title: Battle of the Bulge

paragraphs: The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German attack near the end of World War II, in Belgium, France and Luxembourg. The attack surprised Allied forces. It became the worst battle in terms of casualties for the United States. It also used up huge amounts of Germany's war-making resources.

paragraphs: The press made up "Battle of the Bulge" to describe the way the Allied front line bulged inward on wartime news maps and became the best known name for the battle.

paragraphs: The German attack was supported by several other operations. Germany's goal was to split the British and American Allied line in half, capture Antwerp, and then encircle and destroy four Allied armies. They hoped this would force the Allies to negotiate a peace treaty. Then Hitler could focus on the eastern front of the war.

paragraphs: The attack was planned in secret. Germany moved troops and equipment in the dark. The U.S. intelligence staff predicted a major German attack, but this still surprised them. The Allied forces were overconfident and too focused on their own attack plans, and they also didn't have good aerial reconnaissance.

paragraphs: The Germans attacked a weakly defended section of the Allied line. They took advantage of the overcast weather conditions, which made the Allies' air forces unable to fly. Violent resistance blocked German access to key roads. The thick forests helped the defenders.This slowed down the German advance and allowed the Allies to add new troops. Improved weather conditions permitted air attacks on German forces, which led to the failure of the attack.

paragraphs: After the defeat, many experienced German units lacked men and equipment. The battle involved about 610,000 American men, of whom some 89,000 were casualties, including 19,000 killed. It was the largest and most deadly battle fought by the United States in World War II.

paragraphs: After moving from Normandy at the end of July 1944 and landing in southern France on 15 August 1944, the Allies advanced toward Germany more quickly than expected.

paragraphs: Allied troops were tired from weeks of continuous fighting and supplies were very low. While the supply situation improved in October, the lack of troops was still a major problem.

paragraphs: General Eisenhower and his staff chose the Ardennes region, held by the First United States Army, as an area that could be held by as few troops as possible. The Ardennes were chosen because the terrain offered good defence and there were not many roads.

paragraphs: The speed of the Allied advance and a lack of deep-water ports made it hard for the Allies to supply their troops. Beach supply operations using the Normandy landing areas could not supply enough provisions. The only port the Allies had captured was Cherbourg, near the original invasion beaches, but the Germans had wrecked and mined it.

paragraphs: It took the Allies many months to build up their ability to move cargo. The Allies captured the port of Antwerp, Belgium, fully intact, in the first days of September, but it was not working until 28 November. The Scheldt River had to be cleared of both German troops and naval mines.

paragraphs: The limitations led to disagreements between General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery over whether Montgomery or American General Omar Bradley in the south would get access to supplies.

paragraphs: German forces remained in control of several major ports on the English Channel coast until May 1945. The destruction of the French railway system prior to D-Day made it hard for the Germans to respond to the invasion. It was also a problem for the Allies, as it took time to repair the tracks and bridges.

paragraphs: A trucking system brought supplies to front-line troops, but transportation took huge amounts of fuel to reach the front line near the Belgian border. By early October the Allies stopped major attacks to improve their supply lines.

paragraphs: Montgomery and Bradley both asked for delivery of supplies to their armies so they could continue to attack the Germans. Gen. Eisenhower wanted Montgomery's northern forces to open the port of Antwerp and capture the Ruhr area, the industrial part of Germany.

paragraphs: With the Allies paused, German Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt was able to reorganize the German armies into an organized defense.

paragraphs: Field Marshal Montgomery's Operation Market Garden only achieved some of its goals. Its gains in territory left the Allied supply situation worse than before. In October the Canadian First Army fought the Battle of the Scheldt, opening the port of Antwerp to shipping. As a result, by the end of October the supply situation got better.

paragraphs: Despite a pause in fighting after the Scheldt battles, the Germans had serious problems. While operations continued in the autumn, notably the Lorraine Campaign, the Battle of Aachen and fighting in the Hürtgen Forest, the situation in the west changed little.

paragraphs: The Allies were slowly pushing towards Germany, but they did not get there. The Western Allies already had 96 divisions at or near the front, with ten more divisions coming from the United Kingdom. Additional Allied airborne units remained in England. The Germans had a total of 55 divisions.

paragraphs: Adolf Hitler promised his generals 18 infantry and 12 armored or mechanized divisions. The plan was to use 13 infantry divisions, two parachute divisions and six panzer divisions from reserves. On the Eastern Front the Soviets' Operation Bagration during the summer had destroyed much of Germany's Army Group Center.

paragraphs: The operation ended only when the advancing Red Army forces ran out of supplies. By November, Soviet forces were preparing for a winter attack.

paragraphs: Meanwhile, the Allied air attacks of early 1944 had made the German Air Force unable to fly. This meant that the German Army had little battlefield intelligence and no way to stop Allied supplies. The daytime movement of German forces was easily noticed and stopping supplies combined with the bombing of the Romanian oil fields meant Germany had no oil and gasoline.

paragraphs: One of the few advantages held by the German forces in November 1944 was that they were no longer defending all of Western Europe. Their front lines in the west had been shortened and were much closer to the German borders. This reduced their supply problems despite Allied control of the air.

paragraphs: Additionally, their telephone and telegraph network meant that radios were no longer necessary for communications, which lessened the effectiveness of Allied Ultra code breaking. Nevertheless, some 40—50 coded messages were sent per day by ULTRA. They recorded the quadrupling of German fighter forces and noticed that an attack was planned. ULTRA also picked up information about a lot of rail and road movements in the region.

paragraphs: German leader Adolf Hitler felt that his mobile reserves allowed him to do one major attack. Although he realised nothing could be accomplished in the Eastern Front, he still believed an offensive against the Western Allies could succeed.

paragraphs: Hitler believed he could split the Allied forces and make the Americans and British to settle for a separate peace, independent of the Soviet Union.

paragraphs: Success in the west would give the Germans time to design and produce more advanced weapons (such as jet aircraft, new U-boat designs and super-heavy tanks) and permit the build-up of forces in the east.

paragraphs: Given the reduced manpower of their land forces, the Germans believed that it was better to attack in the West against the smaller Allied forces rather than against the vast Soviet armies. Even the destruction of entire Soviet armies would still have left the Soviets with more soldiers.

paragraphs: Several senior German military officers, such as Field Marshal Walter Model did not think the attack would work. They offered different plans, but Hitler would not listen. The plan needed bad weather, including heavy fog and low-lying clouds, which would make it hard for Allied planes to fly. Hitler originally set the attack for late November, before the start of the Russian winter offensive.

paragraphs: In the west supply problems began slowing down Allied operations, even though the opening of the port of Antwerp in late November improved the situation. The positions of the Allied armies stretched from southern France all the way north to the Netherlands. The Germans wanted to attack the thin line of Allied forces. They thought this would stop Allied advances on the Western Front.

paragraphs: Several plans for major Western attacks were prepared. A first plan was for an attack on the U.S. forces around Aachen, to encircle the U.S. Ninth Army. A second plan was for a "blitzkrieg" attack through the weakly defended Ardennes Mountains. This aimed at splitting the armies along the U.S.—British lines and capturing Antwerp.

paragraphs: Hitler chose the second plan. He liked the idea of splitting the Anglo-American armies. There were many disputes between Montgomery and Patton. Hitler hoped he could make use of these disagreements. If the attack captured Antwerp, four complete armies would be trapped without supplies behind German lines.

paragraphs: Both plans aimed at on attacks against the American forces. Hitler believed the Americans were not able to fight well. He thought that the American people would lose hope upon hearing of an American loss.

paragraphs: "Generalfeldmarschall" (Field Marshal) Walther Model and Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt were ordered to lead the attacks.

paragraphs: Model and von Rundstedt both believed aiming for Antwerp was too difficult, given Germany's lack of resources in late 1944. At the same time they felt that being just defensive would only delay defeat. They developed plans that did not aim to cross the Meuse River; Model's being "Unternehmen Herbstnebel" (Operation Autumn Mist) and von Rundstedt's "Fall Martin" ("Plan Martin").

paragraphs: The two field marshals showed their plans to Hitler, who rejected them in favor of his "big solution".

paragraphs: The phrase "Battle of the Bulge" was made up by contemporary press to describe the way the Allied front line bulged inward on wartime news maps.

paragraphs: After the war ended, the U.S. Army issued the Ardennes-Alsace medal to units that took part in operations in northwest Europe. The medal covered the Ardennes sector where the battle took place and units further south in the Alsace sector.

paragraphs: OKW decided by mid-September, on Hitler's orders, that the attack would be started in the Ardennes, as was done in 1940. Many German generals objected, but the attack was planned and carried out. In 1940 German forces had passed through the Ardennes in three days before attacking the enemy, but the 1944 plan called for battle in the forest. The main forces were to advance westward to the Meuse River, then turn northwest for Antwerp and Brussels.

paragraphs: The thick forests of the Ardennes would make movement difficult. There was open ground beyond the Meuse where the Germans could move quickly to the coast.

paragraphs: Four armies were selected for the operation. First was the Sixth Panzer Army, under SS General Sepp Dietrich—newly created on 26 October 1944, it used the most senior and the most experienced "Waffen-SS": the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" as well as the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend". The 6th Panzer Army was the northernmost attack force. It was ordered to capture Antwerp.

paragraphs: The Fifth Panzer Army under General Hasso von Manteuffel was ordered to capture Brussels.

paragraphs: The Seventh Army, under General Erich Brandenberger, was ordered to the southernmost attack. This Army was made up of only four infantry divisions, with no armoured groups. As a result, they made little progress throughout the battle.

paragraphs: Also participating in a secondary role was the Fifteenth Army, under General Gustav-Adolf von Zangen. It was located on the far north of the Ardennes battlefield. It was ordered to hold U.S. forces in place. It could also attack if conditions were right.

paragraphs: For the attack to be successful, four elements were needed: the attack had to be a complete surprise; the weather conditions had to be poor to stop Allied air superiority; the progress had to be rapid. Allied fuel supplies would have to be captured because the Wehrmacht was short on fuel. The General Staff estimated they only had enough fuel to cover one-third to one-half of the ground to Antwerp.

paragraphs: The plan originally called for just under 45 divisions, including a dozen panzer and panzergrenadier divisions forming the armored spearhead and various infantry units to form a defensive line. By this time, however, the German Army suffered from a manpower shortage and the force had been reduced to around 30 divisions.

paragraphs: Although it retained most of its armor, there were not enough infantry units because of the defensive needs in the East. These 30 newly rebuilt divisions used some of the last reserves of the German Army. Among them were "Volksgrenadier" units formed from a mix of veterans and recruits formerly regarded as too young or too old to fight. Training time, equipment and supplies were inadequate during the preparations. German fuel supplies were inadequate. Materials and supplies that could not be transported by rail had to be horse-drawn to conserve fuel. The mechanized and panzer divisions would depend heavily on captured fuel. As a result, the start of the attack was delayed from 27 November to 16 December.

paragraphs: Before the offensive the Allies were not aware of German troop movement. During the liberation of France, the French resistance had provided information about German movements. Once they reached the German border, this information was not available. In France, orders had been relayed within the German army using radio messages coded by the Enigma machine. These could be picked up and decoded by Allied code-breakers at Bletchley Park, to give the intelligence known as ULTRA.

paragraphs: In Germany such orders were typically transmitted using telephone and teleprinter, and a special radio silence order was made on all communications about the attack. The major crackdown in the "Wehrmacht" after the 20 July plot to kill Hitler resulted in much tighter security and fewer information leaks. The foggy autumn weather also prevented Allied reconnaissance aircraft from seeing the Germans on the ground.

paragraphs: German units in the area were given charcoal instead of wood for cooking fires to cut down on smoke and reduce chances of Allied observers realizing a troop build up was underway.

paragraphs: Allied High Command considered the Ardennes a quiet sector. Allied intelligence services said that the Germans were unable to launch any major attacks this late in the war. The Allies thought that the Germans were getting ready for defence. The Allies thought that a new defensive army was being formed around Düsseldorf in the northern Rhine. The Germans tricked the Allies by increasing the number of flak batteries in the area and making more radio transmissions in the area.

paragraphs: The attack, when it came, completely surprised the Allied forces. The U.S. Third Army intelligence chief, Colonel Oscar Koch, the U.S. First Army intelligence chief and the SHAEF intelligence officer had warned that the Germans might attack the U.S. VIII Corps area. These warnings were ignored by the U.S. 12th Army Group.

paragraphs: Because the Ardennes was considered a quiet sector, the Allies used it as a training ground for new units and a rest area. The U.S. units deployed in the Ardennes thus were a mixture of inexperienced troops (such as the U.S. 99th and 106th "Golden Lions" Divisions), and veteran troops sent to that sector to rest (the 28th Infantry Division).

paragraphs: Two major special operations were planned for the attack. By October it was decided that Otto Skorzeny, the German commando was to lead a task force of English-speaking German soldiers. These soldiers were to be dressed in American and British uniforms. They would go behind American lines and change signposts, misdirect traffic, cause disruption and seize bridges across the Meuse River between Liège and Namur.

paragraphs: By late November, another special operation was added: Col. Friedrich August von der Heydte was to lead a "Fallschirmjäger" (paratrooper) "Kampfgruppe" in Operation Stösser, a night-time paratroop drop behind the Allied lines aimed at capturing an important road near Malmedy.

paragraphs: German intelligence had set 20 December as the expected date for the start of the upcoming Soviet attack.

paragraphs: After the 20 July plot attempt to kill Hitler's life, and the advance of the Red Army, Hitler and his staff left the Wolfsschanze headquarters in East Prussia. After a brief visit to Berlin, Hitler travelled on his "Führersonderzug" (train) to Giessen on 11 December, taking up residence in the Adlerhorst command complex at Kransberg Castle.

paragraphs: Von Rundstedt set up his operational headquarters near Limburg, close enough for the generals and Panzer Corps commanders who were to lead the attack to visit Alderhost.

paragraphs: In a personal conversation on 13 December between Walther Model and Friedrich von der Heydte, who was put in charge of Operation "Stösser", von der Heydte gave Operation "Stösser" less than a 10% chance of succeeding. Model told him it was necessary to make the attempt.

paragraphs: On 16 December 1944, at 5:30 am, the Germans began the attack with a 90-minute artillery attack using 1,600 artillery pieces. The Americans thought was that this was an attack resulting from the Allies' recent attack in the Wahlerscheid sector to the north.

paragraphs: In the northern sector Dietrich's 6th Panzer Army was held up for almost 24 hours by a single platoon and four U.S. Forward Artillery Observers. They then attacked Losheim Gap and Elsenborn Ridge to get through to Liège and Antwerp.

paragraphs: Heavy snowstorms occurred in the Ardennes area. This kept the Allied aircraft grounded, but it also slowed the German advance. There were massive traffic jams and fuel shortages.

paragraphs: von Manteuffel's Fifth Panzer Army attacked towards Bastogne and St. Vith. In the south, Brandenberger's Seventh Army moved towards Luxembourg.

paragraphs: Only one month before 250 members of the Waffen-SS had tried to recapture the town of Vianden from the Luxembourgish resistance during the Battle of Vianden. The SS lost.

paragraphs: The battle for Elsenborn Ridge was an important part of the Battle of the Bulge. The attack was led by one of the best equipped German divisions on the western front, the 1st SS Panzer Division (LSSAH).

paragraphs: The division made up the lead unit for the entire German 6th Panzer Army. SS Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper led Kampfgruppe Peiper, consisting of 4,800 men and 600 vehicles.

paragraphs: The attacks by the Sixth Panzer Army's infantry units in the north did badly because of strong resistance by the U.S. 2nd and 99th Infantry Divisions.

paragraphs: On the first day, a German battalion of 500 men was held up for 10 hours. The infantry of the 9th Fallschirmjaeger Regiment, 3rd Fallschirmjaeger Division had been ordered to attack the village first.

paragraphs: A single 18-man platoon from the 99th Infantry Division and four Forward Air Controllers held up the battalion of about 500 German paratroopers until sunset causing 92 casualties among the Germans.

paragraphs: This stopped the German advance. Kampfgruppe Peiper, at the head of the SS Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich's Sixth Panzer Army had been ordered to take the Losheim-Losheimergraben road. Peiper did not begin his advance until nearly 4:00 pm, more than 16 hours behind schedule.

paragraphs: Kampfgruppe Peiper reached Bucholz Station in the early morning of 17 December and captured portions of the 3rd Battalion of the 394th Infantry Regiment. They seized a U.S. fuel depot at Büllingen, where they refuelled before continuing westward.

paragraphs: To the north, the 277th Volksgrenadier Division attempted to break through the U.S. 99th Infantry Division and positions of 2nd Infantry Division.

paragraphs: The 12th SS Panzer Division, reinforced by additional infantry (Panzergrenadier and Volksgenadier) divisions, took Losheimergraben and attacked the villages of Rocherath and Krinkelt.

paragraphs: Their intention was to control the villages of Rocherath-Krinkelt which would clear a path to Elsenborn Ridge. This would give the Germans control of the roads to the south and west and ensure supply to Kampfgruppe Peiper's armored force.

paragraphs: The American defense prevented the Germans from reaching the supplies near the Belgian cities of Liège and Spa. After more than ten days of battle, they pushed the Americans out of the villages, but were unable to move them from the ridge. The V Corps of the First U.S. Army prevented the German forces from reaching the roads to their west.

paragraphs: The 99th Infantry Division was outnumbered but it caused a lot of German dead and wounded. The division lost about 20% of its strength, including 465 killed and 2,524 evacuated due to wounds, injuries or fatigue. German losses were much higher. In the northern sector, this included more than 4,000 deaths and the destruction of sixty tanks and big guns. Historian John S.D. Eisenhower wrote, "... the action of the 2nd and 99th Divisions on the northern shoulder could be considered the most decisive of the Ardennes campaign."

paragraphs: Kampfgruppe Peiper entered Honsfield, one of the 99th Division's rest centres. They killed many, destroyed a number of American armored units and vehicles, and took several dozen prisoners who were murdered. Peiper easily captured the town and of fuel for his vehicles. Peiper then advanced north-west towards Büllingen. Peiper turned south to detour around Hünningen.

paragraphs: At 12:30 on 17 December, Kampfgruppe Peiper was near the hamlet of Baugnez when he met the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, U.S. 7th Armored Division. After a battle the Americans surrendered. They were sent to stand in a field. The SS troopers suddenly opened fire on the prisoners. A few survived, and news of the killings of prisoners of war was sent through Allied lines. Following the end of the war, soldiers and officers of Kampfgruppe Peiper, including Joachim Peiper and SS general Sepp Dietrich, were put on trial at the Malmedy massacre trial.

paragraphs: Following the Malmedy massacre, on New Year's Day 1945, after having previously received orders to take no prisoners, American soldiers shot sixty German prisoners of war near the Belgian village of Chenogne (8 km from Bastogne).

paragraphs: By the evening the Germans had pushed north to fight the U.S. 99th Infantry Division. Peiper's forces were late because of the American resistance and because when the Americans fell back, they blew up bridges and emptied fuel storaged.

paragraphs: Peiper's unit was delayed and his vehicles needed fuel. They took 36 hours to advance from Eifel to Stavelot.

paragraphs: Kampfgruppe Peiper attacked Stavelot on 18 December but was unable to capture the town before the Americans emptied a large fuel depot. Three tanks attempted to take the bridge, but the lead tank was disabled by a mine. 60 grenadiers advanced forward but were stopped by American fire. After a tank battle the next day, the Germans entered the village when U.S. engineers did not blow up the bridge.

paragraphs: Peiper rushed toward the bridge at Trois-Ponts, leaving the most of his force in Stavelot. When they reached it at 1130 on 18 December, retreating U.S. engineers blew it up.

paragraphs: Peiper went north. At Cheneux, he was attacked by American fighter-bombers, destroying two tanks and five halftracks. The group got moving at dusk at 1600. Of the two bridges now remaining between Kampfgruppe Peiper and the Meuse, the bridge over the Lienne was blown by the Americans as the Germans approached.

paragraphs: Peiper turned north and stopped his forces in the woods between La Gleize and Stoumont. He learned that Stoumont was strongly held and that the Americans were bringing up new troops from Spa.

paragraphs: To Peiper's south, the advance of Kampfgruppe Hansen had stopped. SS Sturmbannführer Knittel crossed the bridge at Stavelot, but the Americans recaptured Stavelot. Peiper and Knittel both were at risk of being cut off.

paragraphs: At dawn on 19 December, Peiper attacked the American defenders of Stoumont. He sent infantry from the 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment in an attack and a company of Fallschirmjäger. He followed this with a Panzer attack, gaining the eastern edge of the town.

paragraphs: An American tank battalion arrived but Peiper finally captured Stoumont at 1030. Knittel joined up with Peiper and reported the Americans had recaptured Stavelot to their east. Peiper ordered Knittel to retake Stavelot.

paragraphs: He thought Kampfgruppe did not have enough fuel to cross the bridge west of Stoumont. On the same evening the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division under Maj. Gen. James Gavin arrived at La Gleize.

paragraphs: Kampfgruppe Sandig, which had been ordered to take Stavelot, launched another attack without success. Sixth Panzer Army commander SS-Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich ordered Hermann Prieß, commanding officer of the I SS Panzer Corps, to help Peiper's Kampfgruppe, but Prieß was unable to break through.

paragraphs: Small units of the U.S. 2nd Battalion of the 119th Regiment attacked the Kampfgruppe Peiper during the morning of 21 December. They were pushed back and a number captured, including their battalion commander, Maj. Hal McCown.

paragraphs: Attempting to withdraw from Cheneux, American paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division engaged the Germans in violent fighting. The Americans shelled Kampfgruppe Peiper on 22 December.

paragraphs: Although the Germans had run out of food and had no fuel, they continued to fight. A Luftwaffe resupply mission went badly, parachuting supplies to American troops in Stoumont.

paragraphs: In La Gleize, Peiper set up defences. He decided to break through back to the German lines on 23 December. The men of the "Kampfgruppe" abandoned their vehicles and heavy equipment.

paragraphs: Operation Stösser was a paratroop drop into the American rear in the High Fens (; ; ) area. The goal was the "Baraque Michel" crossroads.

paragraphs: It was the German paratroopers' only nighttime drop during World War II. The II Parachute Corps sent 100 men from each of its regiments. They had little time to train together.

paragraphs: The parachute drop was a failure. Von der Heydte ended up with around 300 troops. Their force was too small and too weak to counter the Allies. They withdrew towards Germany and attacked the rear of the American lines. Only about 100 of his tired men finally reached the German rear.

paragraphs: Another, much smaller massacre was committed in Wereth, Belgium, on 17 December 1944. Eleven black American soldiers, after surrendering, were tortured and then shot by men of the 1st SS Panzer Division, belonging to Kampfgruppe Knittel. Men from Third Company of the Reconnaissance Battalion were responsible.

paragraphs: The Germans did better when the Fifth Panzer Army attacked positions held by the U.S. 28th and 106th Infantry Divisions. The Germans lacked the strength that they had in the north, but they still had more troops and weapons than the 28th and 106th divisions. They surrounded two regiments (422nd and 423rd) of the 106th Division and forced their surrender.

paragraphs: The official U.S. Army history states: "At least seven thousand [men] were lost here and the figure probably is closer to eight or nine thousand."

paragraphs: In St. Vith, it was hard for von Manteuffel's and Dietrich's forces. The defenders resisted the German attacks. This slowed down the German advance.

paragraphs: Montgomery ordered St. Vith to be evacuated on 21 December. U.S. troops got into trenches, which made the German advance hard. By 23 December, U.S. troops were ordered to retreat west of the Salm River. Since the German plan called for the capture of St. Vith by 18:00 on 17 December, they were behind schedule.

paragraphs: To protect the river crossings on the Meuse, Montgomery ordered units to hold the bridges on 19 December.

paragraphs: The German advance in the center was the most successful. Fifth Panzer Army was led by the 2nd Panzer Division while Panzer Lehr Division came up from the south. The Ourthe River was passed at Ourtheville on 21 December.

paragraphs: Lack of fuel held up the advance for one day, but on 23 December the attack continued towards the towns of Hargimont and Marche.

paragraphs: Hargimont was captured the same day, but Marche was defended by the American 84th Division. Gen. Lüttwitz, commander of the XXXXVII Panzer Corps, ordered the Division to turn west towards Dinant and the Meuse. 2nd Panzer Division was still advancing quickly.

paragraphs: On 22/23 December the woods of Foy-Notre-Dame were reached, near Dinant. On 24 December the furthest point was reached. Panzer Lehr Division took the town of Celles. Farther north, parts of 2nd Panzer Division were close to the Meuse.

paragraphs: An Allied force prevented the German forces from approaching the Dinant bridge. By late Christmas Eve the advance in this sector was stopped by Allied forces.

paragraphs: For Operation Greif, Otto Skorzeny got English-speaking Germans in American uniforms behind the Allied lines. Although they failed to take the bridges over the Meuse, they caused confusion and rumors spread quickly. Even General George Patton was worried and described the situation to General Dwight Eisenhower.

paragraphs: Checkpoints were set up all over the Allied rear, greatly slowing the movement of soldiers and equipment. American MPs at these checkpoints asked troops about things that every American was expected to know.

paragraphs: The tightened security made things very hard for the German soldiers to move about, and a number of them were captured. Even during interrogation, they spread lies. when asked about their mission, some of them claimed they had been told to go to Paris to either kill or capture General Dwight Eisenhower.

paragraphs: Security around the general was greatly increased, and Eisenhower was kept in his headquarters.

paragraphs: Because Skorzeny's men were captured in American uniforms, they were executed as spies. This was the standard practice of every army at the time. Skorzeny said that he was told by German legal experts that as long he doesn't order his men to fight in combat while wearing American uniforms, such a tactic was a legitimate trick.

paragraphs: Skorzeny and his men wore their German uniforms underneath their American ones in case of capture. Skorzeny was tried by an American military tribunal in 1947 at the Dachau Trials for violating the laws of war from his leadership of Operation Greif, but was acquitted.

paragraphs: In Operation Währung, a small number of German agents went behind Allied lines in American uniforms. They tried to bribe rail and port workers to cause problems with Allied supply operations. However, this operation was a failure.

paragraphs: Further south attacking divisions crossed the River Our. The 112th Infantry Regiment kept German troops from using the Our River bridges around Ouren for two days, before withdrawing.

paragraphs: The 109th and 110th Regiments of the 28th Division did badly. They had so few troops that the Germans got around their positions. Both resisted and slowed down the German schedule by several days. Panzer groups captured villages and advanced near Bastogne within four days.

paragraphs: The battles for the villages and American strongpoints, and transport confusion on the German side, slowed the attack down. This allowed the 101st Airborne Division to reach Bastogne on 19 December. The defense of Bastogne made it impossible for the Germans to take the town. The "panzers" went past on either side, cutting off Bastogne on 20 December.

paragraphs: In the south, Brandenberger's three infantry divisions were stopped by divisions of the U.S. VIII Corps. Only the 5th Parachute Division of Brandenberger's command was able to move forward.

paragraphs: Eisenhower and his commanders realized by 17 December that the fighting in the Ardennes was a major offensive and not a small attack, and they ordered many new troops to the area.

paragraphs: Within a week 250,000 troops had been sent. Gen. Gavin of the 82nd Airborne Division ordered the 101st to hold Bastogne. The 82nd had to battle the SS Panzer Divisions.

paragraphs: By the time the senior Allied commanders met on 19 December, the town of Bastogne and its 11 roads had been held by the Germans for several days.

paragraphs: Two separate westbound German columns got stopped by defensive positions up to ten miles from the town.

paragraphs: Gen. Eisenhower realized that the Allies could destroy German forces much more easily when they were out in the open. Patton had ordered his staff to prepare three plans for a northward turn.

paragraphs: On 20 December, Eisenhower removed the First and Ninth U.S. Armies from Gen. Bradley's 12th Army Group and placed them under Montgomery's 21st Army Group.

paragraphs: By 21 December the Germans had surrounded Bastogne, which was defended by the 101st Airborne Division and Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division. Conditions inside the town were tough. Food was scarce, and by 22 December artillery ammunition was restricted to 10 rounds per gun per day.

paragraphs: The weather cleared the next day, however, and supplies (ammunition) were dropped over four of the next five days.

paragraphs: Despite German attacks, the town held. The German commander, Lt. Gen. Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz, requested Bastogne's surrender. When Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe was told of the Nazi demand that he surrender, he refused.

paragraphs: Both 2nd Panzer and Panzer Lehr moved forward from Bastogne after 21 December. The 26th VG received one panzergrenadier regiment on Christmas Eve for its attack the next day. Because it lacked troops and those of the 26th VG Division were tired, the XLVII Panzer Corps concentrated its attack on several locations on the west side.

paragraphs: The attack was defeated and all the tanks destroyed. The next day, 26 December, Gen. Patton's 4th Armored Division broke through and opened a passage to Bastogne.

paragraphs: On 23 December, the weather conditions started improving, allowing the Allied air forces to attack. They bombed the German supply points in their rear. P-47 Thunderbolts started attacking the German troops on the roads.

paragraphs: Allied air forces also helped the defenders of Bastogne, dropping medicine, food, blankets, and ammunition. A team of volunteer surgeons flew in by military glider and began operating.

paragraphs: By 24 December, the German advance was stopped near the Meuse. Units of the British XXX Corps were holding the bridges at Dinant, Givet, and Namur and U.S. units were about to take over.

paragraphs: The Germans had no supplies, and shortages of fuel and ammunition were becoming serious. Up to this point the German losses had been light, especially in armor, which was almost unharmed with the exception of Peiper's losses.

paragraphs: On the evening of 24 December, General Hasso von Manteuffel recommended to Hitler a stop to all operations and a withdrawal. Hitler said no.

paragraphs: However, confusion at the Allied command prevented a strong response. In the center, on Christmas Eve, the 2nd Armored Division attempted to attack the 2nd Panzer Division at the Meuse.

paragraphs: The 4th Cavalry Group attacked the 9th Panzer Division at Marche. As result, parts of the 2nd Panzer Division were cut off. On 26 and 27 December the trapped units of 2nd Panzer Division made two break-out attempts.

paragraphs: Further Allied attacks near Marche led the Germans to know that no further action towards the Meuse was possible.

paragraphs: In the south, Patton's Third Army was battling to help the US troops in Bastogne. At 16:50 on 26 December, the Company D, 37th Tank Battalion of the 4th Armored Division, reached Bastogne, ending the siege.

paragraphs: On 1 January, in an attempt to keep the offensive going, the Germans launched two new operations. At 09:15, the "Luftwaffe" launched "Unternehmen Bodenplatte" (Operation Baseplate), a major campaign against Allied airfields in the Low Countries. Hundreds of planes attacked Allied airfields, destroying or severely damaging some 465 aircraft. However, the "Luftwaffe" lost 277 planes, 62 to Allied fighters and 172 mostly because of an unexpectedly high number of Allied flak guns, set up to protect against German V-1 flying bomb attacks and using proximity fused shells, but also by friendly fire from the German flak guns that were uninformed of the pending large-scale German air operation. The Germans suffered heavy losses at an airfield named Y-29, losing 24 of their own planes while downing only one American plane. While the Allies recovered from their losses in just days, the operation left the "Luftwaffe" weak and ineffective for the remainder of the war.

paragraphs: On the same day, German Army Group G ("Heeresgruppe G") and Army Group Upper Rhine ("Heeresgruppe Oberrhein") launched a major offensive against the thinly stretched, line of the Seventh U.S. Army. This offensive, known as "Unternehmen Nordwind" (Operation North Wind), was the last major German offensive of the war on the Western Front. The weakened Seventh Army had, at Eisenhower's orders, sent troops, equipment, and supplies north to reinforce the American armies in the Ardennes, and the offensive left it in dire straits.

paragraphs: By 15 January, Seventh Army's VI Corps was fighting on three sides in Alsace. With casualties mounting, and running short on replacements, tanks, ammunition, and supplies, Seventh Army was forced to withdraw to defensive positions on the south bank of the Moder River on 21 January. The German offensive drew to a close on 25 January. In the bitter, desperate fighting of Operation Nordwind, VI Corps, which had borne the brunt of the fighting, suffered a total of 14,716 casualties. The total for Seventh Army for January was 11,609. Total casualties included at least 9,000 wounded. First, Third and Seventh Armies suffered a total of 17,000 hospitalized from the cold.

paragraphs: While the German offensive had ground to a halt, they still controlled a dangerous salient in the Allied line. Patton's Third Army in the south, centered around Bastogne, would attack north, Montgomery's forces in the north would strike south, and the two forces planned to meet at Houffalize.

paragraphs: The temperature during January 1945 was extremely low. Weapons had to be maintained and truck engines run every half-hour to prevent their oil from congealing. The offensive went forward regardless.

paragraphs: Eisenhower wanted Montgomery to go on the counter offensive on 1 January, with the aim of meeting up with Patton's advancing Third Army and cutting off most of the attacking Germans, trapping them in a pocket. However, Montgomery, refusing to risk underprepared infantry in a snowstorm for a strategically unimportant area, did not launch the attack until 3 January, by which time substantial numbers of German troops had already managed to fall back successfully, but at the cost of losing most of their heavy equipment.

paragraphs: At the start of the offensive, the First and Third U.S. Armies were separated by about . American progress in the south was also restricted to about a kilometer a day. The majority of the German force executed a successful fighting withdrawal and escaped the battle area, although the fuel situation had become so dire that most of the German armor had to be abandoned. On 7 January 1945, Hitler agreed to withdraw all forces from the Ardennes, including the "SS Panzer" divisions, thus ending all offensive operations. However, considerable fighting went on for another 3 weeks; St. Vith was recaptured by the Americans on 23 January and the last German units participating in the offensive did not return to their start line until 25 January.

paragraphs: Winston Churchill, addressing the House of Commons following the Battle of the Bulge said, "This is undoubtedly the greatest American battle of the war and will, I believe, be regarded as an ever-famous American victory."

paragraphs: As the Ardennes battles began, Montgomery commanded of the American First and Ninth armies. This was approved by Eisenhower, as the northern armies had lost all communications with Bradley, who was based in Luxembourg. The northern side had lost all communications with the US command and with nearby units. Without radio or telephone communication Montgomery managed to improvise a way of communicating orders.

paragraphs: This change of leadership did not become known until a message was released.

paragraphs: Montgomery asked Churchill if he could explain the situation.

paragraphs: On the same day as Hitler's withdrawal order, 7 January, Montgomery held his press conference. Montgomery praised the "courage and good fighting quality" of the Americans. He also praised Eisenhower.

paragraphs: Then Montgomery described the battle for a half-hour. Coming to the end of his speech he said he had used the whole power of the British Group of Armies. He called the battle "the most interesting, I think possibly one of the most interesting and tricky battles I have ever handled."

paragraphs: Despite his positive remarks about American soldiers, the Americans thought he took credit for the success of the campaign. They thought he made it sound like he had rescued the Americans.

paragraphs: Patton and Eisenhower both felt he did not describe the share of the fighting played by the British and Americans in the Ardennes. They thought that he did not tell about the part played by Bradley, Patton and other American commanders. Montgomery did not mention of any American general beside Eisenhower. This was seen as insulting.

paragraphs: Montgomery saw his error and later wrote: "I think now that I should never have held that press conference."

paragraphs: Bradley and Patton both threatened to resign unless Montgomery's command was changed. Eisenhower had decided to fire Montgomery. Eisenhower allowed Montgomery to apologize.

paragraphs: Casualty estimates from the battle vary widely. The official U.S. account lists 80,987 American casualties, while other estimates range from 70,000 to 108,000. According to the U.S. Department of Defense the American forces suffered 89,500 casualties including 19,000 killed, 47,500 wounded and 23,000 missing.

paragraphs: An official report by the United States Department of the Army lists some 108,347 casualties, including 19,246 killed, 62,489 wounded and 26,612 captured and missing. The Battle of the Bulge was the most violent battle that U.S. forces experienced in World War II; the 19,000 American dead were unsurpassed by those of any other engagement. British losses totaled 1,400.

paragraphs: The German High Command's official figure for the campaign was 84,834 casualties, and other estimates range between 60,000 and 100,000.

paragraphs: The Allies continued to push on in the battle. In early February, the Allies launched an attack all along the Western front: in the north under Montgomery toward Aachen; in the center, under Courtney Hodges; and in the south, under Patton.

paragraphs: The German losses in the battle were serious in several ways. The last of the German reserves were now gone, the Luftwaffe had been destroyed and the remaining German forces in the West were being pushed back to the defenses of the Siegfried Line.

paragraphs: The initial success of Hitler's Ardennes offensive, launched 16 December 1944, caused Churchill to ask Stalin on 6 January 1945 for Soviet help by launching a Soviet attack. On Friday, 12 January, the Soviets began the Vistula–Oder Offensive, planned to begin on 20 January.

paragraphs: During World War II, most U.S. black soldiers still served only as truck drivers and as stevedores. In the midst of the Battle of the Bulge, General Eisenhower was short of replacement troops so he allowed African American soldiers to join the white military units to fight in combat for the first time. More than 2,000 black soldiers had volunteered to go to the front.

paragraphs: This was an important step toward a racially integrated United States military. A total of 708 African Americans were killed in combat during World War II.


title: Nothing

paragraphs: Nothing is a concept of being without any form of matter.


title: Moon

paragraphs: The Moon is Earth's largest natural satellite. We usually see it in the night sky. Some other planets also have moons or natural satellites.

paragraphs: Our moon is about a quarter the size of the Earth. Because it is far away it looks small, about half a degree wide. The gravity on the moon is one-sixth of the Earth's gravity. It means that something will be one-sixth as heavy on the Moon than on Earth. The Moon is a rocky and dusty place. The Moon moves slowly away from the earth at a rate of 3.8 cm per year, due to the effect of .

paragraphs: The Moon being round, half of it is lit up by the sun. As it goes around (or orbits) the Earth, sometimes the side that people on Earth can see is all lit brightly. Other times only a small part of the side we see is lit. This is because the Moon does not send out its own light. People only see the parts that are being lit by sunlight. These different stages are called Phases of the Moon.

paragraphs: It takes the Moon about 29.53 days (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes) to complete the cycle, from big and bright to small and dim and back to big and bright. The phase when the Moon passes between the Earth and Sun is called the "new moon". The next phase of the moon is called the "waxing crescent", followed by the "first quarter", "waxing gibbous", then to a full moon. A full Moon occurs when the moon and sun are on opposite sides of the Earth. As the Moon continues its orbit it becomes a "waning gibbous", "third quarter", "waning crescent", and finally back to a new moon. People used the moon to measure time. A month is approximately equal in time to a lunar cycle.

paragraphs: The moon always shows the same side to Earth. Astronomers call this phenomenon tidal locking. This means that half of it can never be seen from Earth. The side facing away from Earth is called the far side or dark side of the Moon even though the sun does shine on it—we just never see it lit.

paragraphs: Before people stood on the Moon, the United States and the USSR sent robots to the Moon. These robots would orbit the Moon or land on its surface. The robots were the first man-made objects to touch the Moon.

paragraphs: Humans finally landed on the Moon on July 21, 1969. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their lunar ship (the "Eagle") on the surface of the moon. Then, as half the world watched him on television, Armstrong climbed down the ladder of the "Eagle" and was the first human to touch the Moon as he said, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

paragraphs: Even though their footprints were left on the moon a long time ago, it is likely that they are still there, as there is no wind or rain, making erosion extremely slow. The footprints do not get filled in or smoothed out.

paragraphs: More people landed on the moon between 1969 and 1972, when the last spaceship, Apollo 17 visited. Eugene Cernan of Apollo 17 was the last person to touch the moon.

paragraphs: Because it is smaller, the Moon has less gravity than Earth (only 1/6 of the amount on Earth). So if a person weighs 120 kg on Earth, the person would only weigh 20 kg on the moon. But even though the Moon's gravity is weaker than the Earth's gravity, it is still there. If person dropped a ball while standing on the moon, it would still fall down. However, it would fall "much" more slowly. A person who jumped as high as possible on the moon would jump higher than on Earth, but still fall back to the ground. Because the Moon has no atmosphere, there is no air resistance, so a feather will fall as fast as a hammer.

paragraphs: Without an atmosphere, the environment is not protected from heat or cold. Astronauts wore spacesuits, and carried oxygen to breathe. The suit weighed about as much as the astronaut. The Moon's gravity is weak, so it was not as heavy as on Earth.

paragraphs: In the Earth, the sky is blue because the blue rays of the sun bounce off the gases in the atmosphere, making it look like blue light is coming from the sky. But on the moon, because there is no atmosphere, the sky looks black, even in the daytime. There is no atmosphere to protect the moon from the rocks that fall from outer space, and these meteorites crash right into the moon and make wide, shallow holes called craters. The moon has thousands of them. Newer craters gradually wear away the older ones.

paragraphs: The giant impact hypothesis is that the Moon was created out of the debris from a collision between the young Earth and a Mars-sized protoplanet. This is the favored scientific hypothesis for the formation of the Moon.

paragraphs: In 2009 NASA said that they had found a lot of water on the moon. The water is not liquid but is in the form of hydrates and hydroxides. Liquid water cannot exist on the Moon because photodissociation quickly breaks down the molecules. However, from the image NASA received, there is a history of water existence.

paragraphs: During the Cold War, the United States Army thought about making a military post on the Moon, able to attack targets on Earth. They also considered conducting a nuclear weapon test on the Moon. The United States Air Force had similar plans. However, both plans were brushed-off as NASA moved from a military to a civilian-based agency.

paragraphs: Even though the Soviet Union left remains on the Moon, and the United States left a few flags, no country has control over the Moon. The U.S. and Soviet Union both signed the Outer Space Treaty, which calls the Moon and all of outer space the "province of all mankind". This treaty also banned all use of the military of the Moon, including nuclear weapons tests and military bases.


title: Will Ryan

paragraphs: Will Ryan (Born November 13, 1939) is an American voice actor, singer, comedian, musician, composer, writer and producer from Cleveland, Ohio. His music career first began when he was in high school. He then signed the first of two recording contracts with CBS Records.

paragraphs: He got back into music and after moving to California. He began to write and record wacky songs for Disney. He did the voice of Rabbit, Tigger, and Eeyore in Disney Channel's "Welcome to Pooh Corner". Since 1988 he has done the voice of Eugene Meltsner (and other characters: Harlow Doyle, Officer O'Ryan, Officer David Harley, etc.) for the Focus on the Family radio series "Adventures in Odyssey".

paragraphs: He also voiced Rabbit in "Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore". He was also the original voice of Petrie in "The Land Before Time".


title: Captivity (animal)

paragraphs: Animals who live under human control or care are in captivity. Captivity can be used as a term meaning the keeping of either domesticated animals (livestock, pets) or wild animals. This may include for example farms, private homes and zoos. Sometimes humans take care of critically endangered animals and therefore these animals are in captivity.


title: Choctaw

paragraphs: The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the southeastern United States.


title: Native Americans in the United States

paragraphs: Native Americans in the United States (also known as Indians) are the indigenous peoples from the areas of North America now part of the continental United States, including parts of Alaska. The Cherokee were the first Native Americans to be recognized as US citizens. In the 19th century white colonists called the Cherokee one of the Five Civilized Tribes. The others were Chicksaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole.

paragraphs: There are about 310 Indian reservations in the US. Most Native Americans do not live on a reservation anymore.

paragraphs: Native Americans are affected by some problems more than White Americans. For example Native Americans are six times more likely to suffer from alcoholism than average. About 24% live in extreme poverty. Native American and Native Alaskan women are more likely to be targets of sexual violence than other women.


title: Brian Cowen

paragraphs: Brian Cowen (born 10 January 1960) was the Taoiseach (prime minister) of the Republic of Ireland. He became the taoiseach on 7 May 2008, after Bertie Ahern, he resigned after losing a general election on 9 March 2011. He was the leader of a political party called Fianna Fáil. They were in a coalition government with the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats. Independent TDs (Irish members of parliament) also support his government.


title: Web chat

paragraphs: A web chat is a chat system to exchange information via the Web. People use a web browser to communicate with others. Apart from the browser you do not need anything else, which makes a web chat easy to use and ideal for people not very experienced with computers.

paragraphs: On the technical side web chats are often written with Java, Flash or Ajax.


title: British Grand Prix

paragraphs: The British Grand Prix is a grand prix motor race organised in Great Britain by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1950 and after that every year since today.

paragraphs: "Drivers in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season."

paragraphs: "Teams in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season."<br>

paragraphs: "A green background indicates an event which was part of the pre-war World Manufacturers' Championship.<br>

paragraphs: "A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship."

paragraphs: "Manufacturers in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season."<br>

paragraphs: <nowiki>*</nowiki> Built by Cosworth, funded by Ford

paragraphs: <nowiki>**</nowiki> Between 1999-2005 built by Ilmor, funded by Mercedes

paragraphs: A green background indicates an event which was part of the AIACR World Manufacturers' Championship."<br>


title: Ob River

paragraphs: The Ob is a river in Siberia. Together with the Lena and the Jenissei, it is one of the most important rivers of Siberia. Depending upon how its length is measured, it can be between 3.650 km and 6.210 km long. Some important cities on the banks of the river include Novosibirsk(Russia's third largest city), Barnaul, Kolpashevo, Nizhnevartovsk, Surgut, Khanty-Mansiysk, Beryozovo, Labytnangi, and Salekhard. The Irtysh is the Ob river's main tributary. Other tributaries include the Omsk, Parabel, Chaya, Tobol and Ishim.


title: Deductive reasoning

paragraphs: Deduction is one of the two main types of reasoning. The other is induction. In deduction, we apply a general rule to a particular case.

paragraphs: Deductive arguments are attempts to show that a conclusion must follow from a set of premises or hypotheses. A deductive argument is valid if the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises.

paragraphs: Aristotle, the first person we know who wrote down laws of deduction, gives this example of deduction:

paragraphs: The first two statements are called "premises". The last statement is called the "conclusion". The conclusion is taken from the premises.

paragraphs: Deductive reasoning is often called "top-down logic", whereas inductive reasoning is called "bottom-up reasoning".


title: Inductive reasoning

paragraphs: Induction is one of the main forms of logical reasoning. The other is deduction. In induction, we find a general rule by using a large number of particular cases. For example, watching water in many different situations, we can conclude that water always flows downhill.

paragraphs: Induction is not the method of science, but it can be the starting-point for science. Everyone can see that the sun, moon and stars appear to move across the sky. Early civilisations thought this meant they revolved around the Earth, because that is what they always seem to do. We now know this is quite wrong, but discovering the real explanation was the start of modern science (see Copernicus, Galileo and heliocentrism). What they did was to work out an alternative theory or hypothesis, which eventually was shown to be a much better explanation of all the observations. That is real science, but the observations of the heavens, which started with the Babylonians, showed the regularity which needed to be explained. What science did was to prove the obvious explanation was not the right one.

paragraphs: Another example is the work of Darwin, who spent half his life collecting interesting facts about animals and plants. If he had stopped there, his name might not be known today. What he did was suggest a way in which all these facts could be explained. It was an hypothesis which could be, and was, tested in every way possible. It is well known now that the theory of evolution by natural selection best explains the way the living world has come to be as we see it. Again, real science was built on a collection of facts which needed an explanation. The philosophy of science is about testing hypotheses, rather than collecting facts, though facts are the basis of all science.

paragraphs: Induction, the collecting of facts, is not by itself science. The philosopher Hume said it meant “instances of which we have had no experience resemble those of which we have had experience”. Later, John Stuart Mill raised the question “Why is a single instance, in some cases, sufficient for a complete induction, while in others [many examples] go such a little way towards establishing a universal proposition?” Philosophers usually think the real issue is: what distinguishes good from bad inductions? A way to say it is: "If all known "As" are "B", then "probably" all "As" whatever are "B"".

paragraphs: Inductive reasoning allows for a false conclusion even if all the premises are true. This is illustrated in the following example:

paragraphs: 1. Humans exist.2. Birds also exist.3. Therefore, birds are human.

paragraphs: This example shows that even though all the premises are correct, the conclusion can be false.

paragraphs: Discussions suitable for students of philosophy can be found in the usual places, especially:


title: Oklahoma Territory

paragraphs: Oklahoma Territory was an organized territory of the United States from May 2, 1890 until November 16, 1907, when Oklahoma became the 46th state. It was made up of the western area of what is now the state of Oklahoma. The eastern area consisted of the last remaining part of Indian Territory.


title: Scientific theory

paragraphs: In everyday speech, the word "theory" is used as a "best guess". In modern science, a scientific theory is a tested and expanded hypothesis that explains many experiments. It fits ideas together in a framework. If anyone finds a case where all or part of a scientific theory is false, then that theory is either changed or thrown out.

paragraphs: An example of a scientific theory that underwent many changes is the germ theory of disease. In ancient times, people believed that diseases were caused by the gods, or by curses, or by improper behavior. Germs (microorganisms) were unknown, because germs are too small to see. With the invention of the microscope, germs were discovered, and the germ theory of disease was proposed. Thanks to the germ theory of disease, many diseases can now be cured. However, the germ theory of disease had to be modified, because some diseases are not caused by germs. The flu and scurvy are examples of diseases that are not caused by bacteria, but viruses or poor nutrition. Scientists modified the germ theory of disease, so that today we would state that theory as "Some diseases are caused by germs".

paragraphs: To be a scientific theory, a theory must be tested a large number of times, by different scientists in different places, and must pass the test every time. The theory must be stated exactly, sometimes using mathematics. And it must fit in with all of the other scientific theories. Science has many branches. Physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy are some of the major branches of science. A scientific theory in one branch of science must hold true in all of the other branches of science. For example, the atomic theory of matter, that all matter is made up of atoms, was discovered using physics, but the chemicals used in chemistry, the living tissue used in biology, the rocks studied in geology, and the planets studied in astronomy are all made up of atoms. The atomic theory of matter holds in every area of science.

paragraphs: Sometimes scientists come up with a theory that is wrong. The discovery of an exception to a scientific theory is a major event, and a scientist can become famous by discovering an exception to a rule. Einstein became famous for his theory of relativity, which found an exception to Isaac Newton's laws of motion. Newton's theory, which had been accepted for hundreds of years, had to be changed, and has been changed.

paragraphs: Here is a list of some of the major theories of modern science. These theories have been tested thousands of times, and no exception has been found.


title: Marin-Epagnier

paragraphs: Marin-Epagnier is a former municipality in the district of Neuchâtel in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel. In 1888, the formerly independent municipality merged with Epagnier and Marin to form Marin-Epagnier. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Marin-Epagnier and Thielle-Wavre joined together and became the new municipality of La Tène.

paragraphs: It lies at the northeastern tip of Lake Neuchâtel close to Biel, at the boundary between French- and German-speaking regions, and at a knot of highways.

paragraphs: The Iron Age archaeological site of La Tène is within Marin-Epagnier's communal boundaries. "(See also La Tène culture.)" La Tène is a village at the eastern end of the Lake Neuchâtel (Lac de Neuchâtel), a lake in Switzerland. La Tène has a sandy beach, unique in Switzerland.


title: Magdalenenberg

paragraphs: Magdalenenberg is the name for a tumulus grave. It dates from the Iron Age. It lies at the southwestern tip of the Black Forest, in Germany. The nobleman who is buried there was part of the Hallstatt culture. With a volume of 33.000 cubic metres it is the biggest grave from that time in Central Europe.


title: Sacred Cenote

paragraphs: Sacred Cenote (Well of Sacrifice) is a well known cenote at the Maya site of Chichen Itza. One can access it by a 900 foot paved corridor that leads from the Great Plaza. The Sacred Cenote was used for human sacrifices to the rain god Chaac in periods of drought.


title: Cenote

paragraphs: A cenote is a type of sinkhole that contains groundwater. It is typical in the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula and some nearby Caribbean islands. The term comes from a word used by the lowland Yucatec Maya to refer to any location where groundwater can be got at.

paragraphs: Cenotes are surface connections to underground water bodies. While the most well-known cenotes are large open water pools measuring tens of metres in diameter, such as those at Chichén Itzá, most cenotes are smaller sheltered sites and do not necessarily have any surface exposed water. The term cenote has also been used to describe similar karst features in other countries such as Cuba and Australia, in addition to the more generic term of sinkholes.

paragraphs: Cenote water is often very clear, as the water comes from rain water infiltrating slowly through the ground. The groundwater flow rate within a cenote may be very slow at velocities ranging from 1 to 1000 meters per year. Cenotes around the world attract cave divers. They have explored extensive flooded cave systems, some of which have been investigated for 100 kilometers or more.


title: Monkton, Kent

paragraphs: Monkton is an English village on the Canterbury-Ramsgate road. It is at the southwestern edge of the Isle of Thanet, Kent near St Nicholas at Wade and Minster-in-Thanet. The church there is dedicated to Mary Magdalene. Inside the Church is a plaque, commemorating a local soldier, Euncie Rochelle, who died in the Iraq war. Monkton is no longer thought of as a village in its own right and is usually assumed to be part of neighbouring village Minster-in-Thanet.

paragraphs: In the November of 2007, the village exploded, with the remains afterwards being burnt down, with firefighters attempting to put out the blaze, but having so few people and being so far away from any other main towns, the thirty firefighters were unable to reach it in time. However, fortunately, all of Monkton's twenty people were evacuated into safety to nearby Minster. However, Minster was reported to have complained about the overcrowding caused by this and threw out the newcomers, expecting them to go back to the destroyed settlement. Unfortunately for the hamlet, Monkton's largest building, a single storey house, was also lost, and therefore it is thought to take a long time before the people of Monkton are able to resettle in a new place, or whether they will be able to reconstruct some of their old one.


title: Electric chair

paragraphs: An electric chair is a specially built chair which is used to execute condemned criminals by electrocuting (giving them a strong electric shock) them. This means that they are being killed as a punishment for a crime that they were accused of, usually murder.

paragraphs: An electric chair is a strong wooden chair which has electrodes (which are objects often made out of metal that conduct electricity) for running electric current through the convict's body. One electrode is placed on the convict's head, and another is placed on the convict's right shin. When the switch is turned on, a 2,000 volt current goes through the convict. The current is to stop the heartbeat, cause unconsciousness, and cause death. Sometimes, the chair was made from the wood of the gallows which it replaced.

paragraphs: The electric chair is sometimes used as the very symbol of death penalty. It is also a part of Americana (that is: cultural symbols of USA) and the electric chairs of many states have ironic nicknames like Old Sparky, Yellow Mama, Gruesome Gertie, Sizzling Sally or Hot Seat. The execution itself is sometimes called "riding the lightning".

paragraphs: The electric chair was designed by Dr. Alfred Southwick, and first built by Harold Brown in 1888. Dr. Southwick had seen a drunk man falling in a generator and dying immediately from electric shock. There had been a very gruesome hanging in New York in 1886 that did not go right. The drop had been too long and the convict's head was torn off. Many people wanted a less cruel method of execution. The state of New York chose the electric chair.

paragraphs: This execution method has been used only in the United States and, for several decades, in the Philippines (its first use there in 1924, last in 1976). The electric chair has become a symbol of the death penalty, and a part of American folklore. However, it is becoming replaced as a method of executing criminals in the United States by lethal injection. Altogether, 25 US states and the US federal government have used the electric chair.

paragraphs: Death in the electric chair is usually quick as the convict dies from electric shock which stops the heart. However, if something goes wrong, the death is more like frying the convict alive. The electric chair has been declared as a cruel and unusual punishment in many states and is no longer used in most states. In fact, there are no longer any states that use the electric chair as its main way of executing criminals. All states that use the death penalty use lethal injection as its main way of executing criminals now.

paragraphs: So far, the latest person executed in an electric chair has been Lee Hall aka. Leroy Hall Jr. a man who killed his ex girlfriend, Traci Crosier, in 1991. He was executed in Tennessee at the Riverbend Maximum Security Prison on December 5, 2019. Lee chose the electric chair over lethal injection believing that electrocution would be a faster and less painful death.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

paragraphs: The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. It is the second largest stadium in Spain after the Camp Nou. It has a capacity for 81,044 people. The stadium is called Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Spanish.

paragraphs: The 1982 FIFA World Cup and the final, were held at the Santiago Bernabéu.

paragraphs: The stadium was built at the same site of Campo de Chamartín. Construction began in 1945. On December 14, 1947, the stadium officially opened. The first match was against Portuguese champions Os Belenenses (3-1). The stadium was initially called Nuevo Estadio Chamartin. It received the name of the club president, Santiago Bernabéu, eight years later.

paragraphs: At that time, the stadium consisted of two uncovered tiers that could hold about 75,000 spectators. Capacity was further increased to 125,000 in 1954, when one of the long sides got expanded with a third tier. The Bernabéu was together with the Camp Nou as the playing venue of the UEFA 1964 European Nations' Cup, hosting one of the two semi-finals and the final between Spain and the Soviet Union (2-1).

paragraphs: Towards the end of the 1970s, the stadium had already started to age. Club officials started making plans to build a new stadium in the north of the city.

paragraphs: However, with the coming of the 1982 World Cup it was instead decided to renovate the Bernabéu. The renovation included the construction of a roof over the three two-tiered stands and the installation of seats in half of the stadium. As a result, capacity was reduced to 90,800. During the 1982 FIFA World Cup, the Santiago Bernabéu hosted three matches in the second group stage and the final between Italy and West Germany (3-1).

paragraphs: In the 1990s, UEFA required the stadium to become an all-seater, which would have reduced capacity to 50,000 seats. The club president therefore started a redevelopment program. The changes included extending the third tier over the entire stadium, the creation of corporate facilities, and four access towers in each corner of the stadium. Works started in 1992 and were completed two years later.

paragraphs: The stadium was further refurbished and upgraded between 2001 and 2006. Works most of all focused on improving corporate facilities. Construction was concluded in 2006 with the construction of a roof over the one remaining uncovered stand. The expansion design was done by Madrid-based architect Antonio Lamela.

paragraphs: Additional improvements, such as a retractable roof, were delayed due to financial reasons. In 2013 club president Florentino Pérez announced Real was seeking to sell the naming rights for its stadium. In 2014 German architects GMP revealed a plan for the improvements. A sponsorship agreement was finally made with IPIC.


title: Electrocution

paragraphs: Electrocution or electric shock is when electricity passes through something living. It happens when the human body gets in contact with electric current. The word "electrocution" originated as a portmanteau between electricity and execution, referring to those executed by electric chair, but has evolved to describe any fatal encounter with electricity. Nonfatal encounters are called electric shocks, or simply a "shock".

paragraphs: The human body is affected by electric current (measured in Amperes). If the electric current is strong, it can stop heartbeat and cause death. High current can cause severe burns and even fry the victim alive. In order for current to flow through a body you need a sufficiently high voltage, typically more than 50 volts AC, and the voltage generator must be able to supply enough current. Super high voltages, such as from a small Tesla coil, supply such a small amount of current that a person feels just a tickle. A large Tesla coil can burn and kill.

paragraphs: Safety devices like a GFCI or RCD try to protect humans from any current greater than 5 to 30 mA (0.005 to 0.03 Amps). Human muscles are paralyzed -- you cannot move an affected arm or leg -- at currents from 10 to 20 mA; as a result a victim may be unable to let go of a wire that is shocking him. At around 20 mA breathing is difficult. At about 75mA breathing stops. At 100 mA the heart fibrillates -- death is quick. At 200 mA you get severe musculature contractions and burning.


title: Stora Enso

paragraphs: Stora Enso is a Finnish-Swedish cellulose and paper making corporation. It is the one of the largest paper making firms in the world. It was formed by the merger of Swedish mining and forestry products company Stora and Finnish forestry products company Enso-Gutzeit Oy in 1998.

paragraphs: Its head office is in Helsinki, and it has some 46,000 employees. In 2002 it was the fifth largest pulp and paper maker in money income and in 2005 it was the world's largest pulp and paper manufacturer in terms of tonnes. The Finnish State is the biggest owner in the company.

paragraphs: The Stora corporation originally began as a copper mine (whole name "Stora Kopparbergs Bergslag" (Big Copper Mountain's Mining Works)). It was founded in 1288 and it is the oldest corporation in the world. It later became also a paper and cellulose maker. Enso-Gutzeit was founded by Mr. Hans Gutzeit in a small town called Enso in Finland. It was founded in 19th century. Both companies were the largest paper and cellulose makers of both countries. It is the second largest corporation in Scandinavia after Nokia.


title: SpeechWeb

paragraphs: A SpeechWeb is a collection of SpeechWeb applications. The collection or web of applications can be navigated using a SpeechWeb browser.

paragraphs: 1. Providing end users with voice only interfaces to remote applications.

paragraphs: 2. Providing software developers with a framework to build their user interfaces with.

paragraphs: A SpeechWeb browser is a document or program allowing a human user to interact with a SpeechWeb application. A SpeechWeb browser can be implemented in X+V, VoiceXML, or others. An example browser using X+V is available here.

paragraphs: A SpeechWeb application is an application that provides a special interface. The basic idea is that not much more than natural language is used to communicate with the applications. SpeechWeb applications also need to describe the possible input texts by publishing a JSGF grammar.


title: Tikal

paragraphs: Tikal (or Tik’al, according to modern orthography) is the largest of the ancient ruined cities of the Maya civilization. It lies in modern day Guatemala at . Now it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a popular tourist spot.

paragraphs: Tikal was one of the major cultural and population centers of the Maya civilization. The oldest monumental architecture at the site dates to the 4th century BC. The best time of Tikal was during the Classic Period, from 200 AD to 900 AD. In this period, Tikal was in charge of the Maya region politically, economically, and militarily. This is because it was linked with areas throughout Mesoamerica, such as central Mexican, the center of Teotihuacan. After the end of the Late Classic Period, no new major monuments were built. Some palaces were burned and the population declined. The site was abandoned by the end of the 10th century.

paragraphs: The ruins are on lowland rainforest, but Tikal had no water other than what was collected from rainwater and stored underground. Archaeologists working in Tikal during the last century used the underground facilities to store water for their own use. The absence of springs, rivers, and lakes nearby is unusual for a major city. However, Tikal did well with agricultural techniques. These were more advanced than the slash & burn methods originally theorized by archeologists. The reliance on seasonal rainfall made Tikal open to drought. This is now thought to play a major part in the "Classic Maya Collapse".

paragraphs: The known rulers of Tikal, with general or specific dates attributed to them, include the following:


Resistance


title: Bard

paragraphs: The bard probably belonged to a social class in Celtic Europe. Bards were poets or singers and were most likely were in the service of Celtic nobility. They were probably employed to tell about how good their master (the nobleman) was or to sing about what he did. Today, it is not quite clear what the difference was from a druid. Early Roman scolars used the word vates to refer to all of them, which has been translated as "prophet" or "soothsayer". It is also a common school in the North East Pacific West.


Operation


title: Mausoleum

paragraphs: A mausoleum is a building used to store the remains of people who have died. Instead of being buried in soil, like in a cemetery, they are placed in chambers behind walls, or in a vault under the floor. The word came from the name of an ancient king.

paragraphs: Soviet leader Lenin is a mausoleum. In 1953, Joseph Stalin was buried next to him but his body was removed during destalinization.


title: Venus figurines

paragraphs: Possibly among the earliest traces of art are Venus figurines. These are figurines that show women. Most often the women are shown as being pregnant, with breasts well visible. The figurines occur from Western Europeto Siberia. Most are about 30.000 years old; Two figurimes have been found that are much older, the Venus of Tan-Tan has been dated to 500.000 to 300.000 years ago. It was found in Morocco. The Venus of Berekhat Ram was found on the Golan Heights. It has been dated to 300.000 to 200.000 years ago. It may be the earliest thing that shows the human form.

paragraphs: Different kind of stone, bones and ivory were used to make the figurines. Some are also made of clay which was then burned in a fire. This is one of the earliest known traces of the use of ceramics.

paragraphs: Today it is not known what the figurines meant for the people who made them. There are two basic interpretations:

paragraphs: Scientists have excluded that they were linked to the fertility of fields, because agriculture had not yet been discovered.

paragraphs: The two figurines that are older may have mostly formed by natural processes. The Venus of Tan-Tan was covered with a substance that could have been some kind of paint. It contained traces of Iron and Manganese. The figurine of Berekhat Ram shows traces that someone worked on it with a tool. A study done in 1997 states that this could not have been done by nature alone


title: Venus of Tan-Tan

paragraphs: The Venus of Tan-Tan is a venus figurine. It was found in Morocco. It has been dated to be between 300.000 and 500.000 years old. Unlike the other venus figurines, it appears neither male nor female.


title: Venus of Berekhat Ram

paragraphs: The Venus of Berekhat Ram is a stone that was found on the Golan Heights in 1981. Scientists have proposed to classify it as a Venus figurine, because there are traces it was worked on with a stone tool. The things that have been worked can clearly be told apart from the natural stone. It is therefore agreed that the pebble has been modified by human action, even though it bears little resemblance to the much later "Venus figurines" of about 30.000 years ago.


title: Joy

paragraphs: Joy can also be interpreted as a person's name.


title: Chattanooga, Tennessee

paragraphs: Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in Tennessee, a state in the United States of America. Cities larger than it are Memphis - the largest; Nashville - the capital of the state; and Knoxville. Chattanooga is in the southeast of Tennessee.

paragraphs: The first people to live in the Chattanooga area were Native American Indians with sites dating back to the Upper Paleolithic period.

paragraphs: The United States Census Bureau say that the city has a total area of 143.2 square miles (370.8 km²). This is made up of 135.2 square miles (350.2 km²) of land, and 8.0 square miles (20.6 km²) of water (5.56% of the total area).

paragraphs: The most well known natural feature near Chattanooga is the Tennessee River and the surrounding highlands. The city is between the southwestern Ridge-and-valley Appalachians and the foot of Walden's Ridge.


title: Greenville, South Carolina

paragraphs: Greenville is a city in South Carolina, United States. Bob Jones University is in Greenville. Greenville is in the Blue Ridge region of the state and is the county seat of Greenville County. As of 2010, it had an urban population of 400,492.


Jonathan Edwards


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

paragraphs: Jonathan Edwards (October 5, 1703 – March 22, 1758) was a colonial American preacher, theologian, and missionary to Native Americans. He was one of the most important people in the Great Awakening, a religious movement in the United States. He preached a sermon called "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God".


title: Prostate cancer

paragraphs: Prostate cancer is a disease in which cancer develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. It is often treated with prostatectomy, radiotherapy, or hormonal therapy.

paragraphs: Aggressive prostate cancer is now known to have a genetic basis. Men with gene BRCA2 are more likely to get the cancer, and more likely it will be in its most aggressive form.


title: John Edwards

paragraphs: Johnny Reid "John" Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American politician. He served one term as U.S. Senator from North Carolina.

paragraphs: Johnny Edward was born at Prisma Health Oconee Memorial Hospital in Seneca, South Carolina, He was son of Wallace Edwards and Catharine Edwards , He studied Clemson University and North Carolina State University, He was graduated in Bachelor's degree of textile technology in 1974, After that He was graduated in Doctor of Law at University of North Carolina School of Law .

paragraphs: Before his time in the Senate, he was a lawyer. He argued and won several big cases about doctors who gave bad care and caused harm to patients. He also won lawsuits for people who had been injured by negligence of businesses or by using their products.

paragraphs: His best known case was for a Cary, North Carolina three year old girl. She was badly injured by being sucked into an open drain in a swimming pool playpool for toddlers. Her family won enough money from the drain company to pay for her medical care for the rest of her life.

paragraphs: Edwards served for one term in the United States Senate from 1999 to 2005, serving his state of North Carolina. He decided not to run for re-election as he was running for president, and later vice-president, in the 2004 election cycle. He ran for President of the United States twice, in 2004 and 2008, but was defeated by John Kerry and Barack Obama in the Primaries. He was later chosen to be the Democratic candidate for Vice-President in 2004 on the Kerry ticket, but he was defeated by incumbent Vice-President Dick Cheney.

paragraphs: In 2008, he admitted to having an affair while his wife, Elizabeth was dying. He has written several books.


title: Fuller Theological Seminary

paragraphs: The Fuller Theological Seminary is in Pasadena, California. It is one of North America's largest seminaries. The Seminary has over 4,300 students from over 67 countries and 108 denominations.


title: Bachelor of Divinity

paragraphs: In Western Christian theology, a Bachelor of Divinity (BD or BDiv) is usually an undergraduate academic degree given for courses taken in the study of divinity. At some institutions, the BD is a higher degree than the Bachelor of Arts.


title: Freespire

paragraphs: Freespire is a Linux distribution made with parts from Ubuntu. It was made to make using free software easy, while giving the choice to use non-free (not open source) parts. These parts might be programs, drivers, or codecs. Linspire, a commercial Linux distribution, is made from Freespire.


title: Spiritual gift

paragraphs: In Christianity, the spiritual gifts are gifts given to Christians. Each Christian has his or her own gift (or gifts). They are talked about in the New Testament, mainly in First Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and Ephesians 4. Some believe that they only worked in early Christianity.


title: Sanctification

paragraphs: The word sanctification refers to the act of making holy or setting apart as special. The word is used five times in the Authorized Version of the New Testament (1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Thessalonians 4:3,1 Thessalonians 4:4, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, and 1 Peter 1:2).

paragraphs: To sanctify means “to set apart for special use or purpose,” and “to make holy or sacred,” and etymologically from the Latin verb 'sanctificare' which in turn is from "sanctus" “holy” and "facere" “to make.”

paragraphs: When an object or place is made holy, usually a ceremony is performed. Then people see that it is a special object or place and treat it with respect. A person may also be "set apart for special purpose", as when a priest or pastor is ordained.

paragraphs: Sanctification can also refer to the process by which a person becomes a good moral person, or someone with a close relationship to God. This may not include any ceremony. Persons who achieve this holiness are sometimes called Saints. Some churches have a list of saints who have been recognized as having been especially holy persons.

paragraphs: Generally in Protestant teaching, all Christians are considered saints. All are expected to become people who are close to God and who live a life like that which Jesus taught. Reading the Bible, prayer, worshiping God and Jesus and telling others about their faith are important in becoming sanctified.


title: Glossolalia

paragraphs: Glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, is speaking rapid speech-like syllables which cannot be understood. In some cases it is part of religious practice. Some consider it as a part of a sacred language. It is a common practice amongst Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity.

paragraphs: In 1972 a linguist from the University of Toronto published an assessment of Pentecostal glossolalia. His assessment was based on a large sample of glossolalia recorded in public and private Christian meetings in Italy, the Netherlands, Jamaica, Canada and the US.

paragraphs: Samarin found that glossolalic speech is like human language in some respects. The speaker uses accent, rhythm, intonation and pauses to break up the speech into distinct units. Each unit is itself made up of syllables. The syllables are formed from consonants and vowels taken from a language known to the speaker:

paragraphs: It is verbal behaviour that consists of using a certain number of consonants and vowels... in a limited number of syllables that in turn are organized into larger units that are taken apart and rearranged pseudogrammatically... with variations in pitch, volume, speed and intensity.

paragraphs: Samarin found that the resemblance to human language was just on the surface. He concluded that glossolalia is "only a facade of language". The syllable string did not form words, the stream of speech was not internally organized, and – most importantly of all – there was no systematic relationship between units of speech and concepts. Humans use language to communicate but glossolalia does not. Therefore, he concluded that glossolalia is not "a specimen of human language because it is neither internally organized nor systematically related to the world man perceives". On the basis of his linguistic analysis, Samarin defined Pentecostal glossolalia as "meaningless but phonologically structured human utterance, believed by the speaker to be a real language but bearing no systematic resemblance to any natural language, living or dead".


title: Christian hedonism

paragraphs: Christian hedonism is a controversial Christian doctrine in some evangelical churches, partly those of the Reformed tradition. This term was made by Baptist pastor John Piper in his 1986 book "Desiring God". Piper talks about this philosophy of the Christian life as "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."


title: Yucatec language

paragraphs: Yucatec Maya ("Maaya T'aan" in the revised orthography of the "Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala") is a Mayan language spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula. It is also spoken in northern Belize and parts of Guatemala. To native speakers, it is known only as Maya - "Yucatec" is a label linguists use to distinguish it from other Mayan languages (such as K'iche' and Itza' Maya).

paragraphs: In the Mexican states of Yucatán, northern Campeche and Quintana Roo, Maya remains many speakers' first language today, with approximately 800,000 speakers.


title: Uxmal

paragraphs: Uxmal is a large pre-Columbian city. The ruins are in Mexico today, in the state of Yucatán. According to the records of the Maya, the city was built around the year 500 AD. According to current research, about 25.000 people lived there. Most of the buildings that can be seen today were built between 700 and 1100. After 1200, there seems to be no new construction. The ruling family moved their capital elsewhere, and the population of the city declined.

paragraphs: According to the documents of the Spanish conquerors, the city still had some importance in the 1550s. It was probably abandoned soon afterwards, as the Spanish built no city nearby.


title: Tayasal

paragraphs: Tayasal is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site from the Postclassic period. The site is in the southern Maya lowlands on a small island in Lake Petén Itzá. This island is now part of the Department of Petén in northern Guatemala. Tayasal was the capital of one of the last independent Maya polities to be conquered by the Spanish "conquistadores" and colonizers, along with Zacpeten (the capital of the Ko'woj Maya) and Eixequil (the Yalnain capital), in 1697.

paragraphs: As an archaeological site, it was heavily damaged by the Spanish after its fall. The capital city of the modern Petén department, Flores, has been built over the island and the nearby shores of the lake.

paragraphs: The Itza left the Yucatán region in the 13th century and built the city later known as Tayasal as their capital. They called it "Noh Petén", or literally "City Island". It was also called "Tah Itzá", or Place of the Itzá.

paragraphs: In 1541, Hernán Cortés came to the island, on route to Honduras, but needed to move on and did not try to conquer it due to its very good defensive position.

paragraphs: The Spanish were not able to conquer the island until 1697, after several attempts, that begun in 1629, when they marched in, from Corozal in Belize, Yucatán and Alta Verapaz, attacked with boats, and destroyed it. Many Itzá people hid in the jungle for years. The structures of Noh Petén were turned into the Roman Catholic Church and other buildings in the city of Flores.


title: Archaeological site

paragraphs: An archaeological site is a place where physical remains of the past survive. The archaeologists working there will carefully record what they find. They may also change the site so that what has been found can be preserved better.

paragraphs: The site will have trenches so that people can excavate better. To start the excavation, the topsoil will be removed. Special tools like pickaxes and mattocks are used to break up and remove very hard compacted soil. Shovels and spades are used to clear away bulk debris. Other hand tools used in bulk cleanup work are hoes, rakes, forks, and the wheelbarrow to cart it away.


title: Copán

paragraphs: Copán was a Maya city. Today, the ruins are in Honduras, near the border to Guatemala. The kingdom of Copan flourished from the 5th to the 9th century. The people would hire slaves to build houses. If they hired 80 - 100 workers it would usually take them around 2-3 months to finish it


title: Stephenie Meyer

paragraphs: Stephenie Meyer (born December 24, 1973 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American author. She was raised in Phoenix, Arizona. She is the author of the "Twilight" series. "The Host", Meyer's first adult novel, was released on May 6, 2008.

paragraphs: Meyer's first novel, "Twilight", has won numerous honors, including:


title: Flora Thompson

paragraphs: Flora Jane Thompson (5 December 1876 – 21 May 1947) was an English novelist and poet that was famous for her semi-autobiographical trilogy about the English countryside, "Lark Rise to Candleford".

paragraphs: She was born in "Juniper Hill", a hamlet in north-east Oxfordshire. She was the eldest of six children of the stonemason Albert and the nursemaid Emma Timms. In her books her favourite brother, Edwin, is mentioned as important companion during her childhood. He was killed near Ypres in 1916. Flora was educated in the village "Cottisford" and worked in various post offices in southern England. The first of these was "Fringford", a village about four miles north-east of Bicester. Flora started work here in 1891, as assistant to the postmistress, Mrs. Kezia Whitton. Among other post offices where Flora worked was that at "Grayshott", in Hampshire, and she later moved to Bournemouth. In 1903 she married John William Thompson, with whom she had two sons and a daughter.

paragraphs: Flora benefited from good access to books when the public library opened in Winton, in 1907. Not long after, in 1911, she won an essay competition in "The Ladies Companion" for a 300-word essay on Jane Austen. She later wrote extensively, publishing short stories and magazine and newspaper articles. She was a keen self-taught naturalist and many of her nature articles were anthologised in 1986.

paragraphs: Her most famous works are the "Lark Rise to Candleford" trilogy, which she sent as essays to "Oxford University Press" in 1938 and which were published soon after. The books are a, if autobiographical, but fictionalised social history of rural English life in the late 19th and early 20th century and are now considered minor classics.

paragraphs: Flora Thompson died in 1947 in "Brixham", Devon and is buried at Longcross Cemetery, Dartmouth, Devon.


title: ClamWin

paragraphs: ClamWin Free Antivirus is a free, open source antivirus software for Microsoft Windows. It provides a graphical user interface to the ClamAV engine.

paragraphs: ClamWin is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License and can be downloaded from the official website for free.


title: Marco van Basten

paragraphs: Marcel "Marco" van Basten (born October 31, 1964 in Utrecht, Netherlands) is a former Dutch footballer. He was most recently the manager of the Netherlands national football team. He had to quit playing football early because of an injury that kept him from playing for more than a year.

paragraphs: Van Basten was known for his strength on the ball, his tactical awareness and spectacular strikes and volleys. He is regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time.

paragraphs: Van Basten was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1992 and won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1988, 1989 and 1992. He was named "UEFA best Player of the Year" three times (1989, 1990 and 1992) and "FIFA World Player of the Year" in 1992. In a French magazine named "France Football," he was voted as one of the eight best Football Players of the Century. In 1999, he was ranked sixth in the FIFA Player of the Century internet poll.


title: Masonry

paragraphs: Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar. The term "masonry" can also refer to the units themselves.

paragraphs: The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone such as marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, and tile. Masonry is generally a highly durable form of construction.

paragraphs: Masonry is commonly used for the walls of buildings, retaining walls and monuments. Brick is the most common type of masonry. Concrete block masonry is rapidly gaining in popularity as a comparable material.


title: Lark Rise to Candleford

paragraphs: Lark Rise to Candleford is a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels set in the English countryside in the late 19th century. They were written by Flora Thompson, and first published in that form in 1945. The trilogy includes the previously published stories "Lark Rise" (1939), "Over to Candleford" (1941) and "Candleford Green" (1943).

paragraphs: The stories relate to three communities, a hamlet, the nearby village and the nearest town in Oxfordshire, England. The stories are loosely based around Flora's childhood experiences. The books describe village life through the seasons of the year.

paragraphs: The television scriptwriter and playwright Keith Dewhurst adapted Thompson’s trilogy into two plays, "Lark Rise" and "Candleford", which were performed in the Cottesloe auditorium of London’s National Theatre in 1978–9. Dewhurst selected just two days: the first day of harvest for "Lark Rise" and the first hunt meet of the new year, a winter’s day in January, for "Candleford". The plays try to make the audience recognize the value of a way of life, close to the land and countryside, that they could never know for themselves. “It will send most spectators out wiser and happier human beings...one of those rare theatrical occasions with a genuine healing quality”, wrote theatre critic Michael Billington of "The Guardian".

paragraphs: A ten-part BBC adaptation, starring Dawn French and others, began on BBC One in the UK on 13 January 2008.