by country page for higher estimates. # Data based on a study by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. See [http://www.cbs.gov.il/sidrnge.cgi?sid=3764&stid=1&tid=2] (Updated to June 2005). # 1993 Russian census. Some estimates are much higher, the US State Department Religious Freedom Report [http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35480.htm] estimates the number of Jews in Russia alone at 600,000 to 1 million. # [http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html Jewish Virtual Library], [http://www.jewfaq.org/populatn.htm JewFAQ] # # # #
- Jew ko:유대인 ja:ユダヤ人 simple:Jew th:ยิว

Robert Bartini

Robert Ludvigovich Bartini (or Roberto Oros di Bartini) (1897-1974) was an aircraft designer and scientist born on May 14, 1897 in Fiume, Italy (now Croatia). Bartini became a member of Italian Communist Party in 1921. He graduated from officer school (1916), flying school (1921) and Milan Polytechnical Institute (1922). After Fascist revolution in Italy, in 1923, he was transferred undercover to USSR as aviation engineer. He occupied several engineering and command positions in VVS RKKA since 1923. He became a head of department of amphibious experimental aircraft design in 1928. He was a head of design department of NII GVF, general designer (chief designer), since 1930. He was unjustly prosecuted and in 1938-1946 was imprisoned. He continued his work on new aircraft deisigns as prisoner in TsKB 29 NKVD and in OKB-86 on the territory of Dimitrov Aircraft Factory and Beriev Aircraft Company in Taganrog (1946-1952), then in SibNIA, Novosibirsk. R.L.Bartini was rehabitated in 1956. Published papers in areas of aviation construction materials and technolgy, aerodynamics, dynamics of flight, the theoretical physics.

Aircraft designer

- DAR - amphibious aircraft (long range arctic recon.)
- Stal-6 - established world speed record
- Stal-7 -
- Er-2 (AKA DB-240) -- military version by V.G.Ermolaev. First flown June 1940.
- Er-2 2xAM-35, April 1942.
- Er-2 2xACh-30B, December 1943, ~300 were built. 3x1000kg bombs. Max speed 446km/h. Range 5000km
- VVA-14-1/M-62 - VTOL aircraft. Designed for the anti-submarine role. Bartini-Beriev 1972. AL-40 - nuclear engine hydroplane. none built. SibNIA, 1960s.
- R 53.6K - All the aerodynamic surfaces was "calculatable" and have up to 4-th derivative function value. 1940s.

Scientist

Aviation

Sergey Pavlovich Korolev named Bartini as his teacher. At various times and in a different degree with Bartini have been connected: Korolev, Ilyushin, Antonov, Myasishchev, Yakovlev and many others. In the literature on aerodynamics there is a term (definition) "Effect of Bartini".

Philosophy of Science

Besides aircraft, R.L.Bartini was engaged in Cosmogony and Philosophy of science. It had been created the unique theory of the six-measured world of space and time which has received the name "World of Bartini". Works of R.Bartini on key problems of the physicis were published:
- Roberto Oros di Bartini. "A parity between physical sizes" in the "Reports of the Academy of sciences ". 1965., t.163, Nr.4 («Доклады Академии наук» (1965г., т. 163, №4)), and
- Roberto Oros di Bartini. "Some parities between physical constants" in the collection " Problems of the theory of gravitation and elementary particles ". Atomizdat, 1966., p. 249-266) (сборник «Проблемы теории гравитации и элементарных частиц» (М., Атомиздат, 1966г., стр. 249-266).

Engineering creativity

Developed Bartini the method has received the name " And - And " from a principle of connection of mutually exclusive requirements: " Both that..., And another "... The Atmosphere of total privacy in the Soviet aircraft construction has limited using this method of forecasting only in narrow group of the "admitted" experts.. Bartini stated that: " basically search of decisions of type " And - And " is not combined not so (frivolous). Students solve similar problems already on the first rate on seminar employment on the mathematician: take the first derivative of function, equate it to zero and find x's, then y'k " Direct and unambiguous statement of Bartini: " is resulted... That it is possible matematization of new ideas birth ". Since matematization is possible only on rigid enough algorithm, undoubtedly, it is very similar later on ARIZ by Altshuller. It basically not could be noticeably other, being is constructed on the same dialectic logic. Supersonic planes "Tu-144" (russ. Ту-144) and "Concorde" differs just in details.

Quotes

O.K.Antonov: " All projects Bartini are extremely original. But purposely it did not aspire to originality, it was born from its approach to (plane) business... Robert Ljudovigovich was dared boldness of knowledge, conviction in correctness of the conclusions. It was rich, immensely rich with ideas and thus consequently was generous ". S.V.Ilyushin: " Destiny of Bartini will allow, when it will be studied, to formulate some major laws of revealing and becoming of design talent ".

Bibliography

In more detail about this person it is possible to read in I.Chutko's book " Red planes ". The book had two editions:
- 1978. (russ. И. Чутко "Красные самолёты". М. Изд. полит. литературы, 1978)
- 1989. The collection " the Bridge through time ". (russ. сборник "Мост через время") Unfortunately, each edition has a material which is absent in other edition.

References

- Bartini page at www.aviation.ru, http://www.aviation.ru/Bartini/ . Retrived 14-Feb-2005. Bartini, Roberto Bartini, Roberto Bartini, Roberto Bartini, Roberto

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